About This Episode:

What happens when an engineer decides to write a play? If you're Rymn Wadhwa, you end up with one of the most inventive premises at this year's Toronto Fringe Festival. Assembly Sϋggested follows two women building an IKEA chair (and maybe, just maybe, a relationship ) guided by an instruction manual that gets increasingly, wonderfully absurd. It's a debut play with a deceptively simple setup that promises real emotional depth. This is Rymn's first play, first Fringe, and first podcast interview, and it's a conversation full of warmth, honesty, and real excitement about what theatre can do. If you're heading to the Toronto Fringe this year, Assembly Sϋggested is one to put on your list.

This episode explores:

 * The ingenious premise of Assembly Sϋggested and how a friendship became the blueprint for a play about building and breaking things
 * How Rymn's engineering mindset and chess background shape the way she structures drama — including charting emotional highs and lows in spreadsheets
 * How such a personal play evolved into something with no villains, only two people with different needs
 * Creating Original music for the play, and suiting it to the performer
 * And much more!

Guest: ♟️ Rymn Wadhwa

Rymn is a Toronto-based playwright, artist, and engineer interested in structure, performance, and the narratives we build around everyday events. Her debut play, Assembly Sϋggested, premieres at the 2026 Toronto Fringe Festival.

Connect with Rymn

🌐 Website: assemblysuggested.com [https://assemblysuggested.com/]

📸 Instagram: @assemblysuggested [https://www.instagram.com/assemblysuggested]

Get tickets (starting June 3): https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/assembly-suggested

Subscribe & Follow: 🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stageworthy/id1071732834] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/0b9Vl5lsMKqDc1UIYl5thh] | Podchaser [https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/stageworthy-416634] | Amazon Music [https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ca3db4c6-c5b6-4791-b23f-2af83272ac85/stageworthy] | iHeart Radio [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1310-stageworthy-271061892/] 📺 Watch on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@Stageworthy] – Like, subscribe & hit the notification bell!

Support Stageworthy: If you love the show, consider supporting on Patreon: patreon.com/stageworthy [https://patreon.com/stageworthy] Patrons get early access to episodes, participate in conversations about topics to cover, and more. With three backer levels: $2, $7, and $20.

Thank you to my Patrons: Chris, Georgia, Heather J, Tanisha, Aisling, Cassie, Heather, Jeanette, Steve

Read transcript [https://pnc.st/s/stageworthy/9f24f2ae/rymn-wadhwa-is-an-engineer-turned-playwright-at-toronto-fringe/transcript]

Rymn Wadhwa is an Engineer Turned Playwright at Toronto Fringe

About This Episode:

Chantel Winters is a Toronto-based actor, playwright, and producer who has built a career by refusing to wait for permission. In this conversation with host Phil Rickaby, Chantel talks about how the realities of the audition grind pushed her toward making her own work. The conversation also digs into & Other Concerns, the film adaptation of the 2019 Fringe hit An Atlas in a Necktie and Other Concerns, how it evolved from a pandemic Zoom project into a short film now available for free on CBC Gem, and what Chantel learned about producing for screen along the way. She also speaks candidly about the shift from non-union to union work, the exhaustion of self-tape culture, the state of diversity in Canadian film and theatre, and why, despite everything, theatre will always be her first love.

This episode explores:

 * How the audition grind pushed Chantel toward playwriting and producing her own work
 * What producing outside of Fringe taught her about ticket sales, venue costs, and the gap between expectations and reality
 * The evolution of And Other Concerns from Toronto Fringe to a short film now streaming free on CBC Gem
 * How Eartha Kitt inspired her play, Dear Ms. Kitt.
 * And much more!

Guest: 🎭 Chantel Winters

Chantel Winters is an actor, playwright and producer born and raised in Toronto. Select theatre credits include: 'Honey Never Spoils' Toronto Fringe 2025; 'Good People' Bloor West Village Players; 'An Atlas, a Necktie & Other Concerns' Toronto Fringe 2019; 'Professionally Ethnic' Summerworks 2017. Now Magazine named Professionally Ethnic one of the outstanding ensembles of the season. She recently re-mounted her one-act play, 'Dear Ms. Kitt' under Hard-Bitten Productions. Chantel’s first film producer credit for the short, ‘& Other Concerns’ based on the Fringe hit, is now available on CBC Gem.

