Welcome to the 2025 Play Development Festival at Lighthouse!
You have the exclusive opportunity to shape the future of Canadian theatre at our new Play Development Festival! Join us for this new sneak peek. This three-day exclusive event will be taking place at our Port Dover location, and feature three incredible upcoming comedy plays. Complete with full read-throughs, talk-back and feedback sessions, and an opportunity to meet the writers from our Play Development program:
1) March 3rd (2:30PM-5:30PM) – Pinkerton Comes to Prospect, written by Jamie Williams
2) March 4th (2:30PM-5:30PM) – Baby Steps, written by Matt Gorman & Arlin Dixon
3) March 5th (2:30PM-5:30PM) – Secret Service, written by Ephraim Ellis
Here’s what you can expect during the 2025 Play Development ‘Sneak Peek’:
- Intimate Readings & Discussions: Experience new works in their early stages with full read-throughs, followed by behind-the-scenes conversations and feedback sessions with the playwrights.
- Exclusive Access: Be among the first to witness the emerging voices that will shape the future of Canadian theatre.
- VIP Community: Join other passionate supporters in a vibrant, creative environment where you can connect with fellow theatre lovers, donors, and artists.”
Meet our 2025 Playwrights:
Monday, March 3, 2025
Pinkerton Comes to Prospect
Written by Jamie Williams
BIO – Jamie has performed in over 90 productions in a career spanning more than 30 years. In the last decade he has turned his hand to writing, directing and is now in his third season with the Foster Festival as Artistic Associate. Selected Credits: As a Playwright: Pinkerton Comes to Prospect shortlisted for The Playwrights Guild of Canada Comedy Award 2020 (Lighthouse Festival Theatre); The View From Here (Ports Stanley Festival Theatre 2022, Theatre Orangeville 2023); It’s Your Funeral (Upper Canada Playhouse 2018, Port Stanley Festival Theatre 2019). Upcoming Nov-Dec 2025 a new adaptation of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol Jamie’s A Niagara Christmas Carol. As an Actor At Lighthouse: Byron Hobbs in Skin Flick; Lee in Melville Boys; Watson in Baskerville; Adam in Stage Fright. Selected Credits include: The View From Here, world premiere (Port Stanley Festival Theatre, Theatre Orangeville); The Writer world premiere, Here on the Flight Path (Foster Festival); A Christmas Carol (Upper Canada Playhouse, The Citadel); Sleight of Mind world premiere (Western Canada Theatre); Arcadia, Romeo and Juliet, Sense and Sensibility (The Citadel); Skin Flick world premiere (The Neptune); Affections of May (Upper Canada Playhouse); A Christmas Story (Theatre Orangeville, Neptune) Noises Off (Theatre Aquarius); Homeward Bound (The Grand); The Hobbit (Young People’s Theatre); Possible Worlds (National Arts Centre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Neptune, Festival des Amérique); King Lear, Richard III, Amadeus, MacBeth, Merry Wives of Windsor (Stratford Festival) As a Director: At Lighthouse: Pack of Thieves by Norm Foster. Elsewhere: It’s Your Funeral (Upper Canada Playhouse); Widow Wonderland, Foursome, Whit’s End, Time and Tide (Foster Festival); Upcoming Mechanically Inclined by Steve Ross at the Foster Festival August 2025.
SHOW DESCRIPTION – It’s 1890- The Saloon doors are about to open for this comedic ode to the classic western! Packed full of terrific characters Pinkerton Comes To Prospect takes mistaken identities and six shooters to a new level. Follow along as young surveyor Herchel Penkerten is unwittingly dragged into his new towns sorted past. Complicating the whole mess is Doc and Amos who are just trying to save their own necks. Will Herchel win the heart of Miss Lacey or will he end up hanging from a tree? And who’s to say which option is better!
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
Baby Steps
Written by Matt Gorman & Arlin Dixon
BIO – Originally from Nova Scotia, Matthew lives in Toronto with his wife and daughter. As playwright: Western, Adventure!, Like A Dog, Our Lady of the Sea. Co-written with Arlin Dixon: Giving Up The Ghost and Nithy and the Unsolvable Case. As performer: Roseneath Theatre, Neptune, Eastern Front, Cart/Horse Theatre, The Grand, Belfry Theatre, and more. As director: Lighthouse Festival Theatre, Hart House, Port Stanley Festival Theatre, Cart/Horse Theatre, and others. He’s been on TV a few times.
BIO –Arlin Dixon is a Toronto-based writer. Her plays have been produced by the Port Stanley Theatre Festival and Cart/Horse Theatre. Her short fiction has been featured in the Antigonish Review, one of the oldest literary magazines in Canada. Currently, she is working on bringing grave-robbing in 1850s Toronto to life with her latest manuscript. For more info on her writing see, www.arlindixon.ca
SHOW DESCRIPTION – A young couple moves to a small town with dreams of building a life on their terms, preferably on schedule. But the stress of starting a new business, long commutes, and an ovulation calendar that insists on both parties being in the same room for this to work, has thrown a wrench into their finely laid plans. Their curmudgeonly neighbour, who has built himself a comfortable routine of coffee, books, and not much else, would rather leave big plans in the past, where it is quiet and no one talks about feelings. But together, they’ll discover that it’s not the big leaps that move you forward, it’s the baby steps. What they’ve been looking for might have been there all along.
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Secret Service
Written by Ephraim Ellis
BIO – Ephraim Ellis is a playwright and actor based in Toronto. His first play, the romantic workplace comedy ‘On The Air’, premiered at the Lighthouse Festival in 2023 before having a second production in Port Stanley. His second play, the adventure-comedy ‘Bigfoot!’ had its world premiere at the Port Stanley Festival Theatre in 2024. Ephraim is tremendously excited to be back at Lighthouse to workshop his third play, the action-farce ‘Secret Service.’ As an actor, you might recognize Ephraim from the television series Falcon Beach and Degrassi, as well as the stages of Lighthouse, Upper Canada Playhouse, and the Orillia Opera House.
SHOW DESCRIPTION – A team of highly skilled government intelligence agents have taken over the kitchen of Il Glorioso Buco, a five-star Italian restaurant in the heart of downtown Toronto, for a high-stakes sting operation… their only problem? Harry Marsden, one of Il Glorioso Buco’s new waiters, didn’t get the memo and has shown up for his first day of work completely unaware that his new coworkers have all been replaced by undercover spies. Secret Service is an action-farce about mistaken identity, espionage, and realizing that you’re enough.
How to secure your invitation:
Simply click the red button below and donate $50 or more to secure you and your guest’s invitation. RSVP emails will be sent out between February 7th – March 2nd, 2025. Your contribution will not only grant you access to this unforgettable experience but also directly support the growth of new playwrights and the continuation of the Lighthouse Festival’s mission to foster the future of theatre, provide vital resources for emerging playwrights, funds creative development time, and help bring fresh new voices to our stages!
*Your donation will receive a tax-deductible receipt for the 2025 tax year and will also confirm your donor status with Lighthouse Festival. Due to the intimate nature of these events, space is extremely limited. We expect invitations to be claimed quickly, so please donate as soon as possible to secure your spot.