The Citadel is a home for the development of new large-scale Canadian and Albertan plays and musicals. In recent seasons our audiences have had an opportunity to experience fantastic new work, written by playwrights from Edmonton and beyond.
Some world premieres have come out of our Playwrights Lab (The Garneau Block), others through commissions (Prison Dancer, Almost A Full Moon, The Party & The Candidate and The Silver Arrow), other mainstage productions have come homegrown from local playwrights (The Fiancée, Made in Italy and Heist). Our 2025/26 Season included Burning Mom by Edmonton’s Mieko Ouchi, which was originally read as part of our Collider Festival of New Work and commissioned works Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmonton’s Jessy Ardern and Project Andromeda, (performed by the Citadel Young Company), by Edmonton’s Mac Brock, both of whom were a part of our Playwright’s Lab in 2021/22. This upcoming Season 2026/27 we are thrilled to share the world premiere of our commissioned adaptation of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald adapted by Erin Shields, a new work in progress Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen adapted by Jessica B. Hill and Daryl Cloran and Chula by Alexandra Lainfiesta, a new one person play with music that received development as part of our 2025/26 Playwrights Lab.
We are thrilled to share some of the amazing activity happening in New Play Development and give audiences and artists a sneak peek into what is being incubated and supported at the company, right now! We currently have nine different large-scale commissions and works in development in process:
The Great Gatsby
Acclaimed playwright Erin Shields is adapting F. Scott Fitzgerald’s great American classic. Millionaire Jay Gatsby’s mansion is always filled with eccentric New Yorkers who party into the wee hours of the morning. Their mysterious host, however, is often nowhere to be found as he pines for Daisy, the one that got away. A compelling, dramatic story of characters who are reaching out for illusions of happiness only to be confronted with the stark reality of the cards they’ve been dealt, this imaginative adaptation will feature a live jazz band. Shields’ imaginative adaptation of Jane Eyre remains a Citadel favourite and we are thrilled to partner with her reimagining another classic.
Sense and Sensibility
A fun and fresh adaptation of the Jane Austen classic by Jessica B. Hill and Daryl Cloran is a new work in development at the Citadel. After the loss of their father, the Dashwood sisters—sensible, subdued Elinor and the passionately emotional Marianne—must navigate gossip, society and the trials and tribulations of love and family. When suitors, both suitable and otherwise, start courting the Dashwood girls, the sisters must blend sense with sensibility to protect their hearts and their reputations. Full of heart and bristling with wit, this is a boldly unique reimagining of this much-loved romantic comedy.
The Vinyl Cafe Christmas Musical
This musical adaptation of The Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean premiered as part of our 2025/26 Anniversary Season. Envisioned as a large-scale holiday musical for the whole family, featuring Dave and Morley and many of Stuart McLean’s beloved characters, the script includes McLean’s most popular holiday stories, such as: “Dave Cooks the Turkey” and “Rashida, Amir and the Great Gift-Giving”. The musical adaptation is written by Georgina Escobar with Jess Milton, with music by Colleen Dauncey and lyrics by Akiva Romer-Segal. Developed in partnership with Jess Milton, producer of The Vinyl Cafe radio show. We continue to develop the musical in anticipation of our upcoming production at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in December 2026
Cyrano de Bergerac
The Citadel commissioned local playwright, Jessy Ardern to adapt Edmond Rostand’s classic, romantic, adventure story. This new adaptation embraces the traditional time period, language and sword play, with a fresh, smart contemporary theatricality and urgency. We are very excited to be working with Jessy, a past participant in our Playwrights Lab, who is well known to Edmonton audiences for her work as a performer and as part of the Fox Den Collective. Cyrano de Bergerac premiered as part of our 2025/26 Anniversary Season and will be performed in Winnipeg and London, Ontario as part of a tri-city co-production in the 2026/27 Season.
You Don’t Know Jack
A Citadel commission, You Don’t Know Jack is a visceral and dynamic new play by celebrated playwright and screenwriter Andrea Scott that explores the story of iconic athlete, Jackie Robinson, the first Black player in Major League Baseball. Set during Robinson’s pivotal years playing for the Montreal Royals, You Don’t Know Jack aims to shine a light of humanity on who Jack Robinson really was as a man.
