Grand Theatre Announces 2024/25 Casting and Creative Teams

Acting legend Kate Hennig, Canada’s Got Talent finalist Stacey Kay, and leaders of Canadian theatre join the upcoming Grand Theatre Season.

August 15, 2024 – London ON – With exactly two months left until the opening production of the Grand Theatre’s 2024/25 Season: A Time for Play, the theatre is excited to announce the names of the over one-hundred artists and creative team members who will make up the company of Rachel Peake’s first programmed season as Artistic Director.

The 2024/25 season will bring to London artists from across Canada, boasting four productions directed by Artistic Directors from major Canadian theatre companies (Rachel Peake, Daryl Cloran, Haysam Kadri), and casting that includes an icon of the Stratford Festival and Shaw Festival stages (Kate Hennig), Canada’s Got Talent finalist and Juno Award-winning singer/rapper (Stacey Kay), the London debuts of two queens from Toronto’s SIX the Musical (Elysia Cruz and Julia McLellan), plus a thrilling lineup of perennial Grand Theatre favourites.
 

“I am overjoyed to see Canada represented from coast to coast, both on our stage and in the trusted leadership of these creative teams,” says Rachel Peake, Grand Theatre Artistic Director.  “Grand audiences will be delighted at the Grand debuts, not to mention the numerous fan favourites that will be returning to London to “play” as part of our 2024/25 Season.”

Those returning to the Grand Theatre stage after appearing in previous seasons include: Michelle Bardach (Elf the Musical), Tyler Check (Million Dollar Quartet), Janelle Cooper (Fall On Your Knees), Belinda Cornish (An Undiscovered Shakespeare), Eric Craig (The Hobbit), Jeff Culbert (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Megan Dallan (Grow), Carmen Grant (The Syringa Tree, Fly Me to the Moon), Mark Harapiak (Beauty and the Beast, Miracle on 34^th Street), Kate Hennig (Girls in the Gang, Jacques Brel, Liars, Mad Ballades, Secret Garden, My Way), Dominique Leblanc (Controlled Damage), Lawrence Libor (Cabaret), Robert Markus (Shrek, Dream a Little Dream), Clea McCaffrey (Grow), Heather McGuigan (The Spitfire Grill, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), Julius Sermonia (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Shrek, Beauty and the Beast), Lee Siegel (Dreamgirls, 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Shrek). Jan Alexandra Smith (Grand Ghosts, Mary Poppins, Mamma Mia!, Vigilante, A Christmas Carol (2018), and others), and Adam Stevenson (Million Dollar Quartet, Hair!).

 

Those making their Grand Theatre stage debuts in 2024/25 include: Vinnie Alberto, Henry Beasley, Scott Beaudin, Crystal Casera, Nadien Chu, Jennifer Copping, Elysia Cruz, Daniela Fernandez, Raechel Fisher, Donna Garner, Andrew Hodwitz, Jeff Irving, Kelsey Kanatan Way, Stacey Kay, Marsha Knight, Alexandra Lainfiesta, Alyssa LeClair, Anton Lipovetsky, Matthew MacDonald-Bain, Devin MacKinnon, Lior Maharjan, Callan McKenna Potter, Jenny McKillop, Julia McLellan, Peter Millard, June Mirochnick, Andrew Moodie, Gillian Moon, Priya Narine, Naomi Ngebulana, Troy O’Donnell, Kamyar Pazandeh, Jeremy Proulx, Annie Ramos, James Dallas Smith, Emily Solstice Tait, Éamon Stocks, Curtis Sullivan, Isaiah Terrell-Dobbs, Emilio Vieira, Leon Willey, Jacob Woike, Robin Wilcock, and Sarah Wilson.
 

This season’s productions will be helmed by seven extraordinary creative teams, bringing their singular visions and expertise to London’s Grand Theatre. The smash-hit, Beatles-meets-Shakespeare production of As You Like It will be directed by its co-creator, adaptor, and Sarnia, Ontario-born Daryl Cloran, also the Artistic Director of the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton. Cloran previously directed Helen’s Necklace at the Grand Theatre. The As You Like It creative team includes Ben Elliot (Music Supervisor and Music Director), Jonathan Purvis (Choreographer, Fight Director), Pam Johnson (Set Designer), and Owen Hutchinson (Sound Designer).

Grand Theatre Artistic Director, Rachel Peake, will be making her Grand Theatre directorial debut this holiday season with The Sound of Music, which she has previously directed to rave reviews at the Citadel Theatre and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. London’s Alexandra Kane will return as Music Director, following recent credits, including Finding Black Joy, Elf the Musical, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Included in the creative team are Ainsley Hillyard (Choreographer), Lorenzo Savoini (Set & Lighting Designer), and Emily Porter (Sound Designer).

Haysam Kadri returns to the Grand Theatre to direct Arun Lakra’s crime thriller Heist. The Artistic Director of Alberta Theatre Projects is known to the Grand Theatre as the co-writer and director of Homes: A Refugee Story, and director of A Thousand Splendid Suns. Joining Kadri on the creative team are Beyata Hackborn (Set Designer), Jessica Oostergo (Costume Designer), Siobhan Sleath (Lighting Designer), Richard Feren (Sound Designer), and Corwin Ferguson (Projection Designer).
 

