Director: Eleanor Crowder
Ensemble: Hugh Neilson, Beverley Wolfe, and Rachel Eugster
A black comedy about hope and marriage in the face of disaster, The Children by Lucy Kirkwood provokes and intrigues.
There has been an accident at a nearby nuclear plant. In the recovery, three friends confront an impossible question: What is the cost of love?
“Somewhat menacing, and often funny.” –Time Out London
“Tantalisingly hard to define: it is about aging and responsibility.” –Time Out London
Ensemble: Hugh Neilson, Beverley Wolfe, and Rachel Eugster
A black comedy about hope and marriage in the face of disaster, The Children by Lucy Kirkwood provokes and intrigues.
There has been an accident at a nearby nuclear plant. In the recovery, three friends confront an impossible question: What is the cost of love?
“Somewhat menacing, and often funny.” –Time Out London
“Tantalisingly hard to define: it is about aging and responsibility.” –Time Out London
MEDIA
The Children asks tough yet hopeful questions
By Bruce Burwell on February 26, 2025, for Apt613
The Children is a black comedy by Lucy Kirkwood that uses a major nuclear disaster as a plot device to explore a wide range of moral and ethical issues. The play was written a few years after the Fukushima nuclear accident and the setting is a cute seaside cottage just outside the ‘exclusion zone’ of high radiation, near the flooded nuclear plant.
The Children is darkly funny despite its serious topic. The characters are all 60-something, and there is a lot of very sharp humour about life, death, and aging. I laughed out loud quite a few times.
As the play opens in the cottage, Rose (Rachel Eugster) visits Hazel’s (Beverley Wolfe) place and somehow gets her nose bloodied by Hazel. They haven’t seen each other in over 30 years, and in the first part of the play, we learn about their personalities and shared history. Both worked at the failed nuclear plant nearby where Hazel met her husband Robin (Hugh Neilson).
Hazel and Rose offer a stark contrast in their approach to life. Hazel wants to live forever and so eats healthy and practises yoga. She is motivated by having kids and grandkids and one grown daughter who requires a lot of assistance. Rose is single and a hedonist who lives for today, yet has a sense of responsibility about the future.
In the second half of the play, we learn why Rose has travelled to reconnect with Hazel and Robin. The conflict between Rose and Hazel escalates and eventually Hazel stomps off to her bedroom and leaves Robin and Rose alone.
The play ends on a somewhat hopeful note. Yes, the world is damaged and the characters are experiencing their declining years, but they can still make ethical choices that improve the shared future.
The performances in the show were all great. Hugh Neilson as Robin had the least material to work with but came across nicely as the slightly goofy husband attempts to keep the peace with wife Hazel and deal with an old flame.
Beverley Wolfe as Hazel was wonderful. She is dealing with an interloper in her cottage who may have designs on her husband. She radiates anxiety, speaks quickly, and says what she thinks.
The play uses overlapping lines and characters occasionally fumbling for the right word to give an impressive sense of naturalness. Rachel Eugster as Rose is the yang to Hazel’s yin. She is calm and cool and tries not to upset Hazel too much.
Overall, The Children is a fine theatrical experience that poses tough questions, but also entertains.
By Bruce Burwell on February 26, 2025, for Apt613
The Children is a black comedy by Lucy Kirkwood that uses a major nuclear disaster as a plot device to explore a wide range of moral and ethical issues. The play was written a few years after the Fukushima nuclear accident and the setting is a cute seaside cottage just outside the ‘exclusion zone’ of high radiation, near the flooded nuclear plant.
The Children is darkly funny despite its serious topic. The characters are all 60-something, and there is a lot of very sharp humour about life, death, and aging. I laughed out loud quite a few times.
As the play opens in the cottage, Rose (Rachel Eugster) visits Hazel’s (Beverley Wolfe) place and somehow gets her nose bloodied by Hazel. They haven’t seen each other in over 30 years, and in the first part of the play, we learn about their personalities and shared history. Both worked at the failed nuclear plant nearby where Hazel met her husband Robin (Hugh Neilson).
Hazel and Rose offer a stark contrast in their approach to life. Hazel wants to live forever and so eats healthy and practises yoga. She is motivated by having kids and grandkids and one grown daughter who requires a lot of assistance. Rose is single and a hedonist who lives for today, yet has a sense of responsibility about the future.
In the second half of the play, we learn why Rose has travelled to reconnect with Hazel and Robin. The conflict between Rose and Hazel escalates and eventually Hazel stomps off to her bedroom and leaves Robin and Rose alone.
The play ends on a somewhat hopeful note. Yes, the world is damaged and the characters are experiencing their declining years, but they can still make ethical choices that improve the shared future.
The performances in the show were all great. Hugh Neilson as Robin had the least material to work with but came across nicely as the slightly goofy husband attempts to keep the peace with wife Hazel and deal with an old flame.
Beverley Wolfe as Hazel was wonderful. She is dealing with an interloper in her cottage who may have designs on her husband. She radiates anxiety, speaks quickly, and says what she thinks.
