Life in Stages with Joel Greenberg

Kate has 45 years of professional experience as an actor, from her humble beginnings as  Kalfang the Destroyer in The Incredible Magical Delfodil (Huron Country  Playhouse, 1981) to Rose in Gypsy (Shaw Festival, 2023), and Mrs. Bennet in Pride  and Prejudice (Grand Theatre, 2025). The intervening years include seasons on Broadway (2009-10), with the Royal  Shakespeare Company (2007), and multiple seasons with both the Shaw and Stratford  festivals. She has played leading roles in regional theatres across Canada and has been  at the heart of the creation of new work with many independent theatre companies. She  has received multiple acting awards including two Dora Mavor Moore Awards, three  Betty Mitchell Awards, and a Toronto Theatre Critics’ Award. In 2015 she received the  Christopher Plummer Foundation Award for Excellence, sponsored by the Shakespeare  Globe Centre of Canada. Kate’s playwriting includes The Last Wife, The Virgin Trial, and Mother’s  Daughter all of which premiered at the Stratford Festival and went on to subsequent  productions at Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto. The Virgin Trial won the Carol Bolt  Award for Best New Play 2017 and was short-listed for the Governor General’s Literary  Award for Drama in the same year.  Kate’s plays have had over 60 productions: across Canada, in the U.S. and as far away as  Sydney and Glasgow. The generosity of our sponsors for Season 5 is deeply appreciated: Tim Zeigler of Tim Zeigler Wealth Management (zeiglerwealth.com), returning for his third season sponsorship, and Marc Bondy of Outlook Promotions (outlookpromo.com) signing on for his first season. They, and many individual donors, have helped to make Life in Stages possible.

Daniel MacIvor is a playwright, performer, and producer who divides his time between  Toronto and Nova Scoti, a. He has been the recipient of a Governor General’s Literary  Award, the Siminovitch Prize for Theatre a New York Obie Award and a GLAAD  Award. Currently Daniel runs Toronto-based reWork Productions developing new  theatre and media. The generosity of our sponsors for Season 5 is deeply appreciated: Tim Zeigler of Tim Zeigler Wealth Management (zeiglerwealth.com), returning for his third season sponsorship, and Marc Bondy of Outlook Promotions (outlookpromo.com) signing on for his first season. They, and many individual donors, have helped to make Life in Stages possible.

Yes, Life in Stages, Season 4 played its final episode with the return visit of Mark McGrinder. However, as we sail through a Toronto summer, it struck me that a bonus episode would not be amiss. So, here we are with a shift in focus and topic: I am the guest on Mike’s own podcast, Toronto Mike’d. Yes, we’ve exchanged roles before, but that was on Life in Stages. This time, I have joined Mike on his turf and I was only too happy to address issues that my own podcast has not broadcast. NOTE: The new season, Season 5, is recording mid-August through mid-September – you know that I’ll advise you all when the new season is scheduled to begin dropping.

Mark was the first guest to join Life in Stages. That was two years ago, so it’s time to check in now that theatre has returned to its normal challenge of daily survival. When we spoke the first time, Mark had just become the Artistic Director of Studio 180 Theatre. In our conversation we didn’t discuss our family connection: Mark is married to Jessica, my older daughter. We weren’t being coy by omitting that detail, since I’d met Mark more than ten years before he and Jess found each other. And as two of the five founding members of Studio 180, Mark and I already had a steady working relationship.Back to this episode, the final one in Season 4. This is a much more give-and-take conversation than most preceding episodes. And it’s a welcome opportunity to share the studio with Mark and Mike as we bring Season 4 to a close.NOTE: Season 5 is already scheduled to record, so standby for another series of conversations beginning early Fall.

Paul and I first met when we were working on “The Overwhelming” JT Rogers’ play about the Rwandan genocide. Subsequently, we worked together again on “Stuff Happens” and “The Normal Heart” – all Studio 180 Theatre productions. In addition, Paul’s work as actor, director, fight director and fight captain has taken him across the country. Among his acting credits, Paul includes “As You Like It”, “A Doll’s House, Part 2”, “Sense and Sensibility”, Shakespeare in Love”, “The Audience” and “A Few Good Men” for the Manitoba Theatre Centre. At the Stratford Festival, Paul performed in “Macbeth”, “Amadeus”, “The Country Wife” and “Twelfth Night”.Paul directed “Witness for the Prosecution” for MTC and “La Chanson de l’Elephant” for Cercle Moliere.Paul lives and works in Winnipeg.