Parallel Play

Friendship

Realistic

Jabber

Teenage Muslim girl and white boy become friends at school and online. When their feelings for each other become stronger, each is forced to confront how they feel about each other and how the choices we make are sometimes shaped by forces beyond our control

by Marcus Youssef, 2015

Stylized

Hongbu and Nolbu: The Tale of the Magic Pumpkins

A play with puppets. After their parents die, brothers Hongbu and Nolbu both marry and live in the same house. Nolbu, being the older brother, kicks Hongbu and his family out of the house. Hongbu and his family starve because Nolbu kept all the food and money. Though poor, Hongbu is kind and generous. One day he rescues an injured swallow and nurtures her back to health. To express her gratitude, the swallow queen gives Hongbu a magical pumpkin seed. The pumpkins provide him with food and wealth. When Nolbu learns that his brother is now rich, he tries to do the same by attacking the swallow and pretending to rescue it. But his greed earns him three bad magic pumpkins instead, and he is left without food nr money. Hongbu forgives his brother and take in the family. Nolbu promised to learn from Hongbu; to be generous and kind to others.

by Jean Yoon, 2012

Characters: 17

by Jordan Tannahill, 2018

Realistic

Late Company

Over dinner two sets of parents discuss bullying incidents that led to suicide of one of their teenage sons.

Characters: 5

by Olivier Sylvestre, 2021

Grief

Stylized

The Law of Gravity

Dom has had a rough go of things so far. At fourteen, he has the hardened look of someone who’s had to fight for everything. Fred has just moved to Not-The-City, a new place to try to disappear. But he didn’t expect to actually make friends. He just hopes he’s accepted for how he looks. When Dom and Fred meet on a hill overlooking a bridge that connects Not-The-City to The City, a place where anyone can be anything they want, the two find a refuge in one another and make a pact: they’ll cross the bridge at the end of the school year. They’ll be free. What could happen by then? Who will they be? And will the bridge even let them cross? The young characters are on a journey of self-discovery, feeling out their gender identity and how they want to present themselves to the world - while living in a world they find limiting, and dreaming of moving elsewhere.

by Makambe K. Simamba, 2021

Stylized

Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers

The story of Trayvon Martin’s first hours in the afterlife. February 26, 2012, Florida. A 17-year-old Black boy wearing a hoodie leaves a 7/11 carrying a bag of Skittles and an iced tea. He never makes it home. Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers invites us into the infamous world of one teen, into his last moments, and into his intricate dance to the afterlife.

by Christine Quintana, 2020

Grief

TYA

Princesses Don’t Grow on Trees

This Theatre for Young Audiences piece explores the imagination of a young girl who feels isolated because of her family's absorption in digital devices.

Stylized

Mortified

A woman encounters a man from her past and is disturbed by the strange power he still holds over her. In her attempts to uncover the truth of what happened between them, she evokes her 13-year-old self: a synchronized swimmer struggling to make sense of her burgeoning sexuality. Mortified explores adolescent sex, shame and transformation and how we reckon with the traumatic experiences that shape us.

by Amy Rutherford, 2022

Characters: 9

Empowerment

Memory

TYA

Selfie

A new year of high school is full of excitement and potential—but three teens didn’t expect it to bring such a dark change to their lives. After spending a summer reinventing herself in Paris, Emma is ready for her new life to start, while her best friend Lily is eager for them to reconnect. Lily throws a last-minute party fuelled by alcohol and Instagram, which leads to a long-awaited encounter between Emma and Lily’s older brother Chris. But the next day Emma feels that something went terribly wrong. When a doctor’s appointment and a visit from police confirm that there was a sexual assault at the party, and the whole school turns against Emma, the three friends grapple with what actually happened between Emma and Chris.

Characters: 3

Crime

High School

TYA

In This World

High school is hard, especially for Neyssa, who is not from a privileged family like her best friend Bijou. When the two get into a physical fight at school, they must confront what’s really bothering Neyssa. In This World looks at what friendship means to two teenage girls from vastly different social backgrounds, while they deal with racism, class, teen sex and reputation.

by Hannah Moscovitch, 2015

by Andrea Mapili, Byron Abalos, 2021

Stylized

Through the Bamboo

Twelve-year-old Philly is pulled into an action-packed adventure while mourning the loss of her Lola when she opens an old book and finds herself tossed into the fantastical land of Uwi. This Filipinx-Canadian tale inspired by Philippine mythology shows the value of keeping memories alive and explores how families deal with loss.