The play uses overlapping lines and characters occasionally fumbling for the right word to give an impressive sense of naturalness. Rachel Eugster as Rose is the yang to Hazel’s yin. She is calm and cool and tries not to upset Hazel too much.
Overall, The Children is a fine theatrical experience that poses tough questions, but also entertains.
PREVIEW BY CRISTINA PAOLOZZI OF APT613
The Children blends drama with dark humour at the Gladstone Theatre
The future of our world in the context of natural or man-made disasters is an uneasy topic of discussion. What could these disasters unveil, not only for our communities, but for the people and relationships we hold dear?
Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children explores all of this and more, playing at the Gladstone Theatre from Feb. 19-March 8.
“The Children is about three retired nuclear physicists in the wake of a meltdown at the plant they used to work at,” says RJ Mayo, stage manager of the production. “The play explores their relationships and past history with each other, as well as what responsibility they have to the younger generations who will bear the brunt of the damage resulting from the disaster.”
While the climate crisis is certainly on the top of young peoples’ minds for the future of our world, this performance also includes the duty of care from older perspectives.
“One of the most pertinent questions this play asks is: To what extent are older people responsible to the new generations coming up?” says actor Beverley Wolfe. “We already hear parents say: I don’t want this to be the world that my children inherit; what can we do right NOW.”
Written by Kirkwood, and first performed in London in 2016, this performance includes hints of dark comedy along the backdrop of this nuclear meltdown.
“Lucy Kirkwood is a brilliant writer,” says director Eleanor Crowder. “We chose this script for her combination of mordant wit and wild giddiness. [There’s] lots of Monty Python moments, [with] serious themes and lots of deeply recognizable family moments which dissolve in laughter.”
“The humour is built right into the script,” says actor Rachel Eugster. “The show looks at serious questions, but it does so with immense compassion for the characters. Isn’t humour the best way to deal with real-world decisions of consequence?”
This performance is performed by members of the Bear & Co., a local theatre company which has been putting on compelling works in Ottawa since 2012. Since then, the Ottawa theatre scene has experienced some ups and downs, but this is truly a profession of passion for the team.
“Producing professional indie theatre is not for the faint of heart. We are constantly working to make magic with too few resources, because there are never enough jobs for the number of fabulous theatre artists in town (something the lovely flowering of talent coming out of our universities discovers once they graduate), we (as Bear) have centred our practice on creating the work that we want to do,” says Eugster.
“The biggest change since 2012 has been due, of course, to the pandemic,” she continues. “Because people discovered that they can entertain themselves well at home, theatre has come back more slowly than other industries. But there is nothing like live performance—sitting in a living, breathing audience, sharing the sense that anything could happen—and for the first time since 2019, it feels as though the appetite for theatre has come roaring back.”
“As the youngest member of the team, and as someone who’s very much at the beginning of my theatre career, this project has been really great to work on even aside from what I’m doing as stage manager,” says Mayo. “It’s been a great opportunity to see how people work when they’ve been practicing their craft for decades, and to learn from watching them.”
Ultimately, the team hopes that audiences walk away with something to think about, while also appreciating the poignant humour throughout.
“This show does what theatre does best: entertain while sending you away with solid themes to consider and discuss,” says Crowder. “Each character embodies a different reaction to the circumstances of the play. We sympathise and we criticise. Result: a feast for the audience!”
“I hope that audiences leave the theatre, having seen something worthy and funny and just…human,” says Wolfe. “And go home and research all the catastrophes, natural and human-designed, and have just a good ol’ think about our small planet and how it is constantly changing, not, of course, always for the better. And I hope they think about small/large changes they could make in their own lives.”
The Children blends drama with dark humour at the Gladstone Theatre
The future of our world in the context of natural or man-made disasters is an uneasy topic of discussion. What could these disasters unveil, not only for our communities, but for the people and relationships we hold dear?
Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children explores all of this and more, playing at the Gladstone Theatre from Feb. 19-March 8.
“The Children is about three retired nuclear physicists in the wake of a meltdown at the plant they used to work at,” says RJ Mayo, stage manager of the production. “The play explores their relationships and past history with each other, as well as what responsibility they have to the younger generations who will bear the brunt of the damage resulting from the disaster.”
While the climate crisis is certainly on the top of young peoples’ minds for the future of our world, this performance also includes the duty of care from older perspectives.
“One of the most pertinent questions this play asks is: To what extent are older people responsible to the new generations coming up?” says actor Beverley Wolfe. “We already hear parents say: I don’t want this to be the world that my children inherit; what can we do right NOW.”
Written by Kirkwood, and first performed in London in 2016, this performance includes hints of dark comedy along the backdrop of this nuclear meltdown.
“Lucy Kirkwood is a brilliant writer,” says director Eleanor Crowder. “We chose this script for her combination of mordant wit and wild giddiness. [There’s] lots of Monty Python moments, [with] serious themes and lots of deeply recognizable family moments which dissolve in laughter.”
“The humour is built right into the script,” says actor Rachel Eugster. “The show looks at serious questions, but it does so with immense compassion for the characters. Isn’t humour the best way to deal with real-world decisions of consequence?”
