Please join us in Merrickville from November 7 - 9, 2025.

Welcome back to Carey Nicholson

One Act Festival 2025 - Theatre Night in Merrickville

Carey’s arts administration experience includes past Administrative manager for the Toronto Centre for the Promotion of Fashion Design, past co-owner of META4 Contemporary Craft Gallery and past Executive Director of the Scugog Council for the Arts. Carey is also an independent theatre adjudicator and arts educator. She also serves as the Chair of the Scugog tourism Advisory Committee, a standing committee of the Township of Scugog.

Carey has been engaged in the performing and creative arts for over 40 years and is a co-founder and the current Artistic Director/General Manager of Theatre on the Ridge in Scugog Township, Region of Durham, Ontario. Originally from St. Catharines, Carey moved to Toronto to pursue professional dance studies with Lois Smith, O.C. at George Brown College, and the School of the Toronto Dance Theatre, graduating from both professional programs and becoming a faculty member at STDT for 15 years before moving to Durham region. She has been involved with community and professional theatre companies in Durham, York region and elsewhere as a board member, producer, director, choreographer, performer, instructor, set and costume designer. She has received several awards for her work in the performing arts, including a Durham Art of Transition Creative Award for her contribution to theatre in Durham. Her past, and ongoing, theatre studies include programs and courses at George Brown College, Toronto Dance Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, the Stratford Festival and Off The Wall Theatre Alliance, and was an auditing director with Obsidian Theatre (production: hang, directors: Philip Akin, Kimberley Rampersad)

We will welcome Annette Procunier!

back to Eastern Ontario for the Fall of 2026!

After more than 50 years in community, educational and professional theatre, Annette is still as excited about the work as ever. Having adjudicated more than 200 festivals in Canada, the United States, Japan, Ireland and Europe, she brings knowledge and clarity to her insights. She is the author of the only book on adjudication “Do You See What I See?” and was a Fellow of the American Association of Community Theatre for “single handedly raising the level of community theatre in America”.

As an award winning director, Annette has worked for 18 professional and community theatres in Canada and the US and has conducted c ountless workshops at festivals and for companies for the past 40 years. She works with new playwrights and has been a juror for many play writing competitions.

EODL festivals are among the highlights for her in a long career of adjudication.

hosted by Studio Theatre Perth from November 1 - 3, 2024

We were excited to have John P. Kelly return to EODL for our 2024 One Act

This year marks John P’s twentieth in Canada. He will never forget his first ever One Act Festival; it was for EODL - in Peterborough. So much time has passed so quickly. But why has it taken so long to be invited back? “Where did I go wrong?” we hear him cry! Relax, John is of course joking as those who know him well will say is his wont. In between, he twice adjudicated EODL’s travelling Full Length Festival, not to mention officiating at Theatre Ontario Finals when hosted by Domino Theatre in Kingston - one of the three times John adjudicated the All Ontario festival.

Occasionally John is invited to his native Ireland for festival and direction work. Before arriving to his new Canadian home, he directed professionally all over his native Ireland and trained with the famous Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

John resides in Ottawa where he continues to direct with his professional theatre company. God knows how long that will last (he groans) as he is feeling age creeping up fast …but his hair is still as dark as ever. Is it 55 years since he directed his first play? Gulp - it is. It’s only 40 since he adjudicated his first festival.

As you can tell from this, John is not a very ‘formal’ guy. He answers to Seàn, John and JP and he is addicted to emails.