talking to dead cats
in the night

bygone theatre presents

Bygone Theatre Presents the Arrowwood Theatre production of Talking To Dead Cats in the Night

Written by Kiera Publicover

Directed by Lizzie Song

June 5-14, 2025

The Bridge | 379 Adelaide St. W. 4th Floor

STARRING

Simone Matheson as Gretchen

Sofie Jarvis as Nora

PRODUCTION

Emily Dix - Bygone Theatre, Producer

Kiera Publicover - Creative Producer, Arrowwood Theatre

Simone Matheson - Creative Producer, Arrowwood Theatre

Ashley Naomi - Sound Designer

Franco Pang - Projection Designer

bygone theatre
season presenting sponsor

Bygone Theatre Presents Talking to Dead Cats in the Night

TICKETS

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ABOUT

When two sisters are reunited in the middle of the night to hold a funeral for the frozen corpse of their childhood cat, they slowly unbury more of themselves, their shared history, and their shared pain that has been long buried deep in the ground.

Talking to Dead Cats in the Night is a one act, dark comedy by Kiera Publicover that explores themes such as sisterhood, memory, family and childhood. In this surreal nighttime dreamscape, the audience follows two sisters on their unique paths to healing through sisterhood and remembering.

DIGITAL PROGRAM

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CAST & CREW

Bygone Theatre Presents | Arrowwood Theatre's Talking to Dead Cats at Night

Kiera Publicover - WRITER, CREATIVE PRODUCER

Kiera Publicover (she/they) is an award winning multidisciplinary theatre artist, ACTRA film actor and playwright. She is the co-Artistic Director of Arrowwood Theatre Company and a graduate of the University of Windsor’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting program. She is thrilled to be making her debut as a Creative Producer alongside Bygone Theatre this year.
A Canada Council for the Arts grant recipient, Kiera works primarily in new play development and is currently developing new work alongside Arrowwood Theatre Company. Her work was featured in the 2024 Stratford SpringWorks Festival, and has been workshopped in theatres across Toronto.
As a performer, Kiera’s work has been featured on stages across Ontario, including: Marguerite in Isle of Demons (Guild Festival Theatre); Charlotte in Dead Broke (Lost Souls Theatre); Annie in The Birds (Bygone Theatre); Agnes in Weston: Then and Now Festival (Shakespeare in Action); herself in Canada’s Next Chopped Model Minority (Paprika Festival); herself in Contactless (Soulpepper’s QueerFutures 2099) and more. For most recent updates on her work, you can find her on all social media at @KieraPublicover.

Simone Matheson - GRETCHEN, CREATIVE PRODUCER

Simone Matheson (all pronouns) is a queer multi-disciplinary artist, classically trained actor, and experimental theatre creator. They are a graduate of the University of Windsor with a BFA in Acting. In 2018, Simone co-founded Arrowwood Theatre alongside creative partner Kiera Publicover and has created, performed in, and produced over a dozen original works in collaboration with Soulpepper, Crossroads Theatre, and Theatre Passe Muraille. Recently, Simones performed in Top 5 (Factory Theatre), The Candlemaker’s Game (Project:Humanity) and WARP (Charles Street Video). Presently, they are Artists in Residence with Bygone Theatre, developing their play Suppressed or HorsePlay. @simonematheson

Sofie Jarvis - NORA

Sofie (she/her) is an actor, seamster, and creator born and based in Toronto, Ontario.
Recent acting credits include: Medusa (Antic Theatre), Many Young Men of Twenty (Toronto Irish Players), and more. As a graduate of the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium’s actor track, she has worked with Arrowwood Theatre as a facilitator and coach for Contactless and Theatre Gym. Sofie is very grateful to be brought back by Kiera, Simone, and the Arrowwood team for this project.

Ashley Naomi - SOUND DESIGNER

Ashley Naomi (she/her), is a trans femme theatre artist, performer, and musician.
As performer-creator, in 2024 her original projects in-development "Hip Hop 100" and “digitrans // analogirl” were respectively presented at Tarragon Theatre’s Greenhouse Festival, and as a staged reading with Dead Name Theatre. The latter show will be further presented at Summerworks 2025.
Recent sound design: Gringas (First Born Theatre), Isle of Demons (Guild Festival Theatre), The Little Prince (Theatre Passe Muraille/Landon Krentz/Inside Out), Every Day She Rose (Black Theatre Workshop, additional composition), Chez Moi (Elizabeth Staples), Regarding Antigone (Sort Of/Sky is the Limit/Infinithéâtre).

Liz Bragale - STAGE MANAGER

Liz Bragale (she/her) has been stage managing for over decade in theatre and live events. A few credit highlights include: Toronto International Film Festival, Ride the Cyclone, The Wolves, Into the Woods, Heathers: The Musical, A Chorus Line, and RENT. She is the co-founder of Full Haus Productions, a multi-disciplinary company spanning the gap between theatre and film. Check them out at fullhaus.rocks !

talking to dead cats in the night

bygone theatre presents

bygone theatre season presenting sponsor

CAST & CREW

talking to dead cats
in the night

bygone theatre
season presenting sponsor