Past Productions
Aug 12 - 23, 2025
The A.G. MacNeil woolen mill has been the mainstay of a small town for a century. The family owned business, run by generations of MacNeils is suddenly in need of a transition of leadership. Patriarch Jake is in the early stages of dementia. An offer to buy the business from an off-shore company is on the table. A business dynasty and the future of a small town: Who in the family can settle their differences and are willing to step into the key roles that are about to vanish?
Original Stage Play written by: Conrad Beaubien
Directed by: John Burns
Stage Manager: Colleen Johnson
Art Director: Conrad Beaubien
Lighting Director: John Burns
Sound & Lighting Technician: Alfie Latanski
Production Team: John Burns, Conrad Beaubien, Sarah Kirby
Featuring: David Baker, Liz Simpson, Pat Larkin & Colleen Johnson
Original Music: Megan Hutton
Location: The Waring House, 395 Sandy Hook Road, Picton
Bridge Street
July 22 - 26, 29 - Aug 2, 2025
Shakes-beer returns to the County in 2025 with all new comedic sketches based on the Bard’s plays and characters. Lend us your ears for an evening and you’ll learn how Romeo and Juliet actually met by being contestants on The Dating Game, how King Lear attempts to soothe his madness by visiting a modern shrink, and how Lady Macbeth’s sleep-walking scene goes awry. All the world’s a stage but the one at The Waring House has the most action.
Original Stage Play written by: Mike Kirby
Directed by: Mike Kirby
Stage Manager: Colleen Johnson
Art Director: Conrad Beaubien
Lighting Director: John Burns
Sound & Lighting Technician: Alfie Latanski & Kevin Flesch
Production Team: John Burns, Conrad Beaubien, Sarah Kirby
Featuring: David Baker, James Fraser, Jean Parker, Sarah Kirby, Wendy Roy, Gage Broderick, Michael Code
Original Music: Howard Lopez
Location: The Waring House, 395 Sandy Hook Road, Picton
Shakes-Beer Rides Again!
July 3 - 5, 8 - 12, 2025
It is winter, 1895 and the Mourne Valley Inn is chock full of guests who are anticipating the celebrations of the Lieutenant-Governor at his Manse. The fire is blazing in the hearth; outside, the snow is falling, Beneath this cheery exterior however, much darker currents are stirring. The snow develops into a fierce storm which traps the inhabitants of the Inn. A dastardly crime occurs. It is imperative to determine who is the culprit. It can only be one of them. But whom? And why?
Original Stage Play written by: Maureen Jennings
Directed by: Lise Lindenberg
Assistant Director: Michael Code
Stage Manager: Colleen Johnson
Assistant Stage Manager: Ellie Lindenberg
Art Director: Conrad Beaubien
Lighting Director: John Burns
Sound & Lighting Technician: Alfie Latanski & Kevin Flesch
Production Team: John Burns, Conrad Beaubien, Sarah Kirby
Featuring: Dave Henderson, David Baker, Leah Hamilton, James Fraser, Bill Petch, Sarah Kirby, Wendy Roy
Original Music: Howard Lopez
Location: The Waring House, 395 Sandy Hook Road, Picton
No Traveller Returns
March 19, 20, 22, 23, 27 - 30, April 11, 12, 13 2025
Daniel MacIvor’s chilling one-person show featuring performer David Baker.
Finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Drama, Monster peels back the psychological layers of 16 different characters to reveal the dark heart of individual experience. With a masterful blend of suspense, humour and raw emotion, Monster invites you to confront your fears and embrace the complexities that make us human
A Co-Production with Théâtre Roulant and No Name Theatre
Written by: Daniel MacIvor Directed by: David Baker & John Burns Featuring: David Baker Lighting: John Burns Sound & Pre-Show Live Music: Alfie Latanski
Venue # 1: Upfront Cafe & Bar, 313 Front St., Belleville (March 19, 20, 22, 23) Venue # 2: Karlo Estates, 561 Danforth Rd, Wellington (March 27-30, April 11-13)
Monster
FEBRUARY 14, 15, 23, 2025
When Andrew Makepeace Ladd III accepts an invitation to Melissa Gardner’s birthday party, and Melissa writes a thank-you note to ask just why he got her “The Lost Princess of Oz” (answer: she looks like a lost princess), a romantic friendship and correspondence destined to last for almost half a century is born. Both from affluent, East Coast families -- Melissa has more money, but Andy has better parents -- the friends communicate with each other through angst-ridden boarding school experiences, European adventures, failed marriages, and the ups and downs of career. Over the course of their lives, Andy and Melissa’s relationship goes through many changes, as the sometimes-sweethearts/sometimes-friends go through periods of estrangement, and the intense, clandestine affair which will accelerate Melissa’s emotional breakdown. Despite the painful differences which will ultimately tear them apart, they remain each other’s most trusted confidante, and are “true lovers” on paper, if not on the earth. A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters is a tender, tragi-comic, and nuanced examination of the shared nostalgia, missed opportunities, and deep closeness of two lifelong, complicated friends. While spanning five decades and numerous locations, it is staged simply, with two actors behind desks or sitting in cozy chairs, letting their words describe a world of emotion.
