Thousand Islands Playhouse — Kingston Theatre Alliance

In the first week of January, while many of us were still crawling out of our holiday haze, Sophia Fabiilli was hard at work developing her latest play: Why It’s Impossible To Raise A Girl. Fabiilli spent a week at the Thousand Islands Playhouse (TIP)’s rehearsal hall, turning the existing script on its head with thoughtful input from actor Zoë Sweet and director Evalyn Parry. Toward the end of the […]

Have you ever had a once-in-a-lifetime encounter with someone? Did they have such an impact that it changed the course of your life forever? Once is a Tony Award Winning Musical based on the 2007 Oscarwinning film of the same name. In its opening, we are introduced to an unnamed struggling Dublin musician portrayed by Tyler Check. On the verge of giving up on music altogether, fate brings him to […]

A humorous and intriguing play that will leave one thinking about it for days to come. Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes is by Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch, and revolves around Jon, a famous writer and professor, and Annie, a 19 year-old student of his fan of his work. The play is portrayed through Jon’s point of view and throughout the course of the performance his and Annie’s relationship grows […]

You just got broken up with. How would you feel? Angry? Betrayed? Bitter?  bittergirl is a musical comedy that was originally a play created by Annabel Fitzsimmons, Alison Lawrence, and Mary Francis Moore. Throughout the musical, audiences follow three unnamed women titled A, B, C, and performed by Autumn-Joy Dames, Kelsey Verzotti, and Laura Caswell, as they each go through a breakup. The three women find companionship in each other […]

What do we owe our parents? And what do theatres owe their audiences?  Kim’s Convenience by Ins Choi is a play loved by many in the greater Toronto area, and after the success of the TV adaptation on CBC, it has gained national attention. The story is an endearing family comedy following a day in the life of Mr. Kim: a convenience store owner who immigrated from Korea to start […]

There is no more nuance in this production, no deeper message, nothing else of note. If you are looking to see ‘The Music Man’ as it was staged originally in 1957, you’re in luck. There weren’t really any risks taken or boundaries pushed, and sometimes that’s what audiences are looking for, fine! But I would’ve been happy to see this talented creative team take on something that has the potential to be more relevant.

It is always the moments that derail an activist’s life that are remembered the most, and Hey Viola is a reminder that Viola Davis was a real person. It is also the most entertaining history lesson I’ve ever had.  This Thousand Islands Playhouse production (co-created by Krystle Dos Santos and Tracey Power, dir. Power) is a transformative experience filled with history, music, and advocacy. Transporting audiences to 1950’s Harlem, New […]

“Write what you know. And what you don’t know, research.” Playing the young and bold Tia, Makambe K Simamba speaks these words and thunder ripples across the darkened theatre. It is with power and conviction that she stares down her fictional screenwriting superior, and with a warning that finds relevance even outside the story world. Everyone is shaken with the implications. This is my second time seeing a performance of […]

It was a rainy Wednesday afternoon when I asked my father to join me for some caramel corn and a matinee performance of Thom Currie’s Back in ’59, the Thousand Islands Playhouse show that is Mashed Potato-ing its way through a sold-out run (or in our case, available via streaming online). Despite not being present for all the toe-tapping and in-seat jiving I’m sure accompanies the live productions, we found […]

WARNING: This review contains spoilers. At the end of the day, I get it. Times have been tough, and when the going gets tough and revenue must be guaranteed, safe choices need to be made.  Thousand Islands Playhouse marks its return with award-winning Vancouver playwright Michele Riml’s Sexy Laundry. The play follows the tale of a tepid night shared by a middle-aged couple that aim to fuck themselves out of […]

Two Filipina nurses walk into Arborfield Memorial Hospital. You won’t believe what happens next! Marie Beath Badian was inspired to write Prairie Nurse by real people, including her mom, a nurse who immigrated from the Philippines to Canada, Penny, another Filipina nurse, and Pat Hackett, a candy striper at the hospital. Prairie Nurse is bright, energetic, and bears all the markers of a TV sit-com—wild misunderstandings, over the top characters, […]

A new Canadian farce! Playing in the Springer Theatre until August 18, The Canadian by this new whimsical physical comedy world premiered by Thousand Islands Playhouse – takes the audience through a whirlwind of events so calculated and carefully timed that they could all crumbling down upon an accidental early entrance or line fumble. Director Rob Kempson reflects upon this in his Director’s Note, equating a farce to a “complex […]