THE FIRST MONDAY

Artwork Created By: Taegan O'Bertos

A new Saskatchewan play every month!

That's Life

by Darius Kiskotagan & Julia Kowalski

PLUS

A Panel Discussion on New Saskatchewan Plays!

May 5th - 7:00pm

Persephone Theatre Lobby

100 Spadina Crescent East

Free - All Welcome

In partnership with Persephone Theatre, we present a new Saskatchewan play every month for eight months (October through May). So, mark your calendars. It's the FIRST MONDAY of every month.

MAY FEATURE: That's Life by Darius Kiskotagan & Julia Kowalski

Can failure be defined by a singular definition? Or is there more to it than simply ‘a
lack of success’? ‘That’s Life’ is a verbatim play on the topic of ‘failure’ and what it means to
members of the local Saskatoon community.


PANEL DISCUSSION: Why do new plays matter?

We sit down with local playwrights and producers to discuss the importance of new Saskatchewan plays. Featuring Angus Ferguson, Jalisa Gonie, and Yvette Nolan.

Darius Kiskotagan

Playwright

Darius Kiskotagan (he/him) is a local, Indigenous theatre artist from Red Pheasant Cree Nation on Treaty 6 territory, and a recent graduate of the USask BA Design program. Darius has a passion for creation and works in a number of areas, including set/sound/light design, playwriting, directing, and some independent video and animation work. Darius’ recent credits include, sound design – The Music Man (Saskatoon Summer Players, 2024), director – The Stalker of Bradford Woods (The Little Company that Could, 2024), and set design – Metamorphosis (Greystone Theatre, 2024).

Julia Kowalski

Playwright

Julia Kowalski (she/her) is an emerging, Metis theatre artist and graduate of the USask BFA Acting program. She is a lover of all things theatre and enjoys getting to know every step of theatre creation. Primarily an actor, ‘That’s Life’ is Julia’s first endeavor into playwriting and is excited to share it with an audience! Julia’s recent credits include, costume design – In the Next Room (Lolabrickida Theatre, 2024), acting – Breaking the Curse (Riser Regina, 2024), and Tayen and the Mimi Kwesak (GTNT, 2024).

Bob Wicks

Ensemble

Born and raised in Saskatoon, Bob Wicks (he/they) is an Actor, a Director, a Producer as well as a Voice & Text Teacher & Coach (and now a Dramaturg!) who received his MFA in Acting and Voice Teacher Certificate studying with David Smukler at York University (Toronto, ON) in 2015. He has been a member of the International Actors’ Fellowship at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (London, UK,) an Associate with Canada’s National Voice Intensive, a faculty member of the Training Department at Shakespeare & Company (Lenox, MA,) and has previously spent 10 seasons with the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan Festival, both on and offstage. Recently he co-directed LEAR, co-produced by La Troupe du Jour, Gordon Tootoosis Nīkānīwin Theatre, and Never Never Shakespeare. Bob is a founder and current Creative Director of Never Never Shakespeare.

Shawn Cuthand

Ensemble

Shawn Cuthand is a nehiyaw (Cree) and Kanien kehá:ka (Mohawk) writer, comedian, producer, actor and director living in so-called Saskatoon on Treaty 6 territory. Currently, he is a part of the satirical news group called The Feather News, where he has both on screen and behind the scenes writing and producing roles. The Feather recently won the APTN/ImagineNative web series pitch competition and spent 2022 professionally producing their series from conception to final edits. Currently, The Feather Entertainment, founded by Ryan Moccasin, completed their second season for APTN which will be aired in 2025.

Being a part of The Feather series has encouraged Shawn to further his acting skills by taking roles with theatre organizations such as the Gordon Tootoosis Nikawinan Theatre’s (GTNT) A Rez Xmas series for 4 years in a row playing multiple roles. He has also done voice acting in an audio play released by Burnt Thicket Theatre and GTNT called Remnance. This past winter he also acted in the children’s play “Tayen and the Mimi Kwesak” which toured communities in Saskatchewan. Through these opportunities, Shawn continues to build his acting skills and portfolio.