Connect with Chantel

📸 Instagram: @chantel.winters [https://www.instagram.com/chantel.winters/]

Subscribe & Follow: 🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stageworthy/id1071732834] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/0b9Vl5lsMKqDc1UIYl5thh] | Podchaser [https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/stageworthy-416634] | Amazon Music [https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ca3db4c6-c5b6-4791-b23f-2af83272ac85/stageworthy] | iHeart Radio [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1310-stageworthy-271061892/] 📺 Watch on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@Stageworthy] – Like, subscribe & hit the notification bell!

Support Stageworthy: If you love the show, consider supporting on Patreon: patreon.com/stageworthy [https://patreon.com/stageworthy] Patrons get early access to episodes, participate in conversations about topics to cover, and more. With three backer levels: $2, $7, and $20.

Thank you to my Patrons: Chris, Georgia, Heather J, Tanisha, Aisling, Cassie, Heather, Jeanette, Steve

Read transcript [https://pnc.st/s/stageworthy/cc31d111/chantel-winters-on-planting-clues-in-her-scripts-the-reality-of-producing-other-concerns/transcript]

Chantel Winters on Planting Clues in Her Scripts, the Reality of Producing, & Other Concerns

Read transcript [https://pnc.st/s/stageworthy/6834cc82/blythe-haynes-on-creative-risk-accessibility-emotional-safety-other-concerns/transcript]

About This Episode

Blythe Haynes returns to Stageworthy for a wide-ranging conversation with host Phil Rickaby about indie theatre, artistic process, community, and the evolution of a Fringe hit into a feature film.

Blythe reflects on how Toronto’s theatre scene has changed since the pandemic, why she believes artists need spaces to experiment and fail, and what Canadian theatre can learn from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe model. The conversation also explores the challenges of sustaining indie work in Toronto, the importance of artistic community, and how Blythe’s own understanding of her career shifted during the lockdown years.

They also discuss the journey of An Atlas, A Necktie, and Other Concerns — the acclaimed 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival production that eventually became the filmed adaptation And Other Concerns, now streaming on CBC Gem. Blythe shares what it was like adapting the theatrical piece into film, acting while serving as a producer, and working within the unusual constraint of keeping the story confined to a single room.

The episode also touches on rehearsal room culture, emotional safety in performance, outdoor theatre disasters, the realities of producing independent work, Gangway Theatre’s long-developing project Digital Divergence, and Blythe’s growing interest in playwriting and collaborative creation.

This episode explores

 * The state of Toronto indie theatre post-pandemic
 * Why Fringe in Canada functions differently than Edinburgh
 * Building artistic community outside traditional theatre spaces
 * Turning An Atlas, A Necktie, and Other Concerns into a film
 * Emotional safety and accessibility in rehearsal rooms
 * Performing The Drowning Girls outdoors in near-hypothermic conditions
 * The importance of process over product in artistic work
 * and much more

Guest: 🎭 Blythe Haynes

BLYTHE HAYNES (she/her). Actor, Theatre Maker & Co-Artistic Director Gangway! Theatre Co. Blythe holds her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Alberta, but calls Toronto home, where she is an active member of the community. For Gangway she is currently working on their play Digital Divergence, a design first creation process centring on who we are in different mediums. For her solo projects, Blythe is developing her play Uplifting Stories for Seniors, which won Second Place Winner of the Toronto Fringe 2025 24 hour Playwriting Contest. An active member of Showing Up For Racial Justice, her art practice has come to involve work with grassroots community advocacy, melding together direct action and art; she was a co-producer/performer of the political play reading community event 8 Men Speak (The Theatre Centre, 2024);

Favourite performances: The Drowning Girls (Guild Festival Theatre), An Acorn: a text for performance (impel Theatre/Oldham Coliseum) and the play-turned-short film & Other Concerns (dir. Sabina Olivia Lambert), which debuted at the Big Apple Film Festival (NYC) and the Female Eye Film Festival (Toronto) in 2024, and Available Now on CBC Gem. Honourable mentions: She has had the opportunity to work on two Thomas McKechnie projects - 12 Letters from Your Lover, Lost at Sea (zietpunktheatre), and was an anti-capitalist worm in Life and death and life and death and life (dir. Steven Hao).

