A curated selection of shows brought to you by experienced Fringe producers
July 2-13, 2025
Soulpepper Theatre, 50 Tank House Lane
The Next Stage Series brings the curated excellence of the bespoke Next Stage Theatre Festival into our flagship summer event, the Toronto Fringe Festival. This series enables production elevation and creative risk-taking by four talented companies who are poised and ready for their next stage.
About Next Stage
The Next Stage Theatre Festival was established in 2008 as an elevated producing platform for artists who were graduating up from their emergence on Fringe stages and seeking meaningful opportunities to level up their productions. Next Stage is a platform to spotlight some of the most exhilarating and dynamic new ideas braking onto the scene for audiences, critics, and industry leaders. It originally filled a hole in Toronto's theatre activities in the winter months, heating up Factory Theatre (inside and out!) every January for over 10 years. Now, Next Stage is on a pursuit to discover how it can continue to provide this vital Toronto theatre interchange that our sector and city deserve with essential stability.
These four companies set out on the path to Next Stage 2025 with us over two years go, when they were selected in the spring of 2023. They have since worked to develop the scripts and productions that will premiere on our stages this July, joining Toronto Fringe on an unprecedented journey of re-discovering the identity of Next Stage in a theatre sector changed deeply by the COVID-19 pandemic. From sparkling reality checks to wistfully bittersweet reflections, these words will move you to your core. They capture a moment in Canadian theatre that iterates the profound feelings that great plays can stir and leave long lingering impressions upon us. They are full of vitality and force that we are honours to present to Toronto this July.
Next Stage 2025 Selection Committee:
- Lucy Eveleigh
- Laura Paduch
- Derrick Chua
- Virgilia Griffith
- Indrit Kasapi
Next Stage Series productions are curated and engage in a different revenue model than Fringe productions, wherein they receive 70% of the box office revenue.