Lumber: Fringe Festival Tour
- Caleigh Crow
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Thumbs Up Good Work Theatre is proud to present Lumber, a new play by Métis playwright Colin Wolf, premiering this summer. From the creator of CoyWolf, a one-hour romp through the Yukon wilderness with Jack Bennet (Colin Wolf) as your guide. Wolf once again draws inspiration from his lived experience in the North, as well as a healthy dose of Michif humour and storytelling.
Edmonton Tickets (on sale August 6, 2026) |
Synopsis
All at once, Jack Bennet got dumped, fired, and evicted, and, worst of all, his beloved dog died. All he’s got now is a truck and a chainsaw. He decides to leave Alberta and flee north, really far north, into the Yukon. Where he finds a new purpose in starting his own wood harvesting business. Join Jack around the fire as he tells his story of finding community in unlikely places and connecting with his home and heritage in an unconventional way.
This new one-hour play — written, produced, and starring Métis theatre artist Colin Wolf — features storytelling, comedy, a chainsaw (or two!), and just enough therapy to hold the good ship Jack Bennet together.
Cast & Crew
Colin Wolf, Playwright/Actor/Producer
 | Colin Wolf is a Métis performer, theatre maker, and activist from the North-East of Moh’kins’tsis (Calgary), AB on Treaty 7 Territory. Wolf graduated with a BFA in Dramatic Arts from the University of Lethbridge in 2014, and then spent 5 years making theatre all over the prairies with dear friends, trusted colleagues, and complicated colonial institutions. Wolf co-founded Thumbs Up Good Work Theatre Collective with his sister Caleigh Crow in 2013. After cutting his teeth in TYA, on regional stages, and in Indie theatre in the prairies, Wolf felt the call of the North and moved to Whitehorse in October 2019 to serve as the Artistic Director at Gwaandak Theatre Society on the Territory of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and Ta’an Kwäch’än Council. Wolf is looking forward to bringing this play back into the Métis homeland, and spending time in Saskatoon with colleagues and kin. |
Nathan Howe, Director
 | Nathan (he/him) is a multi-hyphenate theatre-maker from Saskatoon, Treaty 6, living on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations in Vancouver. He has an MFA in Scriptwriting & Story Design from TMU, BFA in Acting from USask, and is a graduate of The Globe Theatre Conservatory. Recent Credits: story editor for the true crime podcast The Poet (New Metric Media/SONY), performer in A Huron County Christmas Carol (Blyth Festival), 1979 (The Belfry), Women of The Fur Trade (Globe & Stratford), playwright of Radio Town (Blyth Festival), directed Mr. Burns (Live Five) and The Love Interest (Theatre Howl). He recently attended The Banff Arts Centre Playwrights Lab to write a first draft of his new play, The Shanaplan, and this summer is working on a new script through The Green Thumb Theatre Playwrights Gym. Upcoming he will be performing in Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors at The Grand. |
Sydney Wolf, Assistant Director/Co-producer
 | Sydney Wolf (they/them) is a Queer and autistic artist of Irish and Czechoslovakian descent. Since moving from the prairies to the Yukon mountains in 2019, Wolf has been reintroducing themself to the world of performance through drag and theatre. As a multi-disciplinary visual artist, they have found a well-rounded home in theatre and have discovered a new love for writing. Wolf was one of ten shortlisted artists for the National Queer and Trans Playwriting Unit in 2022, and was a Tom Hendry Drama Award Finalist in 2025 for their script ‘Vengeance of a Hellhound’ (formerly To Live & Die by the Paper Route) about their lived experience as a stripper. |
Whittyn Jason, Lights
