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PODCAST

Stageworthy

Now in its 10th year, Stageworthy is Canada’s theatre podcast, bringing you in-depth interviews with theatre artists, panel discussions, and more. Each week, host Phil Rickaby sits down with the people who make theatre happen: from household names to artists you should know. Whether you"re an audience member, a theatre maker, or just plain curious about Canadian theatre, Stageworthy offers a front-row seat to the conversations shaping the industry. New episodes every Tuesday.

arts performing arts

All Episodes

00:58:37

Kelly Taylor and Hools Kay are Un (Capital F) Famous...

Stageworthy ·

2026/10/06

About This Episode:Kelly Taylor is the kind of artist who doesn't wait for permission. When the roles aren't coming, she writes them. When she doesn't get into fringe, she books her own theatre. When she needs a director, she calls a friend she trusts, Hools Kay. That spirit is exactly what Un (Capital F) Famous is built on: a show about an actress who loses everything and has to find her way back to the art that made her fall in love with performing in the first place. In this conversation, Kelly

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01:08:35

Jay Northcott is Bringing Joy, Blackness, and...

Stageworthy ·

2026/09/29

In this episode:Jay Northcott is a director, educator, and multidisciplinary artist whose work is rooted in joy, specificity, and a deep commitment to centring the full humanity of Black and queer artists. In this conversation, Jay joins Stageworthy host, Phil Rickaby to talk about Bootycandy, Robert O'Hara's wildly funny and emotionally complex play running at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in association with Obsidian Theatre; and why a play written by an American offers a powerful opportunity to

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00:57:42

Erin Shields is Bringing Deaf and Hearing Worlds...

Stageworthy ·

2026/09/22

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01:04:05

Jacklyn Francis on Why Theatre Matters More Than Ever...

Stageworthy ·

2026/09/15

Jacklyn Francis has been making theatre in Canada for more than three decades, and in this conversation she brings the kind of hard-won perspective that only comes from years of navigating the industry's rhythms, disappointments, and genuine joys. In this episode, they talk about what it really feels like to work at a major festival like Stratford, the art of understudying, the strange grief that follows closing night, and much more!Guest: 🎭 Jacklyn Francis Jacklyn Francis is a proud Canadian

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01:11:22

Curtis Campbell has something to say about AI in the...

Stageworthy ·

2026/09/08

In this episode Curtis Campbell joins host Phil Rickaby to talk about AI in the theatre. In the lead up to this summer's Toronto Fringe, it was noticed that a number of shows were using AI generated posters, which sparked a discourse on social media about whether Generative AI should be used in the Fringe and beyond. This conversation spread to the Edinburgh Fringe, where AI generated posters were also seen.In this episode Curtis and Phil talk about AI, its use in the arts, and whether AI should be

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00:58:33

Sara Farb is Bringing one of Musical Theatre's Great...

Stageworthy ·

2026/09/01

About this episodeSara Farb is a veteran of the Canadian theatre stage, having made her debut at the age of 9. Now she's bringing the role of Fanny Brice to life in Shaw Festival's Funny Girl. In this conversation, Sara joins host Phil Rickaby to reflect on the show, writing for the theatre, and what keeps her going. This episode explores What it takes to perform a show like Funny Girl Joining the Shaw Festival for the first time Performing on Broadway in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child That

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01:12:58

Madelaine Rose is Scaring Audiences One Kitchen at a...

Stageworthy ·

2026/08/25

About This Episode:What happens when a self-described field mouse - someone who jumps at a cat's sneeze - decides to write a horror play? You get Passed Down, a one-person horror show about a woman who inherits her great aunt's house and discovers she may have inherited a little more than just the property. Performer, producer, director, and grant writer Madelaine Rose joins Phil to talk about bringing this solo horror play to the Halifax Fringe Festival, and why choosing the kitchen as the setting

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00:56:39

Sharry Flett Is Reflecting on 34 Seasons at the Shaw...

Stageworthy ·

2026/08/18

About This Episode:Sharry Flett has spent 34 seasons at the Shaw Festival - long enough to have watched the company evolve through three artistic directors, raise a daughter who appeared on its stages, and welcome back former students she once coached as the people now directing her. In this conversation with host Phil Rickaby, Sharry reflects on what keeps drawing her back to Niagara-on-the-Lake, and what it felt like to walk into rehearsals for Wind in the Willows and find Fiona Sauder, André

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00:55:52

Christopher Gaze is Sharing What It Takes to Build a...

Stageworthy ·

2026/08/11

About This Episode:Christopher Gaze is the founder and artistic director of Bard on the Beach, Vancouver's beloved outdoor Shakespeare festival now in its 37th season. In this conversation, Christopher talks with Phil about how a $35,000 co-op startup in 1990 grew into one of Canada's largest theatre companies, drawing 80,000 people a season to a pair of tented stages in Vanier Park overlooking English Bay and the mountains beyond. This episode explores: How Bard on the Beach began in 1990 with

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01:02:35

Ming Hudson is Directing Antigone at Bard on the Beach

Stageworthy ·

2026/08/04

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00:56:19

Tim Carroll is making the Shaw Festival into a...

