FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

GUELPH, ON, June 23, 2025: 

Backyard Theatre Returns To McCrae House For 11th Season

Backyard Theatre returns to McCrae House this July with We Lived, Felt Dawn, Saw Sunset Glow a concert piece for voice and guitar created by Juno-nominated and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee-awarded playwright/composer Mike Ford.

In its eleventh season, Backyard Theatre has become an annual summer tradition, featuring one-act plays that respond to the life and accomplishments of doctor, soldier, and poet Lt. Col. John McCrae. “We Lived, Felt Dawn, Saw Sunset Glow” runs from July 17 to July 26, with shows at 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. matinees on Saturdays.

Conceived as an integral composition reflecting no specific real-life individual, battle, war, era, or planet, We Lived, Felt Dawn, Saw Sunset Glow is a musical-lyrical exploration of thoughts, feelings, and experiences of a fictional warrior, inspired by soldiers’ writings from across the centuries. Described as a “solo troubadour opera,” it was commissioned by Guelph Museums for events commemorating the 80th Anniversary of Liberation in Europe, including this world debut at Backyard Theatre.

This is Ford’s third original piece presented at Backyard Theatre, after Sons of ’17 and McCrae in the Mirror, works that went on to tour Europe in Guelph Museums-curated memorial adventures.

McCrae House is located at 108 Water Street and it is physically accessible. For evening performances the museum and cash bar will open at 7 p.m. The performance is approximately 60 minutes.

Tickets are $25 each, available on Eventbrite or by calling 519-836-1221.

For more information:

Tammy Adkin, Manager, Museums and Culture
Culture and Recreation
City of Guelph
[email protected]
519-826-1221 extension 2775