Staged Readings
Drama
Butcher the Pig
by Marc Ludwig
Sunday, October 5, 2025 - 1:30 PM
Peterborough Theatre Guild, Main Stage
A lonely warehouse in the middle of nowhere, Saskatchewan. A young man arrives seeking help. His estranged uncle might be his saving grace, or a sociopath. This one-act Canadian drama is a gripping, and sometimes hilarious, exploration of urban vs. rural manhood, family and responsibility. Most of all, it is about being a Canadian.
*Adult content and language
Dark comedy
Lenin’s Embalmers
By Vern Thiessen
Sunday, November 16, 2025 - 1:30 PM
Peterborough Theatre Guild, Main Stage
Two scientists, driven by fear and fame, are pushed to their limits when tasked with embalming former Soviet leader, Vladimir Lenin. Based on a true story of deception, scientific achievement and bitter betrayal, "Lenin's Embalmers" is both a rollicking comedy and an epic tragedy.
THRILLER
Gaslight
Adapted from Patrick Hamilton’s classic thriller by David Jacklin
Sunday, February 1, 2026 - 1:30 PM
Peterborough Theatre Guild, Main Stage
Bella is married to the somewhat older Jack Manningham, who has convinced her that she is losing her mind, just as her mother did before her.
One evening, when Jack has gone out, a stranger appears with a strange story to tell. Bella is not losing her mind and her husband is definitely not the man she thinks he is.
The search for missing rubies and the malevolent presence of Jack keeps the tension at a high level and the plot flowing.
comEDY
Screwball Comedy
By Norm Foster
Sunday, March 15, 2026 - 1:30 PM
Peterborough Theatre Guild, Main Stage
The year is 1938 and newly laid-off perfumier Mary Hayes is trying to break into the male dominated world of newspaper journalism. Editor-in-Chief Bosco Godfrey sets a competition between his egotistical star reporter Jeff Kincaid and plucky Mary, assigning them to cover a society wedding. If Jeff writes the better story, he gets to keep his job. If Mary wins, she will replace the ace newshound. An homage to those zany screwball comedies of that time period, this play is full of snappy period dialogue, outrageous characters and humour that packs a punch.
HISTORIC DRAMA
Quiet in the Land
By Anne Chislett
Sunday, May 10, 2026 - 1:30 PM
Peterborough Theatre Guild, Main Stage
Jacob (Yock) Bauman, a young member of an Amish community near Kitchener, Ontario, chafes at the strict (and, he believes, outmoded) beliefs of his elders, particularly those of his father, Christy. World War I is raging in Europe, and most of Canada’s young men have gone off to fight with the British forces, but the Amish, because of their pacifist convictions, have refused to join the war effort. By deciding to enlist, Yock alienates himself not only from family and community, but also from the lovely Katie Brubacher, with whom he has fallen in love. When Yock returns from the war Katie has wed someone else and, ironically, the very acts of bravery which have made him a hero to the rest of Canada have made Yock a bloody-handed villain to his own people.
This eloquent play, by one of Canada’s most respected writers, deals with the tension and dispute which beset a rural Amish Community in Ontario when one of their young men defies his elders and goes off to fight in World War I.