encoreNOW is a bi-weekly column by Paul Rellinger where he features upcoming music, theatre, film, and performing arts events and news from across the Kawarthas.
This week, Paul is back from a holiday break to highlight Girls Nite Out improv hilarity at the Market Hall in downtown Peterborough, the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s staging of Where You Are, a trio of Peterborough Folk Festival emerging artists on one stage, Honeymoon Suite at Lindsay’s Academy Theatre, New Stages Peterborough’s staged reading of Women of the Fur Trade at the Market Hall, and Public Energy’s presentation of the acclaimed dance theatre work Rinse, also at the Market Hall.
Oh, the girls want to have fun, and so they will in a big way
VIDEO: Girls Nite Out 2025/26 Promo
Back in 1983, pop singer Cyndi Lauper told us “girls just want to have fun.”
More than 20 years later, actor and improv performer Jennine Profeta took that declaration to a whole other level, co-conceiving, with Globus Theatre artistic director Sarah Quick, the an all-female improv comedy troupe Girls Nite Out.
The ensemble debuted in Bobcaygeon as part of Glbous Theatre’s second season lineup. Now, as its 20th anniversary looms, and having brought improv hilarity to audiences across Canada, Girls Nite Out is showing no signs of slowing down, full evidence of that on display this Friday (January 16) at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough.
The improv and stand-up comedy showcase billed as “Winter Extravaganza!” will feature Profeta joined by Karen Parker, Diana Frances, Jordan Armstrong and Elvira Kurt — all acclaimed Canadian comedy veterans who have been awarded as such over the years.
Meanwhile, joining in on the mayhem will be special guest Linda Kash, who’s no stranger to local audiences. She’ll take to the stage on the eve of a milestone birthday, which is sure to add to spirit of the night.
“We love Linda, and we know Peterborough loves Linda,” said Profeta in recent interview with kawarthaNOW’s Megan Gallant.
“She’s just such a great person and she’s such a great community builder, so she just fits in really well with all of us. It just makes it so much more fun and more special to have her here.”
Winter Extravaganza! will see Kurt do a stand-up routine to warm up the audience before being joined by the others for various improv games. In the second half, Kurt hosts a “talk show” inviting audience members to share their stories.
“We poke fun, but it’s not about making fun of anybody or making somebody look bad,” noted Profeta.
“When people come to the show, they want the spotlight on them and they know we’re going to take good care of them. It’s great to have that element of fear just removed from the equation. Our comedy can be something very different. It’s not about being mean — it’s being positive and celebratory as opposed to taking people down.”
Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. show, which kicks off the troupe’s 20th anniversary year, are $39 ($29 for seniors and $24 for students) and can be purchased online at www.markethall.org.
Peterborough Theatre Guild calling again on a proven duo
VIDEO: Interview with “Where You Are” director Jerry Allen
With half of its 2025-26 season in its rearview mirror, the Peterborough Theatre Guild has turned to a collaboration that has produced nothing but great results for its audience.
Opening this Friday (January 16) for a 10-performance run at the Guild Hall in Peterborough’s East City is Kristen Da Silva’s comedy Where You Are, directed by Jerry Allen with Pat Hooper by his side as producer. One year ago, they teamed up for the guild’s staging of Outside Mullingar, which was very well received.
Inducted into Peterborough’s Pathway of Fame just this past year, Allen made his Guild directorial debut in 1983 and has since directed 14 of the company’s productions. Hooper, meanwhile, can list the Guild as among the numerous volunteer roles she has filled, which earned her Pathway of Fame induction back in 2019.
Now the Guild’s “dream team” is bringing us Da Silva’s play, which acclaimed Canadian playwright Norm Foster praises as “laugh-out-loud funny and as warm as an August evening” – something that sounds pretty enticing during the long cold days of January.
Hailed as “a hilarious and honest exploration of family, forgiveness and falling in love,” Where You Are brings us to a porch in Little Current on Manitoulin Island where sisters Glenda and Suzanne have lived since Suzanne, pregnant and penniless, arrived 33 years earlier to move in with Glenda and her husband Mark.
