News & Reviews — Kingston Theatre Alliance

A nearly 80-year feat—it’s the National Theatre School DramaFest. The long-standing festival brings high schools together from across their province in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, while out East, the four Atlantic provinces participate together. In Ontario’s DramaFest, District Festivals kick off the three tiers of showcases. Schools first perform their productions in their respective district where they may then be invited to a Regional Showcase. Two productions from each […]

The Performance Blog is a primary resource for audience members, artistic collaboration, critical dialogue, and theatre practitioners. Our platform consolidates events, news, artists, and organizations in the Southeastern Ontario area in an accessible and accountable manner that the region has never seen before. The writing team is looking for a Junior Editor who is passionate about the arts in Kingston and committed to questioning who and what criticism is FOR, […]

Queen’s Musical Theatre (QMT)’s Heathers: The Musical has all the makings of a killer production: biting wit, belty numbers, and a cast that brings the house down, but the Baby Grand just can’t contain this much teen angst.

The Performance Blog is a primary resource for audience members, artistic collaboration, critical dialogue, and theatre practitioners. Our platform consolidates events, news, artists, and organizations in the Southeastern Ontario area in an accessible and accountable manner that the region has never seen before. Led by the Editor, the writing team is looking for passionate individuals who are committed to questioning who and what criticism is FOR, all while building a […]

Terra (Jarena Lee) has fallen on hard times. Her case worker, Liz (Sierra Zawacki), is asking her to leave her current home at a women’s abuse shelter to make room for new tenants. Meanwhile, her abusive ex (Jonathan Campbell) has just been released from prison, she is meeting with a problematic potential landlord (Matthew Davis), and she is single-handedly raising her five children—Mya (Yashia Allen), James (Iffy Maduabuchi), Anaella (Reese […]

Few musicals capture the highs and lows of being a performer quite like Michael Bennett’s A Chorus Line. Set during a grueling Broadway audition, the show follows a group of dancers fighting for a coveted spot in the titular chorus line. Instead of a typical audition, the dancers are pushed beyond their resumes, answering deeply personal questions about their lives, dreams, and struggles. Through monologues and musical numbers, each dancer […]

Nicole is overworked, underpaid, and at her wits end when she has to meet with two parents of students in her grade three class. Enter John, a worried upper middle class father recently separated from his wife and is concerned about his son’s grades, and Rosie, a mother working multiple jobs to support her husband who struggles with drug addiction and her daughter. Chaos quickly unfolds as the parents panic […]

Love is never simple—and in Domino Theatre’s production of Almost, Maine, directed by Sandie Cond, it’s often downright messy. This heartfelt and frequently hilarious exploration of falling in and out of love is set in the fictional small community of Almost, Maine. The play spans eight individually titled vignettes that unfold over the same ten-minute period, giving us glimpses of touching, romantic, and heartbreaking moments. Strangely, by the end of […]

After having her car towed for the fifth time, Annie (Susan Del Mei) decides not only to get her car back, but to personally change the system and avoid future incidents. Caught in Annie’s crusade is gauche tow truck driver, David (Reece Presley), who is just doing his job, which he describes as fulfilling “…penalties for citizen misconduct.” Theatre Kingston presents Jim Garrard’s Big Ticket in the Baby Grand as […]

I love reimagining classics, but usually I know the source material that is being reimagined. This was not the case for me when I went to see Yu Theatre Society’s production of Snow in Midsummer: The Silence, a 50-minute long mime/dance show based on the 13th-century play The Injustice of Dou E by Guan Hanqing. How would I be able to appreciate someone else’s adaptation when I don’t know the […]

They’re young, they’re in love, and they’re in possession of stolen firearms. The Kingston Meistersingers are stealing hearts this season with Bonnie & Clyde, a fast-paced musical based on the story of real-life crime duo Bonnie Parker (Rachel Savlov) and Clyde Barrow (Rowan Engen).  Parker and Barrow’s infamous exploits and violent deaths in the 1930s sparked enduring public interest, inspiring numerous adaptations in the nearly hundred years since their heyday. […]

Virtual Reality has been on the rise as a new medium in the theatre industry for a few years now, but is it ready to take the forefront? Last weekend I had the honour of attending the 2024 PXR Conference for the second year running. This time around, I attended Journey to Octopulis: Improv or Die, hosted by Unknown Theater, and Mary Shelley Lives Here, hosted by Hummingbird Interactive. Both […]