Opening May 15th and running through May 30th at the Pumphouse Theatre in Calgary, Front Row Centre Players presents Cabaret, directed by Kay Astop. Kyle sits down with Kay to talk about this complicated production and the time it took to bring it to the stage from having to shutter it due to the pandemic 4 days before it was set to open until today when it finally sees an audience.

Tickets: https://www.artscommons.ca/whats-on/frc-2025-26-season

About the show:

In a Berlin nightclub, as the 1920s draw to a close, a garish Master of Ceremonies welcomes the audience and assures them they will forget all their troubles at the Cabaret. With the Emcee’s bawdy songs as wry commentary, Cabaret explores the dark, heady, and tumultuous life of Berlin’s natives and expatriates as Germany slowly yields to the emerging Third Reich. Cliff, a young American writer newly arrived in Berlin, is immediately taken by English singer Sally Bowles. Meanwhile, Fräulein Schneider, proprietor of Cliff and Sally’s boarding house, tentatively begins a romance with Herr Schultz, a mild-mannered fruit seller who happens to be Jewish.

Directed by Dayna Coles, Kyle sits down with Dayna to discuss Dewdney Player's production of Steel Magnolias, opening May 8th and running through May 23rd.

Tickets: https://www.showpass.com/dewdney-players-presents-steel-magnolias-the-old-church-theatre-6/

About the Show:

The action is set in Truvy’s beauty salon in Chinquapin, Louisiana, where all the ladies who are “anybody” come to have their hair done. Helped by her eager new assistant, Annelle (who is not sure whether or not she is still married), the outspoken, wise-cracking Truvy dispenses shampoos and free advice to the town’s rich curmudgeon, Ouiser, ("I’m not crazy, I’ve just been in a bad mood for forty years"); an eccentric millionaire, Miss Clairee, who has a raging sweet tooth; and the local social leader, M’Lynn, whose daughter, Shelby (the prettiest girl in town), is about to marry a “good ole boy.” Filled with hilarious repartee and not a few acerbic but humorously revealing verbal collisions, the play moves toward tragedy when, in the second act, the spunky Shelby (who is a diabetic) risks pregnancy and forfeits her life. The sudden realization of their mortality affects the others but also draws on the underlying strength—and love—which give the play, and its characters, the special quality to make them truly touching, funny and marvelously amiable company in good times and bad.

Opening May 20th and running until June 7th at the B'nai Tikva Temple in Calgary, Chai Life presents The Last Yiddish Speaker, directed by Zelda Dean. Kyle sits down with Zelda and producer Laura Shuler to discuss what this show means, and how it will impact an audience.

Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/the-last-yiddish-speaker

About the show:

In this fast-paced drama with a streak of magical realism, a Jewish father and daughter rely on their wits and powers of deceit to survive when the world has dramatically changed and the slightest divergence from the norm could cost them their lives. When an ancient Yiddish-speaking woman is deposited on their doorstep, Sarah and her father must decide whether to help the woman hide or to save themselves. Though it centers on Judaism and the right for Jews to exist, it has universal appeal to anyone who worries about marginalized groups, and the often-unwitting or uneducated, both well-meaning and vengeful, who group together to persecute them.

Kyle sits down with Cherie Dianne Caslyn, director of Take a Bow's forthcoming production of Noise's Off, presented in Cochrane at the Cochrane Ranchehouse Theatre May 1st through the 10th. They discuss the difficulties of doing it all in the effort to bring a production to life.

Tickets: https://www.showpass.com/noises-off-by-michael-frayn/

About the show:

Called “the funniest farce ever written,” Noises Off presents a manic menagerie of itinerant actors rehearsing a flop called Nothing’s On. Slamming doors, on and offstage intrigue, and an errant herring all figure in the plot of this hilarious, high-energy comedy. Mixing mockery and homage, Frayn heaps a hilarious melée of stock characters and situations into his side-splitting play-within-a-play.

Opening May 1st and running through May 10th at the Swamp Donkey Theatre in Bragg Creek, Aubry Baux directs, with Melanie Baux musical directing, 9 to 5, the Musical. Kyle sits down with Aubrey and Melanie to talk about the relevance of this production, it's history and Aubry's first time directing a large scale musical.

Tickets: https://www.showpass.com/s/events/all/?search_string=nine+to+five

About the Show

9 to 5: The Musical, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and book by Patricia Resnick, is based on the seminal 1980 hit movie. Set in the late 1970s, this hilarious story of friendship and revenge in the Rolodex era is outrageous, thought-provoking, and even a little romantic.

Pushed to the boiling point, three female coworkers concoct a plan to get even with the sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot they call their boss. In a hilarious turn of events, Violet, Judy, and Doralee live out their wildest fantasy – giving their boss the boot! While Hart remains "otherwise engaged," the women give their workplace a dream makeover, taking control of the company that had always kept them down. Hey, a girl can scheme, can't she?

On April 24th, and running until May 2nd, Morpheus Theatre presents Gilbert & Sullivan's Patience at the Pumphouse theatre, directed by Winnifred Hume with musical direction from Aly Carigan and choreography from Kylie Bullock. Kyle sits down with Kylie and Winnifred to discuss the difficulties of bringing a 143 year old production to life in the modern day.

Tickets: https://www.morpheustheatre.ca/?portfolio=patience-or-bunthornes-bride

About the Show:

All of the maidens in the village are besotted with Reginald Bunthorne, a moody and handsome poet, but he has eyes only for the simple milkmaid, Patience. The problem? Bunthorne’s artistic ways are all just an act to attract women to him–he doesn’t even like poetry! Besides, Patience is in love with her childhood sweetheart, who happens to be a real poet named Archibald Grosvenor, but feels she cannot marry him because he is just too perfect. In the meantime, the serious (and decidedly non-poetic) platoon of Heavy Dragoon Guards that were meant to marry the village maidens find themselves dismayed and perplexed by their sudden loss of prospects. One of Gilbert & Sullivan’s most successful shows, Patience is a rollicking satire that pits the straight-laced ideals of the Victorian era against the passions and indulgences of the 1870s Aesthetic Movement, ridiculing each side of the spectrum.

Opening April 10th and running through the 18th at the Pumphouse in Calgary, Misfit Theatre YYC presents the original musical work Oddition, written and directed by Krista Willott. Kyle sits down with Krista and with choreographer and performer Nimue Nova to discuss the productions creation and the difficulties of directing while also being on stage.

Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/oddtion-presented-by-misfit-theatre

About the Show:

ODDITION (written by Krista Willott, Paul Finkleman and Lacey Bartko) takes place during one afternoon of auditions for a community theatre musical and all the chaos that entails.

Opening April 9th through April 12th at the Studio at Vertigo Theatre in Calgary, Baker Miller Pink presents The Painter and the Lake, directed by Cayley Wreggitt, choreographed by Samantha Ketsa. Kyle sits down with Cayley and Samantha to discuss what this new work is about and how it came to be.

Tickets: https://purchase.vertigotheatre.com/EventAvailability?EventId=2601

About the Show:

Peter, a down-on-his-luck painter, has hit a rut. In search of a muse, he traverses the Kananaskis backcountry until he discovers Lillian, a pristine mountain lake. But something sinister lurks beneath her surface, unearthing ghosts from Peter's past and challenging his relationship to art as a passion and a profession. “The Painter and The Lake” is presented by Baker Miller Pink as a Resident Company of Vertigo Theatre.