For the second year in a row, New Stages Theatre is making summer just a little sweeter by partnering with Trent University’s Catharine Parr Traill College for the William and Nona Heaslip Foundation Summer Festival.
On Thursday evenings from June 4 to August 20, the festival will feature a performance of theatre or music at the college’s 140-seat outdoor Jalynn Bennett Amphitheatre in downtown Peterborough. New Stages will bookend the festival by presenting four of the 12 performances. All performances begin at 7 p.m. and there is no cost to admission, with refreshments available on-site for purchase.
The festival originally launched in summer 2024 as the “William and Nona Heaslip: Music on the Hill” series with six concerts, expanding to include theatre when New Stages partnered with the college last year. That marked a special occasion for the theatre company, as it was the first time New Stages had presented shows in the summer since founder Randy Read originally ran New Stages as a summer theatre company for its first five years from 1997 to 2001.
“It offered a way to just dip our toes into having some summer programming and its fairly lightweight, since we are reusing some of the hits of the year and are refreshing or providing them in a different venue,” says New Stages artistic director Mark Wallace. “For New Stages, it’s a lot of our audience but we’re also meeting some new people as well. It also gives us a chance to try some things under the open air.”
The festival will kick off on Thursday, June 4 with the New Stages presentation of M. John Kennedy’s Munsch Goes Wild. Through energetic and theatrical delivery, Kennedy will be adapting and performing four beloved tales by children’s author Robert Munsch.
The show was performed for a sold-out audience when New Stages presented it as part of the Brand New Stages Festival at the Market Hall in March this year, and Kennedy’s Fireside Munsch was met with much excitement during last year’s summer festival. If you saw last year’s performance, however, be assured that Munsch Goes Wild will feature all new stories. The 60-minute production is directed by Dahlia Katz and is suitable for children four and older and everyone who is young at heart.
The following week, on Thursday, June 11, New Stages Theatre will present another high-energy performance, this time through improv with “Kash & Kerry & Friends.” World-class local improvisers Linda Kash and Kerry Griffin are teaming up once again for a hilarious night of unscripted and unrehearsed comedy. Last year’s show at the summer festival was very popular and set a new attendance record for the amphitheatre.
This time, they’ll be joined by even more local talent with storytelling by Megan Murphy, music by Kate Suhr, and other surprise guests taking to the stage. Geared to adult audiences, the show may be unpredictable, though it will undoubtedly be wildly funny.
“When you have a free show with some real top talent in the summer, with some nice, light comedy, it’s really well-received,” says Wallace. “And we’re going to talk a little bit and tease a little bit about the upcoming season for New Stages.”
Following eight musical performances from June 18 to August 6, New Stages will return to the amphitheatre on Thursday, August 13 with a restaging of Footnote To Freedom, which New Stages presented for the first time last November at the Market Hall to great acclaim.
Written and performed by brothers Beau and Lance Dixon, the musical explores the life of their grandfather George Dixon, who was a cornet player in the No. 2 Battalion, Canada’s only segregated Black battalion during the First World War. Through original song and personal stories over 70 minutes, the Dixon brothers explore the impact of the battalion, which had been ignored and forgotten for decades, on their family and themselves. This play is suitable for ages 10 and up.
“Footnote to Freedom was a huge success this season,” Wallace says. “It was completely sold out of Market Hall, and I’m sure we could have done another night as well, if not more. Some of the testimonials we got after was that it was opening up a story that hasn’t been told, and so it’ll be great to do it in this environment.”
“(The Dixons) had a lot of projections and sounds (at Market Hall), but this will be a very stripped-down version of it, with the music and the storytelling which is the core. It should be a beautiful night.”
To close out the 2026 William and Nona Heaslip Foundation Summer Festival, New Stages will be presenting Summer Soiree on Thursday, August 20. The soiree will offer a curated collection of short works for the stage, including music, movement, text, and more.
Artists and acts will be announced at www.newstages.ca closer to the performance date.
“It’s an old theatre tradition that I grew up in which highlights trying something new on stage in any different kind of medium,” Wallace says. “It could be physical theatre, it could be poetry, it could be music, or trying familiar things but in new ways.”
The other eight Thursday evening performances during the William and Nona Heaslip Foundation Summer Festival lineup are:
- Classic rock covers from Peterborough band Fours Lanes Wide on June 18
- Contemporary folk music from Irish Millie on June 25
- “Just Folk-Songs and Stories from Canada’s Past” with Mark Finnan telling stories of famed Canadian Folklorist Edith Fowke, with music by Glen Caradus and Michael Ketemer, on July 2
- Funky jazz with Peterborough band Carpe Noctem on July 9
- “Dueling Disciplines: Music and Poetry” with David Newberry and Justin Million on July 16
- Original and reimagined jazz covers with Victoria Yeh and David Hines on July 23
- Peterborough Concert Band performing pop, big band, and Broadway tunes on July 30
- Folk-rock from Kitchener band I, the Mountain on August 6
In the event of inclement weather, performances will be moved indoors to Bagnani Hall, located beside the amphitheatre, though capacity will be limited.
The William and Nona Heaslip Foundation, which supports arts and education, provided funding for the festival. For the full schedule and any last-minute changes, visit trentu.ca/summerfestival.
