COMPASS
COMPASS
New Play Development Program
The COMPASS New Play Development Program is dedicated to creating and premiering new work on our stages.
With a goal to enhance new theatrical content in Canada, the Grand will commission, develop, and premiere original plays that are relevant to our city, and region. While these homegrown plays will begin here, the COMPASS program endeavours to sustain and heighten the lives of our stories – promoting their potential for stages around the world.
“A major thread throughout my career has been a focus on developing new work. New work allows us to reflect our city, and its people – to show who we are and who we want to be.” –Dennis Garnhum
Theatre Creators' Reserve Grant Learn More »
On Stage 2022/23
Grand Ghosts
by Trina Davies
Directed by Jillian Keiley
On December 2, 1919, Ontario theatre magnate Ambrose Small sold all of his theatre holdings, including London’s Grand Theatre, for a record sum. That very day, he disappeared. In his wake, Ambrose left behind his enormous fortune, a jealous wife, a disgruntled employee, gambling buddies, a mistress, and a ghostly mystery waiting to be solved.
In this world premiere imagining, every Halloween, the ghosts who haunt the Grand return to relive what actually happened on that fateful day, over a century ago. Through a ghostly spectacle, audiences will be left to decide: what really happened to Ambrose Small? Learn More »
Title Sponsor
BlueStone Properties
Development Partner
Tourism London
Homes: A Refugee Story
Written by Winnie Yeung and Haysam Kadri
Adapted from the book by Abu Bakr Al Rabeeah and Winnie Yeung
What is it like to live through a civil war?
Based on the award-winning novel by the same name, the stage adaptation of Homes: A Refugee Story features the remarkable true story of Abu Bakr Al Rabeeah’s life and how, as a young boy, he emerged from a war zone with a passion for sharing his story and telling the world what is truly happening in Syria. Homes depicts the juxtapositions of growing up in a war zone: horrific, unimaginable events punctuated by soccer, cousins, video games, and the love of friends and family. Learn More »
Rubaboo
Written by Andrea Menard
Music by Andrea Menard and Robert Walsh
Co-Produced by Arts Club Theatre Company, Vancouver
Derived from the Michif word for ‘leftovers stew’ or ‘big pot,’ Rubaboo will take audiences on an intimate, moving, and joyous journey – guided by powerhouse, Métis performer, Andrea Menard.
An award-winning, singer-songwriter, and actor, Andrea’s lyrical voice and masterful storytelling will envelop you into the beauty of Métis culture. Featuring the sounds of drums and guitar, this grand musical feast will include songs of reconciliation, unity, love, frustration, and resilience. Learn More »
Andrea Menard
Title Sponsor
Canada Life
Grow
Book by Matt Murray
Music by Colleen Dauncey
Lyrics by Akiva Romer-Segal
Produced by Michael Rubinoff
Directed by Dennis Garnhum
GROW follows Amish twins, Hannah and Ruth, as they leave the comfort of their sheltered community to explore the modern world for the first time. After arriving in Toronto, their plans quickly go up in smoke and they wind up crashing with a down-on-his-luck, illegal cannabis dealer. Their sisterhood is tested when the creation of the “world’s greatest weed” launches one of the twins to astronomical heights. Learn More »
The cast of Grow
Photo by Dahlia Katz
Title Sponsors
Michael and Stephanie McDonald
Hospitality Sponsor
Tourism London
Room
By Emma Donoghue, based on her novel
Music & Lyrics by Cora Bissett and Kathryn Joseph
Directed by Cora Bissett
A co-production with Covent Garden Productions and Mirvish Productions, Toronto, Canada
Kidnapped as a teenage girl, Ma has been locked inside a purpose-built room in her captor’s garden for seven years. Her five-year-old son, Jack, has no concept of the world outside and happily exists inside Room with the help of Ma’s games and his vivid imagination where objects like Rug, Lamp, and TV are his only friends. But for Ma the time has come to escape and face their biggest challenge to date: the world outside Room. Learn More »
Alexis Gordon, Lucien Duncan-Reid, and Brandon Michael Arrington in Room
Photo by Dahlia Katz
Title Sponsor
Ahria Consulting
Re:Opening Festival
Festival Director: Megan Watson
With original work curated and created by: Alexandra Kane, Mark Uhre, Richard Gracious, Summer Bressette
Over the course of 16 dates, four local artists make use of various spaces throughout the Grand – utilizing both lobby and stage environments. The result? Four unique and provocative experiences, each hosted by a different host artist, playing on-rotation from October 13 through November 6, 2021.
Photo by Mai Tilson
Video Production Sponsor
Canada Life
With the support of
London Community Foundation
Special thanks to
Horizon Solutions
Juno's Reward
Written & Directed by Megan Watson
Original Music by Richard Gracious
Presented as part of the 100 Schools program
Juno's Reward is about Juno, a bright, young student, who is obsessed with all things social media, and is falling behind on her school work. She befriends her school’s new custodian, and they bond over their shared love of music. When a last-minute school assignment results in Juno going viral online, her accidental fame has some unintended consequences, and she is confronted with a difficult choice.
Photo by Mallory Brown
Presenting Sponsor
3M Canada
Make a Difference Community Pillar Partner
Libro Credit Union
Partners
Thames Valley District School Board
London District Catholic School Board
This London Life
Written & Directed by Morris Panych
This London Life is a story of identity—mistaken and otherwise—and how, sometimes, the worst of mistakes can lead to the best of outcomes. The Grand Theatre has commissioned Governor General’s Award-winning playwright Morris Panych to write a play that celebrates, examines, and pokes fun at the constant comparisons between our city and that other London across the ocean.
The cast of This London Life
Photo by Dahlia Katz
Title Sponsor
BlueStone Properties
Development Sponsored by
Tourism London
Silence: Mabel and Alexander Graham Bell
By Trina Davies
Directed by Peter Hinton
Silence uncovers the life of the remarkable woman often overshadowed by one of Canada’s most important historic figures, Alexander Graham Bell. This beautiful (and true) story follows Mabel Gardiner Hubbard, who was deaf, as she meets and falls in love with the future inventor of the telephone. This new play is written from Mabel's perspective, immersing the audience into her experience.
The cast of This London Life
Photo by Claus Andersen
An Undiscovered Shakespeare
A Spontaneous Theatre production by Rebecca Northan
A workshop production presented by the Grand Theatre and the Stratford Festival.
In An Undiscovered Shakespeare, we find William Shakespeare experiencing writer’s block and searching for his muse to deliver inspiration. At each performance, a willing patron will find themselves invited on stage to sit down with the Bard and share their personal love story.
