The Arts – Winnipeg Free Press

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Jazz-folk act Chickadee is at the Centre Culturel Franco-Manitobain on Tuesday.

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5 minute read Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026

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Amy Stuart / Picture Perfect Takes
Playwright Amber O’Reilly brings her sharp eye to family dynamics in Soutensions.

Domestic comedy explores familial expectations

Ben Waldman 4 minute read Preview

Domestic comedy explores familial expectations

Ben Waldman 4 minute read Thursday, Mar. 19, 2026

It’s a cliché to call a piece of creative work “my baby,” but for Amber O’Reilly, writing a script, shaping a lyric or giving voice to a poem is the only kind of parenthood she’s ever been chasing.

The 32-year-old O’Reilly has known since the final years of high school that mothering wasn’t of interest to her, at least not in the literal sense.

“As a creative person, I think there are other things I will leave behind in the world after I pass on, for whatever I know,” says the writer, raised in a francophone home in Yellowknife, N.W.T.

“I’m more focused on caring for my parents and other older family members. Rather than bringing new life into the world, that’s where I’d like to contribute. I don’t necessarily need to become a mother to have the role of a caregiver or a caring person.”

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Thursday, Mar. 19, 2026

ROBYN CHUBEY PHOTO
Robyn Chubey began creating lifestyle content in 2018 after she and her husband Dan bought an acreage outside Winnipeg.

Lifestyle guru celebrates release of first book

AV Kitching 8 minute read Preview

Lifestyle guru celebrates release of first book

AV Kitching 8 minute read Wednesday, Mar. 18, 2026

The launch of Gather Together: Delightful Décor and Simple Recipes for Every Occasion is a dream come true for Robyn Chubey.

The release Saturday at McNally Robinson Booksellers is definitely a “pinch-me” moment for Chubey, 46, who has been wanting to write a book for the last 26 years.

Posting snippets online from a life that straddles the line between aspirational and achievable, Chubey, better known by her social media handle, @life_of_glow, has built a substantial community of followers who visit her page daily to like and comment on gardening projects, home decor ideas, simple craft activities and easy-to-make recipes.

While she’s loathe to be labelled an influencer — “I would call myself a photographer before anything else because everything I’ve done, including the book, has flowed from the fact that I was a photographer,” she says — Chubey acknowledges her substantial follower count was what led to the publication by Rock Point Books of Gather Together.

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Wednesday, Mar. 18, 2026

MICHELLE BLAIS PHOTO
Kyra Soo (right, with corps de ballet member Logan Savard) is charismatic as Princess Aurora.

RWB turns classic fairy tale into waking dream

Holly Harris 6 minute read Preview

RWB turns classic fairy tale into waking dream

Holly Harris 6 minute read Saturday, Mar. 14, 2026

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet unveiled its dreamy new production The Sleeping Beauty Thursday, with the beloved ballet throwing more sparks than a spray of pixie dust.

Considered one of the pillars of the classical ballet canon, the lushly romantic story ballet features Tchaikovsky’s masterful score. American guest conductor Ming Luke crisply leads the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra throughout the production, with the maestro officially stepping onto the podium as RWB music director this fall, taking over the baton from outgoing conductor Julian Pellicano.

The Sleeping Beauty, composed of a prologue and three acts, is essentially an archetypal tale of goodness triumphing over evil. Its protagonist, Princess Aurora, is doomed by evil fairy Carabosse to die on her 16th birthday, until the benevolent Lilac Fairy of Wisdom saves the day by switching the curse to a 100-year slumber.

Only a tender kiss by Aurora’s true love, Prince Desire/Florimund, can awaken her, as they all live happily ever after.

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Saturday, Mar. 14, 2026

Dylan Hewlett / royal manitoba theatre centre
From left: Proulx, Smith and Knight revisit their past in Rhoda Apetagon’s eerie spirit story.

Ghosts of pasts faced in spirited production

Ben Waldman 4 minute read Preview

Ghosts of pasts faced in spirited production

Ben Waldman 4 minute read Saturday, Mar. 14, 2026

Under the light of a lakeside moon and its brighter-than-the-city constellations, in the glow of a sacred fire, a portal to awakening opens for three men grieving the loss of their childhood friend in this spirit story, an absorbing, eerie and chill-inducing first play from Norway House’s Rhonda Apetagon.