This performance is performed by members of the Bear & Co., a local theatre company which has been putting on compelling works in Ottawa since 2012. Since then, the Ottawa theatre scene has experienced some ups and downs, but this is truly a profession of passion for the team.
“Producing professional indie theatre is not for the faint of heart. We are constantly working to make magic with too few resources, because there are never enough jobs for the number of fabulous theatre artists in town (something the lovely flowering of talent coming out of our universities discovers once they graduate), we (as Bear) have centred our practice on creating the work that we want to do,” says Eugster.
“The biggest change since 2012 has been due, of course, to the pandemic,” she continues. “Because people discovered that they can entertain themselves well at home, theatre has come back more slowly than other industries. But there is nothing like live performance—sitting in a living, breathing audience, sharing the sense that anything could happen—and for the first time since 2019, it feels as though the appetite for theatre has come roaring back.”
“As the youngest member of the team, and as someone who’s very much at the beginning of my theatre career, this project has been really great to work on even aside from what I’m doing as stage manager,” says Mayo. “It’s been a great opportunity to see how people work when they’ve been practicing their craft for decades, and to learn from watching them.”
Ultimately, the team hopes that audiences walk away with something to think about, while also appreciating the poignant humour throughout.
“This show does what theatre does best: entertain while sending you away with solid themes to consider and discuss,” says Crowder. “Each character embodies a different reaction to the circumstances of the play. We sympathise and we criticise. Result: a feast for the audience!”
“I hope that audiences leave the theatre, having seen something worthy and funny and just…human,” says Wolfe. “And go home and research all the catastrophes, natural and human-designed, and have just a good ol’ think about our small planet and how it is constantly changing, not, of course, always for the better. And I hope they think about small/large changes they could make in their own lives.”
PREVIEW BY MCKENZIE DONOVAN OF OTTAWA LIFE MAGAZINE
Bear & Co.’s Upcoming Production ‘The Children’ Poses Questions that Hit Close-To-Home
Self-described as an equity-actor collective that adapts to the needs of each new production, Ottawa’s Bear & Co. is a professional group founded in 2012. Known for performing “Compelling theatre. Close to home,” the company stages productions across Ontario and Eastern Canada.
The Gladstone Theatre will host their latest production, The Children by Lucy Kirkwood, beginning on February 19. The story follows three retired nuclear physicists in the wake of a nuclear disaster. Best described as a black-comedy-drama with serious undertones and unexpected laughs, the play asks a profound question: What is the cost of love? Time Out London described the play as “Tantalisingly hard to define: it is about ageing and responsibility.”
Ottawa Life recently had the opportunity to sit down with the cast to discuss both Bear & Co. and The Children as they wrap up rehearsals for what promises to be a compelling and thought-provoking production. The play was written in response to Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Director Eleanor Crowder examines the themes through both contemporary and historical lenses. She draws parallels to past nuclear crises, including the Three Mile Island disaster and Chernobyl. Reflecting on her own childhood in Belfast during the Cold War, she recalls her parents stockpiling canned peaches in case of nuclear catastrophe. Cast member Rachel Eugster spoke to the relevance of the play’s themes: “I think everyone on this planet has got to remember the terrible things that happened with nuclear energy and meltdowns. I think everyone who sees the play thinks about it—and everyone should.”
Crowder and Eugster first discovered the script after auditioning cast member Beverley Wolfe for a different play. Wolfe had been drawn to the powerful nature of a monologue in The Children, particularly because the role was intentionally written for older women—something rare in theatre. “It’s very rare to get roles for older women,” Wolfe says emphatically. Yet, despite her many years of experience, she radiates youthful energy, filled with excitement about the production.
Kirkwood’s dialogue emphasizes the natural, human quality of the characters in a script that is composed as precisely as a musical score. The actors are called up to interrupt each other, and lines overlap, adding to the realism. Crowder describes the play as tightly structured, much like “an Agatha Christie.” And like the works of the prolific British detective novelist, moral dilemmas are not shied away from. Since the play takes place in the aftermath of a nuclear disaster, one of its most pressing questions is: When we harness nuclear energy, what responsibilities do we have? Who will bear them?
As an outside observer, it’s evident that these descriptions are true to both the script and the cast. Their energy is dynamic, and even in a room filled with laughter, when asked about the play’s target audience, a more reflective undertone remains. With the median age of the performers well above 50, Wolfe is keenly aware of how unique The Children is. After all, she used a monologue from the play to audition for Bear & Co.
The only male cast member, Hugh Neilson, is quieter in comparison yet somehow matches Wolfe’s presence and energy. Eugster, meanwhile, has a reflective quality, as though already looking back on a play that has yet to open. Even within our short conversation, the group’s chemistry was theatrical in itself, making the experience thoroughly engaging.
When The Times of London reviewed a local production of The Children, it described the original production as “Somewhat menacing and often funny.” This Ottawa cast seems poised to bring that very tone to life.
For director Crowder, the play is particularly relevant to the times we live in. “Black comedy deals with serious questions,” she says, adding that she believes theatre should challenge the status quo, particularly in “this particularly odd world we find ourselves living in, in 2025.”
