Best friends and Peterborough performers Megan Murphy and Kate Suhr are heading back to the verandah, and this time they’re getting festive.
Under the direction of managing artistic director Kim Blackwell, 4th Line Theatre is bringing the world premiere of “The Verandah Society: Up to Snow Good” — the latest iteration of the duo’s theatrical song and storytelling experience — to the Peterborough Theatre Guild this holiday season.
With eight performances, including matinee and evening showtimes, the production runs from December 11 to 15 and tickets are on sale now. Featuring surprise special guests, the performance is sure to put the audience in the holiday spirit with heartwarming and hilarious storytelling and toe-tapping music.
“We like simplicity, and the world feels complicated and busy and noisy, and that’s why The Verandah Society feels so special,” says Suhr. “We’re trying to bring us back to slowness and easy living.”
The origin of The Verandah Society dates to the early days of pandemic lockdowns in the summer of 2020. Like the rest of the world, performers Murphy and Suhr were affected by lockdowns and they were unable to perform in venues, which — between munching on Miss Vickie’s and binging Netflix, according to Murphy — led to a lot of reflection.
“We’re usually at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs where it’s self-actualization, but suddenly (during the pandemic) we’re all back down to our basic needs, asking ‘Are we safe?'” recalls Murphy. “We started thinking about what purpose we serve and what we can do when what we usually do is not necessary. And when the world starts opening up, you realize the arts help us process things and help us process the experience.”
“We were both in agreement that we needed to get out of our houses and reconnect with community,” Suhr adds.
At the same time, Surh and Murphy were talking about the late Stuart McLean’s popular variety show The Vinyl Café and Murphy was re-reading a journal from her Uncle Clare Galvin, who wrote a story about life in the 1930s called “The Verandah Society.” Well before the era of modern technology, it was about people gathering and sitting on their porches and verandahs to share stories with their neighbours.
“That’s what we had during the pandemic,” Murphy says. “We evolved back — we could say devolved but I think it was evolution — because we were bored of our screens and there was nothing new on Netflix and it was nice to just sit outside. We were connecting again in an old-school way and that was joyful to me.”
With such inspiration, Murphy and Suhr teamed up to create their own Verandah Society and have since done more than 200 shows, bringing original songs and stories to audiences in their own backyards, front porches, farms, or patios.
“People really just wanted to feel heard and be seen and were really connecting with us as well,” says Suhr.
In 2021, after performing in a driveway for Blackwell, the duo put together a full script to bring the one-of-a-kind show to the Winslow Farm in Millbrook with “The Verandah Society in Residence” at 4th Line Theatre.
“Just having someone say ‘we believe in you’ was probably the greatest things we’ve ever experienced,” says Suhr. “Everybody’s invited onto the verandah, but we also curate the feeling even on the working side, so the people that helped us — the experiences we’ve had with all of the cast and crew and production team — has been very special.”
Murphy and Suhr have also done other iterations of the show, but nothing quite like “Up to Snow Good.” While the creators are remaining tight-lipped about special guests, the show will include original songs and stories, as well as some familiar tunes and the musical stylings of musician and music director Justin Hiscox, well known for his work with 4th Line Theatre.
VIDEO: “The Verandah Society In Residence” at 4th Line Theatre in Millbrook (2021)
“There’s lots of humour in what we do, but there’s also this comedic philosophy that happens where we take a second to think, ponder, and slow down again, and it’s a bit of a safe space to feel,” says Murphy.
“The holidays are a time for that too, so it’ll be lots of fun, lots of joy, lots of reflection, and a little bit of permission to indulge a couple of the complicated feelings that come during the holidays.”
Even though lockdowns are in the past, the artists are no longer stuck in their home eating Miss Vickie’s, and audiences are back in theatre seats instead of front lawns, Murphy and Suhr continue to live in that mindset and remember the feeling of missing connections every time they bring The Verandah Society to life on stage.
“The thing that’s challenging is to keep the heart of it as it changes, because the need is different and we keep changing,” Murphy reflects. “But what mattered to us is still the same. So how do you keep that heartbeat even as the world evolves, the show evolves, and our lives evolve?”
“We realized the heartbeat was just that feeling — it was this moment,” Suhr says. “When looking at people’s faces (in the audience), it was about so much more than just connection. It felt bigger.”
“And when we’re on stage with the audience or in their backyard, the most important thing is that we are doing something together with them, so it’s almost just become its own little entity, but we can’t do it without them.”
“Even as we keep moving forward from the pandemic, from everything — sure, bring on AI, bring on anything else — we can’t lose the verandah,” says Murphy. “Do not lose this.”
“The Verandah Society: Up to Snow Good” runs every night at the Peterborough Theatre Guild (364 Rogers Street, Peterborough) from Wednesday, December 11th to Sunday, December 15th with additional 2 p.m. matinée performances on December 13, 14, and 15. Tickets are priced at $40 for adults and $30 for youth aged 5 to 16 years old.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca, by phone at 705-932-4445 (toll-free at 1-800-814-0055), or in person at 4th Line Theatre’s Box Office at 9 Tupper Street in Millbrook (closed August 28 to September 16).
