Laughter and music on tap with Lunchbox and Stage West's upcoming seasons
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Last year was Lunchbox's 50th anniversary season. This new one launches in October with Ontario playwright Kristen Da Silva's Beyond the Sea. This comedy looks at a chance meeting of two strangers whose banter brings them closer to a relationship they both need. Da Silva is a two-time recipient of the Stage West Pechet Family Comedy Award. This is the first production of one of her plays in Calgary.
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Lunchbox's November play, Ridge, examines a Canadian soldier's experience during the Battle of Vimy Ridge, told through storytelling and live music provided by The Fugitives. It played at the Massey Theatre in New Westminster last year, and spawned the album Trench Songs.
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Lunchbox's holiday show, How Patty and Joanne Won High School Gold at the Grand Christmas Cup Winter Dance Competition, comes courtesy of Edmonton playwright Trevor Schmidt, whose play Monstress is Vertigo's January offering. Schmidt is no stranger to Lunchbox audiences, who were delighted by his Flora and Fawna's Field Trip and its sequel, Beaver Fever.
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In January, Lunchbox presents Calgary's multi-award-winning actor Christopher Hunt in his solo show Ribstone, in which he promises to tell audiences about his family's first settlement in Alberta, all the while strumming his banjo. This show is part of One Yellow Rabbit's 2026 High Performance Rodeo.
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Lunchbox's season will end in March with Thank You for Your Order, by Toronto playwright Jessica Moss. It's an absurdist comedy about a worker at an online shopping centre who falls in love with a customer based on his orders, so she mails herself to him, testing his actual relationship.
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Stage West will launch its 43rd season in September with the interactive murder-mystery comedy Shear Madness. Set in a hair salon, the woman in the upstairs apartment is murdered, and the audience gets to help the detective trap the murderer. The trick in this one is that it really could be any of the suspects, so the killer's identity can change with each performance.
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The dinner theatre's holiday show is the 2011 Broadway musical Sister Act, based on the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg film. A singer witnesses a murder, so she is placed in protective custody in a convent where she naturally clashes with the Mother Superior.
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Laughter and music on tap with Lunchbox and Stage West's upcoming seasons
Article content Last year was Lunchbox's 50th anniversary season. This new one launches in October with Ontario playwright Kristen Da Silva's Beyond the Sea. This comedy looks at a chance meeting of two strangers whose banter brings them closer to a relationship they both need. Da Silva is a two-time recipient of the Stage West Pechet Family Comedy Award. This is the first production of one of her plays in Calgary. Article content Article content Lunchbox's November play, Ridge, examines a Canadian soldier's experience during the Battle of Vimy Ridge, told through storytelling and live music provided by The Fugitives. It played at the Massey Theatre in New Westminster last year, and spawned the album Trench Songs. Article content Article content Lunchbox's holiday show, How Patty and Joanne Won High School Gold at the Grand Christmas Cup Winter Dance Competition, comes courtesy of Edmonton playwright Trevor Schmidt, whose play Monstress is Vertigo's January offering. Schmidt is no stranger to Lunchbox audiences, who were delighted by his Flora and Fawna's Field Trip and its sequel, Beaver Fever. Article content In January, Lunchbox presents Calgary's multi-award-winning actor Christopher Hunt in his solo show Ribstone, in which he promises to tell audiences about his family's first settlement in Alberta, all the while strumming his banjo. This show is part of One Yellow Rabbit's 2026 High Performance Rodeo. Article content Article content Lunchbox's season will end in March with Thank You for Your Order, by Toronto playwright Jessica Moss. It's an absurdist comedy about a worker at an online shopping centre who falls in love with a customer based on his orders, so she mails herself to him, testing his actual relationship. Article content Stage West will launch its 43rd season in September with the interactive murder-mystery comedy Shear Madness. Set in a hair salon, the woman in the upstairs apartment is murdered, and the audience gets to help the detective trap the murderer. The trick in this one is that it really could be any of the suspects, so the killer's identity can change with each performance. Article content The dinner theatre's holiday show is the 2011 Broadway musical Sister Act, based on the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg film. A singer witnesses a murder, so she is placed in protective custody in a convent where she naturally clashes with the Mother Superior.
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Over the course of his tenure, Strub introduced Winnipeggers to scores of famous out-of-town musicians, as well as carving out a home for Winnipeg musicians such as Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra violinist Karl Stobbe, soprano Tracy Dahl and others; helped establish an endowment fund at the Winnipeg Foundation supporting Virtuosi's Young Artist Program; and ushered Virtuosi into its heyday as an incorporated non-profit independent from CBC, which it became in 1998. 'What an incredible legacy. Then our artistic director, Jennifer Thiessen, took up the planning (in 2022) and put on really fantastic series of seasons through really difficult times with the pandemic, and then the return after,' says Virtuosi board chairwoman Heidi Reimer-Epp. While the pandemic dealt a severe blow in 2020 to performing arts groups, Virtuosi experienced another severe blow: the University of Winnipeg's withdrawal of operational support and access to its venue. 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'It's such a Winnipeg gesture, right? It's a beautiful thing that one community organization can support another community organization,' Hildebrand says. 'I know that the Women's Musical Club is going to run with it and do great things.' Conrad SweatmanReporter Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
