(Megan Mooney jumped in with Leanne in writing this one)

Shows that Caught Our Eye in Toronto for the Week of March 16, 2020

**UPDATE: In addition to theatres and theatre companies making the responsible decision to cancel, the province has now called a state of emergency and called for all theatres, restaurants and bars to be closed. Therefore, only performances streaming online will be listed.

** UPDATE #2: We are updating this post through the week with some live online performances (Not just from Toronto). Keep checking back for more updates!

This has been a really hard playlisting to write. I’m sure that comes as little surprise to any of you who follow us. We at Mooney on Theatre love theatre – everything that we do at Mooney comes from that love. And, like you, we have many family, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances who are being deeply affected by the loss of their live shows.

We will continue to do our weekly playlisting post to get information out there on any programming that is still running. That said, while we always encourage you to support the arts – in fact, we feel supporting the arts is vital – we also strongly believe that social-isolation is essential right now. So, if you do attend an event, be sure to follow all the guidelines of no touching, keeping a big distance from people, lots of thorough handwashing, coughing into your elbow, and if you’ve found a way to do it (I haven’t) not touching your face.

We will not be sending any of our writers out to review shows for the next couple weeks, but that doesn’t mean there will not be content on Mooney on Theatre. Folks are working on some exciting feature pieces in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

Now to the actual listings:

We have been doing our best to make sure that this list is as up-to-date as possible, and only shows still running are listed. But please be aware that because the landscape is ever-changing, we can only do so much to keep up. If you decide to go to a show, we recommend confirming in some way that it is still running before heading out.

To track the cancellations we’ve been following along social media, and of course, using the emails we’ve been getting to update us. But another fantastic resource you can access is Intermission Magazine. They have a list going at Covid-19 Theatre News Updates – it is a bit out of date at the time of this article’s publication, but I expect it will be updated shortly with the most up-to-date information on closures, postponements, and other related news.

We’re going to skip the ‘reds‘ this week.

Continue reading Toronto Playlistings for the Week of March 16, 2020 →

Shows that Caught Our Eye in Toronto for the Week of March 9, 2020

Mid-March has already snuck up on us. March Break starts on Saturday, and many of you (me included!) are already working on figuring out what we’re going to do with the kids for the week if we don’t have daycare arranged.  One of the things we’re looking at doing is taking the kids out to see some live theatre  – we are definitely going check out YPT, but there is other great kids theatre opportunities coming up!

Even if you aren’t looking to plan for the young people in your lives there is a lot of fantastic theatre to see this week.  And it is our Editor Samantha who gets to let you know what shows she has her eye on.  Take a scroll down to take a look at her ‘reds‘ picks.

Continue reading Toronto Playlistings for the Week of March 9, 2020 →

Shows that Caught Our Eye in Toronto for the Week of March 2, 2020

And here we are in March!  It sure is coming in like a lamb. Or at least the weather is.  But the Toronto theatre scene keeps roaring right along.  Putting together this week’s listings, the number of Free or PWYC shows certainly caught my eye.  So did the amount of Comedy, which I know I could go in for after the past couple of weeks of grey and gloomy weather.

Mooney Editor Lin gets to splash some colour onto our listings this week. Red to be precise!  Scroll through the playlistings below and keep an eye out for Lin’s ‘reds’ – the shows that have piqued her interested this week!

Continue reading Toronto Playlistings for the Week of March 2, 2020 →

Shows that Caught Our Eye in Toronto for the Week of February 24, 2020

My partner and I went to a show last weekend and met a wonderful couple. We met in the elevator on the way to the show, and again after the show in the same elevator afterward.  It sparked a short but great conversation about shows we had seen, and theatre that we like.  There wasn’t agreement in our preferences, but it was such a wonderful, spontaneous conversation!  It really reminded me that the theatre community is really an extended family tied together by our love of theatre art.

So this week it’s up to me to let you – my theatre family – know what has caught my personal eye this week. Check out my ‘red’ picks below. And, agree with me or not about my choices, I know that if I meet you in the lobby or elevator we can still easily start up a conversation about our mutual love of theatre.

Continue reading Toronto Playlistings for the Week of February 24, 2020 →

Shows that Caught Our Eye in Toronto for the Week of February 17, 2020

The last couple of weeks have been pretty gray and overcast. And if you’re like me you’ve probably been struggling a bit with the February blahs.  I haven’t had much motivation to get to work on my big stack ‘To Do’s’ that I know I’ve mentioned before.  The list that I know you all have too!  Family Day weekend was a great break from the usual routine, and shook out the cobwebs (the sunshine helped too!)  We even got out to see some theatre – although with so many great options right now it was hard to choose what to go see.

Even though the weekend is over with, you can still pop out to see a show and shake up the routine and get rid of those February blahs! This week it’s up to Megan to let you know what has caught her eye and has her excited about heading out to the theatre.  Take a look through the listings below to check out her picks highlighted in ‘red’.  We’re sure you won’t be disappointed!

Continue reading Toronto Playlistings for the Week of February 17, 2020 →