Last summer The Foster Festival splashed into the Niagara theatre scene when it landed in downtown St Catharines on Lake Ontario for its inaugural season of three wonderful Norm Foster comedies. Audiences raved about the quality of our productions and … Continue reading →
We pronounce it “Oh” as in Oh, What a Season! Last year, thousands of audience members brought Orillia alive with great professional theatre at the iconic Orillia Opera House. This Season promises to be another wonderful romp, with three great … Continue reading →
Since 1980, Lighthouse Festival Theatre in beautiful lakeside Port Dover has been the destination of choice for theatre lovers from all over southern Ontario and the North East United States. The picturesque small town of 6500 nestled on the North Shore … Continue reading →
By Andrew Wagner-Chazalon There are dozens of professional theatres in rural and small town Ontario, presenting hundreds of plays to tens of thousands of people. Summer theatre is an economic engine, part of a cultural and creative sector that contributes … Continue reading →
By Andrew Wagner-Chazalon Denise Mader’s This One is about family and loss, farming and dating, and how to make a really good pecan pie. It’s funny and touching and completely engaging, and while they don’t grow pecans on the shores … Continue reading →
By Andrew Wagner-Chazalon There are lots of lovely theatres in Ontario, and many have statues of prominent local citizens in front. But Gravenhurst must be the only town in the province – maybe in all of Canada – to give … Continue reading →
The first rule of road travel: when the top-reviewed restaurant in town is a burger joint, you go to the burger joint. Port Hope’s Olympus Burger is fun. Menu items are named after Greek gods, a nod to co-owner George … Continue reading →
The air has cooled overnight. Old jazz standards play softly in the background as I descend the curved staircase to greet Guy Laporte and Craig Ashton in the kitchen of their Collingwood B&B, Craigleith Manor. They have hosted Designated Travel … Continue reading →
We are on the prowl for a giant toonie. Arriving in Campbellford on the west side of the canal, my Designated Travel Companion (DTC) and I search for the landmark, a nod to local wildlife artist Brent Townsend who designed … Continue reading →
My day starts early, waking up in the middle of an impossibly delicious king-sized bed, sun just peeking around the edges of the window blinds, plaintive song of a mourning dove nudging me back under the covers. Tough gig. I … Continue reading →
I think I could spend a week in Huron County and still not see everything. Suspecting this, Joan Karstens, owner of Brentwood on the Beach, had encouraged me to come earlier when I was making arrangements for my visit. It wasn’t possible, … Continue reading →
It is impossible to plan a trip to Bobcaygeon, or to see the word Bobcaygeon on a map or a sign without hearing the Tragically Hip song in your head. On repeat. Even if you don’t know all the words. Especially … Continue reading →
The trip to Gananoque, or Ganawage, or Cadanocqui, or one of the myriad other spellings throughout its long history, has an inauspicious beginning. Designated Travel Companion (DTC) gets stuck in a jam on the 401, the cause of which … Continue reading →
The view literally stops me in my tracks. A cadmium yellow glider towed into an endless cerulean sky. Below, a glint off scarlet metal roofs atop cedar shakes the shade of juniper. Colours so vivid, so basic, you could fill … Continue reading →
Today we are approaching Brampton from the northeast, having made an earlier errand run to Schomberg. Rather than hopping back on yet another 400 series highway, we decide to zigzag through pretty Peel Region, along Mt. Wolfe Road and Old … Continue reading →
My theatre weekend in cottage country requires a nighttime drive to our accommodations, Bala to Haliburton. Double lane double line blacktop, the yellow ribbon unspooling before our headlights, the road weaving in and out of dark forest, up and down small … Continue reading →
With my Designated Travel Companion (DTC) at the wheel, I am headed north to the land of sixteen hundred lakes, granite outcrops, millionaire mansions, Kurt and Goldie. Cottage country. I know this area mostly by reputation: endless bumper-to-bumper drives up … Continue reading →
It’s a dismal day, all cumulonimbus, threatening thunderstorms, threatening to rain on my parade. The grey flannel light, the kind that encourages headaches and grumpiness, can’t quite dispel the cheeriness of my Designated Travel Companion (DTC). He’s confident that the … Continue reading →
I had a moment of panic when I realized that I’d scheduled myself for three outdoor evening performances in a row. All that outside-ness, all that exposure to the elements. All those mosquitoes. I’ll freely admit that I am a … Continue reading →
Robert Winslow scans the skies, the same ones he’s watched since childhood. A moment earlier, our conversation had been interrupted by a low rumble off in the distance. He looks at a heavy stack of dark clouds moving in from … Continue reading →
The eight kinds of pie, pre-sliced, pre-plated, and carefully arranged on long tables stretched along a panelled wall are what cement my love affair with Morrisburg. But I’m getting ahead of myself. A visit to Upper Canada Playhouse is my … Continue reading →