Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre-Media Centre
"Wow, I think I signed less paperwork when we bought a house.” – Carrie 

This world premiere is a hilarious madcap adventure, an unflinching look at disability rights and a love letter to everyday heroes who will do anything for their people.

Carrie and Paul are good people with solid friends and great kids. Another constant in their life is Alice, an antagonistic social worker who holds all the cards when it comes to their disabled son. Alice makes promises but keeps few, drowning the couple in paperwork, denying basic services and bewildering them with impossible deadlines. Pushed to the brink, Carrie takes matters into her own hands – in the most outrageous way possible – and goes from doing everything for her family to risking it all.
 

Click on the image to download the digital program:

Ovation3Cover.jpg

Warnings: 
Mature content, strong language. Details under 'Your Visit'.

 


Accessibility initiatives: Relaxed Performance on Fri Feb 13 at 7:30pm; Live Audio Description on Tue Feb 17 at 7:30pm; ASL-interpreted performance on Thu Feb 19 at 7:30pm


Sponsored by:                  
The Asper Foundation
Tom Hendry Warehouse Season Sponsor:
BMO

 


Cast & Crew

Production
Trish Cooper photo
Trish Cooper

Playwright

Playwright Trish Cooper
Trish Cooper photo

Trish Cooper

ROYAL MTC Playwright: The Comeback. Director: Mix Tapes From My Mom (Regional Tour/Warehouse). Actor: The Myth of the Ostrich, Miracle on South Division Street.

TPM In the Chamber.

OTHER THEATRE Trish is an actor and playwright (Social Studies at PTE, The Centaur, Firehall) and many Fringe shows, including with the sketch comedy troupe the Royal Liechtenstein Theatre Company. 

TRAINING Honours Theatre Degree University of Winnipeg.

ET CETERA Big love to Gerri, Jill, Geoff, Sam, Mau, Val, Sam, Cooper and Isaac.

Suzie Martin photo
Suzie Martin

Director

Director Suzie Martin
Suzie Martin photo

Suzie Martin

ROYAL MTC Director: among men (with TPM). Apprentice Director: Shakespeare in Love (with Citadel). Apprentice Stage Manager: Hirsch.

TPM Prophecy; among men (with Royal MTC). 

OTHER THEATRE Selected Directing: Oh The Humanity! (U of W); God’s Ear; Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. (U of A Studio Theatre); Baba Yaga (Alberta Musical Theatre Co.); Tragedy: A Tragedy (Blarney Productions); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Citadel Young Co.); Over Her Dead Body (Small Matters/Fringe Theatre Adventures); Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi (Manitoba Underground Opera); The Cherry Orchard (TBTR/little ECHO theatre).

TRAINING/TEACHING Suzie holds an MFA in Directing and a teaching award from the University of Alberta and is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg Dept of Theatre & Film.

ET CETERA Suzie is the Artistic Director of Theatre Projects Manitoba, check out all cool things TPM is up to at theatreprojectsmanitoba.ca.

Ksenia Broda-Milian photo
Ksenia Broda-Milian

Set Designer

Set Designer Ksenia Broda-Milian
Ksenia Broda-Milian photo

Ksenia Broda-Milian

ROYAL MTC Lighting Designer: A Number. Costume Designer: King James, Yaga. Assistant Designer: As You Like It, Matilda the Musical. Design Apprentice: The Seagull, Cabaret, Sherlock Holmes. 2020/21 National Mentorship Program. Design team member for MTC/MBA Lawyers Plays: Mamma Mia!, Urinetown. 

TPM Lighting Designer: None of this is Happening.

OTHER THEATRE Selected recent set, costume and/or lighting designs: Gather, The Velveteen Rabbit (MTYP); Rock of Ages, Breaking Up, Cash (Rainbow); The Band’s Visit, Address Unknown (WJT); Yaga (Belfry); Much Ado (SIR); Katharsis (PTE); It’s a Wonderful Life (Magnus).

TRAINING/TEACHING Training: U of W (BAH), U of Alberta (MFA), Pratt Institute, Banff Centre. Teaching: Creative Manitoba, U of W, Musical Stage, MTYP, Theatre Alberta.