And Then There Was One
We are so happy to be supporting an exciting new play by local playwright Farren Timoteo, builds on the success of his mega-hit Made in Italy. When the world’s most elite murder mystery writers gather at a secluded French château in 1929 for their annual retreat, they find themselves at the center of a real-life murder mystery of their own. Now, the so-called Detection Club must become the very detectives they so famously created in order to solve the case and survive the night. In this one-man murder mystery musical, golden age whodunnit tropes collide with contemporary pop songs reimagined as 1920s jazz hits, as a single performer plays every suspect, sleuth, servant (and dead body) himself.
Darcy & Wickham
The Citadel is thrilled to have commissioned a charming new adaptation by Belinda Cornish based on the novel, Follies Past, by Melanie Kerr. Two talented Edmontonians! For shy, demure Georgiana Darcy, the prospect of her first London season is intimidating beyond words. That is, until her childhood friend, George Wickham, reappears in her life, igniting a spark of passion which promises to bloom into the match of which she has always dreamed. Based on the backstory so tantalizingly hinted at in Pride and Prejudice, Darcy & Wickham explores the true source of the enmity between one of literature’s most renowned romantic heroes, Mr. Darcy, and his nemesis, the dashing Mr. Wickham.
Home For A Rest
Featuring 20 hit songs from iconic Canadian band Spirit of the West (including “Home for a Rest”, “And If Venice Is Sinking”, “Not Just a Train”, and “Save This House”) Home For A Rest is a heartfelt and hilarious new musical. With an original story by celebrated musical theatre creator Matt Murray, the Citadel is pleased to be commissioning this exploration of friendship, loss, and what it is to take an unexpected road trip across Canada with a group of friends you had a falling out with 20 years before.
The Narnian And The Calormene
We are so pleased to be commissioning Makram Ayache to write this exciting family musical adventure based on a familiar classic. The Calormene live in bustling desert cities, speak in lavish poetry, and worship a fierce protector named Tash… Oh! and they are the Narnian’s mortal enemies. Drawing from the entirety of C. S. Lewis’ beloved Chronicles of Narnia series, The Narnian and the Calormene takes us into the heart of the desert capital, Tashbaan, where Sina, a young Calormene Tarkhaan or Duke, meets Leona, a whip smart Narnian academic, in a tale the transcends borders, defies cultures, and asks all of us to reassess what we believe to be true about the other.
Updates on Citadel Commissions and plays developed through our Playwrights Lab
The Tao Of The World by Jovanni Sy adapted from the play The Way Of The World by William Congreve, who worked on the play as part of our Playwrights Lab in 2021/22 Season is receiving its World Premiere at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario August 2-September 20 2026.
R+J: Closing Night by Jessy Ardern, who worked on the play as part of our Playwrights Lab in 2021/22 will receive its world premiere by Theatre Projects Manitoba and The Fox Den Collective in Winnipeg September 8-20 2026.
Heist by Arun Lakra, who worked on the play as part of our Playwrights Lab in the 2021/22 Season, which we produced in our 2024/25 Season, will be playing at the Constellation Stage and Screen in Bloomington, Indiana September 3-20 2026 and at The Arts Club Theatre in Vancouver in September 17-October 18 2026. It will also be done at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin November 17-December 20 2026, at the Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples Florida January 12- February 7 2027, at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, Ontario April 20-May 15 2027.
Cyrano de Bergerac, adapted by Jessy Ardern from the original play by Edmond Rostand which we commissioned in 2024, and premiered in our 2025/26 Season, will be seen as part of a Tri-Production at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg October 7-31 2026, and then at Grand Theatre in London, Ontario March 30-April 17 2027.
The Great Gatsby adapted by Erin Shields from the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald which we commissioned in 2024, will have its world premiere at the Citadel October 31- November 22 2026.
Persuasion adapted by Katherine Koller from Jane Austen’s novel as part of our 2024/25 and 2025/26 Playwrights Labs, will be produced at Concordia University Edmonton in November 2026.
The Vinyl Café Christmas Musical, book by Georgina Escobar with Jess Milton, music by Colleen Dauncey and lyrics by Akiva Romer-Segal, based on The Vinyl Cafe stories by Stuart McLean, which we commissioned in 2022 and premiered in our 2025/26 Season, will be going to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa December 14-26 2026.
Sense and Sensibility, adapted by Jessica B. Hill and Daryl Cloran from the novel by Jane Austen, which we commissioned in 2026 will have its world premiere at the Citadel February 20-March 14 2027.
Chula by Alexandra Lainfiesta, who worked on the play as part of the 2025/26 Playwrights Lab will have its world premiere at the Citadel as part of the High Wire Series April 22-May 9 2027.