Coming to a Two Planks production is an essentially human experience like no other.
As you drive up the North Mountain of Ernest Buckler fame, the trees get thicker and the houses further apart. Turning down the gravel Ross Creek road you begin to feel you are entering a new world and cresting a hill, you suddenly see both the Bay of Fundy and the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, nestled in a small valley of field, forest and ponds.
You check in at our off-grid box office and can pick up your picnic with a glass of herbal lemonade, or locally sourced wine or cider and enjoy.
You can play a game of bocce or croquet before visiting the gallery, gardens and grounds and then join your fellow audience members going through the floral archway to the play site, where you gather for an extraordinary professional performance that marries nature and the imagination in a shared experience of live theatre.
If you are visiting for the late night show, you get one of our blankets to join the actors in an intimate and thrilling fireside tale, where actors are lit only by the light of the crackling fire, and ending your evening with the chance to roast marshmallows with the cast before heading down a torchlit path back to your car and home.
You don’t need to bring your phone – you just need to bring a spirit of adventure.
We are thrilled to celebrate our 32nd anniversary season with an ambitious 2-production outdoor season of theatre, including two world premieres featuring adaptations of two beloved stories.
Our 2023 season features an incredible company of creators from across Canada coming together to do what Two Planks does best- create beautiful, memorable theatrical experiences that powerfully reflect who we are and who we want to be.
This season includes the world premiere of The Wind in the Willows, a new musical by Allen Cole and Ken Schwartz (adapted from the novel by Kenneth Grahame) and the world premiere of the fireside production of Kate Besworth’s Antigone (Adapted from the narrative of Sophocles) directed by Ming Hudson.
Both of these plays, in very different ways, are intimate mirrors on human behaviour. Each reveals our complexity, our failings, and our occasional triumphs while simultaneously entertaining us with characters that are at once familiar and inspiring.=
In The Wind in the Willows by Allen Cole and Ken Schwartz, Mole, Rat, Toad, Badger and Otter are the best of friends. But even the best of friends need help when things go off the rails! Based on the classic novel by Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows is a new musical about the importance of friendship in our lives and how knowing you belong- to a place and a community- is at the heart of everything.
In Antigone by Kate Besworth, we ask the question Who will care for us when we are gone? Antigone must bury her brother to save his soul. Her Uncle Creon, the King, must stop her. Fate and choice, duty and love war together in this intimate and epic retelling of the classic Greek tragedy.
The cast for Two Planks and a Passion’s 2022 season includes some of the finest performers working in Canada, many familiar to Two Planks audiences. Returning performers include Burgandy Code, Henricus Gielis and Chris O’Neill. New to the company in 2023 are Michelle Fisk, Omar Alex Kahn, Kih Becke and Rosie Callaghan.
Allen Cole (Co-winner of the 2019 Merritt Award for Outstanding New Play and the 2020 Merritt for Original Score) is the Musical Director for the 2023 season and the co-creator of Wind in the Willows. Diego Cavendon designs costumes for both productions and Holly Meyer-Dymny is the set designer for Wind in the Willows. Ken Schwartz (Winner of the 2019 Merritt Award for Outstanding Direction and 2020 Merritt for Outstanding Score with Allen Cole) directs Wind in the Willows and Ming Hudson directs Antigone, a project she conceived with playwright Kate Besworth. Robin Munro (Merritt award for Stage Manager of the Year in 2020) returns for her eighth season as Stage Manager. Laurie Fleet returns as Apprentice Stage Manager for the 2023 season, and shalan joudry is Apprentice Director for both shows.
Our season timing has changed, with previews beginning on June 27th, 2023 and both shows opening on June 30th, 2023. The season closes on August 19th, 2023.
Two Planks will also present a series of pre and post-show conversations with historians and artists throughout the summer – check back here for information..
Since Two Planks and a Passion’s first outdoor season at Ross Creek in 2007, the company has been nominated for 125 Merritt Awards for excellence in professional theatre in Nova Scotia, winning 35 times, including 4 awards for Outstanding Production.
The 2023 season is made possible through the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Nova Scotia, The Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage, Support for Culture and The Craig Foundation.
For information contact: Ken Schwartz, Artistic Director