A New Wave of Montreal Theatre
Anything & Everything Productions
Indie Theatre fuels the Montreal Theatre scene, bringing with it experimental works, emerging talent and exciting new voices. Anything & Everything Productions is no exception. In its first year of public operation alone, the collective has proven that they really can do anything and everything!
Founded in the summer of 2024 by Gaby Vitali, Anything & Everything Productions is an up-and-coming Montreal-based independent theatre company. What started off as a group of friends gathering together to read of one of Gaby’s plays has now evolved into something much bigger.
Their first official live event was a fundraiser Cabaret, co-produced by Gaby and yours truly. The Cabaret brought together many emerging talents hailing from both Montreal and its surrounding area. Consisting of a total of 13 acts, with one intermission, the event was held at La Porte Rouge in early June 2025. The show featured songs, monologues, contemporary dance, comedy, as well as an intercultural intermixing of both Mexican and Filipino traditional dancing. The cast’s makeup of mostly current and/or graduating theatre students speaks to Anything & Everything’s philosophy.
At its core, Anything & Everything’s mission is to curate opportunities for emerging performers, directors, playwrights, technicians, and designers. “I want to give everyone the experience to do a show,” says Vitali of their motivation behind founding the production company. Community has been at the heart of all of their projects thus far.
Bella Rose, a current Concordia Theatre student, can attest to this, having worked with Anything & Everything Productions twice now. “My time with A&E has been enjoyable, educational, and deeply inspiring,” Bella tells me. “The company’s professionalism, strong community support, and thoughtful care for their artists make them an impressive and uplifting presence in Montreal’s theatre scene.”
Anything & Everything’s most recent endeavour was a public play reading of the play that started it all: Gaby Vitali’s Caricature of Intimacy. The event took place on September 26th at John Abbott College in the Napier Studio.
Caricature of Intimacy is a farcical comedy featuring wacky family dynamics, a murder case, forbidden love affairs, a repressed teenage girl, and a court room. Elizabeth and Hartwell Featherflute have a dark secret – one that their sheltered daughter Alexandria is unaware of. With the help of her new friends, Florian and Arabella, Alexandria seeks out the truth. The play humorously explores the nuanced complexities of relationships between lovers, families, and enemies.
The powerful cast of both current students and recent graduates from theatre schools across Montreal were mesmerizing to watch, delivering a night full of deep belly laughs, pure entertainment, and enthralling performances. The energy was electrifying. Julie-Anne Queen gave a particularly stand-out performance as Elizabeth Featherflute, an overbearing mother and machiavellian woman with many secrets. Mark Attalla, a graduate of John Abbott College’s Theatre program, also gave a riveting performance as Hartwell Featherflute that kept spectators on the edge of their seats, and laughing hysterically.
My favourite aspect of the play was its metatheatricality, the breaking of the fourth wall. Several characters acknowledged the fact that they were in a performance, even directly addressing the audience. Subverting theatrical conventions and immersing the spectator are things that Gaby is very interested in as a playwright. “I want people to feel involved – even if [you’re] not in the show, I want you to feel like you’re a part of it.” says Gaby on their love of immersive theatre.
When it comes to the future, Anything & Everything is very open to collaborate with other playwrights in Montreal, and its surrounding areas, to help bring their plays to the stage as well. They are also looking to produce more cabarets and small fundraisers to support the company’s future projects.
Heavily inspired by Starcatcher productions, a non-profit community theatre company based in Kahnawake, Gaby loves musicals, and is eager to produce one. For them, the dream would be to mount a production of Urinetown someday. Further down the line, they aspire to open up their own theatre space as a base for Anything & Everything.
Having produced two shows in roughly six months, Anything & Everything Productions is already making a name for itself within the Montreal theatre scene. “It’s scary and exciting because it’s cool that people are interested in what I’m doing,” Gaby tells me. “But also I’ve never had this before, so it’s terrifying thinking that people are thinking about me and my specific thing.” All in all, though, they are very grateful for any opportunity they get to create, perform, entertain and learn through these experiences.
In terms of what’s next for Anything & Everything, Gaby shared with me that they have big plans for summer 2026 All they can share for now is that “[the project is] a Starkid musical and we’re gonna have live music probably.” Montreal musical theatre lovers: keep your eyes on this indie company! Anything & Everything Productions is one to look out for.
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