Show Program | The Golden Anniversaries

THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARIES

AN ARTS CLUB THEATRE COMPANY PRODUCTION

BY MARK CRAWFORD

MAR 10–15, 2026

2025-2026 THEATRE SERIES

THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARIES

THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARIES

AN ARTS CLUB THEATRE COMPANY PRODUCTION

BY

By Mark Crawford

MARK CRAWFORD

MAR 10 - 15, 2026

FEBRUARY 17–APRIL 12, 2026

EVERGREEN CULTURAL CENTRE - STUDIO THEATRE

Mark Crawford is a member of the Playwright’s Guild of Canada

Produced by permission of Playwright & Marquis Literary (Colin Rivers) www.MQlit.ca

The Golden Anniversaries was commissioned and developed by the Blyth Festival and premiered there July 4, 2024.

CAST

Peter Anderson Glen

Eileen Barrett Sandy

CREATIVE

Arthi Chandra Director

Ryan Cormack Set Designer

Madeleine Polak Costume Designer

Alexandra Caprara Lighting Designer

Ted Roberts Tour Lighting Designer/Technical Director

Rick Colhoun Sound Designer

Jillian White Assistant Tour Lighting Designer

Lisa Goebel Intimacy Director

Ronaye Haynes Intimacy Captain

Ronaye Haynes Stage Manager

Emma Graveson Apprentice Stage Manager

WELCOME

CAST

Peter Anderson Glen

Eileen Barrett Sandy

CREATIVE

Arthi Chandra Director

Ryan Cormack Set Designer

Thank you for joining us for the Arts Club’s production of Mark Crawford’s The Golden Anniversaries. We’re so happy that you’ve joined us, and we hope this visit inspires you to come back to see live theatre at your local venue again.

Madeleine Polak Costume Designer

Alexandra Caprara Lighting Designer

Ted Roberts Tour Lighting Designer/Technical Director

Rick Colhoun Sound Designer

Jillian White Assistant Tour Lighting Designer

Lisa Goebel Intimacy Director

Mark Crawford has written a story that understands something fundamental about long relationships: that love is rarely tidy, often absurd, and sustained as much by compromise and habit as by romance.

Ronaye Haynes Intimacy Captain

Ronaye Haynes Stage Manager

Commission—developed through a donorfunded initiative to commission local works from local playwrights. Did you know that if you choose a season-ticket package at your venue, you will get to choose from the best seats in the house for this sure-fire hit show? We’ll announce our full tour line-up at the end of February, and we think you’re going to be excited!

Enjoy the show!

Emma Graveson Apprentice Stage Manager

For the Arts Club, producing Canadian work like The Golden Anniversaries is central to our mission. We believe that our art should reflect the complexity, humour, and contradictions of the communities we serve. As a not-for-profit theatre company, we are committed to providing a platform for Canadian voices and stories that resonate with our community.

To that end, we have teased our tour season-ticket holders that we will launch our 2026/27 tour with the hit local comedy Mom’s the Word: Talkin’ Turkey. This production was such a hit at our Granville Island Stage that we knew we had to bring it on tour to you. Plus, we’re especially proud that this play was an Arts Club Silver

Ashlie Corcoran Artistic Director

Peter Cathie White Executive Director

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Arts Club Theatre Company acknowledges the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the x ʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwxwú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Nations, the original stewards of this land on which we operate. We would like to ask those visiting or living here to share their thanks by supporting local Indigenous artists and communities. Acknowledging is always a start to supporting; as we step forward, we wish to be better partners, healers, and helpers to our Indigenous neighbours.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

I am so honoured to be part of this team, and I’m so grateful to Ashlie and the Arts Club for inviting me to direct Mark’s beautiful script. This production is a love letter to love itself. So, I thought it would be fitting to share some thoughts/advice/ ponderings/wonderings on love from the creative team. All love is, all love can be. How to fall in love every day, and nurture it over lifetimes. How to love deeply, and allow yourself to be loved by someone who sees you—like, really sees you. How to hold love close, and how to let it go.

