Based on the novel by Margaret Laurence
Text by Vern Thiessen with Yvette Nolan
Directed by Krista Jackson with Geneviève Pelletier
Choreographed by Cameron Carver
This production addresses issues of colonialism, racism, discrimination and child abuse. Content includes sexuality, racist language and alcohol consumption. Smoke effects, haze and staged lighting are used.
“I TRIED DIVINING ONCE. NOTHING HAPPENED.”
Novelist Morag Gunn, estranged from her only daughter, unable to write, struggling with the bottle, is adrift in a river of memories. Travelling from the present to the past to an imagined future, Morag’s journey encompasses her personal struggle for freedom and expression as well as those of the Métis and First Nations peoples of Manitoba. Adapted from Margaret Laurence’s classic Canadian novel, The Diviners receives its world première at the Stratford Festival.
“Time is not linear in one’s memory and it is not linear in the play. The company of actors carry Morag on the river of her past and present. They are the currents that move her where she needs to go as she divines the story of her life.” —Co-director Krista Jackson
The Diviners Study Guide
The 2024 Season is supported by Ophelia Lazaridis.
Support for the 2024 season at the Tom Patterson Theatre is generously provided by
Production Sponsors:
Karon C. Bales & Charles E. Beall
Cathy & Paul Cotton
The Harkins & Manning families in memory of Jim & Susan Harkins
The Fabio Mascarin Foundation
The Tremain Family
Birmingham Conservatory, 1999
2024: Belarius in Cymbeline and Christie in The Diviners. 17th season. Stratford: Directing - The Crucible. Acting - Monty Python's Spamalot, Henry VIII, To Kill a Mockingbird, Hamlet, The Alchemist, King Lear, A Midsummer…, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Pentecost, Phèdre, The Music Man, King John, Pericles, Orpheus Descending, Henry IV, Henry VI, Fiddler…, As You Like It, Fuente Ovejuna, Julius Caesar, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Bartholomew Fair, The Brothers Karamazov. Elsewhere: A Whistle in the Dark, Speaking in Tongues (Company Theatre); Our Class, The Laramie Project (Studio 180); King Lear (Soulpepper); Arcadia (Theatre Junction). Directing: John (Company Theatre). Film/TV: Reign, Alias Grace, Dark Matter, Dorsal, Nikita, Republic of Doyle, Heartland, Murdoch Mysteries, Unnatural History, Othello, Rookie Blue. Training: NTS, Birmingham Conservatory, U.Waterloo, Banff Centre. Teaching: NTS, Fanshawe. Et cetera: This season of playing Dads is for my Dad.
(he/him) Birmingham Conservatory, 2012/13
2024: Philario, Jailer in Cymbeline, Lazarus in The Diviners and understudy in Hedda Gabler. 11th season. Josue is a Métis actor, teaching artist and mask maker from the traditional territory of the Dane-zaa, Treaty 8, Fort St. John, BC. Stratford: Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, King Lear, Hamlet, Death and the King's Horseman, Merry Wives of Windsor, Front Page, Comedy of Errors, Napoli Milionaria!, Tempest, Timon of Athens, Madwoman of Chaillot, The Changeling, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aeneid, Taming of the Shrew, Love's Labour's Lost, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Beaux' Stratagem, Mary Stuart, Measure for Measure, Othello. Vancouver: 4 seasons at Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival; The Exquisite Hour (Relephant); Wizard of Oz, Seussical (Carousel); The Emperor's New Threads (Axis). Training: Birmingham Conservatory, Director Martha Henry; Studio 58; Canadian National Voice Intensive. Twitter: @josuelaboucane. Instagram: @laboucanej.
(she/her)
2024: Helen, Ghost Mother in Cymbeline and Young Pique, Scots Morag in The Diviners. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Louise in Gypsy, Bella in Gaslight, On The Razzle, A Christmas Carol, Everybody, Flush, Brigadoon (Shaw Festival); Marianne in Sense and Sensibility, Sarah Ballenden (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre); Timon of Athens (Shakespeare In The Ruins); Charlie Brown, James and the Giant Peach (MTYP); Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth (Magnus Theatre); Les Flats (Le Cercle Moliére); Les Misérables, The Little Mermaid (Rainbow Stage). Opera: Mother in Amahl and The Night Visitors (Edmonton Opera); Rose/Marguerite in Li Keur (Manitoba Opera); Peer Gynt (Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra); MESSIAH/COMPLEX (Against The Grain/The Banff Centre). Voiceover: Those Pink Mountain Nights and The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson (Harper Collins). Training: Bachelor of Music (Voice Performance), University of Manitoba. Online: www.julielumsden.com. Et cetera: "Onward and upward!" For Uncle Darin, always.
