What would you say if you had only 140 words a day?
Discover Sam Steiner's play this November.
Presented at The Assembly Theatre in November 2026, Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons is part romcom, part goofy If-This-Then-What story, and part dystopian exploration of class, gender, language, and communication in relationships.
The average person will speak 123,205,750 words in a lifetime. But what if there were a limit? Oliver and Bernadette are about to find out. Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons imagines a world where we’re forced to say less. It’s about what we say and how we say it; about the things we can only hear in the silence; about dead cats, activism, eye contact and lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons.
Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons premiered at Warwick Arts Centre in 2015 and won three Judges’ Awards at the National Student Drama Festival, before appearing at Latitude Festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Camden People’s Theatre, London.
Directed by Bonnie Duff (Assistant Director Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, Guild Festival Theatre; Playwright/Performer This Feels Like The End, Theatre Aurinko/Next Stage Festival) and starring Lara Lucia (The Drowsy Chaperone, Shifting Ground Collective; Brontë: The World Without, Guild Festival Theatre) and Jack Copland (The Moors, Riot King Theatre; The Comeback, Globus Theatre), Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons features Scenic Design by Kenzia Dalie (Panoply Collective; Full House Productions), Lighting Design by Jay Hines (Crow’s Theatre; Shifting Ground Collective), and Sound Design by Jake Schindler (Mixtape Productions; Second City; Stratford Festival).
Directed by Bonnie Duff
Produced by Bonnie Duff and Miranda Wiseman
Featuring Lara Lucia as Bernadette and Jack Copland as Oliver
Scenic Design by Kenzia Dalie
Sound Design by Jake Schindler
Lighting Design by Jay Hines
Production Managed by Jeremy Hutton
TICKETS*
Arts Worker / Student / Senior General Admission: $25
Adult General Admission: $30
LEMONS Supporter General Admission: $35
(Plus fees)
Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons
Presented at The Assembly Theatre (1479 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6R 1A1), November 6th-15th 2026
Friday November 6th - 8:00 (Opening Night)
Saturday November 7th - 8:00
Sunday November 8th - 5:00pm & 8:00pm
Tuesday November 10th - 8:00pm
Wednesday November 11th - 8:00pm
Thursday November 12th - 8:00pm
Friday November 13th - 8:00pm
Saturday November 14th - 5:00pm & 8:00pm
Sunday November 15th - 12:00pm
The Team
BONNIE DUFF - Director & Producer
Bonnie is a theatre artist of many hats! She is the current Artistic Associate at Guild Festival Theatre, where she most recently Assistant Directed Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. She worked as an actor, administrator, stage manager, producer, playwright, director (and once, even juggler!) with companies such as Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, Crow's Theatre, Talk is Free Theatre, Shifting Ground Collective, TheatreTO, many, many Fringe Festivals, and more. Bonnie created and leads Theatre Aurinko, and produced her own play, This Feels Like The End, at the 2024 Next Stage Festival (called “an exemplary piece of work out of Covid-19” by the Toronto Star), as well as a sold-out Shakespeare-meets-improv hybrid production of Macbeth this past Spring. She holds a BFA in Acting from the University of British Columbia, where she was the recipient of the Joy Coghill Award in Theatre, and a certificate from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England.
LARA LUCIA - Bernadette
Lara is an Indian-Colombian-Canadian actor, singer, and musician. She was raised in Victoria, BC, where she graduated from the Canadian College of Performing Arts before moving to Toronto to pursue her professional career. Recent credits include: Anne in Brontë: The World Without (Guild Festival Theatre), Kitty in The Drowsy Chaperone (Shifting Ground Collective - 3 Dora Award nominations, recipient of the Jon Kaplan Audience Choice Award), Joey in I Was Unbecoming Then (NextStage, Dora Award nomination), Ensemble/Musician/Music Captain in Killy Willy (The Second City/First Born Theatre), and Zoe in From Stardust (Theatre Of The Beat).