While one is warm and industrious, and the other is brash and prone to late mornings, the sisters are devoted to each other, and spend laughter-filled days swapping stories about the locals while roping their veterinarian neighbour Patrick into doing various chores. Enter Beth, Suzanne’s doctor daughter. Not only do mom and daughter clash over everything, but we learn the sisters have been harbouring a weighty secret — with Beth having a secret of her own. All four of the characters are eventually forced to confront truths that will change their lives.
A two-time recipient of the Playwright Guild’s New Comedy Award, Oakville native Da Silva has written plays — Where You Are among them — that have been produced across Canada, the United States, and Europe.
The Peterborough Theatre Guild’s production of Where You Are stars Lyndele Gauci as Glenda, Colleen White-Goodchild as Suzanne, Lindsay Wilson as Beth, and Kevin O’Neill as Patrick.
The play runs for 10 performances, with evening shows at 7:30 p.m. on January 16 and 17, 22 to 24, and 29 to 31 and matinee shows at 1:30 p.m. on January 18 and 25. Assigned seating tickets cost $30 ($27 for seniors and $20 for students) and are available by phone at 705-745-4211 or online at www.peterboroughtheatreguild.com. A special two-for-one ticket promotion is available for opening weekend.
Honeymoon Suite bringing its 45-year legacy to Lindsay
VIDEO: “Stay in the Light” – Honeymoon Suite
When Canadian rock band Honeymoon Suite released its self-titled debut album in 1984, things could have gone one of two ways.
Featuring four songs that charted, including the hit “New Girl Now,” it could be argued that album represented the band’s peak. A sound argument except for one thing: Honeymoon Suite hasn’t gone away and, eight more albums later, is still answering the bell in a big way.
While the 1980s arguably marked Honeymoon Suite’s hey-day, the band has remained active, have released its latest album just last year. Touring, meanwhile, has been a constant, with hit songs such as “Stay In The Light,” “Feel It Again,” and “What Does It Take?” sounding as fresh as they did on the day they were released.
On Friday, January 23 at Lindsay’s Academy Theatre, founding member and singer Johnny Dee will lead Honeymoon Suite through its music catalogue, joined by original bandmates Derry Grehan, Dave Betts, and Gary Lalonde. Keyboardist Peter Nunn, who joined the fray in the early 2000s, rounds out the busy quintet.
There’s a simple reason why bands from way back in the day don’t go away: they continue to draw sizable audiences still hungry for their sound. Entering its 45th year, Honeymoon Suite has well-earned the continued attention.
Tickets to the 8 p.m. concert cost $73 to $83 (including fees) and are available at www.flatoacademytheatre.com.
Three Peterborough Folk Festival honourees on one stage
VIDEO: “Freaking Me Out” – VANCAMP
One of the most widely anticipated annual announcements on Peterborough’s cultural calendar has been, and remains, the naming of the Peterborough Folk Festival’s Emerging Artist of the Year.
Since 2001, when Serena Ryder was granted that distinction, the festival’s brain trust has shone the spotlight on a number of up-and-coming talents, giving each a coveted stage place at the annual late summer festival as well as singing their praises at every opportunity.
So it is that when a concert headlined by the last three Emerging Artist recipients is announced, our curiosity is piqued.
On Friday, January 23 at Market Hall in downtown Peterborough, 2025 Emerging Artist Jeanne Truax, 2024 recipient Calvin Bakelaar (aka VANCAMP), and 2023 honouree Irish Millie will perform, joined by special guests.
This trio represents a whole lot of talent, combined with the promise of great things still to come from all three. More than that, the concert is a celebration of the festival’s Emerging Artist program which, during a time when we’ve lost so many cultural traditions and event, is worth our collective attention and support.
Tickets to the 8 p.m. concert cost $29 for assigned seating ($34 for assigned cabaret table seating) at www.markethall.org.
