New Play Development – Rural Arts
Summerland’s Ryga Arts Festival Presents
NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
WINGS (Working Title)
Playwright: Isobel Rondeau
Dramaturg: C.E. Gatchalian
Featuring: Quanah Daniels and Caitlin Stafford
Welcome & Drumming: Barbara Jagodics
Summerland’s Ryga Arts Festival
New Play Development
Sept. 16 – 21, 2025
Summerland Library
(9533 Main Street, Summerland B.C.)
Selected Scenes Workshop Reading:
Wings (Working Title) by Isobel Rondeau
Saturday Sept. 20, 2025 | 10 AM
Lunessence Winery
(5716 Gartrell Rd, Summerland B.C.)
Quanah Daniels, Caitlin Stafford
& Barbara Jagodics
(Summerland’s Ryga Arts Festival 2025)
Photo: Ricardo Fernandez
SYNOPSIS
“I wanted to write a play that centers on forgiveness, within yourself and with others. Armed with this base knowledge, you can continue learning the Seven Grandfathers’ Teachings.”
– Isobel Rondeau, Playwright
This story is about a young man who is a Residential School student. We follow along his life until it ends and then we go on an adventure into his afterlife. Here is where he meets all sorts of characters who help him reclaim teachings that he has lost. These teachings are the Seven Grandfather Teachings and while their language varies subtly across Turtle Island, the meaning remains constant.
We learn about Honesty. Love. Humility. Courage. Wisdom. Truth. And finally, Respect. Through the animals that represent each teaching. Raven, Eagle, Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Turtle, and Buffalo. At its core, this is a story about forgiveness, growth, and love for yourself.
CREATIVE & PRODUCTION TEAM
Featuring Quanah Daniels & Caitlin Stafford | Welcome & Drumming: Barbara Jagodics | Playwright: Isobel Rondeau | Dramaturg: C.E. Gatchalian | Consultant: Deneh’Cho Thompson | Creative Producer: Jack Paterson | General Manager: Trista Bassett
GALLERY
Quanah Daniels, Caitlin Stafford, Barbara Jagodics, C.E. Gatachilian, & Isobel Rondeau at Wings (Working Title)
(Summerland’s Ryga Arts Festival 2025) | Photo: Ricardo Fernandez
MEET THE ARTISTS
Isobel Rondeau | Playwright
Author, Isobel Rondeau was born and raised in Edmonton Alberta and eventually settled in northern Alberta where she and her husband raised their two children. Currently residing in beautiful British Columbia, Isobel finds peace and tranquility while writing close to nature. Fiction stories about everyday people are what she enjoys writing about. Isobel also writes under the pen name Belle Rondeau.
Her novels include: Wings Of An Angel, Absence of Breath, and the Ava’s Curse Trilogy.
C.E. Gatchalian | Dramaturg
Born and raised on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh peoples (Vancouver), C.E. Gatchalian (he/him) is a Filipinx queer author, playwright and editor who has authored six books and co-edited three anthologies. His memoir, Double Melancholy, was published in Spring 2019 by Arsenal Pulp Press. In 2022 he was one of the recipients of the one-time only British Columbia Lieutenant Governor’s Arts and Music Awards for his contribution to the arts in BC. He currently lives in Tkaronto (Toronto).
Quanah Daniels | Actor
Quanah Daniels (he/him) is an Indigenous actor of Plains Cree descent (Nehiyaw) based in Saskatoon, SK. Quanah has worked in over 50 projects across film, theater, and tv since 2011. Recently, Quanah has worked internationally this past summer in Seoul, South Korea in collaboration with Hanyang University. Additionally, Quanah has started taking Korean language classes, singing classes, and dance classes to continue to learn and grow as a performer.
Caitlin Jamie Stafford | Actor
Caitlin Jaime, a current Capilano University acting student, is extremely grateful to have the chance to bring Isobel Rondeau’s dreams to life through this play. She has been on the stage since secondary school, continually pursuing all aspects of performance, specifically acting, and refining her vocalist skills. The arts, particularly film and writing, have always enthralled her. Paired with her unwavering passion for language learning, her dream is to travel while doing art, eventually becoming a polyglot performer.
ABOUT SUMMERLAND’S RYGA ART FESTIVAL
Summerland is a rural municipality on the west side of the Okanagan Lake in Interior BC.
Every year since 2015, Summerland’s Ryga Arts Festival reimagines our small town to be a vibrant meeting place of the arts and community. For a full week, presentations, performances, new creations, concerts, readings & symposiums on contemporary social issues take place in parks, street fronts, local shops, galleries, etc. All within walking distance from each other.
We aim to bridge barriers that may prevent anyone from participating in our communities and the arts, be these ability, cultural, economic, historic, physical, regional or otherwise. We will find a role for you.
NEW WORKS DEVELOPMENT
Summerland’s Ryga Arts Festival aim to empower BC Interior artists’ of all walks of life ito express their own stories, in their own voices, and their own creativity through their own art. We do this by placing the needs of the artists we work with first.
Drawing from our local, regional and national partners and connections, The Playwright / Theatre Maker receives a bespoke New Works Process developed to meet the individual artist’s unique creative, cultural, disciplinary and other needs.
Land Acknowledgment
The Ryga Arts Festival acknowledges with respect that this event takes place on the ancestral and unceeded lands of the Sylix peoples, who have cared for these lands since time immemorial. We are grateful for their ongoing stewardship & hold ourselves responsible for listening, learning, and building right relations through the work we do.
For more information on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada click here. www.nctr.ca
We Gratefully Acknowledge the Support of:
Barbara Jagodics