Birmingham Conservatory, 2024
2024: Gord in The Diviners and appears in Something Rotten! 11th season. Stratford: Aaron in Chicago, Romeo in Play On!, Al in A Chorus Line, Henrik Egerman in A Little Night Music, Rolf Gruber in The Sound of Music, Pinball Lad in Tommy, and appeared in King Lear, Rent, Billy Elliot the Musical, The Rocky Horror Show, The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, HMS Pinafore, Fiddler on the Roof and Carousel. Elsewhere: Johnny alternate in Green Day's American Idiot (first US tour); Hank Majewski in Jersey Boys (Dancap); Gilbert in Anne of Green Gables (Charlottetown). Film/TV: Captain von Trapp in The Pacifier. Training: Etobicoke School of the Arts. Online: Twitter/Instagram: @GabrielNacci. Et cetera: Huge thanks to Stratford and Colin McMurray. Thank you to my wife, Robin Calvert, for being the best. This season is dedicated to our dog, Bella.
(she/her) Coast Salish Indigenous (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw)
2024: Appears in The Diviners and understudy in Something Rotten!. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Polly in Pollyanna and Jean in Maggie (Theatre Aquarius); Kathleen in Tell Tale Harbour and Miss Stacy in Anne of Green Gables (Charlottetown Festival); Jovie in Elf (Grand Theatre); Belle in Beauty and the Beast and Sophie in Mamma Mia (Arts Club); Eponine in Les Miserables (Chemainus Theatre Festival). Film/TV: Motherland: Fort Salem (Freeform), Dancing Through Christmas (Lifetime), First Native and Borderline (Orca Cove Media). Voiceover: Spirit Rangers (Netflix), Skookum and Chums (Telus), Barbie web shorts (Mattel). Live music: Vocalist for Indigenous music groups M'Girl and Tillicum Shantie. Training: Bachelor of Performing Arts from Capilano University. Online: MichelleBardach.com, IG: @michyb123.
Birmingham Conservatory, 2003
2024: Nostradamus in Something Rotten! and Brooke in The Diviners. 16th season. Stratford: Billy Flynn in Chicago, Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, Billy Elliot, Little Shop of Horrors, The Winter's Tale, A Funny Thing Happened..., West Side Story, Oklahoma!, Cymbeline, Camelot. Elsewhere: The Comedy of Errors (Chicago Shakespeare); A Little Night Music (Koerner Hall); Life After, The Wild Party (Musical Stage); Toronto/US National Tour of Matilda - Toronto Critics Award (Mirvish/Dodger); Of Human Bondage, Idiot's Delight (Soulpepper); Company (Theatre 20); The Arsonists, Into the Woods (Canadian Stage); The Magic Fire (Shaw); Beauty and the Beast - Dora Award, The Drowsy Chaperone (Mirvish). Film/TV: Leer Estates seasons 1 & 2 (Stratfest@Home), Murdoch Mysteries, Mittens and Pants, Super Why, Saving Me, Hotel Transylvania, Paw Patrol. Awards: Nominated for an ACTRA, multiple Dora and CSA 's. Love to Christine and Olivia. @danchameroy.
(she/they)
2024: Piquette in The Diviners and Lady in Waiting in Cymbeline. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: All Other Women in Rise, Red River (Théâtre Cercle Molière); Performer in Indians and Cowboys (Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society); Band in We're Gonna Die (Verb Theatre); Beth in The Born Again Crow (Thumbs Up Good Work Theatre). Radio: Porter in USS Artemis (Boathaus Studios); Meena in The Strid (Downstage Theatre). Directing: antigone lives* (Why Not Theatre). Playwriting: There is Violence and There is Righteous Violence and There is Death (Playwrights Canada Press). Et cetera: Love to Sacha, Senor, Bill and Frank. Miss you Mom.