New Stages Theatre brings Frances Koncan’s award-winning work to the Market Hall stage
VIDEO: “Women of the Fur Trade” trailer (Stratford Festival production)
Basking in the glow of its highly acclaimed pre-Christmas staging of It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, New Stages Theatre is back at it, welcoming 2026 with a staged reading of Frances Koncan’s Women of the Fur Trade on Saturday, January 24 at the Market Hall in downtown Peterborough.
Billed as a comedy that “flips the script on the male-centric history of the Canadian fur trade” and its central figures such as Louis Riel, Koncan relates her story from the perspective of three women — an Objibwe, a Métis, and an Irish settler — who each speak in 21st century slang.
Directed by Patti Shaughnessy, Women of the Fur Trade is yet another example of the make-you-stop-and-think work that New Stages has habitually presented since its founding in 1997 by Randy Read, and continued now by artistic director Mark Wallace.
Koncan, a member of Couchiching First Nation, premiered her story in 2020 at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg. Prior to that, it won the Best New Play award at the 2018 Toronto Fringe Festival.
Following the Winnipeg debut, the Winnipeg Free Press hailed Koncan’s work as “a timely, provocative piece of theatre written from a perspective and voice we need to hear.”
Tickets to the 7 p.m. staged reading cost $30, with a $20 “welcome rate” for those who need it and a $40 “pay it forward rate” for those who can afford it, to help cover the costs of the welcome rate. Tickets can be purchased at the Market Hall box office at 140 Charlotte Street, by calling 705-749-1146, or online at tickets.markethall.org/?category=20.
Note there is an advisory of strong language, which prompts a recommendation for audiences aged 14 and up.
Public Energy brings acclaimed dance theatre work from Australia to the Market Hall stage
VIDEO: “Rinse” by Amrita Hepi and Mish Grigor
Also back at it after the holiday break is Public Energy Performing Arts, welcoming a dance theatre work all the way from Australia.
On Wednesday, January 28 at the Market Hall in downtown Peterborough, Rinse will see award-winning dancer and choreographer Amrita Hepi explore the romance of beginnings, and what happens next, via playful satire, and erudite and irreverent monologue. The result is the re-creation of origin myth on stage via the sharing of personal narratives relating to dance, art, feminism, desire, love, popular culture and modern history.
Having toured through Germany, Turkey, France, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States, Hepi’s exploration — co-written with Mish Grigor — will be performed at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa just prior to its arrival in Peterborough.
Using a highly physical and striking dance vocabulary alongside an evocative monologue, Hepi argues that all events, relationships, moments and environments exist together as a vast continuum to which we constantly contribute; a body of knowledge and care to which everything is inextricably linked.
Hepi’s performance has brought forth rave reviews, with France’s Le Monde writing “A whole dance history bubbles with Amrita Hepi’s vibrant body.”
General admission tickets to the 7:30 p.m. production are available on a sliding scale pricing between $10 and $50, with a recommended price of $30, at markethall.org.
Encore
- I love sharing good news, and the news from those behind the Peterborough Musicians’ Benevolent Association (PMBA) is good indeed. According to a Facebook post, the organization’s monthly shows at The Social saw $18,000 donated in 2025 to local musicians in need, bringing the total since the group’s founding to more than $130,000. This is remarkable, not only in terms of the dollar amount, but also in terms of the continued strong support that the PMBA has received from the community at large. The next PMBA show is January 17, 1 to 4 p.m., with The Jethro’s Blues Jam All-Stars headlining.
- Are you a budding performer looking for a stage to do your thing on before a live audience? The Stage Cafe continues to offer new singers, musicians, and bands a professional forum to fine tune their talents. A number of now well-established local performers, such as Georgia Rose and Joslynn Burford, received early support at The Stage Cafe on their way to bigger things. If you, or someone you know, is looking for vital experience of performing in a live audience setting, reach out to Steve at steveptbo@gmail.com. Meanwhile, you can get more information about The Stage Café at www.facebook.com/thestagecafe.
