GOODBYE LAST SUNDAY, HELLO FIRST MONDAY!!!
After five seasons, we bid adieu to The Last Sunday, and welcome our new monthly program: The First Monday. In partnership with Persephone Theatre and Hardly Art, we will present a new Saskatchewan play every month for eight months. So, mark your calendars. It's always the FIRST Monday of every month.WHEN: Monday, May 1st, 2023 @ 7:00pm
FREE ADMISSION
THIS MONTH'S FEATURE: Scriptapaloosa
Amanda Trapp
Ensemble
Amanda Trapp (she/they) is a Cree and Saulteaux (member of White Bear First
Nations)/settler theatre artist based in Saskatoon. Select credits include: The Herd, Persephone Theatre; My Name Is Rachel Corrie, Chrysalis Theatre; Half-Breed Vaudeville, Sorry/Grateful Theatre (writer/performer); The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Catalyst Theatre; It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Persephone Theatre; The Other Side of the River, Sum Theatre (composer/performer); The Penelopiad, Ferre Play Theatre (composer - SATA nominated)
Krystle Pederson
Ensemble/Director
Krystle Pederson is a Cree/Metis Actor, singer, songwriter with an outstanding career performing all across North America and New Zealand. Krystle’s list of acting credits include: The (Post) Mistress, Little Badger and the Fire Spirit, Gabriel Dumont Wild West Show, Penelopiad, and Reasonable Doubt. Krystle is the lead vocalist for Lynx Lamour Goes to Nashville a one-woman Cree musical written and composed by Tomson Highway. 2023 has been a year so far of composition and musical direction. Krystle is very excited to be sharing these new skills for this years Theatre in the Park. See you in the park.
Yvette Nolan
Director/Company Dramaturge
Yvette Nolan (Algonquin) is a playwright, director and dramaturg. Her work with Sum Theatre includes Thicker Than Water, Little Badger and the Fire Spirit, Queen Seraphina and the Land of Vertebraat, The Young Ones and Last Sunday. Other work includes The Tempest (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan), Reasonable Doubt (Perspehone), The Unplugging (Arts Club; Factory; GTNT), the dance-opera Bearing (Signal Theatre), and the libretto Shawnadithit (Tapestry Opera). Her book, Medicine Shows, about Indigenous performance in Canada was published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2015. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Public Policy at Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy.
Lisa Bayliss
Ensemble
Lisa Bayliss is an established actor with several decades of experience in film, television and theatre. Lisa takes great delight in participating in staged verbatim and new play readings for Sum Theatre and is very excited to participate in a reading of Jenna Berenbaum’s new play 18 Jews Order Chinese Food.This past summer, Lisa appeared as Anne Hathaway in the one woman show Shakespeare’s Will for Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan. Saskatoon credits include Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Richard lll, Twelfth Night (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan); Cottagers and Indians, Pride and Prejudice, Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Between the Sheets and Sexy Laundry (Persephone Theatre); The Wolves (EvilStick Productions/littleBIG Theatre/Live Five); After Sundown (Pegasus Productions/Live Five); and roles in the Short Cuts Festivals. Originally from Vancouver, Lisa previously appeared in numerous BC productions for Bard on the Beach, the Arts Club Theatre, Belfry Theatre, Firehall Theatre, Western Canada Theatre, Theatre Northwest and the Richmond Gateway.
Heather Cant
Ensemble
Heather is a multi-faceted theatre practitioner who works as a director, actor, playwright, dramaturg, and producer. Heather has experience with everything from large scale productions to interactive micro-performance. Her work has taken her throughout Canada, having worked for such companies as the National Arts Centre, Western Canada Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Gateway Theatre, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Chemainus Theatre, Persephone Theatre, Pi Theatre, Axis Theatre, Presentation House, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, Upintheair Theatre, Project X Theatre, Urban Ink, and SkirtsAfire. Heather is also the current Artistic Director of Persephone Theatre.