Stageworthy ·

2026/07/28

About This Episode:Tim Carroll has been the artistic director of the Shaw Festival for a decade, and in that time he's reshaped the festival's mandate, expanded its reach into the community, and built a company culture grounded in playfulness, humility, and genuine artistic ambition. This episode explores: How Tim balances directing two major productions, Heartbreak House and Amadeus, in a single season, and why Tom Rooney is at the centre of both The economics of theatre: why even one of Canada's

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00:56:19

Ryan McCollom is Making Canadian Theatre Impossible...

Stageworthy ·

2026/07/21

About This Episode:Ryan McCollom is a Toronto-based theatre content creator behind the popular TikTok and Instagram account Plates and Playbills, and he's on a mission to get more people through the doors of indie and smaller professional theatres across the city. What started as personal documentation of his own growing love of theatre has evolved into a platform dedicated to closing the gap between the big Mirvish productions most people know and the rich, underserved world of indie and community

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01:01:05

Peter Fernandes is Making His Directing Debut at the...

Stageworthy ·

2026/07/14

About This Episode: Peter Fernandes is many things at once: an award-winning actor, a magic and illusions designer, and now a first-time director at one of Canada's most celebrated theatre festivals. In this conversation, Peter joins Phil to talk about what it's like to make your directing debut with Sleuth at the Shaw Festival, a mystery that demands the same sleight-of-hand thinking Peter has honed as a magic practitioner. The terror of stepping into a new role, the joy of being trusted with it,

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00:56:18

Natalie Kaye is Channelling Harpo Marx, Mae West, and...

Stageworthy ·

2026/07/07

About This Episode: Playwright and writer Natalie Kaye joins Phil Rickaby to talk about her wildly ambitious new musical, 1920s Walking Around in a Dream, playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival. The show is a screwball comedy set in an imagined 1920s Jazz Age Chicago, and it's a retelling of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, translated not into modern English, but into the heightened, slang-drenched language of the Jazz Age. It's a project Natalie has been quietly nurturing for at least a

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01:17:36

Your Guide to the 2026 Toronto Fringe, with Four of...

Stageworthy ·

2026/06/30

About This Episode: As the Toronto Fringe Festival prepares to launch, Phil Rickaby gathers four of Toronto's most dedicated theatre content creators (Janine Marley from A View from the Box, Ryan Borochovitz from The Cup Podcast, Alexandra Lean from Being Dramatic, and Ryan McCollom from Plates & Playbills) for a lively live stream preview of the 2026 festival. Together they dig into what makes Fringe such a unique and exciting event, share their personal histories with the festival, and break

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01:10:24

Marla Torgerson is Bringing her Show about Breaking...

Stageworthy ·

2026/06/25

About This Episode: In this episode, Phil sits down with Marla Torgerson, a Calgary-based singer-songwriter and classically trained vocalist who has written and performs her debut theatrical work, Sinner, a one-woman musical tragic comedy about growing up in the evangelical Bible Belt of central Alberta and the long, often painful process of leaving fundamentalist religion behind. What starts as a conversation about a show becomes a wide-ranging, deeply personal discussion between two people who

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01:00:08

Chris Cracknell is Making Theatre About Online...

Stageworthy ·

2026/06/23

About this episode: Chris Cracknell is a Hamilton-based composer, musician, performer, and web series creator who has channelled a pandemic-era creative crisis into something genuinely extraordinary: a non-canonical musical adventure called Pookumhura Mistress of B-Roll, playing at Theatre Passe-Muraille as part of the Toronto Fringe's Musical Theatre Hub. The show draws on Chris's nearly two decades as a World of Warcraft player, but don't let that fool you into thinking you need to know anything

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01:03:27

Victoria Sullivan is Forcing Ontario's Premier to...

Stageworthy ·

2026/06/18

Read transcriptAbout This Episode:What would happen if a newly elected Premier of Ontario was forced to live on minimum wage? That's the provocative — and deeply funny — question at the heart of Minimum, the political satire written and performed by Victoria Sullivan. After winning Best in Venue at the 2025 Hamilton Fringe Festival, Victoria is bringing the show to Toronto Fringe, and the timing couldn't feel more apt. Victoria is an actor, playwright, and producer based in Hamilton, working under

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00:53:42

Kathleen Welch is Bringing Dark Celtic Mythology to...

Stageworthy ·

2026/06/16

Read transcriptAbout This Episode:Kathleen Welch is a playwright, composer, director, and actor, and one of the founding members of The Spindle Collective; the Toronto-based company making some of the most compelling horror theatre in Canada right now. She joined Phil to talk about Siofra, Spindle Collective's latest show, which opens at the Red Sandcastle Theatre on June 17th. Rooted in the Irish mythology of changeling babies, Siofra is the second in a trilogy of folklore-inspired horror plays

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00:50:40

Taylor Trowbridge is bringing DADS to Toronto Fringe

Stageworthy ·

2026/06/11

About This Episode: What do we really know about our dads — and what have we never been able to say out loud? Taylor Trowbridge joins Phil to talk about her new solo show Dads, playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival. Part stand-up, part storytelling, part audience game, the show invites people to sit with the full range of their experiences with their fathers: the funny, the complicated, and the quietly unresolved. Taylor and Phil dig into the generational forces that shaped so many dads — wartime

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