Blythe is an AMY Project Board Member, and also works with the project Anchoring Accessibility (with lead artist Leslie Ting, Dr. Jessica Watkin and Macy Siu) - which “works to find ways through practice-based research to support artists in the sector to develop relational and pragmatic approaches to accessibility and c

Blythe Haynes on Creative Risk, Accessibility, Emotional Safety, & Other Concerns

About This Episode:

Playwright, director, and theatre maker Susanna Fournier joins Phil Rickaby fresh from rehearsal to talk about take rimbaud, her ambitious new production at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in association with the Howland Company. Inspired by Arthur Rimbaud's iconic prose poem A Season in Hell, the play is a decade-plus labour of love that explores what it means to be a young artist crashing into the hard realities of the industry — and what happens when you refuse to take the path of least resistance.

Susanna and Phil dig into the state of Canadian theatre with refreshing candour: the fear of artistic risk, the pressure to program safe and familiar work, and what it costs artists, emotionally, financially, and creatively, to keep showing up.

From graduating the National Theatre School and navigating the post-theatre-school identity crisis, to collaborating with director ted witzel and the Howland Company across twelve years of drafts, workshops, and rewrites, Susanna reflects on what it means to grow up inside a play; and what it takes to finally let it become what it needs to be.

This episode explores:

 * What take rimbaud is, and why Rimbaud's A Season in Hell still feels urgently relatable to artists today
 * The culture of artistic risk-aversion in Canadian theatre and why safe programming may be slowly destroying the art form
 * Why theatre may actually become more essential, not less, in a world where AI is replacing on-screen performers
 * The millennial anxiety baked into the play, and what twelve years of drafts taught Susanna about herself as an artist
 * And much more!

Guest: ✍️ Susanna Fournier

Susanna Fournier is an award-winning Canadian playwright, theatre maker/director, and educator. Her play texts include: The Empire Trilogy (The Philosopher’s Wife, The Scavenger’s Daughter, Four Sisters), take rimbaud, PYPER, Next Time I Die, HEART/BODY, Always Still the Dawn, and antigone lives*. Her work centres on form-as-meaning and holistic dramaturgies. As an educator, she is the Artistic Director at Armstrong Acting Studios where she shapes performance pedagogy for beginner to master-level actors. She’s taught and lectured at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Creative School, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Randolph College, and Cawthra Park Secondary School.

Connect with Susanna Fournier:

🌐 Website: www.susannafournier.com [https://www.susannafournier.com/]

📸 Instagram: @_susanna_f [https://www.instagram.com/_susanna_f/]

Subscribe & Follow: 🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stageworthy/id1071732834] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/0b9Vl5lsMKqDc1UIYl5thh] | Podchaser [https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/stageworthy-416634] | Amazon Music [https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ca3db4c6-c5b6-4791-b23f-2af83272ac85/stageworthy] | iHeart Radio [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1310-stageworthy-271061892/] 📺 Watch on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@Stageworthy] – Like, subscribe & hit the notification bell!

Support Stageworthy: If you love the show, consider supporting on Patreon: patreon.com/stageworthy [https://patreon.com/stageworthy] Patrons get early access to episodes, participate in conversations about topics to cover, and more. With three backer levels: $2, $7, and $20.

Thank you to my Patrons: Chris, Georgia, Heather J, Tanisha, Aisling, Cassie, Heather, Jeanette, Steve

Susanna Fournier is Spending a Season in Hell with take rimbaud

About This Episode:

Lisa Marie DiLiberto, Artistic Director of Theatre Direct, joins Phil Rickaby for a wide-ranging conversation about one of Canada's most enduring theatre companies for young audiences. With the company approaching its 50th anniversary in 2026, Lisa Marie shares how she's been preparing to honour that legacy — from digging through decades of archives to planning a celebration at the Canadian Theatre Museum that will feature five decades of performance.

Lisa Marie traces her own journey from training in classical acting at George Brown Theatre School and clowning with Philippe Gaulier in Paris, through founding her own company Fixpoint Theatre, to taking the helm at Theatre Direct in 2019. She speaks candidly about the realities of sustaining an arts career in Canada, the value of collaboration over competition between theatre companies, and how COVID reshaped, and in some ways reinvigorated, the work she wanted to do.

This episode explores:

 * Theatre Direct's history, mission, and preparations for its 50th anniversary season in 2026
 * Lisa Marie's path from George Brown Theatre School and Paris clown training to founding Fixpoint Theatre and leading Theatre Direct
 * Why Theatre for Young Audiences is vital - and how to reach kids who didn't choose to be there
 * Site-specific and participatory theatre as a strategy for engaging young audiences and navigating gatekeepers
 * And much more!

