Wanda Carroll
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The Road less Gravelled

Written/performed by

Wanda Carroll

The Road Less Gravelled is a series of funny stories about growing up in a small, remote outport in Northern Newfoundland in the 1970s. The outports are being modernized during this time. The old ways are being left behind; a new gravel road connects Conche to the outside world for the very first time and times they are a changin'!

The stories in "The Road" are woven together to chronicle the life of Wanda Carroll growing up in this changing time; as one world is lost to her, another is just beyond her reach. In this,her first one woman show, Wanda proves she does indeed have "charm to share"(CBC Winnipeg)

Wanda shares her excitement at seeing her first bathroom in "The Bat'room Story," and her love for the CBC in "I loves the CBC," and of her disappointment in her first encounter with exotic fruit in "The Protestant Pineapple." And don't even get her started on her dental issues which she recounts in "Tales from the Dental Chair", teeth never sounded so funny!

Since it was first work shopped at The Drake Hotel in Toronto in the fall of 2004, The Road Less Gravelled has played too sold out houses across Canada. It was one of the top selling shows at the 2007 Atlantic Fringe Festival in Halifax. In 2008 it won a 'Best in Fest' award at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. What started as a forty-five minute Fringe piece had evolved into a full 90 min show. "The Road" played to a sold out house at LSPU Hall in St.John's in January and this October returned for an encore performance and it received another standing ovation!

The Road Less Gravelled has been invited to numerous festivals over the years….St.Mary's Storytelling Festival, Harbour Front East Coast Festival, The Fridge Festival (Part of the Magnetic North Festival) Trails, Tales and Tunes Festival, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Theatre Festival.

The Road Less Gravelled will someday grace the stage of the Winter Garden theatre in Toronto ( Bucket List)

After "The Road" you will want to see what happens when Wanda gets on the bus!

Beyond the Road Less Gravelled is also written… .

Storyteller's Chair

Wanda Carroll

Wanda's Story

Wanda Carroll is a Newfoundland writer/storyteller who grew up in Conche on the Great Northern Peninsula in the 1970's at a time when the benefits of Confederation were reaching the north and life was rapidly changing. A road connects Conche to the rest of the world for the very first time. This changing time shaped Wanda's early life. This part of her life is chronicled in Wanda's first one woman show, The Road Less Gravelled.

In her twenties Wanda graduated from Dalhousie University and attempted to pursue a career in teaching but never actually applied to the education program. She was unsure as to what she wanted to do with her life and Wanda has always believed everyone has one true passion. She just needed time to discover hers.

So Wanda travelled, explored life, and found love. Wanda's second show, Beyond the Road Less Gravelled tells these stories.

Wanda studied acting, voice, writing, stand-up, improv, and clown with some of the best teachers in Toronto. She even went to comedy school. That story is told in "I went to comedy school, I cried allot".....these stories are part of the Wanda's third show, The End of the Road Less Gravelled.

Wanda is a great storyteller who tells her stories from the heart, making performances charming, funny and really entertaining. Although she left Newfoundland over twenty-five years ago, like all Newfies, you can take Wanda out of Newfoundland but you can't take Newfoundland out of Wanda. Her language and heritage are very much a part of who she is and serves as great inspiration for her art.

Wanda, with the encouragement of family, friends, and teachers wrote and work-shopped her first one woman show, The Road Less Gravelled at the Drake Hotel in Toronto (2004). Wanda has since travelled coast to coast with thi show and been invited to many festivals.

In 2008, Wanda moved to the Annapolis Valley with her sweetie of twenty years and their animals. They are renovating an old farmhouse. Wanda now gets to have a big vegetable garden which produced a 24 lb watermelon in 2011!

In October 2010 Wanda launched the 1st Annual WTF(Wanda's Theatre Festival) in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. The festival honours women and comedy. The second WTF was also a great success, with ticket sales up 100%!

Wanda continues to write and perform.