Starting in 2023, our Creators’ Unit has been a fruitful mechanism for New Play Development at the Capitol. Supported by Robin Dines, this program marks a real commitment to developing local and regional voices and supporting Canadian creators. Creators work alongside Artistic Director Rob Kempson to develop their projects over the course of a year through readings, dramaturgy, and peer-to-peer conversation.

This program culminates in our annual Playreading Week, head in early October. Participating artists are selected through both invitation and application each fall.

This Play Reading Week: Discover These Upcoming Works:

WE GO TO WAR

By Sean Carthew

SCULTHORPE THEATRE

SEPT 30, 2026 | 7:30PM

On her deathbed, Sean received his Grandmother Evelyn’s memoirs. After exploring her writing, he found exclusively the facts. Statement of events. She left her opinions and emotions out of it. Using the memoirs as a jumping off place, Sean has written his interpretation and imagination of the events of her life. First presented as a 10 min play, Evelyn enters a bar and engages with a bartender. But she then steps into the roles of her own life to create a tapestry of history, memory, and reflection.

Sean Carthew runs the Ontario Street Theatre and related events throughout the year in Port Hope. He requires no introduction in this town.

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BETTE DAVIS WAS RIGHT

By Andrea Scott

SCULTHORPE THEATRE

OCT 1, 2026 | 7:30PM

Our hero, Emily (Em) for short, meets Bea, the owner of Friendly Books and Café in Parsley, Ontario, a fictional cottage country town where Muskoka chairs are ubiquitous, and strangers smile and say hello to you on the street. The two women represent the push and pull between two generations of women who bond over the feeling of being out of step with a world that doesn't quite understand them. And though they come together under unremarkable circumstances, they end up changing each other’s lives. Bette Davis was Right is about finding fellowship with one another, community, inter-generational bonds, and living one day at a time.

Andrea Scott is an acclaimed and award-winning writer of both theatre and television, with work produced by the Stratford Festival, Grand Theatre, Neptune Theatre and Nightwood Theatre.

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BUT WHY / BECAUSE

By Kaitlyn Riordan & Aaron Jensen

SCULTHORPE THEATRE

OCT 2, 2026 | 7:30PM

In a moment of desperation, a single mother fabricates an honourable life (and death) for her son's estranged father. But Why/Because is a new musical dramedy about a fraught mother/son relationship marked by 28 years of misguided good intentions, an unrealized desire to connect, and a 28-hour car ride.

Kaitlyn and Aaron have been developing their new musical But Why/Because since 2024. Both parents to young children, they bring a curiosity about parenthood—with all of its challenges and joys—to their work.

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GOLDILOCKS & THE 3 BEARS: A NEW PANTO

By Madeleine Brown

SCULTHORPE THEATRE

OCT 3, 2026 | 7:30PM

A major horror movie franchise is filming in Port Hope over the holiday season. It’s led by a former child star about to make their big comeback—Goldilocks—with her Momager in tow. Enter the three Bear siblings who fight to triumph over the other and provide Goldi with an accommodation option that’s just right.

Madeleine Brown is a playwright, actor and sometimes stand up, originally from Peterborough. She made her unofficial Capitol debut in high school as backstage crew on a production of Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat.

For tickets visit capitoltheatre.com.