2024: The Métis Fiddler and Métis jigging consultant in The Diviners. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Mardi Gras, Newport Celtic Rock Festival, International Métis Festival, opened for The Road Hammers, Gary Allan, Susan Aglukark, Brandi Carlisle, and Ashley MacIsaac. Film/TV: lead in Daughters of the Wolf; lead in Glow (AGLC);Strings with a Dream (APTN); The Okimaw Awards (Global TV); The Mix (APTN). Training: Grant MacEwan University, Jazz and Contemporary Music. Awards: Arts and Culture Award (Métis Settlements General Council); The Young Woman of Vision Award (Grant MacEwan University); The Aboriginal Youth Female Role Model Award (Canadian Native Friendship Centre). Online: darladaniels.com, @darla.daniels.music. Et cetera: Darla is a Métis/Cree fiddler, freelance musician, and actress from Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement, AB.
(he/him)
2024: Nigel Bottom in Something Rotten! and understudy in The Diviners. Sixth season. Stratford: Historian/Not Dead Fred in Monty Python's Spamalot, A Wrinkle in Time, Chicago, Here's What It Takes, Billy Elliot, Little Shop of Horrors, The Music Man, Rocky Horror Show, The House of Martin Guerre. Elsewhere: Tim in Chris, Mrs, Doody in Grease (Winter Garden); Sondheim: A Celebration (New Stages); Camelot (Drayton Entertainment); Anne of Green Gables (Grand Theatre); Riff in West Side Story (BMT); What a Wonderful World (VPP); Carnival Cruise Lines; Footloose, My Fair Lady, Legally Blonde and The Addams Family (Grand Theatre HSP). TV: Murdoch Mysteries. Training: Canada's National Ballet School, Dance Steps London, Beal Performing Arts. Online: @thefirmstonator. Et cetera: Love to Ash and his parents. Huge thanks to Donna, Laura, Bruce and the wonderful TH gang, and all the mentors who have helped along the way.
2024: Appears in Something Rotten! and The Diviners. Eighth season. Stratford: Monty Python's Spamalot, Frankenstein Revived, Liz in Chicago, The Rocky Horror Show, The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, HMS Pinafore, A Chorus Line, A Little Night Music, Crazy for You, The Beaux' Stratagem. Elsewhere (selected):Return to Grace (Fallsview Casino, Bangkok Thailand); Chicago, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan (Drayton); Joseph…, Beauty and the Beast (Theatre Aquarius); Dance Legends (Drayton, Grand Theatre). Film/TV (selected): Just Short of Reality (STRATFEST@HOME), The Boys, What We Do in the Shadows, Warehouse 13, Hellcats, L.A. Complex, Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure. Training/Teaching: Graduate of Sheridan College, Musical Theatre Performance; certified yoga instructor, mentor and trainer to dancers. Online: @bethanykovarik. Et cetera: Forever grateful for the support of family and friends. Love to Mom, Dad, Chad, Ryan, Andrea, James and Talent House.
2024: Shakespeare in Something Rotten! and understudy in The Diviners. Second season. Stratford: Bertram in All's Well That Ends Well, Lucentio in The Taming of the Shrew, Fortinbras in Hamlet. Elsewhere: Soulpepper (23 productions, including Of Human Bondage and Spoon River at Signature Theater, NYC); Shaw Festival (5 seasons); Romeo in Romeo & Juliet with Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Most recently: Jack in The Importance of Being Earnest, Citadel Theatre; Mack/Erika in Fairview, Canadian Stage/Obsidian Theatre; Charles Kean in Red Velvet, Crow's Theatre. Film/TV: Coffey in Netflix's Locke & Key, Fitzpatrick in On the Basis of Sex, Carl Jung on Murdoch Mysteries, Designated Survivor, Nurses, Flashpoint, Copper. Awards: Dora Award for The Light in the Piazza. Five other Dora nominations. Online: Instagram: @jefflillico. Et cetera: Love and gratitude to Kimwun, my family and my agent of twenty years, Kish.