JACK COPLAND - Oliver
Jack Copland is a Toronto-based actor, writer and producer, thrilled to be joining the Theatre Aurinko team for Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons. Recent theatre credits include The Moors (Riot King Theatre), The Comeback and Screwball Comedy (Globus Theatre), Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on a Bike (Guild Festival Theatre), Fiji (Icarus Theatre), and Three Ordinary Men (CAHOOTS Theatre), which received a Dora Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble. On screen, Jack has appeared in Murdoch Mysteries, Patchface, Going Dutch, The Whipping Boy and Pink Rabbit. He can also be heard as Wayne on Total Drama Island and in Penguin Audio’s Our Perfect Storm. Jack is a graduate of the George Brown Theatre School and studies at MAP Actors. Find him at jackcopland.com or @iamjackcopland
MIRANDA WISEMAN - Producer
Miranda Wiseman (she/her) is a theatre artist, administrator, dramaturg, and producer (whoa!) who loves supporting her fellow artists both on and off-stage. As an actor, Miranda has performed in a wide variety of shows, from classical texts to TYA to new works. Over the past several years, she has also developed a reputation as a patron services whiz and is now branching out into other areas of arts administration. When not working, she loves spending her time knitting, playing board games, and reading. Selected stage credits: I Was Unbecoming Then (Unbecoming Collective), How To Feel (Sawdust Theatre), A Christmas Carol (King Theatre Company). Training: Theatre and Drama Studies (University of Toronto), Acting (Sheridan College), New Play Actor Training (Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity). You can catch Miranda performing regularly in Secret City’s immersive dinner experience The Wedding Party. Thanks to Theatre Aurinko for bringing her on board!
CHIANO PANTH - Stage Manager
Chiano Panth (Stage Manager) is delighted to be joining Theatre Aurinko again for their upcoming production of “Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons”.
Recent credits include: TRIP (Theatre Aurinko); First Date, Wizard of Oz, Little Shop of Horrors (TheatreTO).
JAKE SCHINDLER - Sound Designer
Jake Schindler is a Toronto-based composer, music director, and orchestrator. From large commercial theatre to Fringe shows, he thrives on music-forward projects that use music to tell stories in new and interesting ways. Recent credits include two Dora-nominated productions (Mirvish, Mixtape Productions), four Toronto Fringe Patron's Pick musicals, and the recently released cast recording of his original show Ursa: A Folk Musical. He was the Assistant to the Composer for the Stratford Festival's new adaptation of Anne of Green Gables and is currently a music director at the Second City Toronto. jakeschindler.ca
JAY HINES - Lighting Designer
Jay is a Toronto-based lighting designer, technical director, and writer of short- and long-form fiction. He’s thrilled to help bring to life this production of Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, and grateful for the support of the team and his wonderful partner, Bella. Selected Theatre Credits: Teatron Theatre: Visiting Mr. Green [2026]; Brighton Beach Memoirs [2025]; The Chosen [2024]. Shifting Ground Collective: The Drowsy Chaperone [2026] (2026 Dora - Jon Kaplan Audience Choice Award). New Story Productions: Fly Free [2025]; F*cking Crackers [2024]. Theatre Borgo: Madame Winifred’s Circus of Wonders [2024] (Toronto Fringe KidsFest - Patron Pick). (Examples from his portfolio can be found at his website: jayhines.ca)
KENZIA DALIE - Scenic Designer
Kenzia Dalie is a queer interdisciplinary theatre director and Dora nominated scenic and sound designer in Toronto. Kenzia gravitates towards stories that are silly, absurd and thought provoking. Some notable directing credits include RED (Riot King) and her own play, Clowns Reading Shakespeare, developed and touring since 2023, and will be remounted at the Toronto Fringe Festival’s KidsFest 2026. Kenzia has also created and designed for various Shakespeare adaptations including Richard III (2018), A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Prove a Villain (Panoply Theatre Collective) and Romeo & Juliet: love is love (Repercussion Theatre). Through her independent production company Full Haus, she is dedicated to archival filming of new Canadian theatre and producing films about women and queer people.
JEREMY HUTTON - Production Manager
Jeremy Hutton is a Toronto based director, actor, production manager, and award-winning composer, lyricist, and sound designer. Jeremy is the founding artistic director of the Toronto Youth Theatre (TYT), the former artistic director of Hart House Theatre (HHT), and the director of artistic operations at TheatreTO. He was the production manager for the Howland Company, Hart House Theatre (both before and after his tenure as artistic director), and Crow's Theatre, on award-winning productions such as Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, FLEX, Rosmersholm, Octet, and more. As a performer, he has a multitude of credits spanning Shakespeare to musical theatre with the Shakespeare by the Sea, Classical Theatre Project, Magnus Theatre, and more. Most recently, he directed Cabaret, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Wizard of Oz for TheatreTO, and performed in Halfway There at the Bruce County Playhouse.