Alberta Theatre Projects 2022-23 season features 3 world premieres, including The Jungle Book

New Alberta Theatre Projects artistic and executive director Rohit Chokhani is directing a world premiere adaptation of The Jungle Book and the Calgary premiere of Anosh Irani's Bombay Black in Alberta Theatre Project's upcoming 2022-23 season, which includes three world premieres. (Photo credit: Jennifer Merio)

Alberta Theatre Projects unveiled its upcoming season Tuesday, revealing a lineup that features three world premieres and a pair of Calgary premieres, including an adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III unlike any other.

The season marks the first curated by incoming artistic and executive director Rohit Chokhani, who was appointed to the position in October 2021.

Chokhani is also the driving force behind ATP's family-friendly holiday world premiere presentation, a contemporary adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, which opens for previews Nov. 29.

Chokhani adapted the script and directs as well, in a production he says "will offer audiences an escape into the jungles of India with this vibrant reimagining of the legend of the boy raised by wild animals. When a confrontation with a dangerous tiger isolates Mowgli, he is forced to confront the truth: is he a man-cub or a human? Caught between two worlds, with the support of his friends, Mowgli must search for his sense of self in a quest to discover where he truly belongs."

The season opens for previews Oct. 18 with a second world premiere, Anna Chatterton's Cowgirl Up, co-created with Meg Braem and Christine Brubaker. It's a western Canadian fantasy about three cowgirl goddesses who "decide to use their considerable supernatural powers to give rise to a cowgirl revolution."

The third world premiere, The F Word, co-created by Keshia Cheesman and Bianca Miranda, is a deep dive into society's attitudes towards fatness, and how challenging it is to live with the deeply ingrained shame, blame and fear associated with fatness. It starts previews February 9, 2023.

Anosh Irani's Bombay Black, which opens for previews March 7, is set in present day India, and tells the story of a blind man's visit to an exotic dancer. It will also be directed by Chokhani.

The final show of the season, which opens for previews Apr. 18, is Teenage Dick, playwright Mike Lew's take on Richard III. It's set in a contemporary high school, where Richard is bullied because of his disability and is determined to extract revenge through a student council election.

“This season is a balancing of energies,” said Chokhani, in a release. “There is the energy of finally being able to share shows put on hold during the pandemic, mixed with the reveal of new Canadian works and an international sensation. It represents the energy of who we are as a company today, and the kind of programming you can expect from ATP moving forward.”