Métis Nation of Alberta
2024: Appears in Something Rotten! and The Diviners. Sixth season. Stratford: Chicago, Billy Elliot the Musical, Little Shop of Horrors, Guys and Dolls, HMS Pinafore, A Chorus Line, The Hypochondriac. Elsewhere: Holiday Inn, White Christmas, Brigadoon (Shaw Festival); Anne of Green Gables, Jesus Christ Superstar (Charlottetown Festival); Rock of Ages (Elgin Theatre); Mary Poppins (YPT); West Side Story (Citadel Theatre); Clara's Dream, Shumka at 50! China Tour (Shumka/SPI Productions). Film/TV: Mother of All Shows, Canada's Got Talent Season 2. Training: Grant MacEwan University, Theatre Arts. Instagram: @Djmah5. Et cetera: Jordan would like to thank everyone at The Talent House, his family, friends and mentors for all the incredible support. Remember: "on the opposite side of fear is opportunity". A special thanks to my rock, my love Christine.
Birmingham Conservatory, 2022/2023
2024: Roman Captain, Briton Servant in Cymbeline and appears in The Diviners. Third season. Stratford: Longaville in Love's Labour's Lost and Angel in Richard II. Elsewhere: Dr. Seward/Renfield/Jake in Written in Blood (Talk is Free Theatre); Orestes/Odysseus in The Trojan Girls and The Outhouse of Atreus (Outside the March); Writer/Reader in Weesageechak Begins to Dance (Native Earth Performing Arts). Film/TV: Principal in The Exchange, Actor in Unexplained. Radio/Recordings: Reader in This Place (CBC Radio). Training: National Theatre School (2018), Centre for Indigenous Theatre (2015). Awards: Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prizes, Protégé of Keith Barker (2023). Social Media: @chrismejaki (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok). Et cetera: Chris is also an emerging playwright, has one of the loudest laughs you'll ever hear, and will absolutely destroy you in a game of cribbage. x.
2024: Second Lord, Ghost Brother 1 in Cymbeline and appears in The Diviners. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Truffaldino in A Servant of Two Masters, The Flying Doctor, Orlando in As You Like It, Our Eliza (Perchance); John Dodge in Middletown (NTS); Squawk (RCAT); Falling Trees (Poverty Cove); The Beauty Queen of Leenane (TNL); Salt-water Moon (Rising Tide); Almost Baymous (HalfHandsome). Film/TV: Son of a Critch (CBC); Hudson and Rex (CityTV); Little Dog (CBC); Frontier (Discovery/Netflix); Riverhead (Riverhead Prod.); Body and Bones (Scattered and Small Inc.). Et cetera: I am grateful and delighted to be making my debut on the Stratford stage. Thanks to you, the audience, for making what we do possible.
2024: Queen's Guard 2 in Cymbeline and understudy in Hedda Gabler and The Diviners. 14th season. Stratford: 13 seasons including Lady of the Lake in Monty Python's Spamalot, Velma Kelly in Chicago, Janet in The Rocky Horror Show, Maggie in A Chorus Line, Sally Simpson in Tommy, Peggy Sawyer in 42nd Street. Elsewhere: In 2019 Jennifer revived the role of Sally Simpson in The Who's Tommy In Concert, performing alongside Pete Townshend at The La Jolla Playhouse. She has also performed on stages across Canada: The Shaw Festival, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Charlottetown Festival, Grand Theatre, Theatre Aquarius, Drayton Entertainment, Ross Petty Productions and YES Theatre. Training: Music Theatre Performance (Sheridan), Acting (Red Deer College). Awards: Recipient of the 2022 William Needles award. Et cetera: All my love to Robert, Josephine, Mom and Dad. Thanks as always to Bruce and TH.
Birmingham Conservatory, 2010/2011
2024: Iachimo in Cymbeline, Gus in The Diviners and understudy in Hedda Gabler. Ninth season. Stratford: Love's Labour's Lost, Grand Magic, Richard II, Hamlet, Death and the King's Horseman, School for Scandal, Timon of Athens, Merchant of Venice, She Stoops to Conquer, Alice Through the Looking-Glass, Anne Frank, Oedipus Rex, Hay Fever, Three Musketeers, Much Ado, Henry V, Grapes of Wrath. Elsewhere:15 Dogs (Crow's Theatre); A Few Good Men (Drayton); The Matchmaker (Arts Club); Sleuth (Mayfield); Stag and Doe (Neptune); The Gamblers (Talk Is Free); Chasse-Galerie (Storefront/Soulpepper). Film/TV/Video Games: Caillou, Immortals: Fenyx Rising, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, Redwall, Wind at My Back. Training: Circle in the Square, Birmingham Conservatory, UofT. Et cetera: Tyrone dedicates this season to his parents Booth and Janet-Laine. With love beyond measure.
