Shipyard Kitchen Party built Newfoundland Songbook around a kind of music that only makes sense once you understand the life it came from — not a genre assembled around a sound, but a tradition shaped by cod fisheries and logging camps and kitchen tables where you sang because the winters were long and the work was hard. The show traces the music of Canada’s easternmost province from remote outports along the coast to the fishing stages, front parlours, and dancing kitchens of St. John’s, treating songs as documents of a way of life.
About the Show
The Collingwood, Ontario-based ensemble brings this musical revue to Kingston Grand Theatre’s Rosen Auditorium on Wednesday, October 14. The production tells “the colourful history of Newfoundland’s fishers and loggers, sealers and whalers” through story, song, and visuals, drawing from a broad catalog: music by Great Big Sea, Ron Hynes, Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers, and Johnny Burke, alongside original Shipyard Kitchen Party compositions and what the show’s own notes describe as “a little music made up right on the spot.” That balance of repertoire, original writing, and in-the-moment invention reflects a group that calls itself “inspired by traditional music, original songwriting and fun.”
The full cast brings together John Eaton, Sacha Law, and Jason Murphy, the core of Shipyard Kitchen Party, with Derek McLean on guitar, harmonica, mandolin, and penny whistle; Jason Redman on guitar and banjo; and Saskia Tomkins on fiddle. It is an instrumentation that covers most of what the North Atlantic folk tradition has ever needed. The ensemble has toured Newfoundland Songbook widely across Ontario, with multiple Fall 2025 dates selling out. A Newfoundland Songbook album followed in November 2025, and the group’s earlier productions (Tom Thomson’s Wake and 100 Years from Now) trace a consistent interest in theatrically-grounded Canadian folk storytelling.
Venue & Logistics
The Rosen Auditorium at Kingston Grand Theatre, 218 Princess Street in Kingston, Ontario, gives this production a proper theatrical home. The show asks for space to deliver story, song, and visuals together, and a dedicated auditorium is where that kind of work lands best. Kingston falls within our north-country coverage area. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets
Tickets are $57.01 plus HST and handling, totaling $69.13 at checkout, and went on sale May 1, 2026. Buy tickets