Playing May 20 – 25, 2025
From Cradle to Stage
Festival Coordinator: Shawn Marshall
From Cradle to Stage is Walterdale’s new play reading program. Walterdale welcomes original play submissions from local playwrights and offers them the opportunity to share their work, gain audience feedback, and experience a workshop atmosphere through staged readings of their finished, original, and unproduced plays. These works should be between
10-60 minutes in length, of any genre. This is also an opportunity for budding directors to get some experience directing these staged readings, and working closely with the Walterdale staff.
New this year is the Walterdale Visual Arts Exhibition Program. For this adjudicated program, visual artists with a Walterdale connection will be invited to submit to have their works displayed on the lobby walls during the run of From Cradle to Stage readings.
CAST & PLAYWRIGHTS
Announcing our selected plays and playwrights for the 2025 From Cradle to Stage Festival.
| May 20, 2025 and May 24, 2025 | Director: Donna Call Hearts Left Open by Lee-Anna Semenyna; starring Karen Huntley, Corrie Gardner, Bernard Jentner, Sam Woolsey, Cathy Morse, Keerat Sarwara Misfortune by Jennifer Kennedy; starring Danielle Goodleaf, Mariam Gill, Shauna Rebus, Laura Eschak, Kerry Campbell, Ali Muhammad Khowaja, Selena Janvier Emergency Contact by Stephanie Swensrude; starring Marisa Scarbeau, Ryan Mattila, Taissa Polo |
| May 21, 2025, and May 23, 2025 | Director: Afrah Collier-Potts The Entirely Plausible Adventures of Chuck and Harry by Jenna Greig; starring Kirk Starkie, Dalton Bryce Terhorst, Mélissa Masse OMISIMAWIW by Shyanne Duquette; starring Jay Ferguson, Emily Lizotte, Melanie Ferris Couch Surfing by Jake Tkaczyk; starring Justin Pitt, Anne-Marie Smyth, Anglia Redding, Bryce Littlechild |
| May 22, 2025, and May 25, 2025 | Director: Bob Klakowich Searching For Reality by Andrew Doerksen; starring Yana Orchyshko, Dave Breakenridge, Kisa Mortenson, Jasper Walia, Tim Lo, Fiona Rutledge, Megan Reti Parkade by Franco Correa; starring Casey Powlik, Kingsley Leung, Liz Janzen, Josh Young, Ethan Campos, Yana Orchyshko A Car By Any Other Name by Christi Falk; starring Fiona Rutledge, Jasper Walia, Josh Young |
PRODUCTION TEAM
| Production Team Member | Role |
|---|---|
| Shawn Marshall | Festival Coordinator |
| Donna Call | Director |
| Afrah Collier-Potts | Director |
| Bob Klakowich | Director |
This year we had the fortune of providing three dramaturges for our playwrights to work with in preparation for the festival. The dramaturges this year were Beth Graham, Darrin Hagen, and Heather Inglis.
| Parkade by Franco Correa A Car By Any Other Name by Christi Falk Couch Surfing by Jake Tkaczyk | Dramaturge: Darrin Hagen |
| OMISIMAWIW by Shyanne Duquette Misfortune by Jennifer Kennedy Hearts Left Open by Lee-Anna Semenyna | Dramaturg: Beth Graham |
| Searching For Reality by Andrew Doerksen The Entirely Plausible Adventures of Chuck and Harry by Jenna Greig Emergency Contact by Stephanie Swensrude | Dramaturge: Heather Inglis |