COAL MINE THEATRE CELEBRATES 10TH SEASON WITH AN ELECTRIFYING LINE UP OF BUZZY CANADIAN PREMIERES AND ILLUSTRIOUS CASTS
 
Jackie Maxwell directs the Canadian Premiere of Annie Baker’s INFINITE LIFE featuring Brenda Bazinet, Ari Cohen, Kyra Harper, Christine Horne, Nancy Palk, and Jean Yoon
 
Ted Dykstra directs the Toronto Premiere of A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD featuring Mazin Elsadig and – making his long-awaited return to the Coal Mine – Noah Reid
 
Diana Bentley directs the Canadian Premiere of Duncan Macmillan’s PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS featuring Oliver Dennis, Farhang Ghajar, Matthew Gouveia, Sam Grist, Louise Lambert, Sarah Murphy-Dyson, Fiona Reid, and Kaleb Tekeste
 
David Ferry directs the Canadian Premiere of Max Wolf Friedlich’s JOB (opening on Broadway this summer) featuring Charlotte Dennis and Diego Matamoros

Toronto, July 18 – For their 10th anniversary season, Toronto’s beloved “Off-Off Broadview” stage, Coal Mine Theatre is thrilled to announce a spectacular 24.25 programming line-up of what will undoubtedly be some of the hottest tickets in town.

As audiences have come to expect from the celebrated east-end venue, the upcoming season comprises hotly anticipated premieres of must-see award-winners and internationally acclaimed playwrights, performed by luminous ensembles of some of the most esteemed actors in the country, alongside new names waiting to be discovered. It’s a definitive COAL MINE season, true to their mandate to present challenging, provocative, and entertaining contemporary work in a refreshingly intimate and entirely authentic setting.

“After the highs and lows the COAL MINE has been through in recent years it is absolutely incredible to reach this 10-year milestone and to know that we have pulled together what may honestly be our most exciting programming to date,” comments company co-founder and Artistic Director Ted Dykstra. “This is a classic COAL MINE season.  A Toronto premiere and three Canadian premieres, all thrilling, topical plays by some of the most provocative playwrights in the world today, and we have been able to bring together acting ensembles and creative teams for these shows that are simply…the best of the best.”

On the heels of hugely successful runs at The National Theatre in London and the Atlantic Theater Company in New York, COAL MINE’s 10th anniversary season begins in September with the Canadian Premiere of Annie Baker’s newest work, INFINITE LIFE – the third production of Baker’s work at the theatre. A surprisingly funny inquiry into the complexities of human suffering, through a distinctly female lens, former Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival, Jackie Maxwell (Tarragon’s Withrow Park), makes her Coal Mine directorial debut with an all-star cast including Brenda Bazinet (Shoot the Messenger), Ari Cohen (The Antipodes), Kyra Harper (Hard Rock Medical), Christine Horne (Angels in America), Nancy Palk(August, Osage County), and Jean Yoon (Kim’s Convenience) returning to the Toronto stage for the first time since appearing in Kim’s Convenience on stage in 2017.

““Women’s problems” is a phrase that is guaranteed to leave many people, including much of the medical establishment, rolling their eyes and shrugging,” comments Maxwell. “Annie Baker takes them all on in her provocative new play in which we meet five women “of a certain age” who are all attending a desert fasting retreat for chronic illnesses. This is Ms. Baker at her best – antic, often hilarious conversation butts up against loaded pauses and silences as multiple ailments are discussed and compared and secrets are revealed along the way.”

Maxwell continues, “I am thrilled to be a part of this world, working with five of Canada’s most accomplished actresses (and one lucky man!) whose openness and ability to connect is renowned and will be so vital as we plunge into this very female world together and whose sense of bravery, fun and ability to share the stage with energy and generosity will be on glorious display throughout!”

In October, a beloved friend of the COAL MINE, Schitt’s Creek’s Noah Reid, makes his return to the theatre alongside rising star Mazin Elsadig (Topdog Underdog) in the Toronto Premiere of Samuel D. Hunter’s A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, directed by Ted Dykstra.  Reid returns to the Toronto stage following his recent Broadway debut in Tracy Lett’s The Minutes and a starring role in the Amazon series Outer Range.  Winner of the 2022 New York Drama Critic’s Circle Award for Best Play, A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD is a thoughtful and meditative two-hander, both intimate and expansive as it explores themes of parenthood, financial insecurity, and empathy.  

“To me, the COAL MINE represents everything I find exciting about the theatre: the immediacy of live performance, and the timelessness of brilliant writing,” offers Reid. “These guys read so many plays, they go see so many shows, they work so hard to find the scripts that are going to bring that quality to their audience, and they curate their productions so beautifully with the most talented artists this great city has to offer. I just trust their taste, both as an actor and as an audience member. I’m always so excited to see what it is they’re doing next.”

