“There’s a sense of scrappiness, where the focus feels like making the art while the iron is hot, rather than waiting for the ‘ideal’ time and space to come around.”

Tarragon Theatre’s Greenhouse Festival producer, Jonnie Lombard, wrote this statement in a recent email exchange about the state of Canadian theatre today.

Scrappy may be the best way to describe Jonnie’s work in the artistic community.

That’s not a negative or malicious comment at all. Scrappy also reflects how practical a thinker and visionary an artistic leader can and must be in these times. 

With the Festival running January 27-31, 2026, Jonnie Lombard is one extremely busy individual. They also hold other responsibilities at Tarragon, including serving as Associate Dramaturg for the Young Playwrights Unit and making show-themed drinks behind the bar. 

Lombard took a few minutes to answer some questions via email about their work as an artist and the Greenhouse Festival. Jonnie acknowledges that their work as an artist is made up entirely of friends and mentors:

“Every day, I am more and more inspired by the work that my peers are creating and the ways that folks are discovering to continue making art happen in new spaces and shapes; it drives me in so many ways.”

Upon moving to Toronto to be involved in some incredible training programs for young artists, like the Paprika Festival and Factory Theatre’s Training Enhancement Program (TEPS). 

Regarding the presence and state of the Canadian theatre industry at this time.  Jonnie states that as an indie creator, sometimes the most magic can come from a structure where a certain amount of funding or access to space isn’t a guarantee:

“I feel strongly about embracing “cheap” as not a bad word! I look forward to finding the adaptations, inventions, and creative solutions that come with building a show with what we presently have available, with the tools, bodies, and minds around us; there is so much possible within that.”

As the Greenhouse 2026 Festival Producer, what’s exciting for Jonnie this year about the celebration?

Lombard is really hyped about how the Tarragon building is being activated as a gathering hub. Every corner of the space, from the theatre to the rehearsal halls, becomes a place for folks to chill, connect, and engage with Tarragon in new ways. I was having dinner at Chadwick’s pub, just down the street from Tarragon, before the show. A couple sitting next to me were discussing the theatre and the Festival, and they were quite excited about what was happening.

Hearing discussion like this excites Jonnie:

“I feel really strongly about the potential for theatres to be second spaces, places of meeting and hanging beyond the act of watching shows, and I feel our programming is doing a lot to honour that! The presentations at the Festival also feel so unique within Tarragon’s programming in the forms they are exploring; for me, it feels like a chance for folks to rediscover Tarragon as they know it to be!”

For Lombard, general audiences get to be directly part of the creative process without feeling they have to be a theatre “professional” to do so. The hope is that the space’s atmosphere is one where audiences and artists can reach out to each other and where everyone feels creative, whether they are a performer, designer, director, or someone there to watch.

Jonnie also adds:

“There is a space outside the theatre where audiences can directly record their thoughts and feelings on what they’ve just seen, and I hope this cultivates an energy that encourages folks to feel and think and reflect deeply, and re-discover what being an “audience being” can be!”

The passion behind this young producer becomes contagious. There were a lot of young people in the building last night, the first night of the Festival.

Jonnie remains passionate about theatre as a vessel for ‘urgent emerging voices.’ To clarify what Jonnie means by these voices, they say: “urgency can take the place of both form and content! How is theatre adapting live to the landscape it’s being created in? How can it be in touch with the in-the-moment feelings of the audience it is trying to reach?”

Some valid questions are posed here that theatregoers must consider as patrons moving forward. Theatre is always evolving.

That’s what is most appealing about Tarragon’s Greenhouse Festival. It’s an important opportunity for theatrical works to sprout and germinate, with feedback from artists and audiences, either individually or in workshop settings, without the confines of a formal/informal review. 

Feedback is important to the incubation aspect of the Festival in its growing stages, without the pressures of a full production.

Jonnie adds: 

“It’s a space where artists can feel a little riskier, a little bolder, or simply free to try stuff out without locking it into the show’s shape forever! It’s also a space for artists to directly incorporate the thoughts and energies audiences give back into future development of the work, rather than the audience presence having any sense of finality.”

Once the Festival concludes this weekend, what’s next for Jonnie Lombard?

Their show, “EEK!!!” or the Really Cool Experimental Reimagining of the ‘Mice Turned Me Trans!!!, will be staged at the Rhubarb Festival on February 6. Jonnie says: “It’s gonna be fun and cheesy” (ah, the punography)

After Rhubarb, Jonnie plans to sleep for a week. After that, dancing a lot and looking forward to the leaves sprouting on the trees again.

To learn more about Tarragon’s Greenhouse Festival: https://tarragontheatre.com/plays/2025-2026/greenhouse-festival/ 

(Photo of Jonnie Lombard courtesy of Tarragon Theatre website.)