“I’m happiest thinking of love as a verb, not a noun.”

–Peter (Glen)

“Always be their friend, even when that’s hard.”

–Eileen (Sandy)

“When you know, you know—and that knowing is a thing that will transform over time. Let yourself always be curious to the ways that knowing evolves.”

–Alexandra (Lighting Designer)

“If you feel like you haven’t found it, don’t stop looking for it. And if you feel like you’ve found it, don’t stop trying to keep it.”

–Ryan (Set Designer)

“The best part about being in love is having someone you want to tell everything to, share every experience with, and look to first whenever you start to laugh. When things feel hard, finding joy in these little shared moments in a relationship is, for me, a wonderful place to fall back on and feel safe in.”

–Maddie (Costume Designer)

“Love what you do, do what you love, and try to find someone to have fun with.”

–Rick (Sound Designer)

“Go all in. Who knows, this could be ‘the one,’ but if they’re not and the relationship comes to an end...Their role wasn’t to be ‘the one,’ but to help you evolve, so when you meet ‘the one’ you’ve gained a better understanding of what you want in your person and your relationship and what you need to work on for yourself and what you’re going to bring to the table for next time.”

–Ronaye (Stage Manager)

“It’s simple but hard to do. It’s showing up wanting the best for the other person, and knowing sometimes it might not be you.”

–Arthi (Me)

The world can be dark at times, but love and community carries us forward. So, I invite you all to hold the hearts of Sandy and Glen with you as you move through your life—to remember all the love you hold, and offer it fully to others.

Arthi Chandra

Q&A WITH PLAYWRIGHT MARK CRAWFORD

Arts Club: What was your inspiration for this play? How did your ideas for the characters, Sandy and Glen, and their story take shape?

Q&A WITH PLAYWRIGHT MARK CRAWFORD

people have commented that it’s a more “mature” play. Maybe that’s due to the age of the characters, or maybe it’s me being a more experienced writer, or maybe I’m finally growing up!

AC: There seems to be something rather distinctively, though not obviously, Canadian that runs through your work? Is creating a particular sense of place or culture, evoking Canada, something you’re conscious of as you create and develop plays?

MC: A common piece of advice for writers is: in order to talk about something universal, you need to get specific. I tend to ground my plays in the world in which we live, with the hope that these specific characters and specific situations allow me to explore bigger themes and ideas. I also like the audience to feel like they can relate to the people on stage. Glen and Sandy could be people you know. They could even be you!

AC: What project, or projects, are you working on now? And what’s up next?

Arts Club: What was your inspiration for this play? How did your ideas for the characters, Sandy and Glen, and their story take shape?

Mark Crawford: A few different things inspired this play. I love actors, especially senior actors, and wanted to write two great roles for actors in their golden years. I was also inspired by reading plays or novels that take place over a long period of time. I wondered: how could I craft a play that runs under two hours, but spans fifty years? That got me thinking about memory: what do we remember, what do we forget, and how do two people’s memories align or differ? As for Glen and Sandy, they have a few traits I’ve “borrowed” from people I know, but on the whole, I made them up! The writing process for this play was a combination of careful planning, trial and error, and often just allowing this couple to reveal themselves to me through the dialogue.

AC: Why did you decide to limit the cast of characters to just the two of them? Did you know early on in this play’s development that it would be a “two-hander”?

Mark Crawford: A few different things inspired this play. I love actors, especially senior actors, and wanted to write two great roles for actors in their golden years. I was also inspired by reading plays or novels that take place over a long period of time. I wondered: how could I craft a play that runs under two hours, but spans fifty years? That got me thinking about memory: what do we remember, what do we forget, and how do two people’s memories align or differ? As for Glen and Sandy, they have a few traits I’ve “borrowed” from people I know, but on the whole, I made them up! The writing process for this play was a combination of careful planning, trial and error, and often just allowing this couple to reveal themselves to me through the dialogue.