Shawn has also written articles for CBC online and was invited to be a storyteller for the Indigenous Cities project for the National Arts Centre.

Also, Shawn has been doing stand up comedy for 5 years and it is a major passion of his. Some notable performances include the Winnipeg Fringe, Woke Comedy hour, Laughter is Medicine and multiple YukYuk’s Comedy Clubs across Canada, and has made it to the finals of Edmonton’s Grindstone Comedy Competition in 2021. For the last four summers, Shawn and co-collaborator, Danny Knight produced a stand up comedy show for the YXE Fringe called Full Metal Comedy. The show received 4 stars Star Phoenix in 2021 and was at the Broadway Theatre in 2022 and this past year was awarded best local show of 2023. This past summer they also held the show at the YXE and Vancouver Fringes. Full Metal Comedy is also the name of the open mic comedy show that Shawn and Danny host at the Black Cat Tavern and Art Bar. Currently Shawn is working on a few scripts which he hopes to produce in the future. 

Nicole Gillis

Ensemble

Hi! My name is Nicole and my pronouns are she/her. I am a 3d year drama student at the UofS with a background in Ballet.
I have a passion for acting, I enjoy hiking, singing, dance, and my current hyper fixations are sewing and Arcane.

Cynthia Dyck

Ensemble

I have been involved in professional theatre, one way or another, for many years. My first job after high school was running the box office at the fledgling Persephone Theatre. Since graduating from the UofS Drama Department I have performed, designed, produced; stage managed, house managed, and have been a general manager. I co-founded On the Boards Staging Company.

Clare Middleton

Company Dramaturg

Clare (She/her) has BFA in Acting U of S, MFA in Creative Writing UBC has been working in and around theatre for the past several decades. Clare loves to teach adults and kids alike and has held several Artist in Residence positions around the province. She has taught theatre classes for U of S, U of R, and UBC, and is a founding member of Live Five theatre season in Saskatoon. Her passion for theatre takes her in all directions and she especially loves when she gets to work on projects that involve her doing puppetry, clowning, new plays, storytelling, theatre for young audiences and directing. Clare lives in Treaty 6 territory (Saskatoon) with her husband, two kids, three dogs and plants – too many plants.


PANELISTS:

Yvette Nolan


Yvette Nolan (Algonquin) is a playwright, director and dramaturg. Born in Prince Albert, raised in Winnipeg, she has lived and worked across the country. Her plays include The Unplugging, Annie Mae’s Movement, The Birds. The Diviners – which she wrote with Vern Thiessen – premiered at Stratford in 2024; in 2025, Stratford will produce her play The Art of War. She also works in opera, as the librettist and co-director of Shanawdithit, the librettist of Sophia, and the director of Indians on Vacation. She co-created, with Joel Bernbaum and Lancelot Knight, the verbatim play Reasonable Doubt, about relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in Saskatchewan. She served as the production dramaturg for Burnt Thicket’s We Treaty People and company dramaturg for Sum Theatre for six years.  In 2014, she founded the Short Cuts Festival, which contributed to the development of Saskatchewan plays and playwrights for eight years. From 2003-2011, she served as Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts, Canada’s oldest professional Indigenous theatre company. Her book, Medicine Shows, about Indigenous performance in Canada was published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2015.

Angus Ferguson


Angus is a theatre director, designer, dramaturge and teacher who is dedicated to creating art and developing artists in Saskatchewan.


He is the founding Artistic Director of Dancing Sky Theatre in Meacham, where he develops and produces new plays. He teaches at the U of S Drama Department and at St. Peters College in Humboldt, just to see if he can preach what he tries to practice.


He lives in the small village of Meacham Sask. with his wife, dog, cat and a garden
that is far too big.

