INTRODUCING OUR 2023 PLAYS!
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8TH
COOL by Megan Hunt
with dramaturgy by Pamela Halstead
Synopsis: The Southern Ontario suburbs have been hit with a late October heat wave, and fourteen-year-old Eliza fears the world is about to end. Peter, the charming young father she baby-sits for, thinks that that's just what being a teenager feels like, and maybe he's right. A late night conversation unfolding in real time, COOL is a play about what it means to come of age in this age.
with dramaturgy by Pamela Halstead
Synopsis: The Southern Ontario suburbs have been hit with a late October heat wave, and fourteen-year-old Eliza fears the world is about to end. Peter, the charming young father she baby-sits for, thinks that that's just what being a teenager feels like, and maybe he's right. A late night conversation unfolding in real time, COOL is a play about what it means to come of age in this age.
THURSDAY, MARCH 9TH
Aya & the Masquerades by Karen Monie and Braiding Peonies by Sobia Shaikh
with dramaturgy by Santiago Guzmán
Synopsis for Aya & the Masquerades:
Dreaming of a better life, ten-year-old Aya decides to leave her village the night of their festival when she discovers the village of lights, a magical settlement beaming with promise and adventure.
When she learns that masquerades, sacred creatures that roam the land on giant stilts, may be the key to finding the mysterious village, Aya sets out on a journey to find the masquerades, befriending unusual characters and learning a thing or two about her and the world beyond home.
A laud to Cameroon(West Africa), Aya and the Masquerades is a story about courage, hope and identity.
Braiding Peonies (working title) is a play-in-progress about a family who is dealing with the aftermath of racist, anti-Muslim hate in a violent encounter directed at a group of Muslim teenagers. Using transformative justice lenses, the play explores the themes of justice, protection and healing through the experience of the protagonist, Sadiqa (mother), and her 17-year-old, Samreen (child), as the family grapples with a crisis of trust in institutions that fail to provide meaningful resolution. The family finds support in racialized and transformative justice communities, as they begin to dream of radical and relational possibilities.
This play was commissioned by TODOS Productions for the National Arts Centre’s initiative Stages of Transformation
(see https://nac-cna.ca/en/stagesoftransformation/create).
with dramaturgy by Santiago Guzmán
Synopsis for Aya & the Masquerades:
Dreaming of a better life, ten-year-old Aya decides to leave her village the night of their festival when she discovers the village of lights, a magical settlement beaming with promise and adventure.
When she learns that masquerades, sacred creatures that roam the land on giant stilts, may be the key to finding the mysterious village, Aya sets out on a journey to find the masquerades, befriending unusual characters and learning a thing or two about her and the world beyond home.
A laud to Cameroon(West Africa), Aya and the Masquerades is a story about courage, hope and identity.
Braiding Peonies (working title) is a play-in-progress about a family who is dealing with the aftermath of racist, anti-Muslim hate in a violent encounter directed at a group of Muslim teenagers. Using transformative justice lenses, the play explores the themes of justice, protection and healing through the experience of the protagonist, Sadiqa (mother), and her 17-year-old, Samreen (child), as the family grapples with a crisis of trust in institutions that fail to provide meaningful resolution. The family finds support in racialized and transformative justice communities, as they begin to dream of radical and relational possibilities.
This play was commissioned by TODOS Productions for the National Arts Centre’s initiative Stages of Transformation
(see https://nac-cna.ca/en/stagesoftransformation/create).
FRIDAY, MARCH 10TH
Pulling Strings by April Leung
with dramaturgy by Courtney Ch'ng Lancaster
Synopsis:
In Pulling Strings, we follow a deity as she wrestles with Wu Zetian’s written history through re-enacting moments of daily life during Wu’s life. Known for her rapid rise to power and her network of spies, Wu Zetian became Emperor during the Tang dynasty from 690-705 AD as the only female who ruled as emperor in Chinese history, and as a result was slandered by male Confucian historians and officials. With support of new historical interpretations, Pulling Strings aims to re-examine her narrative and reign through snapshots, games, and gossip.
with dramaturgy by Courtney Ch'ng Lancaster
Synopsis:
In Pulling Strings, we follow a deity as she wrestles with Wu Zetian’s written history through re-enacting moments of daily life during Wu’s life. Known for her rapid rise to power and her network of spies, Wu Zetian became Emperor during the Tang dynasty from 690-705 AD as the only female who ruled as emperor in Chinese history, and as a result was slandered by male Confucian historians and officials. With support of new historical interpretations, Pulling Strings aims to re-examine her narrative and reign through snapshots, games, and gossip.
SATURDAY, MARCH 11TH
Heart Play by Marie Pike
with dramaturgy by Megan Gail Coles
Synopsis:
A woman, afraid of taking up space, develops a black hole. Consulting others, she’s unable to rid herself of the hole, until one night she experiences a dark night of the soul and is confronted by her raging emo heart. Dying to live, her heart breaks out of the basement of her being and torches her 2-dimensional world, exposing all of her negative space.
with dramaturgy by Megan Gail Coles
Synopsis:
A woman, afraid of taking up space, develops a black hole. Consulting others, she’s unable to rid herself of the hole, until one night she experiences a dark night of the soul and is confronted by her raging emo heart. Dying to live, her heart breaks out of the basement of her being and torches her 2-dimensional world, exposing all of her negative space.
For more information about this year's playwrights CLICK HERE.
For our Full Schedule of Public Readings & Events CLICK HERE.
For our Full Schedule of Public Readings & Events CLICK HERE.
