For the second production of its 2023-24 season, the Peterborough Theatre Guild is focusing on local talent by premiering an all-new, all-Canadian comedy written by Peterborough’s own Hugh MacMillan. Paradiso Inn runs for 10 performances from November 3 to 18.
An ensemble production, Paradiso Inn tells the story of an urban couple who go on a cycling getaway in northern Ontario to enhance their relationship. When they stop at Paradiso Inn — which has certainly seen better days — the couple become acquainted with the friendly though quirky characters who run the place.
Toss in a dour tourist official and the lovable housekeeper who makes a mess for the whole crew, the couple learn that there’s a lot more than meets the eye at the Paradiso Inn.
“It’s ‘big city meets northern Ontario’,” explains MacMillan, who is also co-directing the play. “It’s about looking at the generosity of spirit. It’s a happy situational comedy, but I like to think that it has some meaning for people that we can look at our lives a little differently.”
Promising to make viewers both laugh and think, MacMillan describes Paradiso Inn as an “inspirational comedy” with a lot of surprises throughout the story. He also adds that the show is “painfully Canadian” with frequent use of Canadian songs, references to Canada, Canadian dialect, and T-shirts from Canadian bands.
MacMillan is no newcomer to penning comedy, having written sketches for fringe festivals and having both written and directed children’s plays for his own children’s schools. He has spent three decades in various roles in theatre from stage work and writing to acting and directing for local groups including the Guild, Union Theatre, and St. James Players.
Written during the pandemic, Paradiso Inn was inspired by an actual “not as advertised” inn that MacMillan and his partner had once stayed at. The hopeful and inspiring themes of the play, however, were the result of MacMillan’s former career as a social worker and the “incredible efforts and resilience” he had witnessed in people who were making changes in their life.
“Conversations about life experience comes pretty easy to me because I’ve held lots of those really rich conversations with people who want to improve their lives,” MacMillan explains. “It’s always amazed me how well some people can turn their lives around after disastrous beginnings.”
With Mark Gray as co-director and Margaret Monis as production manager, Paradiso Inn stars James Burrell and Laine Williams as visiting urban couple Franklin and Jillian, David Geene as inn owner Andre, Jack van Roosmalen and Jeff MacNeil as Jimmy and Leo (Andre’s old friends who seem to be constantly looking for ways to “fix up” the inn to get better ratings), Terry Lucy MacNeil as unimpressed tourism official Alana spot checking the inn, and Bryanna Ostrander as a young ne’er-do-well housekeeper who “upsets everyone’s apple cart.”
“What’s really amazing about this cast is that, with the exception of a few, most are newcomers to the theatre,” says MacMillan, adding that same goes for the production crew. “Some have just come to Peterborough in the last five years — others just in the last year and a half — so that’s amazing because we need new blood at the Theatre Guild.”
The playwright and co-director explains that, like most theatre and arts venues, the Peterborough Theatre Guild took a “real hit” over the last three and a half years since first closing to pandemic restrictions.
“Of course they lost a lot of their volunteer base, including actors, and it was tough to get people back to the stage, so the rhythm was really interrupted,” recalls MacMillan, adding the Guild is now back to the swing of things with a full slate of volunteers, actors, and crew members. “Everyone comes from a theatre background in other communities or in school, so it’s a really keen and very mature bunch.”
While MacMillan himself hasn’t been on the stage since the pandemic, he has been in the audience for several shows over the past few years, including some professional plays in Toronto, where, he explains, he’s “picked up trends of the big city” for the production of Paradiso Inn.
“We’ve got quite a bit of tech in our play, which is where theatre is going,” he notes. “Even though it’s set in the woods of northern Ontario, we’ve integrated technology really well with lights and sounds — even offstage sounds.”
He jokes that while another up-and-coming fad in theatre is a minimalist set design, Paradiso Inn is not following that trend. The production’s design is a bit “unusual” with some taxidermy, but what else would one expect for a story set in the northern Ontario wilderness?
The play’s unusual set, original story, and Canadian focus is unique for the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s 2023-24 season, contrasting with some of the internationally recognizable hits lined up for the rest of the season, including Todd Wallinger’s The Enchanted Bookshop and Joseph Stein’s Fiddler on the Roof.
“It’s a bit of a switch up for the Theatre Guild — it’s not a standard, well-known play,” MacMillan explains. “We really are going all out on being a new production and bringing a fresh tilt to the playbill.”
Paradiso Inn follows the premiere show of the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s 2023-24 season, God of Carnage, which MacMillan says is not an easy act to follow, though the cast and crew is up for the challenge.
“The first play was a real knock out, so the pace has been set for us,” MacMillan points out. “We’re proud to be part of the playbill this year.”
Paradiso Inn runs from November 3 to 18 at the Guild Hall at 364 Rogers Street with evening performances at 7:30 p.m. on November 3 and 4, 9 to 11, and 16 to 18, with matinee performances at 2 p.m. on November 5 and 12.
Tickets are $30 for adults, $27 for seniors, and $22 for students, and are available now online at peterboroughtheatreguild.com or by calling 705-745-4211.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s 2023-24 season.
The original version of this story has been updated with new photos from a dress rehearsal, along with additional information about the characters in the play.
