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Studio Theatre
June 7 – October 8 |
Opens June 27
World Première

THE VIRGIN TRIAL

by Kate Hennig
World première commissioned by the Stratford Festival
Director Alan Dilworth

Audience Advisory »

DON’T GET TOO COMFORTABLE

In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, the young princess Elizabeth navigates a labyrinth of political and sexual intrigue in the Tudor court that threatens her freedom – and even her life. Don’t miss this eagerly awaited companion piece to the runaway hit The Last Wife.

Production Sponsor

wawanesea_beige

Production support is generously provided by Karon C. Bales & Charles E. Beall, by Sylvia D. Chrominska and by Dr. Robert & Roberta Sokol.

Support for the 2017 season of the Studio Theatre is generously provided by Sandra & Jim Pitblado.

CAST & CREATIVE

CAST

    Portrait of Bahia Watson
    Bahia Watson
    Bess
    2017: Bess in The Virgin Trial and member of the Bakkhai in Bakkhai. Second season. Stratford: Bess in The Last Wife, Bet Bouncer in She Stoops to Conquer and Chorus in The Diary of Anne Frank. Elsewhere: The Seagull (Crow's Theatre/Company Theatre), Someone Else (Crow's Theatre/Canadian Stage), The Penelopiad (Nightwood Theatre), DISS (Mixed Company), A Raisin in the Sun (Soulpepper). Film/TV: The Handmaid's Tale (MGM),Saving Hope (CTV), FLUSH, Remedy (Global). Bahia Watson is an artist and storyteller; always writing, always imagining.Awards: Dora Award for Outstanding Performance Ensemble (The Penelopiad), RBC Footprint Award (presented by Obsidian Theatre). Writer: The Numbers Game (Storefront Theatre/Pulp Collective), pomme is french for apple (Paul Watson Productions). Online: bahiawatson.com; Twitter: @bahiawatson.
    Portrait of Nigel Bennett
    Nigel Bennett
    Ted
    2017: Kadmos in Bakkhai and Ted in The Virgin Trial. Sixth season. Stratford: She Stoops to Conquer, Oedipus Rex, Mary Stuart, Measure for Measure, The Thrill, Richard III, Cymbeline, Merry Wives of Windsor, King of Thieves, Peter Pan. Elsewhere (selected): MTC/Mirvish: The Audience, Medea; Mirvish/Paul Eliot: The Last Confession; The Grand, London: Calendar Girls, Kingfisher Days; Neptune, Halifax: Scrooge, Art, Closer, Hamlet, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Retreat from Moscow, A Few Good Men, The Price, The Goat, Betrayal. Film/TV (selected): Roadside Picnic, The Shape of Water, xXx3: The return of Xander Cage, The Strain, Saving Hope, The Border, Lexx, Murdoch Mysteries, Forever Knight, Psi Factor, Murder at 1600, The Skulls, Narrow Margin. Awards: Gemini, Best Supporting Actor, 1996; ACTRA Maritimes Award, Best Actor, 2008 and 2009.
    Portrait of Laura Condlln
    Laura Condlln
    Ashley
    2017: Member of the Bakkhai in Bakkhai and Ashley in The Virgin Trial. 12th season. Stratford: The Matchmaker (Irene Molloy), Elektra (Chrysothemis), Peter Pan (Mrs. Darling), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Mistress Page), King of Thieves (Polly), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Helena), Shakespeare's Universe (the Moll), Pentecost (Amira), The Liar (Clarice/Lucrece/Sabine), TheDuchess of Malfi (Cariola), As You Like It (Audrey), Henry IV, Part 1 (Lady Mortimer). Elsewhere: The Watershed (Crow's/Porte Parole); The Heidi Chronicles, Of Human Bondage, The Crucible, The Dybbuk, The Norman Conquests (Soulpepper); An Enemy of the People, Sextet (Tarragon); Chimerica (Canadian Stage/MTC); THIS, Beckett: Feck It! (Canadian Stage); Top Girls (Segal Centre); 4:48 Psychosis (Necessary Angel); appearances at The Grand, Globe Theatre and Theatre Aquarius. Film/TV: Murdoch Mysteries. Training: BFA, University of Windsor; Birmingham Conservatory. Awards: Toronto Theatre Critics Award (Best Actress, 2016, Enemy of the People), Dora nominee, Mary Savidge Award.
    Portrait of Sara Farb
    Sara Farb
    Mary

