How this indie theatre from Barrie became Stephen Sondheim's de facto Canadian home

You have to work on something that makes you uncertain — something that makes you doubt yourself. If you know where you’re going, you’re gone, as the poet says. And that’s death.

The quote, pulled from a New York Times interview that Sondheim conducted with his protégé, Lin-Manuel Miranda, is an apt North Star for Talk Is Free, an indie theatre that has built a reputation on presenting boundary-pushing productions that challenge both their audiences and the company itself. It’s also an organization that, somewhat surprisingly, has become the de facto home of Sondheim’s musicals in Canada over the past decade, at a time when many theatres have avoided programming his works because of their unreliable box-office draw.

In recent years, Talk Is Free, which specializes in site-specific and immersive productions, has mounted dazzling revivals of Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” and “Sweeney Todd” — the latter, a cannibalistic spectacle about vengeance and class divides, was staged, fittingly, at a food bank. Before the pandemic, the company also presented shows like Sondheim’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Sunday in the Park With George,” a musical about artistic sacrifice, and “Assassins,” about the perversion of the American dream. 

Talk Is Free hasn’t shied away from programming the composer’s lesser-known shows, either. In fact, the company’s first Sondheim production in 2008 was “Anyone Can Whistle,” the notorious 1964 flop that originally starred Angela Lansbury. Last summer, Talk Is Free staged a new revival of Sondheim’s “The Frogs,” a musical retelling of the ancient Greek comedy of the same name.

“The reason we do Sondheim is because, without saying it, he acknowledges that musical theatre is an absurd art form and uses that to explore topics that are so subversive,” said Arkady Spivak, artistic producer of Talk Is Free. “So when you take a radical topic and place it against an absurdist form, it’s like a perfect marriage.”

But Talk Is Free’s deepening commitment to producing Sondheim’s works, some of which are considered among the greatest musicals of the 20th century, comes as many other companies are sidestepping these shows in the canon. 

Much of that is due to commercial considerations: Sondheim’s musicals aren’t easily marketable, asking as much from their audiences as from their actors. On Broadway, his works are rarely revived without A-list actors attached. And even then, commercial success is never a given. (For instance, the latest revival of the showbiz musical “Gypsy,” which Sondheim co-wrote with Jule Styne and Arthur Laurents, lost money and ultimately closed far earlier than expected, despite starring six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald.) 

Outside of commercial centres like Broadway and London’s West End, it’s even harder for regional theatre companies to financially justify presenting a Sondheim show. For many of them, musical productions are used as a means to an end: a way for theatres to raise money and bankroll the rest of their seasons, which are predominantly made up of straight plays that are harder to market. To program a Sondheim musical would pose too much of a financial risk. 

Talk Is Free, however, approaches it differently, seeing musical theatre not as a means to an end, but as an end in itself. “A lot of organizations do musicals because it brings in revenue,” said Spivak. “We do musicals because it’s a wonderful art form.”

The company’s nimble size and structure works in its favour. Most of Talk Is Free’s Sondheim productions feature modest sets and a pared down orchestra. And because the theatre mostly presents shows in small venues — with rarely more than 200 seats — Spivak said he doesn’t feel pressured to program shows with broad, commercial appeal. 

Founded in 2002 by Spivak, Talk Is Free has staged more than 150 productions in its history — everything from large, ensemble-driven musicals to small, intimate dramas presented to fewer than 20 audience members.

Technically, the company is based in Barrie but often presents its shows across Canada — and around the world. Its immersive production of “Sweeney Todd” travelled to both Buenos Aires and London, England, while its revival of “Into the Woods” has been presented as far away as New Zealand. 

“While we are essentially a regional theatre, I didn’t want our work to become institutionalized,” said Spivak, explaining his rationale for touring the company’s shows. It’s also part of facilitating a cross-cultural exchange, he added, which ties back to the theatre’s ethos of being an artist-first and artist-run organization, with projects that both challenge artists and help them develop their practice. 

Talk Is Free’s upcoming production, Sondheim’s “Company,” which opens at the Theatre Centre later this month, very much fits in that vein. When it premiered in 1970, the show blew open the genre of the American musical and was widely considered one of the first successful examples of the “concept musical,” eschewing a conventional linear narrative in favour of a structure that delves into a specific idea. In the case of “Company,” it’s the institution of marriage, along with themes of loneliness and companionship. 

“It’s a real thrill to dive into this material,” said actor Aidan deSalaiz, who plays Bobby, the bachelor at the centre of the musical who is thrust into an existential reckoning as he celebrates his 35th birthday and realizes he’s the only one among his friends who is still unmarried. 

DeSalaiz is no stranger to Sondheim or Talk Is Free. Several years ago, he played the Baker in the company’s revival of “Into the Woods.” “Sondheim’s lyrics are so potent and rich, and it’s like Shakespeare. He lays it all out for you and you just have to follow the trail that he’s left,” he said. “I’m not sure you can say that about all musicals.”

Director Dylan Trowbridge’s immersive revival, presented on a thrust stage, is loosely set in the musical’s original time period of the ’70s. But Trowbridge said the musical and its themes carry a sense of timelessness: “Sondheim described ‘Company’ as a portrayal of the difficulty in maintaining human relationships in an increasingly depersonalized world, which, for me in 2026, could not be more relevant.”

“Company” marks the first musical that Trowbridge has ever directed and comes on the heels of several acclaimed plays he’s helmed in recent seasons for Talk Is Free, including last year’s explosive production of “Cock,” staged in the round in a warehouse.

The multi-hyphenate theatre artist, whose first experience with Sondheim came in university with a production of “Assassins,” said he can’t think of a better first musical to direct. “There’s a yearning to the piece that I find really beautiful,” he said. “It’s about exposing ourselves to the pain, wonder and joy of being alive. It’s about summoning the courage to participate in our own lives.”

Talk Is Free’s rehearsal schedule is tight. Trowbridge and his team only had 17 days of rehearsal, plus two days of tech in the theatre, before the show’s first preview performance. 

Back in the church basement where the production was rehearsing, Trowbridge spent much of his time working with the cast to parse Sondheim’s lyrics.

As Sydney Cochrane rehearsed the notoriously difficult patter song “Getting Married Today,” sung by her character Amy, who’s having a nervous breakdown on her wedding day, Trowbridge gave her a note about stressing some of the internal rhymes in the lyrics. 

Later, when deSalaiz ran through one of his solos, “Marry Me a Little,” he and Trowbridge discussed some of the emotions Bobby would be feeling throughout the song — the tension and anxiety erupting through the words. 

Delving into a Sondheim musical is like working through a challenging puzzle. But for Trowbridge, there’s also something richly fulfilling in this process. “What I’ve always said is that Sondheim, like Shakespeare, is an artist who rewards hard work,” he noted. “And not every playwright or composer does that like Sondheim.”

“Company” begins performances Jan. 15 at the Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen St. W. Visit tift.ca for tickets and more information.