After five seasons of producing live improv comedy shows and providing improv training for adults, Peterborough’s klusterfork entertainment will be shutting down as of May 30.

According to a media release, partners Linda Kash, Pat Maitland, and Ian Burns have “mutually and amicably agreed” to call it quits after the current session of klusterfork workshops is done — although Kash will continue to offer adult classes under the umbrella of Peterborough Academy of Performing Arts (PAPA).

“The whole thing started as a brainstorm with Linda about a one-off show idea,” recalls Maitland, an improviser herself who also makes a living as a freelance writer, editor, and television producer. “That it turned into a six-year partnership was more than I could have imagined. I feel like I ran away with the circus for six years — it’s been that much fun.”

The trio launched klusterfork in November 2019 with “klusterfork, It’s Christmas!”, a sold-out debut improv show at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough.

The show saw Kash and fellow Second City alumni Paul Constable, Patrick McKenna, Deborah Kimmett, and Ed Sahely join Maitland and other Peterborough performers including Megan Murphy, Dianne Latchford, and Paul Crough. A portion of proceeds from ticket sales was donated to Five Counties Children’s Centre.

After the success of that first show, klusterfork booked seven more live shows over the next two years at Market Hall and staged “klusterfork, It’s Winter! Still.” on February 21, 2020, with a portion of proceeds donated to YES Shelter for Youth and Families. Three weeks later, the pandemic hit, performance venues were closed, and klusterfork’s plan for more live shows was thrown into disarray.

VIDEO: “We are klusterfork!” (2021)

By June of that year, when it became clear the pandemic was not ending anytime soon and a return to live shows was not in the cards, klusterfork began offering weekly improv sessions online to offer socialization, play, and laughter as antidotes for the isolation and fear created by the pandemic.

Some of Canada’s best talent in acting, singing, voicework, audition, and pitching skills participated in the workshops, and klusterfork even brought in some of the country’s top casting agents to give feedback on students’ work.

The following fall, klusterfork returned to live performance with a show at the Gordon Best Theatre to give improv students some much-needed stage time in front of a live audience. Although that show was a success, scheduling regular live shows remained a challenge because of the ongoing pandemic.

With the pandemic waning in early 2022, klusterfork returned to the Market Hall with the improv show “April Fools’ Gold – The Joke’s On Us” in April and resurrected the popular improv comedy series “Impros vs Joes” — where improv professionals mixed with improv students — at the Gordon Best Theatre in May.

After the pandemic was officially declared over in May 2023, klusterfork returned to the Market Hall a month later with the improv comedy show “School’s Out!”.

“Mounting productions in Peterborough, at venues big and small, gave us the chance to engage with fantastic people who worked hard to help us succeed,” Burns says. “And so many local businesses opened their wallets when we asked for sponsorship and advertising dollars.”

Also in 2023, building on the success of its online classes, klusterfork began offering a series of in-person classes. Since June 2020, klusterfork has delivered 57 workshops and engaged with over 250 adult students, many of whom began with the online classes and remained loyal students, taking courses including physical comedy, musical theatre, guitar lessons, sketch-writing, and stand-up comedy.

“klusterfork’s success is Peterborough’s success,” Kash says. “When we started promoting our first show, when no one knew what to expect from us, we received incredible support from the community, from media partnership and promotion, to local improvisors and musicians bringing so much to our list of headliners, and finally to selling out tickets even before opening night. The Peterborough spirit raised us from day one.”

For her part, Maitland says closing klusterfork “wasn’t an easy decision,” but knowing that classes will continue with Kash at PAPA provides some relief.

“PAPA has been offering Peterborough classes for over 18 years, and it’s a delight to welcome back adults and continue the offerings that klusterfork established with so much success,” Kash adds.

klusterfork is planning to host a celebratory send-off called “May the Fork be With You” from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on for Friday, May 2 at The Only Café in downtown Peterborough.

Kash, Maitland, and Burns are inviting well-wishers — including students, performers, and current and former instructors — to join them at the casual drop-in event and to raise a glass to celebrate the success of klusterfork.

“We have many people to thank, and we will, both personally and over social media, in the coming weeks,” Burns says.

The lottery results are in for the performing artists who will be on the bill for the 2025 Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival (NIFF), considered to be the only Indigenous fringe festival in the world.

NIFF organizers have announced the artists who will take the stage for the fringe festival, which runs from June 19 to 22. Both new and returning artists will gather for performances in NIFF’s new East City home, the Peterborough Theatre Guild, which is located at 364 Rogers St. in Peterborough.

