Owen Teale & Ian McElhinney to Lead Mirvish's GASLIGHT; New Additions to 2015-16 Season Revealed!

David Mirvish announces additional shows and new details about his 2015-16 theatre season. Consisting of seven shows in the Main Subscription and three shows in the Off-Mirvish Subscription, the season also has eight shows that will be presented outside of subscription. In total, Mirvish will produce and/or present 18 shows in four different theatres - The Royal Alexandra, The Princess of Wales, The Ed Mirvish and The Panasonic.

"The focus for our new season is The Audience," explains Mirvish. "No, not the play that starred Dame Helen Mirren in London's West End and on Broadway, although that is an excellent play for which I was a producer. When I say The Audience I mean the actual group of people who attend theatre.

"Our belief is that theatre without an audience is not theatre; it's just a rehearsal. The reason theatre has survived more than 2,500 years is because something magical happens when, in one space, you put together a group of people performing a story to another group of people listening and looking. That exchange of energy between the live performers and the live audience is something that cannot be replicated by any film, TV show, Webisode, video game or any other kind of technical entertainment that may be invented in the future. Theatre will endure for another 2,500 years.

"The Audience is as important a component of theatre as the actors, the playwright, director, backstage crew and everyone else that is involved; that's why we capitalize the noun Audience. Without the audience, there is nothing.

"And what's the best way for The Audience to play its part? The answer is simple: Subscribe!

"Subscribers receive a myriad of benefits, but most importantly they play a starring role in making theatre happen. It is their commitment and loyalty that have created the vibrant and growing artistic community in Toronto and beyond."

The Main Subscription Season, which begins on September 22 and concludes in July 2016, consists of, in chronological order: MOTOWN, THE MUSICAL; RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA; GASLIGHT; THE JUDAS KISS; IF/THEN; A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER and MATILDA, THE MUSICAL. (Full description of each show is below.)

The casting of GASLIGHT, a 1938 mystery thriller that has become a classic of the genre but has not been seen in North America for quite some time, offers two exciting actors. Owen Teale and Ian McElhinney are two acclaimed stage actors who have also found great success on screen. Most recently they have been two of the stars of the international phenomenon, Game of Thrones, which has revolutionized television and created legions of fans that have made the series among the most popular of all time.

Owen Teale plays Alliser Thorne on Game of Thrones. On stage he has appeared in many West End and Broadway productions, winning a Tony Award in 1997 for his performance as Torvald opposite Janet McTeer in Ibsen's A Doll's House, a part for which he also won a Laurence Olivier Award nomination. He has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain, among many others.

Ian McElhinney is a Northern Irish actor and director. He has appeared in many television series in a career spanning more than thirty years, including Taggart, Hornblower and The Tudors. In Game of Thrones he starred as Barristan Selmy. He has performed with the Abbey Theatre, the Gate Theatre, the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain. He directed the Olivier Award-winning Stones in his Pockets in London, Toronto and on Broadway, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Director.

The Off-Mirvish Subscription consists of three plays, in chronological order: SEMINAR, BIGMOUTH and DISGRACED.

SEMINAR will star one of Canada's finest and most versatile actors with a 30-year career on stage and screen, Tom McCamus. Also starring will be Nathan Howe, Andrea Houssin, Grace Lynn Kung and Ryan James Miller.

DISGRACED will star Raoul Bhaneja, Karen Glave, Ali Momen, Michael Rubenfeld and Birgitte Solem.

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