Characters: 15

Grief

Stylized

Let me Borrow that Top (part of Fish Eyes Trilogy)

Centres on Candice a girl who appropriates Meena’s Indian dance skills in Fish Eyes and bullies Naz in Boys with Cars. As she’s doing a YouTube makeup tutorial, she shares a passion for Indian dancing. Candice has just been accepted to the Conventry School of Bhangra. Will she leave Canada and her boyfriend, Buddy, to pursue her dreams?

by Anita Majumdar, 2016

Cultural Issues

Harassment

Stylized

Fish Eyes (part of Fish Eyes Trilogy)

Meena is a classically trained Indian dancer who wants to be the next Aishwarya Rai. However, she also wants to be like the rest of her high-school friends. She develops a massive crush on Buddy, the popular boy at school. In order to pursue him, she contemplates turning down competitions. With the sometimes gentle, sometimes an unwelcomed encouragement of her dance teacher, she sets out on a quest to conquer her first unrequited hearbreak and emerge triumphant.

by Anita Majumdar, 2016

Characters: 4

Cultural Issues

Empathy

Realistic

Shape of a Girl

A teenage girl, Braidie, struggles to come to terms with bullying and violence that occurred in her past. A bystander who reflects upon the treatment of a bullied friend, she observes the power dynamics between friends from young age and sees the gradually intensifying hostility leading to violence. Braidie wonders if the teen accused of a shocking act of violence is so very different from her and her friends. This “monster in the shape of a girl” propels Braidie to examine her own past and confront the truth of her often terrifying teenage world. She discovers how detrimental bullying is to the victim and examines her own actions and the actions of others who participate in the cycles of violence.

by Joan MacLeod, 2002

Characters: 1

Harassment

High school

TYA

The Middle Place

“This is a really difficult house.” It’s where people like Kaali and Nevaeh live, but it’s not home. Constructed from interviews conducted at a Rexdale youth shelter, THE MIDDLE PLACE has five actors bring to the stage the extraordinary voices of 16 homeless youth, 3 tireless caseworkers and one outsider.

by Andrew Kushnir, 2016

Characters: 20

Class

Community

Discover Tags, like 'Race'

Realistic

Graceful Rebellions

"Graceful Rebellions, playing in the SummerWorks Festival, tracks experiences of (and with) queerness in war-torn Afghanistan to Canada through two generations and four characters. We start with an idealistic fourteen year old, probably around sixty years ago, imagining her own future wedding on the eve of her sister’s. She is so good-natured and naïve that it is hard for us, the audience, who know her reality will not be able to meet her fantasy." - Mooneyonthetheatre.com "In this brilliant and engaging one-woman show, playwright and performer SHAISTA LATIF transitions seamlessly between distinctly complex characters in a deeply personal work. Moving across cultures and generations, Graceful Rebellions tells the stories of three Afghan women, each bartering for small joys and challenging the cultural norms that exist under Afghanistan’s patriarchal rule. Shaista lovingly portrays characters, by turns funny and heartbreaking, who struggle in a world where women commonly have no power, in a culture that has long been dominated by war." - National Arts Centre, Ottawa

by Shaista Latif, 2017

Characters: 4

LGBTQ2S+

by Joel Bernbaum, Lancelot Knight, Yvette Nolan, 2022

Solo Show

Dividing Lines | Líneas Divisorias

"The one thing everyone knows is that we’re all going to die. Which means our loved ones are going to die. So how can we prepare for, experience, and honour their deaths? And does that look different if we have to make the decision to end their lives for them if they’re suffering? Dividing Lines | Líneas Divisorias is one woman’s story that offers a space for communal grieving through a celebration of life. Traced by the historic world events that coincide with her memories of independence and immigration, Beatriz reflects on how she spent over a decade caring for her mother—the one person she promised she’d be there for all the way until the end—as she lost her more and more to Alzheimer’s, and ultimately had to make the tough call to end her mother’s pain. A meditation full of light that doesn’t shy away from fear of the unknown, Beatriz’s narrative comes from a vulnerable and recognizable place of love that will invite our memories and choices in to heal." - from the publisher

by Beatriz Pizano, 2022

Characters: 1

Ageing

Alzheimer's

Docudrama

Reasonable Doubt

"A significant moment in Canadian history is portrayed in this documentary musical about race relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Weaving hundreds of real interviews conducted with Saskatchewan residents and the court transcripts surrounding the killing of Colten Boushie and trial of Gerald Stanley, a kaleidoscopic picture is formed of the views of the incident, the province, and relationships between all people in Canada. A verbatim play with music created by Joel Bernbaum, Lancelot Knight, and Yvette Nolan, Reasonable Doubt provides a space to honestly talk to each other about what has happened on this land and how we can live together." - from the publisher "In 2015, playwright and journalist Joel Bernbaum was commissioned by Persephone Theatre to gather interviews with local citizens for the purposes of writing a documentary play on race relations in our province. Then, in 2016, Colten Boushie, was fatally shot on Gerald Stanley’s farm near Biggar, SK. and the interviews changed dramatically." - persephonetheatre.org

