Lighthouse Festival Theatre is thrilled to have established dedicated funding for the commissioning of new plays and musicals with a comic tilt by individuals as well as ensembles who develop company-created work. Seeking out playwrights who are creating new and original plays is part of Lighthouse’s commitment to supporting Canadian Theatre. Our commissions provide both financial and artistic support via readings and workshops throughout the year.
Lighthouse is not accepting unsolicited scripts at this time.
How It Works
The play development process can take up to 3 years to complete and not every idea makes it all the way to production, but many do.
Support the Next Generation of Canadian Playwrights
Every great play starts with a single word. At Lighthouse Festival, we’re nurturing the next generation of Canadian theatrical voices through our comprehensive Play Development Program. You can be part of this creative journey.
Our development process transforms promising scripts into polished productions through:
- Professional workshop sessions with actors
- Collaborative feedback and refinement
- Expert creative guidance
- Essential technical support
*Donations of $20+ will receive a tax-deductible receipt for the applicable tax year.
Meet our 2025 Playwrights:
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!
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.
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.
Plays developed through the Lighthouse program
Below are shows that have received funding and/or their world premieres on the Lighthouse stage and have gone on to successful incarnations.
- PINKERTON COMES TO PROSPECT by Jamie Williams
- LAKEFRONT by Norm Foster
- A PACK OF THIEVES by Norm Foster
- ON THE AIR by Ephraim Ellis
- TIP OF THE ICEBERG by Chris Rait, Mark Williams and Jeannine Bouw
- THE REAL SHERLOCK HOLMES by Peter Colley
- BEYOND THE SEAS by Kristen Da Silva
- HURRY HARD by Kristen Da Silva
- THE GHOST ISLAND LIGHT by Peter Colley
- THE GENTLEMAN CLOTHIER by Norm Foster
- SOMETHING FISHY by Marcia Kash and Douglas Hughes
- FAIR AND SQUARE by Derek Ritschel
- STRANGER IN OUR HOUSE by Maryjane Cruise
- BUZZ GEM BLUES by Drew Hayden Taylor
- RUM RUNNERS by Derek Ritschel and Steve Thomas
- DADS! THE MUSICAL by Robert More
- MINI PUTT by Simon Joynes
- FITZ HAPPENS by Mark Weatherley
- SITTING PRETTY by Norm Foster
- TOO MANY COOKS by Marcia Kash and Douglas Hughes