Pegeen and the Pilgrim
(Reading Series)
Sponsored by Loreena McKennitt
Tickets to this free event will become available July 30th and must be booked online.
Twelve-year-old Pegeen O’Hara lives in the quiet town of Stratford, Ontario. She helps her mother run a boarding house after the death of her father and they are putting her brother Kerry through university. There just never seems to be enough time or money, and Pegeen’s dreams of becoming an actress seem hopeless. Then an extraordinary thing happens – a Shakespearean festival is planned for Stratford. As the festival develops, so does Pegeen. She learns a great deal about Shakespeare, the boarders at home, and she develops a new circle of friends, including a mysterious pilgrim. Adapted for stage by Brigit Wilson from the beloved novel by Lyn Cook.
August 14th - August 22nd
Cast and Creative
Written and Directed by: Brigit Wilson
Assistant Director: Stacy Smith
Cast: Emily Birrell, Zoë Brown, Steve Ross, Ijeoma Emesowum and Nigel Bennett
Brigit Wilson
For the Stratford Festival: The Merry Wives of Windsor, Othello, The Front Page, Coriolanus, Napoli Milionaria!, School for Scandal, Macbeth, As You Like It, Hypochondriac, Pericles, Alchemist, Swanne, All's Well, Quiet in the Land, Hunchback, Count of Monte Cristo, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Orpheus Descending (Stratford, MTC, Mirvish), Merchant of Venice, The Comedy of Errors, An Ideal Husband, Three Sisters, Bartholomew Fair, Peter Pan, Grapes of Wrath, King John, Christina, Mother Courage Elsewhere: Agamemnon (Next Stage); Narcisse Mondoux (Grand); Come Back to the Five and Dime (Grand/Five & Dime Productions – Dora nomination); Enron (Theatre Calgary); The Merry Wives of Windsor, Glorious, Man of La Mancha (TBTB); The Ballad of Stompin' Tom, Another Season's Harvest (Blyth); The Odd Couple (Segal). TV: Harriet Sims, The Campbells (four seasons). Film: Beyond Innocence, Anne of Avonlea, The Marriage Bed, Echoes in the Darkness, Lustre. Online: Twitter @HOOPOOHEART.
Stacy Smith
Stacy is an actor and arts educator. Appearing onstage with Drayton Entertainment, Theatre Aquarius, Neptune Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick, Eastern Front, Ships Company, Atlantic Theatre Festival, Luna Sea and Off The Leash. She has worked extensively in television and film, selected credits include Frankie Drake, Designated Survivor, Murdoch Mysteries, The Detail, Rookie Blue, Sex & Violence, Sebastian, Blackbird, Jessie Stone, Robson Arms, Relative Chaos, Blessed Stranger, Single Mom, Marion Bridge, Wake, New Waterford Girl and many more. Stacy also teaches at Theatre Aquarius Theatre School and Fanshawe College, and loves to play tennis (she hopes practicing softball will help her with her tennis serve). https://stacysmith.ca
Emily Birrell
Emily is 14 years old and from a very young age had a passion for acting, singing and dancing. Emily made her debut with the Stratford Festival in 2019 in Billy Elliot the Musical and was awarded the Guthrie ‘Ellen Ross Stuart local jobber’ award by the Festival. Other favourite credits include; It’s Morning Now (Hamilton Players Guild), 2 years with Ballet Jörgen’s The Nutcracker and several television commercials often playing the ‘red-head daughter or sister’. Emily is passionate about her training as a ‘triple threat’ and has been working with some of the best in the industry; Stella Adler Acting School New York & Creative Theatre Company (Acting), Eric Charboneau (Vocal) and Meyerhofer Academy Of Dance & In The Wings (Dance). Emily participates in the Kiwanis Music Festivals and was recently awarded first place in both musical theatre, vocal and won top overall in her age category. Emily is so excited to be a part of this world premiere & magical show in the role of Pegeen. Many thanks to everyone at Here For Now Theatre for this wonderful opportunity!
