Touchstone Theatre has revealed its 2023/24 season program; featuring four unforgettable Canadian works including two long-awaited world premieres. The announcement came with the news that this will be Touchstone Theatre artistic director Roy Surette’s final season with the company, as he plans to retire from the AD position, although he will continue his freelance career:
“I’m surely one of the most fortunate members of the Canadian Theatre community. As an Artistic Director, I’ve had the privilege and challenge of shepherding, animating, and programming a season of plays and events for forty consecutive years…I am ending my tenure as an artistic director, not with a whimper but a bang. It’s a season of collaboration with beloved colleagues and long-time friends,” said Roy Surette.
Surette’s final Touchstone season begins in November 2023, with the Ruby Slippers Theatre co-production and world premiere of Hurricane Mona , Vancouver playwright Pippa Mackie’s absurdist dark comedy about a middle-class family grappling with their lives at the literal centre of a climate emergency
In January 2024, Touchstone teams-up with the PuSh Festival and SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs to co-present Christopher Morris’ THE RUNNER, a heartstopping philosophical thriller exploring human goodness in the face of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
World premiering in February 2024 is Father Tartuffe: An Indigenous Misadventure , Herbie Barnes’ hilarious and provocative adaptation of Molière’s best loved classic set on the rez. A co-production with the Arts Club Theatre, Father Tartuffe is directed by Quelemia Sparrow and Roy Surette.
Wrapping the season, in May 2024, the bittersweet chamber musical When We Were Singing by Governor-General award-winning playwright Dorothy Dittrich hits the Jericho Arts Centre stage, closing the season. An in-association presentation with United Players of Vancouver, the tale follows the ups-and-downs of four 30-something urbanites on the precipice of major life changes. Roy Surette directs, a reprise of his role in the play’s 1995 world premiere, and for which Touchstone Theatre garnered numerous Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards, including Outstanding Musical Direction and Outstanding Musical Ensemble.
Touchstone Theatre’s 2023-24 Season includes:
HURRICANE MONA By Pippa Mackie
A co-production with Ruby Slippers Theatre
November 18 – December 3, 2023 @ Historic Theatre, The Cultch
THE RUNNER By Christopher Morris
A co-presentation with PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs
January 24-26, 2024 @ SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts
FATHER TARTUFFE: An Indigenous Misadventure By Herbie Barnes
A co-production with the Arts Club Theatre
Directed by Quelemia Sparrow and Roy Surette
February 22– March 24, 2024 @ Granville Island Stage
WHEN WE WERE SINGING Written and composed by Dorothy Dittrich
Directed by Roy Surette
A United Players of Vancouver production, in association with Touchstone Theatre
May 30 – June 24, 2024 @ Jericho Arts Centre
Find show information, tickets and passes at touchstonetheatre.com