Compelling theatre. Close to home is particularly poignant as Ontario residents are forced to come to terms with the new Chalk River near-surface disposal facility for nuclear waste 180 kilometres Northwest of Ottawa that is set to open on Algonquin First Nation land.
The play runs from Wednesday, February 19 (preview), until Saturday, March 8, 2025, at the Gladstone Theatre, 910 Gladstone Avenue in Ottawa.
Tickets to Bear & Co.’s production of The Children are available on the Gladstone Theatre website at varying prices, including pay-what-you-can Tuesdays, to ensure an accessible production for all.
For more information or to purchase tickets, click here or call 613-233-4523.
Bear & Co.’s Upcoming Production ‘The Children’ Poses Questions that Hit Close-To-Home
Self-described as an equity-actor collective that adapts to the needs of each new production, Ottawa’s Bear & Co. is a professional group founded in 2012. Known for performing “Compelling theatre. Close to home,” the company stages productions across Ontario and Eastern Canada.
The Gladstone Theatre will host their latest production, The Children by Lucy Kirkwood, beginning on February 19. The story follows three retired nuclear physicists in the wake of a nuclear disaster. Best described as a black-comedy-drama with serious undertones and unexpected laughs, the play asks a profound question: What is the cost of love? Time Out London described the play as “Tantalisingly hard to define: it is about ageing and responsibility.”
Ottawa Life recently had the opportunity to sit down with the cast to discuss both Bear & Co. and The Children as they wrap up rehearsals for what promises to be a compelling and thought-provoking production. The play was written in response to Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Director Eleanor Crowder examines the themes through both contemporary and historical lenses. She draws parallels to past nuclear crises, including the Three Mile Island disaster and Chernobyl. Reflecting on her own childhood in Belfast during the Cold War, she recalls her parents stockpiling canned peaches in case of nuclear catastrophe. Cast member Rachel Eugster spoke to the relevance of the play’s themes: “I think everyone on this planet has got to remember the terrible things that happened with nuclear energy and meltdowns. I think everyone who sees the play thinks about it—and everyone should.”
Crowder and Eugster first discovered the script after auditioning cast member Beverley Wolfe for a different play. Wolfe had been drawn to the powerful nature of a monologue in The Children, particularly because the role was intentionally written for older women—something rare in theatre. “It’s very rare to get roles for older women,” Wolfe says emphatically. Yet, despite her many years of experience, she radiates youthful energy, filled with excitement about the production.
Kirkwood’s dialogue emphasizes the natural, human quality of the characters in a script that is composed as precisely as a musical score. The actors are called up to interrupt each other, and lines overlap, adding to the realism. Crowder describes the play as tightly structured, much like “an Agatha Christie.” And like the works of the prolific British detective novelist, moral dilemmas are not shied away from. Since the play takes place in the aftermath of a nuclear disaster, one of its most pressing questions is: When we harness nuclear energy, what responsibilities do we have? Who will bear them?
As an outside observer, it’s evident that these descriptions are true to both the script and the cast. Their energy is dynamic, and even in a room filled with laughter, when asked about the play’s target audience, a more reflective undertone remains. With the median age of the performers well above 50, Wolfe is keenly aware of how unique The Children is. After all, she used a monologue from the play to audition for Bear & Co.
The only male cast member, Hugh Neilson, is quieter in comparison yet somehow matches Wolfe’s presence and energy. Eugster, meanwhile, has a reflective quality, as though already looking back on a play that has yet to open. Even within our short conversation, the group’s chemistry was theatrical in itself, making the experience thoroughly engaging.
When The Times of London reviewed a local production of The Children, it described the original production as “Somewhat menacing and often funny.” This Ottawa cast seems poised to bring that very tone to life.
For director Crowder, the play is particularly relevant to the times we live in. “Black comedy deals with serious questions,” she says, adding that she believes theatre should challenge the status quo, particularly in “this particularly odd world we find ourselves living in, in 2025.”
Compelling theatre. Close to home is particularly poignant as Ontario residents are forced to come to terms with the new Chalk River near-surface disposal facility for nuclear waste 180 kilometres Northwest of Ottawa that is set to open on Algonquin First Nation land.
The play runs from Wednesday, February 19 (preview), until Saturday, March 8, 2025, at the Gladstone Theatre, 910 Gladstone Avenue in Ottawa.
Tickets to Bear & Co.’s production of The Children are available on the Gladstone Theatre website at varying prices, including pay-what-you-can Tuesdays, to ensure an accessible production for all.
For more information or to purchase tickets, click here or call 613-233-4523.
READ ABOUT ACTOR BEVERLEY WOLFE (Hazel) and her first 50 years in theatre in the February 2025 issue of The Glebe Report. Turn to page 26 for a portrait by Judy Peacocke.
Read about actor Beverley Wolfe (Hazel) and her first 50 years in theatre in the February 2025 issue of The Glebe Report. Turn to page 26 for a portrait by Judy Peacocke.