Zoë Brown
Theatre: Gretl in The Sound of Music; Elizabeth Squires,Amaryllis u/s in The Music Man; Margaret Gormley,Debbie u/s in Billy Elliot (Stratford Festival); Susan Walker in Miracle on 34th Street (Neptune Theatre); Small Allison in Fun Home (Calithumpian); Estelle Tremblay in The Hockey Sweater: A Musical (NAC, Segal Centre); Belinda/Little Fan in A Christmas Carol (Soulpepper); Tootie in Meet Me In St. Louis (CMTP); Chip in Beauty and the Beast, Honk!, Joseph…, Peter Pan, Aladdin (Drayton Entertainment); Ivonka in Once, Young Shrek in Shrek, Elf (Grand Theatre); The Nutcracker (Ballet Jorgen); The Nutcracker (National Ballet of Canada)
Film/TV: Odd Squad (PBS, TVOkids); Anne with an E (CBC, Netflix): Toothbrush Song and Hair music videos (CBC Kids); The Roots of Men (Chris Di Staulo); Lucas (CFC)
Other: Conservatory Canada Regional Gold Medal Vocalist; highest mark vocal exam (2016, 2019, 2020); ORMTA Provincial winner (vocal composition 2019 and piano composition 2016); Full time student at Canada’s National Ballet School.
Upcoming projects include Little Women with KWMP and Misfits with Yellow Door Theatre Company.
Many thanks to Fiona and the whole team at Here for Now Theatre Company for the opportunity to be a part of this project!
Steve Ross
16 seasons with The Stratford Festival including Rocky Horror, Guys & Dolls, The Grapes of Wrath, Hamlet, Fiddler on the Roof, Tommy, Comedy of Errors, To Kill a Mockingbird, Man of La Mancha and Cyrano de Bergerac. Elsewhere: Every Brilliant Thing, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again (New Stages), Assassins (TIFT), London Road, Dream, Into the Woods (Canadian Stage), Seussical, Sylvia (Theatre Aquarius), Fleeto, Oh, the Humanity, 4th Graders (Tiny Room), The Producers (Mirvish), Three Musketeers (Chicago Shakespeare), Three Sisters (ATF). Directing: Sunday in the Park with George (TIFT), Vigil (New Stages), Stratford Miscast (PALStratford), This Thing Called Love (Stratford Summer Music), The Victory Cabaret (Stratford Festival), Floyd Collins (Stratford Players).
Ijeoma Emesowum
Stratford local and playground frequenter, catch Ijeoma on STRATFEST@Home as the Host of Showstarters and Sonnet improviser in Undiscovered Sonnets, and in Soulpepper’s Radio Play production of Death and the King's Horseman. In 2020, she made pandemic lemonade in Here For Now’s Instant Theatre and played both Juliet and Mercutio in Spontaneous Theatre's four-person production of Romeo & Juliet in a hotel parking garage!
She has appeared in over 31 productions, over 10 seasons between The Stratford Festival and The Shaw Festival including The Crucible, As You Like It, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Stratford), Major Barbara, Serious Money, Ragtime (Shaw). She also appears in six of the Stratford Festival HD Productions.
Other notable productions include: A Christmas Carol (Theatre New Brunswick), Binti's Journey (Theatre Direct), The Aftermath (Nightwood).
She is a graduate of the Stratford Festival Birmingham Conservatory (2016–17) and holds a BFA from the University of Windsor.
Nigel Bennett
Nigel has worked in Theatre in England, Holland, Australia, America and of course here in Canada. He appeared in thirteen different productions at the Neptune in Halifax, and has played in Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Hamilton. He has also played in six seasons at the Stratford Festival.
On television, he played the arch villain Lacroix in the the groundbreaking series Forever Knight, for which he received a Gemini Award as best supporting actor, and has played recurring characters in Lexx, Psi Factor, At The Hotel, Murdoch Mysteries, and The Border. His feature film work includes Narrow Margin, with Gene Hackman, Murder at 1600, with Wesley Snipes, and xXx3: The Return of Xander Cage. He also played the Russian agent Mihalkov in the multi Oscar winning The Shape of Water.
His latest work includes the role of Bryan in the CBC series Coroner, and the role of Qiring in the British series Tin Star.
He has been nominated for a Gemini Award four times, and won once, and has been nominated for an ACTRA Award three times, winning twice.