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PART OF THE 2025/26 OFF-MIRVISH SEASON SUBSCRIPTION

Ava: The Secret Conversations

Dates

November 2025

Theatre

CAA Theatre

651 Yonge Street, Toronto
ON, M4Y 1Z9

Performance Schedule

Tuesday - Saturday: 7:30PM
Wednesday: 1:30PM
Saturday & Sunday: 2PM

Running Time

90 minutes (no intermission)

Advisory

This production contains profanity, discussions of sex and sexual assault, herbal cigarette smoke and flashes of light. Recommended for ages 12+.

Accessibility Services

For assistance booking special access seats or for information about our Accessibility Services, please call 1.800.461.3333.

Ava: The Secret Conversations - Based on the book The Secret Conversations by Peter Evans & Ava Gardner

CANADIAN PREMIERE

Academy Award, Golden Globe and Emmy® Award-nominated actor Elizabeth McGovern stars as Hollywood’s original femme fatale Ava Gardner in a critically acclaimed new play lauded by Entertainment Weekly as “mesmerizing and electric!”

In 1988, the Golden Age of Cinema’s Ava Gardner sat for a series of interviews with journalist Peter Evans that were to become the basis of an autobiography. There was lots of material to cover – her marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, and Frank Sinatra, her turbulent time with Howard Hughes, and the more than 50 films she made. Gardner’s relationship with Evans was tempestuous, and Gardner decided to write her memoir alone. Evans kept his notes and transcripts of those interviews and 25 years later, with permission from Gardner’s estate, he published the interviews and told the story of his time with Gardner. The book received rave reviews – Maureen Dowd in The New York Times called it “mesmerizing.” Now, Evans’s book is reimagined on stage, adapted by the star of the show herself, Elizabeth McGovern, and also starring Aaron Costa Ganis as Peter.

Elizabeth McGovern and Aaron Costa Ganis in
Ava: The Secret Conversations
Written by Elizabeth McGovern
Based on the book The Secret Conversations by Peter Evans & Ava Gardner
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
Produced by Karl Sydow


ELIZABETH MCGOVERN CASTS A SPELL AS THE CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD FEMME FATALE AVA GARDNER! - Los Angeles Times
MESMERIZING! TWO ELECTRIC ACTORS - MCGOVERN AND GANIS ARE POWERFUL FORCES! MORE INTERESTING THAN AN OSCAR-WINNING BIOPIC! - Entertainment Weekly
ENTRANCING AND HYPNOTIC! MCGOVERN EMBODIES AVA GARDNER IN A GUTSY EXPLORATION AND SHE DOES SO WITH FIRE! - Broadway World