A pair of new plays by CBC star Bilal Baig and an adaptation of “A Season in Hell” by the surrealist French poet Arthur Rimbaud, will highlight the 2025-26 season at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, the world’s largest and longest-running queer theatre company.
The lineup, running from September 2025 to May 2026, includes four mainstage productions, the 47th edition of the experimental Rhubarb Festival, and presentations of four additional works by partner companies.
The mainstage season kicks off with “The Green Line,” from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4. Written and directed by Makram Ayache, the play was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Awards last year and presents two intergenerational queer stories, one set in present-day Lebanon and another set during the Lebanese Civil War. The show arrives in Toronto following its 2022 premiere in Calgary, where it won the city’s top theatre award for outstanding new play.
Then, Buddies will mount the world premiere of “The Herald,” an ensemble-driven work written and directed by Jill Connell, that “questions the choreography of labour.” It runs from March 4 to 14.
It will be followed by Baig’s “Begging Brown Bitch Plays,” a double bill of one-act shows “Kainchee Lagaa” and “Jhooti,” that explore the lives of Brown trans women. Running from April 1 to 18, the production will be directed by the multidisciplinary theatre artist Tawiah M’Carthy.
Buddies’ mainstage season will conclude with Susanna Fournier’s “Take Rimbaud,” which draws inspiration from Rimbaud, along with other wordsmiths including Paul Verlaine, Sylvia Plath, and the ancient Greek poet Sappho. This world premiere production, running from May 6 to 23, will be helmed by Buddies artistic director ted witzel.
In addition to the main season, Buddies’ annual Rhubarb Festival will return from Feb. 4 to 14. The company will also present four other events produced by partner companies: Gabriel Dharmoo’s “Bijuriya,” the Toronto Dance Theatre’s production of “Make Banana Cry,” a dance party as part of the 2026 Nuit Blanche, and the Toronto Burlesque Festival.