Written by: A.R. Gurney Directed by: John Burns Featuring: Sarah Kirby and David Burns Feb 14 & 15, Pat Larkin & Liz Simpson Feb 23 Lighting: John Burns Live Music: Megan Hutton & Gabe Guadagnin on Friday and Robert Keyes on Saturday & Sunday
Venue: Karlo Estates, 561 Danforth Road, Wellington.
Love Letters
DECEMBER 6 & 7, 2024
In the 1950’s eight workers in a remote lumber camp won the luck of the draw for seats on a supply plane to take them home for Christmas. When the plane went down in a gale, it would take more than luck for them to survive.
Join our audiences for a 99.3 County FM live recording of an actors’ reading accompanied by original music.
Screenplay written by: Conrad Beaubien Directed by: John Burns Featuring: Philip Knox / Roxanne Mackenzie / Wendy Roy / Bill McMahon / Sarah Kirby / Micheline Cox / Paulina McMahon / Liz Simpson / David Burns / Pat Larkin / Sid Wells / Don Leslie / Fran Larkin / Lori Farrington / Mike Kirby Original Score: Matti Kopamees, Telegraph Narrows: Greg Stanners & Renay Wizeman-Stanners Music Composition & Arrangement: Reve Brossard / Conrad Beaubien Sound & Lighting: John Burns / Alfie Latanski Production Team: Sarah Kirby / John Burns / Conrad Beaubien Venue: The Andrew, 31 King St, Picton
A Christmas to Remember
AUGUST 21, 2024
Join us for a full day, fun and interactive workshop where you can learn the art of mime and express yourself without saying a word!
Lead by the amazing ET The Mime, Etemen Oton: www.mimetomime.ca
Venue: The Waring House, 395 Sandy Hook Road, Picton
The Art of Mime - Workshop
AUGUST 7 - 10, 14 - 17, 2024
Widower Harry Mckenna, is lonely and adrift. Things change when the ghost of his old friend, Sam Ribik, appears. Sam dies without resolving his conflicted relationship with his son Pete and he needs Harry’s help. Then Pete himself arrives and Harry is compelled to do just that.
An Original Stage Play written by: Maureen Jennings Directed by: John Burns Featuring: Bill McMahon / Pat Larkin / David Baker Original Score: Howard Lopez Stage Manager: Colleen Johnson Sound & Lighting: John Burns / Alfie Latanski Production Team: Sarah Kirby / John Burns / Conrad Beaubien Venue: The Waring House, 395 Sandy Hook Road, Picton
Dying Like This
An Evening With Shakes-Beer (and Whine)
JULY 23 - 27, 2024
“It’s a tale told by an idiot”, but you should dome and see it anyway. This sketch show is a humorous and irreverent look at some of the Bard’s greatest scenes and characters, some of whom have been thrust into a modern setting. You’ll see Romeo, Juliet, Caesar, Brutus, and others like never before. Whether the works of Shakespeare inspire you or ruined your high school experience, this is a show for you!
“Actors playing multiple roles, sight gags, obscure cultural references, Pythonesque line deliveries and set changes, homages to historically great comedy (who’s on first) and a multimedia component to boot, all combined to create a wonderfully absurd and brilliant producation.” Lesley Bonisteel, The Old Church Theatre
An Original Stage Play written & directed by: Mike Kirby Featuring: David Baker / Tom Coates / Sarah Kirby / Mark LeSage / Meaghan Love, / Matthew McPhee / Wendy Roy Original Score: Tom Dietzel Stage Manager: Colleen Johnson Sound & Lighting: John Burns / Alfie Latanski / Doug Love Venue: The Waring House, 395 Sandy Hook Road, Picton
JULY 4 - 6, 10 - 13, 2024
In a cemetery in Wellington, Ontario there is a grave marker that has a commemoration plaque acknowledging service in the U.S. Army.