In the new year, company co-founder and former Artistic Director Diana Bentley (Yerma) teams up with uber-talented choreographer Alyssa Martin (Sex Dalmatian/Rock Bottom Movement) for the Canadian Premiere of Duncan Macmillan’s acclaimed PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS. A quest for addiction recovery that combines dance, virtuosic design, and performance, the production will star Louise Lambert in the role that elevated Denise Gough to international prominence and won her the Olivier Award, currently remounting in the West End. Lambert (Detroit, Yerma) will be joined by Soulpepper veteran Oliver Dennis, making his COAL MINE debut, Farhang Ghajar (The Seagull), Matthew Gouveia (Killer Joe), Sam Grist (Sex Dalmatian), Sarah Murphy-Dyson (Off-Kilter), Fiona Reid (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Hedda Gabler), and Kaleb Tekeste (CLUE).

“I don’t think there is a play that deals with addiction as viscerally and brilliantly as Duncan MacMillan’s People, Places and Things does,” shares Bentley. “Collaborating with Movement Director Alyssa Martin to bring such a vivid experience to life in the intimacy of the Coal Mine is a dream come true. And of course, it’s the perfect part for Louise Lambert and her astonishing talents. I can’t wait to share this show with the Coal Mine audience!”

The 10th anniversary season concludes with the very recently premiered JOB by Max Wolf Friedlich, in a production directed by David Ferry and starring one of Canada’s most esteemed and iconic stage performers, Diego Matamoros, alongside Charlotte Dennis, making her Coal Mine debut as Jane. JOB premiered off-Broadway in the fall of 2023 at the Soho Playhouse, returned to New York in January of this year in a limited run at the Connelly Theatre, and has just begun previews at the Hayes Theatre on Broadway this week (Frontmezzjunkies will be reviewing that Broadway production next month). Coal Mine audiences will be the very first in the world outside of New York to see it. The story of an employee of a big tech company who arrives in the office of a crisis therapist after being placed on leave, JOB made a huge splash in this last New York theatre season, receiving accolades from all the major press and described as “New York’s buzziest play” (The Daily Beast).  An essential addition to the western contemporary theatre canon, JOB takes on the most immediate of subjects; what it means to be a citizen of the internet and our obligation to help those who need it the most.

For more information visit www.coalminetheatre.com

COAL MINE THEATRE 2024/2025 SEASON:

INFINITE LIFE (Canadian Premiere)

September 6th – September 29th 

Written by Annie Baker

Directed by Jackie Maxwell

Starring Brenda Bazinet, Ari Cohen, Kyra Harper, Christine Horne, Nancy Palk, and Jean Yoon

Five women in Northern California lie outside on chaise longues and philosophize. A surprisingly funny inquiry into the complexity of suffering, and what it means to desire in a body that’s failing you.

A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD (Toronto Premiere)

November 3rd – November 24th 

Written by Samuel D. Hunter

Directed by Ted Dykstra

Starring Mazin Elsadig and Noah Reid

Two young fathers — a mortgage broker, and a plant worker desperate to buy a piece of land — meet to discuss a loan in an unassuming cubicle. As Keith and Ryan grapple with the realities of adulthood, a shared quest for meaning and belonging transcends the systems that fence them in.

Winner – 2022 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, Best Play

PEOPLE, PLACES, and THINGS (Canadian Premiere)

February 9th – March 2nd 

Written by Duncan Macmillan

Directed by Diana Bentley

Starring Oliver Dennis, Farhang Ghajar, Matthew Gouveia, Sam Grist, Louise Lambert, Sarah Murphy-Dyson, Fiona Reid, and Kaleb Tekeste

Emma was having the time of her life. Now she’s in rehab. Her first step is to admit that she has a problem. But the problem isn’t with Emma, it’s with everything else. She needs to tell the truth. But she’s smart enough to know that there’s no such thing. When intoxication feels like the only way to survive the modern world, how can she ever sober up? 

JOB (Canadian Premiere)

April 20th – May 11

Written by Max Wolf Friedlich

Directed by David Ferry

Starring Charlotte Dennis and Diego Matamoros

Jane, an employee at the big tech company (you know the one), has been placed on leave after becoming the subject of a viral video. She arrives in the office of a crisis therapist – Loyd – determined to be reinstated to the job that gives her life meaning. A psychological thriller, Job zooms in on two careerists of different generations, genders and political paradigms to examine what it means to be a citizen of the internet and our obligation to help the people who need it most.

ABOUT THE COAL MINE THEATRE

Since this artistic home for Toronto’s East End was founded in 2014 by co-artistic directors Diana Bentley and Ted Dykstra, The Coal Mine Theatre has become one of the most talked-about and critically acclaimed theatres in Toronto.  It was modeled after the Off-Off Broadway theatres in New York and branded as Toronto’s Off-Off-Broadview Theatre. In its intimate space on the Danforth, The Coal Mine has presented some of the most challenging, stimulating, and award-winning scripts from Canada and around the world.

In 9 seasons, each consisting of only 3 or 4 shows, The Coal Mine Theatre has amassed over 40 Dora nominations, over a dozen Doras, many Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards, and a fiercely loyal subscriber base. Their new home on the corner of Woodbine and Danforth, after a devastating fire in their old location, has already become a source of great neighbourhood pride. Partnerships are being formed with local businesses, making The Coal Mine, truly, a community theatre to be proud of.