THE TEAM
Beverley Wolfe—Hazel
Based in Ottawa, Beverley has worked in companies including the NAC, GCTC, Odyssey Theatre, Third Wall Theatre Company, Plosive Productions, Evolution Theatre (Prix Rideau Award for The Lavender Railroad), and The Ottawa Fringe Festival (Best Individual Performance for OOW Actors’ Co-op's Sex is my religion, and Best in Venue for her one-woman show, JUMP!).
She also sang in an a cappella trio for many years: Three Sheets to the Wind played across Canada and at festivals in the U.S.
Beverley is happy to be back on stage for the second time with Bear & Co., after her recent performance in Mixed Doubles.
She thanks her family, with love, for supporting her always.
David Magladry--Lighting & set designer
David is a professional lighting and set designer working in theatre, television, museum exhibitions, houses of worship, special events, and concerts.
His theatre clients include Bear & Co., Plosive Productions, Pierre Brault, SevenThirty Productions, Algonquin College Theatre Department, Carleton University, St. Lawrence College Theatre Department, and Eddy May Mysteries.
Back in November he had the pleasure of designing the lighting for the “Decades of Bond” concert at the National Art Centre featuring Rebecca Noelle. He as well has designing lighting for over 850 exhibitions in numerous national museums such as the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum, and has designed the lighting and environment for Ottawa’s Escape Manor “CSE rooms.”
Eleanor Crowder--Director
Eleanor Crowder prefers theatre to be mordant, funny, politically edged.
For OPT, The Baby Buggy Blues, and The May Day May Day Parade for the Environment. With Sis Cow Productions, Bryony Lavery’s The Origin of the Species. With Bear & Co. Momma’s Boy, Windfall Jelly. For Calalou, Monstrous. Skin Songs with the eponymous collective.
Playwright, producer, actor, creative: stages provide us a place to play out our nightmares and our wildest inspirations. Gratitude for 50 years of theatre-making with colleagues ready to rock and roll.
Hugh Neilson--Robin
Hugh started his career in 1984 as a performer, director, writer, and producer of theatre and comedy revue. He was also one of the founders and the GM of the Canadian Improv Games, a national tournament for high-school students that trains youth in the art of competitive improvisation. His second career saw him writing on 15 children’s animated television series including Animal Crackers, The Busy World of Richard Scary, Anatole, and Mona the Vampire and on two animated feature films. He has returned to acting and directing with recent credits including appearing as Adam in The Anniversary by Jacob Burkowitz (Theatre 4.669), and as director for GCTC’s annual Lawyer Play production of Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet by Ann-Marie MacDonald. Hugh is currently the Managing Director of GCTC.
Megan Piercey Monafu--Intimacy director
Megan is a playwright, director, and intimacy director. Intimacy directing credits include: Spring Awakening (Elevator Theatre Co.), Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), The Unplugging, Forever Young, Heartlines, and Lo, Or Dear Mr. Wells (Great Canadian Theatre Company). She holds an MFA in Creative Writing (playwriting focus) from the University of Guelph, and writing/directing projects have included Strata Inc. (Corel Endowment for the Arts Award 2019, undercurrents festival 2021, Artengine 2023, STAGES festival 2024), A Little Fire (Theatre of the Beat/Abalone Productions 2016), Mall ratting: a podplay (Magnetic North industry series 2015), and Mabel’s Last Performance (Atlantic Fringe Best Female Performance 2014, Memorial University 2015). Megan is the Artistic Director of the Ottawa School of Theatre, where she directs large-scale intergenerational plays and has a lot of fun.
RJ Mayo--Stage manager
RJ Mayo (they/them) is a stage manager, actor, and director based in Ottawa. In 2022 they graduated from Centennial College’s Theatre Arts and Performance Program in Toronto, and in the summers they work at Rag and Bone Puppet Theatre’s summer Shakespeare Camp, where they’ve been Camp Director for the past two years.
Recent backstage credits: Assistant to the Director, Heart’s Desire (Odyssey Theatre); Director, Twelfth Night (Rag and Bone Shakespeare Camp); Director, Macbeth; Technical Apprentice, Harabogee and Me (Shakespeare in Action).
Recent acting credits: Tilius in Heart’s Desire (Odyssey Theatre), Stage Manager in Our Town (Centennial College), Ad Announcements in The Space Between (Worlds Elsewhere Theatre
Company), Ganymede in CRUNCH (Centennial College), Nikothiki in Lysistrata (Worlds Elsewhere Theatre Company).
Rachel Eugster--Rose
A founding member of Bear, Rachel has had a hand in all 27 previous productions including, most recently, as an actor in A Child’s Christmas in Wales, a member of the ensemble in Lightfoot in Song, and director of the Shakespeare in the Park production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
As Spidersilk Productions, Rachel produced her original play Whose Æmilia? in the 2015 Ottawa Fringe Festival, appearing as Æmilia Lanyer, who might have been Shakespeare’s Dark Lady of the Sonnets (or not!).
Rachel is a founding member the Purring Dragons Ensemble, and directs the Tamir Neshamah Choir. She is also the author of the award-winning picture book The Pocket Mommy (Tundra/Penguin Random House). Rachel co-chairs the local chapter of Democrats Abroad and urges everyone who was born in the U.S. (or whose parent was) to vote.
