Audience members were left in stitches during Bug Bird Productions’ presentation of “Awkward Encounters of the Comedy Kind” at Glenhyrst Art Gallery’s Coach House on Saturday, February 14, 2026.
Written by Kate Racheter and directed by Jay Douglas, “Awkward Encounters of the Comedy Kind” featured a collection of four short plays: “The Project,” “This is My Stop,” “I’m Just Super” and “D.A.L.E.”
From a science fair that takes an unexpected turn to an imagined romance caused by social anxiety, a milestone birthday with surprising developments and a less-than perfect evaluation process, each of the plays tapped into the humour of life’s awkward moments and left the audience laughing out loud.
The actors, including Racheter, Nectaria Bogdanis, Jen Graham, Jessica Hamilton, Martin Montgomery and Carla Zabeck, performed their roles with an attention to timing and delivery, engaging the audience throughout all of the stories.
Following the performances, audience members Bobby Robert and Tony Casciano said they enjoyed the overall experience.
“I loved them, I loved the positivity and the comedy,” said Roberts. “I liked being talked to and not talked at. It felt like I was included in the story as opposed to it being thrown at me. I felt like I could relate to it all.”
Casciano went on to say that while he enjoyed all of the stories, he appreciated that “The Project” had a real twist he didn’t see coming, and that “I’m Just Super” had a literal “punch” line.
“In all of the plays, the writing was really buoyant and on top of things,” he said. “It wasn’t bogged down, and it didn’t bore you. You could identify with the stories and it was just really entertaining. I felt like I was always waiting for what was next.”
Racheter later said that as a writer, her goal is to simply share the joy of theatre with the audience.
“That’s what I want to do. I want to make people enjoy the experience of theatre. We’ve all been to that really amazing show where the whole drive home, you’re talking about it; we’ve also been to those shows where you kind of want to climb out the window,” she said with a chuckle. “But I just want people to walk away having had a moment together and just enjoying that communal experience, and I think that’s what I’ve been able to do this weekend and it’s making me so happy.”
Noting that “I’m Just Super” and “D.A.L.E.” were both making their onstage debuts over the weekend, Racheter said it was nice to see how people were reacting to them.
“It’s been fun to see that different people love different pieces, and that people are picking up on the small things that the actors are bringing,” she said. “It’s also always fun when you first put a show in front of a live audience because you never know what people are actually gonna find funny. I mean, we’ve been laughing throughout the entire rehearsal process, but there’s still something terrifying about, ‘Okay, now that it’s in front of an audience, are they going to find it funny?’ But then you get that first really big laugh on a scene, and it’s like, ‘Oh good! Now I can breathe.’”
“Obviously there’ve been friends, family, and the theatre community that have been really supportive, but there’ve also been complete strangers that have come here, and those are the ones that make me the most excited,” continued Racheter. “They have no reason to be kind to me, but the fact that they’re getting joy out of these shows and feeling what I want them to feel is what makes this so fun.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