(she/her) Birmingham Conservatory, 2024
2024: Portia in Something Rotten! and appears in The Diviners. Second season. Stratford: Joanne Jefferson in Rent, Richard II. Elsewhere: Gloria Thorpe in Damn Yankees, White Christmas, The Importance of Being Earnest, Shawground, 1922 in Concert, Charley's Aunt, Duke and the Two Irenes, Song for a Winters Night (Shaw Festival); Home For the Holidays (Theatre Aquarius); Emcee in Cabaret, Finding Black Joy, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Grand Theatre); Mamma Mia! (Stage West); Dyanne in Million Dollar Quartet (Capitol Theatre); Sophie in Mamma Mia! (Rainbow Stage). Voiceover: We the Culture (Facebook). Training: Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance, Sheridan College. H.B. Beal Secondary and C.C.H. Online: Instagram: @oliviasinclairbrisbane. Et cetera: Olivia dedicates this season to her amazing support system, her family both chosen and biological, her friends and mentors. To anyone moving through life with bravery, joy, kindness and deep love.
Birmingham Conservatory, 2000
2024: Hedda in Hedda Gabler and Eva, Duchess in The Diviners. 15th season. Sara is delighted to return to the Festival following a year playing Sally in the original Broadway company of Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt. Stratford: Shakespeare's Juliet, Olivia, Cordelia, Jessica, Rosalind; Elizabeth/Robyn (Serving Elizabeth), Ruth (Blithe Spirit), Célimène (The Misanthrope), Wendy (Peter Pan), Madame de Tourvel (Dangerous Liaisons), Gwendolyn (The Importance of Being Earnest), Laurencia (Fuente Ovejuna), Mabel (An Ideal Husband). Broadway: Cecily in Travesties, Gwendolyn in The Importance of Being Earnest. Off Broadway: Beatrice-Joanna in The Changeling. In the UK: Love Me Do (Dorothy), Intimate Apparel (Mrs. Van Buren). Elsewhere: Two seasons at the Shaw Festival playing Saint Joan and Ann Whitfield in Man And Superman, Beatrice at The Old Globe, Titania and Ariel at Shakespeare Theatre DC and many other worldwide adventures! Et cetera: For B, always.
Novel: The Diviners
Jean Margaret Laurence was a Canadian novelist and short story writer and is a major figure in Canadian literature. She was also a founder of the Writers' Union of Canada and the Writers' Trust of Canada, a non-profit literary organisation. Laurence was published by the Canadian publishing company McCelland and Stewart and she became one of the key figures in the emerging Canadian literary tradition.
One of Canada's most esteemed and beloved authors by the end of her literary career, Laurence began writing short stories in her teenage years while in Neepawa, Manitoba. Her first published piece, The Land of Our Father was submitted to a competition held by the Winnipeg Free Press. This story contains the first appearance of "Manawaka," a fictional Canadian town used in many of her later works.
It was after her return to Canada from West Africa that she wrote The Stone Angel (1964), the novel for which she is best known. The novel was, for a time, required reading in many North American schools and colleges.
Film adaptations of Laurence's works include the 1968 film, Rachel, Rachel directed by Paul Newman and based on A Jest of God, and the 2007 film The Stone Angel written and directed by Kari Skogland and starring Ellen Burstyn based on the novel of the same title.
Laurence won two Governor General's Awards for her novels A Jest of God (1966) and The Diviners (1974). In 1972, she was appointed as a Companion of the Order of Canada. In 2016, she was named a National Historic Person.
Text: The Diviners
Yvette Nolan (Algonquin) is a playwright, director and dramaturg who works across Turtle Island. Her works include the play The Unplugging, the dance-opera Bearing, the libretto Shanawdithit, the short play-for-film Katharsis, the VR piece Reconciling. She recently directed Frances Koncan's Women of the Fur Trade at the Stratford Festival, Julie Tamiko Manning's Mizushōbai at Tableau d'Hôte, Leah-Simone Bowen's The Flood at Imago, both in Montreal, and Donna-Michelle St. Bernard's The First Stone at New Harlem and GCTC in Toronto and Ottawa. From 2003 to 2011, she served as Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts, Canada's oldest professional Indigenous theatre, where she helped create Death of a Chief, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Her book, Medicine Shows, about Indigenous performance in Canada, was published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2015.