Redmond Farley--Script support
My name is Redmond and I'm a grade 9 student at Nepean High School. I enjoy downhill skiing, mountain biking, and STEM. Getting to see everything backstage has been such a fun and unique experience. Everyone is super welcoming, kind and interesting. Thank you, Bear & Co., for the opportunity and another thanks to my mum for always looking out for me and helping me find new opportunities.
Based in Ottawa, Beverley has worked in companies including the NAC, GCTC, Odyssey Theatre, Third Wall Theatre Company, Plosive Productions, Evolution Theatre (Prix Rideau Award for The Lavender Railroad), and The Ottawa Fringe Festival (Best Individual Performance for OOW Actors’ Co-op's Sex is my religion, and Best in Venue for her one-woman show, JUMP!).
She also sang in an a cappella trio for many years: Three Sheets to the Wind played across Canada and at festivals in the U.S.
Beverley is happy to be back on stage for the second time with Bear & Co., after her recent performance in Mixed Doubles.
She thanks her family, with love, for supporting her always.
David Magladry--Lighting & set designer
David is a professional lighting and set designer working in theatre, television, museum exhibitions, houses of worship, special events, and concerts.
His theatre clients include Bear & Co., Plosive Productions, Pierre Brault, SevenThirty Productions, Algonquin College Theatre Department, Carleton University, St. Lawrence College Theatre Department, and Eddy May Mysteries.
Back in November he had the pleasure of designing the lighting for the “Decades of Bond” concert at the National Art Centre featuring Rebecca Noelle. He as well has designing lighting for over 850 exhibitions in numerous national museums such as the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum, and has designed the lighting and environment for Ottawa’s Escape Manor “CSE rooms.”
Eleanor Crowder--Director
Eleanor Crowder prefers theatre to be mordant, funny, politically edged.
For OPT, The Baby Buggy Blues, and The May Day May Day Parade for the Environment. With Sis Cow Productions, Bryony Lavery’s The Origin of the Species. With Bear & Co. Momma’s Boy, Windfall Jelly. For Calalou, Monstrous. Skin Songs with the eponymous collective.
Playwright, producer, actor, creative: stages provide us a place to play out our nightmares and our wildest inspirations. Gratitude for 50 years of theatre-making with colleagues ready to rock and roll.
Hugh Neilson--Robin
Hugh started his career in 1984 as a performer, director, writer, and producer of theatre and comedy revue. He was also one of the founders and the GM of the Canadian Improv Games, a national tournament for high-school students that trains youth in the art of competitive improvisation. His second career saw him writing on 15 children’s animated television series including Animal Crackers, The Busy World of Richard Scary, Anatole, and Mona the Vampire and on two animated feature films. He has returned to acting and directing with recent credits including appearing as Adam in The Anniversary by Jacob Burkowitz (Theatre 4.669), and as director for GCTC’s annual Lawyer Play production of Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet by Ann-Marie MacDonald. Hugh is currently the Managing Director of GCTC.
Megan Piercey Monafu--Intimacy director
Megan is a playwright, director, and intimacy director. Intimacy directing credits include: Spring Awakening (Elevator Theatre Co.), Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), The Unplugging, Forever Young, Heartlines, and Lo, Or Dear Mr. Wells (Great Canadian Theatre Company). She holds an MFA in Creative Writing (playwriting focus) from the University of Guelph, and writing/directing projects have included Strata Inc. (Corel Endowment for the Arts Award 2019, undercurrents festival 2021, Artengine 2023, STAGES festival 2024), A Little Fire (Theatre of the Beat/Abalone Productions 2016), Mall ratting: a podplay (Magnetic North industry series 2015), and Mabel’s Last Performance (Atlantic Fringe Best Female Performance 2014, Memorial University 2015). Megan is the Artistic Director of the Ottawa School of Theatre, where she directs large-scale intergenerational plays and has a lot of fun.
RJ Mayo--Stage manager
RJ Mayo (they/them) is a stage manager, actor, and director based in Ottawa. In 2022 they graduated from Centennial College’s Theatre Arts and Performance Program in Toronto, and in the summers they work at Rag and Bone Puppet Theatre’s summer Shakespeare Camp, where they’ve been Camp Director for the past two years.
Recent backstage credits: Assistant to the Director, Heart’s Desire (Odyssey Theatre); Director, Twelfth Night (Rag and Bone Shakespeare Camp); Director, Macbeth; Technical Apprentice, Harabogee and Me (Shakespeare in Action).
Recent acting credits: Tilius in Heart’s Desire (Odyssey Theatre), Stage Manager in Our Town (Centennial College), Ad Announcements in The Space Between (Worlds Elsewhere Theatre
Company), Ganymede in CRUNCH (Centennial College), Nikothiki in Lysistrata (Worlds Elsewhere Theatre Company).
