u/grinningskull

Phil here, host of Stageworthy, Canada's theatre podcast. On Monday, June 22, I hosted a Toronto Fringe live stream, with four people whose takes on Toronto theatre I trust enormously: Janine Marley (A View from the Box), Ryan Borochovitz (Cup of Hemlock / The Cup Podcast), Alexandra Lean (Being Dramatic / Bad Reviewer), and Ryan McCollom (Plates and Playbills). I've turned that conversation into this week's episode and wanted to share it here because it covers a lot of ground that I think this community would enjoy.

We each shared our top five must-see picks and wildcard shows; highlights include Songs for Moby Dick, Such Ado (a queer Much Ado About Nothing), U Up (forbidden love among Border Patrol officers, don't ask, just trust), and a show called Catching a Cheese Pervert that frankly needs no further explanation. We also got into the nuts and bolts of how each of us is covering Fringe this year, from long-form roundup episodes to daily TikTok recaps. And we had a really honest, nuanced conversation about AI-generated poster art - including the tension between giving grace to artists on shoestring budgets and the feeling that it signals something about how much thought went into the promotional package. It didn't stay one-sided, which I appreciated.

Also: huge shoutout to u/nefariousplotz on this very subreddit, whose geographical breakdown of Fringe venues got a genuine on-air mention from Ryan B. as an essential scheduling tool. You're doing the lord's work. If you're heading out to Fringe, the episode has a lot of practical venue and travel advice too: plan by neighbourhood, bring snacks, and do not try to run from the Aki Studios to Soulpepper with 20 minutes between shows. I speak from experience.

Listen: https://pod.fo/e/43d60d

https://preview.redd.it/tydyyx1solah1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f513f5ad253849c614bb319d47789b9c584df24d

Hey everyone! Phil here, host of Stageworthy, Canada's theatre podcast. I wanted to share this week's episode because I think it'll resonate with people here.

My guest is Kathleen Welch, playwright, composer, director, and co-founder of The Spindle Collective. We talked primarily about Siofra, their new show rooted in Irish changeling mythology, running at the Red Sandcastle in Toronto from June 17–28. But the conversation went a lot of places: how The Spindle Collective got started during COVID, the Dead of Winter Festival (a horror theatre festival they launched this past January in partnership with Eldritch Theatre), the challenge of doing big cast shows in indie theatre, and why Kathleen thinks horror is one of the most naturally feminist genres going.

Listen: https://pod.fo/e/431ef7

https://preview.redd.it/zos5jdzmx08h1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a2ffac83b005165aefae44c4bfbb7d07dda6605

Hey everyone! Phil Rickaby here, host of Stageworthy, Canada's theatre podcast. Toronto Fringe is just around the corner, and I've started my Fringe coverage this week, and I wanted to share this conversation because I think it's a genuinely exciting one.

My guest is Rymn Wadhwa, a Toronto-based engineer who has written her first play, Assembly Sϋggested, coming to Toronto Fringe this summer. The premise: two women building an IKEA chair, following an instruction manual that starts normal and gets increasingly absurd (give each other a compliment, that kind of thing ) while also maybe building a relationship. It's based on a real friendship from her 27th year of life, and it started as a revenge fantasy before becoming something much more empathetic and honest.

What I loved about this conversation is how Rymn brings a completely different perspective to playwriting — charting emotional arcs like an engineer, thinking several moves ahead like a chess player, and trusting that theatre doesn't always need a lot of plot to be powerful. She's funny, she's thoughtful, and this is her first podcast interview. I think the show is going to be something special.

https://pod.fo/e/42535d

https://preview.redd.it/f3aidk1dc25h1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37f9e9bcca17ad8e473c874c5ffc6e02ad9a09d3

This week on Stageworthy, the guest is Susanna Fournier, the playwright and theatre maker behind take rimbaud, now running at Buddies in Bad Times in association with the Howland Company. Susanna has been developing this play for twelve years — inspired by Arthur Rimbaud's prose poem A Season in Hell — and we sat down right in the middle of rehearsals to talk about what it actually takes to make ambitious, risk-forward theatre in this country. We got into the culture of safe programming, the fear artists have of speaking critically about the industry, what vulnerability in the rehearsal hall actually looks like, and why theatre might be more essential now than ever in a world being reshaped by AI and algorithmic isolation.

Susanna is sharp, candid, and genuinely passionate — she didn't pull punches about the state of Canadian theatre, and I think that honesty makes for a really worthwhile listen. Full episode here: https://stageworthy.ca/susanna-fournier/

https://preview.redd.it/7l5fc66cwy0h1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7c47744d85595195a6868ea88677a7949ec33e94