Jalisa Gonie


A Saskatoon based theatre artist, Jalisa balances many hats on their head and wears the occasional red nose on their face. Working as a Stage Manager, Production Manager, Performer, Emerging Playwright and one half of a clown duo: Oblong & Oboe. They hold a BFA from the University of Saskatchewan and have trained at the Manitoulin Conservatory for Creation and Performance. Her work has taken her to stages and parks throughout Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia.


Select work: The Olive Suitcase (Playwright, SUM Theatre’s First Monday 2024), Pot Roast (Playwright, Shortcuts), Luna (SM, 25th Street Theatre), The Adventure of Young Turtle (SM, So.Glad Art), The Velveteen Rabbit (SM, Persephone Theatre), The Unplugging (ASM, Belfry Theatre), It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (ASM, Chemainus Theatre), Women of the Fur Trade (ASM, Globe Theatre).

Season 3 (2024-25) of The First Monday will feature the following plays:

Episode 1: October 7th, 2024 - "66 No Exit Lane" by Jonathon Pickrell 
  • When the wealthy heiress Angela Winters passes away, her surviving family, close acquaintances, and employees are all invited to the reading of her last will and testament at her old, and slightly crumbling, estate on No Exit Lane. Once they are gathered, a loophole is discovered in her will which some worry might encourage foul play. When their concerns turn out to be warranted, and the presiding attorney winds up dead, it’s up to the cast-of-characters to put aside their obvious disdain for one another to oust the culprit and survive the evening! Who done it? Why they do it? Who can you trust when everyone is out for themselves? Find out in Jonathon Pickrell's love letter to the genres of murder mystery and farce comedy, No Exit Lane!
Episode 2: November 4th, 2024 - "Weyburn 1959" by Arthur Milner
  • In the 1950s, Weyburn Mental Hospital in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, was a world centre for research into the use of LSD in the treatment of mental illness. By the mid-‘60s, LSD was a popular street drug and was made illegal, even for medical research. And in 1971, the massive mental hospital closed its doors. Weyburn 1959 is a fictionalized account of a transformational night in the lives of the researchers.
Episode 3: December 2nd, 2024 - "A Christmas Play" by Nathan Howe
  • On stress leave from her office job, CAROLINE signs up to apprentice backstage for the annual local theatre production of A Christmas Carol. Through a twelve-hour tech rehearsal, sparks fly and misunderstandings pile up between her and theatre-school crush CHRIS, playing Fred for the fifteenth year in a row. A Christmas Play is a farcical backstage rom-com with wacky double-casting that pulls back the curtain to reveal the magic of love and theatre.
Episode 4: January 6th, 2025 - "Antorcha" by Lautaro Reyes and Mitchell Larsen
  • A melding of secrets, desires and despair. Antorcha follows the journey of Teo as they struggle to understand themself and the world around them in the wake of a traumatic breakup. Current Content Warning: Violence and Sex
Episode 5: February 3rd, 2025 - "Stage Moms" by Oli Guselle & Annika Tupper
  • It’s opening night— the children of Sacred Heart Inter-Regional Theatre are awaiting their big moment, while behind the curtain, Stage Moms are pulling the strings. Will the show go on without a hitch, or will the company crumble under the pressures of perfection? This is our love letter exposé to community theatre.
Episode 6: March 3rd, 2025 - "Fissure" by Kevin Moxley
  • Every evening the young fisher went out upon the sky, and threw the nets into the abyss…
    But the evening’s catch brings change that ripples through their whole world in this speculative futuristic fairytale retelling of Oscar Wilde’s “The Fisherman and His Soul”.
Episode 7: April 7th, 2025 - "Personal Space" by Leanne Griffin
  • Bernie and Jillian are at odds - he wants to keep the 1970’s style house he inherited from his Granny, while she hates the clutter and feels lonely and isolated in their new location. Mandy hides in the root cellar - but are they a dangerous vagrant, an old imaginary friend, or a potential ally?
Episode 8: May 5th, 2025 - "That's Life" by Darius Kiskotagan & Julia Kowalski
  • That's Life: a verbatim theatre piece about failure.