ET CETERA Ksenia is Royal MTC’s Education and Enrichment Manager, a Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification Professional, audio describer and ADC659 member. Grateful for support of my parents and friends (love you!). Thrilled to be working with Suzie again in our home province! broda-milian.com

Daina Leitold photo
Daina Leitold

Costume Designer

Costume Designer Daina Leitold
Daina Leitold photo

Daina Leitold

ROYAL MTC Costume Design: A Number, Waitress, The Recipe (with TPM), among men (with TPM). Set Design: Mix Tapes From My Mom. Upcoming: Hockey Mom Hockey Dad (Set and Costumes).

TPM Costume Designer: The Recipe (with Royal MTC), among men (with Royal MTC), End of the Line (with Walk & Talk). Set & Costume Designer: Red Earth (with One Trunk). 

OTHER THEATRE (selected) Costume Design: Rock of Ages, Rent (Rainbow); Twelfth Night (SIR); Narrow Bridge, Bar Mitzvah Boy (WJT). Set Design: Raised by Women, Year of Magical Thinking (PTE); The Dark Lady (SIR); PLÉ (Plé Collective/MTYP). Set, Prop and Costume Design: Glad to Be Here, Meet Me at Dawn, Edward II, Cock, Bull (TBTR); Hamlet, Timon of Athens (SIR).

ET CETERA SATA Nomination for Production Excellence (The Dark Lady); Evie Award for Outstanding Design (Red Earth).

Anika Binding photo
Anika Binding

Lighting Designer

Lighting Designer Anika Binding
Anika Binding photo

Anika Binding

ROYAL MTC Assistant Set Designer: Murder for Two. Assistant Lighting Designer: Little Women, The Recipe (with TPM), among men (with TPM). Apprentice Lighting & Video Designer: The Lehman Trilogy. Apprentice Lighting Designer: The Mountaintop.

TPM Lighting Designer: Prophecy. Assistant Lighting Designer: The Recipe (with Royal MTC), among men (with Royal MTC). 

OTHER THEATRE Production Design: Afterlight (The Keep). Lighting Design: Croquis (Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers); Women of the Fur Trade (Magnus). Costume Design: Every Christmas Story Ever Told, Liars at a Funeral (Magnus); Macbeth, Waiting for Godot (SIR). Lighting & Costume Design: Miss Shakespeare (WST). Costumes & Set Associate Design: Serving Elizabeth (PTE). 

TRAINING BA Hons. in Theatre and Film from the University of Winnipeg, with specializations in Design, Stage Management & Production, and Directing.

ET CETERA Anika would like to thank her friends, family and mentors for their endless support.

Hugh Conacher photo
Hugh Conacher

Lighting Design Mentor

Lighting Design Mentor Hugh Conacher
Hugh Conacher photo

Hugh Conacher

Daniel Roy photo
Daniel Roy

Composer & Sound Designer

Composer & Sound Designer Daniel Roy
Daniel Roy photo

Daniel Roy

ROYAL MTC Sound Designer: The Comeback, The Three Musketeers, The Rez Sisters, Women of the Fur Trade. Performer: All is Bright.

TPM First engagement.

OTHER THEATRE Sound Designer: Théâtre sans animaux, Le boucher, Plus (+) que toi (TCM); The Flats, What To Do With Albert (PTE/TCM); Flesh + Machine (Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers); PLÉ (MTYP); Le ciel est bleu comme une orange (TCM/EMC Shemsy, Morocco).

FILM/TV Voice Actor: Supa Strikas, Canot Cocasse, Wolf Joe, La Brigade, Chums.

TRAINING Beauty school dropout; as a musician, mostly a mix of self-taught and private lessons.

ET CETERA Multi-instrumentalist, composer and award-winning singer-songwriter, Daniel Roy has been contributing to Manitoba’s artistic community for three decades. His skill and versatility allow him to work across all genres of music. He divides his time between performing and recording with different artists, album production, artistic direction, and sound design for theatre and television.