Tim Bratton
Ensemble
Tim is a Saskatoon-based actor, playwright, and sound designer, serving as the Artistic Associate for Burnt Thicket Theatre. With a broad range of training and experience in both theatre and theology, Tim is committed to telling stories that help us make sense of life. Recent acting credits include the role of Guildenstern in ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, and Robert in BOEING BOEING (Persephone Theatre); THE FOURTH WISEMAN (Dancing Sky); CYMBELINE (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan). Recent sound design credits include work on CYMBELINE, Burnt Thicket’s production of EVERY BRILLIANT THING, and the audio drama podcast series WE TREATY PEOPLE.
Liz Whitbread
Ensemble
Liz Whitbread (she/her) is a queer actor, singer and theatre creator born and raised on Treaty One in what is now known as Winnipeg, Manitoba. She graduated from the University of Winnipeg with a BA: Honours in Theatre, and since then she's been working on pursuing a creative career that aligns with her personal values and, very importantly, brings her joy. She's delighted to be expanding her creative practice and exploring dramaturgy with the wonderful Sum Theatre team. Favourite acting credits include ‘Heathers: The Musical’ (Winnipeg Studio Theatre); ‘It’s A Beautiful Day to Arrest the Cops That Killed Breonna Taylor (Afterlife Theatre) and ‘Women of the Fur Trade’ (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre).
Bruce McKay
Ensemble
Originally from Sackville, New Brunswick, Bruce graduated from Mount Allison University with a B.A. in French and Drama, then continued his training at the National Theatre School of Canada. He recently directed L’Amour médecin and Enfant insignifiant! for La Troupe du Jour, where he is Artistic Director. Acting credits include Will & Ernest (La Troupe du Jour), Short Cuts 2021 (Hardly Art), The Young Ones (Sum Theatre), Monday Night (Highway 55) and Death of a Salesman (Theatre Naught). He lives in Saskatoon with his wonderful partner Cheryl Jack and their canine friend Keela
Clare Middleton
Ensemble/Dramaturge
BFA in Acting U of S, MFA in Creative Writing UBC, Clare has been working in and around theatre for the past several decades. A founding member of Live Five and has held various artist in residence positions around the province. Clare loves to teach adults and kids alike and up until recently, she has spent nearly 8 years at the Saskatoon Public Library doing storytimes and puppet shows for Library goers. Clare lives in Saskatoon with her husband, two kids, three dogs and all her thoughts and insecurities.
COMING UP THIS SEASON ON "THE FIRST MONDAY"!!
Episode 1: October 3rd, 2022- Playwright Mara Teare - "Sad Girls Watch The Princess Bride" -
A woman and her mother gather together on every major holiday to watch The Princess Bride together. This tradition is one they have clung to steadfastly, but when the mother begins to deteriorate from dementia, the woman must come to terms with facing a world without her mother. A story of grief, loss, and the importance of ritual in our lives.
Episode 2: November 7th, 2022 - Playwright Erin Brophy
Seventeen-year-old Oli is facing a challenge that only time can remedy: homework. While putting off their soul-crushing assignments, Oli accidentally summons one of their ancestors to the 21st century. Hazel, also seventeen and soon to become Oli's great-great-grandmother, has been plucked from the 1940's and has to learn to adapt to a world she doesn't recognize. Oli and Hazel strike a deal with one another: Oli assists Hazel's literacy to the complexities of the 21st century in exchange for homework help. Oli and Hazel answer big questions with bigger questions, figure out what a Tik Tok is, and find that they have more in common than meets the eye.
Episode 3: December 5th, 2022 - Playwright Jenna Berenbaum - "18 Jews Order Chinese Food"
A Jewish comedy about life, death and ordering Chinese food
Episode 4: January 2nd, 2023 - Playwright Jennifer Dawn Bishop - "The Queen of Bingo"
Through a simple game of bingo we witness a unique bond, family anitics and drama between mother and daughter.
Episode 5: February 6th, 2023 - Playwright Danielle Roy - "Luna"
Luna, a young girl, has built a time machine in her Dad's garage, with the intention of unfreezing her mother - who is trapped in time. It deals with grief, loss, depression and the strength it takes to move forward. Luna is a play that was intended for young people, created as part of Persephone Theatre's TYA Playwright Unit. It was initially created for zoom but is being adapted for the stage.
