which includes:

• exciting Berkeley Street premieres,

• a glorious revival of the rock-gospel hit Fire and

• the "cult musical" favourite Little Shop of Horrors...

Toronto, ON... Artistic Producer Martin Bragg today announced the CanStage 2007-2008 season of nine plays. The season begins with the 25^th-anniversary production at the CanStage TD Dream in High Park. To add to the excitement and air of celebration, this season is also the 20^th anniversary of the merger of Toronto Free Theatre and CentreStage which formed The Canadian Stage Company, now known as CanStage.　

"Celebrating this anniversary season, we have reflected on what is at the heart of CanStage today, and the amazing theatrical journey that has brought us here," said Mr. Bragg. "We have chosen a season of powerful, relevant and exciting plays and musicals and have invited artists who have appeared on our stages over the last 20 years to come home and celebrate.

"Over the last 20 years we have built a rich tradition of contemporary storytelling. Embracing our history, we have programmed a season filled with extraordinary stories.

"The Bluma season will be filled with poignant and universal productions. There will be humour, suspense and drama; there will be laughter and tears. There is fabulous music from the rock 'n' roll and gospel in Fire, to the Motown and doo-wop in Little Shop of Horrors. Each of these stories will touch and enthrall the audience in a different way.

"The Berkeley season has a focus on edgier subject matter - our Berkeley Street audiences have come to expect and embrace intense theatrical experiences. The three plays of 07.08 are powerful stories of incredible human lives that will open your eyes and move you in unexpected ways."

CanStage 2007-2008 Season:

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by ahdri zhina mandiela

Opening Night: Sunday, July 1, 2007

CanStage - High Park

Robert Crew, The Toronto Star

One of the best-loved Shakespearean comedies and the first show to be presented at the Dream in High Park (hence its name), A Midsummer Night's Dream is a tale of enchanted lovers and mischievous fairies sure to delight audience members of all ages.

Written by Bernard Pomerance

Directed by Robin Phillips

Opening Night: Thurs. Oct. 11, 2007

CanStage – Bluma

The New York Times

This is the tender and powerful story of a grotesque sideshow freak known as the "Elephant Man," whose life was changed forever by a chance encounter with a gifted young doctor. Don't miss Merrick's journey from the seedy and sordid voyeurism of Victorian London to the elegant world of British aristocracy, where he becomes a cherished celebrity. Based on real-life events, The Elephant Man reveals that beauty truly lies in the eye, and soul, of the beholder.

Written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman

Directed by Ted Dykstra

Opening Night: Thurs., Nov. 22, 2007

CanStage – Bluma

Feed me! Seymour, a geeky aspiring botanist, discovers an unusual plant during a solar eclipse. The plant, which brings Seymour instant fame and fortune, has strange and increasingly bloodthirsty nutritional needs. This wild, hilarious musical uses a mix of doo-wop, rock 'n' roll and Motown to tell a love story with "out-of-this-world" complications. It's a scream!

Toronto premiere

By Sarah Ruhl
2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist
2006 MacArthur Fellow

Directed by Alisa Palmer

Starring Fiona Reid

Opening Night: Thurs., Feb. 14, 2008

CanStage - Bluma

"The Clean House marks the arrival of a playwright with a unique comic voice, perspective and sense of theater. A wondrously mad and moving work."

Variety

Matilde, the funniest person in Brazil, loves to laugh and hates to clean. Unhappily working as a maid in a doctor's house, she strives to come up with the perfect joke. This play about cleaning and mortality uses the eccentric lives of the doctor's family to examine obsession, love at first sight, and the idea that you could actually laugh so hard, you'd die.

4 Dora Awards, Chalmers Award, Betty Mitchell Award

Written by Paul Ledoux and David Young

Directed by James MacDonald

Starring Ted Dykstra

In co-production with the Citadel Theatre (Edmonton)

Opening Night: Thurs., March 27, 2008

CanStage - Bluma

"Paul Ledoux and David Young have crafted an intense and emotionally charged exploration of lives in turmoil."

Guardian (PEI)

Loosely based on the real lives of rocker Jerry Lee Lewis and his cousin, TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, Fire tells the story of Herchel and Cale, two sons of a preacher who walk very different paths. Both share genuine passion, express themselves through music, and both fall in love with greed and the same girl. Acclaimed by audiences and critics since its 1985 debut, Fire is a gospel-rock spectacle that will have audiences "praying" for more!

The 2007-2008 season will also reveal a fresh new look for the interior of the St. Lawrence Centre, home of the Bluma Appel Theatre. We're improving the space inside, updating the look and improving the facilities. At the Bluma the excitement won't just be on the stage itself - it will be all around it!