Creative Team

(Adaptation and Direction) for The Donnelly’s: A Trilogy

Actor, director, playwright, collaborator, Gil has been with the Blyth Festival in some capacity or other since 1999. Outstanding shows over the years have included: Death of the Hired Man, the Drawer Boy, the Outdoor Donnellys, World Without Shadows, Pearl Gidley, the Nutalls, A Killing Snow, the Last Donnelly Standing, the Pigeon King, In the Wake of Wettlaufer. Gil has been artistic director since 2014, and lives on a little farm in Central Huron with his wife and four beautiful children.

The Stratford Festival (includes): Spamalot, Henry VIII, To Kill a Mockingbird, Hamlet, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, The Music Man, Pericles, Fiddler on the Roof, As You Like It, Julius Caesar. Elsewhere: Public Enemy (Canadian Stage), A Whistle in the Dark, (Company Theatre); The Laramie Project (Studio 180); King Lear (Soulpepper); Arcadia (Theatre Junction). Directing: The Crucible (Stratford Festival); John by Annie Baker (Company Theatre). Film/TV: Reign, Alias Grace, Republic of Doyle, Heartland, Murdoch Mysteries. Training: NTS, Birmingham Conservatory, Banff Centre. Teaching: NTS, Fanshawe College. Jonathan is thrilled to return to the brilliant Blyth Festival. His work is dedicated to the memory of Jerry Franken.

Beth is an award-winning lighting, set, projection, and projection/mixed reality/VR designer whose work has been seen on stages around the world for over 30 years. Blyth highlights: Seeds, Cottagers & Indians, 1837: a Farmers Revolt and Mr. New Years Eve. A leader in new forms of performance, Beth co-created Bury The Wren, a VR/Live performance, inspired by her collaboration with Gil Garratt and Paul Thompson on The Last Donnelly Standing. Her favorite production is her son, Aaron.

Blyth Credits: The Drawer Boy (Assistant Stage Manager) The Berlin Blues and Ipperwash

Selected Credits: Orphan Song, Bunny, (Tarragon Theatre), The Fish Eyes Trilogy, Boys with Cars (Nightswimming), This, Flood Thereafter, (Canadian Stage Company), Dividing Lines, Madre, (Aluna Theatre), Public Servant, Weather the Weather, (Theatre Columbus / Common Boots), Gladstone Variations, Yichud (seclusion) (Convergence), The Silicone Diaries (Buddies in Bad Times), and 7 summers with Dream in High Park. Sandy is the great-grandson of Morley Plunkett of the almost forgotten WW1 Canadian Vaudeville Troupe, The Dumbells.

Cheryl studied classical percussion at McGill University in Montreal, where she is from.

She toured Canada, U.S. Europe and Russia for many years with The Yiddish Theatre of Montreal. She spent 25 years in NY City and then Philadelphia while accompanying many touring artists. She is a founding member of the Celtic Roots group RUNA.

Cheryl now lives in Huron County and is the Artistic Director for the Goderich Celtic Roots Festival where she first attended as an artist in 2011

James Reaney, Canadian poet and playwright, was born on a farm near Stratford, Ontario, on September 1, 1926.

He grew up to become one of Canada’s best-known poets and dramatists, enjoying literary success over a period of seven decades. He was also a professor of English at the University of Manitoba (1949 – 1956) and the University of Western Ontario (1960 – 1989).

Select credits: 5 seasons as the sound designer for Canadian Stage’s Shakespeare in the Park as well as designing the productions Venus in Fur, Liv Stein and Game of Love and Chance, creator and composer for the Last Donnelly Standing at Blyth in addition to designing productions of Mary’s Wedding,In the Wake of Wettlaufer, Truth be Told and The Drawer Boy. Lyon designed sound for clown duo Moro and Jasp with 9 to 5 and Stupefaction, Venus’ Daughter for Obsidian theatre, and Prairie Nurse, the Waltz  and You Can’t Get There From Here, Vol. 3 for Factory Theatre and the Gig at theatre Aquarius.

Blyth Credits: Drawer Boy, Jewel, Huron County Christmas Carol,  Wing Night at the Boot, Kitchen Radio, Billy Bishop Goes to War, Innocence Lost, Against the Grain, The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom, Queen Milli of Galt, Schoolhouse, The Thirteenth One, Test Drive, Overboard!, Barndance Live!

As a free-lance costume designer Jennifer has created costumes for over 175 theatre, dance and opera productions across Ontario. She has spent 13 seasons at the Blyth Festival as a costume designer. She is known for her attention to detail and for collaborating on new works.

Jennifer holds a BFA in Theatre Production and Design from York University and an MA Fashion from Ryerson University. She has worked as part-time faculty for various university departments including the Toronto Metropolitan School of Fashion and School of Performance, and York University Theatre and Dance Departments. She has developed curriculum and taught courses in costume design, fashion design, pattern making, draping, construction, millinery, corsetry, accessories, specialty building, painting and dyeing.

Jennifer has enjoyed working with several museums in the province including the Oakville Museum at Erchless Estate and the Huron County Museum. She has presented at ICOM International Committee for Museums and Collections of Costume, Fashion and Textiles.

Jennifer owns and manages two different social enterprises in Blyth Ontario. Pick a Posie Vintage is a second-hand costume, vintage and eclectic fashion shop that offers one of a kind pieces as well as custom design services. The Fashion Arts & Creative Textiles Studio (FACTS) is innovative and educational fibre and textile arts hub that offers classes and workshops at both the community and professional level. Jennifer grows a dye garden on her property that she uses to  dye clothing, accessories and yarn with. Visit Pick a Posie Vintage and the dye gardens at 345 Queen Street in Blyth, at the corner of Queen and Wellington.