“One-night staged readings can lead to fuller productions. That’s the appeal for the audience.”
Peterborough’s New Stages Artistic Director Mark Wallace likes talking about theatre as much as I do. So much so, he adds in his email correspondence with me, that it’s hard to stop writing.
I can only imagine if we were Zooming in to talk that we’d probably have to raise our hands with each other when we wanted to say something.
I enjoy it when the conversation flows easily like that.
Wallace has worked with New Stages in various capacities since 2010, and as Artistic Director since 2023. He’s been a resident of the Peterborough area since 2008. While in Toronto, Mark served as the Artistic Director of Children’s Peace Theatre and Theatre LMNOP, a small, independent company with a focus on devised theatre/collective creation.
Founded in 1997, Toronto artist Randy Read had a vision of bringing professional theatre to his hometown of Peterborough. The name NEW STAGES was envisioned to bring something new and different to the Peterborough region. Read’s vision was that one day, New Stages Peterborough could be a smaller version of the Shaw Festival with quality professional work happening at multiple venues. While the summer plays were well-received critically, it was challenging for New Stages to establish a consistent summer audience.
In 2002, New Stages reinvented itself as a fall-to-spring theatre company, often producing one play per year, plus cabaret nights, and a series of play readings featuring professional actors. For the next twenty-one years, Randy consistently brought exciting seasons of high-quality professional theatre to Peterborough. The play readings grew in popularity, thanks to Randy’s knack for programming thought-provoking contemporary work and his ability to cast some of what he calls Canada’s best theatre acting talent. I’ve had the good fortune to have seen some of that talent on the Market Hall stage.
Mark reiterated that staged readings are not the end goal for a company that presents one-night staged readings. The goal is to generate enough audience interest to stage more full productions employing theatre artists for longer contracts and spending more time in the rehearsal room, engaging with the text and playing with physicality in richer, more meaningful ways.
But Mark also says:
“Our staged readings are very popular with the audience, and actors have really enjoyed the experience and appreciate how engaged our audiences are. They are delighted to see such skilled actors perform in town; they lean in. At a Q&A last year, Fiona Reid called our crowd, ‘the best listening audience in Canada.”
When budget and schedules permit, New Stages adds extra rehearsal time before the staged reading day, which gives a chance at least to query the text together and feels a bit less like being shot out of a cannon.
Can up-and-coming professional actors earn Equity credits through New Stages?
To his knowledge, yes it is possible for an artist to receive an Equity credit while working on a contract under Equity’s DOT agreement (which New Stages uses), but it would be on a case-by-case basis. The determination would be with the Equity Business Office.
The New Stages 2025-2026 season includes a mix of what Mark calls “thought-provoking, well-written scripts that should energize our audience and open the door to conversation.” He’s proud of the fact that a record number of subscribers have signed up for eight shows programmed from September 2025 to June 2026.
The first show is Jonathan Wilson’s A Public Display of Affection, directed by Mark McGrinder. Produced by Studio 180 in association with Crow’s Theatre just this past spring, Affection kicks off the season on September 20. I saw the show and it’s terrific. Here’s the link to my review: https://ourtheatrevoice.com/a-public-display-of-affection/
On Nov 9, just before Remembrance Day, beloved local performer Beau Dixon and his brother, Lance Dixon, present a workshop presentation of a new musical they are developing called Footnote to Freedom. The musical is about the life of Beau and Lance’s grandfather, George Dixon, who served in the No. 2 Battalion, Canada’s only segregated Black Battalion in World War I. This is an important story to be told. The Dixons are a powerhouse pair, and it’s always exciting to see new work grow, sharpen and have an opportunity to be shared with new audiences.
From December 10-14, New Stages presents a revival of its 2023 production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, adapted by Joe Landry with the original cast, including Megan Murphy, Brad Brackenridge, Kerry Griffin, M. John Kennedy, Ordena Stephen-Thompson, and Music Director Gabe Vaillant. Directed by Wallace, he says the cast and crew had a blast working on this in 2023 and audiences loved it – it’s a dream cast to work with, and full of opportunities for fun, inventive play within the premise: set in a 1940s radio station, five actors play all the characters from the classic movie and create all the sound effects too. I’m planning to see this opening night with my review to follow shortly after.