    2017: Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Mary in The Virgin Trial. Fifth season. Stratford: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Lucy), A Little Night Music (Petra), The Diary of Anne Frank (Anne), She Stoops to Conquer (Constance), The Last Wife (Mary), King Lear (Cordelia), The Beaux' Stratagem (Cherry), The Merchant of Venice (Jessica), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, The Three Musketeers. Elsewhere (selected): Mary, The Last Wife (Soulpepper); Anne Frank, The Secret Annex (Segal Centre); writer/star of R-E-B-E-C-C-A (Passe Muraille); Natalie, Next to Normal (Citadel/Theatre Calgary co-production; Tarragon); Edges, Uncovered series (Acting Up Stage); The Wizard of Oz (YPT). Awards: Two Guthrie Awards; Calgary Theatre Critics Award; Dora Award nominee, best new musical (co-writer). Training: Birmingham Conservatory. Et cetera: Sara is co-writer in residence for The Musical Stage Company.

    Portrait of Brad Hodder
    Brad Hodder
    Thom

    2017: Guard in Bakkhai and Thom in The Virgin Trial. Sixth season. Stratford: Maugrim in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Ned in Shakespeare in Love, Marlow in She Stoops to Conquer, Edmund in King Lear, Starveling in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cassio in Othello, O'Kelly in Mary Stuart and appeared in The Diary of Anne Frank, Oedipus Rex, The Beaux' Stratagem, Measure for Measure, Cymbeline, Elektra. Elsewhere: Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (Neptune); Darcy in Pride and Prejudice (Grand); Paul in Hail (RCAT); Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (c2c); Sin in Fear of Flight (Artistic Fraud). Directing: Fleeto (Tiny Room), Henry IV Part 1, Caesar, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Perchance); Leisure Society, Autobahn, Stendhal Syndrome (c2c). Associate directing: Measure for Measure, Winter's Tale (Groundling). Film/TV: Reign (CW); Republic of Doyle, Diverted, Above and Beyond (CBC). Training: BFA (Acting), University of Alberta; Birmingham Conservatory.

    Portrait of Yanna McIntosh
    Yanna McIntosh
    Eleanor

    2017: Eleanor in The Virgin Trial and Joséphine, The Madwoman of Concorde in The Madwoman of Chaillot. 12th season. Stratford: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Witch), A Little Night Music (Désirée), TheDiary of Anne Frank, Oedipus Rex, Cleopatra, Elektra, Cymbeline, Richard III, Lady Macbeth, Titania, Winter's Tale, Dangerous Liaisons. Elsewhere: The Seagull (Crow's Theatre); Speaking in Tongues (Company Theatre); This, Syringa Tree, The Taming of the Shrew (Canadian Stage); Ruined* (Obsidian/Nightwood); Cloud 9 (Mirvish); Stuff Happens (Studio 180); Mary Stuart, Phèdre (Soulpepper); The Monument (Obsidian); Hedda Gabler (Volcano); Belle (Factory/NAC); Generous, Skylight* (Tarragon); Valley Song* (New Globe); Love's Labour's Lost, The Bear (NAC); Lambton Kent (Volcano/Edinburgh Festival); Tartuffe (ART); Trace (co-writer/performer); guest teacher/director (NTS; Humber). Film/TV: Private Eyes, Mary Goes Round, Unless, Remedy, This Is Wonderland, Riverdale, Suits, Listener, Doomstown*, The Line, The Sentinel, Finn's Girl. Awards: *Dora/Gemini Awards.

    Portrait of André Morin
    André Morin
    Parry

    2017: Servant in Bakkhai and Parry in The Virgin Trial. Fifth season. Stratford: Edmund in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Peter van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank, Motel in Fiddler on the Roof, Diggory in She Stoops to Conquer, Mother Courage and Her Children, King John, Romeo and Juliet. Elsewhere: John in The Lion in Winter (The Grand); Fenton in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Theatre by the Bay); Henry in Next to Normal (Clearwater Theatre). Training: George Brown Theatre School, Birmingham Conservatory. Online: Twitter @Andre_P_Morin. Et cetera: "Much love to all my friends and family, and many thanks to Mom, Dad, Alex, Daniel, Grandma, Caroline, Frank and Shari."