Jacquie Loewen photo
Jacquie Loewen

Fight Director

Fight Director Jacquie Loewen
Jacquie Loewen photo

Jacquie Loewen

ROYAL MTC Fight Director (selected): Indecent, Waitress, The Recipe (with TPM), The Mountaintop, Clue (with Grand), Yaga, Into the Woods, The Rez Sisters, Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical (with Arts Club/Citadel), Vietgone (with fu-GEN/Hope and Hell), Hand to God, Private Lives, Gone With the Wind, August: Osage County, Romeo and Juliet, The Seafarer. Actor: The Three Musketeers, Alice Through the Looking-Glass, Top Girls.

TPM Fight Director: The Recipe (with Royal MTC). Director/co-creator: In Time. 

OTHER THEATRE Fight Director (selected): Macbeth (Bard on the Beach); Indigenous Playwrights New Works Workshop (PTC – Vancouver); Beauty and the Beast (Rainbow); The Flood Thereafter (CS); Don Giovanni (Manitoba Opera); Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Taming of the Shrew (SIR); Prairie Nurse (PTE).

TEACHING U of Winnipeg, U of Manitoba, Trinity Western, Simon Fraser University, Kansas State University.

ET CETERA Jacqueline was a founding member of the Canadian Comedy Award-nominated sketch group Hot Thespian Action.

Debbie Patterson photo
Debbie Patterson

Production & Accessibility Dramaturg

Production & Accessibility Dramaturg Debbie Patterson
Debbie Patterson photo

Debbie Patterson

Joyce Licup photo
Joyce Licup

Assistant Set Designer

Assistant Set Designer Joyce Licup
Joyce Licup photo

Joyce Licup

ROYAL MTC Assistant Set Designer: among men (with TPM), Burning Mom. Apprentice Set Designer: Tiny Plays, Big Ideas.

TPM Assistant Set Designer: among men (with Royal MTC). Set Designer: None of This is Happening.

OTHER THEATRE Set & Props Designer: Munsch Upon A Time (PTE); Blue Beads and Blueberries (MTYP). Apprentice Set Designer: Ma-Buhay! A New Musical (Rainbow). Set Designer: Bastard (Out From Under the Rug).

TRAINING Graduate of The University of Winnipeg with a BA in Theatre: Design.

Samantha Machado photo
Samantha Machado

Apprentice Director

Apprentice Director Samantha Machado
Samantha Machado photo

Samantha Machado

ROYAL MTC First engagement.

TPM First engagement.

OTHER THEATRE Assistant Director: Ponderosa Pine (PTE). Director: Him, Taming of the Shrew (King’s Theatrical Society).

ET CETERA Samantha was the Grand Prize winner of the 2024 Scripts on Fire New Play Competition for The Incomplete English Dictionary of Lexical Gaps.

Tyler Sneesby photo
Tyler Sneesby

Apprentice Sound Designer

Apprentice Sound Designer Tyler Sneesby
Tyler Sneesby photo

Tyler Sneesby

ROYAL MTC First engagement.

TPM First engagement.

ET CETERA 2026 marks 35 years Tyler Sneesby has been producing and performing music. As a DJ, he has been a fixture on the local dance party scene for decades and has recorded on dozens of albums including most of the releases from Peanuts & Corn Records, the acclaimed independent hip-hop label he cofounded in 1994. His work behind the turn tables also provided his first foray into theatre, performing as the musical accompanist for the internationally, renowned improv duo Crumbs. Since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2015 and subsequently losing his vision, Tyler has become more and more involved in the disability community and has performed as an actor on stage with Sick + Twisted Theatre. Always looking to grow as an artist, Tyler is grateful to Theatre Projects Manitoba and Royal MTC for the opportunity to learn the craft of sound design and to collaborate with so many talented creators.

Margaret Brook photo
Margaret Brook

Stage Manager

Stage Manager Margaret Brook
Margaret Brook photo

Margaret Brook

ROYAL MTC Mix Tapes From My Mom, The Piano Teacher, Burning Mom, Women of the Fur Trade, John, It’s a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play, The Humans, Outside Mullingar, Million Dollar Quartet, Unnecessary Farce, The Devil’s Music, The Glass Menagerie, The Penelopiad, The Fighting Days, The 39 Steps, The Syringa Tree and more.

TPM Prophecy.