MC: A common piece of advice for writers is: in order to talk about something universal, you need to get specific. I tend to ground my plays in the world in which we live, with the hope that these specific characters and specific situations allow me to explore bigger themes and ideas. I also like the audience to feel like they can relate to the people on stage. Glen and Sandy could be people you know. They could even be you!

AC: What project, or projects, are you working on now? And what’s up next?

MC: My newest play just had its world premiere in December—a family holiday show called Ruby and the Reindeer. I have a few other writing projects at different stages of development, including a new play I’ve just started. And as an actor, I’m about to go into rehearsal for a production of Murder on the Orient Express at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton.

MC: My newest play just had its world premiere in December—a family holiday show called Ruby and the Reindeer. I have a few other writing projects at different stages of development, including a new play I’ve just started. And as an actor, I’m about to go into rehearsal for a production of Murder on the Orient Express at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton.

AC: Why did you decide to limit the cast of characters to just the two of them? Did you know early on in this play’s development that it would be a “two-hander”?

MC: I knew very early on that the play was going to be a two-hander. I wanted to put the focus squarely on these two people and their relationship. As in life, they talk about a lot of other “off-stage” characters: family, friends, neighbours. But I felt that in order for the play to be about them and their marriage, it would work best with only Glen and Sandy on the deck.

AC: Arts Club audiences have recently enjoyed your plays The Birds and the Bees and Bed and Breakfast. How do you feel The Golden Anniversaries builds from, or relates to, those earlier shows?

MC: I knew very early on that the play was going to be a two-hander. I wanted to put the focus squarely on these two people and their relationship. As in life, they talk about a lot of other “off-stage” characters: family, friends, neighbours. But I felt that in order for the play to be about them and their marriage, it would work best with only Glen and Sandy on the deck.

AC: Arts Club audiences have recently enjoyed your plays The Birds and the Bees and Bed and Breakfast. How do you feel The Golden Anniversaries builds from, or relates to, those earlier shows?

MC: These plays do share common ground: they’re all set in the here-and-now, they all have a romantic relationship at their core, and (I hope) they all make you laugh as well as feel something deeper. The Golden Anniversaries plays with time and memory, so its structure and theatrical language is different from those other plays. Many people have commented that it’s a more “mature” play. Maybe that’s due to the age of the characters, or maybe it’s me being a more experienced writer, or maybe I’m finally growing up!

AC: There seems to be something rather distinctively, though not

MC: These plays do share common ground: they’re all set in the here-and-now, they all have a romantic relationship at their core, and (I hope) they all make you laugh as well as feel something deeper. The Golden Anniversaries plays with time and memory, so its structure and theatrical language is different from those other plays. Many

THE COMPANY

listed in alphabetical order

Peter Anderson Glen

For the Arts Club Rattle in the Dash (debut, 1986); favourites: 7 Stories, Waiting for Godot, The Anger in Ernest & Ernestine, Flying Blind, Don Quixote, The Waiting Room, The Golden Anniversaries

Other Theatre The Overcoat, Beauty and the Beast: My Life, Middletown, Titus Bouffonius, Butcher, The Coyotes, Law of the Land, numerous Leaky Heaven Circus productions, and The #14

Other The recipient of nine Jessie Awards and multiple nominations, Peter is delighted to be back at the Arts Club. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre, and a founding member of the Caravan Farm Theatre, for whom he has written 14 plays and performed in many shows. Love to Melody — 7 more years and we’re golden!