CREATIVE

    Kate Hennig
    Playwright

    Playwright of The Virgin Trial.

    Kate is a diverse, multi-award-winning theatre artist, with over 35 years of professional experience as a performer, including seasons on Broadway, with the Royal Shakespeare Company and with both the Shaw and Stratford festivals. She has an MA (Distinction) in Voice Studies from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England, and is the proud recipient of the 2015 Christopher Plummer Fellowship Award for excellence in the classical theatre.

    The Virgin Trial is the second in a series of plays about the Tudor queens, which began with The Last Wife, premièring at the Stratford Festival in 2015, and enjoying a completely sold-out and extended run. There have been five subsequent productions of the play, including the U.S. première at TimeLine Theatre in Chicago, and a remount of the original production at Toronto's Soulpepper. The Last Wife was short-listed for the Carol Bolt Award and is on the curriculum at Queen's University and Glendon College. Kate is currently writing a third play in this series: Father's Daughter.

    This season will also see the première of Wilde Tales: Kate's adaptation for the stage of Oscar Wilde's stories for children. Wilde Tales debuts at the Shaw Festival in June 2017 and runs through the end of September.

    As a writer and theatre artist, Kate is drawn to subjects and characters that give women a greater historic content and context for their cultural lives, while striving to balance gender perspectives on our stages. Kate also writes about acts of grace.

    If you'd like another example of Kate's writing you can read her two highly subscribed blogs on her website: they document her acting experiences with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and with Billy Elliot: The Musical on Broadway.

    Kate is indebted to the Gary Goddard Agency, and her agents, Celia Chassels and Emma Laird, for over 30 years of steadfast representation. Kate lives and writes in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. katehennig.com.

     

