May lives on a tiny island surrounded by friends, family, and the occasional martini-swilling ghost. The only problem? May's island is sinking, and she can't get anyone to pay attention.
As May stages a very personal protest to bring attention to this looming disaster, we begin to see her struggles are not just external. What's really sinking here? And can May do what needs to be done before it's too late?
From the author of 2024’s smash hit With Love and a Major Organ.
WORLD PREMIERE | SURREALISTIC DRAMA (with some very funny bits)
I Am An Island
Summer Season
May 27th - June 7th 2026
Opening May 29th
CAST
Ben – Nick Dolan
Grandma – Barbara Gordon
May – Siobhan O’Malley
April – Brianna Rodrigues
Sandra – Kelly Van der Burg
CREATIVE TEAM
Playwright – Julia Lederer
Director – Allison Plamondon
Lighting Designer – Darren Burkett
Sound Designer – Adam Campbell
Stage Manager – Wendy Ewert
Set Designer – Ariel Slack
Costume Designer – Jennie Wonnacott
I Am An Island is supported by these wonderful people:
Show Sponsor Lucille Roch
Production Supporters
Thomas R Verny and Sandra Collier, Linda MacDonald & Thomas Gray, Fiona Mongillo
Meet the Cast
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Selected Credits: Billy Cane in Bright Star (Mirvish), Gordon in Rent, Prince Escalus in Romeo & Juliet, Seth Soakem in London Assurance (Stratford Festival); Jason Powers in The Louder We Get (Theatre Calgary); Sloane Sherman in Killing Time, Dean in Iris Says Goodbye (Mixtape Projects); Demetrius/Snout in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Driftwood Theatre); Andrej in Once (Theatre St. John’s); Jonathan Harker in Written in Blood (Talk is Free Theatre). Film/TV: Partum; recurring principal on Locke & Key; No. 8 Reporting. Training: BFA, Toronto Metropolitan University. Et cetera: Special thanks to Mia at The Characters, to my brother Sean and parents Jen and John, and to my partner Sara. I love you all.
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Barbara has spent over 50 happy years as an actress in Canada. She has performed in theatres across the country, from the Belfry, the Playhouse, Citadel, Downstage, Theatre Calgary and Alberta Theatre Projects, The Globe, RMTC, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Centaur, 2B, and Mulgrave Coop, to every major Toronto theatre, most recently as Polonius in Why Not Theatre’s tours of Prince Hamle
Selected work in television includes The Testaments, Boston Blue, The Boys, Best Laid Plans, Little Mosque on the Prairie, Wonderland, and several Hallmark MOWs.
Film work has included Learning to Love Again, Skinwalkers, Hyper Cube, Men with Brooms, Dead Ringers, Three to Tango.
She is married to writer Douglas Rodger and has two children, Melody and Dougal and two brilliant grandchildren. She enjoys volunteer work and life at the cottage.
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Selected Theatre Credits: Jill Banford in The Fox, Jessica in Spit, Belle in Post Alice, Rory in A Hundred Words for Snow, Rue in Whack! (Here For Now Theatre); Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion (Guild Festival Theatre); Fanny in Mary of Shanty Bay (Theatre by the Bay); Mary in Mary’s Wedding, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Festival Players of Prince Edward County); Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (The Secret Shakespeare Series); Catherine Givings in In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), Martha in Spring Awakening, Rosalind in As You Like It, and Yelena in Uncle Vanya (The Lir). Training: Honours BA in Acting, The Lir National Academy of Dramatic Art (Trinity College Dublin/RADA). Siobhan is an Artistic Associate and Marketing Coordinator with Here For Now Theatre.
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After participating in Not Just Empty Space’s reading last summer, Brianna is both so excited and so honoured to be returning to the Here For Now theatre stage sans script in her hands! Growing up in Montreal, Brianna’s biggest passion in life was the arts, which meant she always knew she wanted to be a part of what makes theatre so special. Be it through acting, singing, or lightly tapping her toes, she loves to entertain. Some of her other credits include Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Cat in the Hat in Seussical! The Musical. She would like to thank her partner and parents for their endless support, and Fiona Mongillo for giving her this chance to do what she loves.
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This will be Kelly’s Here For Now Theatre debut! Previous theatre credits include Buying The Farm (Drayton Entertainment), Perfect Wedding (Upper Canada Playhouse), Renovations for Six (Aquarius), Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Leroy Street Theatre). Her recent on-screen roles include a supporting role in the limited series Borje, as well as a guest star in Heartland (CBC) and lead in the MOW Belle on Wheels. Previously, Kelly shot lead roles in the CBC web series Decoys and as “Tess” in the Canadian indie Body and Bones. She is featured in New Line Cinema’s IT 2, and FOX TV’s feature reboot Rocky Horror Picture Show directed by Kenny Ortega. She is a graduate of the CBC Actors Conservatory.
