Throughout the month of August, 4th Line Theatre is presenting the world premiere of award-winning playwright Judith Thompson’s newest play Who Killed Snow White? 

Directed with brilliance and sensitivity by 4th Line’s managing artistic director Kim Blackwell, it is possibly the theatre company’s boldest production in its 27-year history.

Heart wrenching, haunting, and torn from today’s headlines, Who Killed Snow White?  could be both the most controversial and most memorable show ever to be staged at the Winslow Farm in Millbrook.

If you’re a long-time patron of 4th Line Theatre, get ready to leave your expectations behind because Who Killed Snow White?  breaks the mold of everything that has come before it. It’s not a historical play. It’s not a comedy with moments of pathos. It’s not a drama filled with good-natured laughs.

In fact, there is nothing whimsical about Who Killed Snow White?  at all. It is a modern, real-life horror story ripped from a reality that’s played out daily in the back yards, school halls, and bedrooms of youth in communities across the world.

Who Killed Snow White?  tells the story of 15-year-old Serena (Grace Thompson) through the eyes of the people who know her, primarily her mother Ramona (Cynthia Ashperger). A nice girl raised by two loving parents, Serena is perfectly normal, but is eventually singled out by the kids in her school to be the victim of their torment.

After a number of years of senseless bullying, she finds strength alongside her two pals Riley (Tom Keat) and Fancy (Cassandra Guthrie). But in the world of technology and the growing cult of brutal misogyny, things go very wrong for Serena, stripping away her innocence, her security, and changing her world forever.

Although the dramatic realization of Who Killed Snow White?  is complex, the plot doesn’t go beyond what we’ve seen in the past. It’s a familiar story we’ve seen in dramas many times, and one we can recognize from our own life and from those of people around us. Where the drama differs from what we’ve seen in the past is in its presentation.

By exposing the different shades of greys of difficult subjects such as alienation, cyber bullying, sexual assault, and suicide, Judith Thompson manages to weave together a tapestry of viewpoints and social commentary through her characters, reflecting the modern dystopia we read about in the news every day.

It’s Reteah Parsons. It’s Brock Turner. It’s Harvey Wienstein and the #metoo movement. It’s a world where a beloved sitcom dad can turn out to be a serial rapist, where the president of the United States can get away with bragging about sexual assault.

All of this makes up the world of Who Killed Snow White? . It’s a world that’s difficult to face, but one the audience will fully recognize.

At first glance, you could be worried the subject matter of Who Killed Snow White?  might become a glorified stage version of a teen drama like Degrassi Junior High. The typical after-school special of yesteryear was nothing more than an over-the-top allegory created to teach teenagers a message.

This is far from what Who Killed Snow White?  is. Thompson avoids the melodramatic tropes of teen dramas by targetting an adult audience. It avoids being preachy and it’s not written for the kids. Kids don’t need this story because they already know it — they are already living it in their schools and on the internet.

Instead, Who Killed Snow White?  is presented to the older generation so they perhaps will begin to understand the toxic world their children and grandchildren inhabit. It will open their eyes to the realities of the sophisticated struggles young people face every day.

At the heart of Who Killed Snow White?  is actress Cynthia Ashperger, who gives a commanding performance as Serena’s mother Ramona. A woman grieving for her child, Cynthia has an incredible control over the outdoor performance space at Winslow Farm, making a strong personal connection with the audience immediately and to the point where audience members feel that she is talking directly to them.

With her opening lines, Cynthia immediately squashes any audience expectation there will be anything to laugh about in this show. She bares her soul to the audience like an open wound, and reveals the painful drama of her daughter in a way that only a mother in anguish can give. It’s an incredible performance by an amazing actress.

The play also features a trio of wonderful young actors; Tom Keat as Riley, Cassandra Guthrie as Fantasia (“Fancy”), and Grace Thompson as Serena. Cassandra and Tom seem to shine through their performances, almost like sparkly bookends to Grace, who fades in their shadows. With big personalities, these two performers are scene stealers.