    Alan Dilworth
    Director
     2017: Director of The Virgin Trial. Fourth season. Stratford: Director: The Last Wife. Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction: Elektra, The Little Years. Elsewhere Director: Incident at Vichy, Happy Place, Eurydice, Twelve Angry Men, La Ronde (Soulpepper); This Is War (Porta Theatre, Athens); Small Axe (Project: Humanity, Theatre Centre); The De Chardin Project, Crash (Passe Muraille); The Middle Place (Project: Humanity, Passe Muraille, CanStage); If We Were Birds (Tarragon); The Unforgetting (Sheep No Wool). Training: MFA Directing, York University. Awards: Christopher Plummer Award; Toronto Theatre Critics Award, The Middle Place; three-time SummerWorks Jury Prize winner; nine-time Dora Award nominee. Et cetera: Alan is Associate Artistic Director and a Drummond-Dorrance Fellow at Soulpepper Theatre, and co-Artistic Director of Sheep No Wool. "For Bessy, Melsie, Dorothy, Elizabeth, Mary B, Mary C, Lisa, Joan, Cathy, Lynette, Maev and Esmé." alandilworth.com.
    Yannik Larivée
    Designer
     2017: Designer of The Virgin Trial. Third season. Stratford: Breath of Kings, The Last Wife. Elsewhere (selected): Offenbach's Barbe-Bleue (Opéra National de Lorraine, France, Opera Zuid in the Netherlands); Die Fledermaus (Nurenberg Staatstheater); Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Opéra National du Rhin); Salome (Edmonton Opera); One of Three (American Ballet Theater, New York's Lincoln Center); Dreamland (Royal Swedish Ballet); Castle Nowhere (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden); 4:48 Psychosis (Necessary Angel); Belleville (Company Theatre); Watch Her, Wolf's Court, Monument (National Ballet of Canada); Twelve Angry Men, Entertaining Mr. Sloane (Soulpepper); Tancredi, Don Giovanni, Renard (COC); Carmen (Alberta Ballet); James and the Giant Peach (Toronto's YPT); Dangerous Liaisons, The Odd Couple, Houdini, Amadeus (Critics Circle Award), I Am My Own Wife, Hedda Gabler (Segal Theatre); Simpl, Interiors (NAC); Past Perfect, John&Beatrice, Wild Mouth (Tarragon); Vida (Royal Alexandra Theatre, Teatro Nacional de Cuba).
    Kimberly Purtell
    Lighting Designer
    2017: Lighting designer of Timon of Athens, The Virgin Trial and The Madwoman of Chaillot. Ninth season. Stratford: Breath of Kings: Rebellion, Breath of Kings: Redemption, Bunny, The Taming of the Shrew, Possible Worlds, The Last Wife, Alice Through the Looking-Glass, Man of La Mancha, Christina, The Girl King, Waiting for Godot, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, The Little Years, The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead. Elsewhere: The Shaw Festival, Canadian Stage, Soulpepper, Mirvish Productions, National Arts Centre and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Theatre Calgary, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Citadel Theatre, Vancouver Playhouse, Necessary Angel, Studio 180, Crow's Theatre, Pacific Opera Victoria, Opera Philadelphia, Edmonton Opera, among many others. Awards: Pauline McGibbon Award, three Dora Mavor Moore Awards and a Montreal English Theatre Award.
    Alexander MacSween
    Sound Designer
    2017: Sound designer of The Virgin Trial. Fourth season. Previous: Oedipus Rex, The Last Wife, Christina, The Girl King, Bunny. Theatre:  ATP's Cockroach, Marie Brassard's The Darkness, Peepshow, The Invisible, La fureur de ce que je pense, François Girard's Le fusil de chasse, Brigitte Haentjens' Woyzeck, Douleur exquise, Robert Lepage's Zulu Time, Wajdi Mouawad's Des femmes, Necessary Angel's Hamlet, Divisadero, Le Nouveau Théâtre Experimental's Septembre, Projet Porte Parole's Seeds, Fredy. Dance: Natasha Bakht's 786, White Space; Public Recordings' What We Are Saying; José Navas's Portable Dances, Anatomies; Paul-André Fortier's Misfit Blues. Film: Dafeena  (Mouvement Perpétuel), Cinéma des aveugles (Daniel Canty/Metafilms), Dances for Dzama (Dana Gingras). Recordings: Many recordings as a composer and musician with, among others, Fortner Anderson, Bionic, Foodsoon, The Nils, Pest 5000, Sam Shalabi and Martin Tétreault. Alexander's latest recording is The Squiggle Game. alexandermacsween.com.
    Bob White
    Dramaturge
    2017: Director of New Plays. Dramaturge of The Virgin Trial, The Breathing Hole and The Madwoman of Chaillot. Ninth season. Stratford: Dramaturge of Bunny, The Aeneid, The Last Wife, The Diary of Anne Frank, Alice Through the Looking-Glass, Christina, The Girl King, Taking Shakespeare, Hirsch, Hosanna, King of Thieves and Spontaneous Dramaturge for Rebecca Northan's An Undiscovered Shakespeare. Elsewhere: Artistic Director, Alberta Theatre Projects, Calgary (1999 to 2009); Co-Director, Banff Playwrights Colony (1997 to 2009); Artistic Director, Factory Theatre, Toronto (1979 to 1987). Director of over 75 productions from Cow Head, Newfoundland, to Victoria, British Columbia, and places in between, but mostly in Calgary and Toronto. Training: Loyola College, Montreal, and University of Alberta. Awards: Member, Order of Canada; Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD), University of Calgary; Diamond Jubilee Medal; eight Betty Mitchell Award nominations and three wins: "Outstanding Direction" (Calgary). Bob is a member of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.
    John Stead
    Fight Director
     2017: Fight director of Twelfth Night, Guys and Dolls, HMS Pinafore, Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens, Treasure Island, The School for Scandal, The Changeling, Bakkhai, The Virgin Trial, Tartuffe, The Breathing Hole, The Madwoman of Chaillot and The Komagata Maru Incident. 24th season. Stratford: Fight director, 200+ productions. Elsewhere: 500+ productions, including 16 seasons with Shaw Festival. Film Director: Cyborg Soldier, Troubled Waters, Good Morning Tomorrow, The Waking, The Hot Flash, End Game, Charon's Obal. TV Director: Dark Matter, Bitten, The Bobby Buck Show, XIII, Lost Girl, Earth: Final Conflict, Tracker, Mutant X, The Dresden Files, The Adventures of Sinbad. 400+ film/TV credits as stunt coordinator/action director. Awards: Award of Excellence (Canadian International Film Festival); Genre Award for Best Suspense (BNFF); Derek F. Mitchell Artistic Director's Award, Tyrone Guthrie Award (Stratford); Judges' Choice Award (15 Minutes of Fame International Film Festival); Best Short Award nominee (Directors' Guild of Canada). Online: johnstead.com; IMDB: imdb.com/name/nm0824093/.
    Anita Nittoly
    Associate Fight Director
    2017: Associate fight director of Twelfth Night, Guys and Dolls, HMS Pinafore, Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens, Treasure Island, The School for Scandal, The Changeling, Bakkhai and The Virgin Trial.  Second season. Stratford: Assistant fight director: The Three Musketeers, Romeo and Juliet, Fiddler on the Roof, Blithe Spirit, Othello, Measure for Measure, Mary Stuart. Film/TV: Lead stunt double in Dark Matter, stunt actor in KIN; other stunt credits include 12 Monkeys, Ransom, Reign, The Strain. Elsewhere: Fight director and stage combat instructor at the National Theatre School in Montreal.
    Katrina Darychuk
    Assistant Director
     2017: Assistant director of The Virgin Trial. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Cecil Green House); To the Dead (Brave New); Saudade (Theatre Plexus); This is War (TREMORS Rumble Theatre); Bodybag (Mosaic Theatre). Training: Studio 58, Langara College, Oxford School of Drama. Et cetera: Katrina is a director and has worked as a voice coach for Bard on the Beach and the Vancouver Film School. She is a member of the Soulpepper Academy and is delighted to be a part of Stratford this season.
    Meghan Callan
    Stage Manager/Production Stage Manager
    2017: Production stage manager of the Studio Theatre and stage manager of The Virgin Trial. 17th season. Stratford: Meghan has worked on many productions including A Little Night Music, The Physicists, A Midsummer Night's Dream (2014), Tommy, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Tempest (2010). Elsewhere: Meghan enjoyed working across Canada for the Shaw Festival, Atlantic Theatre Festival, Theatre New Brunswick, NAC, Citadel Theatre, Globe Theatre and Lighthouse Festival Theatre. She has also worked in stage management for corporate clients such as General Motors, Toyota Canada, the Retail Council of Canada and the Canadian International Auto Show. Training: BFA, York University. Et cetera: Much love and respect to Beatrice, Ella and Peter for making her happy.
    Loreen Gibson
    Assistant Stage Manager

