For the first time in its nine-year history, the Festival is extending its season to four shows with new Canadian work Time and Tide, by Nova Scotia playwright Jody Stevens McCluskey.

It stars Donna Belleville, Raquel Duffy, Rahul Gandhi, Stephen Guy-McGrath and Evelyn Wiebe and is directed by Jamie Williams.

The extension was made possible by a $40,000 contribution from the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).

Time & Tide explores the push and pull of love and the challenge of finding your place with and without family. All told through the keen lens of the beloved Newfoundland sense of humour.

“We launched [our] new play development program in the spring of 2023, asking for submissions and we received 72 plays from across the country,” said artistic director Emily Oriold.

Oriold said it was “important” to grow the festival and add new Canadian works to the mix. “You can shrink, but we really believe that engagement is important with the community, to show them that we’re here,” she said. “And that’s how we’re going to sustain and turn it around.

Time and Tide is at the Mandeville Theatre (2 Ridley Rd.) from Oct. 4 to 13. For tickets go to fosterfestival.com.

- Article by John Law, a Niagara Falls-based reporter with the Niagara Falls Review, primarily covering arts and culture.