Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre-Media Centre
“A hoot for every long-suffering Rogers customer.” – Toronto Star
“Tom Rooney dazzles” – Intermission


Telecom tycoon Ted Rogers spent a lifetime turning Canada’s airwaves into money — and a company into a virtual monopoly. Now his son Edward is fighting to take control of the family empire. At the same time, a savvy public servant is determined to block a billion-dollar merger. Ambition, defiance and public interest collide in a battle of wills. 

Following a sold-out run in Toronto, Michael Healey's dynamic new play is coming to the Mainstage!
 

Click on the image to download the digital program:

Ovation4Cover.jpg


EnrichmentGuide.jpg
Warnings: 
Mature content & language, haze; moments of rapidly changing or flashing lighting and video effects. Details under 'Your Visit'.

 

Running time: 
Approx. 95 minutes (no intermission)


Opening Night sponsor:





 

Tom Rooney photo by Dahlia Katz

Trailer



Cast & Crew

Production
Michael Healey photo
Michael Healey

Playwright

Playwright Michael Healey
Michael Healey photo

Michael Healey

Michael Healey spent a decade as an actor before writing his first play. His second play, The Drawer Boy, was a surprise success and gave him eight years of runway to learn how to write. He needed every minute. Plays from this period include Generous, Courageous, Proud, The Innocent Eye Test, Plan B and Rune Arlidge. Recent plays include 1979, Are You Okay and The Master Plan, which premiered at Crow’s in 2023. In all, his plays have won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for best new play six times. He has adapted works by Chekhov, Molnar, and Hecht & MacArthur for Stratford, Shaw and Soulpepper. He lives in Toronto and still acts occasionally.

Author Alexandra Posadzki
Alexandra Posadzki photo

Alexandra Posadzki

Alexandra Posadzki is an award-winning business journalist at The Globe and Mail, where she writes about financial and cyber crime. She is the author of the instant national bestseller Rogers v. Rogers: The Battle for Control of Canada’s Telecom Empire, which won the 2025 National Business Book Award. Her coverage of the dramatic power struggle at Rogers Communications Inc. was recognized with several Canada Best in Business Awards from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, including gold medals in the “scoop” and “beat reporting” categories.

Chris Abraham photo
Chris Abraham

Director

Director Chris Abraham
Chris Abraham photo

Chris Abraham

ROYAL MTC Chimerica (with CS), The Shape of Things, I, Claudia.

OTHER THEATRE Octet, Wights, Rosmersholm, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, The Master Plan, Uncle Vanya, MixTape, As You Like It, Julius Caesar, Stars: Together, The Wedding Party, True Crime, The Boy in the Moon, The Assembly, The Watershed, The Seagull, Winners and Losers, Someone Else, Eternal Hydra and I, Claudia (Crow’s); One Man, Two Guvnors, Cyrano de Bergerac (Shaw); Much Ado About Nothing, Tartuffe, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, The Matchmaker, The Little Years, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again (Stratford); Seeds (Crow’s/Porte Parole); Macbeth (Bard on the Beach). 

FILM/TV Shakespearean Coach for Station Eleven (HBO); Gemini Award-winning film adaptation of I, Claudia. 

TRAINING University of Toronto, National Theatre School of Canada. 

ET CETERA Artistic Director of Crow’s Theatre since 2008, leading the company through major milestones including opening Streetcar Crowsnest in 2017 and last season’s 40th anniversary; recipient of the Elinor and Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre; served as co-director of NTS’s renowned directing program. IG: @crowstheatread

Joshua Quinlan photo
Joshua Quinlan

Set Designer

Set Designer Joshua Quinlan
Joshua Quinlan photo

Joshua Quinlan

ROYAL MTC Set & Costume Designer: Casey and Diana (with TA).

OTHER THEATRE (selected) Octet, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, Uncle Vanya, The Master Plan, Rosmersholm, Wights (Crow’s); Casey and Diana, Every Little Nookie (Stratford); Hamlet (CS); Million Dollar Quartet (Grand); Hedda Gabler, Yerma (Coal Mine); The Sound of Music, The Music Man (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Waitress, Little Shop of Horrors (Port Hope); The Drawer Boy, My Hero (Port Stanley Festival Theatre); An Enemy of the People, Don Giovanni, Stupid F*cking Bird (Ohio State University). 

