FireWorks Festival 2025
Gunplay (after the gun goes off)
by Jennifer Walton
Directed by Barbara Larose
Produced by Mary Bredin
Mainstage Theatre/April 23-27, 2025
When Darryl and his friend Niko get caught using a pellet gun in the alley beside an elementary school, it triggers a full active shooter response. Darryl and his mother Miranda feel the full force of justice, political, and education systems as well as the court of public opinion until Stevens, the police officer who was first on scene at the school and already suffering from PTSD, takes justice into his own hands.
*Sensitivity Warning: This play deals with issues of gun violence and PTSD.
*Please note that the talkback discussion with the writer will be on Thursday not Sunday, as originally announced.
FireWorks Festival 2025 is generously supported by
The Playwright
JENNIFER WALTON
Jennifer Walton is the 2021 recipient of the Voaden Prize in Playwriting for GUNPLAY (After the Gun Goes Off) that was also presented as a staged reading at the Kingston Writers Festival (2021) and Theatre Aquarius’s Brave New Works festival (2024). Jennifer’s short plays have been featured in festivals across North America. Her directing credits include Stationary (Audience Choice, Hamilton Fringe 2024), The Tragedy of Othella Moore (Best of Hamilton Fringe, 2017), and The Soldier’s Tale for Amphion Ensemble. Acting credits include Hamlet and Your Own Sons for Same Boat Theatre and the film Things I Do for Money directed by Warren Sonoda.
The Production Team
BARBARA LAROSE/DIRECTOR
Directing new theatre projects is a collaborative affair for Barbara, working with writers and performers to exercise her passion for developing layered characterizations and clear storytelling. She has extensive experience in developing new work and has directed and dramaturged numerous new plays at Alumnae’s New Ideas Festival and the Toronto Fringe. She has also directed over 30 mainstage productions, many at the Alumnae Theatre (most recently String of Pearls by Michele Lowe) and at the Village Playhouse (most recently Terror by Gaslight by Tim Kelly) and is Artistic Director of award-winning Thick and Thin Theatre. Barbara studied theatre at Concordia University in her home town of Montreal.
MARY BREDIN/PRODUCER
Mary Bredin started at the Alumnae theatre years ago but left for Europe and raising her son. She is excited to return as part of the producing team for FireWorks. Mary is committed to supporting women in the arts. Mary was nominated for an Emmy for Justin Time as EP/Showrunner. She is the co-creator of Pickwick Pack on Disney Jr., helped launch Paw Patrol, and was part of the team producing the Oscar-nominated feature The Breadwinner and EP on True and the Rainbow Kingdom, among other shows. Mary is also very proud of her 20-year-old son, who is at McMaster.
DEON DENTON/STAGE MANAGER
Deon is a writer, director, and actor, as well as the Artistic Director of Promise Productions. She is the creative force behind the musical Pieces of Me (Theatre Passe Muraille) and the acclaimed Charlie’s Having a Baby (Toronto Fringe 2009, 2012). Her work has reached Off-Off Broadway with No Visible Scars (2014) and To Jane with Love (2016). In 2023, she wrote, directed, and starred in Things We Lost in the Fire (Toronto Fringe), later remounted at Crow’s Theatre in 2024. Deon’s storytelling is known for its depth, emotional resonance, and powerful exploration of the human experience.
MARGARITA POPOVA/ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
Margarita came to Toronto in 2021 from Western Siberia, Russia. She has been working with Alumnae Theatre since 2022, when she participated in the FireWorks Festival as a set designer and lighting operator. Margarita has also created props and painted sets and assisted production during other theatre seasons. In addition to her work in applied physics, she has a side education in graphic design, making Margarita an artist in an engineer’s body. In her spare time, she develops her illustration portfolio, sculpts, and studies art. Margarita thanks the producer and director of Gunplay and hopes the audience will enjoy the play.
The Cast
BRENNAN BIELEFELD/DARRYL
Brennan is a current student in the Performance: Acting Program at Toronto Metropolitan University. Toronto: The Velveteen Rabbit (Rule of Three), Pig Earth (Strands of the Night Theatre), After The Rain (Workshop/Tarragon Theatre), and Into The Woods (Talk is Free Theatre). Other (selected): CUT! (Director), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon), Kid Frankenstein (Igor), Matilda (Mr. Wormwood), and Snow White (Dopey). Commercials for Metrolinx, Eggo, and PC. Soulpepper City Youth Academy 23, Shakespeare in the Ruff/Young Ruffian Apprenticeship 22. Represented by SoHo Management. May your hearts always be full of love.
