Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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
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
