R-G Productions Presents
Rattled
By Claire Holland
Directed by Heather Forgie
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Place: A house in a middle class neighbourhood.
​Time: Present Day.
Cast in order of appearance
Paige…............................Calum Peppard
Lena………........................……Cora Fast
Michelle…........................Heather Forgie
Donna…............................Alison Kolisnyk
Grace............................Natalie Fitkowsky
Julia..............................Sara Cherrywood
Aundrea............................Crystal Ringach
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Costume Design....Heather Forgie
Production Design..The Company
Stage Manager..........John Bent Jr.
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Single and childless at thirty five, I found myself on the path toward a life I hadn’t prepared a narrative for. My friends, new mothers, were no longer free to pick up at a moment’s notice and join in on an adventure or a quiet night in. My work, always a source of pleasure in the past, had begun to lose its lustre. Without the pillars of friendship, work and the promise of family life to prop up the structure of my life, it slowly began to unravel. It would be years before I invented a path that felt like a life in its own right. Rattled is my attempt to give voice and space to that in between phase where women transition from following a path to choosing one, from toying with ideas of womanhood to living inside it, in all its messy glory. It’s an attempt to help reframe the status of being childless away from a notion of somehow being less.
Playwright’s message:
Bios
Playwright
Claire Holland (she/her) is a writer, teacher and performer from Toronto. Rattled marks her first major work for an adult audience. She has spent 18 years writing original scripts and directing theatre for young people in the Toronto District School Board and has written several curriculum resource documents for drama teachers across the province. During a secondment to York University, she taught Drama and Literacy courses in the Faculty of Education and presented at the IDEA conference in Iceland and the Child Youth and Performance conference in Toronto. Claire recently published a series of 50 poems, essays and stories entitled Pleather Tops and Ruffled Cuffs to commemorate another milestone-turning fifty. It was penned under the pseudonym Kathleen Doherty and is available on Amazon books. She also co-edited and contributed to, a collection of narrative non-fiction stories called There’s Going to be Trouble published with Life Rattle Press. She is an editor for the journal Provocations which shares best practice for Drama and Dance educators and arts practitioners.
Heather Forgie (she/her) is the artistic director of R-G Productions, as well as an actor, playwright, and director. Her most recent performances with R-G Productions include: Lysistrata, The Savannah Sipping Society (2024), Charming & Rose: True Love, Motherhood Out Loud, Heroine Addiction, Not Medea, Psychopathia Sexualis, The Savannah Sipping Society (2017), Desdemona, Spider's Web, Breadcrumbs, Skirmishes, and Relatively Speaking. Heather has also performed and directed for The BS Comedy Players, directed for The Incantatem Choir, and performed in numerous shows for Merlyn Productions, including: The Blabbermouth-The Puff Monster and the Wolf, Nightingale, Wind of a Thousand Tales, Snow White, and The Brothers Grimm. Heather is a teacher and mother of two amazing young men.
Director/Michelle
Sara Cherrywood (she/her) is a long-time theatre lover and is excited to be working again with R-G Productions, having last played Ismenia in Lysistrata. She has previously appeared in The Great Gatsby (Illustrium Creations), As It Turns Out (TBA Productions), Upstart Crow (Shoestring Players), Launchpad Project (Sarasvati Theatre), Farrago (Dark Horse Theatre), Student Body (Beau Theatre Co.) and various short films. She has also performed stand-up comedy and improv. Sara was also seen in in Thine is the Stillest Night by Dark Horse Theatre, earlier in the Little Theatre Festival. She lives in Winnipeg with her sweetheart, Colin.
Julia
Cora Fast (she/her) is delighted to be returning to R-G Productions, having previously been seen in Lysistrata, Charming & Rose: True Love, and Psychopathia Sexualis. Past productions with other companies include: Write, Rewrite, Repeat for Crosswalk Productions (which she also wrote), Your Brain On Anxiety for Sheep on a Mission, The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare: Abridged for Blackout Productions, several years with The BS Comedy Players, and numerous shows with Merlyn Productions. Cora has been a performing member of Piper Pride Productions since 2019, performing in shows such as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Newsies, Dogfight, Legally Blonde, and many others. As an accomplished improviser, Cora is a performing member of The Crosseyed Rascals.
Lena
Grace
Natalie Fitkowsky (she/her) is pleased to be making her R-G Productions debut in this production of Rattled. Other acting credits include The Pink Panther Strikes Again and Wherever You May Be with Winnipeg Mennonite Theatre, and Cactus with Cactus Theatre Co. She is also a high school English teacher and a singer with the O. Koshetz Ukrainian Choir.
Alison Kolisnyk (she/her) has been performing in the Winnipeg Community theatre scene for over a decade with various local theatre companies. She is thrilled to be back on stage with R-G Productions, having previously been seen in Psychopathia Sexualis, The Savannah Sipping Society (2017), Spider’s Web, Desdemona, and Breadcrumbs. As a director for R-G Productions, Alison has leant her talents to The Savannah Sipping Society (2024), Charming & Rose: True Love, Heroine Addiction and Not Medea. She also directed Weaver’s Grave for the Tara Players which was presented earlier in the Little Theatre Festival.
Donna
Calum Peppard (she/her) is very excited to take part in her second R-G Productions show, having last been seen as Myrrhine in Lysistrata. She recently worked with An Seanchaí Theatre Company in The Towpath and during the 2023 Winnipeg Fringe, played both Gloria the Bridesmaid in The Social with Dark Horse Theatre and Catherine in The Great Gatsby for Illustrium Creations. She hopes everyone enjoys the baby shower of Rattled and wants to thank her Mum and Sister for being her biggest fans!
Paige
Crystal Ringach (she/her) is excited to be back working with Heather and the R-G Productions team, previously being seen in Lysistrata, and The Savannah Sipping Society (2017) as Jinx. Crystal studied Theatre and Education at the University of Winnipeg. In her role as Teacher, Mme. Ringach has directed and produced several plays. Crystal is also a devoted hockey mom.
Aundrea
Special thanks to:
The Playwrights Guild of Canada
The Little Theatre Festival
An Seanchaí Theatre Company
The Irish Association of Manitoba​
Siobhán Keely
Steph J Blanchette
Rob Kwade
Illustrium Creations
Alexander Greyeyes
Liam Greyeyes
And the entire cast for being so swell!
RATTLED
premiered at the Tarragon Theatre Extraspace
Toronto, Ontario, on July 20, 2016​
