That Old Yarn

as Tara

Karen Oddson

Karen has been improvising for over 30 years and still loves the thrill of not quite knowing what’s going to happen next. She spent more than 20 years writing and directing the unique, day-long story at The Royal Medieval Faire, co-created the KW Improv Festival, and has taught improv workshops throughout the region. She has also appeared onstage with KWLT, Elmira Theatre Company, and the University of Waterloo’s FASS productions.

as Dawn

Julie Taylor

Julie has been doing community theatre and improv in Waterloo, on and off, since 1995. Favourite roles have been Penny in You Can’t Take it With You, Mme de Tourvelle in Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Sylvia in Scrooge Macbeth. While she’s cherished those memories, she finds nothing more magical than the feeling of an improv scene that goes really well.

While she spends her days working as a library clerk and secretary at WRDSB, she spends her evenings knitting for her small business, Nest Notes. This opportunity to be involved in a project that incorporates scripted theatre, improv and an appreciation of yarn is a great combination of her favourite things.

as Callie

Kate Urquhart

Kate has loved acting in plays and doing improv her whole darn life and could never pick a favourite; thanks to That Old Yarn, she doesn’t have to! Performing in the Waterloo Region, the Niagara Region, and elsewhere in Ontario, she has played in all sorts of theatre: improvisational, traditional, community, comedy, tragedy, site specific, touring, interactive, fringe, dinner, street, and musical theatre (thanks, Wikipedia!).

As a psychotherapist in the early stages of a PhD, Kate tends to get lost in rabbit holes of what are the fates and how do we know and what-does-it-all-mean-I-mean-really.

Kate can neither knit nor crochet but sometimes wishes she could.

as Meg

Penelope Buck

Penelope grew up in a household that loved theatre, film and television. Her aunt was a costume painter for the Stratford Festival, which resulted in the attendance of many seasons as a child, followed by a few summers of ushering at the Festival Theatre. Having experienced success through the Sears Drama Festival in high school, Penelope pursued her training at the Theatre Performance Program at Humber College.

The 3-year program was followed up with therapy, waitressing, production assistant gigs in the Toronto film industry, a lot of life experience, a continuing spiritual journey, creating a family of her own and an ongoing love for the theatre and the actor’s experience.

Penelope’s involvement with The Fates is a result of a long, deep friendship with writer, actor and creative wizard Karen Oddson, and our long-held hope for an opportunity to create something together, along with some more amazing women.

Stage manager

Adrienne Dandy

Adrienne (she/her) has been involved with local community theatre since 2007. Leveraging her misspent youth in the Society for Creative Anachronism, she started her theatre journey as a costumer (Captain Hook’s Revenge, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, Taming of the Shrew). She has also produced (One Act Play Weekends) & directed (The Dover Road, Sister Cities, Waterloo, Love & Dirt), and is a three-time KWLT board member.

This year, she’s trying stage managing, after being banned from the tech booth for many years (ask her, it’s a really good story). Some say she eats KitKat bars like a criminal, which is both true and something about which she is utterly unrepentant.

Crew

Nick Oddson

Nick has been doing immersive theatre with Karen for almost their entire relationship. He loves improv, enjoys exploring new approaches, and is happy to lend a hand in bringing this production to life.