MAGGIE & PIERRE season sponsor
Supporting the arts, locally. WELCOME Each year, through various donations and sponsorships, we are committed to helping our local communities. We re proud to be the 2018/2019 season sponsor of the Grand Theatre. At the height of Trudeaumania, while Pierre Elliot Trudeau was our Prime Minister, Linda Griffiths brilliantly wrote a very topical, focused play examining the extraordinary relationship of the Prime Minister and his wife Margaret. Griffiths then went on to star in the incredibly quirky love story, playing all three roles: reporter, Pierre, and Maggie. It toured all over Canada and remains one of the most popular, important, and dazzling productions in Canadian theatre history. I can t imagine that Linda could have predicted that the Trudeaus child, Justin, would end up in Ottawa in the role of Prime Minister. Immediately this play has become relevant and exciting all over again for new and delightful reasons. I love to think about Justin observing his parents colourful behaviour. There is little doubt that it informed him and helped shaped the man we know to be our Prime Minister. We are thrilled to welcome timeshare Productions, who created this version, which premiered at the Thousand Islands Playhouse in 2017. Welcome. dennis garnhum artistic director We would like to acknowledge the history of the traditional territory in which the Grand Theatre operates. We would also like to respect the longstanding relationships of the three local First Nations groups of this land and place in Southwestern Ontario. The three First Nations communities closest in proximity to the Grand are the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation (part of the Anishinaabe), the Oneida Nation of the Thames (part of the Haudenosaunee) and the Munsee-Delaware Nation (part of the Leni-Lunaape).
UP NEXT: Travel further back in time with... Vigilante THE GHOSTS OF THE DONNELLY S RETURN IN THIS EXPLOSIVE ROCK MUSICAL! mcmanus stage, february 12 to february 23, 2019 Maggie & Pierre By Linda Griffiths with Paul Thompson A timeshare Production Directed by Rob Kempson Starring Kaitlyn Riordan cast Maggie/Pierre/Henry KAITLYN RIORDAN london free press Vigilante - Waiting for ad content from Emily production team Director ROB KEMPSON Set and Costume Designer JUNG-HYE KIM Lighting Designer OZ WEAVER Sound Designer STEVEN LAFOND Research Assistant MARIAH HORNER Stage Manager ALICE FERREYRA Tickets Selling fast! Feb 19 to Mar 9 spriet stage season sponsor title sponsor Written, Composed, and Directed by Jonathan Christenson Produced by Catalyst Theatre (Edmonton) in collaboration with Canada s National Arts Centre Premiere commissioned by the Citadel Theatre (Edmonton) Maggie & Pierre is produced by arrangement with Kensington Literary Representation, 34 St Andrew Street, Toronto, ON, MST 1K6 416-848-9648. Maggie & Pierre previewed in the Backspace at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto, Ontario, on November 30, 1979. It opened in the Mainspace at Theatre Passe Muraille on February 14, 1980. The Grand Theatre is an active member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatre (pact) and engages, under the terms of the Canadian Theatre Agreement, professional artists who are members of the Canadian Actors Equity Association. The Grand Theatre acknowledges with thanks the co-operation of Locals 105 and 828 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists, and Allied Crafts of the United States, its Territories and Canada, and The London Musicians Association Local 279. The videotaping or other video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited. season sponsor
august wilson s fences The Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning drama, recently adapted for the screen with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. DIRECTOR S NOTES I love Canada. I love how it is beautiful and vast and diverse and complicated. And to me, this play is important to the creation of the Canada that I love. It represents a significant moment in Canadian theatre history by reflecting a significant period in Canadian political history. Linda Griffiths, along with a number of visionary contemporaries, set out to create work that would help to establish a Canadian Identity. Maggie & Pierre chronicles a time when our country was developing a voice of our own, and it is in telling that story that Linda first established her voice as a writer. It is such a blessing to have a play like this in our country s theatrical canon, and I feel so lucky to have been able to revisit this seminal work with such a talented group of artists. We dedicate this production to Linda Griffiths, and to both the rigor and hope that she inspires. ROB KEMPSON AC T OR & PL AY W R IGH T LINDA GRIFFITHS. A MASTERPIECE variety March 19 to April 6 Spriet Stage SEASON SPONSOR TITLE SPONSOR Starring Ordena Stephens-Thompson and Nigel Shawn Williams Directed by Djanet Sears Set Designer Astrid Janson, Costume Designer Rachel Forbes, Lighting Designer Jason Hand, Sound Designer Verne Good.
