Grand Theatre presents Maggie & Pierre on the McManus Stage

By Linda Griffiths with Paul Thompson
A Timeshare Production
Directed by Rob Kempson
Starring Kaitlyn Riordan

Trudeaumania comes to the Grand
SOLD OUT! FEBRUARY 12 TO 23, 2019

LONDON, ONTARIO, FEBRUARY 4, 2019 - The Grand Theatre is thrilled to bring to the McManus Stage MAGGIE & PIERRE, a timeshare production by Linda Griffiths with Paul Thompson. Starring Kaitlyn Riordan, this extended two-week engagement sold out quickly, a testament to our enduring fascination with one of Canada’s most captivating couples.

MAGGIE & PIERRE, a one-woman tour-de-force, chronicles the explosive relationship of Margaret and Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Maggie is a 20-something flower child. Pierre is a 50-something Prime Minister. Henry is a reporter trying to make sense of a real-life soap opera playing out in front of a whole nation. The parents of our current Prime Minister come to life in this Dora award-winning show on the making of Canada's most famous romance. Electric and hilarious, it takes on a whole new resonance now that their son, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is now in office.

“Touring all over Canada, this production remains one of the most popular, important, and dazzling productions in Canadian theatre history,” said Dennis Garnhum, Grand Theatre Artistic Director. “Now Maggie & Pierre has become relevant and exciting all over again for new and delightful reasons and we are thrilled to welcome timeshare Productions to the McManus Stage.”  

Kaitlyn Riordan, a three-time Dora nominated actress and playwright, will portray on stage the beautiful and diverse stories of Maggie and Pierre as well as Henry, the reporter. 

“Maggie & Pierre chronicles a time when our country was developing a voice of our own, and it is in telling that story that Linda (Griffiths) first established her voice as a writer,” said Rob Kempson, Director. “It is such a blessing to have a play like this in our country’s theatrical canon and I feel so lucky to have been able to revisit this seminal work with such a talented group of artists.”

MAGGIE & PIERRE previewed in the Backspace at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto, Ontario on November 30, 1979. It opened in the Mainspace at Theatre Passe on February 14, 1980. This version of MAGGIE & PIERRE from timeshare Productions, premiered at the Thousand Islands Playhouse in 2017.

The Grand Theatre gratefully acknowledges Season Sponsor BMO Financial Group.

Due to the high demand for MAGGIE & PIERRE, all thirteen shows from February 12 to 23, 2019 are sold out.

About the Grand Theatre – World Curious. London Proud.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Dennis Garnhum and Executive Director
Deb Harvey, the Grand is a leading cultural hub located in the heart of downtown London, Ontario. The Grand offers diverse, relevant, and original stories from around the globe through collaborations with national and international performing arts organizations and is committed to developing, producing, and premiering original stories through COMPASS New Play Development program. The Grand supports educational programming with The High School Project, the only program of its kind in North America. The Grand’s season runs from September to May.

For more information please contact:
Ashley Roberts, Communications Consultant, Grand Theatre
aroberts [at] grandtheatre.com (aroberts[at]grandtheatre[dot]com)

Cell: 937-554-1894

MAGGIE & PIERRE

By Linda Griffiths with Paul Thompson
A Timeshare Production
Directed by Rob Kempson
Starring Kaitlyn Riordan

CAST

PRODUCTION TEAM

GUEST ARTISTS

Kaitlyn Riordan  Maggie/Pierre/Henry
Kaitlyn Riordan is a three-time Dora nominated actress and play­wright. She was born in Montreal, studied in England (at The London Academy of Music & Dramatic Arts), lived in NYC, and now calls Toronto home. When not acting, she’s the Artistic Director of critically acclaimed Shakespeare in the Ruff (Ruff), where her play, Portia’s Julius Caesar, premiered last summer and was named one of the Top 9 shows of 2018, by The Toronto Star. THEATRE CREDITS (SELECTED): After the Fire (The Theatre Centre/Punctuate!); Noises Off! (The Segal Centre); Romeo & Juliet (Ruff); Something Fishy (Lighthouse Theatre); Mockingbird (Next Stage Festival); Macbeth: Walking Shadows (Ruff); Look, no Hans! (Drayton Entertainment); The Merchant of Venice, Blithe Spirit (Stratford Festival). OTHER: She is thrilled to be back in the world of the ‘origi­nal’ Trudeaus here in London, after presenting Maggie & Pierre at the Thousand Islands Playhouse in Gananoque and at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto.

Rob Kempson  Director
Rob Kempson is a theatre artist and educator, working primarily as a director and playwright. WRITER/DIRECTOR CREDITS (SELECTED): Trigonometry (timeshare/Factory); Mockingbird (Next Stage Theatre Festival); SHANNON 10:40 (timeshare/Videofag); explicit (Rhubarb Festival); #legacy (Harbourfront Centre); The HV Project (Community). director: Electric Messiah (Soundstreams); 9 to 5: The Musical (Randolph College); The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom (Sudbury Theatre Centre); Box 4901 (SummerWorks); The Canadian, Maggie and Pierre, Million Dollar Quartet, Daisy Amazed Me, Violet’s the Pilot, Rose’s Clothes (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Robert (co-directed with Briana Brown, Toronto Fringe); Songs for a New World (Claude Watson). WRITER/COM­POSER CREDITS: The Way Back To Thursday (Theatre Passe Muraille/Touchstone Theatre). other: He was a member of the 2014 Stratford Festival Playwrights’ Retreat, and the Associate Artistic Director at the Thousand Islands Playhouse from 2014 – 2017. UPCOMING: Director for The Snow Queen (Canadian Children’s Opera Company). More info at robkempson.com or on Twitter at @rob_kempson.