Rachel Eugster--Rose
A founding member of Bear, Rachel has had a hand in all 27 previous productions including, most recently, as an actor in A Child’s Christmas in Wales, a member of the ensemble in Lightfoot in Song, and director of the Shakespeare in the Park production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
As Spidersilk Productions, Rachel produced her original play Whose Æmilia? in the 2015 Ottawa Fringe Festival, appearing as Æmilia Lanyer, who might have been Shakespeare’s Dark Lady of the Sonnets (or not!).
Rachel is a founding member the Purring Dragons Ensemble, and directs the Tamir Neshamah Choir. She is also the author of the award-winning picture book The Pocket Mommy (Tundra/Penguin Random House). Rachel co-chairs the local chapter of Democrats Abroad and urges everyone who was born in the U.S. (or whose parent was) to vote.
Redmond Farley--Script support
My name is Redmond and I'm a grade 9 student at Nepean High School. I enjoy downhill skiing, mountain biking, and STEM. Getting to see everything backstage has been such a fun and unique experience. Everyone is super welcoming, kind and interesting. Thank you, Bear & Co., for the opportunity and another thanks to my mum for always looking out for me and helping me find new opportunities.
David Magladry--Lighting & set designer
David is a professional lighting and set designer working in theatre, television, museum exhibitions, houses of worship, special events, and concerts.
His theatre clients include Bear & Co., Plosive Productions, Pierre Brault, SevenThirty Productions, Algonquin College Theatre Department, Carleton University, St. Lawrence College Theatre Department, and Eddy May Mysteries.
Back in November he had the pleasure of designing the lighting for the “Decades of Bond” concert at the National Art Centre featuring Rebecca Noelle. He as well has designing lighting for over 850 exhibitions in numerous national museums such as the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum, and has designed the lighting and environment for Ottawa’s Escape Manor “CSE rooms.”
David is a professional lighting and set designer working in theatre, television, museum exhibitions, houses of worship, special events, and concerts.
His theatre clients include Bear & Co., Plosive Productions, Pierre Brault, SevenThirty Productions, Algonquin College Theatre Department, Carleton University, St. Lawrence College Theatre Department, and Eddy May Mysteries.
Back in November he had the pleasure of designing the lighting for the “Decades of Bond” concert at the National Art Centre featuring Rebecca Noelle. He as well has designing lighting for over 850 exhibitions in numerous national museums such as the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum, and has designed the lighting and environment for Ottawa’s Escape Manor “CSE rooms.”
Eleanor Crowder--Director
Eleanor Crowder prefers theatre to be mordant, funny, politically edged.
For OPT, The Baby Buggy Blues, and The May Day May Day Parade for the Environment. With Sis Cow Productions, Bryony Lavery’s The Origin of the Species. With Bear & Co. Momma’s Boy, Windfall Jelly. For Calalou, Monstrous. Skin Songs with the eponymous collective.
Playwright, producer, actor, creative: stages provide us a place to play out our nightmares and our wildest inspirations. Gratitude for 50 years of theatre-making with colleagues ready to rock and roll.
Hugh Neilson--Robin
Hugh started his career in 1984 as a performer, director, writer, and producer of theatre and comedy revue. He was also one of the founders and the GM of the Canadian Improv Games, a national tournament for high-school students that trains youth in the art of competitive improvisation. His second career saw him writing on 15 children’s animated television series including Animal Crackers, The Busy World of Richard Scary, Anatole, and Mona the Vampire and on two animated feature films. He has returned to acting and directing with recent credits including appearing as Adam in The Anniversary by Jacob Burkowitz (Theatre 4.669), and as director for GCTC’s annual Lawyer Play production of Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet by Ann-Marie MacDonald. Hugh is currently the Managing Director of GCTC.
Hugh started his career in 1984 as a performer, director, writer, and producer of theatre and comedy revue. He was also one of the founders and the GM of the Canadian Improv Games, a national tournament for high-school students that trains youth in the art of competitive improvisation. His second career saw him writing on 15 children’s animated television series including Animal Crackers, The Busy World of Richard Scary, Anatole, and Mona the Vampire and on two animated feature films. He has returned to acting and directing with recent credits including appearing as Adam in The Anniversary by Jacob Burkowitz (Theatre 4.669), and as director for GCTC’s annual Lawyer Play production of Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet by Ann-Marie MacDonald. Hugh is currently the Managing Director of GCTC.
Megan Piercey Monafu--Intimacy director
Megan is a playwright, director, and intimacy director. Intimacy directing credits include: Spring Awakening (Elevator Theatre Co.), Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), The Unplugging, Forever Young, Heartlines, and Lo, Or Dear Mr. Wells (Great Canadian Theatre Company). She holds an MFA in Creative Writing (playwriting focus) from the University of Guelph, and writing/directing projects have included Strata Inc. (Corel Endowment for the Arts Award 2019, undercurrents festival 2021, Artengine 2023, STAGES festival 2024), A Little Fire (Theatre of the Beat/Abalone Productions 2016), Mall ratting: a podplay (Magnetic North industry series 2015), and Mabel’s Last Performance (Atlantic Fringe Best Female Performance 2014, Memorial University 2015). Megan is the Artistic Director of the Ottawa School of Theatre, where she directs large-scale intergenerational plays and has a lot of fun.
