Tag: comedy

ITOPA kicks off its 2025/2026 season with Michael G. Wilmot’s 7-10 Split. 

by Richard Young

by Emily Stewart / Woodstock Ingersoll Echo

(Go to ITOPA’s Facebook Page to take advantage of this offer https://www.facebook.com/ingersolltheatre)

After putting 7-10 Split and bowling paraphernalia on the back burner for half a decade, the Ingersoll Theatre of Performing Arts (ITOPA) is finally ready to bring the comedy to the stage. 

The Canadian comedy will run from Oct. 10 to 19. The play focuses on Earl, a former professional bowler constantly in get-rich-quick schemes, and the shenanigans that follow with one particular Internet offer from a wealthy prince claiming he can save Earl’s fortune.

(Pictured: Earl – Adam Tanton. Photo Credit: Brian Tanton)

“If you need a night of absolute laughter and hilarity, this is the show to see,” said director Rebecca McNall. “We are running it in the style of trailer-trash, and it’s just going to be non-stop gags, non-stop hilarious lines. And the cast, you couldn’t ask for a better cast of characters to fill the roles. They just fall into the roles just like it was them. It’s just so good, I love it.” 

The cast includes husband and wife Adam and Becky Tanton, longtime ITOPA performer Crystal Paul, and newcomer Nick Shua. The performance takes place inside the living room of a trailer, and the set dimensions are the same as a house trailer’s living room.

“It’s even more of a challenge, which is fun, to get the blocking and to get them so they’re not just sitting still for the whole thing, so it’s going to be a ball. It’s going to be so much fun,” said McNall, who is thrilled to finally bring the play to the stage. 

ITOPA was to present the play in 2020, but it was cancelled due to COVID-19 Pandemic restrictions.

“We’ve had bowling balls and bowling trophies hidden around the theatre for five years because we didn’t want to throw them out because we knew that eventually, 7-10 Split would go on stage, so it feels so great to start bringing everything out,” she said. “It’s awesome.” 

The curtain rises at 7:30 p.m. for evening performances and 2 p.m. for matinee performances. Tickets are $26 for adults, $24 for seniors, $22 for students 12 years old and older, and $10 for students under 12 years old. Every Thursday performance for the 2025/2026 season will have $10 tickets for all seats. 

To purchase tickets, either visit the box office on 88 Thames St., call 519-485-3070, or visit online via www.itopa.ca.

Note: This Review first appeared in the Ingersoll Woodstock Echo, and it is reprinted with the permission of the author and the newspaper. https://www.granthaven.com/woodstock-ingersoll-echo

Check out the Q&A Profile of the Ingersoll Theatre of Performing Arts (ITOPA) elsewhere on The Beat Magazine 2025 website https://thebeatmagazine2025.ca/2025/09/15/introducing-ingersoll-theatre-of-performing-arts-itopa/

The Play That Goes Wrong opens 2025/26 Season at the Grand Theatre

by Richard Young

Media Release, October 7, 2025

The hilarious smash-hit on Broadway and in the UK, The Play That Goes Wrong, arrives with a bang at the Grand Theatre and is already extended due to popular demand before even hitting the stage.

Dennis Garnhum, former Grand Theatre Artistic Director, is set to direct the production with a crack-up company of actors and artists that have already packed theatres throughout Western Canada. The red-carpet opening night of The Play That Goes Wrong on Friday, October 17th, officially marks the beginning of the Grand Theatre’s 2025/26 Season: You Are Here, the highly anticipated second season in the hands of Grand Theatre Artistic Director Rachel Peake. 

“Whether it’s the magical kingdom of Arendelle, magic realism, or the magical power of community, so much of our 2025/26 season at the Grand is about the magic of theatre. The Play That Goes Wrong is a love letter to just that,” shares Peake. “This show has more tricks in it than any other show. And yet, what makes it so funny and delicious and appealing is not so much those outstanding effects, but instead the very human drive to go on with the show.”

(Pictured: The Grand Theatre’s Artistic Director, Rachel Peake)

The Play is a play about a play – and that play within the play goes terribly, horribly, hysterically wrong every single night, live on stage. If you work in the theatre, it’s your nightmare on repeat. If you’re in the audience, you’re in for the laugh of a lifetime. 

