Stage Door News

Port Dover: The Lighthouse Festival Theatre announces its summer 2021 productions

Wednesday, July 14, 2021

As the province moves into Phase 3 of re-opening, Lighthouse Festival announces the return of live theatre to Port Dover. Audiences will be treated to two world premiere productions this summer. The shows are two new one act plays; a one-man comedy from Mark Crawford and a Lighthouse commissioned play from Kristin Da Silva. 

With regulations allowing more audience members to attend outdoor theatre, performances will take place under a tent on the grounds of the Links at Dover Coast golf course. Moving outdoors allows Lighthouse to welcome a reduced audience of 54 people to each performance with health and safety protocols in place for all attendees, including wearing a face covering to and from their seats.   

“With hope and positivity overflowing all around the county and province as life returns to some semblance of normality, we are delighted to begin our re-opening journey with a hilarious one act play from Mark Crawford,“ said Derek Ritschel, Artistic Director of Lighthouse. “An audience of 54 is only a sliver of the normally packed theatre we are used to playing to, but it is beyond energizing to be back with any sized audience and a great first step to returning to sold out performances and a full summer season by 2022.”  

Crawford’s play Chase the Ace is a story about Charlie King, a big city radio host who is forced to manage a small-town station. Not only does a pandemic begin his first week, but he finds himself chasing a story of municipal corruption. Da Silva’s Beyond The Sea finds Theo and Gwen, two strangers, who begin a conversation on a pier in a small town. With humour and heart, they explore love, loss and the importance of looking forward.  

Lighthouse knew outdoor theatre was the key to this summer’s performances and started looking for potential venues in April. Ritschel mentioned this in passing to Mark Stortini, COO of Dover Coast, who immediately offered the use of his professional event tent at the golf course the Links at Dover Coast. 

“Lighthouse is eternally grateful to the community partners who have helped us reach this critical re-opening milestone. We are appreciative of Execulink Telecom for returning as the Season Presenter even before we knew what our summer playbill would look like, the McKeil family for their generous support and to the Links at Dover Coast for giving us a temporary home where we can get back to doing what we do best, making people laugh,” said Executive Director Nicole Campbell. Lighthouse would also like to recognize the Province of Ontario, who provided funding during the pandemic to help us purchase the necessary health and safety equipment needed for re-opening.

Performances of Chase The Ace are set to begin Friday July 23 to August 8 and Beyond the Sea will run from August 24 to September 12. Tickets will go on sale to the public Tuesday July 20.

Visit lighthousetheatre.com.