Meet the Playwrights 

Jonathon Pickrell

Read Bio

Jonathon Pickrell (he/him) is a Saskatchewan-raised actor, dancer, voice artist, and writer. He graduated with his BFA in acting from the University of Saskatchewan, and has performed across Canada and the States. He was the 2022 judges choice winner in Swinging with the Stars, the Choreographer for last years As You Like It at Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, and has recently started playing the trumpet at a professional level. Just kidding, that last one was a lie to see if you were still paying attention. If anything you would pay him not to play. Regardless, Jonathon is absolutely thrilled to be joining the talented team at SUM theatre, and hopes you all enjoy the laughs, intrigue, and ridiculous ensemble cast of characters in his first play, No Exit Lane. Selected recent acting credits include: Macbeth (Canadian Opera Company), Measure for Measure (The Coterie), The Love Interest (Theatre Howl), and his run as the eccentric yet lovable trust fund rich boy, Maximillion Wheatland aboard the Wheatland Express!

Arthur Milner

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Arthur Milner is a playwright, theatre director, and columnist for inroadsjournal.ca. Getting to Room Temperature was produced by Regina’s Curtain Razors and will be produced, in French, by La Troupe du Jour in January. Facts, a murder mystery set in the West Bank, toured Palestine and Israel in Arabic. He’s now working with Curtain Razors on Tommy & Père, about Father Athol Murray and Tommy Douglas; and with Architect Theatre on Weyburn Nights, about LSD research in Saskatchewan in the 1950s.

Nathan Howe

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Nathan (he/him) is a theatre maker from Saskatoon now living in Vancouver, with a BFA in Acting from USask and an MFA in Scriptwriting from TMU.
This season takes him to SOTS, Canadian Stage, The Belfry, Live Five (directing Mr Burns), and The Globe.

Lautaro Reyes & Mitchell Larsen

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Lautaro and Mitchell are long-time artistic collaborators; past collaborations include: Santiago High Tech, Lugo performances 2023, and Art at the Loft exhibit 2023. Antorcha has been brewing and shifting for the last several years and has recently begun to crawl into the light of day.

Kevin Moxley

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Kevin Moxley (he/him) is an actor, educator, and writer, originally from the southern Appalachia region of the United States. He completed his undergraduate studies at New York University in literature, creative writing and educational theatre, and earned his MFA in theatre performance from Florida Atlantic University. His short plays have received readings and productions across the US and Canada, including receiving a regional B. Iden Payne award nomination for best digital short script.

Julia Kowalski

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Bio coming soon!

Oli Guselle

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Oli (they/them) is a prairie queer who is passionate about music, storytelling, and what happens when you combine the two. Oli graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Classical Vocal Performance from The University of Toronto. Theatre/Opera: Bon Apetit!, Carmen, Die Fledermaus, The Brothers Grimm, La Boheme, (Saskatoon Opera/SSO), The Adventure of Young Turtle (So.Glad Arts), Stag and Doe (Souris Valley Theatre) Concerts: Handel’s Messiah 2022, 2023 (SSO), Drag Messiah (OperaQ) Sound Design/Composition: The Maids (Whirligig Theatre Co.), C’est à nous d’y voir (La Troupe Du Jour), Death: A Love Story (Dandelion Theatre) Direction: As You Like It (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan/Apprentice Director), The Trial of Louis Riel (Riel Co.), War Room: The Musical (Saskatoon Fringe), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (UC Follies) Upcoming: Brahms Alto Rhapsody (Saskatoon Chamber Singers/Soloist) Other: Oli is also a proud member of punk band, Checkout Queens, who just released their debut EP last fall.

Leanne Griffin

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Leanne Griffin has a Master of Arts Degree in Drama from the University of Saskatchewan and has written and produced 18 plays. Her script Bluebeard’s Chamber was selected for inclusion in the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre 2018 Spring Festival of New Plays at Persephone Theatre, Saskatoon.