Guest: 🎭 Lisa Marie DiLiberto

Lisa Marie is the Artistic Director of Theatre Direct Canada, formerly Artistic Director and founder of FIXT POINT Arts and Media, and co-creator of The Tale of a Town, a site-specific theatre and media project that has toured to every province and territory in Canada. She is a Dora nominated Director and the co-creator of Main Street Ontario an animated series now airing its second season on TVO. Ms. DiLiberto holds a Masters of Arts in Theatre and Performance Studies from York University where she is currently pursuing her PhD. Past posts include Playwright-in-Residence at Theatre Passe Muraille, Associate Artistic Director at Jumblies Theatre, and Education & Audience Development Coordinator at Canadian Stage. Lisa Marie is an Artistic Advisor for the National Arts Centre and a graduate of George Brown Theatre School and École Philippe Gaulier in Paris, France. She is an advocate for artist caregivers through Theatre Direct’s initiative Balancing Act and the proud mom of two wild children.

Connect with Lisa Marie & Theatre Direct

🌐 Website: theatredirect.ca [https://theatredirect.ca/]

📸 Instagram: @theatredirect [https://www.instagram.com/theatredirect/]

Subscribe & Follow: 🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stageworthy/id1071732834] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/0b9Vl5lsMKqDc1UIYl5thh] | Podchaser [https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/stageworthy-416634] | Amazon Music [https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ca3db4c6-c5b6-4791-b23f-2af83272ac85/stageworthy] | iHeart Radio [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1310-stageworthy-271061892/] 📺 Watch on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@Stageworthy] – Like, subscribe & hit the notification bell!

Support Stageworthy: If you love the show, consider supporting on Patreon: patreon.com/stageworthy [https://patreon.com/stageworthy] Patrons get early access to episodes, participate in conversations about topics to cover, and more. With three backer levels: $2, $7, and $20.

Thank you to my Patrons: Chris, Georgia, Heather J, Tanisha, Aisling, C

Lisa Marie DiLiberto is making theatre that doesn’t sit quietly

About This Episode:

What happens when a sports medicine physician rediscovers her inner theatre kid during a global pandemic? In this episode, Phil sits down with Dr. Janet McMordie, a physician, actor, podcast host, and Team Canada Paralympics doctor, for a genuinely surprising conversation about what it means to pursue two very different callings at once.

Janet shares how Second City's free online improv classes for healthcare workers during COVID cracked open a creative life she'd tucked away during years of medical training. From community theatre up north to landing an agent at a showcase, her path back to the stage has been anything but conventional — and she's leaning into every messy, joyful step of it.

Now Janet is producing and starring in a remount of Rosamund Small's acclaimed play Vitals at Factory Theatre (May 2 - 10), directed by Alaine Hutton. She opens up about what it's like to hire yourself when the industry won't, the humbling surprise of discovering that the script is only 10–20% of the show, and why she believes theatre - real humans breathing the same air - is exactly what the world needs right now.

This episode explores:

 * How pandemic improv classes reignited Janet's lifelong love of performance
 * What it's like to navigate the identity of being both Dr. McMordie and an actor
 * Producing Vitals at Factory Theatre — finding funding through small businesses when grants fall short
 * Being a Team Canada physician at the 2024 Paris Paralympics
 * The politics of sport, the politics of theatre, and why artists can't just 'stay in their lane'
 * And much more!

Guest: 🩺 Dr. Janet McMordie

Dr. Janet McMordie is a Sport & Exercise Medicine Physician with specialty training in Women’s Sexual Health. She completed medical school, family medicine residency, and sport medicine fellowship at McMaster University. She holds a diploma in Sports Medicine from the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine (CASEM) and is a member of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health (ISSWSH).

Dr. McMordie is an Associate Medical Director with Odyssey Medical Inc. She also provides medical consulting and surgical/medical device hand doubling services to the film industry.

She has extensive theatrical credits including the upcoming remount of VITALS at Factory Theatre, Theatre by The Bay, Mariposa Arts Theatre, The Second City and Antic Theatre. Select film/tv credits include Doc (Fox), Ginny & Georgia (Netflix), and Two Brothers (OutTV). Through her independent podcast Second Act Actors, recently nominated for a Canadian Podcast Award, she has facilitated over 200 in-depth interviews exploring identity, resilience, and transformation.