Episode 6: March 6th, 2023 - Playwright Clare Middleton - "Infill"
- On a windy New Year's Eve in Calgary, three sisters struggle to clean out their mother’s house after her passing. As they rummage through old memories they are reminded that stuffing secrets away in an old box with the Christmas decorations doesn't mean they'll stay hidden forever. With all the crap a person collects over a lifetime, both physically and emotionally, it can be hard to know what to throw away and what to keep.
Episode 7: April 3rd, 2023 - Playwrights Amanda Trapp & Graham Kent -"West of Nowhere - A Western Western"
The year is eighteen-ninety something. The place? A town to the west of the ol’ west. Meet our hero: gun-slinging, fear-inducing, doll-collecting, heart-throbbin’ Bosiah Logan! A step above all others, the best of the best. The stuff of legends he is! And he did it all on his lonesome, a one-man wolf pack that no villain’s army can take down. Sure, he has a niece (oh, what’s her name...Crannie? Frannie? Brannie?) who’s been spotted at these fearsome events, but only as a damsel in distress. Probably. Most likely. Somebody’s verified that, surely. In any case, it’s a man’s world, and Bosiah Logan is a real man’s man! And this is a manly new musical by Grahame Kent and Amanda Trapp. Yee-haw!
Episode 8: May 1st, 2023 - Scriptapoloosa (Final Episode of the Season)
Meet the Playwrights
Mara Teare
Mara Teare is a Saskatoon raised actor, singer, writer, and creator. She is a recent graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s acting program. Through her art and work, Mara strives to create and be a part of spaces with a strong presence of marginalized voices. Just as theatre has given her a voice, she wishes to inspire and uplift others like her through the power of theatre. She is excited to begin her journey as an emerging playwright with sad girls watch The Princess Bride. Mara firmly believes in theatre being a safe meeting space for all, and she hopes to bring the community around her closer together in joy and love through her writing. She is so excited to be a part of SUM Theatre’s First Monday collective. She hopes you enjoy the reading and you receive whatever you might need from the piece.
Erin Brophy
Erin Brophy (She/ They) holds a BFA Honours in Acting from the University of Saskatchewan, and works as an actor, playwright, theatre educator, stunt performer, actor combatant, and fight and intimacy director. Erin is a member of Fight Directors’ Canada and The International Order of the Sword and the Pen, and additionally has trained with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (formally Intimacy Directors International), the National Society of Intimacy Professionals, and Principal Intimacy Professionals. Currently Erin is working on an honours degree in Women’s and Gender Studies with a minor in English, and because they don’t back down from a challenge, will be starting their Masters in September. Past acting credits include Shortcuts Festival 2021 (Hardly Art Theatre), The Beaux’ Stratagem, Bronte, Spirit Wrestler (Greystone Theatre), Crowsworld: The First (Myriad Productions), The Unforgettables (Fight or Flight Theatre). Erin wrote The Unforgettables in 2019, presented it at the 2021 Saskatoon Fringe, and looks forward to bringing The Unforgettables to Live Five in February. Intergenerational—their first play designed specifically for teenage audiences, was written as part of the 2021 Persephone Theatre TYA Playwrights’ Unit. Past fight/intimacy direction credits include Rock of Ages (Broadway North Theatre Company), Carmen (Saskatoon Opera), L’Auberge(Fully Productions), 9 to 5: The Musical (Saskatoon Summer Players) Little Women (St. Joseph High School), Flush, Will and Ernest, Scapin (La Troupe du Jour), The Three Musketeers (Odyssey Productions). Erin is grateful for a community that works to cultivate the arts, and for the opportunity to live and work on Treaty Six territory.