GUEST ARTISTS kaitlyn riordan rob kempson Kaitlyn Riordan Maggie/Pierre/Henry Kaitlyn Riordan is a three-time Dora nominated actress and playwright. She was born in Montreal, studied in England (at The London Academy of Music & Dramatic Arts), lived in nyc, and now calls Toronto home. When not acting, she s the Artistic Director of critically acclaimed Shakespeare in the Ruff (Ruff), where her play, Portia s Julius Caesar, premiered last summer and was named one of the Top 9 shows of 2018, by The Toronto Star. theatre credits (selected): After the Fire (The Theatre Centre/Punctuate!); Noises Off! (The Segal Centre); Romeo & Juliet (Ruff); Something Fishy (Lighthouse Theatre); Mockingbird (Next Stage Festival); Macbeth: Walking Shadows (Ruff); Look, no Hans! (Drayton Entertainment); The Merchant of Venice, Blithe Spirit (Stratford Festival). other: She is thrilled to be back in the world of the original Trudeaus here in London, after presenting Maggie & Pierre at the Thousand Islands Playhouse in Gananoque and at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. Rob Kempson Director Rob Kempson is a theatre artist and educator, working primarily as a director and playwright. writer/director credits (selected): Trigonometry (timeshare/factory); Mockingbird (Next Stage Theatre Festival); SHANNON 10:40 (timeshare/videofag); explicit (Rhubarb Festival); #legacy (Harbourfront Centre); The HV Project (Community). director: Electric Messiah (Soundstreams); 9 to 5: The Musical (Randolph College); The Ballad of Stompin Tom (Sudbury Theatre Centre); Box 4901 (SummerWorks); The Canadian, Maggie & Pierre, Million Dollar Quartet, Daisy Amazed Me, Violet s the Pilot, Rose s Clothes (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Robert (co-directed with Briana Brown, Toronto Fringe); Songs for a New World (Claude Watson). writer/composer credits: The Way Back To Thursday (Theatre Passe Muraille/ Touchstone Theatre). other: He was a member of the 2014 Stratford Festival Playwrights Retreat, and the Associate Artistic Director at the Thousand Islands Playhouse from 2014 2017. upcoming: Director for The Snow Queen (Canadian Children s Opera Company). More info at robkempson.com or on Twitter at @rob_kempson. jung-hye kim oz weaver Jung-Hye Kim Set and Costume Designer Jung-Hye Kim is a Toronto-based set and costume designer. design credits: Now You See Her (Quote Unquote Collective); Shirley Valentine (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Maggie & Pierre (Tarragon Theatre); Prairie Nurse (Factory Theatre); Set: Flying Heart (Theatre Direct); The Birds And The Bees (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Kiss (Theatre Smash); Snow Queen (Theatre New Brunswick); Tideline (Hart House Theatre and Canadian Rep Theatre); A Grand Time In The Rapids (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Costume: Das Ding (Theatre Smash); Costume: Armstrong s War (Canadian Rep Theatre); Set: Don t Dress for Dinner (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Durango (Fu-gen theatre and Theatre Smash); Small Axe (Project Humanity and The Theatre Centre); Set: Driving Miss Daisy (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Set: Minotaur (ypt); Costume: Pacamambo (Canadian Rep Theatre); Set: Passion Play (Outside the March, Convergence Theatre and Sheep No Wool Production); Boblo (Kitchenband Production and The Theatre Centre, Dora nomination for outstanding set design); Set: The Great Mountain (Red Sky Performance with ypt); Pub Opera (Tapestry New Opera); After Akmatova (Tarragon Theatre); Montparnasse (Theatre Passe Muraille and Groundwater Theatre, Dora nomination for outstanding costume design); The Middle Place (Canstage, Project Humanity, Belfry Theatre, gctc); The Big League (Young People s Theatre); If We Were Birds (Tarragon Theatre and Groundwater Theatre). Oz Weaver Lighting Designer Oz Weaver is a Toronto based lighting designer, production manager, and producer. upcoming credits (selected): We Now Recognize (Project Humanity); A Blow in the Face (Nightwood Theatre); Kopernikus (Against the Grain Opera); Follow the Path (Toronto Centre for the Arts). theatre credits (selected): Lighting Designer: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Citadel Edmonton); Selfie (ypt); Maggie & Pierre (Various); BANG BANG (Factory Theatre); Hamlet, All s Well That Ends Well (Canadian Stage); LULU v.7, Its All Tru, Rhubarb Festival 2016 (Buddies in Bad Times); Production Manager: Dr. Silver (Musical Stage Company/Outside the March); IMPACT Festival (mt Space); Freedom Singer (Project Humanity); The Cage is the Stage @ The PowerBall (Power Plant); Producer: The Dietrich Group; Le Grand Continental, Until the Lions, Bearing (Luminato). other: www.ozweaver.ca