TRAINING MFA Theatre – Design, The Ohio State University; BA Honours Drama, University of Windsor. 

ET CETERA Siminovitch Protégé Designer, Dora Award Winner.

Imogen Wilson photo
Imogen Wilson

Lighting Designer

Lighting Designer Imogen Wilson
Imogen Wilson photo

Imogen Wilson

ROYAL MTC First engagement.

OTHER THEATRE Lighting Designer: Rosmersholm – Dora nominated for best lighting design, Octet, Wights (Crow’s); Fifteen Dogs (Crow’s/Mirvish/NAC); Old Times (Soulpepper); As You Like It (Stratford); Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Ghost! The Musical (Chemainus Theatre); Interior Design (Tarragon). Assistant Lighting Designer: Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, The Masterplan, Uncle Vanya, Fifteen Dogs (Crow’s). Upcoming projects: Primary Trust (Grand/Crow’s); The Tempest, The Importance of Being Earnest (Stratford); One for the Pot (Shaw). 

TRAINING University of Victoria and Bangkok University. 

ET CETERA Thank you to this team and my team.

Thomas Ryder Payne photo
Thomas Ryder Payne

Sound Designer

Sound Designer Thomas Ryder Payne
Thomas Ryder Payne photo

Thomas Ryder Payne

ROYAL MTC Chimerica (with CS), Kim’s Convenience.

OTHER THEATRE Comfort Food, Wights, Rosmersholm, shaniqua in abstraction, Bad Roads, The Master Plan, Perceptual Archaeology, Red Velvet, Uncle Vanya, Orphans for the Czar, MixTape, Julius Caesar, A&R Angels, The Boy in the Moon, The Wedding Party, The Watershed, Someone Else (Crow’s); and designs for Stratford, Shaw, Mirvish, Soulpepper, Canadian Stage, Tarragon, Factory, TPM, YPT, Modern Times, Aluna, Buddies in Bad Times, Theatre Gargantua, Nightwood, Toronto Dance Theatre, NAC, Centaur, Theatre Calgary, GCTC and many others. 

FILM/TV Plain View, 7A, Blood Harvest, Hero. Traitor. Patriot, Alegra & Jim, Robert’s Circle. 

TRAINING Studied composition with James Tenney, Honours BA, York University.

ET CETERA thomasryderpayne.bandcamp.com, xeno-canto.org

Nathan Bruce photo
Nathan Bruce

Video Designer

Video Designer Nathan Bruce
Nathan Bruce photo

Nathan Bruce

ROYAL MTC First engagement.

OTHER THEATRE Video Designer: Octet, Wights, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (Crow’s). Lighting Designer: Tapestry Briefs 2025 (Tapestry Opera); Reina (Pencil Kit); 18 Jews Order Chinese Food (Persephone). Co-Projection Design: Feed-Back (Dancemakers). Lighting and Projection Design: The Tender Land (Toronto City Opera). Associate Lighting Design: Copperbelt (NAC); Shedding a Skin (Nightwood/Buddies). Projection Design: The Magic Flute (Royal Conservatory/Glenn Gould School). 

TRAINING BFA in Theatre Production and Design (York University); Design Incubator Pilot Project. 

ET CETERA New Media Installations: Try to Forget (Long Winter); After the Flood (Charles Street Video); Love Across Distance (Nuit Blanche). nathanbrucedesigns.com

Chloë Dirksen photo
Chloë Dirksen

Dialect Coach

Dialect Coach Chloë Dirksen
Chloë Dirksen photo

Chloë Dirksen

ROYAL MTC First engagement.

OTHER THEATRE Acting: This Wide Night (The John Drew Theatre); The Scarlet Letter, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible (Bay Street Theatre); Honour Killing (Cherry Lane Theatre); Conviction directed by Scott Schwartz.

TV Most recently served as Production Dialect Coach for Interview with the Vampire (AMC).

TRAINING Chloë trained at Circle in the Square Theatre School, and has a BA in Literature and Linguistics from U of T.