Vern Thiessen is one of Canada's most produced playwrights. His plays have been seen across Canada, the UK, United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, Asia, and have been translated into six languages. His works include Of Human Bondage, Vimy, Einstein's Gift (GG winner), Lenin's Embalmers (GG finalist), Apple, and Shakespeare's Will. He has been produced off-Broadway five times. Vern is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Dora and Sterling awards for Outstanding New Play, The Carol Bolt Award, the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award, the City of Edmonton Arts Achievement Award, the University of Alberta Alumni Award of Excellence, The Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition, and the Governor General's Literary Award for Drama, Canada's highest honour for a playwright. He was also a finalist for the Siminovitch Prize in Playwriting. Vern received his B.A. from the University of Winnipeg and an M.F.A. from the University of Alberta. He has served as president of both the Playwrights Guild of Canada and the Writers' Guild of Alberta. For six years he served as Artistic Director of Workshop West Playwrights' Theatre, one of Canada's leading new play companies. He is married to acclaimed screenwriter and novelist Susie Moloney.
2024: Director (with Geneviève Pelletier) and Dramaturg of The Diviners. Fourth season. Stratford: Associate Director: All My Sons, Assistant Director: Love's Labour's Lost, Mother Courage and Her Children. Elsewhere: The Retreat (Imago Theatre); Dancing at Lughnasa (Shaw); A Doll's House: Part 2 (Mirvish/RMTC); Liars at a Funeral (Blyth Festival); Lion in Winter, Fly Me to the Moon (Grand Theatre); Sexy Laundry, Perfect Wedding, Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Space Girl (Prairie Theatre Exchange); Dock Spider (Magnus Theatre); Iago Speaks (Shakespeare by the Saskatchewan); Awaken (Shakespeare by the Ruins/zone41); Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Sense and Sensibility, Morning After Grace, Private Lives, The Seagull (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre). Awards: Gina Wilkinson Prize, Jean Gascon Award. Online: kristajackson.net, imagotheatre.ca. Et cetera: Artistic & Executive Director of Imago Theatre in Montreal.
2024: Director (with Krista Jackson) and Cultural Consultant of The Diviners. Stratford debut. Geneviève Pelletier is a francophone Red River Métis actor and theatre director from the Red River Valley. Since 2012, she is the artistic and general director of le Théâtre Cercle Molière in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba. She is interested in nurturing a fertile creative space that includes as many cultures as there are voices, one that reflects the various communities she is engaged with.
2024: Music director and arranger, additional composition and sound designer of The Diviners. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: A Charlie Brown Double Bill, Torn Through Time, Tiny Treasure, Frozen River (Manitoba Theatre for Young People); Katharsis, The War Being Waged, Ponderosa Pine, Space Girl (Prairie Theatre Exchange); Bassist in Bittergirl: The Musical, YAGA (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre); La Liste, On Maronne!, Rise, Red River (Théâtre Cercle Molière); Women of the Fur Trade (National Arts Centre); Songide'ewin (Sarasvàti). MJ has also done sound and sound design for Mary Poppins as part of the Flin Flon Art Council series. Awards: Kevin Walters Legacy Award, Indigenous Full Circle Award and The Rise Award. Et cetera: MJ is a French Métis and Anishinaabe woman from the Red River Nation. Her mother's side comes from the Métis Red River Valley and her father's side comes from the Métis Nation/Anishinaabe people of Penetanguishene, Treaty 61. Miigwech Giga-waabamin.
2024: Set and lighting designer of The Diviners. Seventh season. Bretta is a set, lighting and costume designer for theatre, opera and circus. She is the resident designer at Catalyst Theatre, where she creates and tours new musicals across Canada, the US., the UK. and Australia. Bretta also designs for New York Theatre Workshop, The National Theatre, Birmingham REP, the RSC, Cirque du Soleil, the National Arts Centre, Theatre Calgary, Edmonton Opera, Calgary Opera, Citadel Theatre and Grand Theatre. She is the recipient of over 25 awards including nominations for the Lucille Lortel Award. She represented Canada in Prague at the Scenography Quadrennial and her costume designs have been exhibited in Moscow, Beijing, Taipei and Canada. Online: bretta-gerecke.com.
