Walterdale Theatre produces five productions between October and July. This will include five ‘mainstage productions’ and From Cradle to Stage, a new works festival for local playwrights every spring.
October 9 – 19, 2024
A Party to Murder
by Marcia Kash and Douglas E Hughes
Directed by Sarah Spicer
Auditions: July 14 & 15, 2024
On a remote island, a group of amateur sleuths gather to play Murder Mystery. Whoever wins the game gets to name whatever they want as a prize and this year’s winner wants specific favours from each guest. As dark secrets come to light, a real murderer starts to pick off members of the group. These Agatha Christie enthusiasts will need to work quickly…before they become the next victim.
December 4 – 14, 2024
It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Full Length Version)
by Joe Landry based on the story ‘The Greatest Gift’ by Philip Van Doren Stern
Directed by Tracy Wyman
Auditions: September 8 & 9, 2024
It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play offers you a new way to experience a beloved classic. You will be welcomed into a 1946 radio station where our actors will tell the story on stage alongside a Foley artist who will be creating sound effects. If you’re looking for a feel-good show to get you into the holiday spirit, this is it.
February 5 – 15, 2025
King of the Yees
By Lauren Yee
Directed by Barbara Mah
Auditions: October 13 & 14, 2024
In this comedy, American born Chinese, Lauren Yee, hasn’t paid much to her cultural background — until her father disappears and she must navigate San Francisco’s Chinatown and face her history in order to get him back. She learns about her cultural traditions and how they relate to her modern American life.
April 23 – May 3, 2024
Stag and Doe
by Mark Crawford
Directed by Louise Mallory
Auditions: December 7 & 8, 2024
Stag and Doe premiered at the Blyth Festival in 2014 and is produced by permission of the Playwright and Marquis Literary (Colin Rivers).
Bonnie and Brad are throwing a party to pay for their upcoming wedding. Their Maid of Honour, Dee, is still getting over being left at the altar seven years ago. Mandy and Rob are getting married today, even though their big white tent blew away in last night’s storm. And Jay just found out his entire catering staff is in jail! It’s all happening at the same time, in the same community hall kitchen, in the same small Canadian town. Stag and Doe offers a laugh-filled look at a distinctly rural prenuptial tradition … and shines a light on the nature of love, marriage, and weddings. Playwright Mark Crawford’s other works include Bed and Breakfast and The New Canadian Curling Club.
May 20 – 25, 2025
From Cradle to Stage
Festival Coordinator: Shawn Marshall
Submissions: TBA
From Cradle to Stage is Walterdale’s new play reading program. Walterdale welcomes original play submissions from local playwrights and offers them the opportunity to share their work, gain audience feedback, and experience a workshop atmosphere through staged readings of their finished, original, and unproduced plays. These works should be between
10-60 minutes in length, of any genre. This is also an opportunity for budding directors to get some experience directing these staged readings, and working closely with the Walterdale staff. Look for the call for submissions for playwrights and directors for the fall of 2024, with the festival in late spring of 2025.
New this year is the Walterdale Visual Arts Exhibition Program. For this adjudicated program, visual artists with a Walterdale connection will be invited to submit to have their works displayed on the lobby walls during the run of From Cradle to Stage readings. A call for artists to submit for consideration will be announced in the fall of 2024.
July 9 – 19, 2025
Shakespeare in Love
based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard
Adapted for the stage by Lee Hall
Music by Paddy Cunneen
Directed by Anne Marie Szucs
Auditions: March 16 & 17, 2025
Plagued by debt, tormented by writer’s block and in desperate need of a new hit, promising new playwright Will Shakespeare finds his muse in the form of passionate young noblewoman, Viola De Lesseps. Their forbidden love soon draws everyone, including Queen Elizabeth herself, into the drama and inspires Will to write the greatest love story of all time, Romeo and Juliet. Will it all work out in the end for our star-crossed lovers?
Walterdale Theatre acknowledges that our theatre is located on Treaty 6, a traditional territory of the Cree and has been an important trading place of the Saulteaux, Blackfoot, Nakota Sioux, Dene, and Métis peoples of western Canada for many thousands of years. We also recognize and honour that we are Treaty people and therefore seek to uphold the spirit and intent of this Treaty.