ET CETERA Chloë is a dialect coach and actress. Her dialect work has garnered a New York Innovative Theatre Award and acclaim in NY Times. Represented by NCA. chloedirksen.com

Elaine May photo
Elaine May

Costume Coordinator

Costume Coordinator Elaine May
Elaine May photo

Elaine May

ROYAL MTC First engagement.

OTHER THEATRE Fifteen Dogs, The Bidding War, Flex, Comfort Food (Crow’s); many seasons with YPT and Soulpepper. Favourites include Hana’s Suitcase, A Year with Frog and Toad, King Lear, A Christmas Carol. Upcoming projects: Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary (Crow’s). 

FILM Little Moments.

TRAINING BFA in Theatre Production from York University. 

ET CETERA Elaine is a certified childbirth educator and doula, and when not doing theatre, she teaches prenatal and infant care classes. Thank you to my hugely supportive family.

Bryn Kennedy photo
Bryn Kennedy

Assistant Director

Assistant Director Bryn Kennedy
Bryn Kennedy photo

Bryn Kennedy

ROYAL MTC First engagement.

OTHER THEATRE (selected) Apprentice Directing: Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (Crow’s). Directing: JANE (Tarragon/Pantheon Projects); Mary Stuart (Stratford Directors Workshop Projects); Beneath the Bed (Theatre Born Between); Vitals (Theatre Born Between – nominated for Outstanding Solo Performance, My Entertainment World Awards). Assistant Directing: Ransacking Troy, Hamlet (Stratford); UNCOVERED Concert (Musical Stage Co.); Withrow Park (Tarragon); A Bear Awake in Winter (Next Stage Theatre Festival). Upcoming Directing: The Moors (Riot King). 

FILM/TV Co-Producer: Save the Date and Alice Is Fine. Actor: Coroner (CBC); V-Wars (Netflix); Everything is Going to be Great (eOne).

TRAINING Theatre and Drama Studies at Sheridan College and the University of Toronto.

ET CETERA Jean Gascon Award for Emerging Director (Stratford Festival Guthrie Awards). Every show is for M & D & Matt – you make it all possible. @brynkennedy

Melissa Rood photo
Melissa Rood

Stage Manager

Stage Manager Melissa Rood
Melissa Rood photo

Melissa Rood

ROYAL MTC First engagement.

OTHER THEATRE The Wedding Party (Crow’s/NAC); Stars: Together, Julius Caesar, Chew, The Master and Margarita, Digital Assembly (Crow’s); Coriolanus, Macbeth directed by Robert Lepage, Much Ado About Nothing directed by Chris Abraham (Stratford); Walter Bordon’s The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time (NAC); Christopher Plummer’s A Word or Two (Stratford/Ahmanson Theatre, LA); The Carousel with Allegra Fulton (Nightwood); theatre, opera, dance, concerts, stadium events; new works, classics and offerings of every kind – from solo acts to casts of thousands. Upcoming projects: Othello (Stratford – 26th Season). 

FILM/TV Leer Estates, Shorty (Script Supervisor); Poor Tom (exploring virtual reality with Groundling Theatre); and occasional uncredited voiceover work. 

TRAINING/TEACHING Trained at Sheridan College (Technical Production) and University of Waterloo (Social Work). Stage management instructor at University of Windsor, University of Toronto, National Theatre School, Sheridan College and Director of the Stratford Festival’s summer technical production camp.

ET CETERA Thank you, Tom. Being asked is an honour.

Zahra Larche photo
Zahra Larche

Replacement Stage Manager

Replacement Stage Manager Zahra Larche
Zahra Larche photo

Zahra Larche

ROYAL MTC Stage Manager: Indecent, The Recipe (with TPM), Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes. Assistant Stage Manager: Murder on the Orient Express, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (with Segal), The Sound of Music (with Citadel), Into the Woods, Network (with Citadel), Calpurnia (with NAC/BTW), Bang Bang (with Belfry). Apprentice Stage Manager: Buying the Farm (tour), Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical, Vietgone (with fu-GEN/Hope and Hell), The Humans. Assistant Production Manager (2017/18, 2020/21, 2021/22 seasons).