Gathered on terrain they once knew better — a petroform landscape that lies across the lake from a community that forever connects them, no matter if they stray — George (James Dallas Smith), Dale (Jeremy Proulx) and Shane (Daniel Knight) are committed to stoking the embers until Warren is laid to rest in a funeral service several kilometres away.

In the wake of the attempted cultural erasure at the hands of the residential school system and anti-Indigenous laws, their understanding of traditional healing practices is admittedly lacking, and their reliance on worldly comforts is apparent: Dale wonders whether a backyard bonfire with better cell reception would have sufficed.

No, say his friends: this is what Warren — whose trusty weed lighter sparks the kindling for the authentic onstage fire — would have wanted: to be with his buddies, in the shadow beyond the pines, as he makes his transition into the spirit world.

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Saturday, Mar. 14, 2026

Mime Films
Red Crescent call-centre employees want to circumvent the system to save Hind Rajab.

Docu-drama uses real recordings to speak to horror of war

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Preview

Docu-drama uses real recordings to speak to horror of war

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Friday, Mar. 13, 2026

Both Gaza and Israel have humanitarian aid societies that are members of the International Red Cross. Gaza, like the West Bank and much of the Arab world, has the Red Crescent, while Israel has Magen David Adom.

As members of the Red Cross, both are officially neutral. At the same time, Magen David Adom is an auxiliary medical arm of the Israeli Defence Forces during times of war, while Gaza’s Red Crescent operates under Hamas-controlled territory. Both are largely run by volunteers and staff, and serve civilians and combatants, on opposite sides of a century-long conflict.

Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania (the Oscar-nominated Four Daughters), the urgent, almost unbearably bleak The Voice of Hind Rajab treats one of these counterparts as its claustrophobic setting, a Gaza Red Crescent call-centre, where workers try desperately to co-ordinate the rescue of a five-year-old Palestinian girl named Hind Rajab. After her family’s car is shot by Israeli soldiers in Gaza City, killing Hind’s cousins, uncle and aunt, she begs for help to emergency call dispatchers Rana and Omar.

In one sense, the film — nominated for Best International Feature Film as the Tunisian entry at this year’s Academy Awards — is a universalist cri du coeur. In another, it’s a provocative case for the impossibility of neutrality in representing or addressing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

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Friday, Mar. 13, 2026

CBC initiative brings opposing views to same table

Conrad Sweatman 4 minute read Preview

CBC initiative brings opposing views to same table

Conrad Sweatman 4 minute read Tuesday, Mar. 10, 2026

British prime minister Winston Churchill, remembered more for decisive force than diplomacy, is also credited with saying, “jaw-jaw is better than war-war.”

Where Canada’s domestic tug-of-wars are concerned, CBC producer Bertram Schneider thinks we could use a little more jaw-jaw.

“We are deeply polarized (in Canada), and if anything, getting more polarized… COVID amplified that, to be honest,” he says. “I think that’s the magic of this project — it gets people who have really diametrically opposed points of view on significant issues to sit down.”

Schneider is discussing Manitoba Talks, a new CBC Manitoba initiative that’s about getting citizens from across the political divide at the same table, talking to one another. A segment from the initiative released to YouTube in early February saw a trans man and Muslim woman civilly debating gender and sexuality, with more content coming in the following weeks based on a Saturday event.

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Tuesday, Mar. 10, 2026

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Ruth Bonneville / Free Press files
In the 25th year of the Winnipeg Comedy Festival and his sixth as artistic director, Dean Jenkinson is proud to put Canadian comics in front of a national audience.

Silver anniversary, comedy gold

Conrad Sweatman 6 minute read Preview

Silver anniversary, comedy gold

Conrad Sweatman 6 minute read Monday, Mar. 9, 2026

This year, Dean Jenkinson celebrates six years as the Winnipeg Comedy Festival’s artistic director and the festival’s 25th anniversary.

The Winnipeg standup is also a contributing writer for This Hour Has 22 Minutes (a role he’s had since 2007), and can brag, if he wants to, that he’s crafted material for such acts as the Muppets, Joan Rivers, Neil Patrick Harris and Sarah Silverman.