On January 24, 2026, New Stages will present a reading of Frances Koncan’s Women of the Fur Trade. A wicked sense of humour underpins this surreal comedy with teeth, one that flips the script on the male-centric history of the fur trade. The playful story, set in “18 hundred and something-something,” revolves around three women, Ojibwe, Métis, and British, all of whom speak in 21st-century slang. A hit at the Stratford Festival, and now being produced across the country, we’re delighted to bring the play to our region and audience for the first time. Director and cast announcement pending. I saw this show at the Aki Studio. Here’s my review: https://ourtheatrevoice.com/women-of-the-fur-trade-by-frances-koncan-2/
From February 23 to March 1, 2026, New Stages will host its 3rd annual Brand New Stages Festival, featuring new scripts at various stages of development, creative collaborations across disciplines, and artist panels and training workshops at two venues in downtown Peterborough. There are two confirmed plays as of this date, with more to follow:
- On Thurs, Feb 28, New Stages presents a staged reading of The Cull by Michele Riml and Michael St. John Smith. A powerful drama, first produced by Vancouver’s Arts Club Theatre, is now in a new stage of development and will be directed by Peter Pasyk. A timely play set in the B.C. mountains, where wildfires burn and a wolf cull is underway: a group of friends gather to celebrate a couple’s 25th wedding anniversary, but when a surprising business offer is made. Secrets come to light, will the bonds of friendship buckle?
- On Sun, March 1st, there is a presentation of 12 Dinners by Steve Ross, a frequent New Stages collaborator and a favourite with Peterborough audiences. The play will be directed by Randy Read, the former founding artistic director of New Stages. This is Steve Ross’ acclaimed semi-autobiographical play, a comedic drama about a series of meals he shares with his parents over a particularly eventful period in their lives. Previously produced at Stratford’s Here for Now Festival, it will be part of Talk is Free Theatre’s upcoming season in Toronto and Barrie.
On May 2nd and 3rd, 2026, the Stage takes a comedic turn with a reading of Paul and Linda Plan a Threesome by Jane Cooper Ford. A sold-out and held-over hit at Stratford’s Here for Now Festival in 2024, this play is charming, funny, and outrageous. A successful couple try to shake up their stale marriage by planning a threesome, much like they might plan a dinner party. Things don’t go as planned, of course, and hilarity ensues. The complete cast and director are still to be determined, but Linda Kash will be among them. Very funny, yet inappropriate for younger audiences, the play is a well-crafted and heartfelt celebration of love, which comes in many forms and meanings. I saw the show at Here for Now and it’s terrific. My review of the Here For Now production is here: https://ourtheatrevoice.com/paul-and-linda-plan-a-threesome-by-jane-cooper-ford-world-premiere/
Finally, New Stages closes out its season on June 14 with a staged reading of Clyde’s by Lynn Nottage, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Nottage’s scripts dig into class and race in America. This new play is more comedic but still loaded with powerful themes. Clyde’s is about a truck-stop sandwich shop that employs people on the edge, people marginalized by the system. Things change when some of the employees embark on a quest to create the perfect sandwich. Full of heart and wit. The director and cast announcement are still to come.
An exciting season indeed.
As Artistic Director, what is Mark’s wish for the company:
“Interest in New Stages has been steadily growing over the past few years. We’ve seen an accelerated enthusiasm for live professional theatre in the region coming out of the pandemic. We’ve received record support from audiences, sponsors, donors, and other funding partners. We’re on our way to the goal of becoming a regional hub of professional theatre with a focus on contemporary, thought-provoking work. In time, we hope to increase the number of full productions we can stage in a season and extend the number of performance dates for our shows. My hope is that by the time I leave New Stages, it will be an established, sustainably staffed professional theatre company with a long history ahead of it.”
Visit New Stages Peterborough’s website: newstages.ca for further information.