Eileen Barrett Sandy

For the Arts Club It’s a Wonderful Life, The Golden Anniversaries

Other Theatre recent credits: Dance Nation (The Search Party); Escaped Alone, Seventeen (Western Gold); Les Belles-sœurs (Gateway/Ruby Slippers); The Duchess (Ruby Slippers); Harvest (Gateway)

Film & TV recent credits: Family Law, Resident Alien, Wild Cards, Riverdale, Elle, The Good Doctor, The Magicians

Other Eileen loves working as a Vocal Eye describer (for blind and partially sighted theatre-goers). She has a Jessie Richardson theatre award and two nominations. She has a Liberal Studies M.A. from SFU, and is a really old Studio 58 graduate. Eileen is thrilled to be part of the Golden Anniversaries team. Love to Robert, Matthew and Garnet.

Alexandra Caprara Lighting Designer

For the Arts Club The Golden Anniversaries

Other Theatre selected credits: lighting design for Middletown (Jessie Nominated, Pacific Theatre); Song from the Uproar (City Opera Vancouver); New Age Attitudes (Theatre Replacement); Loss Machine (HOLGO); video design for Silent Howl (Dancing on the Edge); direction of Ultra Violets (re:Naissance Opera)

Other MFA graduate from Simon Fraser University. Thrilled to be a part of this brilliant team!

For the Arts Club The Golden Anniversaries

Other Theatre Arthi Chandra has directed and produced with many companies in both BC and Ontario (Bard on the Beach, The Shaw Festival, Theatre Replacement, The Chop Theatre, Studio 58, Pacific Theatre, UBC, and more).

Other Arthi Chandra is a very serious director, writer, and lesbian based out of Vancouver, BC. Arthi teaches devising and directing at the post-secondary level and enjoys it very much. She graduated from Simon Fraser University’s School of Contemporary Arts; was recently part of WhyNot Theatre’s ThisGen fellowship; and is an Associate Artist at Theatre Replacement. She is the happiest while cooking or gardening.

Rick Colhoun Sound Designer

For the Arts Club Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain

Christmas Carol (2021/22 and 2024/25), Elf: The Musical, ‘da Kink in My Hair, Guys & Dolls, Primary Trust, Ring of Fire, You used to call me Marie... (tour), The Golden Anniversaries

Other Theatre West Side Story (CTORA); The Trip to Bountiful (United Players); A Case for the Existence of God (Pacific Theatre); Shawshank: The Musical (District 13) Other Jessie and Ovation award winner. Rick thanks his family for their support, and all who make live theatre happen!

Ryan Cormack Set Designer

Ryan Cormack Set Designer

For the Arts Club Jersey Boys, The Golden Anniversaries

Other Theatre selected credits: Annie, Oliver! (Gateway Theatre); The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Revised) (Again), The Dark Lady, The Comedy of Errors, Measure for Measure (Bard on the Beach); Elf (Chemainus Theatre Festival); Yaga (Touchstone); The Time Machine, Fourplay (Studio 58)

Other Graduate of The Dan School of Drama and Music; studied set and costume design at The National Theatre School of Canada.

Playwright

Club Playwright

Anniversaries, the Bees; Performer in

Mark Crawford Playwright

For the Arts Club Playwright of The Golden Anniversaries, The Birds and the Bees; Playwright and Performer in Bed and Breakfast

For the Arts Club Playwright of The Golden Anniversaries, The Birds and the Bees; Playwright and Performer in Bed and Breakfast

Other Theatre One of Canada’s most popular playwrights, Mark’s work has been produced across the country and internationally. He is the author of Stag and Doe; Bed and Breakfast; The Birds and the Bees; Boys, Girls, and Other Mythological Creatures; The New Canadian Curling Club; Chase the Ace; The Gig; and The Golden Anniversaries. His newest play, Ruby and the Reindeer, premiered in December at Stratford’s Here for Now Theatre. Many of Mark’s plays are published by Scirocco Drama. For Vancouver Opera, Mark wrote new dialogue for their 2024 production of Die Fledermaus. Also an actor, Mark has performed from coast to coast. Recent credits include: Liars at a Funeral and Crazy for You (Drayton Entertainment); A Christmas Story, The Musical (Theatre Aquarius); By the Light of a Story (Theatre Orangeville); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Mirvish Productions). Other markcrawfordplays.com

she has had along the way, for their constant support, enthusiasm, and guidance!

səlilwətaɬ Nations. She shares much thanks to her family, as well as to the many mentors she has had along the way, for their constant support, enthusiasm, and guidance!