2024: Costume designer of The Diviners. Second season. Stratford: Women of the Fur Trade. Jeff Chief is Cree from Onion Lake First Nation on Treaty 6 territory in Saskatchewan and currently lives in Saskatoon. Jeff's recent design credits include Mary of Patuanak (GTNT); Yaga (Belfry Theatre); Gaslight (Vertigo Theatre); Sir John A: Acts of a Gentrified Ojibway Rebellion (Globe Theatre); The Fiancée (Persephone Theatre); Iago Speaks (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan); The Rez Sisters (Royal MTC); Flush, Life After Hockey (La Troupe du Jour); Cottagers and Indians (Persephone Theatre); Being Here: The Refugee Project (Belfry Theatre); Ministry of Grace (Belfry Theatre); Kronborg: The Hamlet Rock Musical (Confederation Centre of the Arts); Honour Beat (Theatre Calgary); Hedda Noir (Theatre NorthWest); Le Wild West Show de Gabriel Dumont (National Arts Centre); Ipperwash (Blyth Festival).
2024: Composer of The Diviners. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Gabriel Dumont's Wild West Show, Tomson Highway: Kisaageetin, Governor General's Awards performance (National Arts Centre); L'article 23 et sa suite, L'armoire (Théâtre Cercle Molière). She released her first solo album, Bold as Logs, in April 2023. Film/TV: Ste. Anne, Rhayne Vermette, El Toro, Edgar. Voiceover: Wolf Joe, La Brigade, Les copains. Awards: Juno Award 2009, Juno nomination 2011, Western Canadian Music Award. Online: www.andrinaturenne.com. Et cetera: Born in St. Boniface, MB, Turenne's musical journey started around campfires and family kitchen parties where she sang and harmonized to traditional songs. Turenne's greatest inspirations are the whispers in the wind, the calls of the birds and the boreal forests that welcome her home and continue to inspire her storytelling. She is so thrilled to work on this beautiful show.
2024: Fight and intimacy director of the 2024 season. Seventh season. Stratford: Fight director of The Rez Sisters and intimacy director of Serving Elizabeth (2021); Fight director for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Selected Fight/Intimacy Director Credits: 3 Sisters (Soulpepper); Bad Roads (Crow's); WildWoman (Soulpepper); Hamlet (The Rose); Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes (TIP); Fall on Your Knees (Canadian Stage/Neptune/NAC); Maggie (Theatre Aquarius); Counter Offence (Segal Centre); Fairview (Canadian Stage); Prodigal (Crow's); Trojan Girls & The Outhouse of Atreus (Factory); Our Place (Cahoots/TPM); Kronborg (Confederation Centre). Other: Stage combat instructor, fight director, and sexual choreographer at the National Theatre School. Selected Stunt Performer/Stunt Actor Credits: Law and Order: Toronto, SEE, Star Trek: Discovery, Pretty Hard Cases, Titans, The Boys, Rabbit Hole, What We Do in the Shadows, various Ubisoft motion capture productions. Online: anitanittoly.com.
2024: Assistant set and costume designer of The Diviners and assistant costume designer of La Cage aux Folles. Third season. Stratford: Designer of Kiss of the Spider Woman and Tennessee Williams Suite (Langham Directors' Workshop). Set designer of Three Sisters (Birmingham Conservatory Final Project). Assistant designer of Much Ado About Nothing. Assistant set designer of Love's Labour's Lost. Assistant designer of Richard III. Elsewhere (select credits): Writer/designer/actor: How to Believe in Anything (The Cultch/Vancouver Fringe Festival, winner of the Cultchivating the Fringe award); Stiles and Drewe's The Three Little Pigs (Carousel Theatre winner, Ovation Award for Outstanding Set Design); The Pillowman (Untold Wants); Mx (Off the Corner Productions/The Cultch); Spine (Backbone Theatre Collective); Alice in Glitterland (Geekenders); Superior Donuts (Ensemble Theatre Company, Jessie Award nomination for Outstanding Set Design - Small Theatre). Training: Studio 58 (2018). Ariel is an associate member of ADC. Online: arielslack.squarespace.com.
