Ronnie Burkett’s Billy Twinkle: Requiem for a Golden Boy, part of the new season at ATP

Alberta Theatre Projects is starting the season on a high note, after dominating the nominations at the Betty Mitchell Awards and walking away with seven trophies. Under the watchful eye of new artistic director Vanessa Porteous, the upcoming season promises to be just as strong.

Starting off on a quirky note, Shakespeare’s Dog (Sept. 22 to Oct. 10) introduces us to a young Shakespeare, just discovering his creativity and world view, as told by his canine friend. We meet Shakespeare’s family as well as the family of his dog.

“He becomes Shakespeare, in a way, in the show. He just lets it fly by the end and so does Hooker the dog. The hero of the show is not William Shakespeare; the hero is the dog,” says Porteous.

But if the first show is a “dual species comedy,” the next show is a more singular affair. I, Claudia (Oct. 20 to Nov. 8) is a one-woman show starring Liisa Repo-Martell. “She’s one of the greats. I mean, she is the real thing. She’s an unmissable performer,” says Porteous.

Repo-Martell wears masks to jump from character to character, telling the tale of a teenybopper at a turning point in her life.

While Claudia may be emerging from her youth, the next show is meant for the children and the young at heart. This year’s holiday season family production, Toad of Toad Hall (Nov. 25 to Dec. 27), brings the lovable troublemaker Mr. Toad to the Martha Cohen Theatre.

“Everyone has a little Mr. Toad in them. He’s up for an adventure; he wants to live large; he wants to own amazing things and have great adventures and he’s totally unaware of his own limitations and he’s a bit of a braggart,” says Porteous.

Directed by Karen Hines, well-known for working with Mump and Smoot, the “clowns of horror,” and with Mump and Smoot themselves acting as movement coaches, Toad of Toad Hall promises be an intriguing entry in the family-theatre category.

“The great adventures of Mr. Toad. We love him because he’s so flawed,” says Porteous.

Flawed, however, isn’t a word that anyone has ever applied to playRites (Feb. 3 to March 7), ATP’s annual festival of new work. This year, four plays hit two stages. “What I really love about it is how diverse the experiences are going to be,” says Porteous.

How Do I Love Thee is a tragic romance based on the lives and loves of poets Elizabeth and Robert Browning, while Abraham Lincoln Goes to the Theatre is “puzzle box of a show” dealing with the crazed nature of America. Lincoln is directed by former artistic director of ATP Bob White. “America has these big dreams of itself, but what is underneath that dream? What are we really? We’re animals, we’re barbarians,” says Porteous.

Also playing in the Martha Cohen for playRites, Tyland, directed by Porteous, is a “sophisticated thriller, set in a time not unlike our own and has to do with two women being moved by the government up to an Arctic island in order to make a claim for sovereignty.”

It’s a timely play, what with Stephen Harper gallivanting about the North as the snow melts.

But, in the end, the play is about the relationship of the two women, with “sinister forces in the background.”

On the second stage, in the Big Secret Theatre, Ghost River will be showing The Highest Step in the World (see Ghost River’s preview on page 35 for more information).

After the wonderful chaos that is playRites, an audience favourite returns to ATP’s stage for a much-anticipated show. Ronnie Burkett’s Billy Twinkle Requiem for a Golden Boy (March 18 to April 11) follows a cruise-ship puppeteer who wants to end it all, but gets a second look at his life as a puppet character. It’s a tale of salvation and new beginnings.

“What’s great about this one is Ronnie’s world-class artistry,” says Porteous. “The way he manipulates his marionettes and the design of his marionettes are just stunning.”

After the golden boy packs up his strings, ATP caps off its season with three women. Communion (April 27 to May 15) is a mixed comedy-drama by Daniel MacIvor. We follow three women as they try to reconnect with each other and move on with their lives.

“I think what’s so great about Daniel MacIvor’s writing is the characters are always so… they’re just irreverent. They’re very recognizable but they’re totally unique. I find myself feeling very alive when I read his writing,” says Porteous.