Science Fiction, Single Feature: A Spotlight on Stone City Theatre Company
Kingston’s Come Play by the Lake One Act Play Festival welcomes new and exciting theatre productions every year and this season, it sets the stage for the inaugural show of the up and coming Stone City Theatre Company (SCTC). They are presenting their one-act science fiction satire, Ethically Sourced Chocolate in the Post Extinction Era. I had the privilege of speaking to two of the leading creatives on this production, B.C. Gorrie and Nick Neoleous, about the rising prominence of their company and the theatre-making process in anticipation of their debut production.
This interview was conducted without the presence of co-playwright Maleeka Thacker, whose contributions to SCTC are substantial.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What is the Stone City Theatre Company? Could I get a brief outline of your goals for this project?
BG: Stone City Theatre Company just launched with the idea of creating a sustainable and stable performing arts environment in Kingston. We wanted to focus on creating a producing company that is following the ethos of the KTA in regards to locality. Nick and I had both worked at 6 AM Productions previously, and our idea was to create a really stable place to build upon and to help other theatre companies build upon. We exist because, in Kingston, the fine arts sector hasn’t necessarily reached its full potential yet. There’s not a lack of talent, there’s not a lack of ambition, but there’s a lack of infrastructure. There are not enough venues, not enough funding pathways, and not enough opportunities for performing artists to really build a career here. SCTC is our answer to that, and we are dedicated to creating the conditions in which artists can train, experiment, create, and ultimately sustain a professional life here in the city. Our goal is to do that by producing new Canadian plays, devised and collaborative work, experimental theatre and site specific performances.
How does your debut play, Ethically Sourced Chocolate In The Post Extinction Era, reflect those values and goals?
NN: One thing that this production is doing to forward the mission of SCTC is that the play itself was written by B.C. Gorrie and Maleeka Thacker, both Kingston artists and Kingston playwrights. So we’re stoking that local talent pool and giving voices within the community a space to put their work in. We’re really pleased that a lot of the actors in this show are new, as we are trying to give opportunities to emerging talents. You may have noticed our motto, which is, “The stronger the foundation, the higher we build.” This is all about helping build that foundation in tandem with all the artists in the city with a kind of rising tide mentality. I think centering local playwrights and local artists at a local theatre is how this production is helping drive that vision forward and makes it a great start.
Ethically Sourced Chocolate in the Post Extinction Era is to be performed at the Come Play by The Lake Festival. What is this show about?
BG: Ethically Sourced Chocolate in the Post Extinction Era is a one act science fiction comedy that takes place centuries after ecological collapse forced humanity off of Earth. Five federation ministers of this future government (the Galactic Federation) are summoned to a secure council chamber to determine the fate of the last surviving chocolate bar in existence that has just been rediscovered. What begins as an intellectual debate over science, preservation, and public good slowly devolves into a ruthless political battle over scarcity, power, and who gets to experience humanity’s pleasures. It blends retrofuturism and satire with a sort of tense chamber drama. Ethically Sourced Chocolate comes off as a darkly funny explosion of capitalism, bureaucracy, and the terrifying ease with which morality becomes negotiable when enough money is involved.
The three of you have been collaborating for some time. What is the creative process for putting a production together?
BG: Maleeka Thaker and I have written together since 2018. We have written a lot, our forte being mysteries and comedies. Ethically Sourced Chocolate in the Post Extinction Era is one of the first traditional theatre pieces we’ve done in a while. This was created out of a ten page script competition that we entered, where they give you a genre, a theme, and a character you have to include. We ended up coming first place in that round, and when we finished, we loved the idea and the concept so much we really wanted to build upon it and parse out all of these really interesting ideas that we were exploring. For example, the idea of A.I. in the future and how it’s going to be integrated into our everyday life.
NN: B.C. and I have been working together in the theatre sphere since December 2018. So I had some inkling of B.C. and Maleeka’s writing style already, and then, of course, we decided to start Stone City Theatre Company together and I knew we were going to put on this production. It was only when we started going through the production aspect and I was trying to figure out the best way I could help that I leaned into the role of dramaturg. I mean, I think the beautiful part about this while I was being a dramaturg and editing and going through things, I’m looking at all the stuff going on and trying to draw connections and see if there’s precedent. I’m like: “How satire is this satire?” I think one of the beautiful parts about this world that B.C. and Maleeka ended up writing is that you’re left with all these questions, and the world is so much deeper than the 45 minutes we get to be up on stage. I hope, at the very least, that people walk away with this thinking about the implications of all of it and think a little deeper into how this society functions.
What were your intentions while adapting this piece from concept to cautionary tale?
BG: It started from this concept of what Earth is going to look like in the future with how things are currently going. What we wanted to play with was this idea of re-terraforming Earth. We’ve already lost it, but it’s home and we have to return to it. And what do we find when we return to it? We wanted to think about the consistent mistakes that we make as humans. Furthermore, we wanted to focus on giving a thin morality tale about how the way we discuss the environment now is going to be present in the way we will discuss problems later on. What are those consistent mistakes going to look like in the future? What are these mistakes that we carry with us? And the one thing that we find through history again and again and again is people in positions of power using their influence to get what they want, not because they’re evil, but because they can have it and people let them have it. And they do that by convincing the public that it is okay for this to happen. So that’s how we really decide to look at this ridiculous idea of the last chocolate bar left on Earth. What do we do with it?
So what can we expect from Stone City Theatre? Do you have a catalog you are going to be drawing from?
BG: We have a backlog of shows. Maleeka and I are furiously writing all the time. We also have a lot of immersive experiences that Nick, Maleeka, and I created with 6 AM Productions that we have in our catalog currently. As we’re pretty small right now, we’re trying to be very intentional with what we’re doing. So we’re going to put on a few more smaller scale shows and then work towards building a program to be able to commission writers, because there are a lot of really great playwrights here in Kingston. A lot of really great plays come out of Kingston, especially for a town of our size. And we wanted to be able to create that pipeline from ideation to presentation. Currently we are trying to iron out that process with some of our own shows and some of our smaller scale productions, so that when we do invite people in, it becomes a very accessible and streamlined process for them to be able participate.
B.C. Gorrie (he/him) is a Katarokwi/Kingston-based playwright, director, comedian, and arts administrator with over a decade of expertise in performing arts production. A dedicated advocate for the arts, B.C. is committed to enriching Katarokwi/Kingston’s cultural landscape and developing a performing arts sector that is equitable and welcoming to all artists.
Nick Neoleous (he/him) is a Katarokwi/Kingston-born and raised producer, actor, and director who has been a leader and advocate in the performing arts sector for the past nine years. With a love for performance and a background in engineering and pilot plant design, Nick is excited to bring his skillset and help support the SCTC team to ensure that Katarokwi/Kingston’s art sector not only grows, but is the model by which other communities shape their own.
Maleeka Thaker (she/they) is a playwright, dramaturg, actor, and conservationist who works across theatre, immersive experiences, and narrative design, with a particular interest in non-linear forms and character-driven work. Maleeka strives to elevate marginalized voices and bring warmth, care, and emotional depth to stories set in overlooked or forgotten spaces.
‘Ethically Sourced Chocolate in the Post Extinction Era’ will be presented by Stone City Theatre Company at the 2026 Come Play by the Lake Festival tomorrow, July 3.. Tickets and more information can be found here.