 | Whittyn Jason (they/them/theirs) is a queer, non-binary, mixed-race scenographer and award-winning lighting designer of South African and Ukrainian heritage primarily living and creating in amiskwacîwâskahikan (colonially known as Edmonton, Alberta), whose work has been featured across the country and as far as the Czech Republic. They have worked as a designer on over 60 productions for theatre, dance, and alternative performance, with a focus on interactive, site-specific projects and new work development. They have designed for black boxes, tiny stages, big stages, real weddings and fake funerals, indie films, live events, beer gardens, concrete cubes, empty hockey arenas, parties, debauchery and mischief, immersive website experiences, shows that have to pack up into the back of a pickup, haunted barns, self-described ‘impossible projects’, abandoned buildings, dive bars, apartments, river valleys, warehouses, and more. In addition to practising scenography and lighting, they are the outgoing festival director for Found Festival (Common Ground Arts Society) and the artistic co-leader at Major Matt Mason Theatre Collective. Whittyn is a member of the ADC659 and holds a BFA in theatre design from the University of Alberta. |
Jensine Emiline Trondson, Costume/Tour Tech
 | Jensine Emeline (she/they) is an award-winning Métis-settler theatre designer, Equity stage manager, and arts administrator from Treaty 6 (Saskatoon) and an alumnus from the U of S drama department. Unable to stop themself, Jensine has worked in theatre as a costume designer, set designer, stage manager, production manager, box office manager, marketing director, projects & operations manager, and more. Select costume design credits include ‘Cantate pour legumes’ (La Troupe du Jour, 2026), ‘The Woman in Black’ (Persephone Theatre, 2025), and ‘Hamlet’ (SOTS, 2024). She is grateful for another opportunity to work with the amazing team and her dear friends at Thumbs Up Good Work Theatre! |
Jesse Fulcher Gagnon, Sound Composition/Tour Tech
 | Jesse Fulcher Gagnon is a Métis experimental artist whose scattered mind leaves him frequently moving between mediums. With projects generally involving digital media in some way, he combines performance and installations, projections and animations, or just junk food and bad jokes. Having spent years working in theatre, particularly theatre for young audiences, his work is often silly and always absurd. His practice explores themes of repetition and the self through pieces that blur the line between art and entertainment. |
Sabrena Shh Baigzada, Stage Manager/Tour Tech
 | Sabrena Shah Baigzada is a second-generation Afghan Canadian artist and Stage Manager. Selected works include Stage Manager for Hunt/Peck (Downstage Theatre and New Harlem Productions), Assistant Stage Manager for Hucksterland (Chromatic Theatre and Thumbs Up Good Work Theatre), Apprentice Stage Manager for Dial M for Murder (Theatre Calgary), and Assistant Stage Manager for Static (Chromatic Theatre and Inside Out Theatre). Wherever Sabrena goes, you know that her bottomless bag of questions is always by her side, ready for anything and everything. She is thankful for her friends, family, and mentors for their endless support. |
Rebecca Ballarin, Admin Support
Headshot coming soon | Bio coming soon |
Mackenzie Spellman, Grant Writing Support
Headshot coming soon | Bio coming soon |
Fringe Festival Tour Dates
Venue | Dates | Time |
'Round Back Theatre | ||
Guild Hall | 27 14th Ave, Whitehorse, Yukon | Thursday, July 16, 2026 | 7:00 p.m. |
Calgary Fringe Festival | ||
Festival Hall | 1215 10th Ave SE, Calgary, Alberta | Friday, July 31, 2026 | 8:30 p.m. |
Saturday, August 1, 2026 | 4:30 p.m. | |
Sunday, August 2, 2026 | 6:45 p.m. | |
Monday, August 3, 2026 | 2:45 p.m. | |
Wednesday, August 5, 2026 | 6:45 p.m. | |
Friday, August 7, 2026 | 4:30 p.m. | |
Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival | ||
Nordic Studio Theatre | 10330 84 Ave, Edmonton, Alberta | Friday, August 14, 2026 | 12:15 p.m. |
Sunday, August 16, 2026 | 2:45 p.m. | |
Tuesday, August 18, 2026 | 9:30 p.m. | |
Thursday, August 20, 2026 | 11:30 p.m. | |
Friday, August 21, 2026 | 5:00 p.m. | |
Saturday, August 22, 2026 | 7:15 p.m. | |
Halifax Fringe Theatre Festival | September 3 - 13, 2026 | Exact dates to be confirmed |
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Thank you to the Yukon Government for support through the arts fund.
Comments