A play inspired by the Sidewalk Labs fiasco is coming to Toronto this year

Streetcar Crowsnest is seen in this undated photo. Handout

A failed attempt by a Google affiliate to build a "city of the future" along Toronto’s waterfront is coming to the stage as part of Crow’s Theatre's 40th season of programming.

Known for creating high-calibre, provocative theatrical productions, Crow’s Theatre is located in Toronto’s east end at the corner of Dundas Street East and Carlaw Avenue. Mirvish recently presented a sold-out run of the Crow’s production of “The Land Acknowledgment, or As You Like It” to great success; that show will return to the CAA Theatre in early May due to popular demand.

Crow’s 40th season will commence in September with “The Master Plan,” the dramatization of Josh O’Kane’s book, "Sideways: The City Google Couldn't Buy," about Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto. The play, written by Canadian theatre legend Michael Healey, will bring the drama of Toronto’s botched waterfront to the stage in a whole new light.

“There was always a real, natural human drama to the Sidewalk Labs saga,” O’Kane told CP24. “This battle over the future of cities, and who gets a say in the future of cities…this is thrilling, to see it portrayed onstage. Every writer who does a narrative nonfiction book hopes there’ll be an adaptation.”

“I was interested in the tension between politics and private interests, that kind of thing,” said Healey on adapting O’Kane’s book. “When I read the book, I really felt like I could see what the show was…I understood that there was a good play there, and there was a utility to telling that story as a play.”

Here’s what you can expect from the rest of Crow’s Theatre's anniversary season.

HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING, WRITTEN BY WILL ARBERY, DIRECTED BY PHILIP AKIN

This co-production between The Howland Company and Crow’s Theatre will be the Canadian premiere of Arbery’s Pulitzer Prize-shortlisted play, a divisive look into American politics, religion and coming-of-age.

(EVERYONE I LOVE HAS) A TERRIBLE FATE (BEFALL THEM), WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY CLIFF CARDINAL, DIRECTED BY KARIN RANDOJA

Fresh off his run of “The Land Acknowledgment, or As You Like It” with Mirvish, Cliff Cardinal will return to Crow’s to star in his new play, “(Everyone I Love Has) A Terrible Fate (Befall Them),” in a co-production between VideoCabaret and Crow’s.

ROCKING HORSE WINNER, COMPOSED BY GARETH WILLIAMS, LIBRETTO BY ANNA CHATTERTON, DIRECTED BY MICHAEL HIDETOSHI MORI, CONDUCTED BY KAMNA GUPTA

Opening in November, this co-production between Tapestry Opera and Crow’s Theatre will revive the multi-Dora Award-winning opera, an adaptation of D. H. Lawrence’s short story of the same name.

BAD ROADS, WRITTEN BY NATAL’YA VEROZHBIT, TRANSLATED BY SASHA DUGDALE, DIRECTED BY ANDREW KUSHNIR

This North American premiere investigates the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, using testimonies from a region ravaged by war in 2014.

NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812, WRITTEN BY DAVE MALLOY, DIRECTED BY CHRIS ABRAHAM

Making its Canadian premiere, this Tony Award-winning musical based on Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” is a co-production between Crow’s Theatre and Musical Stage Company.

EARWORM, WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MOHAMMAD YAGHOUBI

Co-produced with Nowadays Theatre, “Earworm” investigates life in Iran post-Revolution. Select performances will be in Farsi.

L’AMOUR TELL UNE CATHÉDRALE ENSEVELIE, WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY GUY RÉGIS JR., MUSIC COMPOSED AND PERFORMED BY AMOS COULANGES

Co-produced with Thétre français de Toronto, this play will be performed in French and Creole with English surtitles, with the option to borrow multilingual smart glasses, as well. The play follows a son who travels across the ocean to reunite with his mother in Canada.

DANA H., WRITTEN BY LUCAS HNATH, DIRECTED BY LES WATERS

Fresh off its Broadway run and subsequent tour, the Crow’s presentation of Dana H. will be the play’s Canadian premiere, a true story of a chaplain in a psychiatric ward abducted by one of his patients and held captive in a series of Florida hotel rooms for months.

SHANIQUA IN ABSTRACTION, WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY BAHIA WATSON

Co-produced with Obsidian Theatre Company, this world premiere will offer audiences a glimpse into the “kaleidoscopic explosion of experiences and shifting identities” that define Black womanhood. watson last appeared at Crow’s as Sonya in their 2022 production of “The Seagull.”

HUFF, WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY CLIFF CARDINAL, DIRECTED BY KARIN RANDOJA

Crow’s will present a one-week limited engagement of Cardinal’s critically acclaimed play, a solo performance about trauma, solvent abuse and growing up.

THE WRONG BASHIR, WRITTEN BY ZAHIDA REHEMTULLA, DIRECTED BY PAOLO SANTALUCIA

The final play of Crow’s 2023-2024 season follows a young philosophy major as he is chosen to serve in a prestigious religious position in his Ismaili community. The play previously had a successful run in Vancouver.