When you have closely guarded news to share, you can drop some subtle hints to build suspense until the big reveal or, in one go, share the news loud from the rooftop. Anyone who knows Rob Kempson knows full well that subtle isn’t in his toolbox.
As artistic director of Port Hope’s storied Capitol Theatre since 2022, Kempson has joyfully demonstrated a flair for the dramatic, both on and off stage, that, while wholly predictable, is as infectious as it is over-the-top.
So it was on Tuesday night (October 28) that Kempson was, well, Kempson as he shared details of the theatre’s 2026 season “in an authentic way” before an appreciative audience of theatre supporters.
Kempson revealed that the 2026 season, with the theme “Where Our Stories Begin,” features five world premieres and three musicals, with almost all of the shows of the made-in-Canada variety.
Ensemble productions coming to the Capitol’s mainstage next summer include the Broadway smash-hit musical Come From Away, the Tony Award-winning musical You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, the Canadian comedy Liars at a Funeral, and a Canadian adaptation of the classic thriller Gaslight. For its annual winter holiday musical, the Capitol will present the world premiere of RED!…a Big Bad Wolf Panto.
The more intimate Sculthorpe Theatre will feature the return of the Second Stage Series, which includes three world premieres: Chris Tsujiuchi’s Big Gay Cabaret, Born to be Bad: The Villains of Broadway, and Farley Mowat’s And No Birds Sang.
The Capitol’s Music Lovers’ Series will feature three original concerts — Heartbreak Hits: Billboard in Concert, Shipyard Kitchen Party’s Tom Thomson’s Wake, and the world premiere of I’m Every Woman: The Whitney Houston Songbook — with more to be announced throughout the year.
Details about each production in the 2026 season, including performance dates, are provided at the end of this story.
“We’re a theatre because we want people to come together and have experiences together in the same room,” Kempson told kawarthaNOW before the season reveal.
“The initial impetus is about sharing what is coming up, selling subscriptions, and all the rest of it, but the more holistic part is we are a really active member of our community. We want to make sure that when we’re sharing what we think is really good news and involving our community in that.”
While most theatres typically share new season details via media releases or by updating their websites, that’s just too ho-hum for Kempson and his team. Instead, the Capitol Theatre’s new season reveal is an event in itself, with Kempson, a leader of both the ring and cheer variety, keeping the energy high between sneak peeks of what’s ahead.
“For us, launching a season feels like that celebration wants to similarly be something that is big and expressive and shows who we are,” he says.
When it’s suggested that he must have been bursting at the seams to share at least some details prior to the big reveal, Kempson says “I think I’ve gotten better at keeping a secret.”
“You know how news travels in a small town. It’s fast and it’s furious. If we want to have something to announce at our announcement, we have to be careful. That also means that when shifts and changes occur, as they inevitably will, we can be responsive without feeling like someone is going be disappointed because they heard XYZ and then that isn’t in there. So, it’s a multi-pronged approach to secret keeping.”
Asked about the process that results in a year-long menu of 11 productions, Kempson said there are many elements involved in developing the season.
“The theme of the season, the sort of the overall feeling, emerges organically as we get shows booked,” he explained, adding “I don’t start with an idea and then create a list of perfect programming to go with that.”
“It really is a lot of factors. In some cases, it’s about artist availability. In some cases, it’s about rights availability for certain scripts. There were things I applied for this season that I was really hoping we would do that we didn’t get the rights to, but what that did was actually open a door to something else that I thought ‘Oh, maybe I’ll save that for 2027.'”
“We were really, really proud of 2025 and the way the schedule worked. So, we actually started 2026 with a structure we felt really good about. I knew that I wanted to find three shows for our Second Stage Series. I knew I wanted to find three shows for our music series. I knew I wanted four main stage shows, and probably two of them would be musicals, and probably one of those musicals would have a youth and family focus. And I knew I needed a panto. Having that structure to start with makes a big difference.”
This all said, Kempson emphasized he’s “not a person who believes that we should do something because we’ve always done it that way. We will continue to turn over every rock to see what’s underneath to make sure that we’re making the right choices for our community.”
To be clear, Kempson’s title is artistic director, not artistic dictator. Bouncing ideas off his management team — including managing director Erin Peirce — and gathering their input is a huge part of the season-planning process.
“We represent a pretty wide demographic of people within that management team. The fact that we all have our own backgrounds and experiences and ages and genders and sexualities and you know, identities, that helps us know that we’re really truly serving as many people in our community as we can.”
“At the end of the day, is it my decision? Yes, it absolutely is, but theatre is the most collaborative art form for a reason. If I apply that principle to my planning process, I know I’m going end up with a season that’s more fulfilling.”
Asked what 2026 show jumps off the page for him, Kempson balked at singling out one favourite, likening such a choice to “picking a favourite child.” Instead, he focused on what he considers highlights of the season in a broader sense.
“When I started here, this theatre hadn’t had a Canadian play on stage in more than two decades. We now have 10 of 11 shows that are all Canadian, and five of them are world premieres. And two of those world premieres were developed in our creators’ unit — that alone feels like a huge achievement.”
The two world premieres developed through the Capitol’s Creators’ Unit, which has been the home for new play development at the Capitol since 2023, are I’m Every Woman: The Whitney Houston Songbook, written and performed by Taylor Lovelace, and Farley Mowat’s memoir And No Birds Sang, adapted for the stage by Dave Carley.
Kempson singled out both creators for mention, calling Lovelace “a beloved performer” who “really dove into all the women in her life that have inspired her, and then uses the songs of Whitney to help tell that story. To be offer her the opportunity to share her story, through the music that she loves, feels really exciting to me.”