OTHER THEATRE Escaped Alone (Full of Days Collective); Awaken (SIR/zone41). Other theatres include PTE, Manitoba Opera, MTYP and Royal MTC co-productions with the Citadel, Theatre Calgary, Vancouver Playhouse, Royal Alex, Saidye Bronfman.

Devon Helm photo
Devon Helm

Apprentice Stage Manager

Apprentice Stage Manager Devon Helm
Devon Helm photo

Devon Helm

ROYAL MTC Apprentice Stage Manager: Waitress, The Recipe (with TPM), The Piano Teacher, Trouble in Mind. Assistant Stage Manager: The Man Who Came to Dinner (2025 Lawyers Play). Child Supervisor: The Comeback, The Sound of Music.

TPM Apprentice Stage Manager: The Recipe (with Royal MTC). Stage Manager: Climate & Main.

OTHER THEATRE Tosca, La Bohème (Apprentice Stage Manager – Manitoba Opera); Disney’s Frozen (Child Supervisor – Rainbow); The River, Pool (No Water) (Stage Manager – Winnipeg Fringe Festival). For U of W (selected): 365 Days/365 Plays, Alunsina’s Love (Stage Manager), Love of the Nightingale, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Assistant Stage Manager), Everybody (Set Designer). FAME the Musical (Design Mentee – WST).

TRAINING University of Winnipeg Bachelor of Arts – Stage Management & Production. SMArts Conference 2023.

ET CETERA All my love to my family and friends!

Cast
Jessy Ardern photo
Jessy Ardern

Carrie

Carrie Jessy Ardern
Jessy Ardern photo

Jessy Ardern

ROYAL MTC First appearance.

TPM Actor and Playwright: Prophecy.

OTHER THEATRE Actor: Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, The Tempest (FreeWill Shakespeare Festival); Mary of Shanty Bay (Theatre by the Bay); Brontë (Studio Theatre); Queen Lear is Dead (The Fox Den Collective).

TRAINING Graduate of the University of Alberta’s BFA Acting Program (2016).

ET CETERA Jessy is a playwright as well as a performer. This fall, you can see her adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac on the Royal MTC Mainstage, as well as her immersive site-specific show R&J: Closing Night with Theatre Projects Manitoba and The Fox Den Collective. She sends lots of love to both of her families, and deepest gratitude to Beth and Itamar for looking after her through this process (and many others).

Paul Daniel Bogart
Daniel Bogart photo

Daniel Bogart

ROYAL MTC Elf – The Musical.

TPM First appearance.

OTHER THEATRE Les Misérables (Broadway, National Tour); Rock of Ages, Frozen, RENT (Rainbow); Guys and Dolls: In Concert (WSO/Rainbow); True West (Theatre Raleigh); The Ballad of Little Jo (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Sweeney Todd (Geva Theatre Center); Phantom (Music Theatre of Wichita); Oklahoma! (Paper Mill Playhouse). Assistant Director: Les Misérables (Maine State Music Theatre).

TV The View (ABC); As the World Turns (CBS); Guiding Light (CBS).

TRAINING B.F.A. from University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music; M.S.Ed. from Bank Street Graduate School of Education.

ET CETERA Denver Post Ovation nomination for performance in Les Misérables (National Tour).

Toby Hughes photo
Toby Hughes

Rudy / Jim / Garry / Officer Miller

Rudy / Jim / Garry / Officer Miller Toby Hughes
Toby Hughes photo

Toby Hughes

ROYAL MTC The Recipe (with TPM), Clue (with Grand), Yaga, All is Bright, Women of the Fur Trade, It’s a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play, Nine Dragons (with Gateway/Vertigo), Sarah Ballenden, Hand to God, Alice Through the Looking-Glass, Shakespeare’s Dog (with NAC).

TPM The Recipe (with Royal MTC), White Rabbit / Red Rabbit.

OTHER THEATRE Selected: Pauline Boutal, entre les toiles et les planches (TCM); The Golem’s Mighty Swing, After Jerusalem (WJT); Chicago (Pizza Party Prod.); Mr. Burns: a Post-Electric Play (District Theatre); Outside Joke: The Improvised Musical, Outside Joke: Big Dickens Energy (Outside Joke/PTE); The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley, The Dishwashers (PTE); Le Jardin (Cercle Molière); The Winter’s Tale/Le Conte d’Hiver (SIR/Cercle Molière); Henry IV, Henry V, Julius Caesar, The Comedy of Errors, Richard III, Antony and Cleopatra (SIR); The Snail and the Whale, The House at Pooh Corner, The Hobbit, Liars (MTYP).

