Back to the Stage - and It’s a New Stage

It’s been a while since I’ve been onstage! I thought my acting days were over. I was involved with VOS Theatre for over 15 years, both as an actor, director, and as a board member. I served as President of the board for many of those years.

My last role with VOS was Harold Hill in The Music Man. An amazing experience for me, as my daughter Gemma was also in the show, and my friend Marlena Sculthorpe making her debut as Artistic Director.

One show that I had always wanted to direct was The Sound of Music. It‘s a story and stage play that really resonated with me, and where the world was at that time, especially in Europe. In 2023, I was finally able to see that vision come to the stage. I had the pleasure of working with my good friend J.P. Baldwin, who did an admirable job playing the Captain. He introduced me to the amazing Taylor Cole whom I cast as Maria. Along with a slew of nuns (including the incomparable Florence Fletcher as The Mother Abbess) and children, we made it to the stage with our first VOS production post-COVID. We had so many challenges getting that show onto the stage, from crazy weather derailing rehearsals, to technical stuff at Victoria Hall dogging us with issue after issue.

I truly relished the moment when Maria steps in front of Rolf, who is pointing a gun at the family. To me it showed her coming into her power. It reminded me of the women in my life and how they have inspired me.

A major life event shifted my priorities later in 2023, and I stepped back from theatre (and most of the other 3rd spaces in my life). I didn’t see the point in doing theatre, didn’t see the point in spending so much time and effort for something so fleeting. When a production is completed, it’s like it disappears from the imagination to become a memory. What I was missing, though, was the experience of going through the process with a team. Building anything with a team makes it meaningful no matter what it is. That’s what I love with my work at Agility, and I had lost that from my extra-curriculars.

Last year, a dear friend of mine was involved in the Players’ production of Something Rotten, and she had a great experience, meeting some new friends making new connections. After considering how much fun it had been to do productions with my kids in the past, I thought to myself that, if I was going to do a show again, I’d want to do so with my friend on the team as well.

Luckily, fortune smiled on us, and after rounds of auditions, callbacks, and early rehearsals last fall, here we are at the run up to opening night coming fast.

Mamma Mia, presented by the Northumberland Players

Mamma Mia cast announcement

I’ve been cast as “Sam” - and if you’ve seen the movie for Mamma Mia, you‘ll know that role was played by Pierce Brosnan. This role is perhaps the closest to playing 007 I’ll ever get :)

This a fun group to be part of, and it’s led not only by a strong production team, but also by an extremely dedicated group of actors who are determined, above all, to have FUN!

To me, that epitomizes the importance of a Third Space in our lives; if you‘re going to dedicate your time away from home and work, it had better be fulfilling. What better way to find fulfillment than be having fun with excellent people, striving to put a great product on stage for audiences to experience.

Something I wrote several years ago comes to mind: Making music together can break through the barriers and tear down the walls that modern technology tends to build between us.

Stay tuned for more thoughts on this process, which I’m really enjoying so far!

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Mamma Mia runs February 20 to March 1st at the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope, Ontario. For tickets visit https://northumberlandplayers.ca/whats-on/2025-2026-season/mamma-mia/.