Meanwhile, the character of Serena doesn’t seem to stand out much at all. She is just a normal kid with normal looks and a normal attitude. But perhaps that is the point of the charaacter. She really is any girl from any town. She’s our daughter, our niece, our granddaughter, our neighbour. All the girls we know can be Serena.

In her big final moments of the show, Grace manages to decimate the audience with a passionate monologue that echos through the valley beyond Winslow Farm. It represents the cries of the victims of sexual violence, and it’s a powerful dramatic moment that doesn’t hold back.

Who Killed Snow White?  also reveals many different voices as a way to create a full discussion of the times in which our children live. Mark Hiscox plays Serena’s father Jay, who struggles with being unable to stop his daughter’s tormentors. Maja Ardel plays Fancy’s Aunt Babe, who believes in the status quo and bowing to social norms. Christian Lloyd plays Si, a local police officer whose examples of male testosterone corrupt the boys he helped raise.

I also want to take a moment to praise the two young men in the show: Steven Vlahos who plays Pratt, and Andrei Preda who plays his brother Dodge. Judith Thompson’s creation of these characters is unique; instead of creating stock villains, she gives these talented actors characters who are three dimensional and filled with conflicting emotions.

With young men being so easily vilified in today’s mass media (often for good reason), it is refreshing to find a character like Dodge in Who Killed Snow White? . Although flawed, he is a good kid at heart who honestly tries to do the right thing but finds himself trapped between loyalty, family, and the myths of masculinity in which he has been indoctrinated. With Dodge, Thompson shows that not all young men are out to rape and conquer.

On the other end of the spectrum is Steven Vlahos as Pratt. I can’t imagine the preparation that Steven must go through, performance after performance, to put himself into the mindset of a young man who is so smug, so insensitive, and so destructive.

Although his character is the poster boy for everything wrong with toxic masculinity, somehow Thompson manages to hint at another side to Pratt, one that lies somewhere between privileged sociopath and a screwed-up kid without the emotional maturity to understand his actions. Pratt is a completely repugnant character, but one that Steven brings alive almost too well in what cannot be an easy performance.

Who Killed Snow White?  is completed by a haunting original score by local maestro Justin Hiscox, inspired choreography by Monica Dotter, and beautifully inspired costumes by Meredith Hubbard — who brilliantly dresses all the performers in pristine whites.

Audiences attending Who Killed Snow White?  should know what they are getting into before they attend the show. 4th Line Theatre acknowledges trigger warnings within the show, and workers from the Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre will be on site for each performance to provide support if needed. It’s also worth noting that 4th Line does not recommend the show for anyone under the age of 14.

Some people feel that summer theatre should consist of light and breezy comedies to enjoy on a nice evening, and avoid hard-hitting subjects or emotional turmoil. If this is your opinion, than perhaps Who Killed Snow White?  is not for you.

However, truly good theatre challenges its audience. It’s relevant to today’s society, starts discussions, and reveal truths about our world we may be too scared to look at. It is raw, controversial, uncomfortable, brave, and honest.

In this regard, Who Killed Snow White? is extremely good theatre, and it could be the most important show you’ll see in the Kawarthas this year. This is the kind of show that wins awards and changes lives. That is why you should be going to see this show.

Who Killed Snow White? runs from Mondays to Saturdays until August 25th at the Winslow Farm in Millbrook. Shows start at 6 p.m. Tickets are $38 for adults and $32 for youth and can be purchased by phone at 705-932-4445, online at www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca, or at 4th Line Theatre box office in Millbrook at 4 Tupper Street and in Peterborough at the Peterborough Museum and Archives at 300 Hunter Street East.

Every Thursday, we publish live music and performance events at pubs and clubs in Peterborough and The Kawarthas based on information that venues provide to us directly or post on their website or social media channels. Here are the listings for the week of Thursday, August 9 to Wednesday, August 15.

If you’re a pub or club owner and want to be included in our weekly listings, please email our Nightlife Editor at nightlife@kawarthanow.com.

Ask any musical artist who has dived into the crowded tribute band pool what his or her number one initial consideration was, and the answer is clear: make sure the artist to be paid homage has a full slate of hit songs to cover

With album sales in excess of 75 million and a long string of hit singles, Bob Seger clearly provides more than enough ammunition for a tribute band’s arsenal.

