Spending time with Frog and Toad

In addition to playing Lady Bird and Mole in A Year With Frog and Toad, Jennifer Villaverde’s recent theatre credits include Top Girls (MTC Warehouse), This Is About the Push (Seventh Stage Productions) and Prison Dancer (staged reading - fu-GEN). Other credits include A Year With Frog and Toad (Canadian Premiere - MTYP & Citadel Theatre), Blink (Soulpepper Academy), As You Like It, Three Sisters, The Time of Your Life, The Threepenny Opera (Soulpepper), Merchant of Venice (SITR), My Fair Lady, Evita (MTC), The Importance of Being Earnest, Godspell, Love You Forever and More... (PTE), The Secret Garden, Romeo and Juliet, The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, Mirror Game (MTYP) and The King and I (Citadel Theatre). Upcoming for Jennifer is The Post Office (Pleiades Theatre).

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There's something about working at Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People that I really, really like. Sitting in the green room during a break is a bit like a kitchen party and everyone is invited. Depending on the day, there's always a very diverse group of people in there: stage technicians, designers, actors, arts educators etc. I like that. I like working at a place where everyone is equal. I like that there is no distinguishable hierarchy and that it is completely unpretentious. I like getting to know the people there and their lives outside of the theatre. I like hearing stories told and re-told about experiences on and off-stage. I like being privy to backstage hi-jinx. I like when mothers and fathers share their most recent adventure with their curiously precocious children. What I like best is that there is always laughter. Before leaving for work in the morning, it's comforting to know that laughter will be part of my day.

I live by this philosophy that where I am at present is where I am meant to be. The experience I am having now is the experience I am meant to have. So, I often wonder to myself, "Why am I here?" Then something will happen and then I'll think, "A-ha! That's why."

Before we started rehearsals our friend, Denis Simpson, passed away. He was supposed to play Frog and I was really looking forward to working with him again. He was love, beauty, and friendship personified. I was so sad when I heard the news. I cried a lot, but I also breathed in fresh air. Instead of living inside of myself, I looked outward and saw the people around me and saw their beauty.

It's so fitting that we are presenting A Year With Frog and Toad. Our story is about friendship and the importance of having a really good friend in your life. I know that when my contract at LKTYP ends, I'm going to miss the laughter, the joy, the warmth, and the love. So, I'm going to embrace this family while I'm here and when I leave I'll have a really nice memory to remind me how lucky I am to have made new friends.