About This Episode: This week on Stageworthy, host Phil Rickaby is joined by Chloë Whitehorn, who is currently based in Kingston, Ontario. Chloë, a former actor, discusses her journey to becoming a prolific writer, focusing on themes of women's rights and mental health. She talks about how her plays—which include The Pigeon, Blood River, and Fall After Midsummer —are driven by characters and their emotions rather than just issues. Chloë also offers a glimpse into the Kingston theatre scene, her unique writing methods, and her perspective on why Canadian theatre struggles with second productions.
This episode explores:
- How Chloë's approach to playwriting is rooted in character and emotion, stemming from her acting background.
- The challenge of tackling dark themes and how she judges where to stop when exploring traumatic topics.
- Her writing process, which involves working well with deadlines and puzzling pieces together rather than outlining.
- Why she returned to Canada after living in the US and the cultural differences she observed.
- The atmosphere and supportive community of the Kingston theatre scene compared to Toronto.
- The difficulty Canadian plays face in securing a second production after their premiere.
Guest: 🎭 Chloë Whitehorn
Described as "Dorothy Parker meets Neil Labute meets M. Night Shyamalan", Chloë Whitehorn is an award winning playwright, actor, and wearer of black dresses. A graduate of Queen's University's theatre program, Chloë’s work often challenges societal preconceptions and examines the broken bits of ourselves we all try to hide while injecting humor into difficult topics.
Born in California, Chloë's hippie-artist mother raised her in a world of circus artists, puppeteers and activists until moving to Canada where she spent her days figure skating, writing short stories, and developing a love of theatre. Some of her plays include: Madness Lies (TK Fringe 2025), The Fall After Midsummer (TK Fringe 2024, Come Play by The Lake One-Act Festival BEST PRODUCTION 2025), Blood River (Theatre Kingston 2023), Dressing Amelia (Bottletree 2024), The Pigeon (Life With More Cowbell's Top Ten Shows in Toronto of 2018), Love, Virtually (Best of Fringe Toronto 2011), Mourning After the Night Before, Divine Wrecks, and How to Not Die Horribly in a Fire. Productions of her plays have been performed across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Upcoming productions in November include The Fall After Midsummer at the Eastern Ontario Drama League one act festival in Merrickville and Hurricane Tales at the Alumnae Theatre in Toronto. Chloë's current work-in-progress "Admit Two" will be produced as part of Bottletree Productions' studio series in 2026.
Connect with Chloë: 🌐 Website: www.chloewhitehorn.com 📸 Instagram: @chloewhitehorn 🦋 Bluesky: chloewhitehorn.bsky.social
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