Montreal’s Centaur Theatre is back with WinterWorks, running February 4–22. The festival features bold new Canadian work across dance-theatre, live electronic music, virtual reality, contemporary writing, and staged readings.
Formerly the Wildside Festival, WinterWorks brings together emerging and established artists. Tickets are affordable, with Pay-What-You-Can readings. It’s a chance to see a daring, lively, and energetic festival.
The 2026 lineup has something for everyone. Frequencies (Feb. 4–8) blends live electronic music and VR to explore grief and connection between two brothers. Holes (Feb. 8) is a staged reading about love, madness, and survival. Lay Down All Dogs (Feb. 21) follows two sisters confronting family secrets. On Valentine’s Day, Confabulation presents: The Shortest Story features two-minute true stories from Montreal storytellers.
A standout is The Healing (Feb. 17–22), an immersive dance-theatre piece by Marie Barlizo, a Filipino Chinese playwright and producer based in Toronto. The work is autobiographical. It was inspired by her father, who struggled with alcoholism and paranoia and is now disabled. His near-death during the COVID-19 pandemic forced Barlizo to face long-held anger and resentment. “His near-death forced me to face long-held anger and resentment,” Barlizo said. She also wanted to highlight the silence, stigma, and cultural taboos around addiction and mental health in Asian communities.
For Barlizo, the piece also shows Asian-Canadian experiences. “I wanted to show what Asian Canadians go through and the challenges we face,” she said.
Becoming a parent added another layer. “I thought I had already confronted my fears,” she said. “But when I had my children, I was forced to confront the fact that I inherited my dad’s fear.” The piece explores how past trauma can resurface in adulthood and shows the emotional weight of caregiving, fear, and resilience, while giving audiences a chance to feel and reflect along with the performers.
Barlizo also praised WinterWorks as a festival that encourages discovery and creativity. “Usually it’s really cold in the winter and you don’t want to go out, but I think these plays are really exciting. This is a really great place to get together and watch these incredible plays and hear readings of work, and just create community and talk about the work and be with each other.”
She highlighted the variety of work the festival presents. “You get to see different stories and forms, from staged readings to immersive performances,” Barlizo said. “It’s exciting to watch how artists push boundaries and try new things.”
WinterWorks 2026 promises bold stories and unforgettable performances. From the intimate journey of The Healing to fast-paced storytelling and inventive multimedia shows, there’s something for everyone. The artists are excited to share their work, and it’s a cultural event that brings fresh voices, creativity, and energy to Montreal theatre. It’s a festival that reminds audiences why live performance is so powerful.
WinterWorks runs February 4–22, 2026, at Centaur Theatre. Tickets and full programming are available through Centaur Theatre.
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