So it was in 2015 that Against The Wind came together for the express purpose of bringing the Detroit-born rock singer’s music to the masses. On Saturday, August 11th at Del Crary Park, Peterborough Musicfest brings the Toronto-based Seger tribute band to the Fred Anderson Stage.

Admission is free to the 8 p.m. show.

Fronted by Kevin Reid, who debuted as new lead vocalist at a concert at the Market Hall in Peterborough this past April, the 10-piece band powerfully delivers a more-than-generous helping of Seger’s music drawn from an extensive catalogue, most of it recorded and toured with his Silver Bullet Band.

There are early gems such as “Beautiful Loser” and “Katmandu” to mid-to-late 1970s hits such as “Turn The Page”, “Night Moves”, “Mainstreet”, “Still The Same”, and “We’ve Got Tonigh”t to 1980s-era standards such as “Fire Lake”, “You’ll Accompany Me”, “Roll Me Away”, and “Against The Wind” — the latter having earned Seger two Grammy Awards.

VIDEO: Against The Wind at the Market Hall in Peterborough

Where would actor Tom Cruise be today if he hadn’t danced in his underwear to Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” in the 1983 film Risky Business?

“There are so many songs that Bob Seger has written that are the soundtrack to our lives,” says Against The Wind music director John Jamieson in a March 2017 interview with Kelly Kenny of www.muskokaregion.com.

“I remember where I was when I first heard Night Moves or Turn The Page,” Jamieson adds. “Bob Seger is feel-good music. There isn’t much you can’t tap your toe to. At the end of the day, they are all good stories and all relative to life. They speak to the blue collar lifestyle.”

Seger is a prolific songwriter. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012, he also co-wrote The Eagles’ 1979 hit “Heartache Tonight”.

Mimicking Seger’s trademark raspy vocals, Reid brings back countless memories for fans old enough remember Seger’s dominance of the rock music landscape. During his premiere performance at the Market Hall, “Seger fans were on their feet throughout the show screaming, whistling, joining him in song and dancing in the aisles,” according to the Against The Wind website.

At age 73, Seger himself is still very much an active artist. Just last November, he released I Knew You When, his 18th studio album — it’s dedicated to his friend and founding member of The Eagles, the late Glenn Frey — and he continues to tour extensively, backed by a reformed Silver Bullet Band.

“I thought I’d be done by 30,” said Seger in a January 2018 interview with Andy Greene of www.rollingstone.com,

“My original plan was to do it for five years between the ages of 25 and 30 and then buy a motorcycle and drive across Europe and then get a real job. It didn’t work out that way. The more you do it, I guess the more you love it.”

Against The Wind, for one, is extremely grateful that Seger never obtained that “real job”.

Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 18 free-admission concerts featuring a total of 20 acts during its 32nd season — each staged on Wednesday and Saturday nights at Del Crary Park.

Overseen by general manager Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission is to “provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”

For more information on this concert or the entire 2018 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.

Globus Theatre at the Lakeview Arts Barn in Bobcaygeon presents a melody of murder and mayhem in Kellen Blair and Joe Kinosian’s musical comedy Murder for Two, on now until August 18th.

Directed by James Barrett and featuring the talents of Matt Pilipiak and Victor Pokinko, Murder for Two is a delightful mixture of music and mystery. The play features one piano and a corpse, two cops, and a dozen suspects — and only two actors to play them all.

The result is a perfect night of summer theatre.

Making its debut at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in May 2011, Murder for Two became an instant hit with audiences and critics alike and was extended four times, running for six months beyond its original run date. The show’s co-writers Blair and Kinosian won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Musical. In July 2013, the show made its New York debut at the McGinn/Cazale Theater where, once again, it was extended due to its popular reception and continuous ticket sales.

Eventually moving to New World Stages in New York City, the show ran until June 2014 before going on a successful tour across North America. Since then, Murder for Two has been performed by various theatre companies throughout the United States and Canada, as well as by theatrical groups in China, Japan, Korea, and Argentina.

