Kingston Theatre Alliance

The 17th edition of Kingston WritersFest (KWF) is about to kick off! From free events like Literary Trivia Night to the Writers Studio masterclasses, KWF 2025 has something for everyone. We sat down with local authors Ying Lee, Merilyn Simonds, and Jamal Saeed to learn a bit more about some of the names behind this year’s fest. Ying Lee: Creativity and Crafting Worlds by Mariam Tirani Ying Lee has published […]

Two farmers, a folksy artist, a collective theatre project, and a secret between friends kept for decades: what could go wrong? The Drawer Boy, an award-winning play by Brockville’s Michael Healey, tells the story of two old friends in 1972 rural Ontario. Angus (Tom Barnett) and Morgan (Patrick McManus) live and work alone on their farm, but their lives change when Miles (Stephen Jackman-Torkoff), a young actor from Toronto working […]

In 1972, Paul Thompson (who at the time was artistic director of Theatre Passe Muraille) and a group of actors ventured out of the city to interview farmers in and around Clinton and Blyth, Ontario. They discussed their lives and their careers, while also occasionally aiding in the chores and fieldwork. This resulted in The Farm Show, a play made up of those interviews which has gone on to be […]

Content warning: This interview discusses the topic of suicide.

A wedding is widely regarded as the “happiest day of your life” but the stains of actually achieving that blissful status often turn the festivities sour. Bonnie (Emily Lukasik) and Brad (Henry Beasley) are throwing a stag and doe in preparation for their wedding. Unfortunately, after a terrible storm, Rob (Kyle Brown) and Mandy (Romi Shraiter) have had to relocate their wedding, and the only venue in town that can […]

Jake MacNeil (Pat Larkin) has long been in charge of the A.G. MacNeil woolen mill, but now is in the early stages of dementia. As Jake’s mind fades, so does his company, leaving his children Judith (Liz Simpson) and Ned (David Baker) to grapple with how to salvage their father’s life’s work. With an offshore company offering to buy the business, the future of the mill as well as the […]

In the week leading up to the winter solstice, I sat down with a handful of local theatre-makers to reflect on the year, learn about people’s upcoming projects, and find out what was keeping them warm through the short, dark days of December. This interview with Krista Dalby is the final installment in a series which appeared on the Kingston Theatre Alliance’s Performance Blog in the early (and not so […]

When the TK Fringe began this year and I received my press pass I found myself thinking: “How much can I abuse this power?” Each of the KTA’s three summer critics were assigned five shows to review, so I knew not everything would be covered and I would not be assigned to see every show I was interested in. So rather than simply abuse the power of the press pass […]

From the depths of kelp forests to the red soil at the Mars Desert Research Station, Erin Kennedy’s robots have tackled some of the toughest terrains out there. This robot inventor and analogue astronaut has designed robots that can be worn, pick up trash, collect sea urchins, and even conduct research in space. Now, Kennedy is bringing her newest robot, a motion-sensing butterfly, to the Tett Centre for her special […]

A beautiful wedding has been ruined by the murder of the groom. The crime has eight suspects, and rather than bother a judge with the issue, Vic Vanderspank (Shanique Peart), the evening’s host, has assembled a collection of jurors (the audience) to decide by vote. The jury is not voting on who is guilty though: the trial is broken up into rounds with someone being voted off as innocent each […]

Whether you are familiar with the original novel by Kenneth Grahame, the stop motion film, the Disney animated short film, or the more recent 2016 musical, it is hard to deny The Wind in the Willows as one of the greats in children’s literature. The adventures of Mole (Liv Hendy) and Rat (Essie Latimer-Scahill) as they try to help the infamous Toad (Kai Kerr) out of his nasty habits have […]

Being a teacher is difficult: parents demanding the world for their children regardless of the effort being put in on the student’s end, a complete lack of social life because of all the time needed for marking, and to top it all off there’s the endless torment of your unenthusiastic pupils. Samantha Twiggs (Eleanor Daly) embodies all of these struggles and shows what happens when just about everything goes wrong for […]