MAINSTAGE Munsch Garden

About the Play

Based on the stories of Robert Munsch, devised by Christopher Stanton and the Second Year Class.
Directed by Christopher Stanton*
Music by Stephan Ermel; Lyrics by Stephan Ermel & the George Brown Class

A family of farmers is confused when harvest time comes, and when they go to pull up the fruits and vegetables from their garden, instead, it’s full of STORIES! George Brown’s 35th children’s show returns to the much-loved world of Robert Munsch. Our theatre-for-young-audience shows have introduced tens of thousands of Toronto children to the magic of live theatre over the past three decades. The author of over 45 books, Robert Munsch’s knack for making young people smile, giggle, and want to read his stories over and over again, has made him Canada’s best-selling author. A fun and energy-filled hour of story, music, and dance with many of Munsch’s most popular stories.

Headshot of Christopher Stanton

Directed by Christopher Stanton*

Christopher is a Hamilton-based director, performer, writer, sound designer, composer, and educator. His stage work has taken him across Canada to Toronto, Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Montreal – and internationally to New York, Bogotà, Munich, Brisbane, Dublin, and Vienna.

 

More about Christopher

He has been nominated for 16 Dora Mavor Moore Awards across disciplines, winning in 2017 Outstanding Direction and in 2011 for Outstanding Performance. Past roles in artistic leadership include UnSpun Theatre, The Room, and ARC. He has been the Festival Director of the Hamilton Fringe since 2020.

Performance Schedule

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

School/Group Shows

November 30 & December 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 — 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

Open to the Public Shows  

Friday, December 2
Saturday, December 3
Saturday, December 10

LOCATION​

Young Centre for the Performing Arts
50 Tank House Lane, Toronto, ON M5A 3C4

RUNNING TIME​

~ 50 min (no intermission)​​

COST​

School/Group (10+) Bookings: $10/child. No charge to supervisors at a 10 to 1 ratio. $10/supervisor above 10 to 1 ratio.

Public Bookings: Children under 12: $10, Adults: $25.

Creatives

Michael Panich
Michael Panich*, Stage Manager

George Brown Theatre School: The Corsican Complaint, Love & Information, The Witch of Edmonton, Three Sisters & Co, Metamorphoses, Planet Munsch, You Never Can Tell, Munsch Goes to School, Munsch-o-Mania, Munsch All Over, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Elsewhere: Suddenly Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare in Action), The Rainbow Fish, Stella-Queen of the Snow (Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia), Stories from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Theatre Smith-Gilmour), The Hound of the Baskervilles (Lighthouse Festival Theatre), Canada in Love, Remember that Song, The Legend of Dan McGrew (Smile Theatre). Michael graduated from Concordia University’s theatre program in 2008. In addition to stage managing, Michael is also a production manager, actor and set/light designer.  

 

Jackie Chau
JACKIE CHAU, SET & PROPERTIES DESIGNER

Jackie has worked as a set and costume designer and her work has toured internationally. In addition, she is a production designer and art director for film and television. Selected theatre design credits include: Sexy Laundry (Theatre Aquarius) Annie Mae’s Movement, Almighty Voice and His Wife, Tombs of the Vanishing Indian, From Thine Eyes, HUFF (NEPA), Antigone Insurgency, Talking Masks, Charge of the Expormidable Moose, Ubu Mayor, S/W (One Little Goat), Gas Girls (New Harlem Productions), Romeo and Juliet (TD Dream in High Park/Can Stage), Zadie's Shoes, Lady Sunrise (Factory Theatre), Brown Balls (Fu-Gen), The Swearing Jar (Prairie Theatre Exchange), Fish Eyes Trilogy (GCTC), Canada 300 (Watermark Theatre), Cannibal the Musical (Starvox Entertainment), Twist Your Dickens (Second City Chicago/Toronto), Mini Me Makeover – Designer and Co-host (CBC Kids/Expect Theatre), Moment, Dissidents, Oil (ARC Theatre), Cowboy Versus Samurai, 39 Steps, Oraltorio (Soulpepper) and The Komagata Maru Incident (Stratford Festival). Jackie was named in NOW magazine's Top 10 Theatre Artists of 2009, nominated for the Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design, nominated for a Saskatoon Area Theatre (SAT) award, 2 Broadway World awards and has received 8 Dora nominations for outstanding set and costume design. This is Jackie's 14th year designing for the George Brown Theatre. 

 

Photo of Siobahn Sleath
SIOBHÁN SLEATH, LIGHTING DESIGNER

Siobhán is happy to be back at George Brown Theatre to design Cymbeline. She’s also worked with the School on 3 Sisters & Co.,The Learned Ladies, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Machinal, Calvalcade, Lady Windermere’s Fan and three Munsch Shows. Other recent shows include: Ann (Arkansas Rep Theatre); The Horse and His Boy, Wilde Tales (Shaw Festival); Miracle on 34th Street, A Year with Frog and Toad, Shrek and The Addams Family (Neptune Theatre); Steel City Gangster and On a First Name Basis (Theatre Aquarius); Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Avenue Q (Sudbury Theatre Centre); and Elegies: A Song Cycle (Acting Up Stage). She is the Associate Lighting Designer on the Canadian production of Come from Away.

