MORRISBURG — The Upper Canada Playhouse begins its summer season June 5 with one of the latest plays by Canada’s playwright emeritus Norm Foster, Danny and Delilah.
The play centres on Danny Becker, a retired widower and grumpy Maple Leafs fan, who lives with his school-teacher daughter Sherry. His life is thrown for a curve when Sherry invites Delilah, a Pakistani student, to stay with them, while her father travels to help with a family crisis. With little in common at first, Danny and Delilah gradually start to connect as they get to know each other.
The Leader spoke recently with Foster about his inspiration for Danny and Delilah.
“I always start with characters. I get the idea for a play, in general, what’s going on. Once I establish the characters, they pretty much write the play for me. If the characters are well-rounded and well thought out, they sort of lead me down towards the end of the play,” he explained, seeing himself at times as observing the work. “Sometimes I’m surprised how it ends.”
This is the first time the play has been performed in Morrisburg. Foster wrote the play in 2023, at a time when much of the creative world was recovering from the effects on the industry from the pandemic. While that was a difficult time for live theatre, Foster said his plays were not affected much, if at all, by the time period when he writes.
“All the plays I write are comedies about ordinary people, just ordinary people trying to get by in life, so it doesn’t matter what time period it’s in,” he said. “I’d rather not let the outside world affect the way I’m writing. The plays I write are similar in their feel and the characters are very ordinary people.”
Foster said the biggest challenge with writing Danny and Delilah was ensuring it was believable.
“It’s a story about a teacher and her student, but the two main characters are the student and the teacher’s father and how these two people, Delilah (the student), and Danny (the father), are opposites. How they found common interests; you don’t think they are going to get along, but they do. I think that’s the challenge in making those two people find common ground in their lives.”
Foster said it is something we all could do — finding common ground.
“You never know what kind of people you’re going to wind up with liking, or spending time with,” Foster said. “The story is telling us to open our hearts to everyone and don’t shut people down just because you think they’re not like you, because there’s commonality in all of us, somewhere.”
Foster said the production at the Upper Canada Playhouse is in great hands with Jesse Collins directing the production.
“I hope the audience enjoys it,” Foster closed.
The UCP’s production of Danny and Delilah features a cast of returning and new actors to this stage.
Danny is played by Garfield Andrews, a frequent veteran actor at the Playhouse. Audiences have seen him at shows such as The Odd Couple, One Slight Hit, and in 2025 in Maggie’s Getting Married.
Delilah is played by Kritika Khanna, a recent graduate of the National Theatre School in Montréal who is making her professional debut at the UCP.
Jane Spence plays Danny’s daughter, Sherry. Spence previously performed at the playhouse in two Foster comedies, Halfway There, and The Ladies’ Foursome.
Returning also to the playhouse is Viviana Zarrillo, who plays Muriel — the next door neighbour who has her eye on Danny and makes every effort to win his attention. Zarrillo has been in many UCP productions including the Sweet Delilah Swim Club, Same Time Next Year, Moving In, and Halfway There.
Directed by Jesse Collins, who has staged hit productions such as A Woman’s Love List and Hurry Hard in 2025, and past productions of The Affections of May and The Ladies’ Foursome. Collins is a past Emmy Award nominee for his direction of the TV series Zoboomafoo, and starred as the lead in the CTV series Katts and Dog.
Danny and Delilah opens June 5 at the playhouse and runs until June 28. Information and tickets for performances are available at the theatre’s box office at 613-543-3713, or online at www.uppercanadaplayhouse.com.
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