Murder for Two takes place at the surprise birthday party of mystery writer Arthur Whitney, where an uninvited guest turns out to be death. The lights go out, the guests scream, and a gun shot rings through the darkness. When the lights come back on, Whitney is found shot through the forehead.

Enter small-town cops Marcus Markowitz (Matt Pilipiak) and his partner Lou, who face a household of eccentric guests who all have a reason to kill Whitney.

Could it have been Whitney’s bitter wife Dahlia (Victor) who pulled the trigger? Did Whitney’s niece Steph (also Victor) commit homicide for her grad paper? Did Whitney’s psychiatrist Dr. Griff (Victor again) know more than he was putting on? Why would Whitney’s neighbors Murry and Barb (both played by Victor) want Whitney dead? And what connection does prima ballerina Barrette Lewis (delicately played by Victor) have to the deceased author? And who are Timmy, Yonkers, and Skids (all played by Victor) and why are they even there?

With the real detective an hour away, Officer Marcus (Matt) takes it upon himself to solve the mystery so he can achieve his own ambitions for promotion. With time ticking away, he must interrogate the guests, put together the clues, and solve the mystery in a night featuring zany characters, clever performances, and show-stopping musical numbers.

As two of the founding members of Toronto’s Bad Hats Theatre, Victor Pokinko and Matt Pilipiak have been working with each other for four years. This familiarity gives them the winning chemistry and makes a complex production like Murder for Two work so well. The two actors are completely in sync with each another throughout the entire 90-minute show.

Matt takes the lead as Officer Marcus, an ambitious cop who wears his heart on his sleeve. With equal amounts ambition and heart, he has flawless character interaction with Vicitor, who plays all of the other characters in the show. Through his constant shifting of voices and body language, Victor manages to create a room full of distinctive and colourful characters for Matt to interact with.

At times, Victor plays as many as four characters while Matt manages to keep each one of them straight. The two actors are a charming and talented duo whose years of work together help create the perfect production.

Note this show is also a musical but, unlike other musicals, Matt and Victor accompany themselves by playing the piano, which sits as the lone set piece in the middle of the room. Sometimes the performers take turns accompanying one another on the piano; sometimes they brilliantly play the piano together and, in some numbers, Victor will actually sing duets with himself.

Although none of the songs in Murder for Two have yet entered the popular American songbook (although I think that they probably should), the music is extremely strong, with the stand-out numbers being Barb and Murray’s “It Was Her”, Officer Marcus and Stephanie’s “He Needs a Partner”, “Timmy, Yonkers, & Skids”, “A Lot Woise”, and Matt and Victors’ closing piano duet, “Finale Ultimo (A Friend Like You)”.

Murder for Two also features the debut of Globus Theatre’s latest acquisition: a beautiful grand piano previously owned by theatrical legend Colm Wilksinon. Tuned to perfection, it’s a beautiful instrument that becomes not only the only set piece to the show, but a character all of its own.

After the show, as I inspected the piano, Matt and Victor pointed out where Colm Wilkinson had signed the piano for Globus’ James Barrett and Sarah Quick, as well as a distinct mark where he would rest his beverages. Murder for Two is the perfect show to celebrate the arrival of this impressive musical instrument at Globus Theatre. Before finding your seat, or before leaving the performance space at the end of the show, take a few minutes to take a look at this incredible piece of theatre history.

I have seen a lot of great shows in the Kawarthas so far this year but, in my opinion, Murder for Two could be the best. Perfectly performed by two fine actors, the show is highly original, laugh-out-loud funny, and truly inspiring to watch. Murder for Two is a theatrical triumph, and what summer theatre is truly all about. This is one show that you really do not want to miss.

Murder for Two runs until August 18th at Globus Theatre at the Lakeview Arts Barn in Bobcaygeon. Shows start at 8 p.m. with additional 2 p.m. matinees on August 11th and 16th. A three-course table d’hôte menu is available at 6 p.m. prior to every evening performance. Tickets are $34.50 for the show only, or $71 if you want the dinner and the show. For tickets, visit the box office at Lakeview Arts Barn or call 1-800-304-7897 or 705-738-2037.