SHERRY GARNER
(She/Her)
Performer, Founder of Coffee Talk Theatre Productions.
BIO
Based in Hamilton, ON, Sherry Garner is an actor-singer who grew up in small-town Ontario dreaming of a life on the stage. After graduating from The University of Western Ontario and Sheridan College, Sherry has had the great privilege of fulfilling that dream building a performing career that has taken her across Canada and beyond.
Some favourite roles include Maria in the Sound of Music (Neptune Theatre, Stage West Calgary and Stage West Mississauga), Marian in the Music Man (Capital Theatre, Port Hope), Jenny Anydots in Cats (Neptune Theatre) and her Dora nominated role of The Narrator in the Happy Prince, (YPT).
Sherry’s favourite role to date is that of Mom to two extraordinary young women, Quinn and Maggie.
A proud advocate for families with Children with Down Syndrome and those living with Mental Health challenges, she is raising a child with Down Syndrome as well as living with her own Bipolar disorder. Sherry dedicates her life to being a story of triumph, telling that story through theatre and song.
I AM ENOUGH; a cabaret
By opening your ears, you open your heart to Sherry Garner's triumph over Bipolar Disorder. By showing up, audiences co-create collective healing. I AM ENOUGH subverts the sotto voce of shame through song and stage, turning star power into hope for all.
After a mental health crisis in 2019, Sherry found herself picking up the pieces of her life as she learned to live and thrive with a new diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder. She turned to the power of music and especially the songs that helped her through each personal event in her life to make sense of her new normal. From this, I AM ENOUGH was born.
The show premiered to a sold out audience at the Westdale Theatre in Hamilton (2022), celebrating Sherry’s 50th birthday. I AM ENOUGH is a musical cabaret that chronicles her life as a child growing up with an exceptional dream and how that dream has been shaped by her “exceptional” disorder. It is a story of challenge, joy and triumph that will take you on a ride through one ordinary woman’s extraordinary life.
Borrowing from popular music and the Musical Theatre songbook, Sherry takes you on a musical ride that will have you laughing, crying and singing all the way home. Join her growing up on a farm to singing on stages across the country, to becoming a mother and discovering her child has Down Syndrome. All while unknowingly living with Bipolar Disorder.
Critically, the performance concludes with COFFEE TALK, a talk-back session allowing the audience to engage with Sherry and a panel of mental health professionals and community engagement specialists. The collective experience is one of mutual education and empathy. I AM ENOUGH recognizes that dialogue and connection are critical tools in the journey to mental wellness. By sharing our truths we empower one another to speak up and SING OUT.
COFFEE TALK THEATRE PRODUCTIONS
From the artistic mind and empathetic heart of I AM ENOUGH creator, Sherry Garner, emerges an inspiring, independent production company with a vision to infuse hope into the Canadian mental health narrative through storytelling and song.
Recognizing an urgent need for transformation in the mental health arena, Coffee Talk Theatre Productions launched in March 2023 to produce creative works from Canadians with experience fighting the personal struggle and cultural stigma of mental health disorders.
Coffee Talk Theatre Productions offers a unique platform for triumph over the shame and misunderstanding associated with mental illness. By bringing true stories to the stage, we give voice to the unspoken and shine light on the unseen. In sharing and in listening, we foster connection, compassion and the opportunity for collective healing.
What sets Coffee Talk Theatre Productions apart is what happens after the curtain drops. We produce more than performances. Mental wellness must be addressed in conversation. Our holistic format incorporates panel discussions with artists, mental health professionals and community specialists. As the fourth wall breaks, we shatter separation and invite deeper dialogue to process the shared experience. Audiences are invited to ask “what now?” and leave the auditorium with answers, with hope.