    2017: Assistant stage manager of The Virgin Trial and The Madwoman of Chaillot. Fourth season. Stratford:Possible Worlds, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Dangerous Liaisons, The Tempest, Kiss Me, Kate, As You Like It. Elsewhere (selected): Stage manager for the 2016 Siminovitch Prize celebration and Moonlodge; assistant stage manager: A Christmas Carol, Anne and Gilbert: The Musical, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Sound of Music, The Glace Bay Miners' Museum (co-production with Neptune Theatre) (National Arts Centre); The Marriage of Figaro, Tosca, Carmen (Opera Lyra Ottawa); The Ladies Foursome, Man of La Mancha (Globe Theatre); Metamorphosis (Mirvish Productions); Circle, Mirror, Transformation (Great Canadian Theatre Company); Civil Elegies (Soulpepper); The December Man (L'homme de décembre) (Canadian Stage).  Training: BFA in Design and Production, York University.  Awards: Guthrie Award recipient. Et cetera: Big thanks to family and friends for the love, support and encouragement!

    Christopher Brackett
    Apprentice Stage Manager
    2017: Apprentice stage manager of Romeo and Juliet and The Virgin Trial. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Head guardian of Matilda the Musical (first U.S. national tour); guardian and apprentice stage manager of Matilda the Musical (Mirvish Productions); assistant stage manager of Rufus Does Judy, Contemporary Color, If I Loved You: Gentlemen Prefer Broadway (Luminato Festival); event and production coordinator at Ronald McDonald House Charities Southwestern Ontario. Training: Ryerson School of Performance. Awards: Des McAnuff Award for Aptitude in Musical Theatre (2016) and Colm Wilkinson Award for Achievement in Musical Theatre (2015). Et cetera: Much love to mom, dad, and my Maggots!

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