Domino Theatre — Kingston Theatre Alliance

“I have good news for you, some of you have been coming to the festival for years, this year we have six good plays.” These were the words Festival Director Michelle McNichol chose to open the second and final night of this year’s Come Play By The Lake One-Act Festival. I have the pleasure of writing about the final two performances of the festival: NUTZ by Kate Barker and I’ll […]

Tribute to Wildflower: How to Read a Bouquet  A dimly lit stage with lively jazz playing in the background welcomes the audience to a night of reflective and personal stories. To the right, a sign reads “Connie’s Flowers,” and in the center, a table with various props sets the scene of a charming flower shop. The story about to unfold is one of sisterhood, loss, perspective, and new beginnings. In […]

Content Warning: ‘The Fall after Midsummer’ mentions murder, violence, and discusses an emotionally abusive relationship. Although this review does not discuss these topics in depth, they are general themes in the performance. 

Kate Barker is not new to the role of playwright. She wrote her first plays in the 1990s, then for the next thirty years worked as a magazine writer, editor, and journalism instructor. “It is a return to my first love, theatre,” she says.  In her newest play NUTZ, Barker brings Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang to their late 50s where Marcie owns a bar and Donald Trump is […]

In 2014 after moving to their new location at 52 Church St, the Domino Theatre revived Come Play by the Lake, their annual festival showcasing one act plays put on by local talent. In this new era of the festival, no playwright has produced more shows than Harry Jordan, who will be participating once again this year with his new show: Acorns. I had the chance to speak with Jordan […]

Checking items off a bucket list might be one of the most satisfying things in life, and as of July 5, 2025, writer, director, and performer Valerie Winslow is set to do just that. After years of being an audience member, sitting and enjoying shows from the sidelines, Winslow will finally live her dream. With months of writing and directing in anticipation, she will watch the premiere of her very […]

When I was a child, a family friend who happens to be a doctor once cautioned me to “be careful, because at a certain age you stop healing from wounds and you start just collecting them.” Warren Winters (Phil Perrin) has reached that age, and is really beginning to find the troubles that come with it. Decrepitude Blues follows Warren through doctor’s checkups and the loss of his job, friends, and wife, all the while highlighting the hardships of turning 70 with dry wit erupting at each new low. 

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 […]

Whether you recognize it from the theatre, the cinema, the Victorian novella, or the iconic Arthur song, the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an enduring cultural touchstone. With a healthy mix of good and evil, fantasy and drama, this story provides the perfect recipe for a spooky autumn play—which means it’s arrived at Domino Theatre just in time.  Based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 gothic horror […]

Mayhem, by the name of Mr. Marmaduke, comes to call at Mumberley Manor and chaos ensues. The Mumberley Inheritance, written by Warren C. Graves, staged at Domino Theatre with director Sara Beck and assistant director Christian Milanovic, is a fun romp that lampoons the conventions of melodrama.  Patriarch Sir Roger Mumberley (Phil Perrin) has, unbeknownst to his children Jack (Ben Hudson) and Daphne (Emily Kelly), frittered away much of the […]

At Come Play By The Lake, short works by local playwrights take to the Domino Theatre stage and compete for a place in the Eastern Ontario Drama League (EODL)’s One Act Festival.  Ranging from 25 to 55 minutes in length and spanning multiple genres—the 2024 submissions include horror, romance, comedy, and metatheatre—the productions are evaluated by a panel of judges selected from the local arts community. This year, Donna Chambers, […]

Alone at last? Not so for the characters of Left Alone at Domino Theatre. Domino’s annual one-act play festival, ‘Come Play by the Lake,’ will be staged July 5-6, 2024, featuring four one-act plays. Left Alone by J. Wes Secord begins the performances this year, and I had the opportunity to sit down with Secord and learn about their experience writing and staging the play.  This interview has been edited […]