Interdisciplinary, inter-tribal artist Renae Morriseau will, for the second time, be directing Rosanna Deerchild’s first theatrical play, The Secret to Good Tea. The creative team includes Tim Rodrigues (Lighting Designer).

For her second directorial project of the season, Grand Theatre Artistic Director Rachel Peake will be directing the Broadway smash Waitress, alongside Western University alumnus, and Music Director of the Grand Theatre’s hit production of Million Dollar Quartet, Patrick Bowman (Music Director), Genny Sermonia (Choreographer), who choreographed the Grand Theatre’s world premiere of Grand Ghosts, and Scott Penner (Set and Costume Designer), familiar to Grand audiences from his work on Elf the Musical, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and whose scenic designs are currently being enjoyed on Broadway in Job The Play.

 

London fan favourite, Rebecca Northan, makes her Grand Theatre directorial debut on Kate Hamill’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, following successful reception of her Goblin: Macbeth at Stratford Festival, Bard on the Beach, and The Shakespeare Company, as well as several memorable Grand Theatre runs including An Undiscovered Shakespeare, Every Brilliant Thing, and Blind Date. Joining Northan on the creative team are Krista Leis (Choreographer), Brandon Kleiman (Set Designer), and Maddie Bautista (Sound Designer), who worked most recently at the Grand Theatre on Kim’s Convenience.

Separate from the 2024/25 Season, but primed to kick off the Grand’s programming in magical fashion is the 2024 Grand Theatre High School Project – Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical. The 26^th Annual project will feature 58 London-and-area students in performing, production, and orchestra roles, who are mentored by theatre professionals in the creation and preparation of a large-scale musical. Helming the creative team is Megan Watson (Director), known to Grand audiences as the director of Mary Poppins, the Grand Re:Opening Festival, and as past Artistic Associate. Joining Watson are Sarah Richardson (Music Director), Stephen Cota (Choreographer), Scott Penner (Set Design Consultant), Lisa Wright (Costume Designer), Jareth Li (Lighting Designer), and Aaron Ouellette (Sound Designer).
 

For the full company listings for each production, see below:

 
-30-
 

About the Grand Theatre – World Curious. London Made.

The Grand Theatre is known for world-class theatre created and built in London, Ontario. As southwestern Ontario’s premiere producing theatre and one of the most beautiful theatre spaces in Canada, the company has deep ties to the community and to its artists, artisans, and technicians.
 

As a vibrant cultural hub and not-for-profit professional theatre, the Grand serves to gather, inspire, and entertain audiences in London and beyond. At our home in downtown London, we create productions on two stages: the Spriet Stage (839 seats) and the Auburn Developments Stage (144 seats). The Grand season of theatrical offerings runs from September to May, and we collaborate with companies and artists across the country through our co-productions that see London-made artistic and creative work travel to audiences nation-wide. Through our successful New Play Development Program, the Grand is committed to developing and premiering new, original works and supporting the growth and reach of theatre writers and creators. Our recently renovated venue offers a contemporary and welcoming environment that is also home to several successful music series’, community arts rentals, and cultural and special events.
 

A cornerstone of the organization is our place as a teaching theatre, exemplified in our many mentorship programs and highlighted in our annual Grand Theatre High School Project. As the first program of its kind in the country and currently in its twenty-sixth year, the High School Project involves as many as one hundred high school participants annually from schools across the region. These students participate at no cost and take on roles both on stage and off, in a fully realized mainstage production under the direction of a professional creative team.
 

For more information, visit: grandtheatre.com.
 

Follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok.

The Grand Theatre is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Attawandaron Peoples. We acknowledge with gratitude the significant historical and contemporary contributions of local and regional Indigenous Peoples and of all the Original Peoples of Turtle Island (also known as North America). We are honoured to live, work, and tell stories together on this land.

For more information please contact:
Lia Karidas, Director of Marketing & Digital Strategy

lkaridas [at] grandtheatre.com (lkaridas[at]grandtheatre[dot]com)

office: 519-672-9030 ext. 280

PHOTOGRAPHY

For photo requests, please contact Lia Karidas at the information above. 

PHOTO CREDITS - EMBEDDED IMAGES (production photography):

All production photos by Dahlia Katz.

Adam Stevenson in MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET (2024)
Directed and Choreographed by Julie Tomaino 
Music Direction by Patrick Bowman 
Set Design by Joshua Quinlan 
Costume Design by Laura Delchiaro 
Lighting Design by Michelle Ramsay 
Sound Design by Brian Kenny 


Beck Lloyd in CONTROLLED DAMAGE (2023)
Directed and Choreographed by Ray Hogg
Music Directed by Alexandra Kane
Set Design by Brian Dudkiewicz
Costume Design by Ming Wong
Lighting Design by Jareth Li
Sound Design by Richard Feren
Projection Design by VideoCompany
 

Michelle Bardach in ELF THE MUSICAL (2022)
Directed by Dennis Garnhum
Music Directed by Alexandra Kane
Choreographed by Lisa Stevens
Set Design by Scott Penner
Costume Design by Dana Osborne
Lighting Design by Kimberly Purtell
Sound Design by Brian Kenny