FILM/TV Sniper: Rogue Mission, Tales from the Loop, Channel Zero, The Pinkertons, Todd and the Book of Pure Evil.

TRAINING University of Winnipeg.

ET CETERA Toby is a performer / producer with musical improv collective Outside Joke.

Alice Jennifer Lyon
Jennifer Lyon photo

Jennifer Lyon

ROYAL MTC The Cottage, A Doll’s House, It’s a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play, Myth of the Ostrich, Billy Elliot, The Secret Annex, A Christmas Story, The Penelopiad, Next to Normal, White Christmas, Pride and Prejudice, Guys and Dolls (with TC/Citadel – Betty Mitchell nomination, best actress), My Fair Lady, A Christmas Carol – The Musical, Steel Magnolias.

TPM First appearance.

OTHER THEATRE Selected leading roles: Jacques Brel (PTE); The Drowsy Chaperone (Globe); Spamalot (Drayton); Guys and Dolls (TiFT); The Road to Hell (Persephone); My Fair Lady (Arts Club); Skylight (TNB); Comet in Moominland (MTYP/YPT/Montreal/Broadway); 19 shows at Rainbow Stage (Wall of Fame recipient); Man of la Mancha, The Miracle Worker (Stratford); The Who’s Tommy (Mirvish/Toronto/Canadian Tour – Dora nomination, best actress).

Jane Testar photo
Jane Testar

Rachel / Ms. Watson / Nurse / Officer Lafleur

Rachel / Ms. Watson / Nurse / Officer Lafleur Jane Testar
Jane Testar photo

Jane Testar

ROYAL MTC The Piano Teacher, Private Lives.

TPM None of This Is Happening.

OTHER THEATRE Outside Joke’s Holiday Musical Extravaganza, Munschbusters (PTE); The Winter’s Tale (SIR); Que Faire d’Albert (TCM/PTE); Sunday in the Park with George (Gallery Works).

TV Le Monde de Gabrielle Roy (ICI Télé); Less Than Kind (Citytv).

TRAINING Theatre Degree: Acting Honours, University of Winnipeg.

ET CETERA In memory of her dad, Brian Testar, Jane invites you to look into the Winnipeg-based organization: U-Turn Parkinson’s. They do great work providing support and fitness classes for people living with Parkinson’s disease.

Loading ticket information
Production ID: 35973
Start Date: 2/4/2026 9:22:38 AM
End Date: 2/21/2026 9:22:49 AM
Title: Holland
Playwright: By Trish Cooper
Billing:
Directed by Suzie Martin
In partnership with Theatre Projects Manitoba
Warnings: Mature content, strong language. Details under 'Your Visit'.
Synopsis: "Wow, I think I signed less paperwork when we bought a house.” – Carrie 

This world premiere is a hilarious madcap adventure, an unflinching look at disability rights and a love letter to everyday heroes who will do anything for their people.

Carrie and Paul are good people with solid friends and great kids. Another constant in their life is Alice, an antagonistic social worker who holds all the cards when it comes to their disabled son. Alice makes promises but keeps few, drowning the couple in paperwork, denying basic services and bewildering them with impossible deadlines. Pushed to the brink, Carrie takes matters into her own hands – in the most outrageous way possible – and goes from doing everything for her family to risking it all.
 

Click on the image to download the digital program:

Ovation3Cover.jpg

Facility: Tom Hendry Warehouse
Alternate URL: https://royalmtc.ca/Current-Plays/Holland.aspx
Play Image:
Word Mark: 0da9d4a4-6aa7-4548-95d5-665eeb0c80b9
Rotator Image: 70638715-69d4-43ed-86aa-f9e696aacf9a
Display Rotator From: 12/2/2025 9:51:46 AM
Display Rotator To: 2/21/2026 11:59:00 PM
 

Stay in the loop!

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
Sign up now!