From Nobel Laureate Jon Fosse—Norway’s master playwright, poet, and novelist—comes Suzannah, an intimate and lyrical portrait of Henrik Ibsen’s remarkable wife.
Three Suzannahs—young, middle-aged, and old—share the stage, weaving memory, longing, and wit into a haunting exploration of love, art, and the cost of genius.
A rare English-language premiere and a coup for Here For Now audiences, Suzannah invites us inside the mind of a woman history nearly forgot.
CANADIAN PREMIERE | DRAMA
Suzannah
Summer Season
August 19th - 30th 2026
Opening August 21st
CAST
The Old Suzannah – Rosemary Dunsmore
The Middle-Aged Suzannah – Fiona Mongillo
The Young Suzannah – Brianna Rodrigues
CREATIVE TEAM
Playwright – Jon Fosse
Translator – Dr. May-Brit Akerholt
Director – Peter Hinton-Davis
Set and Costume Designer – Christina Poddubiuk
Stage Manager – Sam Snyders
Suzannah is supported by these wonderful people:
Show Sponsor: Claire Bickley and Mark Yakabuski
Production Supporters: Edith and Marcel Van Hulle, The Leonor and friends
Meet the Cast
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Rosemary Dunsmore is an award-winning actress, director, and teacher, with a career that has taken her across Canada, the United States, and Europe. She received the ACTRA Award for Best Female
Performance for her work in the independent feature The Baby Formula, directed by Alison Reid, and has earned multiple Gemini nominations, as well as an Earl Grey Award for her performance in CBC’s Blind Faith.
A four-season company member at the Stratford Festival, Dunsmore’s theatre roles include Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Celia in As You Like It, and Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire. She was awarded a Dora Award for Straight Ahead / Blind Dancers, and was also awarded the Masque Award for her performance in Wit, becoming the first English speaking actress to receive the honour. Other recent theatre credits include The Saviour with Here For Now Theatre Company, Wildwoman with Bailie Theatre at the Young Centre, and Public Enemy with Canadian Stage.
Not limited to her talents on stage, Dunsmore is also an accomplished theatre director, with notable productions including Jane Eyre, Measure for Measure, Whale Music, Sexy Laundry, Wuthering Heights, and Fighting Words, the last of which earned her a Dora Award nomination as Best Director.
On screen, Dunsmore is well known for her work in Anne of Avonlea for Disney/ABC TV, and the title role in Mom P.I.for CBC. Other recent notable television appearances include Chucky for Syfy, Three Pines for Amazon, Orphan Black for CTV, Fellow Travelers for Showtime, and Good Sam for CBS. Film projects include To Catch a Killer with Shailene Woodley, Orphan with Vera Farmiga, and the Canadian cult classic How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town, directed by Jeremy LaLonde.
Dunsmore teaches extensively across Canada and served as Actor-in-Residence for fifteen years at the Canadian Film Centre. She was named to Maclean’s Honour Roll of Canadians Who Make a Difference in 1990.
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Fiona is the Founding Artistic Director of Here For Now Theatre Company. Selected credits include Flora in Reproduction (HFN), The Farm Show: Then & Now and Resort to Murder at The Blyth Festival, the Canadian Premiere of Girls & Boys as part of the HFN 2022 season and the Crow’s Theatre 2023 season, Angelina in Whack! (HFN), Senta von Schrader in Framed (Lighthouse), Louise in The Enchantment (HERE Arts, NYC); Bessie in The Young Ladies of Baddeck (Theatre Baddeck); Rose in Eigengrau, Elisabeth in Laundryand Bourbon (HFN).
Selected Film Credits: Constance Weatherly/Madeline Tomkins in Murdoch Mysteries (CBC); Donald’s Secretary in The Apprentice (Ali Abbasi/Apprentice Productions).
Directing: Post Alice (HFN).
Training: BFA in Acting, UBC; MA in Classical Acting, LAMDA.
Awards: 2022 Best Actress in a Play (Ontario Stage).
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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
Meet the Creative Team
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Jon Fosse was born 1959 in Haugesund on the Norwegian west coast. His immense œuvre written in Nynorsk Norwegian and spanning a variety of genres consists of a wealth of plays, novels, short stories, poetry, essays, children’s books, and translations. His work has been translated into more than forty languages, and he is today one of the most widely performed playwrights in the world.
Jon Fosse has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Hedda Award, the most prestigious award in Norwegian theatre, and Austria’s Nestroy Theatre Prize for Best Play. In 2005 Jon Fosse was made a Commander in the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and in 2007 he was made a Knight in France’s National Order of Merit. Jon Fosse was awarded the International Ibsen Award in 2010, the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2015, and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2023.
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Peter Hinton-Davis has directed over 250 projects for theatre and opera since 1984. Past directing credits include: Major Barbara, The Shadow of a Doubt, An Octoroon, Pygmalion, (Shaw Festival), Powers and Gloria, (Blyth Festival), A Doll’s House, (Segal Centre), The Hooves Belonged to the Deer by Makram Ayache (Tarragon/In Arms Collective), Das Rheingold, (Edmonton Opera), Hadrian by Rufus Wainwright/Daniel MacIvor (Canadian Opera Company).
Peter was Artistic Director of English Theatre at Canada’s National Arts Centre (2005-2012). He is the recipient of numerous Canadian theatre awards, and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2009.
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Dr May Brit Akerholt has extensive experience as translator of drama, prose and poetry, as well as production dramaturg of classic and contemporary plays. More than 20 of her play translations, mainly but not exclusively from Norwegian, have been produced by leading theatre companies around Australia, and some overseas. Her published translations include several plays by Ibsen and Strindberg; plays by Jon Fosse: four volumes of plays (Oberon Books, London); two novels: The Boathouse; Trilogy; Essays; (Dalkey Archive Press/ Deep Vellum); and Poems, Shift Fox Press. Her most recent publications are translations of Ruth Lillegraven’s poems Sickle (Seagull Books), Mantra Contra Mantra a book of poetry by Ivar Orvedal and reprints of Jon Fosse’s novels Trilogy and The Boathouse. A number of her critical articles have been published in various books and journals.
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Sam is an emerging theatre artist from Mitchell, Ontario, glad to be back for his third season at Here For Now. Previously at HFN, Sam stage-managed Apples in Winter, Humour Me, Stick Around, The Saviour, and Paul and Linda Plan a Threesome, and sound-designed The Rules of Playing Risk. No stranger to the Rose McQueen Stage, Sam also played Aaron in last year's Forget About Tomorrow. Other acting credits include Boris Trigorin in The Seagull (Strands of the Night), Pierre in Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (AUTS McGill), Jason in Medea (Player's Theatre) and Moe in Pomona (Moyse Hall). Sam recently graduated from McGill University with a BA in English: Drama & Theatre. Thank you, always, to his family and friends for their constant support.