steven lafond mariah horner alice ferreyra Steven Lafond Sound Designer Steven Lafond is an award-winning sound designer, composer, and producer currently residing in the greater Toronto area. He s had the pleasure of composing original music, designing sound, performing,and producing for theatrical productions and films across Canada for the past nine years. Steven studied Classical Music Theory at Carleton University and Technical Production for Theatre and Live Events at Sheridan College. He also owns and operates Magic Studio Productions, an entertainment production company based in Ottawa and Toronto. theatre credits (selected): Outside Mullingar, 17 Men, Ed & Ed: Trapped! (Gros Morne Theatre Festival, NL); Up To Low, Stuff Happens (National Arts Centre); Maggie & Pierre (Thousand Islands Playhouse and Tarragon Theatre); Agency (The Theatre Centre); The Servant of Two Masters (Odyssey Theatre); This is War, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) (Great Canadian Theatre Company). other: You can hear more of Steven s work in the upcoming production of Out at Buddies in Bad Times this April. Mariah Horner Research Assistant Based in Kingston, Mariah Horner was the director of the Storefront Fringe Festival from 2016 18 and currently works with SpiderWebShow. She was the inaugural winner of the Patrick Conner Ticket Award in 2018. Since co-founding the Cellar Door Project in 2013, Mariah has produced fourteen new works with the site-specific company in cemeteries, record stores, bars, parks, and the Diefenbunker. Mariah played Kate Unger in George F. Walker s hbo Canada Series Living in Your Car and recently graduated from uottawa with an ma in Theatre Theory & Dramaturgy. Alice Ferreyra Stage Manager theatre credits: The Canadian (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls (Roseneath Theatre); Hamlet (Tarragon Theatre); Godspell (Theatre Sheridan); The Drowsy Chaperone, Footloose, The Addams Family, Spring Awakening, Spelling Bee, Curtains, If We Were Birds, Nine (Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts); Seussical Jr. (Capitol Theatre); Anne of Green Gables, Evita, Shrek the Musical (Lower Ossington Theatre); Anne of Green Gables, Back in 59 (Highlands Summer Festival); Assistant Concert Manager 2013 2017 (Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra); Apprentice Stage Manager for The Bakkhai (Stratford Festival); The Magic Flute (Canadian Opera Company); City of Angels (Theatre By The Bay); The Story (Theatre Columbus); The Test (The Company Theatre). upcoming: Henry VIII, Birds Of A Kind (Stratford Festival). TRUDEAU S WHITE PAPER POLICY In 1969, Pierre Trudeau s government proposed a policy on the rights of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, which would come to be known as The White Paper, and was the backbone of his Just Society proposal. For many, this was yet another attempt to assimilate Indigenous Peoples and in response to the public outrage, the government eventually shelved the White Paper policy. In representing Trudeau on stage, on the traditional lands of the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation (part of the Anishinaabe), the Oneida Nation of the Thames (part of the Haudenosaunee), and the Munsee-Delaware Nation (part of the Leni-Lunaape), we seek to acknowledge the fraught relationship between settler and Indigenous Peoples. Trudeau was a powerful leader, who lived a complex life and had many flaws. Though this play explores a less political side of his life, primarily his relationship with Margaret Sinclair, in the interest of not ignoring the harm done by his White Paper policy, here we include Harold Cardinal s voice, who penned a powerful response to the White Paper in his book Unjust Society, later known as The Red Paper. The history of Canada s Indians is a shameful chronicle of the white man s disinterest, his deliberate trampling of Indian rights and his repeated betrayal of our trust. Generations of Indians have grown up behind a buckskin curtain of indifference, ignorance and, all too often, plain bigotry. Now, at a time when our fellow Canadians consider the promise of the Just Society, once more the Indians of Canada are betrayed by a programme which offers nothing better than cultural genocide. timeshare productions PIERRE TRUDEAU AT A PRESS CONFERENCE IN PARIS, 1977 (GETTY IMAGES).