Meet the Creative Team
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An acclaimed writer, Julia's plays have been produced across North America and in Europe and her films have screened at festivals including SXSW, TIFF, and Palm Springs. Recent productions: Gather (with Julie Ritchey, MTYP), FLIES (Bombshell Dance Collective @ Dallas’ AT&T Performing Arts Center), and With Love and a Major Organ (Here For Now). Now often in LA, she is developing The Minister of Loneliness in Circle X Theatre’s Evolving Playwrights Group. Julia's award-winning feature film adaptation of With Love and a Major Organ, is streaming on Fandora (CAN) and Prime (US). Upcoming: With Love... @Cyrano's Theatre in Alaska.
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Allison is passionate about directing new works. Canadian highlights include Walking Home (Theatre Centre) and writer/director/choreo for And I Never Stopped Dancing (Smile Theatre). New York City premieres include Memory Home (HB Studio Resident Artist), What’s YOUR Problem?! (Wild Project/Ars Nova), The Greater and Lesser Edmunds of the World and President’s Day (both for Greenhouse Ensemble), and director/choreo/concept for The Tchaikovsky Vignettes (HB Studio Resident Artist). She also directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the 14th St Y. Allison is a member of the first all-female creative team to receive Opera America’s Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer prize (2021-22) for Orfeo Ed Euridice and was the apprentice director on Orphee+ with Edmonton Opera. Also a choreographer, highlights include Kimberly Akimbo (Segal/Mirvish), White Christmas, Damn Yankees, and Holiday Inn for the Shaw Festival, as well as choreography for the Oscar-winning short film, Curfew. Off-Broadway assistant work includes Make Mine Manhattan (Associate, Connelly Theatre), Freckleface Strawberry (Associate, New World Stages) and an SDCF Observership with Kathleen Marshall on Bells Are Ringing for City Center Encores.
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Darren is thrilled to be back for the whole summer season at HFN! Previous Design work: Apples in Winter [Set, Lighting and Costume], Dinner with the Duchess [Set in a co-pro with Crows Theatre], 12 Dinners [Set], Life Without [Set and Costume], The Fox [Set] (Here For Now), Legally Blonde [Set] (Metro Theatre), Wizard of Oz [Set] (Pulse Productions), Something Rotten, Seussical The Musical [Set], Mamma Mia! [Set and Lighting] (Secondary Characters), and multiple set and lighting designs for dance and theatre schools in Vancouver. As an actor, he has worked across the globe. Many thanks to the whole HFN team for the unwavering trust in me, and his family, friends and especially Hunter for their never ending love and support!
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Adam Campbell is a Dora-nominated composer, sound designer and musician. Originally from Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Adam has worked as sound designer/composer with Stratford Festival, Blyth Festival, Human Body Expression, Tarragon Theatre, Canadian Stage, Here For Now Theatre, Edmonton Opera, Capitol Theatre and more. Adam made his Here For Now debut as sound designer and composer for 2025’s Reproduktion, and is thrilled to join HFN for several productions this season. Adam has toured and performed throughout North America as a percussionist with TorQ Percussion Quartet and Ladom Ensemble, and regularly plays in the pit for musical theatre productions with companies such as Mirvish Productions and Stratford Festival. In 2019, Adam released his debut solo singer-songwriter album, Guess I’m A People Too, featuring a mix of folk, rock and 90’s-tinged original music. Adam currently lives in Stratford, Ontario, with his wife Alice and their cats Ninja and Nazca.
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Delighted to be back as Stage Manager with Here For Now! Past stage management experience includes various with Here For Now; numerous shows for summer seasons and fundraisers at Victoria Playhouse Petrolia; A Stratford Christmas (Stratford Arts and Culture Collective); I Love a Piano, Hollywood Sings (Drayton Entertainment); Dracula: A Chamber Musical, Ballycroy (INNERchamber); Starbright Christmas (Stratford Festival, Imperial Theatre, VPP); and various for D2 Entertainment and Musical Theatre Productions.
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Ariel Slack is a multidisciplinary artist who writes, performs, and designs, and is currently Props Buyer at the Stratford Festival. Some theatre companies they have worked for as a set designer include Carousel Theatre, Geekenders, Tumbleweeds Theatre, Ensemble Theatre Company, the frank theatre, and now… Here For Now! Ariel has also been an assistant designer at the Stratford Festival on 5 shows, and was the winner of the 2022 Cultchivating the Fringe Award (Vancouver Fringe Festival) for their one person show How to Believe in Anything. They are a Jessie Award nominee, an Ovation Award winner, and completed their first international tour with Tumbleweeds Theatre's show A Little Green Leaf last fall. Proud associate member of ADC and Studio 58 grad. See more at: https://arielslack.squarespace.com/
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Jennie has enjoyed a two-decade theatre career as a costume cutter and tailor, designer and professor. As a theatre professional that takes joy in the success of her peers, Jennie recently made the switch to a career in art administration to assist in facilitating what artists do best! Select design credits include 12 Angry Men and Steel Magnolias(Drayton Entertainment), and The Magic Flute (UWO). Jennie has surpassed 24 seasons at the Stratford Festival in wardrobe production. She is the 2016 recipient of the Pauline McGibbon award, and recently completed an MA is Arts Leadership from Queens University.
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I Am An Island is produced by permission of Julia Lederer.