Other Theatre One of Canada’s most popular playwrights, Mark’s work has been produced across the country and internationally. He is the author of Stag and Doe; Bed and Breakfast; The Birds and the Bees; Boys, Girls, and Other Mythological Creatures; The New Canadian Curling Club; Chase the Ace; The Gig; and The Golden Anniversaries. His newest play, Ruby and the Reindeer, premiered in December at Stratford’s Here for Now Theatre. Many of Mark’s plays are published by Scirocco Drama. For Vancouver Opera, Mark wrote new dialogue for their 2024 production of Die Fledermaus. Also an actor, Mark has performed from coast to coast. Recent credits include: Liars at a Funeral and Crazy for You (Drayton Entertainment); A Christmas Story, The Musical (Theatre Aquarius); By the Light of a Story (Theatre Orangeville); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Mirvish Productions). Other markcrawfordplays.com

Ronaye Haynes Stage Manager/Intimacy Captain

Ronaye Haynes Stage Manager/Intimacy Captain

For the Arts Club Miss Saigon (debut, 2005); recent favourites: Ring of Fire, Sexy Laundry, ‘da Kink in My Hair, Ring of Fire (Tour), The Mousetrap

For the Arts Club Miss Saigon (debut, 2005); recent favourites: Ring of Fire, Sexy Laundry, ‘da Kink in My Hair, Ring of Fire (Tour), The Mousetrap

Other Theatre Classic Country Roads, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Chemainus Theatre Festival); Top Girls (Vancouver Playhouse); Brighton Beach Memoirs (Gateway Theatre); Star Trick: The Musical (Vancouver TheatreSports League); The Real Thing (Belfy/ACTC); Bed & Breakfast (Globe, ACTC, GTC); 2 Pianos, 4 hands (Marquis Entertainment)

Other Theatre Classic Country Roads, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Chemainus Theatre Festival); Top Girls (Vancouver Playhouse); Brighton Beach Memoirs (Gateway Theatre); Star Trick: The Musical (Vancouver TheatreSports League); The Real Thing (Belfy/ACTC); Bed & Breakfast (Globe, ACTC, GTC); 2 Pianos, 4 hands (Marquis Entertainment)

Lisa Goebel Intimacy Director

For the Arts Club Mom’s the Word: Talkin’ Turkey, Someone Like You, Choir Boy, Father Tartuffe, Red Velvet, Sexy Laundry, Guys & Dolls, Miracle on 34th Street, Ring of Fire, Waitress, A Doll’s House, Disney’s FROZEN, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, The Golden Anniversaries

Lisa Goebel Intimacy Director

For the Arts Club Mom’s the Word: Talkin’ Turkey, Someone Like You, Choir Boy, Father Tartuffe, Red Velvet, Sexy Laundry, Guys & Dolls, Miracle on 34th Street, Ring of Fire, Waitress, A Doll’s House, Disney’s FROZEN, Louisa

May Alcott’s Little Women, The Golden Anniversaries

Other Theatre choreographer/intimacy director for Bright Star (GTP/Mirvish), The Dark Lady and Hamlet (Bard on the Beach), Pride & Prejudice (Western Canada/ Gateway); intimacy director for Flight (Vancouver Opera), Yaga (Touchstone), Starwalker (Urban Ink)

Other Theatre choreographer/intimacy director for Bright Star (GTP/Mirvish), The Dark Lady and Hamlet (Bard on the Beach), Pride & Prejudice (Western Canada/ Gateway); intimacy director for Flight (Vancouver Opera), Yaga (Touchstone), Starwalker (Urban Ink)

Other Lisa is a certified intimacy director through Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, and a proud Studio 58 grad.