Connect with Dr. Janet McMordie:

🌐 Website: www.janetmcmordie.com [https://www.janetmcmordie.com/]

📸 Instagram: @janetmcmordie [https://www.instagram.com/janetmcmordie]

🎙️ Podcast: Second Act Actors [https://shows.acast.com/second-act-actors]

Get tickets to Vitals at Factory Theatre (May 2 - 10): https://purchase.factorytheatre.ca/EventAvailability?EventId=52402

Subscribe & Follow: 🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stageworthy/id1071732834] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/0b9Vl5lsMKqDc1UIYl5thh] | Podchaser [https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/stageworthy-416634] | Amazon Music [https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ca3db4c6-c5b6-4791-b23f-2af83272ac85/stageworthy] |

Dr. Janet McMordie is Mixing Medicine and Acting with Vitals

About This Episode:

What does it mean to move with intention? For Alexis Milligan, movement is everything — every breath, every blink, every shift of weight tells a story. As the Resident Movement Director at the Shaw Festival, Alexis works at the intersection of physical storytelling, design, and performance, helping actors inhabit their roles from the inside out. In this episode, Phil and Alexis dig into what movement direction actually is, how it differs from choreography, and why getting rehearsal corsets and headpieces into the room early can mean the difference between injury and artistry.

But Alexis's work extends well beyond the rehearsal hall. She is the creator and director of the Groundbreaking Theatre of Medicine program — an accredited continuing professional development program through the University of Toronto that brings performing arts skills directly to physicians, surgeons, and healthcare providers. The research is unambiguous: when patients feel heard and seen by their doctors, their outcomes improve. Alexis is building the bridge between those two worlds, using theatre games, movement exercises, and the transferable skills of the performing arts to fill critical gaps in medical education.

Alexis also opens up about podcasting — both as the host of Finding Creativity and as the host of the Shaw Festival's own Let's Get This Shaw on the Road podcast. She and Phil share a candid conversation about the realities of building an audience for niche arts programming, the importance of pulling back the curtain for audiences, and why Canadian theatre needs to get louder about the value it brings to communities.

This episode explores:

 * What movement direction is — and how it differs from choreography
 * The physical challenges of period costuming and why rehearsal corsets matter from day one
 * Emotional bleed, the actor's cool-down, and the practice of 'taking off the mask'
 * How the Theatre of Medicine is using performing arts skills to improve patient outcomes and physician well-being
 * The power of pulling back the curtain to build new and loyal theatre audiences
 * And much more!

Guest: 🎭 Alexis Milligan

Canadian actor, movement specialist and director Alexis Milligan practices and teaches a diverse range of work from theatre and film to movement direction and puppetry. Currently, she is the resident Movement Director at the Shaw Festival, host of the “Let’s Get This Shaw on The Road” podcast, and the director of the ground-breaking Theatre of Medicine program, created in partnership with the Canadian Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Alexis is a much sought after teacher and arts educator. Her unique approach blends the arts and science by sharing knowledge through experiential learning - which simply means learning through doing. She holds a diploma in Classical Performance from George Brown Theatre School, a diploma in University Teaching from Renaissance College, and a master’s in interdisciplinary studies, combining the performing arts, communication, education, and neuroscience, from the University of New Brunswick.

She has served as a consultant for the Canadian Medical Protective Association and has sat on the steering committees for the Canadian Network of Imagination and Creativity and the Atlantic Centre for Creativity, as well as host of the “Finding Creativity” podcast. Alexis is a regular guest teacher at NYU Tisch School for the Performing Arts, The Verbier Festival, The European Association of Urology (TIP Program), Dalhousie University School of Nursing, and University of New Brunswick, School of Nursing.

Connect with Alexis Milligan:

🌐 Website: www.alexismilligan.com [https://www.alexismilligan.com/]

📸 Instagram:

Alexis Milligan Knows what Doctors can Learn from Theatre

About This Episode:

Logan Robbins is one of those rare theatre artists whose work sits at the intersection of science, storytelling, and a deep love for the natural world. As the artistic director of the Unnatural Disaster Theatre Company in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Logan has built a practice rooted in environmental themes, puppetry, site-specific work, and creating space for emerging artists to find their footing in the professional theatre world. It's a conversation full of warmth, curiosity, and genuine passion for what theatre can do.

