Cover Photo Credit: Violet S.Z. Maiers

On February 4–7 2026, at 7:30p.m., Dr. Len Falkenstein directed his latest production at UNB’s Memorial Hall: Girl in the Goldfish Bowl by Morris Panych. The satirical comedy takes place back in 1962, and is centred around 10-year-old Iris, played by Ella Murphy. Iris believes the recent death of her pet goldfish has caused the demise of her parents’ marriage, and worse yet, the Cuban Missile Crisis to occur. 

In the opening of the play, Iris states, “These are the last few days of my childhood,” before engaging in numerous hilarious monologues and eventually running into the rest of the cast. Iris lives with her parents Sylvie and Owen, played by Jorja Taylor and Ethan Stav, and Iris’ Godmother Ms. Rose played by Esther Lee; together, they create a magnetic, highly dysfunctional family. The goldfish then comes back as mysterious house guest Lawrence, played by Tye Murphy.

The theatre in Memorial Hall featured awe-inspiring visuals and set design. The background had an ocean-esque gradient painted on the walls, and holographic goldfishes swimming across the stage. The smaller pieces filling in the background added to the verisimilitude of the show; all the biblical imagery around the house is imperative to the characters’ world since Iris’ family is religious and she goes to a Catholic school.

On February 6th, 2026, Dr. Falkenstein and I sat down to discuss directing, mishaps while rehearsing, and other memorable moments.

Questions and Answers:

Q: You’ve been directing plays at UNB since 1999; can you tell us a little more about yourself?

A: “Well, I’ve got a PHD in English, but I’ve done theatre all my life, since I was an undergrad. I started as an actor, and then I became a director. I started directing plays while I was in graduate school, then I started writing plays as well! At UNB, I teach acting and directing a little bit. I oversee two theatre companies, Bard in the Barracks, which does outdoor Shakespeare in Fredericton, and Notable Acts Theatre Company, which is a festival of new plays with local playwrights, so I’m a busy guy.”

Q: What experiences in your life drew you to directing?

A: “I don’t know, I guess through the process of acting in shows. Being a bit of an academic, maybe that sort of lends itself to having a mind that thinks about plays from a procedural [standpoint]. I think I kind of just fell into it and discovered that I enjoyed it. Hopefully I am somewhat good at it.”

Q: Why did you choose to direct Girl in the Goldfish Bowl? 

A: “This play is done by our third-year acting class, so we do productions based on our classes; this was our advanced acting class, and we had a specific group of students. We had 5 students this year, and I had to pick a play that would work for everyone in the class. I’m a big fan of Morris Panych’s work; I’ve done some of his other plays before. I am kinda attuned to his weird and wacky way of seeing the world. I thought this would work well for the group of students that I had. It also speaks a bit to the times we live in with the world being in another state of chaos like it was in the Cold War. I thought audiences would appreciate it as well.”

Q: What was one of the worst mishaps to happen during the rehearsals?

A: “That’s an easy one to tell you about. You may remember the scene where Sylvie had to carry the guy down the stairs, which I knew was not gonna be fun. The first time that we did it for real on set, despite taking it slow and careful, the person playing Syvie sort of tripped on the third to last stair and took a tumble. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. I felt quite bad about that because it should be ‘safety first,’ even though we were doing our best.”

Q: How long did it take to create the set?

A: “That’s all our set designer’s work, Trent Logan. He co-teaches the class with me, and he’s our technical director. He has been working on this project probably for 6 weeks or so. I actually didn’t know what he had planned for the multi-media element of the show until pretty much just last weekend. I knew he was planning to do projected underwater effects, but I didn’t know about the fish or the blood. Very cool, and really added to the vibe and atmosphere.”

Notes from the Cast: 

“I’d like to say how much I enjoyed being a part of this show. I loved working with the amazing cast, superb stage manager, and dedicated director who helped and inspired all of us to bring these characters to life” – Jorja Taylor, 2026.

Check out UNBTheatre if you are interested in seeing more local plays!