by Marie Beath Badian, 2017

Discrimination

Realistic

The Making of St. Jerome

When Jason De Jesus discovers his younger brother Jerome was the victim of a senseless shooting, his world is filled with questions surrounding Jerome’s death. Was his brother a threat or a casualty of racial profiling? Was he an innocent bystander or someone other than his family’s shining star? Internalizing his survivor’s guilt while reflecting on their strained relationship, Jason’s quest for truth and justice is tainted as he discovers there are no simple answers. Inspired by the shooting of a Filipino Canadian teenager by a police officer in Toronto, The Making of St. Jerome is a poignant look at the aftermath of an untimely death, the media’s role in the truth, and one family’s attempt to reconcile a haunting reality.

by Hiro Kanagawa, Mark Sakamoto, 2023

Historical

Forgiveness

Mitsue Sakamoto and Ralph MacLean both suffered tremendous loss during WWII: Mitsue as a survivor of a Japanese Canadian internment camp, and Ralph as a prisoner in a Japanese POW camp. In order to rebuild their lives and their families after the war, Ralph and Mitsue must find the grace and generosity necessary to forgive those who have wronged them. Their paths eventually cross in 1968 when Mitsue’s son and Ralph’s daughter begin dating, and Ralph is invited to Mitsue’s home for dinner. This soaring adaptation of Mark Sakamoto’s award-winning memoir affirms the power of forgiveness and shows us that in our challenging times characterized by political divisiveness, xenophobia, and race hatred, the story of Mitsue and Ralph’s personal triumphs over hatred, injustice, violence, and bigotry remains vitally relevant and urgently necessary.

Characters: 30

Empathy

Family

Solo show

Body So Fluorescent

What happened last night on the dance floor? Gary knows he went to the club with his friend Desiree, but now all he has is a fuzzy memory and a text saying, “We’re done.” Desiree has known something’s been up with Gary, but she always kept her thoughts to herself. Until last night ended in an explosive fight. As Gary and Desiree retrace their steps to figure out the chain of events, perspectives shift from self to alter ego to untangle the facts. And after the dust settles, can their friendship be rebuilt? Body So Fluorescent is an electrifying exploration that asks difficult questions about Blackness, otherness, and appropriation.

by Amanda Cordner, David Di Giovanni, 2023

2SLGBTQI+

Realistic

Say Ginger Ale

Nadia is very happy to call Canada home. Since moving there at the age of 6, there was no turning back. So, why does everyone think she's pining for Jamaica? An unexpected trip back "home" makes her confront her feelings and her past. There may even be a love connection.

by Marcia Johnson, 2010

Characters: 5

Black experience

Community

Historical

Viola Desmond

1946 New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. A Black beautician from Halifax refuses to sit in the balcony of the segregated movie theatre and is sent to jail and convicted of tax evasion for the $ 0.02 difference in price. The conviction is upheld by the Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

by Marcia Johnson, 2009

Characters: 20

Class

Solo Show

The Sender

Cil Brown loves her work. Her job as a Sender on a global racism-elimination project has resulted in a peaceful, logical and sustainable world. However, she encounters technical difficulties when a Sendee objects to restrictions on the lives of residents of White Supremacist Island.

by Cheryl Foggo, 2023

Characters: 1

Class

Historical

Other People’s Heaven: The Viola Desmond Story

Viola Davis Desmond (July 6, 1914-1965) was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She was an African- Canadian who ran her own beauty parlor and beauty college in Halifax. She has been referred to as a Canadian version of Rosa Parks. Desmond’s story was one of the most publicized incidents of racial discrimination in Nova Scotian and Canadian history. On November 8, 1946, Viola Desmond refused to sit in the balcony designated exclusively for blacks in a New Glasgow theatre. Instead she took her seat on the ground floor where only white people were allowed to sit. After being forcibly removed from the theatre and arrested, Desmond was eventually found guilty of not paying the one-cent difference in tax on the balcony ticket from the main floor ticket.

Historical

Once A Flame

Once a Flame tells the harrowing story of the defiant Black slave Marie Joseph Angélique who was executed for arson in Old Montreal in 1734. This one act play recalls the events that took place before and after her trial.

Realistic

Who You Callin’ Black, eh?

Who you Callin Black Eh? is a coming of age play set in Canada’s largest, most multicultural, multilingual city, that is not about sexuality, but about colour. Wherever Our Heroine goes, she is not Black Enough or White Enough to find her people.

by Rita Shelton Deverell

Characters: N/A