It looks to be an exciting year for the Winnipeg theatre scene. Last year saw some real gems take the stage, but now both big and small companies seem excited to continue their current theatrical form into the 2011-2012 season.

Each company is also progressively exploring the art form, including the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (MTC) and Merlyn Productions who will both be adapting classics for modern audiences.

Stephen Schipper, the artistic director for MTC, is directing William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but is making a slight location change.

Instead of the Victorian drama being set in traditional Verona, the two star-crossed lovers will meet their fate in modern-day Jerusalem.

“The Capulets are Muslim, the Montagues are Jewish and the Friars are Christian,” Schipper tells The Uniter.

MTC is entering its 57th season and second under the helm of new general manager Camilla Holland. Schipper perceives the transition from Zaz Bajon’s 30-year tenure as “going from strength to strength. (Camilla) will no doubt lead us to even greater heights.”

Grumpy Old Men, directed by Jeff Gardner, is MTC’s first production of the season and will run until Nov. 5, followed by Romeo and Juliet which will occupy the John Hirsch Mainstage from Nov. 24 to Dec. 7.

Another notable production is Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play which will be premiered at the Tom Hendry Warehouse on Nov. 3. One review calls the play “a fanciful but compassionate consideration of the treatment, and the mistreatment, of women in the late 19th century.”

Smaller, independent theatre companies are also excited for the upcoming year.

John Chase’s brainchild Merlyn Productions, who are known for their terrific presentations of one-act plays, is already in the middle of its season. The recent production of three morality plays (naturally entitled Morality Plays) gave true insight into human intuitiveness and ethics.

Having broken its previous attendance record with Sunday Costs Five Pesos, the group’s next presentation will be an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic Through the Looking Glass which will run from Dec. 7 to Dec. 10 at MP’s main stage, The Ellice Theatre.

“(It will) be the company’s first official foray into theatre for young audiences,” Chase says of the Alice and Wonderland sequel. “We’ve also expanded to include training and a theatre school.”

Manitoba Theatre For Young People also has a variety of upcoming attractions. MTYP’s rendition of Tolkien’s The Hobbit is showing now until Nov. 13 and will be followed by another child hero, Winnie the Pooh in The House at Pooh Corner, showing from Dec. 7 to Dec. 26.

The best opportunity to catch almost all the main Winnipeg theatre companies this season will be at the 2012 Master Playwright Festival in January.

“The featured dramatist is one of my all-time favourite playwrights - George Bernard Shaw, who I’ve been waiting for them to select for over 10 years,” says Chase.

Visit The Manitoba Association of Playwrights at www.mbplays.ca for all your theatre information.

Published in Volume 66, Number 10 of The Uniter (November 2, 2011)