It's official: Megan will be part of the The CW's 2013 Fall lineup, as Reign has been ordered to series. The news came today and has been spreading across various online entertainment sites, including Deadline.com.

Excitment doesn't even begin to cover our reaction. ELATION. Yeah, let's go with elation. 

"Megan Follows inspired me so much."

The May cover story of Flare magazine with Christina Hendricks has a nice mention of Megan. The Mad men actress, who has stated she dyed her hair red at the age of 10 while "completely obsessed with Anne of Green Gables", cites Megan as one of her inspirations:

On Being Told Anne Of Green Gables Star Megan Follows Lives In Her Neighbourhood In L.A.:

What?! I got goosebumps again. Now I’m going to be trolling the streets looking for her. Do you think she’s at the farmers’ market? I was obsessed with the show. I have the box set at home. Megan Follows inspired me so much.

With another March 14th comes another Megan birthday. On behalf of Shedding and all its visitors, I wish the happiest of birthdays to Megan, filled with much love and laughter.

Beyond exciting news, Megan fans!

I am so happy to report that Megan was cast as none other than Catherine de Médicis in the CW pilot Reign from CBS TV Studios. Reign, one of the drama pilots that was picked up by the CW just last January, will revolve around 15-year-old Mary Queen of Scots (played by Adelaide Kane) as she arrives in France and will chronicle her rise to power. The show is being written and executive produced by Stephanie Sengupta (Outlaw) and Laurie McCarthy (CSI: Miami).

Stay tuned as more information continues to trickle in. 

Source: deadline.com

Click on the above banner for details. This fan giveaway is a short one, and ends this Wednesday, February 6th!

Judging from the latest reviews, we can safely say that last year's success of Nightwood Theatre's The Penelopiad was no fluke. One could even say that the current remount has found an even greater success with the production widening its reach to an even bigger audience.

NOW Magazine's review of the show concludes this way: 

"If you didn’t see The Penelopiad last year, don’t miss it this time around. And even if you did, it’s worth a revisit to catch the added nuances." 

This sentiment has been echoed and shared many times on social media platforms, namely Twitter. A quick visit of the #Penelopiad hashtag will lead you to a variety of positive reviews from all types of theatre-goers, from critics to actors, to scholars and simple theatre enthusiasts. The author of The Penelopiad herself, Margaret Atwood, offered this review via one of her Tweets, after attending the show's opening night:

Below is a list of other reviews that have come out so far, with some highlighting Megan's performance:

Post City: "Penelope herself is played brilliantly by one of the icons of Canadian acting, the wonderful Megan Follows [...]"
Theatromania: "Follows gives a superb performance, running the gamut of emotion while interacting with the audience through subtle facial expressions and gestures."
Mooney on Theatre: "Megan Follows was, of course, mesmerizing as I expected she would be."
The Grid TO: "[...] entirely worthy of a second trip."
The Slotkin Letter: "It’s a performance full of self-awareness and perception."
The Charlebois Post - Canada: "Her performance is one of the strongest I have seen; we are convinced even before the end of act one, that her story is one that needs to be told."
NOW Magazine: "Follows brings a deeper, more textured look at Penelope this time around [...]"
The Art and Opera Review (in French): "[Follows] alterne naturellement ses répliques entre tirades homériques et remarques tout droit tirées d’un one-woman show."

I'd like to drawn attention to Robert Cushman's review of the production in the National Post, who writes:

" I can hardly call Follows our most underrated actress — everybody knows how good she is — but she may be our most under-used. I’ve hardly ever, for example, seen her play Shakespeare (she was Juliet at Stratford, opposite the festival’s current director, but that was before my Canadian time) though she’d seem to be made for it, with a command of text and mood, and a fastidious unforced charm, second to none." 

The award for the most necessary "hit the nail on the head" assessment goes to Robert Cushman, as I believe he has described the status of Megan's career, at least in Canada, to a t. Spread the word, people.

Finally, there was a great interview with Megan in the Toronto Star by Richard Ouzouninan. You can read it here: Megan Follows: Inspired casting as Penelope in Penelopiad

The show is about halfway through its run already, so if you haven't caught a performance yet, please do not hesitate and go now. Trust me, it'll more than worth it. Tickets are on sale online or by phone at 416.975.8555.

Megan and Kelli Fox stopped by Global Toronto's The Morning Show to talk about The Penelopiad, which opens tomorrow!