Jenna Berenbaum
An award-winning actor, Jenna holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Saskatchewan. They work as a playwright, actor and graphic designer. Recent credits include J. Caesar, Midsummer, Titus. A puppet revenge, Merry Wives of Windsor, Comedy of Errors, As You Like It (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan), I and You (Globe Theatre), Jack and the Snow Queen (Dancing Sky Theatre), The Penelopiad (Ferre Play), The Wolves (Live Five/Little Big/EvilStick) and Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island (Persephone Theatre). Their play 18 Jews Order Chinese Food premiered at the Short Cuts Festival last November as a 10 minute play and is now being extended to a full show.
Jennifer Dawn Bishop
Jennifer a Metis artist of the Treaty Six Territory is an actor, playwright, director and Artistic Director of the Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre. Starting with the company when it first opened its doors in 1999 with the Circle of Voices Program. Continuing her passion in the arts, Jennifer’s most recent work includes directing 3 audiobook projects with Penguin Random House Canada, her play Shadows among the Prairies had its world premier presented at the new SOTS site and shortly after debut directed at Persephone Theatres production Cottagers & Indians by Drew Hayden Taylor. Jennifer looks forward to what comes next!
Danielle Roy
Danielle Roy is a performer, playwright, producer, and director based in Martensville SK. She is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan Bachelor of Fine Arts Theatre Program, and the Globe Theatre Conservatory. Her playwriting credits include the 5-star smash hit Peach which toured across Canada in 2016. She is also the creator behind the “masterpiece” Metempsychosis which made its world premiere this summer in the 2022 Fringe Festival. Danielle is an active performer and writer for Saskatoon’s Sketch Comedy group The Sketchy Bandits and for Buttered Ghost, Dr. Frightful Presents: A Podcast. She is thrilled to be working with SUM Theatre to help her new play Luna meet its full potential.
Clare Middleton
BFA in Acting U of S, MFA in Creative Writing UBC, Clare has been working in and around theatre for the past several decades. A founding member of Live Five and has held various artist in residence positions around the province. Clare loves to teach adults and kids alike and up until recently, she has spent nearly 8 years at the Saskatoon Public Library doing storytimes and puppet shows for Library goers. Clare lives in Saskatoon with her husband, two kids, three dogs and all her thoughts and insecurities.
Amanda Trapp
Amanda Trapp (she/they) is a Cree and Saulteaux/Austrian artist, member of the White
Bear Band, who calls Saskatoon home. An actor and composer, selected credits include:
The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Catalyst Theatre; It's a Wonderful
Life: A Live Radio Play, Persephone Theatre; The Other Side of the River, Sum Theatre;
exempt, Native Earth Performing Arts; Lady Macbeth and the Not Quite Dead, Musical
TheatreWorks; The Penelopiad, Ferre Play Theatre (composer, SATA nominated).
Amanda is a graduate of Sheridan College with an Honours Bachelor in Music Theatre
Performance.
Graham Kent
A neurodivergent Treaty 6 based theatre artist, Grahame can be found in many places in and around theatre; working as a performer, writer, producer, designer, voice artist, editor, dramaturg, foley artist, director and stage manager. Grahame is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan with a BFA in Acting and a graduate of the Globe Theatre Conservatory. Grahame has been seen on stages across Canada and you may have seen his work at Live Five, Persephone Theatre, The Globe Theatre, Wide Open, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan and many more indie venues. Grahame is the Artistic Producer of Buttered Ghost Theatre, a Treaty 6 based company that produces new and exciting work. Grahame is an active member with The Sketchy Bandits sketch comedy group. If you like podcasts, check out Dr. Frightful Presents: A Podcast which is created, produced and curated by Grahame and created with a bundle of incredible talent. Available wherever you listen to podcasts.
Find out more at grahamekent.com
Meet the Dramaturgy
Clare Middleton
BFA in Acting U of S, MFA in Creative Writing UBC, Clare has been working in and around theatre for the past several decades. A founding member of Live Five and has held various artist in residence positions around the province. Clare loves to teach adults and kids alike and up until recently, she has spent nearly 8 years at the Saskatoon Public Library doing storytimes and puppet shows for Library goers. Clare lives in Saskatoon with her husband, two kids, three dogs and all her thoughts and insecurities.
