Theatre Aurora offers season of classics, whodunnit, and humour in new season

September 10, 2026 · 0 Comments

Theatre Aurora opens its 2026-2027 season with a musical revue, Yesterday Once More, celebrating the hits of the 1960s and 70s, on September 18 – but laughs, larceny, and ‘liza Doolittle will be hallmarks of the fall and winter ahead.

Following Yesterday Once More, the Theatre Aurora stage will come to life again from November 13 to 21 with Over the River and Through the Woods, a Play by Joe DiPietro.

“Sunday dinner was never this complicated,” says Theatre Aurora of the show. “When a younger man announces he’s leaving for a job across the country, his four Italian-American grandparents pull out every stop – and every guilt trip – to make him stay. Joe DiPietro’s warm and wonderfully funny comedy is a love letter to family – the kind that drives you absolutely crazy and wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Theatre Aurora Artistic Director Judi Cragg says the play was brought to the attention of her and Theatre Aurora President Neill Kernohan by Theatre Aurora veteran Kay Valentine, who previously directed the show.

“Both Neill and I loved it,” says Cragg. “I hate to use the word ‘sweet,’ but it’s the best word I can think of, but let’s just say the sweetness is tempered. Anybody who reads it, that’s the word they use, and it’s very, very funny. I think it’s a play that many people can relate to in several different ways, and I think that’s what drew us to it.”

My Fair Lady, the next production, which runs January 22 to 31, has been a long-time draw for the creatives at Theatre Aurora, who are thrilled to be able to finally mount the classic Lerner & Lowe musical, based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion.

“One of the greatest musicals ever written, My Fair Lady sweeps you into Edwardian London where a sharp-tongued professor wagers he can transform a Cockney flower girl into a polished society lady,” says Theatre Aurora. “Lerner and Loewe’s score is glorious — I Could Have Danced All Night, Get Me to the Church on Time, On the Street Where You Live — and the story still crackles with wit, class, and complicated hearts.”

“I’ve always loved the show,” says Kernohan, who also takes the role of Director in this production. “I love the music and I also love the story. I always find the journeys of people in the shows interesting, especially for Eliza. We’ve seen Eliza in some of the shows have had Eliza coming back to Higgins and I don’t want to give too much away and what we’re doing, but I don’t think we’re going to do it that way. It’s slightly different. There’s always a concern that Eliza basically comes back to somebody who she shouldn’t be with, she doesn’t become her own person, and, to me, it’s really important that she realizes who she is and who she could be.

“It will still be the story of My Fair Lady, and we’re going to tell it well and beautifully, but I just want to make sure that Eliza’s a little more front and centre than sometimes she’s been given in other productions.”

Familiar characters will be placed in unfamiliar settings when Theatre Aurora mounts the play Holmes/Poirot March 5 – 13.

Written by Jeffery Hatcher and Steve Hendrickson, the play follows “the world’s greatest detective… and the other world’s greatest detective.”

“When Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot find themselves entangled in the same baffling mystery, the game is most decidedly afoot twice over. Two brilliant minds, two infallible methods, and absolutely no agreement on how to solve the case. Holmes/Poirot is a wickedly clever theatrical treat that plays fair with the clues, the characters, and the audience. Elementary? Hardly. But enormously satisfying.”

It was an unfamiliar play to the Theatre Aurora creatives when it first crossed their desks, but when the rights finally became available, they quickly snapped them up for this season.

More familiar, however, is the work of acclaimed Canadian playwright Norm Foster, whose farce Self Help, closes out the season, running April 30 through May 8.

“What happens when the gurus of personal transformation have a body they desperately need to get rid of? Norm Foster’s hilarious farce takes aim at the self-help industry with sharp wit and gleeful absurdity. Packed with mistaken intentions, escalating chaos, and characters who are very much not living their best lives, Self-Help is the perfect prescription for an evening of uncontrollable laughter. No journaling required.”

For more information on Theatre Aurora’s 2026-2027, including tickets, visit theatreaurora.com or call the box office at 905-727-3669.

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter