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 highlights Jeff Leeson at Lindsay’s Academy Theatre, the Cultivate Festival at Port Hope’s Haute Goat Farm, the return of the annual Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour, Globus Theatre’s staging of A Woman’s Love List, the Small Town Shorts Film Festival in Campbellford, and New Stages Theatre’s new season opener Mustard in Peterborough.
Jeff Leeson providing the laughs we need at Lindsay’s Academy Theatre
VIDEO: “The world’s greatest dinner guests” – Jeff Leeson (graphic language)
With each passing day, the need to laugh becomes more pressing.
There’s much to be gloomy about, what with the trade war’s effects on the Canadian economy, and conflicts far from home messing badly with fuel and food prices. Now, we have the looming municipal election which sees us being reminded daily of all that’s wrong with our communities as opposed to what’s right.
Well, timing is everything, and Jeff Leeson’s being on tour is providing the medicine we need to forget, if even for a bit, all that threatens to bring us down and keep us there.
On September 25, the veteran Canadian stand-up comic brings his hilarious act to Lindsay’s FLATO Academy Theatre — one of several stops for his Only Gonna Say This Once tour.
For more than 25 years, Leeson has combined stand-up comedy with improv, the result being no two shows are alike but are equally entertaining. Away from the stage, his footprint has been no less impressive in the form of two comedy specials aired on Prime and a YouTube special titled “Sorry I’m Not Kevin Hart.”
If flattery expressed by one’s peers is the ultimate compliment, we can put considerable stock in the fact that his fellow comics have deemed Leeson The King of Crowd Work.
Leeson takes to the stage at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $45.55 at www.flatoacademytheatre.com.
Port Hope’s three-day Cultivate Festival back for its 10th year
VIDEO: “Cuckoo” – Lemon Bucket Orkestra (2024)
Multi-day festivals are a dime a dozen, but relatively rare are those that provide an environment that is suitable for all ages, including the little ones.
Returning for a 10th year to do just that is Cultivate Festival, presented by the non-profit charity Cultivate Community from September 25 to 27 at Haute Goat Farm at 1166 5th Line in the Municipality of Port Hope.
Haute Goat’s 200-acre property will again be hopping in the form of numerous live music performances, local food offerings, and activities galore — including the Cultivate Kids creative village, where kids can explore art, music, and nature via interactive workshops, engaging performances, and inclusive play spaces.
The music lineup alone is well worth our attention, with Polaris Music Prize and Juno Award-nominated Terra Lightfoot leading an impressive pack that includes Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Cuff The Duke, Melissa Payne, Durham County Poets, Ahmed Moneka, Waahli, Doghouse Orchestra, Less Toches, Polky, Pete Moss, The Jimmy Bowskill Band, Nimkii Osawamick, and Päter. For the kids, there’s even a Sharon, Lois and Bram sing-along.
The full three-day schedule is available at cultivatefestival.ca/festival, where you can also find information on weekend and day passes, and trailer and tent camping options.
In keeping with the festival’s kid-friendly theme, admission is free for youth under 18 years old.
Embrace fall and the talent of regional artists during the Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour
VIDEO: Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour (2022)
With the end of summer and cooler autumn temperatures, we can do one of two things: lament what was, or embrace what’s coming.
Since 1984, the Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour has encouraged us to get out and explore the natural beauty of the region, all while visiting the studios of countless artists and artisans across the region. The free-admission tour returns September 26 and 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.
Organized and facilitated by the Art Gallery of Peterborough as one of its signature offerings, this is one of the longest-running studio tours in Canada. The self-guided tour sees participating artists and artisans in the city and county of Peterborough open their studio doors wide and welcome visitors to the intimate spaces where their ideas take shape and various materials come together to form the basis of their creative work.
Tour participants watch live demonstrations, learn about artistic processes, connect directly with those creating the work, and have the opportunity to purchase artworks and support local talent. If that’s not enough, the tour comes at a time when the fall colours are making their return, making the journey equally as fulfilling as the destination itself.
This year’s tour features 52 artists and artisans doing their thing at 42 studio locations across Peterborough city and county. Returning this year is the tour passport, where participants earn a stamp for every studio visited, with every 10 stamps entering them into a draw for a prize from the gallery gift shop valued at more than $100.
A full listing of the artists and studios, as well as a tour map, can be found at kast.agp.on.ca.
Bobcaygeon’s Globus Theatre staging yet another Norm Foster hit comedy
As my wife Mary and I close in on 50 years since the night we met, I find myself pondering what she saw in me that kept piqued her interest and kept it. I mean, I’m engaging and all, and I like to think I have a big heart that’s in the right place, but there’s not a whole lot else.
So it was that when I first read the storyline for A Woman’s Love List, I realized how lucky I was to make the cut that October night in 1976. In hindsight, things could have gone sideways in a hurry.
Opening Wednesday, September 30 at Bobcaygeon’s Globus Theatre, Norm Foster’s A Woman’s Love List is a sequel of sorts to his 2003 comedy The Love List, about two men writing up a list of qualities defining the perfect woman who, much to their surprise, appears.