JAMESON MOSHER/NIKO
Jameson Mosher is ecstatic to be making his Fireworks Festival debut! He hails from a section of the unceded territory Mi’kma’ki (colonially known as Nova Scotia). Grad: Sheridan College (2023). Recent credits: The Little Mermaid, The Snow Queen, and Junie B. Jones (TYT Theatre), The Last Piece (Hart House), 25th Annual … Spelling Bee, Merrily We Roll Along (Shifting Ground Collective), Love You To Death (SmallbutMighty Prod.), and A Perfect Bowl of Pho (SendNoods Prod). Upcoming: Iris (says goodbye). Jameson would like to send out a massive thank you to friends, family, and mentors for supporting the dream; and a loving thank you to Ellie for making Toronto feel like home. <3 @jay_mosher2
VALERIE CARRIER/MIRANDA
Valérie’s involvement in theatre started in Montreal. Then expatriated in London (UK), she got involved with the French theatre community and played in Ring (Camille), Under Milk Wood and Les Belles-soeurs (Germaine Lauzon) and produced and played Isabelle in The Orphan Muses. Valérie’s prior involvement with Alumnae includes performing in Albertine in Five Times, Boom Baby (2022 FireWorks Festival), String of Pearls, and If We Were Birds. Valérie is also a board member of the Théâtre français de Toronto.
MATTHEW SCERRI/TREVOR STEVENS
Matt Scerri brings a wealth of acting depth, with training from The Second City Theatre, workshops with industry stalwarts such as Chris Earle (Dora Award Playwright), Cary West with TMU’s School of Performance, and co-founder of The Second City, Michael Gellman. Beyond acting, Matt delves into writing and directing his own short films. (Most of his inspiration comes from Hall and Oates albums.) Matt has performed with Alumnae Theatre, Crows Theatre, and Scarborough Players and in multiple short films that premiered at the Toronto Shorts International Film Festival. He is happy to be returning to Alumnae to portray Trevor Stevens in Gunplay!
JEN HASHIMOTO/KELLY
After getting to perform one night as Gina Wilkinson in Shadows in the Nooks in February, JeN is super excited to be on stage with Alumnae Theatre again. She holds a BA Honours double major in Theatre and English from York University. She has graced the stages of numerous Toronto theatres, cherishing roles such as Lorna in Dead Accounts, Chava in Fiddler on the Roof, Elvira in Blithe Spirit, and The Prude in Things We Lost In the Fire. JeN is thrilled to be a part of the talented cast and crew of Gunplay. Thanks always to Tomo!
GAVIN MAGRATH/DETECTIVE THOMAS + JOHN
Gavin Magrath is excited to join the team of Gunplay in bringing this incredible new script to life onstage. He previously appeared on the Alumnae Mainstage in The Seafarer with the Toronto Irish Players. Other recent credits include Dr Daniels in Terror by Gaslight and John in The Book of Will, both with the Village Players, and clowning in The 39 Steps at The Curtain Club. Gavin was also an actor as a child but disappointed his parents by going to university and becoming a lawyer; he now provides advice and advocacy in international transportation and international human rights law.
SANDY RAMDIN/MS. D’ANGELO + OFFICER DANIELS
Sandy has been acting since she was ten years old. She started her theatre career in the Die in Debt production of Romeo and Juliet in the role of Balthasar, following that with the Lunatic, Lover, Poet production of Macbeth as Lady MacDuff. Sandy has been in the short films Saturnine, Lydia and Baby Fever, commercials for Breast Cancer Canada and Sinai Health, Alumnae Theatre productions of Albertine in Five Times, String of Pearls, If We Were Birds, and the New Ideas Festival in the play Spell. Most recently, she had lead roles in Social Security and Rumors with Village Players. She is excited to work with Alumnae Theatre once again.
ANNE SHEPHERD/MRS. MURPHY + DESK CLERK
Anne Shepherd is a Toronto actor, psychiatrist, and mother to three adult sons and three cats. She adores playing creatures, witches, and zombies: very adept at authoritarian nurse, principal and spinster librarian roles. She played the snotty outsider Lilly de Courcey in The Unmanageable Sisters with the Toronto Irish Players. She played Kate Rice, the first female prospector in Manitoba with the Alumnae Theatre. Most recently she played Aunt March in Little Women with Wren Theatre (bad witch) and will be playing Aunt Rosemonde in Dangerous Liaisons (good witch). She plays yet another authority figure in Gunplay. Students, beware!