“If the cast and crew let the problems stop the show and sent us all home, it would be a tragedy. But they don’t. The show goes on, and they make it through. When I first read this play, I cheered for these characters from beginning to end,” shares Garnhum. “I know these people. I love these people. They are my hard-working colleagues, whom I’ve been around my entire life. Their passion is contagious, and the play within the play, The Murder at Haversham Manor, goes down as a triumph simply because they saw it through and never give up despite the world figuratively – perhaps literally, definitely hilariously – tumbling down around them.”

Director Dennis Garnhum talks about The Play That Goes Wrong at the Grand Theatre in this video clip. https://youtu.be/Swo0-W53lCI?si=ly9PzOQh5ZbbzdKw

Even as audience members are finding their seats, the cast is already in character and buzzing throughout the theatre, frantic about the opening night of Murder at Haversham Manor. It’s 1922, and the very fictional Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society is everything except prepared.

(Pictured: Photo by Nanc Price for The Citadel Theatre’s production of The Play That Goes
Wrong (2024), in partnership with Theatre Calgary and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre,
featuring Vanessa Leticia Jetté and Honey Pha)

Alexander Ariate plays Jonathan (who plays Charles Haversham), Izad Etemadi and Emily Meadows play Stage Crew (who play Stage Crew), Vanessa Leticia Jetté plays Sandra (who plays ‘Florence Colleymoore’), Andrew MacDonald-Smith plays Max (who plays ‘Cecil Haversham’ as well as ‘Arthur’), Jawon Mapp plays Robert (who plays ‘Thomas Colleymoore’), Bernardo Pacheco plays Trevor (Cornley Polytechnic’s lighting and sound operator), Honey Pham plays Annie (Cornley’s stage manager but also sometimes plays ‘Florence Colleymoore’ whether Sandra likes it or not), John Ullyatt plays Dennis (who plays ‘Perkins’), and Daniela Vlaskalic plays Krista (who directs the play within the play, and also plays ‘Inspector Carter’). Got that? Good! 

(Pictured: Photo by Nanc Price for The Citadel Theatre’s production of The Play That Goes
Wrong (2024), in partnership with Theatre Calgary and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre,
featuring Andrew MacDonald-Smith, Joel Schaefer, Vanessa Leticia Jetté, and Daniela
Vlaskalic)

This Olivier Award-winning comedy offers a hilarious glimpse into the absolute worst-case scenarios that can unfold in the world of theatre. Premiering in 2012 in the UK, it went on to run over 745 performances on Broadway. Garnhum has helmed the production at the Citadel Theatre (Edmonton), Theatre Calgary, and the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (Winnipeg), and now plans to unleash its chaos in London at the Grand.

Garnhum is joined by Fight & Movement Director Morgan Yamada, Set Designer Beyata Hackborn, Costume Designer Joseph Abetria, Lighting Designer Kimberly Purtell, Sound Designer Dave Pierce, with Donovan Siedle, and Stage Manager Jordan Guetter.

If You Go:

What: The Play That Goes Wrong

Where: On the Spriet Stage, The Grand Theatre, 471 Richmond Street, London, ON

When: October 14 to November 2

Tickets: Single tickets range from $25 to $97 and are available at grandtheatre.com, by phone at 519.672.8800, or at the Box Office, 471 Richmond Street. 

For more information about The Grand Theatre’s 2025/26 Season, visit https://www.grandtheatre.com/

Introducing Project G Force: An Interview with Matt Loop

by Richard Young

This is the seventeenth in a series of Q&A Profiles of London area theatre companies and groups. Today, we interview Matt Loop, co-founder of sketch comedy troupe, Project G Force.

Q. When was your company founded? By whom and why? 

Project G Force was founded by Matt Loop and Thomas Bogad in 2006 and included members of sketch troupes Channel Surfing and Sector 7 G. The troupe currently consists of original members Thomas Bogad, Norah Cuzzocrea, Laura DiTrolio, and Matt Loop. Past members include Pasqualina Cardu, Christian Gundlack, and Lorissa Sinasac. Project G Force was under the umbrella of local theatre group Channel Surfing Productions and is currently the longest-running sketch comedy troupe in London, under the direction of John Pacheco.

