Early in my conversation with Tracy Michailidis, as we discuss professional training, she jokingly refers to herself as ‘an impostor’ because, rather than attending a conservatory programme, she chose a liberal arts education. And as we chat further, Tracy details the depth of study, the vitality and shared passions of her cohort, friends she has worked with and maintains to this day. All joking aside, it’s abundantly clear that Tracy hasn’t been hobbled by her decision.

We discuss Tracy’s early career, when she was cast in a leading role at the Charlottetown Festival. She reveals what being in the touring production of Beauty and the Beast taught her and, later, what playing in the Broadway production added to the experience of living and working in New York.

Apart from our career-focussed chatting, it is abundantly clear that for Tracy, both personally and professionally, her love of, and commitment to, her family is her grounding place, the foundation that frees her to dream without restraint.

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It’s hard to believe that Michael Healey, playwright of The Drawer Boy and The Master Plan (and several original and adapted projects in between), spent the first ten years of his career as an actor before writing for the stage became his principal passion. Which is not to say that he gave up his acting career.

On the contrary, I first met and worked with Michael on the Studio 180 Theatre production of Stuff Happens, in 2008 and 2009, and a few years later on Clybourne Park.

Michael’s wholly candid and generous description of his career, his insecurities and his insights into a profession beset by constant challenges is as refreshing as it is entertaining.

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Sarah Orenstein was a touchstone for me during the pandemic lockdown. We’d meet outdoors, drink coffee and inflict ourselves and our anxieties on each other. We also found time to laugh at the insanity of the world around us. Sarah works, and has worked, at every major theatre in the country, including both the Stratford and Shaw Festivals.

We met in 2008, when Sarah joined the Studio 180 Theatre production of Stuff Happens, one of those watershed moments that we cherish. And among the gifts of that project is my enduring friendship with Sarah.

Sarah is fiercely dedicated to collaboration, an artist whose true love is the process of an ensemble. Not surprisingly, she dedicates a great deal of time to mentoring young artists in the craft of acting.

And let’s not forget Sarah’s love of baking and gardening.

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NOTE: please consider supporting the running cost of this podcast by going to: patreon.com/lifeinstages

And you can find us on:

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Meeting Jeff Miller is a guaranteed good time. Possessed of a great sense of humour and delighting in the absurdities of life, Jeff is a model of the actor’s playbook: you commit passionately to each project and when the acting work isn’t coming fast and furious, you commit passionately to teaching theatre and a wide range of life-sustaining jobs. But in spite of the inevitable dry periods, Jeff’s resilience is inspiring.

Jeff and I first worked together in the early 90’s, and more recently with Studio 180 Theatre’s The Laramie Project, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook and My Night with Reg.

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NOTE: please consider supporting the running cost of this podcast by going to: patreon.com/lifeinstages

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A great way to launch LIFE IN STAGES is with our first guest,

Mark McGrinder. Mark and I met in 1990 at the University of Waterloo – he was entering first year and I was newly arrived as the Chair of the Drama Department. Over the next four years we spent a lot of time together in class and in rehearsals.

Jump to 2002, eight years after he graduated, and Mark and I, along with three other UW alumni, met to consider a large project that could include many UW alum who were still carving out performing arts careers. A year later we produced the professional Canadian premiere of The Laramie Project. What we couldn’t have known then is that this would become the launch of Studio 180 Theatre.

Mark, a founding member 21 years ago, is now the company’s current Artistic Director. I can’t think of a better first guest for this first episode.

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Here’s a preview of what you will be hearing in the first series of LIFE IN STAGES, conversations with many of our most accomplished Canadian actors, writers and directors.

Joel Greenberg sits down with our guests to learn how and why they have devoted their professional lives to such a precarious career.

THE FIRST EPISODE DROPS SEPTEMBER 26, so go to wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe/follow LIFE IN STAGES. And please take a moment to pass this on to friends, colleagues, family, etc.

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NOTE: please consider supporting the running cost of this podcast by going to: patreon.com/lifeinstages

And you can find us on –

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