New Theatre Network artistic director Jenna Rodgers charts season of co-productions and spectacle

Jenna Rodgers arrived at Theatre Network with a practical first priority: solving the tile problem. The $12.5 million Roxy theatre, which reopened in 2022 after a devastating 2015 fire, still bears visible wounds — its upper exterior on 124 Street rises unfinished, exposed timber and flapping plastic where decorative tiles should be. A dispute with the next-door landlord, mired in court, has prevented the tiles from being applied. Storing them was costing Theatre Network $4,000 a year. Rodgers shipped them to her mother's garage.

It's an apt symbol for the rebuild Rodgers has taken on since starting full-time as artistic director in August, after beginning part-time this spring while wrapping up roles as artistic director of Concrete Theatre and director of Theatre Alberta's Artstrek. A University of Alberta graduate who received the prestigious Canada Council John Hirsch Prize for Directors in 2022 and worked as dramaturg for the Banff Centre's Playwrights Lab for a decade, Rodgers is steering Theatre Network — heading into its 52nd season — toward co-productions with external partners rather than traditional in-house work.

The strategy reflects both artistic ambition and practical necessity. Theatre Network operates on an annual budget of about $1 million and is debt-free, but post-pandemic struggles have left the large, impressive building with significant unused space. The theatre has struggled to fill its footprint. Under Rodgers' predecessor Bradley Moss — who retired at the end of 2025 after 30 years with the theatre — Theatre Network produced, directed and commissioned award-winning plays by Ronnie Burkett, Colleen Murphy, Daniel MacIvor, Hannah Moscovitch and Eugene Stickland. That in-house model has given way to a curation model.

This season opens with Oh, Anne! (September 15 to October 18), a musical adapted by Bridget Ryan featuring the adventures of the famously spunky red-haired protagonist from Prince Edward Island. November 29 to December 20 brings Jack and the Beanstalk: an E-Town Panto, a British-style Christmas romp brought by local creators Ruth Alexander and Nikki Hulowski with plenty of local hijinks. In March 2027, Bella Luz — a co-production of Edmonton's SkirtsAfire Festival and Vancouver's Ruby Slippers Theatre — arrives; the show follows a competition for permanent residency set between a Canadian city, Guatemala and a fantastical game show.

"These are all new works, they all have (local) writers attached to them. And they are looking to create spectacle and conversation and to make Theatre Network and The Roxy theatre a destination," Rodgers said of the strategy.

New executive director David Cheoros has been tasked with boosting rental income by getting non-theatre organizations to use the space for citizenship ceremonies, conferences and film screenings. That revenue boost would allow Theatre Network to beef up on-stage offerings while keeping the large structure financially viable.