Q. Is your company best described as professional or not-for-profit community theatre? Or both?

Project G Force is a not-for-profit theatre.

(Pictured: Matt Loop, Laura DiTrolio, Thomas Bogad, and Norah Cuzzocrea)

Q. What venue(s) do you use to stage your productions? 

We have performed at the Palace main stage, Rum Runners, TAP, London Music Club, and most recently the Princess Ave Theatre in St. Thomas.

Q. Does your company have a Mission or Statement of Purpose? 

Our mission is basically to make people laugh with locally written comedy. Everything produced by Channel Surfing Productions, from sketch to past shows like ‘UnderAchievers’ and ‘PMS’, are all locally written. We hope to start producing some more plays under the Project G Force banner. 

Q. Does your company have a Board of Directors and paid Staff? 

We do not. We are just a bunch of friends who can barely decide where to meet for dinner.

Q. Tell me about your 2025-2026 Season. Does it have any underlying theme? 

We just finished a show this year called Stage Fright and are currently preparing a show for 2026, which will be our 20th Anniversary together. We tend to do one show a year to give everyone time to work on other theatre or comedy projects. Currently, Thomas is in the improv group Shut the Front Door, Norah is in The Front Page: SCOOPED at the Palace Theatre, and Matt Loop is currently on Jack1023 and has helped promote several recent theatre shows on Afternoons with Loop. 

Q. Do you have any thoughts about the London area theatre community and your part in it? 

It’s amazing to see the theatre community start to rebound after those years “we shall not speak of.”   The community goes in cycles, and it seems that it is starting to upswing with a great mix of exciting new companies (young and old), and diverse performers. It’s also nice to see actors who we haven’t seen in a while starting to get back on the stage, and it’s great to see some locally written works starting to get produced again. We would like to see more collaboration and promotion done for the theatre scene, as London is growing and so should the audiences, as long as we can reach them. The members of Project G Force have been around for a while and have loved being part of the local theatre scene, whether that be performing or in other productions. We are also getting older and don’t want to break anything. 

Follow Project G Force on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/projectgforce

Follow on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/projectgforcesketch/

Full Performer Lineup Announced — Venues Confirmed and Excitement Brewing Across London

by Richard Young

The countdown is on for one of the most anticipated events of the summer: the London Fringe Festival, returning August 12–16, 2025, with an electric mix of theatre, music, magic, comedy and improv.

Fringe 2025 features an exhilarating lineup of 15 diverse acts that are sure to surprise, provoke and delight:

  • The Companion — Maria Colonescu (Two-Person Drama)
  • Wize Guy — Tony Molesworth (Music & Comedy)
  • Would You Like Some Tea? — Isaac Atfield (Drama)
  • The Magic of Ryan Brown — Ryan Brown (Magic)
  • The Light of the East – Asia Minor — Dorukhan Turan (Musical Performance)
  • No Lilies / Everything I Didn’t Get to Say — Jenn Weatherall (Drama)
  • The Naked Mennonite — Allan Fehr (Comedy)
  • Shrink Wrapped Murder — John Palmer (Murder-Mystery)
  • Trial Lawsuit — Graeme Taylor (Comedy Game Show)
  • Many Rooms: The House of Magic —  Leonardo Martins & Andrew Olmstead (Magic)
  • Tales of a Reluctant World Traveler — Randy Ross (One-Man Show)
  • The Turing Test — Yuiry Popov (Drama/Comedy)
  • The Life and Times of Jumbo the Elephant — Matt deKort (Drama)
  • Monster — J2 Productions (Thriller)
  • The Improvables – Controlled Chaos: High-energy improv from London’s hottest new comedy crew!

This year’s confirmed venues will spotlight performances on 5 stages across four iconic locations:

Procunier Hall & David Long Stage — Palace Theatre, 710 Dundas Street
Spriet Family Theatre — Covent Garden Market, 130 King Street
Metropolitan United Church — 468 Wellington Street
First St. Andrew’s United Church — 350 Queens Avenue

“The Fringe Festival is about more than just performance — it’s about connection,” says Melissa Parker, Executive Director of the Palace Theatre Arts Commons. “We’re bringing energy and creativity into the heart of OEV and downtown London, helping to grow a vibrant, inclusive community. This eclectic mix of performers ensures there’s something for everyone — and gives artists the space to take risks, express themselves and truly be seen. It’s grassroots theatre at its finest”

Tickets are available now at palacetheatre.ca/london-fringe or at the door 30 minutes before each show with all tickets priced at just $15 all-in with proceeds go directly to the artists.

