What was your special toy or stuffy when you were little? When did you let it go? Did you? Why? Do you still have it? Why?
Mustard was a comic-tragic play, that could be silly at times, but it was also about a lot of very serious and scary things, including divorce, alcoholism, suicide, mental health, teen pregnancy and growing up, which can be violent, tragic, funny, and magical all at once. At its core Mustard was a play about love: we were watching real people deal with real problems with real stakes, trying to find ways to love and be loved, and some of those people just happened to be magical.
The play was written by award-winning Canadian playwright, Kat Sandler. We met a mother and daughter on the verge of total breakdown. The other member of the household was the daughter's imaginary friend she’s had forever. We also met a boyfriend, and a couple of other wildly extraordinary folk who arrived with a crucial job to do. It was an action - packed three days! Mustard was filled with outrageous, gorgeous, wonder - and this isa golden commodity that can take practice to hold on to as we get older.
As the program’s first ever hybrid production (live and Livestreamed), Mustard aimed to connect our communities in times of uncertainty through the medium of live theatrical performance. There was both a digital and physical dramaturgy Hub and Engagement Space within the Theatre of the Arts and on the website for the performance, uwmustard.ca. These spaces aimed to provide context to our audience’s experience of the play and production, from research sources and themes of the work to the creative vision of the artistic team.
Set design by Anna Treusch
Sadie and Thai
Thai and Mustard
Sadie
Mustard and Sadie
Lighting design by Paul Cegys
Bug
Leslie
Jay, Mustard and Thai
Sadie and Mustard
Bug, Mustard and Leslie
Thai, Jay and Bruce
Mustard and Thai
Wardrobe Crew
Jasmine, Carpentry Crew
Alex, Props Crew
Emily, Lighting Crew
Paint Call
Sophia, Dramaturgy
Stephanie, Wardrobe Crew and Nancy, Leslie
Written by: Kat Sandler
Directed by: Liza Balkan
Associate Director: Emily Radcliffe
Performances: March 23 - 26, 2022
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Matinee: March 25th at 12:00 p.m.
Venue: Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages Building (Matinee Hybrid Livestreamed to Youtube)
Cast
Trevor Sinke (Mustard)
Kassidy Shaw (Thai)
Hannah Daudlin (Sadie)
Katharine Sill (Bug)
Matthew Wiebe (Jay)
Nancy Zhou (Leslie)
Production team
Artistic Staff
Liza Balkan - Director
Emily Randcliffe - Assistant Director
Nadine Grant - Costume Designer
Colin Labadie - Sound Designer
Anna Treusch - Set & Props Designer
Paul Cegys - Lighting Designer
Stephanie Dilnot - Associate Costume Designer
Melinda Little - Acting Coach
Daniel Levinson - Fight Director
Production Staff
Alexandra Kale - Stage Manager
Eloise Fan - ASM of Props
Emily Zandbergen - ASM of Wardrobe
Janelle Rainville - Production Manager
Monica Durlak - APM/ATD
Abbey Macdonald - Head of Carpentry/Paint/Props
Lilian Adom - Head of Lighting
Anna Whitehead - Head of Wardrode
Connor Mckechnie - Head of Sound
Chris Greenhalgh - Technical Director
Sophia Diebold - Head of Publicity
Amanda Rivera - Publicity Assistant
Shaw Forgeron - Props Builder/Buyer
Lyle Franklin - Lighting Supervisor
Amina Makhmudova - Publicity Assistant
Katie Honek - Assistant Theatre Operations Manage
Crew
Carpentry/Paint
Colton Albee
Trinity Mathurin
Jamie Borromeo
Jasmine Rajaballey
Emma Raynard
Wardrobe
Emma-Leigh Siminot
Emily Randcliffe
Stephanie Svenson
Wanda Kidd
Patrick Cooper
Props
Alex Brown
Colleen Macaulay
Matthew Wiebe
Quinn Andres
Lighting
Ariana Liu
Emily Zandbergen
Gill Brook
Hailey Kennedy
Preeya Narcis
Sound
Gill Brook
Dramaturgy
Sharanya Karkera
Sophia Diebold
Monica Durlak
Kassidy Shaw
Trevor Sinke
Stephanie Dilnot
Alexandra Kale
Hannah Daudlin
Sorouja Moll
Special Thanks
Scenelements
Kate Windsor and the Safety Office
Melissa Veal