Jung-Hye Kim  Set and Costume Designer
Jung-Hye Kim is a Toronto based set and costume designer. DESIGN CREDITS: Now You See Her (Quote Unquote Collective); Shirley Valentine (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Maggie & Pierre (Tarragon Theatre); Prairie Nurse (Factory Theatre); Set: Flying Heart (Theatre Direct); The Birds And The Bees (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Kiss (Theatre Smash); Snow Queen (Theatre New Brunswick); Tideline (Hart House Theatre and Canadian Rep Theatre); A Grand Time In The Rapids (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Costume: Das Ding (Theatre Smash); Costume: Armstrong’s War (Canadian Rep Theatre); Set: Don’t Dress for Dinner (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Durango (Fu-gen theatre and Theatre Smash); Small Axe (Project Humanity and The Theatre Centre); Set: Driving Miss Daisy (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Set: Minotaur (ypt); Costume: Pacamambo (Canadian Rep Theatre); Set: Passion Play (Outside the March, Convergence Theatre and Sheep No Wool Production); Boblo (Kitchenband Production and The Theatre Centre, Dora nomination for outstanding set design); Set: The Great Mountain (Red Sky Performance with ypt); Pub Opera (Tapestry New Opera); After Akmatova (Tarragon Theatre); Montparnasse (Theatre Passe Muraille and Groundwater Theatre, Dora nomination for outstanding costume design); The Middle Place (Canstage, Project Humanity, Belfry Theatre, gctc); The Big League (Young People’s Theatre); If We Were Birds (Tarragon Theatre and Groundwater Theatre).

Oz Weaver  Lighting Designer
Oz Weaver is a Toronto based lighting designer, production manager, and producer. UPCOMING CREDITS (SELECTED):We Now Recognize (Project Humanity); A Blow in the Face (Nightwood Theatre); Kopernikus (Against the Grain Opera); Follow the Path (Toronto Centre for the Arts). THEATRE CREDITS (SELECTED): Lighting Designer: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Citadel Edmonton); Selfie (ypt); Maggie & Pierre (Various); BANG BANG (Factory Theatre); Hamlet & All’s Well That Ends Well (Canadian Stage); LULU v.7, Its All Tru & Rhubarb Festival 2016 (Buddies in Bad Times); Production Manager: Dr. Silver (Musical Stage Company/Outside the March); IMPACT Festival (MT SPACE); Freedom Singer (Project Humanity); The Cage is the Stage @ The PowerBall (Power Plant); Producer: The Dietrich Group; Le Grand Continental, Until the Lions & Bearing (LUMINATO). OTHER: www.ozweaver.ca

Steven Lafond  Sound Designer
Steven Lafond is an award-winning sound designer, composer, and producer currently residing in the greater Toronto area. He’s had the pleasure of composing original music, designing sound, performing, and producing for theatrical productions and films across Canada for the past nine years. Steven studied Classical Music Theory at Carleton University and Technical Production for Theatre and Live Events at Sheridan College. He also owns and operates Magic Studio Productions, an entertainment production company based in Ottawa and Toronto. THEATRE CREDITS (SELECTED): Outside Mullingar, 17 Men, Ed & Ed: Trapped! (Gros Morne Theatre Festival, NL);Up To Low, Stuff Happens (National Arts Centre); Maggie & Pierre (Thousand Islands Playhouse and Tarragon Theatre); Agency (The Theatre Centre); The Servant of Two Masters (Odyssey Theatre); This is War, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) (Great Canadian Theatre Company). OTHER: You can hear more of Steven’s work in the upcoming production of Out at Buddies in Bad Times this April.

Mariah Horner  Research Assistant
Based in Kingston, Mariah Horner was the director of the Storefront Fringe Festival from 2016–18 and currently works with SpiderWebShow. She was the inaugural winner of the Patrick Conner Ticket Award in 2018. Co-founding the Cellar Door Project in 2013, Mariah has since produced fourteen new works with the site-specific company in ceme­teries, record stores, bars, parks, and the Diefenbunker. Mariah played Kate Unger in George F. Walker’s HBO Canada Series Living in Your Car and recently graduated from uOttawa with an MA in Theatre Theory & Dramaturgy.

Alice Ferreyra  Stage Manager
STAGE MANAGEMENT CREDITS: The Canadian (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls (Roseneath Theatre); Hamlet (Tarragon Theatre); Godspell (Theatre Sheridan); The Drowsy Chaperone, Footloose, The Addams Family, Spring Awakening, Spelling Bee, Curtains, If We Were Birds, Nine (Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts); Seussical Jr. (Capitol Theatre); Anne of Green Gables, Evita, Shrek the Musical (Lower Ossington Theatre); Anne of Green Gables, Back in ’59 (Highlands Summer Festival); Assistant Concert Manager 2013–2017 (Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra); Apprentice Stage Manager for The Bakkhai (Stratford Festival); The Magic Flute (Canadian Opera Company); City of Angels (Theatre By The Bay); The Story (Theatre Columbus); The Test (The Company Theatre). UPCOMING: Henry VIII, Birds Of A Kind (Stratford Festival).