Festival 2019 season announcement
Get ready to grab your summer seat!
Each summer we are able to pair a quality big city theatre experience with the welcome and appeal of small town rural hospitality. Our productions take place in the historic Town Hall 1873 – Centre for the Performing Arts in downtown Port Perry and other local locations, all close to the waterfront, restaurants, shopping and accommodations. Take advantage of our Season, Family or Doubleheader ticket packages and plan some extra Port Perry time into your theatre visit.
Announcing Our Festival 2019 Summer Season
July 3 – August 16, Port Perry, Ontario
Willow Quartet Musical (world premiere) book and lyrics by Joan Burrows & Ron Cameron-Lewis, music and lyrics by Jason Saunders
The Wind in the Willows by John Morley (from the book by Kenneth Grahame)
Tempting Providence by Robert Chafe
The Valley by Joan MacLeod
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Venus In Fur by David Ives
We will once again captivate audiences next July and August with another diverse slate of entertaining and compelling plays* - three Canadian works (including a world premiere musical), a beloved children’s classic, the quintessential Victorian comedy and a provocative look at power and sexuality.
Leading our Festival 2019 season is the world premiere of the musical adaptation of Joan Burrow’s Willow Quartet. Co-written with Ron Cameron Lewis, with music by Jason Saunders, Willow Quartet (musical) is the heartwarming story of one couple’s recovery from grief and has been workshopped at Sheridan College in the same play development program that gave the world Come From Away.
Next up is The Wind In The Willows, a family friendly production of the classic book by Kenneth Grahame. The Wind In The Willows follows the adventures and misadventures of Toad, Ratty, Mole and Badger as they foil Weasel’s plot to take over Toad Hall.
We return to Newfoundland with Robert Chafe’s Tempting Providence, an evocative telling of Canadian pioneering “legend” Myra Bennett, an Englishwoman who volunteered to serve as a nurse along the remote rugged coast, “only until the road comes”.
Fourth in the season line up is The Valley by Joan MacLeod, a timely and powerful perspective on the complex issue of police interaction with the mentally ill.
As August gets underway, we are delighted to present what is considered by many to be one of the most brilliant comedy’s written, Oscar Wilde’s commentary on Victorian society, The Importance of Being Earnest.
The season closes with a battle of wits of a different kind in David Ives’ Venus in Fur, a sharp provocative tour de force inspired by the erotic novel of the same name by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.
Gift certificates are already available for season subscription packages and patrons can take advantage of our holiday gift pricing to save 25% on either a pair of tickets for a single show or a full season. Packages purchased before December 20 will receive an added holiday bonus - purchasers will be automatically entered into a draw to win a private, in-home performance by our Theatre on the Ridge artists.
Click here to get your gift certificates now!
Follow us on Facebook @theatreontheridgeportperry to stay informed on all the details yet to come, including performance dates and news on more Festival 2019 events and programs, such as Pine Grove Plots and a playwright in residence workshop.
We’re excited about our upcoming season and we invite you to join us on the ridge in 2019!
Carey Nicholson,
Artistic Director
*productions subject to change