“The other side of that same coin is Dave Carley, one of the most prolific playwrights in Canada. Last year in our creators’ unit, he did a new adaptation of a Farley Mowat memoir. People in Port Hope love Farley Mowat for obvious reasons. And No Birds Sang would already be exciting because it’s created locally. But it’s also about a local person who has a great history in the region and it has been created by a guy who does a lot of work locally for us.”
Then there’s the Capitol’s staging of David Hein and Irene Sankoff’s Tony award-winning Canadian musical Come From Away, which Kempson is directing, based on true events in the Newfoundland town of Gander during the week following the September 11 attacks when 38 planes were ordered to land unexpectedly at Gander International Airport.
“I’m not going to tell you who we have in the cast yet, but when you find that out in the new year you are going to absolutely lose your mind. So, there are more secrets to come. But yeah, if I had to pick two babies, it would be our new play work, our new development work, and Come From Away. But I could talk endlessly about all the shows in the season.”
In addition to the shows announced in the season reveal, the Capitol’s Cabaret and Kitchen Party programs will be offered throughout the year in the Sculthorpe Theatre, additional concerts will be featured on the mainstage, and the Capitol’s on-screen programming will continue to feature the popular Met Opera program.
Subscriptions for the 2026 season are now on sale, with general public tickets for individual shows available in early 2026. Visit capitoltheatre.com for more details.
Capitol Theatre’s 2026 season
Mainstage Ensemble Productions
You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown
May 15 to 31, 2026
Book, music and lyrics by Clark Gesner
Directed and choreographed by Rob Kempson
Music direction by Shane O’Regan
Based on the beloved comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, this Tony award-winning musical comedy chronicles the adventure of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang.
Liars At A Funeral
June 12 to 28, 2026
By Sophia Fabiilli
Directed by Aaron Jan
When an estranged family gathers to mourn the passing of Mavis, the family matriarch, the funeral erupts into a more dysfunctional family reunion than any of them could have imagined. If everyone can keep it together, they might just break the intergenerational curse and make it out alive.
Come From Away
July 10 to August 2, 2026
Book, music and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein
Directed by Rob Kempson
Music direction by Jeff Newberry
Choreographed by Genny Sermonia
This global sensation takes you into the centre of the remarkable true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town of Gander, Newfoundland that welcomed them during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Gaslight
August 21 to September 6, 2026
By Johnna Wright and Patty Jamieson based on Patrick Hamilton’s play
Directed by Marie Farsi
Bella Manningham thinks she’s losing her mind. In the evenings, she hears strange sounds and the gas lights dim for no apparent reason. Is she losing her grip on reality, or is it being loosened for her?
RED!…A Big Bad Wolf Panto (world premiere)
November 20 to December 27, 2026
Written by Rebecca Northan
Directed by Aurora Browne
Musical arrangements by Jeff Newberry
The classic fairytale gets a panto treatment from the writer of 2023’s hit production Jack: A Beanstalk Panto. When Little Red Riding Hood leaves home with a basket of treats for her Granny, all she has to do is stick to the path and avoid talking to strangers, but there’s a groovy beat in the darkest part of the woods … and every young girl is up for adventure.
Second Stage Series (Sculthorpe Theatre)
Chris Tsujiuchi’s Big Gay Cabaret (world premiere)
June 4 to 7, 2026
Written and performed by Chris Tsujiuchi
For more than a decade, the enigmatic and multi-talented Chris Tsujiuchi has been creating and performing solo shows celebrated across the country. This year, exclusively for the Capitol Theatre, he’s created a brand-new show – one that celebrates the queer community with the anthems that define it.
Born To Be Bad: The Villains of Broadway (world premiere)
June 30 to July 5, 2026
Written and performed by Tahirih Vejdani
From the evildoers we adore to the scoundrels we love to hate, this new solo show from Capitol Theatre favourite Tahirih Vejdani (Little Shop of Horrors, Sleeping Beauty, Billboard in Concert) shares the best of being bad.
Farley Mowat’s And No Birds Sang (world premiere)
August 14 to September 6, 2026
Adapted by Dave Carley
Directed by Rob Kempson
Based on Farley Mowat’s acclaimed war memoir, this autobiographical account of his military service during World War II as a member of the Hastings Prince Edward (or, affectionately, Hasty P’s) Regiment. In this touching world premiere, Mowat transforms from a young man into a combat veteran, alongside the devastating losses that come with wartime.
Music Lovers’ Series
Heartbreak Hits: Billboard In Concert
February 6 to 8, 2026
Conceived by Jeff Newberry and Rob Kempson
Directed by Margot Greve
Capitol Theatre’s signature remix of your favourite tunes returns with a tribute to the songs about falling out of love.
Tom Thomson’s Wake
March 6 to 8, 2026
Created and performed by Shipyard Kitchen Company
Two years after renowned painter Tom Thomson’s mysterious death, his friend, his mentor and his lover gather to share their memories of Algonquin Park’s most famous resident. A great Canadian mystery told with East Coast-style tunes.
I’m Every Woman: The Whitney Houston Songbook (world premiere)
October 23 to 25, 2026
Written and performed by Taylor Lovelace
Music supervision by Jeff Newberry
Directed by Rob Kempson
Capitol Theatre favourite Taylor Lovelace (Waitress, Little Shop of Horrors, A Year with Frog & Toad, Billboard in Concert) pays tribute to one of the most defining artists of the 20th century in this musical celebration of women’s voices.
