Treading Theatre Festival 2026

An annual celebration of contemporary performance, Treading Theatre Festival will take place September 17 - 20 at the Schneider Haus National Historic Site. This year, the festival will run in conjunction with Doors Open Kitchener and will feature several free community events in addition to our regular theatrical offerings.

Festival programming includes:

Indecisive

"I've got a decision to make and I need your help"

In Donna-Michelle St. Bernard's new work, public judgment meets public decision making. Indecisive asks the audience to weigh in on judgment calls. Apple pie or cherry? Fight back or submit?

What should I do?

What would you do?

Tadrak's Tales

Greetings traveller! You’re in luck: Tadrak’s goblin market will soon be opening at The Schneider Haus National Historic Site for one weekend only!

Looking for something different? Unusual? Fantastical? Coin is nice, but this goblin prefers to trade in another currency altogether … how ‘bout a story?

Tadrak’s Tales is a choose your own adventure experience, with key choices made by you: the customer.

A harrowing fantasy fable with treason, murder, monsters, fate and more! No two tellings will be the same!

Browse his wares, make him an offer, but be prepared to pay the price!

Tickets to Indecisive and Tadrak's Tales are limited, vary by performance, and are available on a sliding scale from $10 to $25.

Doors Open events on Saturday, September 19:

grounds of dispossession / ungrounding dispossession is a day-long, site-responsive performance-installation for and against a domestic lawn. Responding to the past and present importance of monocultures and “cultivation” as signs and infrastructures of (dis)possession in the British empire/commonwealth, the piece excavates how these histories manifest within the banal space of a domestic lawn, through actions, spoken word, audio, and temporary installations.

Tadrak's Tales roaming mini-performances throughout the day

Live music

Two art exhibitions

Festival schedule, artist bios, and other information are available at www.treadingtheatreproject.weebly.com.

Please note, unfortunately, not all performances spaces are mobility accessible. 
Parking is available, across the road, at 489 Queen Street South.

Please also note that all performances will start promptly at listed times and latecomers will not be admitted

Thank you to Ontario Arts Council, Waterloo Region Community Foundation, Schnieder Haus National Historic Site, Inter Arts Matrix and others for their support.