“Our 2025 season is focused on making people laugh,” says the theatre company’s new artistic director, Jane Spence.
August 29, 2024
By Welland Tribune Staff
Celebrating Canada’s multicultural spirit and small-town communities, Mark Crawford’s play “The New Canadian Curling Club” kicks off Lighthouse Festival’s 2025 season in the Lake Erie communities of Port Colborne and Port Dover.
The play is a “heartwarming and humorous story about an unlikely group of characters coming together to overcome adversity, band together as a team and learn the art of curling,” said a release from Lighthouse, which operates out of Roselawn Centre in Port Colborne.
Adapted from an Arthur Conan Doyle classic mystery, Steven Canny and John Nicholson have written a fast-paced, inventive and absurd take on “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” the season’s second play.
Up third, Canadian playwright Norm Foster’s “Hidden Treasures” is two plays in one, said the Lighthouse release.
“Each act is a one-act play. During intermission, the cast and set seamlessly transition from one play to the next. In act 1, “My Narrator” asks you to imagine what would happen if that little voice inside your head — the one that tells you how to behave and what choices to make — suddenly took on a life of its own. For Lacy and Miles, love is what happens, with hilarious results,” said the release.
In act 2, “The Death of Me” John bargains with the Angel of Death for a second chance at life. John quickly discovers that fixing the mistakes of your past is difficult, and that perhaps his destiny is not yet etched in stone.
The fourth play of Lighthouse’s 2025 season is the premiere of Jamie Williams’ “Pinkerton comes to Prospect,” a western-themed comedy that takes mistaken identities and six-shooters to a new level, with young surveyor Herchel Penkerten unwittingly dragged into his new town’s sordid past.
Finishing the season is another play by Foster, “Here on the Flight Path.”
The Lighthouse Festival release said it’s a comedic exploration of love, life and the quirky characters who inhabit a Toronto apartment building.
Jane Spence will helm the theatre group as its new artistic director.
“This theatre has a rich history of bringing exceptional performances to our communities, and I can’t wait to be a part of that tradition,” Spence said in the release.
“Our 2025 season is focused on making people laugh, and I believe that laughter is a universal language that brings us together, helps us find joy and creates unforgettable memories.
“This season is all about connection and community, and I can’t wait to see everyone in the theatre, sharing in these wonderful stories.”
Single tickets for the 2025 summer season go on sale Nov. 18, with subscription renewals underway in early September. For more information, visit lighthousetheatre.com or contact the box office at 1-888-779-7703.
About Lighthouse Festival
It is a charitable organization devoted to the development and production of new and existing Canadian plays.
It strives to be artistically excellent, support and encourage local and regional artists, and be a source of enjoyment and pride in local communities while promoting local tourism.
Located in Port Colborne and Port Dover on Lake Erie, its theatres operate on a central policy of hospitality, inclusivity, accessibility and affordability for all.