Phil and Logan cover a lot of ground - from the origins of the Unnatural Disaster Theatre Company and what sustainable theatre actually looks like in practice, to Logan's unusual path from aspiring marine biologist to professional puppeteer. Along the way, they get into the magic of making inanimate objects breathe, the Grogu effect on public perception of puppetry, and a surprisingly relatable detour into dyscalculia.

This is also a conversation about community, what it means to build one, how Halifax's independent theatre scene functions with limited space, and why Logan started not one but two puppet festivals in the same year. If you've ever felt the inexplicable joy of watching a puppet come to life, this episode will remind you exactly why that feeling matters.

This episode explores:

 * How the Unnatural Disaster Theatre Company was founded and what sustainable theatre means in practice
 * Logan's journey from zookeeper and marine biology student to professional puppeteer and theatre maker
 * The magic of puppetry and why breath is the key to bringing any object to life
 * The Halifax theatre scene: independent companies, the Bus Stop Theatre, and Neptune's growing role as a community hub
 * Launching the Objective Puppet Test festival and the Atlantic Festival of Puppetry Arts
 * And much more!

Guest: 🎭 Logan Robbins

Logan “Lo” Robins is a queer environmental theatre maker, puppeteer, director, producer, stage manager, science communicator, and Artistic Director of The Unnatural Disaster Theatre Co.

He is based in the Moolipchugechk region of Mi’kma’ki (colonially known as Herring Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada) and has performed around the world in theatres, on glaciers, and everywhere in between. In the summer of 2025 Logan performed as a puppeteer from Southern Spain to the Arctic Circle with “The Herds”- an international climate action project by The Walk Productions.

Logan is passionate about devised theatre, mask, puppetry, and outdoor site-specific theatre that connects audiences to the natural world. As a theatre maker they believe that prioritising collective creation and community care are key to creating art that forges pathways of empathy towards others, ourselves, and the planet.

Connect with Logan and The Unnatural Disaster Theatre Company

🌐 Website: www.unnaturaldisaster.ca [https://www.unnaturaldisaster.ca/]

📸 Instagram: @unnaturaldisastertheatre [https://www.instagram.com/unnaturaldisastertheatre]

📸 Instagram: @loganrobins [https://www.instagram.com/loganrobins]

Subscribe & Follow: 🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stageworthy/id1071732834] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/0b9Vl5lsMKqDc1UIYl5thh] | Podchaser [https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/stageworthy-416634] | Amazon Music [https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ca3db4c6-c5b6-4791-b23f-2af83272ac85/stageworthy] | iHeart Radio [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1310-stageworthy-271061892/] 📺 Watch on

Logan Robbins Is Giving Puppets (and the Planet) a Fighting Chance

About This Episode:

Bryn Kennedy returns to Stageworthy to talk about directing Riot King's production of The Moors by Jen Silverman — a darkly comic Victorian Gothic play about isolation, power, and the cost of giving up community. Bryn shares why this unsettling tale of spinster sisters, a mysterious governess, a mastiff dog, and a moorhen feels urgently relevant in our age of individualism and loneliness.

Beyond The Moors, Bryn and Phil dig into big questions facing Canadian theatre: How do we reach audiences who aren't already theatre people? Why do we struggle to communicate story in our marketing? And what can we learn from Hollywood, fringe festivals, and even church about building community and inviting people in? Bryn also reflects on her work as a director, actor, producer, and marketer — and what she learned about the next generation of theatre-makers while managing Musical Stage Company's One Song Glory program.

This episode explores:

 * Why The Moors speaks to our culture of isolation and individualism
 * The magic of the BMO Incubator Space at the Theatre Centre
 * What Riot King gets right about indie theatre community
 * Why we need to stop assuming everyone knows the classics
 * What Bryn learned from working with fearless theatre kids
 * And much more!

