SummerWorks is a gem in the city’s summer theatre scene. Now in its 36th year, the Toronto festival has a long history of platforming experimental, boundary-pushing live performances, including art, theatre, dance, music, and community-centred programming.

This year, the festival returns from August 6-16 with an 11-day lineup of bold and intimate work under the theme “Fight | Flight”. With 35 projects taking place across the city and pay-what-you-can ticketing, SummerWorks is the perfect opportunity to experience a new, unexpected, and thought-provoking piece of performance art. 

Here are 7 projects coming to the festival to keep on your radar:

Photo by Ömer Yükseker

Hello Sunshine!

Sara Porter’s one-woman, multidisciplinary solo show dives into her experience living with a sun allergy and all the challenges that come along with this invisible disability. Developed while travelling to rainy Scotland, and in the 24-hour darkness of northern Norway, Porter’s absurd and playful account of inventive living is set against the backdrop of pop songs about sunshine. See it at SummerWorks from August 13-15. More info. 

Photo by Keely O’Brien

Secret Ingredients

In this participatory theatre project, the audience is served some difficult truths…with a side of cake. Leading up to the show, the audience can submit messages they’re struggling to express to someone in their lives. The messages will then be translated onto cakes and served to the intended recipient. Come taste the tart cherry jam of embarrassment or the spicy ginger of annoyance on August 15 or 16. More info. 

Photo by Matt McKinney

Soft Squishy Things

In the vast expanse of space, how do we continue to search for connection? Described as “a lo-fi sci-fi odyssey in miniature,” Soft Squishy Things follows a trans-fem astronaut alone in outer space, who begins to turn everyday objects into companions—a Kleenex becomes an alien pet and marshmallows form new worlds. Catch this intimate object-theatre performance on August 13-15. More info. 

Photo by Mike McLaughlin

Little White Room

In Little White Room, the latest play-in-development from Quote Unquote Collective, three women—an American, a Mexican, and a Canadian—are trapped together in a customs detention cell. In this purgatorial space, power, injustice, and one dying air vent collide. This multilingual satire will be performed on August 13 and 14. More info.

Photo by Andi Crown Photography

Working On My Night Moves

This acclaimed performance doesn’t just break the rules—it also smashes the patriarchy…and the space-time continuum. Working on My Night Moves is a bold, mesmerizing live work that defies genres, weaving through shifting images, bodies and beats to reach toward multiple feminist futures—and it’s all soundtracked by Enya and dubstep mashups. See this ode to utopia unfold from August 13-15. More info. 

Photo by Birgit Schreyer Duarte & Alice Lo

Heritage Building in Prime Location

ASL, spoken English, and physical storytelling come together in this housing market drama and ghost story. Set in a historic building targeted for luxury redevelopment, neighbours Zoey, Trisha, and the ghosts of their building resist the profit-driven landlord who is determined to displace them. On August 12 and 15, watch as this disruptive, multi-perspective work raises questions of power and coexistence, and examines what it means to survive in the face of gentrification. More info. 

Photo by David Wong

We Move Together or Not at All

A sonified greenhouse is at the center of this choreographic installation coming to SummerWorks on August 15. In this ready-made greenhouse, the plants’ survival depends on the performers’ movement and the resulting condensation. As a sensor converts the movements into sound, the team of performers works together to build scores that raise the temperature and moisture in the greenhouse—it’s life and care-giving through movement. More info. 

Visit the Summerworks website for their full lineup of performances and to get your tickets.