Firehall Theatre in Ganonoque presents The Trudeau Stories

The Thousand Islands Playhouse Firehall Theatre wraps up its 2009 season with Trudeau Stories, a one-woman play written and performed by the talented award-winning stage and screen actor Brooke Johnson.

In 1985, while a student at Montreal's National Theatre School, Brooke became friends with Pierre Elliott Trudeau. It had been a year-and-a-half since he had stepped down as Prime Minister and while he was no longer doing pirouettes behind the Queen, he was sometimes hanging around with Brooke, sliding down ice-covered staircases on Mount Royal. Through reminiscences, journal entries and letters, Trudeau Stories provides a fascinating insight into our most charismatic leader and his times. It is also a humourous and compelling exploration of the nature of memory, friendship and loss.

Brooke Johnson is a 1987 graduate of the Acting Program of the National Theatre School of Canada, and has performed in theatres from the Bay of Fundy to the Foothills of the Rockies. Trudeau Stories is her first written work for the stage. She has four Dora Mavor Moore Best Actress nominations for her work in Toronto's theatres, most recently for playing the title role in Theatre Rusticle's Wish, directed by Allyson McMackon; for her portrayal of Gwendolyn MacEwan in The Gwendolyn Poems; for the role of Maria Streuber in Theatre Smith-Gilmour's The Time and Place; and for Jhana-Gladys Kelly in Tarragon's original 1987 production of Toronto, Mississippi by Joan MacLeod.

Brooke has two Gemini Awards, one for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her portrayal of Marlene Moore in Holly Dale's Dangerous Offender (CBC,'96), having previously garnered one for her supporting role of Angie the waitress in Francis Mankiewicz's 1993 mini-series Conspiracy of Silence.
She was just awarded Best Actress at Majorca's Festival del Mar for playing the title role in the feature film, Finn's Girl. With the rest of the cast of Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter, she received an ensemble acting award at the National Board of Review Awards in New York City in 1998.

The show is directed by Allyson McMackon (founder - Theatre Rusticle), who has been involved in the independent theatre community in Toronto since 1989 as an actress, “mover”, administrator/producer and director. Glenn Davidson designs the lights, Lindsay Anne Black painted the intricate floor cloth and the production is stage managed by Fiona Jones.

Trudeau Stories was originally presented in Toronto at the Summerworks Festival in 2007, then produced by Theatre Passe Muraille in the fall of '08 with a subsequent showing at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa as part of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival. Now the show is self-produced (by Long Black Car Productions), and this summer has played in Halifax and toured Nova Scotia with a stop in St. Andrews, N.B. before making its way to Gananoque’s Thousand Islands Playhouse. Next May it will be presented as part of the Centaur Theatre's 2010 season.

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Trudeau Stories previews Tuesday September 1, opens September 2 and closes Saturday September 19.
Showtimes: Tuesday to Saturday at 8 PM - no matinees.
Prices: $32 65+: $30 Students: $16 All tickets $16 Sept 1 and every Tuesday.

Groups: 10+ / $24 20+ / $22