More information can be found on her website: www.siobhansleathdesign.com

 

Sim Suzer, Costume Designer

Recent Design Work: Costume Design and Associate Set Design for Everybody (Shaw Festival), Associate Costume Design for Three Women from Swatow (Tarragon Theatre), Set and Costume Design for Untamed (XU) Stratford Festival 2021: Assistant Set and Costume Design for Romeo and Juliet. Shaw Festival 2020: Assistant Costume Design for Gypsy, Assistant Set Design for Devil’s Disciple. Shaw Festival 2019: Assistant Set and Costume Design for Horse and His Boy, The Ladykillers, Victory, Holiday Inn. Design Work 2019: Costume Designer for Water Wonder (Carousel Players), Set and Costume Designer for Play House (Shaw Festival), Set and Costume Designer for The Subjection of Kezia and Poof! (Shaw Festival), Set and Costume Designer for Journey to the Greatest Gift (L’Arche Daybreak), Costume Designer for Good Morning, Viet Mom (Cahoots Theatre). Online: https://simgesuzer.journoportfolio.com/  

 

Stephan Ermel
Music Composed by Stephan Ermel

Stephan Ermel is the vocal music instructor for George Brown and a music director, musician, actor and educator. He is the Resident Music Director of YES Theatre in Sudbury, a graduate of the George Brown Theatre School, and holds an Associate Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music.

George Brown: Planet Munsch; Talk is Free: Mahagonny Songspiel; Hart House: Legally Blonde; YES Theatre: James and the Giant Peach, Mamma Mia, The Sound of Music, Merrily We Roll Along, Violet, Beauty and the Beast, Billy Elliot.

 

Scott Banks
Scott Banks, Sound Designer

Scott is a freelance production manager, technical director, and sound designer in the GTA. Scott attended the University of Waterloo, earning a Bachelor’s degree in technical theatre. Since those days, he has been around the world and back, working on cruise ships for 7 years in the production department. He has worked in the corporate and music sectors with companies such as PSAV, Freeman AV, Snap Hoek and PRG. His real love is theatre, though, and he has been involved with various theatres around the country, from Watermark Theatre in PEI (Production Manager, Canada 300 national tour), to Manitoba Theatre for Young People in Winnipeg, MB (Interim Production Manager, 2013-2014 season) to 4TH Line Theatre in Millbrook, ON (Production Manager).  This is Scott’s 7TH season with George Brown Theatre School, and he is happy to be back to help these young theatre artists as they grow and learn.

Cast

  • Danny Brozovich
  • Isabella Du Toit
  • Aisha El Shennawy
  • Gabrielle Forsey
  • Maya Granic
  • Barbara-Jane Jones
  • Dieter Lische-Parkes
  • Tia Lunn
  • Michael Manning
  • Julia Mitin
  • Molly Moore
  • Micaela Morey
  • Sophie Oldford
  • Vica Pelivan
  • Tessa Rusgnak
  • Jordyn Schwartz
  • Misha Sharivker
  • Ganesh Thava
  • Trinity Thibeault
  • Emmanuela Van Allen
  • Nandhini Vijayakumar

Credits & Acknowledgements

Production Staff​

  • Properties Master: David Hoekstra​
  • Set Carpenter: Curtis Whittaker​
  • Set Painter: Susanna Feng
  • Head of Wardrobe: Ina Kerklaan​
  • Stitcher: Victoria Bruer
  • Movement Coach: Suzanne Liska
  • Voice Coach: Debora Joy
  • Speech Coach: Eli Ham
  • Choreographer: Bob McCollum
  • Music Vocal Coach: Stephan Ermel
  • Social Media Coordinator:​​ Shelayna Christante

Staff for George Brown Theatre

  • Chair: Trent Scherer​​​
  • Program Coordinator: Sue Miner​​​
  • Support Coordinator: Michael Longstaff​​​
  • Production Manager/Technical Director: Scott Banks​​
  • Assistant Technical Director: Andrei Mamal​

Special thanks to our generous donors​

  • Special thanks to our generous donors​
  • The William & Nona Heaslip Foundation  ​
  • Sonja Koerner and the Women’s Art Association  ​
  • Loretta Bogert-O’Brien  ​
  • Esther Farlinger  ​
  • Larry LaForet  ​
  • Audrey J. Murdoch  ​
  • Ray Wares  ​
  • Lu-Ju Chou​
  • George Brown Seniors’ Association  ​
  • Cindy Larable​
  • Debbie Read ​

Thank you to our friends in the community​

  • Steafan Hannigan; Courtney Pyke and Factory Theatre; Jasmine Knox, Julia Carrano, Corey MacVicar and Soulpepper Theatre

Based on the following books:
Lighthouse: A Story of Remembrance. Text copyright © 2003 by Bob Munsch Enterprises Ltd. Illustrations copyright © 2003 by Janet Wilson.
Makeup Mess Text copyright © 2001 by Bob Munsch Enterprises Ltd. Illustrations copyright © 2001 by Michael Martchenko.
Roar! Text copyright © 2009 by Bob Munsch Enterprises Ltd. Illustrations copyright © 2009 by Michael Martchenko.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Canada Ltd.
Millicent and the Wind © 1984 and Stephanie's Ponytail © 1996 © Bob Munsch Enterprises Ltd; published by Annick Press.

*The participation of these Artists is arranged by permission of the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the provisions of the Dance.Opera.Theatr Policy (DOT).​