About

Legacy New Works offers personal stories in the form of one-woman plays, with a unique blend of comic playfulness, poetic lyricism and haunting narrative. With simple sets and evocative visual images, our plays invite the audience to travel with us into deep remembering and connecting with their own experiences. Humour is balanced with the depth of poetry. People who see Legacy New Works productions are entertained, surprised and moved.

Legacy New Works was formed to present original theatrical work created by Deborah Sheppard and Vincenzo Sestito. After collaborating on several projects, Deborah and Vinnie established Legacy New Works in 2015 as a vehicle for promoting and presenting performance pieces. We are also undertaking publication of poetry and children’s stories. “Legacy” is the title of a poem of Deborah’s which provided the impetus for the first play co-written by Deborah and Vinnie.

Deborah Sheppard combines a doctorate in sociology with twenty years of writing and performing poetry. Her insights and observations of social and personal relationships merge with her creative writing to produce a singular voice. Vincenzo Sestito brings many years of theatre directing and teaching to a unique approach to storytelling. He has the rare ability to spot the kernel of a story and nurture it into a full-realized performance piece, developing and shaping the narrative into a vehicle of powerful communication, and then staging and producing it for the stage.

Deborah Sheppard
Writer & Performer

Deborah Sheppard, PhD, is a sociologist, poet, playwright and performer. Her sociological research focused on gender in relation to workplace and family. She is the co-author of The Sexuality of Organization and a number of scholarly articles. She taught at York and Concordia Universities and has given many public talks related to gender, work and family, as well as poetry readings and workshops. Her poems can be found online at deborahsheppard.ca.

Vincenzo Sestito
Writer & Director

Vincenzo Sestito is a voice and acting teacher and theatre director. He has directed dramas and comedies (The Crucible and Mambo Italiano), and many musicals ranging from Gilbert and Sullivan (Yeomen of the Guard), Mel Brooks (Young Frankenstein), Steven Sondheim (Sweeney Todd) and Lerner and Lowe (My Fair Lady). Particularly noteworthy are Vinnie’s productions of It’s a Wonderful Life and his adaptation of A Christmas Carol, both set as 1940’s radio shows. He is known for his intensive workshops in story-telling and clown.