Pat the Dog Theatre Creation proudly presents

Calling the Rock Home
by Karen Thistle

With Joe Drinkwalter, Joël Giroux, Mattie James
Directed by Emme Kay Kennedy

May 5-8, 2026  7:30PM
Bryston’s on the Park
5 Creighton Road
Copper Cliff, Ontario

A true story of our country’s 1960’s Eastern Exodus. Between 1956 and 1973 close to one million people left the Atlantic provinces. Mining and fishing were in decline and industrial development continued to lag behind the rest of Canada. Young people found themselves forced to choose between unemployment and exile. Ontario was the land of promise although it was a world away from the life they knew.

Calling the Rock Home is the story of three young Newfoundlanders’ making that choice. A heartwarming comedy about who we are, and what makes home. A New Canadian Play, written by the daughter of a Copper Cliff miner who made his choice.

Born and raised in Greater Sudbury, Northern Ontario, Canada, playwright Karen Thistle’s work has appeared at Northern Ontario’s PlaySmelter Festival and at the STC Playwrights’ Junction. She is a founding member of Inklings (Playwrights and Screenwriters), Sudbury Writers Guild. In her time away from writing, Karen is a Producer with Pat the Dog Theatre Creation, and has enjoyed working with public libraries, hat making, rug hooking and more. She lives in Sudbury with her partner Peter. You can catch them all on Instagram: dark_thistle_sudbury This play is dedicated to her father Wallace Thistle.

Director Emme Kay Kennedy (she/her) has newly returned to Canada after surviving 25+ years in the United States. She facilitates space and time in creative presence with fellow artists and audience members, and sometimes people call this directing, acting, dancing, self-producing, podcasting, dungeon mastering, performing stand-up comedy. She resists all categories she doesn’t make for herself – including her own resistance to categories. She also has a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership from Thomas Jefferson University and a Master of Fine Arts in Devised Performance from the Pig Iron School/University of the Arts and once served as Experience Consulting Creative Producer and first full time hire for industry-disrupting museum tour company Museum Hack in NYC.

Joe Drinkwalter is a Canadian actor born and raised in Northern Ontario, and currently based out of Toronto. Joe has over a decade of amateur and professional stage and screen experience and has worked on such projects as The Handmaid’s Tale, We Forgot To Break Up, Drive Back Home, A Veteran’s Christmas, and many more. He studied Acting at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Joël Giroux is a franco-Ontarian actor born and raised in the crater of Sudbury. Recent stage credits include Charlie in L’Encyclopédie de l’Échec (Collectif Vivarium), Curly/Bill Jukes in Peter Pan, Nick DeVito/Ensemble in Jersey Boys (YES Theatre).

Mattie James (they/them) is a multi-talented creative from Waterloo Region. Mattie’s drag persona, Sasha Tease, is one of Waterloo Region’s premiere drag artists, winning “Best Local Entertainer” in 2024. Mattie will also be bringing their drag persona to Crave this fall, as they will be featured in season 2 of “Drag Brunch Saved My Life”. Mattie studied acting for film and television at Toronto Film School and also attended York University’s Drama Studies program where they developed their passion for dramaturgy and directing.