During his time on the comedy scene, he has grown somewhat philosophical and, as the festival announces its full lineup for the April 20-26 event, he reflects on subjects such as regionalism in Canadian standup and hot-button topics like “woke” versus edgy humour.

Packing Winnipeg venues with laughing locals while helping regional comics springboard toward a broader national and international audience is what the festival is all about, he says.

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Monday, Mar. 9, 2026

PHIL NOBLE / REUTERS
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor leaves the police station on Feb. 19 after he was
arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

Deer-in-headlights look fitting for disgraced ‘prince’

Alison Gillmor 4 minute read Preview

Deer-in-headlights look fitting for disgraced ‘prince’

Alison Gillmor 4 minute read Saturday, Mar. 7, 2026

WHAT IT IS: A press photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor leaving a Norfolk police station after he was arrested on charges of misconduct in public office and held for 11 hours.

Snapped by Reuters photographer Phil Noble, the picture immediately went viral. As a visual representation of the global fallout of the Epstein scandal, something about this haunted, hunted image resonates.

Justice for the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual predations remains shamefully elusive, as does the full investigation into his network of money, power and influence. But here, at least, is one sudden, unsparing photograph that suggests a kind of reckoning.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: In some ways, this is a good photograph because it’s a “bad” photograph.

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Saturday, Mar. 7, 2026

Jordan Strauss / Invision Files
Timothée Chalamet

Chalamet’s comments about art asinine

Jen Zoratti 4 minute read Preview

Chalamet’s comments about art asinine

Jen Zoratti 4 minute read Saturday, Mar. 7, 2026

Actor Timothée Chalamet recently participated in a discussion about keeping movie theatres alive at a University of Texas event when he mysteriously decided to say this:

“I don’t want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though, like, no one cares about this anymore.’ All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there.”

Yes, I feel the respect radiating from this flippant, pointless comment. As do his fellow artists. The backlash from people working in ballet and opera has been all over my social media feeds.

No one cares. Oh, really? Then why is there — and this is real — a full, multi-chapter work of Heated Rivalry fanfic set at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet during Nutcracker season, written by someone who isn’t even from here?

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Saturday, Mar. 7, 2026

NATHAN DENETTE / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES
Canada is dejected after losing to USA during overtime of the women’s gold medal hockey game at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan.

Female Olympians take gold in showing class

Jen Zoratti 5 minute read Preview

Female Olympians take gold in showing class

Jen Zoratti 5 minute read Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026

For a bunch of gold-medalists, the U.S. men’s hockey team sure acted like a bunch of losers.

In the locker room after their Olympic win against Canada in Milan, Team USA was getting its drink on with FBI director Kash Patel, who was there for some reason. He rang up U.S. President Donald Trump and put him on speakerphone so he could congratulate the team and invite them to Tuesday’s State of the Union address.

“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that. I do believe I probably would be impeached,” Trump said and was met with raucous laughter.

Jokes, historically, are supposed to be funny. This was more of a general sexist statement that wasn’t even phrased well. He sounded like a little boy apologizing for the fact his mom is making him invite the girls to his McDonald’s PlayPlace birthday party. He might as well have added “Ew, cooties!”

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Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026

Mike Sudoma / Winnipeg Free Press
Brad and Crystal Hood of Hood & Dagger have raised more than $20,000 for charities.

Nothing mysterious about Hood & Dagger’s motives

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Preview

Nothing mysterious about Hood & Dagger’s motives

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026

A bit part in a community theatre run in Selkirk has turned into a full-time pursuit for the Winnipeg couple behind Hood & Dagger, a non-profit that’s raised more than $15,000 for local charities through its stage productions.

Since its first show in 2024, Crystal and Brian Hood’s company has used the medium of mystery theatre to provide dozens of amateur actors and stage crew with key roles while also giving a financial boost to organizations such as Harvest Manitoba and the Winnipeg Pet Rescue.

Hood and Dagger’s next production — a stage version of Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps running today through Sunday at the Gas Station Arts Centre — has sold out all five of its shows at $25 per ticket. Local food assistance program Agape Table is the designated beneficiary for the thriller, which should easily push Hood & Dagger past the $20,000 plateau.

