Factory Theatre is proud to announce a fall line-up of plays, musicals, comedy, and community events. From September to December, Factory is teeming with exciting partnerships, bringing back long-time collaborators Aluna Theatre and bcurrent performing arts, as well as new friends in Nuit Blanche, Theatre Sheridan, Tiny Bear Jaws, Lester Trips (Theatre), and Bad Dog Theatre. Fall 2024 at Factory is four months packed with keenly insightful and deeply entertaining new Canadian creations.

The fall programming focuses on Factory’s intimate Studio Theatre. For Artistic Director Mel Hague, the excitement of the space comes from the cool, old-school vibe, and the experimentation that is welcomed through this venue. “When I first worked at Factory Theatre as an intern more than a decade ago," Mel says, "the Studio Theatre was my home. These darkened rooms, the bar, the wooden floors and bricked walls hold the stories of generations of artists who have come through – you can feel it, it is palpable, immediate and thrilling.” Managing Director Mark Aikman adds “Factory has long been a platform for Toronto’s independent theatre artists and companies. Bringing their work to the forefront of our fall program is the perfect opportunity to introduce our audiences to all that Toronto theatre has to offer.”

The Fall 2024 Season kicks off in September with the sixth edition of Aluna Theatre’s RUTAS International Performing Arts Festival. Programmed around the theme of Personal Cartographies, the thought-provoking works of artists from Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, and across Turtle Island ask us: What is the cost behind that which we consume? What do we gain, and what do we lose, in our journey to achieve freedom? And how do we mark the world that shapes us, and what will happen to our footprints when we are gone? The RUTAS Festival runs from September 26 - October 6, 2024, with events at Factory Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille.

Factory is deepening its connection to the RUTAS Festival this year, presenting Carlos Rivera’s ROSA as part of the festival line up. Conceptualized, directed, and choreographed by Carlos Rivera and performed by Patricia Rivera, ROSA tells the story of an Indigenous woman from Ixtacamaxtitlan (located in the highlands of Puebla State) fleeing her community with six small children on her back. As she escapes a life of abuse at the hands of her husband and her in-laws, she crosses valleys, climbs mountains, and faces enormous challenges. After arriving in Mexico City she faces her greatest challenge yet: brutal discrimination. This will force her to make a choice that will have an impact on her and her children that will reverberate for generations to come. Through movement, theatre, and documentary, ROSA highlights the female body, its relationship to the land, and its capacity to resist, survive, and transform. Presented in the Factory Mainspace Theatre October 4 - 6.

On the night of October 5, Factory will host Independent Project artist Susannah Haight for this year's Nuit Blanche. UNTITLED – CLOCK PIECE invites audiences into a contemplative space, transforming the Factory Courtyard into a time piece that tracks the passage of minutes, seconds, and hours through the interplay of dance and light.

In October, Theatre Sheridan is proud to continue the legacy of developing new work through the FIRST DRAFTS program with a special showcase at Factory. Through the First Drafts program, Theatre Sheridan commissions new musicals by some of Canada’s best writers and composers. Factory audiences will get to see excerpts of these brand-new musicals and the unbelievable talents of Sheridan’s 4th Year Musical Theatre Performance class for a limited engagement in the Factory Mainspace Theatre from October 9 -12.

October wraps up with bcurrent performing arts and the return of rpsfest. This multi-arts festival (formerly known as rock.paper.sistahz) was an annual highlight for almost 15 years and is back after nearly a decade. Curated by Marcel Stewart, rpsfest will run in Factory’s Studio Theatre from October 18 - 19.

The Fall 2024 Season continues with a Factory Theatre presentation of I DON’T EVEN MISS YOU, from Edmonton’s Tiny Bear Jaws. Created by award-winning playwrights and performers Elena Belyea and Tori Morrison, I Don’t Even Miss You is directed and dramaturged by Montreal-based, Emma Tibaldo. Using live music, dance, and video in a bold exploration of grief, love, artificial intelligence, and legacy, this show asks how gender, identity, and family can exist with no one to perceive it. I Don’t Even Miss You will be on stage at the Factory Studio Theatre October 31 - November 10.

In November, Factory presents a Lester Trips (Theatre) production, HONEY I’M HOME, created and performed by Lauren Gillis and Alaine Hutton, and dramaturged by Factory Artistic Director Mel Hague. What’s a Hard-Working Full-Time Career-Person to do when her entire job is done by AI, but her body still has to show up to work? To combat her raging boredom, Janine uploads her consciousness into her home, literally. Slow Wi-Fi soon leads to a horrifying discovery in this physical theatre body horror mystery. Honey I’m Home is on stage at the Factory Studio Theatre from November 21 - December 1.

Fall 2024 at Factory comes to a close with HOLIDAY! AN IMPROVISED MUSICAL, a Bad Dog Theatre production created and directed by Jan Caruana. Inspired by Stephen Sondheim’s “Company”, Holiday! An Improvised Musical is the only party you’ll need for the holiday season. Based on suggestions from the audience, the cast weaves together a series of improvised vignettes and songs exploring love, relationships, work and the true meaning of the season. After a sold-out run in 2024 that garnered multiple Dora Award nominations (including Outstanding Creative Direction and Outstanding Production), Factory is thrilled to welcome Bad Dog Theatre for a limited run in the Studio Theatre from December 11 – 21, 2024.

Factory has even more in store for the rest of 2024-25 and will announce its spring programming lineup in November.

FACTORY THEATRE: FALL 2024

RUTAS International Performing Arts Festival

Presented by Aluna Theatre in Partnership with Factory Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille

September 26 – October 6, 2024

With presentations at Factory Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille

ROSA by Carlos Rivera

Featured as part of the RUTAS Festival

Co-Presented by Aluna Theatre and Factory Theatre

October 4 – 6, 2024

Presented in the Factory Theatre Mainspace

UNTITLED – CLOCK PIECE by Susannah Haight

Part of Nuit Blanche

October 5 – 6, 2024

Presented in the Factory Theatre Courtyard

FIRST DRAFTS

A Theatre Sheridan production in association with Factory Theatre

October 9 – 12, 2024

Presented in the Factory Theatre Mainspace

rpsfest curated by Marcel Stewart

Presented by bcurrent performing arts in association with Factory Theatre

October 18 – 19, 2024

Presented in the Factory Theatre Studio

I DON’T EVEN MISS YOU by Elena Belyea

Factory Theatre presents a Tiny Bear Jaws production

October 31 - November 10, 2024

Presented in the Factory Theatre Studio

HONEY I’M HOME by Lauren Gillis and Alaine Hutton

Factory Theatre presents a Lester Trips (Theatre) production

November 21 – December 1, 2024

Presented in the Factory Theatre Studio

HOLIDAY! AN IMPROVISED MUSICAL by Jan Caruana

A Bad Dog Theatre production in association with Factory Theatre

December 11 – 21, 2024

Presented in the Factory Theatre Studio

Visit:

Box Office: 416.504.9971, boxoffice@factorytheatre.ca

125 Bathurst Street (at Adelaide)

www.factorytheatre.ca