Peterborough Theatre Guild has announced its 2023-24 season, featuring six plays between September and May — including a brand new work written by Peterborough actor Hugh MacMillan — as well as seven staged readings.
“Through the power of live theatre, let us continue to connect and share in the magic of storytelling,” reads a media release. “We cannot wait see you back at the Peterborough Theatre Guild.”
The 2023-24 season kicks off at the end of September with God of Carnage, a black comedy by French playwright Yasmina Reza. When two sets of parents decide to meet after a playground altercation between their sons, what begins as a civilized discussion soon devolves into chaos. This Tony award-winning play was made into a 2011 film directed by Roman Polanski.
Directed by Bea Quarrie and produced by Ina Stenner, God of Carnage runs at the Guild Hall from September 29 to October 14, with performances at 7:30 p.m. on September 29 and 30, October 5 to 7, and October 12 to 14, and 2 p.m. matinee performances on October 1 and 8.
In November, the Peterborough Theatre Guild will present the premiere of Paradiso Inn, a new comedy by Peterborough actor Hugh MacMillan. The Paradiso Inn has seen better days, and the friendly staff are always looking for innovative ways to improve their customer ratings. Enter a middle-age couple on a cycling getaway hoping to enhance their relationship, an unimpressed tourist official, and a n’er-do-well young adult who upsets everyone’s applecart. All are challenged to take an alternative view of their lives in this an enlightening comedy full of hope and wonder.
Directed by Hugh MacMillan and Mark Gray and produced by Margaret Monis, Paradiso Inn runs at the Guild Hall from November 3 to 18, with performances at 7:30 p.m. on November 3 and 4, November 9 to 11, and November 16 to 18, and 2 p.m. matinee performances on November 5 and 12.
Next up in December is Todd Wallinger’s family play The Enchanted Bookshop, set in a struggling bookstore called A Likely Story where literary characters come to life at night. Six of those characters — Dorothy Gale, Robin Hood, Pollyanna, Sherlock Holmes, Heidi, and Tom Sawyer — long to help Margie, the store’s scatterbrained owner, but they will disappear if they are seen by human eyes or try to leave the store. Things get even more complicated when a pair of smugglers come into the store looking for a stolen necklace hidden inside one of the books.
Directed by Sarah Rogers and produced by Marion Griffin with assistant producer Hayley Griffin-Montgomery, The Enchanted Bookshop runs at the Guild Hall from December 1 to 10 with performances at 7:30 p.m. on December 1, 5, 7, and 8 and 2 p.m. matinee performances on December 2 and 3 and 9 and 10.
Peterborough Theatre Guild welcomes the new year in February with a production of the Tony award-winning musical Fiddler on the Roof, with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein. Set in early 20th-century Russia, the story centres on Tevye, a poor milkman with five daughters in the village of Anatevka. He attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon his family’s lives. He must cope with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters who wish to marry for love, with their choices of husbands successively less palatable for Tevye. An edict of the tsar eventually evicts the Jews from their village.
Directed by Jerry Allen and produced by Pat Hooper, Fiddler on the Roof runs at Showplace Performance Centre from February 16 to 24, with performances at 7:30 p.m. on February 16 and 17 and 21 to 24 and 2 p.m. matinee performances on February 18 and 25.
March will see a production of Willow Quartet by Canadian playwright Joan Burrows. In the aftermath of a tragedy that ends her marriage, Kim finds herself back in her childhood home on a quiet farm away from the city where she invites visiting musician Jim to stay with her in a bed-and-breakfast arrangement. While her infatuation with Jim makes her forget her grief temporarily, it inevitably boils to the surface and she struggles to come to terms with her buried feelings.
Directed by Tami Whitley and produced by Marilyn Robinson, Willow Quartet runs at the Guild Hall from March 15 to 30, with performances at 7:30 p.m. on March 15 and 16, 21 to 22, and 28 to 30 and matinee performances at 2 p.m. on March 17 and 24.
The final production of Peterborough Theatre Guild’s 2023-24 season is Girl in the Goldfish Bowl, a Governor General’s Award-winning comedic play by Canadian playwright Morris Panych.
Set in British Columbia in 1962, it tells the story of a young girl named Iris who believes the world has been held together by her pet goldfish and that his death has led both to the disintegration of her parents’ marriage and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Almost immediately after her pet’s death, Iris finds a man washed up on the beach and thinks he is the reincarnation of the goldfish. She brings the stranger back to her home, pinning all her messianic hopes on his well-being.
Directed by 4th Line Theatre’s Kim Blackwell and produced by Beth McMaster and Kate Suhr, Girl in the Goldfish Bowl runs at the Guild Hall from May 3 to 18 with performances at 7:30 p.m. on May 3 and 4, 9 to 11, and 16 to 18 and matinee performances at 2 p.m. on May 5 and 12.
Subscriptions for all six plays and all seven staged readings, or for any four plays (except The Enchanted Bookshop) and four staged readings, are available now for a range of prices at peterboroughtheatreguild.com.
Single tickets for each production will go on sale closer to the run dates. With the exception of Fiddler on the Roof and The Enchanted Bookshop, tickets are $30 for adults, $27 for seniors, and $20 for adults. Tickets for Fiddler on the Roof are $37 for adults, $33 for seniors, and $25 for students. Tickets for The Enchanted Bookshop are $15 for everyone
In addition to the six full productions, the Peterborough Theatre Guild will also produce seven staged readings, where actors perform plays without sets or costumes. Titles and dates of these performances at the Guild Hall will be announced throughout the 2023-24 season. The single-ticket cost for a staged reading is $12 for everyone.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s 2023-24 season.