“In a nutshell, we want to build community through community theatre,” says Crystal Hood, who was inspired to start the non-profit after playing a nurse in a production of M.A.S.H. mounted by Selkirk’s Holy Hams community theatre in 2022.

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Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026

Ruth Bonneville / Free Press files
King Cob Pub owner Darryl Friesen has curated an impressive selection of local music.

Intimate concert series amplified by homegrown musicians

Ben Waldman 4 minute read Preview

Intimate concert series amplified by homegrown musicians

Ben Waldman 4 minute read Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026

You won’t be subjected to the predetermined whims of a streaming service algorithm when you walk into King Cob Market Pub: only local music is on the menu at Darryl Friesen’s Ellice Avenue restobar.

Since opening to the public two winters ago, Friesen has been building an extensive digital library featuring thousands of songs by Manitoban artists he’s acquired either through his own purchasing habits or by donation from the performers themselves.

Over the course of a single pint, guests can expect a well-curated jaunt through a half-century of local tracks flowing through the bar’s eight-channel analog mixer and its 200-watt Yorkville speakers. During a recent visit, Bif Naked’s spoken-word poem Eine Tasse Tea led into Forever Dub by the Hummers into Don’t Change, a jangly folk tune from Dylan Csincsa, who releases music under the moniker Borrowed Standards.

The soundtrack on the stereo is one piece of the music-first strategy at King Cob, which has volunteered itself as the unofficial pre- and post-concert watering hole for its neighbouring venue, the West End Cultural Centre.

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Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026

Mike Sudoma/Free Press
Winnipeg artist Dee Barsy and her daughter Emmylou hold a drawing of Emmylou done by Richard Daniels, with lettering by Bram Adey, a local tattoo artist.

Artist finds new life in taxidermy, preserved remains in personal collection

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Preview

Artist finds new life in taxidermy, preserved remains in personal collection

Conrad Sweatman 5 minute read Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026

Dee Barsy’s home is crawling with critters.

The 39-year-old artist and new mother’s whimsically modernist painting are all colour and life, but she has a soft spot for the arachnid and gothic in the objects she collects.

“One of the reasons I like bones and taxidermized things is because it’s kind of like bringing new life to something that’s passed away,” she says.

“I make contemporary fine art, so why would I want to collect it?”

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Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026

Bruno Schllumberger / Ottawa Citizen files
Painter Norval Morrisseau was a leading figure of the Woodland art movement.

Shining a light on cultural harms caused by forgeries

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Preview

Shining a light on cultural harms caused by forgeries

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026

Holding its world première tonight at Prairie Theatre Exchange, The Undeniable Accusations of Red Cadmium Light is a Drew Hayden Taylor original — he swears.

It’s something the writer from Ontario’s Curve Lake First Nation never thought he’d have to specify. After all, who would try to pass off their own work as his?

But in the era of artificial intelligence, when large language models are trained to mimic the tone, phrasing and paragraph patterns of successful authors such as Taylor, it isn’t just visual artists and musicians who risk getting their work ripped off by lazy imitators or shady profiteers.

“I was interviewed by CBC’s The National a year-and-a-half ago, and they were doing a piece on ( AI writing), so they asked the AI to write a short story in the style of Drew Hayden Taylor,” says the playwright, humourist, TV host and author of more than 30 books.

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Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026

Carina Press
The Winnipeg Public Library bought six copies of Heated Rivalry in 2021 before it exploded in popularity this winter.

Stacking up

Eva Wasney 6 minute read Preview

Stacking up

Eva Wasney 6 minute read Monday, Feb. 23, 2026

Last week, local fans of the hit television show Heated Rivalry received a thrilling notification: “Your hold at Winnipeg Public Library is ready to borrow!”

The gay hockey romance has become a major CanCon export, turning Haligionian author Rachel Reid, who penned the books upon which the show is based, into a New York Times bestseller and wreaking havoc on library wait-lists everywhere.

Things started heating up at the Winnipeg Public Library last month.

“That’s when it really took off. There was some increase in December, but not enough to warrant additional copies,” says Aileen Clear, one of three collections librarians responsible for keeping the city’s 20 library branches stocked with new and popular material.

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Monday, Feb. 23, 2026

March 22, 2026

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