2024
Season 13 brought an array of productions, special showings, festivals, and community ventures!
A special one-night showing of Evalyn Parry’s SPIN opened the 2024 season. SPIN, a timeless musical celebration of the bicycle, was presented in special outdoor, live concert version with a string trio.
2024 also brought the return of the three men- this time, on bikes! Three Men on a Bike, with the trio of actors reprising their roles from the summer before, was presented at the Greek Theatre, and toured to Prince Edward County at County Stage.
Throughout the summer, GFT launched the Discovery Drive Bus Tours, inviting audiences to discover the local arts, culture and history of the Scarborough area. Our Family Fest was back for the third year running, with audience favourites such as Nagata Shachu returning to delight families at the park. We also hosted two Yoga Classes at the theatre with Modo Yoga, and the first ever outdoor show for Scarborough’s A Joke at our Greek Theatre.
The final production of the season was the Toronto Premiere of Governor General Award-winning playwright Robert Chafe’s Isle of Demons. Telling the incredible, yet true, tale of Marguerite de la Roque who was abandoned on a remote island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1542, Isle of Demons was directed by Tyler J. Seguin, and featured Co-Artistic Director Helen Juvonen in the cast, making her Greek Theatre debut as an actor.
2023
The 2023 Season brought a summer of journeys and discoveries, with two mainstage productions, a tour of 2022’s acclaimed Alice in Wonderland, and the return of the hugely popular Family Fest!
GFT presented a remount of Alice in Wonderland at the Greek Theatre, a production which then toured across the province to the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival, and Theatre on the Ridge. We were thrilled to share this story of adventure and curiosity with more audiences across Ontario, and to return to St. Lawrence for a second year in a row!
Next up was the hugely popular Three Men in a Boat, a laugh-out-loud comedy by Mark Brownell, based on the 1889 novel by Jerome K. Jerome. The three men (and their dog) delighted audiences throughout July and August with their tales of travel, friendship, and misadvanture.
The final show of the 2023 season was The Drowning Girls, a haunting, historical true crime by Canadian playwrights Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson and Daniela Vlaskalic. The performances, direction, and design transformed our Greek Theatre and received rave reviews.
2022
Guild Festival Theatre’s 11th season was a celebration of live performance and community spirit! The summer began with Family Fest, a festival of arts for young audiences. Dozens of artists engaged thousands of families over the five-day event.
GFT next presented The Red Priest (Eight Ways to Say Goodbye). This bittersweet love story is poignant variation on the themes of love and freedom by Governor General Award-nominated playwright Mieko Ouchi.
Finishing the 2022 season was Chekhov's Shorts, humorous gems by one of modern drama's greatest playwrights in a new vaudeville-inspired adaptation. A GFT original by Helen Juvonen & Tyler J. Seguin.
GFT finished the season with an incredible night at the 2022 Dora Mavor Moore Awards! After leading the Theatre for Young Audiences category with 7 nominations, Alice in Wonderland was honoured with two awards: Kiana Woo won for her lead performance as Alice, and the show was honoured with the prestigious Jon Kaplan Audience Choice Award.
2021 was a very special year for GFT. Not only did we celebrate 10 years of bringing classics to Guild Park, we also expanded our programming to include two mainstage shows, a concert series, and a tour! We opened this season with Women in Song: Summer Thunder, showcasing a myriad of award-winning musicians in partnership with FabCollab. Next, the Song and Story Series featured five days of workshops and performances. Our mainstage season was met with great critical acclaim and with presentations of Salt-Water Moon by David French and David Savoy’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. In August, GFT also took Salt-Water Moon on the road to Prescott, Ontario for GFT’s first tour in partnership with the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival.
2021
2021 was a very special year for GFT. Not only did we celebrate 10 years of bringing classics to Guild Park, we also expanded our programming to include two mainstage shows, a concert series, and a tour! We opened this season with Women in Song: Summer Thunder, showcasing a myriad of award-winning musicians in partnership with FabCollab. Next, the Song and Story Series featured five days of workshops and performances. Our mainstage season was met with great critical acclaim and with presentations of Salt-Water Moon by David French and David Savoy’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. In August, GFT also took Salt-Water Moon on the road to Prescott, Ontario for GFT’s first tour in partnership with the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival.
2020
Despite the pandemic, GFT successfully and safely presented live in-person performances including street parades, pop-up performances on Guildwood lawns and driveways, and 4 shows at the Greek Theatre.
2019
In 2019 we delighted audiences with Anne by Paul Ledoux, an adaptation of L.M. Montgomery’s beloved novel Anne of Green Gables. Full of music and imagination, audiences and critics alike loved seeing Avonlea come to life on stage night after night.
2018
2018 brought George Bernard Shaw’s comic masterpiece Pygmalion to our stage, incorporating live music and dance, to the delight of our audiences! Park improvements included a pathway and audience lighting - which were much appreciated after our evening performances!
2017
2017 saw the gorgeous production of She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith, which had glowing reviews from all who witnessed it.
2016
Due to park renovations in 2016, we weren't able to perform at The Greek Theatre that summer.
2015
Sadly, in 2015 we lost our leader Sten Eirik, and the possible end of The Guild Festival Theatre was in sight. Jamie Robinson was brought on board at the last minute to take over the helm, directing the most attended season to date with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Reviews were stellar and the cast, crew, and board of directors all felt the guiding hand of Sten pushing us to carry on with his dream. The stars have truly aligned as the 2016 season hiatus gave us time to reimagine how the next successful five years should look with the renewed energy of a revitalized Guildwood Park and Banquet Hall.
2014
Our 2014 season made a splash with the hilarity of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest. There was not a dry eye in the house (or should we say, under the stars), as night after night tears of laughter echoed over the bluffs into Lake Ontario and across to Toronto Island. Truly our most successful production in terms of audience appeal, it set the stage for what The Guild Festival could truly become, a professional Theatre of unparalleled quality for the GTA.
2013
Our 2013 hit was Molière’s The Misanthrope, which earned rave reviews and a 50% increase in audience attendance. Audience feedback drew a comparison with Stratford and the Shaw Festival. We garnered the 2013 Urban Hero Award for making a difference in the community. With funding from the government of Canada, we employed students from Centennial College, U. of T. Scarborough and Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate.
2012
In 2012 we presented Clouds Over T.O., the world premiere for our own musical modernization of Aristophanes' The Clouds. Music and songs were by Toronto's jazz and klezmer virtuoso David Buchbinder. We engaged 20 volunteers from Centennial College who earned a combined total of 326 hours towards their Leadership Passports. In addition, we have mentored high school students for their community hours.
2011
When Guild Festival Theatre appeared on the Toronto arts scene in 2011, we were hailed as the "new theatre project that deserves to succeed" (Paula Citron), "terrific theatre in a great landscape" (Michael Kramer), and "a lively, fast-paced spectacle that brings the essence of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard to life" (David Bateman).