Jennifer Squires
Jennifer Lyn Squires (she / her) is a theatre artist from and living in Oskana. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and a minor in Theatre Studies from the University of Regina. Select credits include Much Ado About Nothing, The Velveteen Rabbit, and Leading Ladies (director); Into the Woods, Nunsense II (Regina Summer Stage, stage manager); Peter Pan (Do It With Class, Tinkerbell). She also wrote and performed Jen is Fat for the 2021 TicTocTen festival. Jennifer can usually be found championing Saskatchewanians in both of her day jobs: as the Creative and Operations Director at the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre and manager of Handmade Saskatchewan. Jennifer is unabashedly neurodivergent, both thriving and struggling with combined hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive ADHD. Since January 2021, Jennifer has been fostering cats for Regina Cat Rescue. She is currently fostering her 5th cat, a big tuxedo boi named Alfred. Jennifer plays a lot of board games, is a fat advocate, and devours as much true crime as possible.
Liz Whitbread
Liz Whitbread (she/her) is a queer actor, singer and theatre creator born and raised on Treaty One in what is now known as Winnipeg, Manitoba. She graduated from the University of Winnipeg with a BA: Honours in Theatre, and since then she's been working on pursuing a creative career that aligns with her personal values and, very importantly, brings her joy. She's delighted to be expanding her creative practice and exploring dramaturgy with the wonderful Sum Theatre team. Favourite acting credits include ‘Heathers: The Musical’ (Winnipeg Studio Theatre); ‘It’s A Beautiful Day to Arrest the Cops That Killed Breonna Taylor (Afterlife Theatre) and ‘Women of the Fur Trade’ (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre).
Kody Farrow
Kody (he/him) is an emerging theatre artist from Saskatoon who graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a BFA in Drama. Recently he has expanded his experience to include stage, film, voice-over, and streaming credits. Video credits include Ready To Be Brave (perf. Jeffery Straker, dir. Dylan Hyrciuk) and Save Me (perf. Eden Paige, dir. Dylan Hyrciuk). Stage credits include Coriolanus (Shakespeare by the Sea), The Skiffle Disco Soul Circus (Fringe Festival), Delft Blue (Burnt Thicket Theatre) Rooftops (Drama Student’s Association), The Romeo Project (The Studio), Machinal, Henry V, Arcadia, Spirit Wrestler, and The Beaux’ Stratagem (Greystone Theatre).
Mark Claxton
Since completing the Globe Theatre's conservatory program in 2008, Mark has worked and played as an actor, director, producer, and writer of theatre on various stages across Treaty Four and Six territories. He recently produced and performed in Ekstatika Stage & Screen's production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in Regina. Mark currently serves as executive director of the Saskatchewan Association of Theatre Professionals.
Paige Francoeur
Paige Francoeur (she/they) is an emerging actor, playwright, and dramaturg born and raised on Treaty 6 Territory. Recently, they have had the pleasure of appearing in Theatre Howl's The Love Interest, 25th Street Theatre / Ferre Play's Breaking The Curse, and are currently working on Theatre Naught's Long Day's Journey Into Night. She is also a co-creator on a brand-new adaptation of All's Well That Ends Well through their newly-formed theatre company, the Hagstone Collective. Paige is a lover of cats, mob movie enthusiast, and will talk your ear off about gothic horror if you let her. Coming up for Paige: Measure for Measure through Live Five. www.paigefrancoeur.com/
Tim Bratton
Tim is a Saskatoon-based actor, playwright, and sound designer, serving as the Artistic Associate for Burnt Thicket Theatre. With a broad range of training and experience in both theatre and theology, Tim is committed to telling stories that help us make sense of life. Recent acting credits include the role of Guildenstern in ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, and Robert in BOEING BOEING (Persephone Theatre); THE FOURTH WISEMAN (Dancing Sky); CYMBELINE (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan). Recent sound design credits include work on CYMBELINE, Burnt Thicket’s production of EVERY BRILLIANT THING, and the audio drama podcast series WE TREATY PEOPLE.