History

“Celebrate the collectively run Howland Company”.
– The Globe and Mail

  • HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING, 2023
  • PRODIGAL, 2023
  • THREE SISTERS, 2022
  • ENTRANCES AND EXITS, 2022
  • THE HOME PROJECT, 2021
  • CASIMIR AND CAROLINE, 2020
  • Canadian Stage RBC Residency, 2016
  • THE WOLVES, 2018
  • PUNK ROCK, 2018
  • The Reading Group, 2016
  • 52 PICK-UP Remount, 2016
THE HISTORY OF THE HOWLAND COMPANY – Innovative & Independent Theatre in Toronto since 2013:

The Howland Company is an independent Toronto theatre company, led by a shared collective artistic leadership, who debuted on the scene with their “Best of Toronto Fringe” hit and three-time sold-out production of 52 Pick-Up. Since establishing itself in 2013, the company has been an artist-led and art-driven collective growing with its commitment to the values of art, community, collaboration, and opportunity. In its early years, the company of artists developed a new adaptation of Ödön von Horváth’s Casimir and Caroline, and Susanna Fournier’s new performance text take rimbaud through its 2016 RBC Company Residency with Canadian Stage, and produced projects like an innovative and intimate production of The Glass Menagerie, and a sharp and disturbing award-winning “Patron’s Pick” production of Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (Toronto Fringe).

In 2018, The Howland Company produced the Toronto Premiere of Punk Rock by Simon Stephens, which was honoured with two Dora Mavor Moore Award Nominations (Outstanding Ensemble & Outstanding Costume Design), another “Best of Toronto Fringe” Hit Entrances and Exits, and closed the season with the critically acclaimed Toronto Premiere of Sarah DeLappe’s Pulitzer-nominated play The Wolves, produced in partnership with Crow’s Theatre. The Wolves won the “Outstanding Production” award (Critic’s Pick Awards) and the “Best Ensemble Performance” Award (Toronto Theatre Critics Association Awards).

In 2020, The Howland Company was thrilled to follow the buzz of its last season with the North American Premiere of Ödön von Horváth’s Casimir and Caroline, a new adaptation by Paolo Santalucia, Holger Syme and The Howland Company of this modern classic, based on the original translation by Holger Syme, at Crow’s Theatre. This premiere won two Dora Mavor Moore Awards for “Outstanding Ensemble” and “Outstanding Costume Design” and was nominated for “Outstanding Direction”. 

In 2021, the Company produced an original piece – The Home Project in partnership with Native Earth Performing Arts and presented by Soulpepper, a meditation on the meaning of home through the stories of three artists – Akosua Amo-Adem, Qasim Khan, and Cheyenne Scott, which was honoured with 5 Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations. 

In 2022/2023, its most ambitious season to date, The Howland Company premiered a new Canadian adaptation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters, in partnership with Hart House Theatre; an original holiday improv show – Entrances and Exits: Home for the Holidays, by Howland’s Ruth Goodwin and collaborator Liz Johnston; as well as the World Premiere of Prodigal by Howland’s Paolo Santalucia, which received critical acclaim and the Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination for “Outstanding New Play” and the award for “Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role” for Dan Mousseau as Edmund Clark.

Closing out 2023, The Howland Company brought the Canadian premiere of Will Arbery’s Pulitzer-Prize Finalist play Heroes of the Fourth Turning to Toronto in a critically acclaimed, sold-out co-production with Crow’s Theatre, directed by the legendary Philip Akin, which received two Dora Mavor Moore Award Nominations for “Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble” and “Outstanding Direction”, and presented the World Premiere of Rachel Cairns’ solo show Hypothetical Baby, directed by Howland’s Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster at Tarragon Theatre. 

In 2025, The Howland Company partnered with Nightwood Theatre, Canada’s preeminent feminist theatre, to bring Cairns’ hit solo show Hypothetical Baby back to the stage by popular demand and was received with both audience and critical acclaim. In the Fall of 2025, The Howland Company has partnered with Soulpepper Theatre and Crow’s Theatre to co-produce the Canadian Premiere of The Welkin by Lucy Kirkwood, directed by Weyni Mengesha. Finishing off the 2025/2026 season, The Howland Company will produce the World Premiere of Susanna Fournier’s take rimbaud in the Spring of 2026, directed by ted witzel, produced in partnership with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.