Openings We're Tracking This Week, October 22-28, 2012

Lucinda Davis

The Number 14 is an international phenomenon that makes every attempt not to be pinned down to a single genre. On this, its 20th anniversary, it is back to Vancouver to once again showcase the talents of six performers who will "strut, swing, sing and talk their way in and out of adventures aboard Vancouver’s #14 bus". Winner of Jessies and nominated for Doras and, in New York, a Drama Desk, this is just one stop as it heads across the country. (Vancouver)

Bashir Lazhar is a teacher. He has a heart, and a tragedy and comes to Canada to find refuge in the souls of his students, who are also dealing with sadness. Before it was an Oscar-nominated film, this was a play by Evelyne de la Chenelière. Moreover, it is a solo play. Haysam Kadri stars as "l'prof" who will delight you all. (Calgary)

Djanet Sears is a playwright. She writes for theatre, as she said in a recent essay here. But she is also a poet (read that essay) and a brilliant composer where the instruments are human lives. This week we get another chance to look at her multi-award-winning masterpiece, Harlem Duet, which plays with themes of Black identity through the prism of Shakespeare's Othello. But wait! We also get to see one of the land's great actors again. Remember this name: Lucinda Davis. She is electric. (Montreal)