Other Lisa is a certified intimacy director through Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, and a proud Studio 58 grad.

Emma Graveson Apprentice Stage Manager

Emma Graveson Apprentice Stage Manager

For the Arts Club Sexy Laundry (apprentice SM), The Golden Anniversaries

Other Theatre The Shape of a Girl (Green Thumb - SM), A Taste of Hong Kong (Pi Theatre with vAct - Apprentice Director and Production Assistant)

For the Arts Club Sexy Laundry (apprentice SM), The Golden Anniversaries

Other Theatre The Shape of a Girl (Green Thumb - SM), A Taste of Hong Kong (Pi Theatre with vAct - Apprentice Director and Production Assistant)

Other Emma (she/her) is an arts worker based on the unceded lands of the x ʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwxwú7mesh, and

Other Emma (she/her) is an arts worker based on the unceded lands of the x ʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwxwú7mesh, and

səlilwətaɬ Nations. She shares much thanks to her family, as well as to the many mentors she has had along the way, for their constant support, enthusiasm, and guidance!

Ronaye Haynes Stage Manager/Intimacy Captain

For the Arts Club Miss Saigon (debut, 2005); recent

Madeleine Polak Costume Designer

For the Arts Club The Golden Anniversaries

Madeleine Polak Costume Designer

Other Theatre Saint Joan of the Stockyards, The Very Book Indeed, The Festivities (UBC Theatre); An Ideal Husband (United Players of Vancouver) Other Madeleine is a graduate of the UBC Theatre Design & Production program, and is thrilled to be making her Arts Club debut! A firm believer in wearing multiple hats, she is active as both a stage manager and costume designer.

For the Arts Club The Golden Anniversaries

Other Theatre Saint Joan of the Stockyards, The Very Book Indeed, The Festivities (UBC Theatre); An Ideal Husband (United Players of Vancouver) Other Madeleine is a graduate of the UBC Theatre Design & Production program, and is thrilled to be making her Arts Club debut! A firm believer in wearing multiple hats, she is active as both a stage manager and costume designer.

Ted Roberts Tour Lighting Designer/ Technical Director

Ted Roberts Tour Lighting Designer/ Technical Director

For the Arts Club Cruel Tears (debut, 1977, Tour Manager for national tour); Starting Here, Starting Now (Debut as Designer, 1978); recent credits include: The Cull, Beneath Springhill, Noises Off, The Birds & the Bees, Thanks for Giving

Other Theatre Lighting Design: Reflections on Crooked Walking (Firehall Arts Centre); It’s a Wonderful Life (Persephone Theatre) Other Resident designer for the Arts Club since 1983.

For the Arts Club Cruel Tears (debut, 1977, Tour Manager for national tour); Starting Here, Starting Now (Debut as Designer, 1978); recent credits include: The Cull, Beneath Springhill, Noises Off, The Birds & the Bees, Thanks for Giving Other Theatre Lighting Design: Reflections on Crooked Walking (Firehall Arts Centre); It’s a Wonderful Life (Persephone Theatre) Other Resident designer for the Arts Club since 1983.

Jillian White Assistant Tour Lighting Designer

For the Arts Club Father Tartuffe (2024), Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (2025) Other Theatre Steel

Magnolias (The Globe); Labyrinth and A Sleighride Christmas Carol (Caravan Farm Theatre); Hey Viola! (Musical TheatreWorks); Never the Last (Delinquent); Nashville: Music City (Mayfield); The Play That Goes Wrong (Charlottetown Festival); Certified (Touchstone); Inheritance (Alley/ Touchstone)

7

Other Three time Jessie Award nominee; graduate of Capilano University; member of IATSE local ADC659. When Jill is not working, she likes to knit and go on adventures with her fiance, Harrison. For photos and a complete list of work, visit jillianwhite.com.