With A Woman’s Love List, Foster turns the tables, bringing us Megan (Sarah Quick) and Carly (Elana Post), who write down a list of qualities that their perfect man possesses. When that perfect man (Allan Cooke) shows up, much hilarity abounds.
What the ladies discover is that genuine love isn’t a quest for perfection, but a willingness to love someone fully — quirks, flaws, and all the rest.
A Woman’s Love List is being staged in the round — meaning the audience will be on all sides of the stage — at 8 p.m. from September 30 to October 3 and October 7 to 10, with additional matinee performances at 2 p.m. on October 3, 8, and 10. An optional dinner is available at 6 p.m. before evening performances.
Tickets are $50 for the show only, or $100 for the show preceded by dinner, and are available at visit www.globustheatre.com.
The Small Town Shorts Film Festival returns to Campbellford’s historic Aron Theatre
Here to remind us that there’s another reason to visit Campbellford besides Empire Cheese, Dooher’s Bakery, and World’s Finest Chocolate at The Outlet at Sharpe’s: the Small Town Shorts Film Festival.
Featuring short films made and submitted by community members in Trent Hills, Marmora and Lake, Stirling, Madoc, Asphodel-Norwood, Tweed, North Hastings, and Brighton, the festival returns on Thursday, October 1 to Campbellford’s Aron Theatre.
Back in the day, the Marmora and Lake Public Library and the Trent Hills Public Library got together for the purpose of creating a collaborative event that would highlight the creativity that exists in small towns. The Small Town Shorts Film Festival was the result.
The festival awards jury and audience prizes based on age level categories. However, there’s something else at play here: the event also showcases the historic Aron Theatre, which opened in 1947 and remains one of Ontario’s few remaining independent theatres — thanks in no small way to the Aron Theatre Cooperative that purchased the venue in 2010. It has since invested serious money into its upkeep and upgrades.
The screen flickers to life at 6 p.m. at the 54 Bridge Street East theatre, with tickets set at an entirely reasonable $5. Visit arontheatre.com for more information and tickets.
New Stages Theatre in Peterborough opens a new season with Kat Sandler’s “Mustard”
There’s nothing like the excitement of a new season dawning, especially when that new season is associated with one of Peterborough’s longest-standing presenters of theatrical art.
On Sunday, October 4 at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborugh, New Stages Theatre will open the curtain on its 2026-27 season with a staged reading of Kat Sandler’s dark comedy Mustard.
The recipient of a 2016 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, this “funny, wistful and wildly creative play” introduces us to Mustard (M. John Kennedy), a fantastical imaginary childhood friend who refuses to say goodbye to Thai (Jayda Freeman), even though she is now well into her teens.
To Thai’s dismay, the recalcitrant Mustard suddenly becomes visible to Thai’s mom (Aurora Browne) and the two begin dating. Meanwhile, two unsavoury characters (Kris Siddiqi and Jason Gray) come looking for Mustard to enforce the rules governing imaginary childhood friends. Also appearing in the staged reading is Matt Schermann as Thai’s older boyfriend.
Described as a “twisted fairy tale about friendship, love, growing up, moving on, and finding magic where you least expect it,” Mustardis directed by Dahlia Katz, a Dora Mavis Moore Award-nominated director and theatre photographer who calls both Toronto and Lakefield home.
Due to strong language and mature themes including violence, suicide, and drug use, Mustard is not suitable for young children and is recommended for audiences aged 16 and older.
Tickets are $30 plus taxes and fees, with a $20 “welcome rate” available for those who need it and a $40 “pay it forward rate” for those who can afford to help cover the cost of the lower-priced tickets. 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.
Meanwhile, for more information on New Stages Theatre’s full 2026-27 season, visit www.newstages.ca.
Encore
Elyse Saunders
Two weeks back, I asked you to cross your fingers for Peterborough’s Elyse Saunders, who was nominated in two categories at the Mississauga Music Awards.
Well, you did your part and it worked — the country singer-songwriter came away from the awards as Artist of the Year, getting the nod over Triumph, illScarlett, and The Dreamboats.
If you want to see and hear for yourself what all the fuss is about, a great chance to do so is October 9 when Saunders brings her Cowboy Up tour to The Venue in downtown Peterborough.
Robert Winslow
There’s little I can add to the remembrances of, and tributes to, 4th Line Theatre founder Robert Winslow that dominated the social media landscape in the wake of his sudden September 12 passing, but I feel I’ve drawn to try.
Over the course of several years, I interviewed Rob at the Winslow Farm venue near Millbrook. He was always generous of his time and, despite the breadth of his knowledge around all things storytelling, he never spoke down to me. Quite the contrary — he patiently explained the process. I always came away from those encounters more educated and, as a result of what I wrote, so did many others.
My thoughts remain with Rob’s longtime collaborator Kim Blackwell and the entire 4th Line family. This is tough — the toughest, actually — but what Rob built and nurtured for close to 35 years is bigger than he for whom our tears fall. Rob’s legacy is clear and secure, and that will guide 4th Line through however more summer seasons lay ahead.
