Bringing a Thriller to the Everyday with ‘We’re All That’s Left’
A little under a week before Grey’s Productions opens their second show, We’re All That’s Left, I had the pleasure of sitting down to chat with Director Julia Gehring and Writer/Producer Alina Siwy. We discussed what it’s like working within a newer production company, producing original works, and the relationship between a director and playwright when it comes to bringing a show to life. I start by chatting with Siwy and am later joined by Gehring, and the pair sit together in a room in the basement of Theological Hall, the iconic building in the background throughout our conversation.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
We’re All That’s Left is set, and staged, entirely within the green room of Theological Hall that is used as a proper green room when shows are running in the various performance spaces of the building. Moreso, it is a hub for DAN School students looking for a place to study, chat, or nap on one of the cozy couches that line its walls. I, like many DAN School students, have often found myself thrown into conversation there, as my intentions to do work are dashed as I stop to listen to some hilarious story being told or begin to complain about an assignment with a classmate. Siwy says that although the show is entirely fictional, it was these moments that inspired the piece: “I had noticed how interesting of a social place the green room is and was to all the students in the DAN School… I was in that space a lot in between classes and I would overhear people have these conversations. I remember having a thought that ‘Oh, this is kind of like theatre because I feel like I’m just listening or watching.’ And although, obviously, they were just having their own conversations, everything is very open in the space.”
Although the setting itself is based in a common area used daily, the story is something very much of another world. Siwy notes that after writing her first play Love? and Other Letters, she hoped to continue to cover ideas of love with this story while leaning into darker themes akin to thrillers, genre-wise. “It’s about this friend group of five people who, after having an after party of a show that they had done, one of their friends goes missing for a few days and they’re trying to figure out what happened to her. As the series of the events unfold, we start to realize there’s a bit of a supernatural presence in this green room… but you’ll have to come see it to know what happens.”
As we chat more and more, I’m interested in how the pair treat the separation between director and writer, especially as peers working on a show together. Siwy tells me how she directed the first show that she wrote for Grey’s Productions, but realized afterwards that “for the most part, writers don’t get to be in charge of their pieces in the real world. So I want to try giving up creative control in that sense, in an environment that I felt safe to do so.” As a result, there came Gehring, a classmate turned colleague who she asked to work on the show. “I felt really safe and comfortable letting her make decisions about it. For the most part, I’ve kind of stepped back. I gave her the script. I sat in with her at auditions just to have a second person in the room. But she made all the final decisions about casting… and she made the approvals for all of the designers, [while] I helped hire designers in our production team.”
Gehring joins the interview midway through, running over after the team completed a runthrough of the show with a burst of energy. I ask her about their process for collaborative creation as she settles in, and she explains that this has been her first venture in directing entirely on her own. Previously, she has held co-director and assistant director roles in various clubs and DAN School projects. “I was really excited and really honoured that she had asked me,” Gehring says, “and it kind of just stemmed from there… when you’re working with such lovely people, it’s honestly very easy.” Siwy jumps in, “That’s kind of what I was saying. I kind of handed over my baby to you and you just ran with it. I’m so happy with where it’s going.”
Gehring tells us more about her experience navigating directing on her own. She elaborates, “I think for me, I’m a very visual person, and so when I’m reading scripts or plays or books, every line that I read has an image connected to it.” This remained the same with We’re All That’s Left: “As soon as I read the script and with the cues that Alina had written in, I immediately started thinking of so many different ideas that could work with the piece.”
As things come to a close, we gush about staging theatre in a non-conventional space (Siwy explains the audience is not sat in a “true proscenium… more like a crescent shape!”), the placement of lights and sound, and finally, the joy that self-producing theatre can create. As we close things off, Gehring mentions her interest in returning to similar works soon, and I am reminded of something Siwy said earlier on: “One of my favourite things about student theatre is that we all just want to practice what we love.”
Tickets for Grey’s Productions‘ ‘We’re All That’s Left’ can be found here. The show runs from April 4-5, 2026.
Julia Gehring (she/her) is an active member of the theatre community and has particularly found a passion for acting and directing. She is currently in her 3rd year of Concurrent Education at Queen’s University, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Drama and Art History. Julia is looking forward to combining her love for teaching and theatre to make a difference in the community.
Alina Siwy is an emerging theatre artist with special interests in performance, playwriting and production management. Alina is also the founder and artistic director of Grey’s Productions, a small new theatre company that focuses primarily on storytelling through original works. Alina is completing a Bachelor of Arts Honours in Media and Performance Production at Queen’s University.