Annika Tupper

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Annika Tupper (they/she) is a queer Métis multidisciplinary artist from Saskatoon, and is based in T’karonto. Performance credits: Mamma Mia! (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Freedom: A Mixtape - Live and Unplugged (b current/NAC); The Prom (Drayton Entertainment); Jesus Christ Superstar (Theatre Sheridan). Creative credits: Assistant to MD - UnCovered: U2 & The Rolling Stones (Musical Stage Co.); Copyist - Red Tide: a macabre maritime misadventure, Assist. MD/Music Teacher - Rooted: A Musical Poem, Vocal Captain - In Studio: The Words and Music of Britta Johnson (Theatre Sheridan) @annikatupper

Darius Kiskotagan

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Bio coming soon!

Meet the Dramaturgy

Johanna Arnott

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Johanna is a multidisciplinary theatre artist who works as an actor, stage manager, director and playwright. Recently she premiered her play A Brontë Without Genius, #hacked a Big Mouth Billy Bass for the First Monday reading of her script The Tragedy of Gregory and Balthasar, toured Saskatchewan as Luna with 25th Street Theatre, and honeymooned in White Horse while performing in Yvette Nolan’s The Art of War.

Jonathan Seinen

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Jonathan Seinen (he/him) is an award-winning theatre director, actor, creator, producer, and co-founder of Architect Theatre. Directing credits include Boys In Chairs Collective’s Access Me (Dora Award for Outstanding Direction), Governor General’s Award Nominee Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land) by Jeff Ho (Theatre Passe Muraille/Saga Collectif/Architect Theatre), and Saga Collectif’s Black Boys (Buddies In Times Theatre). Jonathan was awarded the 2020 John Hirsch Prize for Directing from the Canada Council for the Arts, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of Regina. jonathanseinen.com

Mara Teare

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Mara is a local artist. They trained at the National Theatre School of Canada, graduating in 2021. They have had the privilege to work across Canada, on a variety of projects, including several new Canadian plays. She has also written two plays of her own. They are so excited to be back working with SUM Theatre as a First Monday dramaturge!

Torien Cafferata

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Bio coming soon!

David Stobbe / Stobbe Photo

Tim Bratton

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Tim is a Saskatoon-based actor, playwright, and sound designer who serves as the Artistic Associate for Burnt Thicket Theatre. Tim lives in the King George Neighbourhood with his lovely wife, Amy, and their two children.

Gordon Portman

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Gordon is one of Saskatchewan's most experienced and versatile dramaturges. During his time with the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre and in the decade since, he has assisted in the development of a number of award-winning, critically acclaimed, and audience-popular scripts, including Megan Zong's Unmasked, Todd Devonshire's Monday Night, and Natasha Martina's Displaced. He is also a university-level teacher of both playwriting and screenwriting, and in recent years has dedicated his practice (as a theatre artist in general) to the opening of creative/ doors into inclusivity, decolonization practices, and full/deep collaborations among theatre artists.


Elizabeth Whitbread

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Liz Whitbread (she/her) is a queer theatre artist born and raised on Treaty One Territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A graduate of the University of Winnipeg Honours: Acting Program, her work has taken her across the Prairies, to Toronto and back again. She loves the First Monday series, and is delighted to be working with SUM Theatre again.

Bob Wicks

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Born and raised in Saskatoon, Bob Wicks (he/they) is an Actor, a Director, a Producer as well as a Voice & Text Teacher & Coach (and now a Dramaturg!) who received his MFA in Acting and Voice Teacher Certificate studying with David Smukler at York University (Toronto, ON) in 2015. He has been a member of the International Actors’ Fellowship at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (London, UK,) an Associate with Canada’s National Voice Intensive, a faculty member of the Training Department at Shakespeare & Company (Lenox, MA,) and has previously spent 10 seasons with the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan Festival, both on and offstage. Recently he co-directed LEAR, co-produced by La Troupe du Jour, Gordon Tootoosis Nīkānīwin Theatre, and Never Never Shakespeare. Bob is a founder and current Creative Director of Never Never Shakespeare. Next up: Twelfth Night.