OTHER THEATRE Stage Manager: Rock of Ages, Mary Poppins, The Hockey Sweater (Rainbow); Serving Elizabeth, The Outside Inn (PTE). ASM: Volare (PTE). Various credits with Dry Cold, Hudson Village Theatre, Manitoba Opera, Geordie Productions and A Company of Fools.

TRAINING Graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada – Production Program (2017).

ET CETERA Special thanks to my MTC family, my parents, Ilana, Jenna, Brooklyne, Liam and Paul!

Darlene Dela Cruz photo
Darlene Dela Cruz

Apprentice Stage Manager

Apprentice Stage Manager Darlene Dela Cruz
Darlene Dela Cruz photo

Darlene Dela Cruz

ROYAL MTC Apprentice Stage Manager: Life of Pi. Assistant Lighting Designer: The Man Who Came to Dinner (MBA/Lawyers Play).

OTHER THEATRE Stage Management: The Gallery Wall (Winnipeg Fringe Festival); Oh, the Humanity (U of W). Other: The Undeniable Accusations of Red Cadmium Light (PTE); PAGBUO: A Story Building Workshop (UNIT Productions); MA-BUHAY! A New Musical (Rainbow); Winnipeg Fringe Festival.

TRAINING University of Winnipeg Theatre and Film Department.

ET CETERA Jean Murray – Moray Sinclair Apprenticeship recipient. Thank you to my family and friends for their support. Enjoy the show! 

Cast
Tom Rooney photo
Tom Rooney

Performer

Performer Tom Rooney
Tom Rooney photo

Tom Rooney

ROYAL MTC The Seagull.

OTHER THEATRE Someone Else (Dora Award), The Seagull, The Wedding Party (Crow’s); 12 years at the Stratford Festival; Cyrano de Bergerac, Victory, The Apple Cart, My Fair Lady (Shaw); Rice Boy, My Mother’s Feet, Homechild, Tartuffe (CS); Hairspray (Toronto and Broadway); Benevolence, Courageous (Tarragon); Hamlet (NAC); Robert Lepage’s Romeo et Juliette (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan); I Am My Own Wife (VP); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Citadel – Sterling Award); Angels in America (ATP). Upcoming: Amadeus and Heartbreak House at the Shaw Festival this year. 

FILM/TV This Is Wonderland, The Gilda Radner Story, The Day After Tomorrow, Strays, Transplant, Coroner, Under the Banner of Heaven, Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.

Loading ticket information
Production ID: 35825
Start Date: 2/18/2026 10:08:24 AM
End Date: 3/14/2026 10:08:34 AM
Title: Rogers v. Rogers
Playwright: Adapted for the stage by Michael Healey 
Based on Rogers v. Rogers: The Battle for Control of Canada’s Telecom Empire by Alexandra Posadzki 
Billing:
Directed by Chris Abraham
Starring Tom Rooney
A Crow’s Theatre Production
Warnings: Mature content & language, haze; moments of rapidly changing or flashing lighting and video effects. Details under 'Your Visit'.
Synopsis: “A hoot for every long-suffering Rogers customer.” – Toronto Star
“Tom Rooney dazzles” – Intermission


Telecom tycoon Ted Rogers spent a lifetime turning Canada’s airwaves into money — and a company into a virtual monopoly. Now his son Edward is fighting to take control of the family empire. At the same time, a savvy public servant is determined to block a billion-dollar merger. Ambition, defiance and public interest collide in a battle of wills. 

Following a sold-out run in Toronto, Michael Healey's dynamic new play is coming to the Mainstage!
 

Click on the image to download the digital program:

Ovation4Cover.jpg


EnrichmentGuide.jpg
Facility: John Hirsch Mainstage
Alternate URL: https://royalmtc.ca/Current-Plays/Rogers-v-Rogers.aspx
Play Image:
Word Mark: 0a70b154-4535-456b-b93a-2d90dc1873e9
Rotator Image: 4c2dcbc0-00c4-4cbf-b1b4-923c116a15bf
Display Rotator From: 1/30/2026 7:00:00 PM
Display Rotator To: 3/14/2026 11:59:00 PM
 

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