The Peterborough Theatre Guild recently announced its 2024-25 season, with six shows running from September to May.
The new season features the two one-act plays How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse by Ben Muir and Ghost Story by Marni Walsh, Mary’s Wedding by Stephen Massicotte, Dorothy in Wonderland – The Musical by Brian D. Taylor, Outside Mullingar by John Patrick Shanley, Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice.
In addition to the full productions, the Guild will also present seven yet-to-be-announced staged readings throughout the season.
Below are the dates and descriptions of each of the shows in the 2024-25 season. Casting for each production will be announced at a later date.
How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse and Ghost Story
September 20 – October 5
For its first production of the 2024-25 season, the Peterborough Theatre Guild is presenting a double-header of two one-act plays.
First staged in 2019, Ben Muir’s How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse was a fringe festival hit and has since spawned a best-selling book, a top-ranking podcast series, a monthly magazine column, two sequels, and more. In the play, four elite members of the School of Survival take audience members through an interactive seminar that not only teaches them how to survive the undead, but tests them to determine which person in the audience will be the ultimate survivor.
In Marni Walsh’s Ghost Story, Frankenstein author Mary Shelley visits the grave of her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, a British writer and advocate of women’s rights who is regarded as one of the founding feminist philosophers. Accompanied by the swirling ghosts of their words and their pasts, the two women reach for a fragile end.
How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse will be directed by Margaret Monis and Ghost Story will be directed by Lee Bolton.
Mary’s Wedding
October 25 to November 9
A two-hander directed by Jane Werger, Stephen Massicotte’s Mary’s Wedding is a romantic drama set during the First World War.
On the night before her wedding, Mary dreams of a thunderstorm, during which she unexpectedly meets Charlie sheltering in a barn beside his horse. With innocence and humour, the two discover a charming first love. But the year is 1914, and the world is collapsing into a brutal war. Together, they attempt to hide their love, galloping through the fields for a place and time where the tumultuous uncertainties of battle can’t find them.
Dorothy in Wonderland – The Musical
November 29 to December 8
In Brian D. Taylor’s Dorothy in Wonderland – The Musical directed by Sarah Rogers, the worlds of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland collide in a fun, family-friendly musical romp.
Dorothy, Toto, and the characters of Oz get caught in another whirlwind that sweeps them off to Wonderland, where they meet Alice, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Cheshire Cat, and many more. The group of new-found friends faces a dangerous new foe: the Queen of Hearts. Dorothy and Alice and their friends must join forces to defeat the Queen at croquet, but will it be enough to return Wonderland to normal and get everybody back home?
Outside Mullingar
January 24 to February 8
First produced on Broadway in 2014 and nominated for a Tony Award for best play, John Patrick Shanley’s Outside Mullingar is set in rural Ireland and tells the story of neighbouring farmers Anthony and Rosemary.
Rosemary has been romantically interested in Anthony her entire life, but the introverted Anthony is unaware of Rosemary’s feelings and dislikes farming. When Anthony’s father threatens to disinherit his son and leave the farm to a nephew instead, Rosemary steps into the middle of a land feud and family eccentricities to fight against time and mortality in hopes of securing her dream of love.
Outside Mullingar will be directed by Jerry Allen.
Silent Sky
March 21 to April 5
After presenting Lauren Gunderson’s historical drama Silent Sky as a staged reading last season, the Peterborough Theatre Guild is mounting a full production that will again be directed by Bea Quarrie.
The play tells the story of real-life American astronomer Henrietta Leavitt, whose discovery of how to effectively measure vast distances to remote galaxies led to a shift in our understanding of the scale and the nature of the universe. The accomplishments of Edwin Hubble, the American astronomer who established that the universe is expanding, were made possible by Leavitt’s groundbreaking research and he often said she deserved a Nobel Prize for her work.
In Silent Sky, when Leavitt begins work at the Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s, she isn’t allowed to touch the telescope or express an original idea because she is a woman. Instead, she joins a group of women “computers”, charting the stars for a renowned astronomer who calculates projects in “girl hours.” As she pursues her own research in her free time, she must also take measure of her own life and try to balance her dedication to science with family obligations and the possibility of love.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
April 25 to May 4
For its final production of the 2024-25 season, the Peterborough Theatre Guild will present the famous musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Showplace Performance Centre.
With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, the musical was the first Webber-Rice collaboration to be performed publicly and the original Broadway production was nominated for seven Tony Awards in 1982. While it didn’t win any awards, the family-friendly retelling of Joseph from the Bible’s Book of Genesis with its familiar themes and catchy music have resulted in many thousands of stagings.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will be directed by Robert Ainsworth.
Subscriptions and single tickets for the 2024-25 season are now available, with single tickets costing $30 ($27 for seniors and $20 for students), except for the family production Dorothy in Wonderland – The Musical, which cost $15, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which cost $37 ($33 for seniors and $25 for students). Tickets for staged readings are $12.
For more information about the 2024-25 season and to purchase subscriptions and single tickets, visit www.peterboroughtheatreguild.com.