The Stone marks the date and birth of Ruben Pearce, a local man who enlisted and fought in the U.S. Northern army for the duration of the Civil War. He was a Private in a Mounted regiment, was wounded and held captive in Virginia by the Southern army. Pearce was born in Britain, married in Canada, had a family and owned a farm nearby to where he is buried. One morning in the fall of 1861 Pearce went out of the house to fetch water out back. He never returned. Until 1868, three years after the war’s end …
An Original Stage Play written by: Conrad Beaubien Directed by: Ian Feltham Featuring: Sarah Kirby / David Burns Original Score: Megan Hutton, Sam Hirst Stage Manager: Colleen Johnson Sound & Lighting: John Burns / Alfie Latanski / Colleen Johnson Venue: The Waring House, 395 Sandy Hook Road, Picton
Private Reuben Pearce
JULY 18 - AUGUST 12, 2023
Elizabeth’s first trip to a year-round rural livestock auction was an attempt to rescue a newfound animal friend. The auction being cancelled that day provided a brief reprieve. She never expected that a vacant auction hall would transform into a spiralling rabbit hole, holding her captive while taking her into depths of generational family trauma. An amazing story of rural life, its rhythms and relationships. An exploration of what it means to have family connections cut, and how those severances echo through to following generations. Based on actual events.
An Original Stage Play written by: Conrad Beaubien Directed by: John Burns Featuring: Sarah Kirby / David Burns Original Score: Tom Dietzel / Paco Luviano Stage Manager: Tammy Love Technical Director: Jennifer Caddick Production Manager: Mike Kirby
Back of Hoards Station
March 2 - 4, 2023
The past year offered hope of a resettled life for Rosalia & Ivan. Their tiny flat above John’s Barber Shop in Calumet Falls, Ontario, was made grand by an expanse of windows overlooking the slow-moving river. Rosalia was a pianist, and Ivan was a second violinist in a symphony orchestra in Europe. While Ivan’s violin was saved, Rosalia’s piano was lost when war displaced the pair from their homeland. Can love and a search for a new piano restore their inner sanctuary? An amazing story of hope, resiliency and the roots of community. An exploration of what it means to be displaced and be faced with the challenges of finding one’s way in an unfair place, yet discovering that deep down, people are not all that different. Based on actual events.
An Original Stage Play written by: Conrad Beaubien Directed by: John Burns Featuring: Megan Hutton / Gabriel Guadagnin / Georgia Papanicolaou Original Score: Gregory Garrett Violin: Joel Bootsma Animation: Iveno Lighting: Phil Dowling Stage Manager: Tammy Love
Rosalia’s Piano
August 27 - September 17, 2022
When railways first ran in Prince Edward County, there were train workers, passengers and drifters. And then there was the kid from Hillier, who came to be known across the country as The Boxcar Cowboy.
A one-act stage play based on a true story
An Original Stage Play written by: Conrad Beaubien Directed by: John Burns Featuring: David Burns / Micheline Cox / Georgia Papanicolaou / Peter Snell / Carol Snell / Colleen Johnson
The Boxcar Cowboy
October 20 - 29, 2016
A century-old family-owned woollen mill is the lifeblood of a small town. Jake, the eighty-year-old company patriarch is in ill health; a buyout offer from a mega international corporation places the town's future in the hands of granddaughter Judith and grandson Ned. Can the family settle their differences? Is there a hidden hand at play?
An Original Stage Play written by: Conrad Beaubien Directed by: John Burns Featuring: John McCarthy / Chris Loane / Anne Heathcote Music by: Gregory Garrett Lighting: Phil Dowling Imagery: Hri Neil Production Manager: Colleen Johnson Catering: My Pies Venue: Hillier Hall
Bridge Street
June 7 - 16, 2012
As a musician/songwriter/performer, Oscar James ventured down many roads in his career. But when life took a sudden turn, Oscar stumbled down a wilderness path to re-find himself. One night in a remote corner of the country the reality of Oscar James came calling. STRINGMAN…in search of the silent notes; one man’s discovery of something unchanging in an ever changing world.
An Original Stage Play written by: Conrad Beaubien Directed by: John Burns Featuring: Rick Zimmerman / Penny Kitchen / John Kitchen. Technical Director: Phil Dowling Venue: Tall Poppy Cafe, Wellington
Stringman