All About A Double Bill... And Why You Shouldn't Miss It!

There’s something a little different about the first MainStage production of our 2026/27 Season of Discovery. Two plays. Two actors. One playwright. One evening at the theatre.

As we get ready to open the season, Artistic Director Jennifer Stewart takes us behind the curtain to explain exactly what a double bill is, introduce you to one of Canada’s best-kept theatrical secrets, and share why this is one night at Theatre Orangeville you won’t want to miss:‍

A double bill is simply two plays presented together in one evening. In our case, at Theatre Orangeville, Love Is for Poor People and the World Premiere of Or You Can Do
Nothing. Two one-act plays by Alberta playwright Stewart Lemoine, one of Canada’s best-kept theatrical secrets.

Lemoine has been writing and directing theatre for more than four decades and is the long-time artistic force behind Edmonton’s Teatro La Quindicina. He has written more than seventy plays and has won ten Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards (Edmonton), a Dora Mavor Moore Award (Toronto) and the Tommy Banks Award (Regina). He is also a member of the Edmonton Cultural Hall of Fame. His play Pith! won the New York International Fringe Festival’s Best Overall Production and went on to play Off
Broadway in New York.

Lemoine is something of a theatrical institution in Western Canada, with a popularity and body of work that Ontario audiences might associate with Norm Foster. The
Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia describes his work this way: “The dialogue is whimsical and wise, the plots fantastical, the themes philosophical... contemporary fairy tales for adults, which juxtapose the strange and the familiar.”

In Love Is for Poor People, a glamorous woman looks back on a life full of romance, ambition and possibility, while confronting the difference between the life she imagined and the life she actually got. Our first play of the evening stars Vancouver actor Emma Grabinsky who was last seen in the TOV production of The Wedding Party, playing the roles of Tiger and Gramps. Emma is thrilled to be playing a woman in this production.

In the second act, Or You Can Do Nothing follows the philosophical adventures of Owen Fyfe. Owen is given the opportunity to discover that an improbable home, and an
unusual ability to recognize potential in strangers, might offer him a way to reinvent his life, and perhaps understand his past in the process. Starring Edmonton actor Ron
Pederson as Owen Fyfe, Ron was the acclaimed director of Murder at Ackerton Manor last season.

Two plays. One playwright. Two very different journeys. All in one double bill right here at Theatre Orangeville. Following themes of love, kindness and chance these two plays offer you, our loyal Theatre Orangeville audience, a rare opportunity to see two very talent actors in, two very unique plays, in an unforgettable theatrical experience. And perhaps you will also discover one of Canada’s best-kept theatrical secrets: playwright Stewart Lemoine.

And with that, we can better understand that this is exactly what 'A Season of Discovery' is meant to do - introduce us to stories, artists and theatrical experiences we may not have encountered before.

So, why shouldn’t you miss this double bill? Because in one night, you’ll get two completely different stories, two extraordinary performers, plenty of laughter and heart, and the chance to discover a Canadian playwright we think you’re going to want to know.

See you at the theatre soon!

Get Tickets HERE