2024: Assistant lighting designer of Cymbeline, Hedda Gabler and The Diviners. Second season. Stratford: Assistant lighting designer of Grand Magic and Wedding Band. Lighting designer of Langham DWP's A Tennessee Williams Suite and The Fall of the House of Atreus: A Cowboy Love Song. Elsewhere: Assistant lighting designer of Peter's Final Flight (Ross Petty Productions) and Contemporaneity (Anandam Dance Theatre). Lighting designer of Inheritance of Dance (Yi Dance), Do You Think You're Better Than Me? (Fringe), The Late Wedding (Theatre at York), Fruits of Labour (Devised Theatre Festival), Art of Time (Dance at York), Music Media Concert (MMC York), and Thirumagal. Training: Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours in Theatre Production from York University. Awards: Canadian College Cricket Women's Nationals MVP and Women's Ontario Cup MVP & Best Bowler 2019. Online: simrankapooroffici.wixsite.com/simran-kapoor. Et cetera: Love and gratitude to Mom, Grandma, Steve and Gavin.
2024: Stage manager of The Diviners. Sixth season. Stratford: Love's Labour's Lost (2023), Hamlet-911 (2022), A Festival Queerstory (2021), The Front Page (2019), The Komagata Maru Incident (2017). Elsewhere: Arts Club Theatre Company, The Grand Theatre, Pacific Opera Victoria, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Canadian Opera Company, Opera Hamilton, Opera Ontario, Edmonton Opera, Opera Atelier, Orchestra London, Canadian Stage, Tapestry Opera, Drayton Entertainment, Theatre Plus, Lighthouse Festival Theatre, Bluewater Summer Playhouse. Et cetera: Kelly is thrilled to be back! Much love to her boys, Jesse and Maclean.
2024: Assistant stage manager of The Diviners. Second season. Stratford: Richard II, Love's Labour's Lost. Elsewhere: Don Giovanni, Carmen, Die Vögel, Il trittico (Pacific Opera Victoria); ELF: The Musical, Mary Poppins, Million Dollar Quartet, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, A Christmas Carol (2017/2018), Chariots of Fire, Home for the Holidays (Grand Theatre); The Music Man, Serving Elizabeth, Kim's Convenience, Ring of Fire (Thousand Islands Playhouse); R.U.R. A Torrent of Light, Oksana G (Tapestry Opera); Passing Strange (The Musical Stage Company/Obsidian); The Brothers Size, The Testament of Mary, Hosanna (Soulpepper); Jordan has also worked with Volcano, Drayton Entertainment, Cahoots, b current, Lighthouse Festival Theatre, Sudbury Theatre Centre and Upper Canada Playhouse.
2024: Assistant stage manager of The Diviners. Sixth season. Stratford: Stage manager: Les Belles-Soeurs; assistant stage manager: Hamlet-911; apprentice stage manager: Hosanna and The Tempest. Elsewhere: Suzanne has enjoyed fourteen seasons with the Grand Theatre, six seasons with Drayton Entertainment, six seasons with the Port Stanley Festival Theatre, and has also worked for the Blyth Festival, Mirvish Productions, Studio 180 Theatre, Buddies in Bad Times and Tarragon Theatre. Training: B.A. from Brock University. Et cetera: Suzanne lives in London with her children Michael and Charlie.
2024: Production stage manager of the Tom Patterson Theatre. 24th season. Stratford: In Meghan's 20+ seasons, she has served as Production Stage Manager at all of the Festival's stages including the Tom Patterson Theatre Canopy (2021). She has worked on Paradise Lost, The Virgin Trial, The Tempest (2010), A Little Night Music, The Physicists, Jesus Christ Superstar and Tommy, among others. Training: Meghan holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Production from York University. Elsewhere: Meghan stage-managed Light at Tarragon Theatre; and The Goator, Who is Sylvia? and The Virgin Trial at Soulpepper Theatre. She has worked at the National Arts Centre, Citadel Theatre, toured New Brunswick with TNB, and stage-managed car and industrial trade shows and concerts. Meghan sends big thanks and respect to Ella and Beatrice. Peter, we all miss you.
2024: Production assistant of the Tom Patterson Theatre. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Stage manager: The Phoenix Lottery (Theatre Aezir); Chicago, The Wizard of Oz (Theatre Western); God of Carnage (King's Players); Twelfth Night, Cymbeline (Summer Shakespeare); 7 Stories (ASTC). Abby has also been a producer, lighting designer, running crew, ASM, PA and actor. Training: Western University. Et cetera: Abby sends all her love to E, J and L - thank you for everything.
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