Many thanks to our funders!

SK Arts

Season 2 (2023-24) of The First Monday featured the following plays:

Episode 1: October 2nd, 2023 - "One Night" by Paige Francoeur & Bob Wicks 
  • A new take on Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams. A family gathering descends into chaos when truths are told. A story about the lies we tell each other and the lies we tell ourselves and the lies we need to believe in order to make it through.
Episode 2: November 6th, 2023 - "The Boat" by Todd Devonshire
  • Canada. 1964. Abortion is illegal.
    But 15 miles off the coast, The Boat is ready to challenge everything.
Episode 3: December 4th, 2023 - "The Tragedy of Gregory and Balthasar" by Johanna Arnott
  • Gregory and Balthasar are two men from two houses, both alike in dignity. They are told that they should be enemies, and so they are. But on the shore of Lake Verona Ontario, they are just two dudes who want the same thing: to catch the big fish. Narrated by the big fish himself through a Big Mouth Billy Bass and adapted lines from Romeo and Juliet, The Tragedy of Gregory and Balthasar is a love story dealing with the issue of the impact those with power have over the people who do not.
Episode 4: January 8th, 2024 (SECOND MONDAY) - "I AM WHO I AM" by Peace Akintade-Oluwagbeye
  • I Am Who I Am follows the poetic and philosophical exchange between A-kin, the embodiment of storytelling and poetry, and Ọrunmila, the embodiment of guidance, knowledge, and divination. The play is largely based on Yoruba philosophies of death, life, deities, and the abstract concepts of identity.
Episode 5: February 5th, 2024 - "Matriarchy" by Jacelyn Perret
  • With the counsel of her ancestors a young Métis woman contemplates motherhood, the significance of the matriarch in Métis culture, and what it means to leave a legacy while grappling with a quickly approaching secret.
Episode 6: March 4th  March 11th, 2024 - "The Olive Suitcase" by Jalisa Gonie
  • The outside world is terrifying, especially when you haven’t left the house in over a decade. But Olive always has her suitcase packed and ready for any danger that could come knocking and when it does, Olive will learn if she is truly prepared for the outside world.
Episode 7: April 1st, 2024 - "Final Notice" by Jordan Harvey
  • Final Notice centers around a university house and its tenants as they prepare for an impending eviction following a failed rental strike, and their one last party before vacating. Storylines intersect in a barely post-adolescent cacophony of drugs, sex, queerness, and those perilous half-understandings which accompany such a time in life.
Episode 8: May 6th, 2024 - "My Name Is..." by Megan Zong
  • Xiao Tong is on a quest to reclaim what has been taken from her, and take down the bad guy in school. Alongside her friend, Diva Dave, she discovers hidden superpowers. But to use them, she will have to embrace a part of herself that she has pushed away for too long. First developed with Persephone Theatre's TYA Playwrights Unit, this play is about embracing our unique differences and finding a sense of belonging when faced with adversity.

Season 1 (2022-23) of The First Monday featured the following plays:

Episode 1: October 2nd, 2023 - "Sad Girls Watch the Princess Bride" by Mara Teare 
Episode 2: November 6th, 2023 - "Intergenerational" by Erin Brophy
Episode 3: December 5th, 2022 - "18 Jews Order Chinese Food" by Jenna Berenbaum
Episode 4: January 2nd, 2023 - "The Queen of Bingo" by Jennifer Dawn Bishop
Episode 5: February 6th, 2023 - "Luna" by Danielle Roy
Episode 6: March 6th, 2023 - "Infill" by Clare Middleton
Episode 7: April 3rd, 2023 - "West of Nowhere - A Western Western" by Amanda Trapp & Grahame Kent  
Episode 8: May 1st, 2023 - "SCRIPTAPALOOZA" (Excerpts from the Season)