With Thanksgiving behind us and Halloween fast approaching, it's the perfect time to start planning for the holiday season—especially with festive decorations already filling the stores!

Why not kick things off with a heartwarming holiday outing? A Niagara Christmas Carol takes to the stage at the Mandeville Theatre, Ridley College, December 4–14. Presented in partnership with the St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre, this holiday production is perfect for the whole family. Parking is free and Ridley Road is newly paved!

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Welland Canal Company and the canal’s historic construction, this adaptation sets Dickens’ timeless ghost story right in 19th-century St. Catharines, during the canal’s second build.

This uniquely Canadian version of A Christmas Carol has been adapted by Jamie Williams, Artistic Associate at The Foster Festival, and is directed by the Festival's Artistic Director, Emily Oriold. With just five actors playing 20 roles, it promises to be an imaginative, entertaining, and meaningful start to your holiday season.

BOOK NOW! Visit fosterfestival.com or call The Foster Festival Box Office at 1.844.735.4832 x3 (MON-FRI - 10am-4pm).

The CAST:

CLAIRE JULLIEN - Catharine Merritt, Mrs. Sparrow, Jenny, Charlotte.

FOR THE FESTIVAL: Screwball Comedy, Bridge Narrows reading, A Niagara Christmas Carol reading.

SELECTED THEATRE: Over 40 productions and 26 seasons with the Shaw and Stratford Festivals; Middletown (Streetcar Crowsnest Theatre); King Lear (Lincoln Center Theater); Blithe Spirit, An Inspector Calls (Theatre Aquarius); The Turn Of The Screw, Miracle On 34th Street, A Streetcar Named Desire, Einstein’s Gift (The Grand Theatre); The Homecoming, Medea (RMTC); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet (Festival of Classics).

FILM & TV (Select): Murdoch Mysteries (CBC); Elizabeth Rex (Rhombus Media).

TRAINING: Graduate of the University of Windsor BFA Program.

OTHER: I am so grateful for the love and support of so many wonderful people in my life: my partner, Tom, my children, Liam and Anwen, my sister, Nikki and my mom, Kate. Thank you for always being there.

DARREN KEAY - William Hamilton Merritt, Jacob Marley, James McGill, Captain McCarthy, Billy, Chace.

FOR THE FESTIVAL: The Christmas Tree, Hilda's Yard, Screwball Comedy, Halfway There.

SELECTED THEATRE: Hurry Hard (Orillia Opera House and Upper Canada Playhouse); The Welland Canal Play, Fighting Days (ECT); Driving Miss Daisy, Outlaw (Victoria Playhouse); Out of Order, One for the Pot (Drayton); The Ballad of Stompin' Tom, Salt-Water Moon, Queen Milli of Galt (Blyth Festival).

FILM & TV: Most recently Cows Come Home (Bell Media), The Girlfriend Experience (Starz).

TRAINING: LAMDA - London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art, Acadia University, Second City.

OTHER: Darren is grateful and excited to bring life to the Dickens' ghosts once again and play with The Foster Festival in this wonderful Niagara adaptation of a holiday favourite! As always, love and thanks to Emily and Emerson.

EMILY LUKASIK  - Belle, Fanny, Annie, Kate.

FOR THE FESTIVAL: The Melville Boys.

SELECTED THEATRE: Once (Mirvish, Dora Award); five seasons at the Shaw Festival, including Saint Joan, Sweeney Todd, Wilde Tales; As You Like It (CanStage); Retold (Musical Stage Co.); Into the Woods (Ovation); Hook Up (Theatre Passe Muraille/ Tapestry Opera); Little Women (Theatre New Brunswick, Theatre Orangeville, Theatre Sheridan); The Team (ECT/Theatre Aquarius); Beautiful: the Carole King Musical, Over the River and Through the Woods, Jesus Christ Superstar (Drayton): Fiddler On the Roof (Persephone); Kitchen Radio, Saint Anne’s Reel (Blyth Festival); Home for the Holidays (Theatre Aquarius).

FRANCIS MASABA  - Fred, Private Lewis Toliver, Christmas Present, John Beverley Robinson, Moses Cook.

FOR THE FESTIVAL: Debut.

SELECTED THEATRE: Understudy in The Apple Cart, Understudy in On the Razzle (Shaw Festival); Above and Beyond (TO Fringe); We Are Proud to Present…, This is War, The Crucible (UofT Scarborough); Heart in the Ground (TEDxUTSC).

FILM & TV: Mouthful (2018).

TRAINING: Theatre and Performance Studies (UofT Scarborough); The Bailie Cohort (Shaw Festival).

AWARDS: Saunderson Award (Shaw Festival).

OTHER: This debut is dedicated to my family and friends for their YEARS of support! UTSC TAPS represent!!

JAMIE WILLIAMS - Ebenezer Scrooge.

FOR THE FESTIVAL: Here on the Flight Path; The Writer (World Premiere); The Christmas Tree; Ship to Shore; On A First Name Basis; The Stakeout. As Director: Widow Wonderland; The Foursome; Whit's End (World Premiere); Time and Tide (World Premiere); Mechanically Inclined (World Premiere).

SELECTED THEATRE (Actor): The View From Here (Port Stanley, Theatre Orangeville); Sleight of Mind (World Premiere - Western Canada Theatre); Arcadia, Romeo and Juliet, Sense and Sensibility, A Christmas Carol (The Citadel); Skin Flick (World Premiere - Neptune Theatre); The Affections of May, Lunenburg, Halfway There (Upper Canada Playhouse); The Melville Boys (Lighthouse Festival Theatre, Theatre Orangeville); Noises Off (Theatre Aquarius); Homeward Bound (The Grand); The Hobbit (Young Peoples Theatre); Possible Worlds (National Arts Centre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Neptune, Festival des Amérique); King Lear, Richard III, Amadeus, Macbeth (Stratford Festival); (Director): Pack of Thieves (World Premiere - Lighthouse Festival); It's Your Funeral (World Premiere - Upper Canada Playhouse).

OTHER: As a playwright, The View From Here (Port Stanley, Theatre Orangeville); It's Your Funeral (Upper Canada Playhouse, Port Stanley); Pinkerton Comes to Prospect (Shortlisted for the Playwrights Guild of Canada Comedy Award - World Premiere Lighthouse Festival 2025); A Niagara Christmas Carol (adaptation - World Premiere The Foster Festival 2025).

For tickets visit fosterfestival.com.