Tarragon Theatre’s 2025-26 season will be its most ambitious since the pandemic, featuring nine productions that highlight both established and emerging Canadian artists.

While it might be the first time that Lianna Makuch has directed A Christmas Carol — kicking off its annual run at The Citadel on Nov. 23 — she is far from a Scrooge newbie.

After all, she was raised on The Muppet Christmas Carol (starring Michael Caine as Scrooge) and has returned to the movie numerous times since, even as an adult.

“Michael Caine takes it so deadly seriously – he’s giving this beautiful performance with the Muppets. It’s emotionally connected,” says Makuch, 35. “That’s what makes that movie so great. And that’s what really works the best when it comes to this story.”

The 2024-25 National Arts Centre Theatre season has launched and it is off to a fantastic start with the First Métis Man of Odesa.

This magnificent modern love story follows the true romance of Matthew MacKenzie and Mariya Khomutova. Matthew, an award-winning Métis playwright, was on a theatre research trip in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2018 and met Mariya (Masha), an award-winning Ukrainian actor. Sparks flew.

Theirs is a relationship that developed in spite of major obstacles. First there was geography but in today’s world, with online technology and jumbo jets, the usual flirtations and attractions were able to flourish and the two fell in love. However, things may have moved more quickly than expected with an unplanned pregnancy. COVID caused challenges (to put it mildly) but Matthew jumped through hoops, managed to sneak into Ukraine and the two were married. They moved to Canada just in time for the birth of their son and things at first feel fabulous.

A love story spanning continents, a pandemic, and war, The First Métis Man of Odesa tells the story of Masha and Matt, a Ukrainian actress from Odesa and a Métis playwright from Edmonton, who meet on a theatre research trip in Kyiv.

The play follows the joys and challenges of their growing relationship as they get married and welcome their son while facing the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Together, the two learn how to love and support one another through the mundane challenges of living with your mother-in-law and the life-changing impacts of war.

At first, the romantic connection between the two seems obvious. A playwright (MacKenzie) meets a talented actress (Khomutova) and they, naturally, have shared interests and can have intellectual discussions about literature, poetry, and philosophy. The problem is that Khomutova lives in Urkraine and MacKenzie lives in Canada. Even though neither of them were really looking for a long-distance relationship, the distance factor isn't insurmountable. After all, it has been done before.

Enter the COVID-19 pandemic and things become a lot more complicated. Then, just as things start to feel like they're finally going back to normal, the Russian invasion of Ukraine sends their lives into turmoil. With everyone she has ever known affected by the devastation unfolding in her home country, Mariya feels helpless watching the news from Canada - and Matthew feels helpless watching Mariya agonize and retreat into herself. 

CTV News Ottawa covers First Métis Man of Odesa by Matthew MacKenzie & Mariya Khomutova playing at The National Arts Centre English Theatre in Ottawa, Ontario September 18 - 28, 2024.

The 2024-2025 season at the NAC English Theatre, run by director Nina Lee Aquino, certainly is a showcase for major productions from top theatres across the country.

The Shaw Festival’s upcoming production of Snow in Midsummer, an adaptation of a classic Chinese play directed by Aquino, will run at the NAC Oct. 30 to Nov. 9, while the Stratford Festival’s forthcoming world premiere of Salesman in China, a play by Leanna Brodie and Jovanni Sy about the American playwright Arthur Miller’s collaboration with a Chinese theatre company on a 1980s production of Death of a Salesman, will visit Ottawa from Jan. 16 to 25.

Controlled Damage, Andrea Scott’s play about civil rights activist Viola Desmond, will appear at the NAC in February in a co-production with Halifax’s Neptune Theatre, while Mahabharata, an acclaimed touring two-part adaptation of the ancient Sanskrit epic from Why Not Theatre that the National Creation Fund invested in, will be presented from May 13 to 24, 2025

Other English Theatre shows include the long-awaited Canadian premiere of Trident Moon, Anusree Roy’s thriller set during the partition of India, which Aquino will direct in a co-production with Toronto’s Crow’s Theatre; and First Métis Man of Odesa, a popular touring show from Edmonton’s Punctuate! Theatre about romance and war written and performed by real-life husband and wife Matthew MacKenzie and Mariya Khomutova.