Guest: 🎭 Bryn Kennedy

Bryn Kennedy (she/her) is a director, producer, sometimes actor, spreadsheet planner, community builder and life-long learner. As a director, her favourite credits include the upcoming production of The Moors with Riot King, a new interpretation of Vitals by Rosamund Small (Outstanding Solo Performance Nomination, My Entertainment Awards), Beneath the Bed by Gabriel Golin (sold out, site specific run at Toronto Fringe) and new, speculative fiction play JANE by Camille Intson (inaugural Tarragon Greenhouse Residency). She is an alumni of Director's Lab North, Musical Stage Company‘s Apprentice Program and the Stratford Festival Langham Directors Workshop, where she was the recipient of the Jean Gascon Award for Emerging Director at the Guthrie Awards. She has also held assisting positions with prolific Canadian directors Jackie Maxwell (Withrow Park at Tarragon, Ransacking Troy at Stratford), Chris Abraham (Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 and Rogers V Rogers at Crow's) and Peter Pasyk (Hamlet at Stratford). She is currently the Assistant to the Artistic Director at Crow's Theatre and Associate Artistic Director at Directors Lab North.

Connect with Bryn Kennedy

🌐 Website: brynkennedy.com [https://brynkennedy.com]

📸 Instagram: @brynkennedy [https://www.instagram.com/brynkennedy]

Get tickets to the Moors: https://theatrecentre.org/tickets/?eid=188037

The Moors runs until April 19 at The Theatre Centre.

Support Stageworthy: If you love the show, consider supporting on Patreon: patreon.com/stageworthy [https://patreon.com/stageworthy] Patrons get early access to episodes, participate in conversations about topics to cover, and more. With three backer levels: $2, $7, and $20.

Subscribe & Follow: 🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stageworthy/id1071732834] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/0b9Vl5lsMKqDc1UIYl5thh] | Podchaser [https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/stageworthy-416634] | Amazon Music [https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ca3db4c6-c5b6-4791-b23f-2af83272ac85/stageworthy] | iHeart Radio [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1310-stageworthy-271061892/] 📺 Watch on

Bryn Kennedy is Wearing Many Hats in Toronto's Indie Theatre Scene

About This Episode:

In this episode, Phil sits down with Miriam Cummings, a playwright, performer, and educator who creates deeply personal solo theatre. Miriam shares how a tongue-in-cheek suggestion at Canada's National Voice Institute led her to write and perform her first solo show, The One, and how that experience opened up new ways of being vulnerable on stage. She reflects on the protective barriers she built as a young actor after experiencing profound loss, and how solo performance helped her dismantle those walls and get closer to herself as an artist.

Miriam also discusses her second solo show, Wide, which pushed the boundaries of audience participation and co-creation, and how moving from Montreal to BC transformed both her body and her art. As an educator, she believes everyone has inherent presence and that actor training is about uncovering the joy of play we all had as children. This conversation explores grief, presence, the writing process, and the courage it takes to be honest on stage.

This episode explores:

 * How a casual suggestion led Miriam to create her first solo show
 * The terrifying vulnerability of hearing your own writing read aloud for the first time
 * Navigating grief and loss in theatre school and building protective barriers as an actor
 * The difference between creating The One and Wide, and the role of movement in Miriam's writing process
 * Teaching presence, play, and helping adults reclaim what they loved as children
 * And much more!

Guest: 🎭 Miriam Cummings

Miriam (she/her) is an artist, actor, and educator who creates on the ancestral, unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan Nation. Playful improvisation that connects breath, body, and voice to image is at the core of Miriam’s practice. She holds an MFA (Performance & Creative Writing) from UBCO and a BFA (Acting) from Concordia University. Based in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal for more than a decade, Miriam performed with local companies such as Repercussion Theatre, Montréal Improv, and co-founded Hopegrown Productions, an incubator for new plays. Her solo performance and research of psychologically safe actor training methods have been selected for residencies in Ontario, Québec, and British Columbia. Miriam has instructed adults across the country for more than a decade, teaching acting, devising, and creative writing classes as Part-Time Faculty at Concordia University and workshops at Sheridan College, Okanagan College, Geordie Theatre School, Tempest Theatre, Kaleidoscope Theatre, Rosebud School for the Arts, and more. Miriam offers accessible classes for everyone that boost confidence, creativity, and self-expression through actor training techniques and coaches people one-on-one.

Connect with Miriam:

📸 Instagram: @mcummings___ [https://www.instagram.com/mcummings___/]

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Miriam Cummings Finds Freedom Through Solo Performance and Teaching

Hosted by writer and performing, Phil Rickaby, Stageworthy is a weekly podcast about the performing arts in Canada. In each episode features intimate and knowledgeable discussions with artists from different disciplines, about creating and presenting work, the creative process, and more. Episodes arrive every Tuesday, with bonus episodes now and then.