Media Contact:
Melissa Parker
Executive Director, Palace Theatre Arts Commons
mparker@ptaclondon.ca
226-927-1588

710 Dundas Street

London, ON

About the London Fringe Festival
The London Fringe Festival is a vibrant, independently produced arts festival that champions bold voices, experimental performance and artistic freedom. With a commitment to accessibility and artist support, the Festival features a mix of theatre, comedy, music, magic and more — all chosen by lottery and presented without censorship. Ticket sale revenue goes directly to the performers. Taking place across multiple venues in downtown London and the Old East Village, the festival creates space for connection, discovery and community celebration.

About the Palace Theatre Arts Commons
The Palace Theatre Arts Commons (PTAC) is a nonprofit cultural hub located in the heart of London’s Old East Village. As home to London Community Players, London Youth Theatre Education, New Stage Adult Education and the London Fringe Festival, PTAC is committed to fostering creativity, accessibility and lifelong learning through the performing arts. With two performance spaces and a year-round slate of programming, PTAC serves as a gathering place for artists, audiences and community members alike — igniting imagination and building a stronger, more connected London.

The 2025 fringe festival lineup is set!

by Richard Young

The 2025 London Fringe Festival Lineup is Set!

The highly anticipated 2025 London Fringe Festival is back and ready to take over the city from August 12-16, 2025! Hosted by the Palace Theatre Arts Commons, this year’s festival is set to showcase an electrifying mix of performances from local, national and international artists.

Fifteen incredible productions are poised to bring their creativity to life in five venues across the downtown core. Audiences can expect an eclectic mix of theatre, music, comedy, dance, and magic, promising bold storytelling and boundary-pushing performances.

The London Fringe Festival is an open-access, unjuried festival that champions artistic freedom, allowing performers to take risks and audiences to discover raw, unfiltered and unexpected storytelling. The mission of the London Fringe is to support artists and bring innovative performances to the community. 

August 12-16, 2025
90 Performances, 15 Productions, 5 Venues, Endless Entertainment

Venues: 

Procunier Hall – Palace Theatre, 710 Dundas Street
David Long Stage – Palace Theatre, 710 Dundas Street
Spriet Family Theatre – Original Kids, Covent Market, 130 King Street
Metropolitan United Church – 468 Wellington Street
First St. Andrews United Church – 350 Queens Avenue

Shows and Performers:

  1. Maria Colonescu — The Companion (Two-Person Drama)
  2. Tony Molesworth — Wize Guy (Music and Comedy)
  3. Isaac Atfield — Would You Like Some Tea? (Drama)
  4. Ryan Brown — The Magic of Ryan Brown (Magic Show)
  5. Dorukhan Turan — The Light of the East – Asia Minor (Musical Performance)
  6. Jenn Weatherall — No Lilies / Everything I Didn’t Get to Say (In a Collection of Petals) (Drama)
  7. Allan Fehr — The Naked Mennonite (Comedy)
  8. John Palmer — Shrink Wrapped Murder (Murder-Mystery)
  9. Graeme Taylor — Trivial Lawsuit (Comedy Gameshow)
  10. Leonardo Martins & Andrew Olmstead — Many Rooms: The House of Magic  (Magic Show)
  11. Randy Ross — Tales of a Reluctant World Traveler (One-Man Show)
  12. Yuiry Popov — The Turing Test (Drama/Comedy)
  13. Matt deKort –  The Life and Times of Jumbo the Elephant (Drama)
  14. J2  Productions — Monster (Thriller)
  15. The Improvables — Controlled Chaos:Short Form Improv Show (Improv)

For full Festival details, including show schedules, venue locations and ticket sales, visit https://palacetheatre.ca/london-fringe/

Kelli Gough
London Fringe Festival Organizer