They met in Ukraine, fell in love and turned their tale into a play. But their romance is no fairy tale

“First Métis Man of Odesa,” by Matthew MacKenzie and Mariya Khomutova, tells the story of their relationship, amid the backdrop of the pandemic and war in Ukraine. 

On a rainy April afternoon, Mariya Khomutova and Matthew MacKenzie were huddled in a small café in Cabbagetown, waiting for the storm to pass.

Despite the downpour, their spirits remained high: Khomutova exudes warmth and kindness, while MacKenzie’s calm demeanour reflects the gentle, introverted charm that first attracted her when they met in Kyiv in 2018.

He’s an award-winning Indigenous-Canadian playwright and she’s a prolific Ukrainian theatre actor. When they met, they were workshopping a play together, unaware of the bond that was forming — and the challenges they would soon face to keep it intact.

CTV News Barrie covers First Métis Man of Odesa by Matthew MacKenzie & Mariya Khomutova playing at Talk Is Free Theatre in Barrie, Ontario Feb 22 - March 2, 2024.

Source: The Bridge Community News

Author of the Article: Winnie Czulinski

Hearts and flowers are a part of it. But this love story also draws on the deaths and devastated landscapes of the Russian inva­sion of Ukraine, plus the pan­demic that gripped the world with illness and isolation.

Closed doors, cultural differ­ences, desperate measures. A romance, a pregnancy, a wed­ding. Even the bride’s moth­er living and touring with the young husband and wife. And much laughter.

The play reflecting this sto­ry, through the real-life cou­ple of Métis-Canadian play­wright Matthew MacKenzie and Ukrainian actor Mariya Khomutova, has captivated Canada. In 2023, First Métis Man of Odesa, a triple Dora Mavor Moore award-winner, played to appreciative audienc­es in 96 performances and six cities, with rave reviews.

The married duo, who now live in Cabbagetown, met while MacKenzie was engaged in workshops and theatre research in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2018. English-speaking hired actor Khomutova noted that this ac­complished theatre person was “my size and height, often si­lent, observed a lot, and not out to make an impression.”

Source: BarrieToday.com

Author of the Article: BarrieToday Staff

First Metis Man of Odesa will be performed at Five Points Theatre with seven-show run from Feb. 22 until March 2.

It’s been nearly two years since Russian troops invaded Ukraine and two local groups are doing what they can to continue to keep a spotlight on the war.

On Saturday, Feb. 24, Punctuate! Theatre Production is hosting a special tribute performance of First Metis Man of Odesa — written by Matthew MacKenzie and Mariya Khomutova — at the Five Points Theatre in downtown Barrie.  

Described as a captivating real-life love story, First Metis Man of Odesa has played to rave reviews across the country, and is based on actual events.

Set against the backdrop of the COVID pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the curtain is set to go up on its seven-show run on Thursday, Feb. 22 and will run until March 2.

The Feb. 24 performance, which is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m., is to commemorate the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a war which has seen thousands of civilians killed since troops invaded the Eastern European country on Feb. 24, 2022.

Source: Toronto Star

Author of the Article: Glenn Sumi Special to the Star

Whether recent theatre school grads, mid-career artists or ensemble members finally offered a lead, their names will elicit joy and recognition in future programs.

Every year, a handful of lesser known theatre artists are so impressive that they break through to a new level of recognition.

They might be recent theatre school grads, mid-career artists with established reputations elsewhere or ensemble members finally offered a shot at a lead. Whatever the case, going forward, their names in programs will elicit joy and recognition.