OPPOSITE: LINDA GRIFFITHS IN THE ORIGINAL PRODUCTION OF MAGGIE & PIERRE, 1980 (LINDA GRIFFITHS FONDS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH LIBRARY ARCHIVAL AND SPECIAL C OL L E C T IONS). T H IS PAG E: K A I T LY N RIORDAN IN M AG G IE & PIERRE, TA R R AG ON THEATRE, 2018. AN INTRODUCTION TO MAGGIE & PIERRE Maggie & Pierre by Linda Griffiths with Paul Thompson (also titled Maggie and Pierre: A Fantasy of Love, Politics and the Media) recounts the lives of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Maggie Sinclair between 1974 and 1980, as they met, fell in love, had a family, lived together and fell apart in the public eye. A reporter character acts as commentator, voyeur, and liaison with the audience. The production premiered at Theatre Passe Muraille in 1980, directed by Thompson and starring Griffiths. It toured the country and won a Dora Mavor Moore Award. Linda Griffiths was one of Canada s greatest creative talents. As playwright and actor, Griffiths was the winner of five Dora Mavor Moore Awards, a Gemini Award, two Chalmers Awards, a Betty Mitchell Award, the Quizanne International Festival Award, and Los Angeles a.g.a. Award. She was twice nominated for the Governor General s Literary Award for Drama (The Darling Family, 1992; Alien Creature, 2000), awarded the Barker Fairly Visitorship at the University of Toronto in 2011, and was given the Playwrights Guild of Canada Lifetime Award in 2013. Her theatrical plays include Alien Creature: a visitation from Gwendolyn MacEwen, The Darling Family, The Duchess: a.k.a. Wallis Simpson, and Age of Arousal. Her last play, Games: Who Wants to Play, premiered at Alberta Theatre Projects in March 2014.
TRUDEAUMANIA POLITICIANS, PRESS, AND THE PUBLIC EYE Everybody watched millions Maggie & Pierre MARGARET TRUDEAU, 1972 (TORONTO STAR/GETTY IMAGES). When Pierre Elliott Trudeau came to power in 1968, he established a relationship with the people and press of Canada. Both were captivated by Trudeau s personal life in particular: as a handsome bachelor when he became Prime Minister, he drew much attention. Even more so, his candor when speaking to reporters sparked much conversation: in addressing accusations about his use of language in the House of Commons, Trudeau famously commented with exasperation, What is the nature of your thoughts, gentlemen, when you say fuddle duddle or something like that? God, you guys! In another instance, a reporter asked him how far he was prepared to go to stop the flq during the October Crisis, and he confidently replied Well, just watch me. When Margaret and Pierre married, the press played an even more central role in the Trudeaus public lives: reporters were always present, always waiting for the moment where they might capture yet another peek into the private lives of Canada s first family. Much has changed since 1971, and from our perspective in 2019, the lack of general fear and security around political leaders seems strange. The level of access that both the public and the media had to the family is unheard of in North American politics today: for instance, We watched her because the camera loved her. The media made her, as it had made Trudeau: just as with him, there were iconic images of Margaret that would be etched in the Canadian psyche. Nino Ricci, in Private Failure, Maclean s magazine when Pierre won a majority in 1974, reporters knocked on the door of 24 Sussex Drive to chat with the Prime Minister and Margaret about this victory. The couple conversed with the press for a while, until they decided it was time to get back to their evening. It s a scene far different from the precisely scripted and carefully stage-managed victory parties that we see in today s politics or, indeed, the carefully curated candid photos now common on social media. The press stepped into the private lives of Margaret and Pierre Trudeau, often at unexpected moments, and the couple s responses to that attention were often improvised and offthe-cuff. In their son, Justin Trudeau, we see a different approach to media access polished, structured, and controlled. Camera phones and social media allow public figures to take their image into their own hands. Celebrities can now choose to invite the world directly into their homes perhaps, a more intimate form of access than the country had to Pierre and Margaret. However, there is a key difference: the social media lens is always filtered, allowing the new Trudeaus to carefully construct their public image. Almost 50 years ago, Margaret and Pierre were at the heart of the paparazzi s rising interest in the lives of public figures, and the pair s impromptu comments and casual press access were hallmarks of that new paradigm. Following the intense media scrutiny of her marriage, Margaret Trudeau stepped out of the public eye for many years. Today, both she and Justin Trudeau have adopted a quintessentially 21st century approach to the public: letting them in, but on their own terms. meghan o hara education and outreach coordinator
A DARING AND IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE IN THE MCMANUS Cabaret EXTENDED! April 9 to May 11 Book by Joe Masteroff Based on the Play by John Van Druten And Stories by Christopher Isherwood Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb title sponsor In Tribute to Gloria and Joseph Gilbert. season sponsor