The County Stage Company’s Artistic Director is launching her second season, and it is ambitious.

 Ms. Braaten, who took over from Graham Abbey last year, comes to the County after 8 years as Artistic Director of the Stephenville Theatre Festival in Newfoundland, a lavish repertory festival that’s been around for close to half a century, and employs over 40 people both on and off stage across four shows.

“We did everything at once all summer long. I’m used to all that energy,” she says.

Ms. Braaten is bringing that festival model to the County.

Dividing her time between Stephenville and PEC last year, Ms. Braaten launched a successful, multi-faceted season of comedy, cabaret, musical theatre, and new offerings, like the Scripts and Sips series, which featured a reading of a new script, the audience comfortably ensconced at a winery.

That series continues with three new scripts this summer staged at The Grange of Prince Edward.

Ms. Braaten also introduced Cabaret Brunches at Base31, produced the Haymaker Comedy Festival, and presented a couple of well received plays.

This year, though, working alongside Managing Director Kristen LeBoeuf, the new AD is building a lean company of six actors who will perform in three separate productions with extended and overlapping runs between July 19 and August 17. Two of the plays will be directed by Ms. Braaten.

Local artist Sam Hirst is the new music director and will be recruiting local musicians.

Actors, designers, directors, and set production teams will be in PEC over the full ten-week repertory season, and produce three completely local productions. That’s an exciting prospect.

“I am so pleased that the company is going to be living and rehearsing here,” says Ms Braaten. “I think that’s going to animate everything.” County Stage is currently fundraising and looking for summer homes for the company.

“Everyone being here fosters community engagement and connects productions to the community.”

“There will also be cohesion across our offerings, which are multidisciplinary and run across different genres, inviting lots of different demographics into the theatre.”

Another innovation is extending the play runs.

“The plays will overlap each other across the summer, producing a true festival feel, with multiple productions running at the same time.”

“That makes it a lot easier to catch a show whether you live here or are planning a visit.”

Longer term, County Stage is looking to expand into the shoulder season, and, eventually, offer a year-round theatre with, perhaps, its own performance space.

The productions take full advantage of the County’s amenities: in addition to The Grange, there is Mount Tabor Playhouse, the outdoor and indoor stages at The Eddie Hotel and Farm, and The Regent Theatre, where Bittergirl — the Musical will run alongside movies and other performances.

“All the sets are designed to pull back to make way for a film screening or another live event,” she notes. “We are integrating ourselves.”

Flowers, inspired by the story of the Dionne Quintuplets, takes the intimate stage at Mount Tabor.

The Haymaker Comedy Festival is back at The Eddie pavilion, where it will both open and close the County Stage season.

Ms. Braaten is perhaps most pleased about introducing young people’s theatre to the County, which she notes is, at its best, of interest to all audiences. “I’m obsessed with the theatre from the UK, because they take it really seriously,” she notes.

“Many local parents have said they want more performing arts experiences specifically for kids, and we’re really pleased to bring them here.”

Snow White, adapted by Greg Banks, is a comic and energetic two-hander: two actors play seven dwarves, the evil Queen, the Prince, the Huntsman, the Mirror, and, of course, Snow White. It’s on at The Eddie’s outdoor pavilion.

Finally, partner company Veronica Hortiguela & Annie Lujan will present the critically acclaimed and hilarious Monks, in The Eddie’s Red Barn.

Heather Braatten has been directing for 20 years. Discouraged with her acting career in the city, which often “felt to me like modelling,” she laughs, she ran away with the Caravan Stage Company. “That is a national treasure,” she says. Starting in horse drawn wagon theatre from 1970 to 1992, the nomadic troupe moved to a custom-built theatre ship in 1993, a 90-foot sailing barge that took eight years to build.

There Ms. Braaten did everything from sail to act to hang the lights. “I kind of learned all the moving parts, and realized what I really loved was directing, seeing the whole picture come together.”

Hired at County Stage in December 2024, the new AD had to juggle her new post with seeing out her last season at Stephenville. “I was committed to my final year at Stephenville, but I was also thrilled to launch a new season here. It was a challenging transition. I hated being pulled in two directions at once.”

This summer, as the ambitious plans for a fledgling festival make clear, she is digging in. Her new role also feels like a homecoming: her partner, Paul Hardy, has been the beloved sommelier at
The Royal Hotel since before it opened.