What does real suspense feel like on stage? In this episode, actors Sochi Fried and Bruce Horak dive into their roles in Wait Until Dark at the Shaw Festival, a play full of menace, vulnerability, and razor-sharp tension.

They talk about trust, sensory awareness, and the risks of staging a thriller in a real space, in real time. From soundscapes and silence to darkness and danger, they figure out what it takes to make audiences hold their breath.

Sochi Fried is an actor whose stage work includes Candida, The Apple Cart, and The Game of Love and Chance, and Wights, and she has appeared on screen in Star Trek: Discovery, Transplant, and Murderbot.

Bruce Horak is an actor, writer, and visual artist whose stage credits range from Blind Date and Goblin: Macbeth to A Christmas Carol, Richard III and his acclaimed solo show Assassinating Thomson. His screen work includes Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Tickets to all of our shows are available now at shawfest.com.

Hosted by Alexis Milligan
Produced by Kelly Wong
Original Music by Travis Seetoo

We want to hear from you! Drop us a line at podcast@shawfest.com

What happens when you blend tabletop role-playing games with the works of George Bernard Shaw and C.S. Lewis? In this episode, Travis Seetoo and Cosette Derome join us to talk about The Roll of Shaw: Through the Wardrobe, a unique live show at the Shaw Festival where fantasy storytelling meets improvisation, audience participation, and the deep winter of Narnia.

From drawing monsters to running sound cues on vintage projectors, Cosette and Travis share how they bring audience ideas to life in real time—and why they believe everyone belongs in the world of the play.

Travis Seetoo is in his twelfth season at the Shaw Festival. He’s appeared in over 30 productions, from Brigadoon and The Magician’s Nephew to Snow in Midsummer, and has created original music for Shaw Variety Show and this podcast.

Cosette Derome is in her second season at the Shaw Festival, where she has appeared in Snow in Midsummer and The Shaw Variety Show. Her stage work spans theatres across Canada, including the NAC, the Foster Festival, and Theatre Gargantua.

Tickets to all of our shows are available now at shawfest.com.

Hosted by Alexis Milligan
Produced by Kelly Wong
Original Music by Travis Seetoo

We want to hear from you! Drop us a line at podcast@shawfest.com

How do you take a cabaret of French songs and transform it into a fully staged, immersive experience inside a Spiegeltent? In this episode, Jay Turvey and Matt Alfano reflect on the creation of La Vie en Rose at the Shaw Festival, a collaboration rooted in movement, music, and memory. Drawing on everything from Edith Piaf to Gene Kelly, from historical Parisian dance to physical theatre, the show reimagines a night in Paris as an intimate theatrical event.

And we’re also joined by Eponine Lee to talk about crafting music for the Troubadors, and how the unlikely pairing of No Doubt and Eliza Doolittle helped inspire the vibe.

Jay Turvey is an award-winning actor and director. His directing credits at Shaw include The Secret Garden, Gypsy, and The Light in the Piazza, and he and his partner Paul Sportelli have co-written several original musicals including Maria Severa and Tristan.

Matt Alfano has appeared with the Stratford Festival, Drayton Entertainment, Mirvish Productions, and on Broadway in Jesus Christ Superstar. Credits at the Shaw Festival include One Man, Two Guvnors, Anything Goes, White Christmas, and Gypsy.

Eponine Lee is an actor, musician, and songwriter. Her Shaw credits include Wait Until Dark, Troubadors, The Orphan of Chao and Snow in Midsummer, as well as performances with the Stratford Festival, Soulpepper and many others. You can find her latest single here.

Tickets to all of our shows are available now at shawfest.com.

Hosted by Alexis Milligan
Produced by Kelly Wong
Original Music by Travis Seetoo

We want to hear from you! Drop us a line at podcast@shawfest.com