THEATRE PREVIEW

AUGUST 2026 | Volume 266

 

HAVE A SENIOR MOMENT FESTIVAL 2026
Festival headliner: ANNIVERSARY by Carol Shields & Dave Williamson

The 2026 HAVE A SENIOR MOMENT FESTIVAL brings you 10 days of theatre, works in development, music, creative workshops, artist salons and more—all celebrating the notion that Creativity Has No Expiry Date! This year the festival is headlined by the On Our Feet! (OOF!) staged reading of ANNIVERSARY by Carol Shields and Dave Williamson (Sept. 25-27).

Western Gold's 4th annual HAVE A SENIOR MOMENT FESTIVAL is an event that turns the notion of "having a senior moment" on its head! It's a multi-disciplinary series of events and gatherings that showcase the performing arts for old folx and/or by old folx. HAVE A SENIOR MOMENT FESTIVAL provides a gathering place for young, old, and those in between.

Western Gold Theatre's Artistic Director, Tanja Dixon-Warren, says:
I am thrilled that Have a Senior Moment Festival is back for a 4th year celebrating a Western Gold Theatre motto: Creativity has no Expiry Date! I wanted to turn the notion of "having a senior moment" (normally understood as a moment of forgetfulness, a foolish mistake, or a lack of understanding based on age) on its head! I wanted to reclaim the term to mean a moment showing older adults living their lives in richness, fullness, and in relationship with their communities and environments. I wanted to give senior artists "a moment" by encouraging the voices of senior artists who, with so much life experience, are daring to be bold and are creating from their hearts!

FESTIVAL HEADLINER! 
ANNIVERSARY
By Carol Shields and Dave Williamson
Friday, September 25 – Sunday, October 4 at PAL
Tickets: $35-$40

A comedy about love, marriage and everything that falls apart!  ANNIVERSARY puts accepted notions about relationships and marriage to the test. A bit raunchy, a bit serious, and wonderfully hilarious!

Co-written by multi-award-winning author and playwright Carol Shields and Winnipeg writer Dave Williamson around 1995, the play follows recently separated couple, Dianne and Tom as they get together to divide their assets on - of all days - their anniversary.  Old friends, who don't know they've parted, pay them a surprise visit. The result is a sharp look at middle-class suburban life, marriage, separation, and love.
"A compact little gem of a play ... tense, comic and poignant." – Winnipeg Free Press

An On Our Feet (OOF!) Staged Reading
OOF! staged reading plays are a beloved Western Gold tradition. In 4 short days, the show is up; books in hand, flying by the seats of their pants, Canada's most experienced artists unleash every iota of technique, intuition, ingenuity and unbridled creativity, talent and skill they have to offer. Fun!

Directed by Anna Hagan
Annabel Kershaw: Shirley
Denyse Wilson: Dianne
Tom McBeath: Ben
Sandy Winsby: Tom
Sean Sonier: Garth

Festival Highlights:

POPCORN & A MOVIE
 Silver Screamers & The Rug
Tuesday, September 29, 2pm at PAL

Silver Screamers is a heartwarming and spine-tingling documentary that follows a spirited group of senior citizens who set out to make a horror film. Led by a local filmmaker, they navigate the challenges of low-budget movie-making with humour, heart, and resilience. Silver Screamers is a joyful celebration of second acts and fearless reinvention.

The Rug is the film they made! It centres on Edna, a senior aged woman who discovers that a discarded throw rug she has found will, for lack of a better word, digest anything left under it. The more it digests, the more it wants. After devouring her pesky landlord and a nosey cop, the rug has gotten so frisky that Edna finds herself trapped in her own home with no way out.
Based on the short story by Edo van Belkom.

READINGS OF NEW PLAYS IN DEVELOPMENT 
Blue Heaven by Michael Armstrong
Wednesday September 30, 7:30pm

Adrift by Dolores Drake
Thursday October 1, 7:30pm

Breaking Parity, a political satire, with a nod to Dickens by Valerie Sing Turner in partnership with Visceral Visions
Saturday October 3, 7:30pm

SCRIPTS & SIPS SALON
Presented in partnership with Curious Cats Theatre Collective
Tuesday, September 19 from 6pm–10pm

Back by popular demand!  Playwrights, screenwriters, actors and audience come together to read and discuss the process of developing scripts. The uniqueness of the experience comes not only from its casual salon atmosphere and feedback by industry pros, but the excitement of a script brought to life with a cold reading - cast on the spot at the start of the event!

SPECIAL PARTNERSHIP PERFORMANCE
RUNNING WILDE
By John Lazarus | Directed by Roy Surette
A United Players, in association with Western Gold Theatre, presentation
Friday, September 4–Sunday, September 27 at Jericho Arts Centre
At 27, young Oscar Wilde, famous for being famous, embarked on a hugely successful 11-month one-man lecture tour of North America. The tour went like clockwork ... except when he missed a connection in straight, stuffy little old Kingston, Ontario. John Lazarus imagines what might have happened next – a tangled, farcical web of seductions, betrayals, blackmailings and happy endings – featuring a lovesick bellboy, an ambitious young woman reporter, a grande dame of Kingston society, a dangerously handsome local working man, a resourceful and quick-thinking valet, and the witty, charming, legendary Oscar himself.
Tickets: Adults $40, seniors $35, students with ID $15,
Preview: Thursday, September 3, all tickets $20.
Talkbacks: Following the performances on Thursday, September 10 and Sunday, September 13.

MÉTIS KITCHEN PARTY & FEAST
in partnership with Full Circle: First Nations Performance, Talking Stick Festival and V'niDansi
Sunday, October 4 from 1pm– 6pm
Come close the festival with an uplifting celebration of Métis Culture. Stop by for some bannock, learn how to dance a jig, or simply kick back and take it all in. The party features the internationally renowned Louis Riel Métis Dancers, beloved storyteller Tom McCallum, and award-winning singer-songwriter Sandy Scofield. This is guaranteed to be a hand-clapping, foot-stomping, full-on fiddling fun for the whole family! The afternoon culminates in a catered feast for all.

Plus Creative Workshops at Barclay Manor (improv, Métis sash finger weaving, playwriting, cedar bracelet making), Artists Salons, and more!
Full info is on the Western Gold website. Stay tuned for more programming and details to come!

AND Coming in November
SANDSPRITE
By Peter Zednik | Directed by Christopher Lam
November 12-29

Western Gold Theatre Society is a professional company of established senior theatre artists (age 55+) committed to producing plays of the highest quality and relevance to audiences of all ages. The company presents both theatre classics and newly commissioned Canadian works that reflect and illuminate the rich experience of our senior community.

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