Below are the artists for this year’s festival, with descriptions about each performance from the NIFF website.

Juicebox Theatre (Winnipeg) with their play “Mutt”

Mutt is a show about how we treat and view the world around us in this age, and compares it to old ways of life and thoughts on combination.

Centre for Indigenous Theatre (Toronto) with “Whistling Pine (A Dark Comedy)” by Chris Mejaki

CJ is a young Indigenous man dealing drugs in small-town Ontario. The trajectory of his life takes a dramatic and comedic turn when he’s arrested, incarcerated, and mysteriously contacted by his ancestral spiritual guides. Whistling Pine takes CJ on a spiritual journey of awakening and personal reconciliation.

John-Paul Chalykoff (Sault Ste. Marie) and his puppet friends with “Songs from Gichi-Gamiing”

Coming from Gichi-Gamiing (Lake Superior), Baabii, a furry blue creature from an island on the lake, will be visiting with some of his friends. They will be sharing songs and stories bilingually in Anishinaabemowin and English. There will be time for a Q&A at the end.

Oshkagoojin Theatre Projects (Winnipeg) with “Niin Anihinaabekwe”

Join Bae (short for Ah-nish-eh-nah-Bae) on a brief adventure in her daily urban life. Bae, an Ojibwe woman and “Contrary” (a ceremonial role as a mirror and teacher to society), navigates her day and suddenly finds herself stranded.

This piece reflects the predicaments urban Indigenous folks face, using humour and clownery to grapple with lack of access to traditional territories, knowledgem and connections to land. It deals with themes such as how resilient urban Indigenous folks are and explores how easily blood memory is reignited through reconnection to the land, honouring reciprocity, inherited traditional knowledge, food security and land stewardship.

Indian Way Theatre (Akwesasne) with “My Good Friend Jay”

In short, this play is about Akwesasne. This play is about childhood. This play is about smuggling. This play is about Indigenous sovereignty. This play is about family. This play is about the Mohawks of Akwesasne.

We can focus on the physical and the cultural. How our traditions got tangled in this web of politics and ideologies, which only caused our people to suffer. How we persist and continue. How close and personal the land is to our very livelihood, how people don’t understand and how we don’t really care if you can’t understand. How we say we’re not going to coddle you after everything is done. Not after all the patience we’ve spent already.

Akwesasne is cut into four separate jurisdictions: one district in Ontario, two in Quebec, and one in New York State. To people who are not aware or used to this fact, it’s fascinating. It’s intricate. It begs more explanation and more questions. To us it’s an inconvenient and, most of the time, dull reality. Until we decide it isn’t.

3 Soul Goddess with their drama “Postcards from Colonization”

Three women from different backgrounds explore their relationship to colonization and each other.

Subi-Baba-Yi Dilalan from Cameroon with music and stories in “People of the Forest” (to be confirmed)

People of the Forest is a dance performance that honours the rich and living traditions of the Pygmy communities of Cameroon. Through powerful, symbolic movement, the show invites audiences on a sensory journey deep into the heart of the equatorial rainforest.

NIFF general manager Lee Bolton shared her thoughts with kawarthaNOW on the lottery results for the performing artists.

“We are really happy that the Centre for Indigenous Theatre in Toronto continues to participate in NIFF, offering high-quality productions of exciting Indigenous plays every year,” Bolton said. “It is also really interesting to see that this year we are very much a theatre festival, with solo and collective plays making up most of the performances.”

Bolton noted that theatrical performances made up the majority of applications to NIFF this year, which is appropriate for the festival’s new home at the Peterborough Theatre Guild.

“Peterborough theatre-goers have demonstrated their appetite for all kinds of plays over the years, filling spaces like the Guild and (The Theatre on King) and 4th Line (Theatre), and NIFF offers a veritable banquet of possibilities,” she said.

Following four years at Trent University’s Peterborough campus, NIFF announced it would be moving in 2025 to East City. The venue, a former church now known as the Guild Hall, has played host to a wide variety of performances since 1965.

The 2025 instalment of NIFF will also include Indigenous visual artists for the first time. With the Guild location, NIFF will have access to a space that is regularly used for art exhibits. Visual artists, who will also be chosen by lottery, are invited to apply between now and May 10.

More information about the shows and artists is on NIFF’s website at www.indigenousfringefest.ca. A full schedule for the festival, including special events and vendors, will be available in early May. Ticket sales will start in late May.