Made in Brockville: ‘A full circle moment:’ Joey Herbison returns home as ‘R&J and Joni’ premieres at Shakespeare Festival
For a young performer who once looked to Brockville’s arts community for inspiration, helping bring a world-premiere musical to life is proof of what can happen when talent meets opportunity.
Long before he was helping develop a world-premiere musical for one of Canada’s up-and-coming premier outdoor theatre festivals, Joey Herbison was a growing up in Brockville, surrounded by a community that nurtured his love of music, theatre and storytelling.
Herbison is the co-creator and musical director of R&J and Joni, a new musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet that weaves Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy together with the music of Canadian icon Joni Mitchell. The production will make its world premiere at the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival (SLSF) in Prescott from July 16 to Aug. 8, 2026.
In an in-depth interview with Brockvilleist, Herbison said the show represents both a major professional milestone in his career and a reminder of the community that helped get him started.
Growing up in Brockville
While Brockville may be known for its waterfront, history and small-town charm, Herbison believes one of its greatest strengths is its thriving arts community.
Like many working performers now working in professional shows, Herbison’s initial introduction to theatre came was local community productions. What began as an obsession with all things The Wizard of Oz, quickly evolved into a fascination with musicals, performers, and every aspect of the creative process.
“I remember realizing there were all these different jobs that went into putting on a show,” he recounted. “There were stage managers, musicians, technicians, costume designers, scenic painters, front-of-house staff. It opened my eyes to how collaborative theatre really is.”
When reflecting on his childhood and teenage years, he credited local teachers and mentors with helping shape his path and motivating him to pursue his creative interests in a serious and intentional way.
“If it weren’t for people like Anne Landon, Judy Quick and so many others, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” he told Brockvilleist. “There are incredible mentors in Brockville who have helped countless young people develop careers in the arts.”
Herbison now splits his time living between Stratford and Toronto, but he still has very fond memories of his upbringing in Brockville, including doing shows with the Brockville Youth Choir, Brockville Operatic Society, the St. Lawrence Stage Company and at Brockville Collegiate Institute (BCI).
As he grew more experienced, the young performer was invited to go up to Toronto to take part in some smaller professional shows, opening up a whole new world for him.
“We would have professional choreographers and I got to do lots of amazing things,” he explained. “We kind of got to experience everything on a different level, which was again going to Toronto and getting to see this big theatre and having all that exposure.”
After graduating high school, Herbison was supported by his family and mentors to pursue formal post-secondary training in music and theatrical arts. He attended Western University, where he studied music, before continuing his education at Queen’s University in the Artist Community Education program.
He says the combination of academic training and hands-on experience provided him with the foundation needed to thrive in a professional career within the performing arts.
Arts education and youth advocacy work
While building his career in music and theatre, Herbison always knew he wanted to honour the mentors who shaped his life by also becoming deeply involved in arts education and advocacy work with children and youth. Recognizing the transformative power of the arts, Herbison has dedicated a portion of his professional life to creating opportunities for youth to explore music, performance and self-expression.
“Arts education changes lives,” Herbison shared. “It teaches collaboration, empathy, creativity and confidence — skills that stay with young people long after the performance ends.”
A decade ago, Herbison started a company called ARTSies Inc, where he works as co-owner and co-artistic director. “It is now truly the experience I had as a kid that I’ve replicated that for kids in Toronto,” he shared, adding that ARTies now serves over 700 families in the Greater Toronto Area.
“This is another full circle moment” he told Brockvilleist. “Just like having inspiration here (Brockville) gave me the confidence to go and do that and find my own community in Toronto, which can be, you know, scary and hard. I get to give back, which is amazing.”
A labour of love years in the making
His broad and diverse skill set is now being put to use in R&J and Joni, a project that has been evolving and adapting over many years.
The musical is the result of a collaboration between Herbison, co-adapter Cara Pantalone and SLSF artistic directors James Wallis and Julia Nish-Lapidus, who began developing the concept roughly seven or eight years ago. The idea itself grew out of an earlier theatre project that combined elements of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet with a handful of Joni Mitchell songs.
“We saw the potential for it to become a full-scale musical,” Herbison shared.
The creative team spent years workshopping the production, however, plans to move forward stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Years later, the project was eventually revived after the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival expressed interest in bringing it to its outdoor stage.
According to Herbison, what followed was a lengthy process of revisiting the material, rewriting sections, reworking arrangements and diving deep into Mitchell’s extensive catalogue.
“We threw a lot of things out and started looking at the music again with fresh eyes,” he explained. “I spent a lot of time finding songs that could serve specific emotional moments in the story.”
The result is a production that features beloved Mitchell classics such as Big Yellow Taxi, Both Sides Now and A Case of You, alongside some lesser-known gems from throughout her career.
Why Joni Mitchell and Shakespeare?
At first glance, pairing Shakespeare’s most famous love story with the more modern music of Joni Mitchell might seem unusual.
For Herbison, the connection was obvious. He describes Mitchell as one of Canada’s defining artistic voices, both in her exploration of the natural beauty of the country and her way of capturing universal human experiences that connect listeners across generations.
“Her poetry is right up there with William Shakespeare himself,” he emphasized. “That’s why we’ve paired these two together. Her music has stood the test of time. It’s constantly being rediscovered by new generations.
“She writes about love, grief, frustration, admiration…Everything that makes us human,” he told Brockvilleist. “There was just so much material to draw from when we were looking for emotional moments within the story.”
The production of R&J and Joni is also uniquely suited to the SLSF’s outdoor setting. Set along the St. Lawrence River in Prescott, the Kinsmen Amphitheatre has become renowned for putting on immersive productions that blend live theatre with the natural landscape.
For Herbison, adapting the musical for an outdoor venue added another layer of complexity to the creative process, but he happily welcomed the opportunity.
Although there were challenges, Herbison said there was something exciting about presenting a story like this in an outdoor setting. “It creates a different relationship between the performers and the audience”, Herbison said. “It’s been a labour of love for a very, very long time. To finally see it coming together is incredibly rewarding.”
Advice for the next generation
As someone who began discovering his artistic talents in a smaller city, Herbison hopes young creatives in Brockville understand that there is no single path into the arts.
His main advice is simple: get involved, stay curious and never stop learning.
“Expose yourself to every aspect of the industry when you can,” he emphasized. “You may discover you’re not interested in performing, but maybe you’re an incredible stage manager, scenic painter or designer.”
He also encourages young people to take advantage of the wealth of local shows, collaborations, and mentors available in Brockville and the surrounding region.
“Join community theatre. Join a choir. Start a band. Meet people who are creating things and learn from them,” he suggested. “Whether you become a professional performer or not, the teamwork, perseverance, focus and creativity you learn through the arts will serve you for the rest of your life.”
For Herbison, it’s impossible to separate his career now from his beginnings in Brockville. “The mentors, teachers and arts organizations here gave me opportunities very early on and showed me what was possible,” he said.
You can learn more about R&J and Joni or buy tickets online at https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=303214