“Theatre Reflects Our Time”: A Conversation with Kate Barker
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 president. Barker is a long time Peanuts lover: at four, she named her beagle Snoopy and for years, her wristwatch featured the animated characters. “It’s an ode to [Charles] Schulz and the world he created.” In this conversation, she talks about NUTZ, its upcoming performance in Domino Theatre‘s Come Play By The Lake One-Act Festival, how she balances seriousness and humour, and what spurs her to write (short answer: deadlines!).
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Please note this article briefly mentions sexual abuse.
Can you tell us what NUTZ is all about?
I could, but a good way into this might be to tell you how it came to be. Just over a year ago, I had an idea: ‘What if the gang from Peanuts got together in a bar later in life? In their 50s, early 60s? What would that look like?’ And I thought it was pretty funny. I didn’t write it, of course, because I was busy doing other things but it was on my mind. And then I went to the [TK] Fringe Festival last year and really enjoyed it, and thought, ‘oh, it would be kind of cool to write this play for a Fringe Festival.’ I still didn’t write it. Then everything changed. Trump was elected and it was a period where hope was lost for many people. All of a sudden this light comedic piece changed in my mind. But I still didn’t write anything. And then there was the deadline to submit it to the festival. A writer needs a deadline, as you know. So I sat down at the end of February and I wrote this play over a couple of days, and it became something different. It’s still funny, but it’s a play about resistance. And I’m so glad it turned into that.
How was the process of creating this play for the One Act Festival?
It’s been wonderful. There’s two parts to it. One is the creative side and all these wonderful people who are involved. The other side is the practical side. To mount a play, you need a festival, you need money, you need rehearsal space. All that stuff has to fall into place. What a gift Domino has given these writers and actors and directors that they provide everything, and you put the play together, and then take it to the space. I can’t imagine, outside of a festival, being able to show this play. Not only that, but I’m a great believer in community theatre. I didn’t know half the people involved in this play until it came together. And now, it’s a big cast for a small play. So I think that’s a really cool aspect of community theatre.
What’s something you hope your audience and attendees will take away from the show?
That this is a play of the moment right now, that this is a play about today, about the forces of fascism that are active today. I’ve always thought that theatre is very political, without actually stating that. That theatre reflects our time. So this is a very timely play, and I hope that resonates for people, I think it will. At the same time, I want them to laugh. That’s a tall order and I think I deliver.
That’s an interesting dichotomy to play around with. You want something to be timely, to have political tones and impact. But you also want that comedy and laughter. What is it like to work with that as a writer?
It’s a challenge but it’s life, right? Like if we were depressed all the time, we wouldn’t be able to function. So even at people’s darkest moments, there are moments of levity as well. Finding that dance and weaving through it is always a challenge as a writer, and I think it’s something I’ve always been quite good at. From the very first play I ever wrote many, many years ago, I was challenged with opening a conference on childhood sexual abuse. How do you write a play about that and not have people completely devastated at the end? Oddly, I found humor, not in the abuse, but in people’s stories. So it’s always been my approach to theatre that you have to weave the tragedy and the comedy together, and it’s a balance, and it’s fun. I don’t know how to answer that, except I think it’s just how we function as humans in the world. How we have to get through, how we persevere, how we resist, how we survive. A bit of humor always helps. Maybe that’s the answer, I guess.
You’ve also done some acting in the past. Do you have an acting role in this play?
I didn’t intend to initially when I wrote it—writing is enough—but seven people? That’s a lot for a half hour so I needed to take a role. I play Marcie. It’s Marcie’s bar. It’s been fun to be an actor in it and watch Lorna [Jodoin] do her magic as the director. She’s wonderful and it’s been great to meet her. I never want to direct, ever. I wanted to be an actor when I was a kid… then I pursued writing professionally… and it’s only since moving back to Kingston that I’ve rediscovered acting and playwriting as well. So that was another gift that Domino gave me. I showed up for an audition about two and a half years ago, and I got a little part in A Trip to Bountiful. And I realized I missed this. This is fun.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
All the cast and the crew have been so great. I find it endlessly amazing that people will donate their talent, time, energy, enthusiasm, and love to a little piece of theatre. And it really is a little piece of theatre. It runs about 35 minutes, and we’re showing it once. So I just can’t thank them all enough. It’s actually a line from the play that Marcie says, ‘I can’t thank you all enough.’ I’m quite touched that people threw themselves into it, and we have a show, and I think it’s a good little show. I hope people enjoy it on Saturday night.
‘NUTZ’ marks Kate Barker’s return to playwriting after more than 30 years. Her first two plays, ‘Bantering the Unanswerable’ and ‘Army of Lovers?’ were staged first in Kingston, as a part of a conference and the Fringe Festival then run by Threshold Theatre. Both went on to be produced and workshopped respectively at festivals run by Nightwood and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto.
‘NUTZ’ will be showing at Domino Theatre as a part of the Come Play By The Lake One-Act Festival today, July 5, 2025. More information about the festival and tickets can be found here.