Here, in alphabetical order, are some theatre artists who got me and other theatregoers googling their names at intermission.

Source: Toronto Star

Author of the Article: Karen Fricker Theatre Critic, Joshua Chong Staff Reporter

With inspiring performances that elicited emotions from joy to anger to disgust and everything in between, Toronto's theatre scene has delivered a packed and powerful year of theatrical shows

When we met to talk through our favourite theatre shows of the year, a strong theme emerged: truth-telling. Be they new plays based on real-life stories, imagined stories that resonate with past and current socio-politics, or classics retold in ways that reflect contemporary experience, it’s clear we were hungry for veracity and topicality.

In that vein, there’s no production that better sums up the theatrical spirit of 2023 than our first pick here, in which a brilliant Indigenous storyteller spins a big theatrical lie to lay down some profound truths about Indigenous/settler relations on this land.

Here, in no particular order following our number one pick, is a list of the top 10 productions of 2023 which we selected together through debate and consensus — plus two bonus picks of shows that stuck with us individually for different reasons.

Source: Winnipeg Free Press

Author of the article: Ben Waldman

Method meets the madness and emotion of war in battle-hardened romcom

One of the key facets of Method acting, as set out by the Russian dramatist Konstantin Stanislavski’s “system” of training, is perezhivanie, which encourages actors to embody their roles as though they were lived realities, erasing the border between imagination and experience to establish a oneness between character and performer.

Matthew MacKenzie and Mariya Khomutova do precisely that in the triumphant, hilarious and moving First Métis Man of Odesa, a star-crossed, windswept, war-torn romcom that waltzes back and forth across the threshold that separates dreams from nightmares.

Source: Winnipeg Free Press

Author of the article: Ben Waldman

Playwright and actress explore wartime romance

Matthew MacKenzie and Mariya Khomutova met onstage in a soon-to-be combat zone, which might explain why the timeline of their love story reads like the table of contents in an epic wartime novel.

In October 2018, MacKenzie, a Métis playwright, travelled to Kyiv to serve as dramaturge on Barvinok, a production inspired by personal accounts from Ukrainian citizens during the Second World War, amid the earliest rumblings of a full-on Russian invasion. Khomutova, an Odesan actor, was in the cast.

“My impression was that Matthew wasn’t like a typical theatre-maker,” Khomutova says. “Because, usually, people who do theatre are very self-involved, speaking about what they’ve achieved, what they’ve worked on.”

Source: Edify Edmonton

Why she’s Top 40

She makes art inspired by real-world events to influence real-world change

Age: 34

Job Title: Theatre Artist, Pyretic Productions

Lianna Makuch has been drawn to the stage since she was a child, and her mentors in high school encouraged her to pursue a career in the arts. But it wasn’t until 2017 that she focused her playwriting on stories about Ukraine, and travelling to Ukraine to develop her work.

“For a long time, I never really considered how my Ukrainian identity could inform my work,” Makuch says. “When I started exploring that, I really started finding my voice as an artist.”

The play shares a couple's journey through pandemic, parenthood, war and finding meaning as an artist in a time of crisis.

Source: Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Author of the article: Julia Peterson

Published Oct 13, 2023

In Mariya Khomutova and Matthew MacKenzie’s household, at least three languages are spoken on any given day — Khomutova’s Ukrainian, MacKenzie’s English, and the lingua franca of theatre.

Soulpepper is also bringing back two of the most acclaimed shows in recent memory: its own production of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire (June/July), directed by Mengesha, which I called a "revelation" back in 2019 (seems like longer ago), and this season's multiple-Dora Award-winning First Métis Man of Odesa, written and performed by Matthew MacKenzie and Mariya Khomutova, directed by Lianna Makuch and produced by Punctuate! Theatre. My rave review of that show, which runs May 8 to 19, is here.

Highlighting Winnipeg’s world-class productions

Source: Stage Door
By: Holly Harris