Megan is a playwright, director, and intimacy director. Intimacy directing credits include: Spring Awakening (Elevator Theatre Co.), Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), The Unplugging, Forever Young, Heartlines, and Lo, Or Dear Mr. Wells (Great Canadian Theatre Company). She holds an MFA in Creative Writing (playwriting focus) from the University of Guelph, and writing/directing projects have included Strata Inc. (Corel Endowment for the Arts Award 2019, undercurrents festival 2021, Artengine 2023, STAGES festival 2024), A Little Fire (Theatre of the Beat/Abalone Productions 2016), Mall ratting: a podplay (Magnetic North industry series 2015), and Mabel’s Last Performance (Atlantic Fringe Best Female Performance 2014, Memorial University 2015). Megan is the Artistic Director of the Ottawa School of Theatre, where she directs large-scale intergenerational plays and has a lot of fun.
RJ Mayo--Stage manager
RJ Mayo (they/them) is a stage manager, actor, and director based in Ottawa. In 2022 they graduated from Centennial College’s Theatre Arts and Performance Program in Toronto, and in the summers they work at Rag and Bone Puppet Theatre’s summer Shakespeare Camp, where they’ve been Camp Director for the past two years.
Recent backstage credits: Assistant to the Director, Heart’s Desire (Odyssey Theatre); Director, Twelfth Night (Rag and Bone Shakespeare Camp); Director, Macbeth; Technical Apprentice, Harabogee and Me (Shakespeare in Action).
Recent acting credits: Tilius in Heart’s Desire (Odyssey Theatre), Stage Manager in Our Town (Centennial College), Ad Announcements in The Space Between (Worlds Elsewhere Theatre Company), Ganymede in CRUNCH (Centennial College), Nikothiki in Lysistrata (Worlds Elsewhere Theatre Company).
RJ Mayo (they/them) is a stage manager, actor, and director based in Ottawa. In 2022 they graduated from Centennial College’s Theatre Arts and Performance Program in Toronto, and in the summers they work at Rag and Bone Puppet Theatre’s summer Shakespeare Camp, where they’ve been Camp Director for the past two years.
Recent backstage credits: Assistant to the Director, Heart’s Desire (Odyssey Theatre); Director, Twelfth Night (Rag and Bone Shakespeare Camp); Director, Macbeth; Technical Apprentice, Harabogee and Me (Shakespeare in Action).
Recent acting credits: Tilius in Heart’s Desire (Odyssey Theatre), Stage Manager in Our Town (Centennial College), Ad Announcements in The Space Between (Worlds Elsewhere Theatre Company), Ganymede in CRUNCH (Centennial College), Nikothiki in Lysistrata (Worlds Elsewhere Theatre Company).
Rachel Eugster--Rose
A founding member of Bear, Rachel has had a hand in all 27 previous productions including, most recently, as an actor in A Child’s Christmas in Wales, a member of the ensemble in Lightfoot in Song, and director of the Shakespeare in the Park production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
As Spidersilk Productions, Rachel produced her original play Whose Æmilia? in the 2015 Ottawa Fringe Festival, appearing as Æmilia Lanyer, who might have been Shakespeare’s Dark Lady of the Sonnets (or not!).
Rachel is a founding member the Purring Dragons Ensemble, and directs the Tamir Neshamah Choir. She is also the author of the award-winning picture book The Pocket Mommy (Tundra/Penguin Random House). Rachel co-chairs the local chapter of Democrats Abroad and urges everyone who was born in the U.S. (or whose parent was) to vote.
A founding member of Bear, Rachel has had a hand in all 27 previous productions including, most recently, as an actor in A Child’s Christmas in Wales, a member of the ensemble in Lightfoot in Song, and director of the Shakespeare in the Park production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
As Spidersilk Productions, Rachel produced her original play Whose Æmilia? in the 2015 Ottawa Fringe Festival, appearing as Æmilia Lanyer, who might have been Shakespeare’s Dark Lady of the Sonnets (or not!).
Rachel is a founding member the Purring Dragons Ensemble, and directs the Tamir Neshamah Choir. She is also the author of the award-winning picture book The Pocket Mommy (Tundra/Penguin Random House). Rachel co-chairs the local chapter of Democrats Abroad and urges everyone who was born in the U.S. (or whose parent was) to vote.
Redmond Farley--Script support
My name is Redmond and I'm a grade 9 student at Nepean High School. I enjoy downhill skiing, mountain biking, and STEM. Getting to see everything backstage has been such a fun and unique experience. Everyone is super welcoming, kind and interesting. Thank you, Bear & Co., for the opportunity and another thanks to my mum for always looking out for me and helping me find new opportunities.
My name is Redmond and I'm a grade 9 student at Nepean High School. I enjoy downhill skiing, mountain biking, and STEM. Getting to see everything backstage has been such a fun and unique experience. Everyone is super welcoming, kind and interesting. Thank you, Bear & Co., for the opportunity and another thanks to my mum for always looking out for me and helping me find new opportunities.