Local Theatre Company Launches New Program With Cult Hit

As part of their new initiative, a local theatre company is updating a darkly comedic musical.

Debuting at the University of Windsor Jackman Dramatic Art Centre’s Hatch Studio Theatre (located at 401 Sunset Avenue) on Friday, July 18th, Arts Collective Theatre (ACT) is putting on unique performances of Blood Ties. Featured in the TV series Orphan Black, the musical has gained a cult following over the years and is now being presented in this refined version for the first time.

Using the play to launch their ACT New Works program, it’s a production set to benefit all involved.

“The ACT New Works program was created to support the development of original Canadian musicals and plays,” said ACT Vice President Moya McAlister. “It simultaneously provides paid opportunities for local performing artists to work alongside professional theatre creators. The goal is twofold: to nurture new Canadian voices and to help build sustainable careers in the arts right here in Windsor-Essex.”

Seeing a desire for local opportunities, ACT hoped to create a space where artists didn’t feel the necessity to leave Windsor-Essex for professional theatre work. As a way to reverse this trend, the theatre company had the idea to start a program that could support bold Canadian productions. On top of this, it would also allow local talent to gain experience, keep local roots, and get paid for their craft.

Following through, McAlister views the plan as a logical continuation of the company’s previous work.

“ACT is known for pushing boundaries and filling gaps in the theatre landscape,” she said. “ACT New Works is a natural extension of that mission. It’s a stepping stone toward a larger vision of a thriving, self-sustaining professional theatre scene in Windsor-Essex—one where emerging and established artists alike can build meaningful careers without needing to leave home.”

In development since 2024, the ACT New Works program found its first musical during the theatre company’s production of Rent. Having choreographed two numbers, Bryan Hindle introduced ACT to composers Barbara Johnston and Anika Johnson.

As discussions continued afterwards, it soon became clear the company had found a perfect show to launch the new program.

“When we reached out to [Johnston] and [Johnson] later that year, they shared that they were interested in revisiting and reworking their cult hit Blood Ties, a darkly comedic Canadian musical,” said McAlister. “After reading the revised script and listening to the score, we immediately felt it was the perfect project to launch our ACT New Works program. [Hindle] enthusiastically signed on to direct the production and the program officially began to take form.”

In Blood Ties, a bachelorette weekend quickly takes a turn for the worse as bride-to-be Sheila’s perfect plans for time with her best friends turn into a nightmare. Arriving early to throw a bachelorette party, they’re greeted instead by the grizzly suicide of Sheila’s uncle Conrad. With the tragedy taking place only a day before her wedding, the bride must clean up after the discovery while also keeping it together to get married. Looking to make the best out of a horrific situation, her best friends Franny, Larry and Paul try to help in the comedic and suspenseful story.

Despite a clear vision for their New Works program and a play to launch it with, Act still ran into challenges with organizing the initiative. Securing supportive resources for a professional development process, paying artists for their time and talent, also created a significant hurdle. Navigating scheduling conflicts, actor availability, and the logistics of balancing creative needs with practical limitations proved difficult as well.

Even so, commitment and passion from both the creative team and artists involved help to push the ACT New Works program forward, with Blood Ties serving as a small taste of what’s to come.

Perhaps this spirit is most evident with the show itself already being refined several times.

“In the biz, we always say that ‘musicals aren’t written, they are re-written,'” said Johnson. “We wrote the first draft of Blood Ties in 2009. We were in our early 20s, our last year of theatre school and it was the first time either of us had ever written anything for the stage. Since then, we’ve re-examined the script every time it’s received a production, with our last major rewrite taking place back in 2017. For this draft, we actually returned to a lot of our original impulses from the very first version of the show. It’s amazing how often you get it right the first time before you make things too complicated. Now that we have 16 years of writing experience under our belts, we were able to give the script and score more nuance and clarity, raise the stakes and the comedy, and update the score to be as catchy and exciting as possible. We think this is the best version of the show that has ever hit the stage, and we’re so excited to share it with audiences!”

As auditions began, the creative team looked for dynamic actors with strong comedic ability. Needing to balance several elements, they especially had to walk the line between comedy, horror, and pathos authentically while being comfortable with singing four-part harmonies. Beyond this, original choices were required since the musical is mostly unknown: Actors had no frame of reference for each character or singing style during auditions, forcing them to interpret what was on the page instead.

Relying heavily on character interaction, finding a cast that could work off each other was crucial as well.

“The characters in this musical are all old friends, so chemistry among the group was key,” said Johnston. “Working on a new(ish) musical means as an actor you have to leave your ego at the door – trust the process, be very willing to ‘play’ and also be able to absorb a lot of material in a short period of time. We are thrilled with this cast and are so excited to see what they do with our material.”

With comedy and horror being intertwined throughout the show, it was also important that characters felt real and full of heart for the writer/composer duo. This ensured everyone’s humanity in the play remained present and relatable when doing questionable things.

Coming out of a true story, it’s been a core element of the musical from the start.

[Blood Ties] is based on a true story that happened to [Johnston’s] parents,” said Johnson. “They were asked to clean up the bathroom after her great-uncle shot himself there. When they tell the story, the first thing they always say is that they used laughter to cope with the crazy situation.”

That same realism has influenced the play’s progression during rehearsals as well.

“Our cast has been incredibly open and generous in bringing their life experience to the show,” said Johnson. “[Hindle] is so skilled at holding space for light and dark at the same time. At the end of the day, dark stories like this can be an amazing mirror for the complexity that lives in all of us, with the story acting almost as a metaphor to represent an extreme version of more familiar experiences.”

Making this run of Blood Ties even more unique, a talkback session will take place following the musical’s July 26 performance. As part of its development through the ACT New Works program, show creators, actors and its director will listen as their audience is asked to give feedback on the musical. Having updated the script and score since the play’s previous festival presentations, writers hope to hear what resonated, which improvements could be made, and how the show can evolve through this open and collaborative conversation.

Continuing to refine their work, its composer hopes their latest version continues to connect with theatre-goers.

“We hope audiences will laugh and cry and leave the show wanting to talk about what they would do if they were in this situation,” said Johnson. “Morality is complex and nothing is black and white, so we really want to provoke some polarized reactions. People familiar with the show can expect exciting new music and scene work combined with a lot of familiar hooks and jokes. We’ve leaned into the ‘sexy thriller’ element, which is truly our favourite genre of entertainment, and hope this draft delivers the kind of thrills that keep you on the edge of your seat.”

Performances of Blood Ties will take place at the University of Windsor Jackman Dramatic Art Centre’s Hatch Studio Theatre on July 18th, 19th, 20th, 25th, 26th, and 27th. Showtimes for Fridays and Saturdays are at 7:30pm, while matinees will be held at 2 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are $35 each (plus taxes/fees) and can be purchased online. ACT’s Production of Blood Ties was also helped by the City of Windsor’s Arts, Culture and Heritage grant.

For more information about the ACT New Works program or Blood Ties itself, those interested can visit the theatre company’s website.