For the second event of its 2025-26 season, Public Energy Performing Arts is introducing a new program where local artists and audiences can share in the creative process, from novels to dance to music to multidisciplinary mashups.
The inaugural “Rough Cuts” takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 24 at The Theatre On King in downtown Peterborough. Tickets are priced on a sliding scale from $10 to $25 plus fees ($20 suggested) and are available at eventbrite.ca/e/1676537511829.
Presented in an informal and low-tech setting without the need for sophisticated lighting and sound, six local artists of varying backgrounds and experiences will test-drive their works-in-progress before an audience.
The aim of Rough Cuts is to give the artists an idea of what works and what doesn’t. For the audience, Rough Cuts is a rare opportunity to watch an artist’s creative process in action.
The six artists participating in the inaugural Rough Cuts and their works are described below.
Naomi Duvall
Naomi is a performer working in burlesque, puppetry, and physical theatre. Naomi will present Howdy, Hellmouth!, a burlesque clown act gone off the rails. Exploring the dark side of power, Naomi blends physical theatre, sensuality, a bull whip, and unsettling humour.
Georgia Fisher
Georgia is a singer-songwriter working on a musical project about premature births and the development of the incubator that saves so many lives, including her own child born at 26 weeks. Her aim is to create a work that both entertains and educates.
Angel Hamilton
Angel is a filmmaker aiming to present a film pitch for a documentary/media art piece about the search for her real father. Part stand-up monologue and part film, the pitch will reveal the clues she’s gathered as a true-crime detective.
Charlotte Kennedy
Charlotte is a theatre artist, poet, and storyteller with an idea for a dreamscape set in a cemetery — but she doesn’t know if it should be performed as a work of theatre, a story-poem, or something else entirely. Her participation in Rough Cuts may provide the answer.
Sahira the Djinn
Sahira is the drag djinn of Peterborough, whose goal is to present a mix of poetry and songs remixed to create a decolonial message about connection and the importance of community — especially in terms of addiction.
Hartley Stephenson
Hartley is a multidisciplinary artist who creates collages on paper he makes entirely by hand. He will show examples of his creations and describe the process of hand-making paper, with photos and descriptions of the felt-couching process and the essential machine for turning fibrous material into pulp, called a hollander-beater, that was made for him by a local artisan.
Public Energy is planning another edition of Rough Cuts in March 2026, with a call for applications expected early in the new year.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a long-time media sponsor of Public Energy Performing Arts.
