From August 6 to 16, 2026, independent artists and companies from Toronto, across Canada, and around the world will take over venues and public spaces across the city for 11 days of theatre, dance, live art, music, site-engaged performance, and community-centred programming that responds to the urgency and complexity of this moment.

Our 2026 edition features 27 live performances, including three world premieres, six works-in-development, five site-engaged performances, along with seven workshops and panel discussions. This year marks a significant moment in SummerWorks’ history, as 1/3 of the overall curated programming features international artists and creative collaborators from ten (10) countries and regions (Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iran, Mexico, New Zealand, and Taiwan), making this one of our most internationally-diverse summer Festivals to date.

This year’s Festival theme, Fight | Flight brings forward urgent creative responses to this troubling moment in time. Across the 2026 Festival, artists root themselves in place, community, ancestry, and practice, while also shifting perspectives, rewriting histories, and creating new narratives through the body, exploring memory, consent, transformation, and identity, through resistance, humour, and intimacy.

Explore this exciting lineup and dive into the unexpected at SummerWorks 2026!

(Tickets on sale > July 13th)

SummerWorks is committed to equity and diversity, both through our program of activities and as an employer. Our practices and procedures aim to reflect the varied needs, expectations, and cultures of all members of our community. We make every effort to ensure that no member of the community receives less favourable treatment in our recruitment process or when accessing our services, on the grounds of gender identity, disability, race, religion or belief, age, or sexual orientation.