Reading Series:

Trident Moon by Trident Moon takes us to the 1947 division of Hindustan. After a 200-year rule, the British were forced to leave Hindustan but they wanted to leave with one last blow – deciding to split Hindustan into two halves. Their strategy was remarkable – instead of dividing the country arbitrarily, they decided to exploit the religious hatred between the Hindus and the Muslims and divided based on religious differences – A Muslim majority in Pakistan and a Hindu majority in India. This event resulted in the biggest mass migration in history.

Playwright: Anusree RoyDirector: Esther JunDramaturg: Erica KopytoFeaturing: Ray Ablack, Dalal Badr, Mina James, Satinder Kaur, Shruti Kothari, Farah Merani, Ellora Patnaik, Laara Sadiq, Asha Vijayasingham, Dharini Woollcombe

It was five years ago that Laura was Alan’s student at Corpus Christi High School. She was uncharacteristically intelligent for fifteen years old—perceptive and vulnerable—a dream student for a flailing English teacher. Now, five years later, all that remains is the dust of controversy that surrounds their relationship. Told through the lens of a young woman in retrospect, Lo explores how in the same breath, a relationship can both save and sink us.

Rose Napoli | PlaywrightRose's first play, Oregano, was shortlisted for the Tarragon's Emerging Playwright Competition and premiered at the Storefront Theatre last year featuring Diane D'Aquila and Richard Greenblatt. She is currently a writer in the Playwright's Unit at the Thousand Islands Playhouse and has another play in development with Theatre Passe Muraille. As an actor, Rose has worked around the country, most recently playing the title role in Romeo & Juliet with the St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival. She is a graduate of the University of Windsor and a two-time participant in the Banff/Citadel Professional Training Program.

Oct 27th - Oct 27th -

Playwright: Rose NapoliDirector/WFTH Program Facilitator: Andrea DonaldsonFeaturing: Vivien Endicott-Douglas and David JansenStage Directions: Elizabeth Stuart-Morris

Write From the Hip Readings:

Lo (or Dear Mr. Wells) by Rose

Anusree Roy | PlaywrightAnusree Roy is a Governor General’s Award nominated writer and actor whose work has toured nationally. Her plays include: Sultans of the Street, Brothel # 9, Roshni, Letters to my Grandma and Pyaasa. Her Opera librettos include: The Golden Boy and Noor over Afghan and Phoolan Devi. She holds a B.A from York University and an M.A from the University to Toronto and has been published by the Playwright’s Canada Press. Her plays and performances have won her four Dora Mavor Moore

Awards along with multiple nominations. She is the recipient of the K.M.Hunter Award, RBC Emerging Artist Award, The Carol Bolt Award and The Siminovitch Protégé Prize. Anusree’s playwright-in-residences include: Nightwood Theatre, Factory Theatre, The Blyth Festival, Theatre Passe

This workshop is madepossible with the support of:

Write From the Hip Readings:

The Antigone Project by

After her son is killed in combat, Karen, a well-known anti-war protester, refuses to attend his reparation ceremony. Tegan, a childhood friend of Karen’s son, decides it’s her duty to get Karen to change her mind and publicly mourn her son, gathering support both online and at a vigil outside Karen’s house. Tegan is turned into the new poster-child for political activism, while Karen is crucified online and accused of using her son’s death for political gain. As both women are pushed to extreme defenses of their positions, they’re also forced to decide what’s more important: what you believe or who you love.

Playwright: Heather DeblingDirector/WFTH Program Facilitator: Andrea DonaldsonFeaturing: Beryl Bain, Valerie Buhagiar, Shawn DeSouza-Coelho, Michael Dufays, Lucy Hill, Karen Robinson, Suzanne Roberts-SmithStage Directions: Darwin Lyons

Heather Debling | PlaywrightHeather Debling is a playwright and fiction writer based in Stratford, Ontario. Her play The Maple Leaves premiered at SpringWorks, Stratford’s juried indie theatre and arts festival, in 2013, winning “Best Production (Adult Programming)”. That play was also part of the piece/meal reading series at the Magnetic North Theatre Festival in 2010 and received an honourable mention in the 2011 Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition. Her fiction has appeared in The Antigonish Review, Room, and Agnes and True.

Sex, undone gender, two generations, and YouTube.

Sam becomes the subject of both their mother and their lover’s creative work, exposing the dangerous and addictive power of romanticizing otherness. This is the August reveals the hard truths at the centre of some our most complex contemporary anxieties.

Hillary Rexe | PlaywrightHillary Rexe is a Toronto-based writer and editor. She is the co-founder of PistolPress, a literary press that published poetry, prose and visual art, and Camera Roll Camp, a film camp for youth on the autism spectrum. Hillary teaches at Humber College and is currently writing a bluegrass musical about death.

Oct 27th - Oct 27th -

Playwright: Hillary RexeDirector/WFTH Program Facilitator: Andrea DonaldsonFeaturing: Caroline Gillis, Diana Luong and Amelia SargissonStage Directions: Sarah Marchand

Write From the Hip Readings:

This is the August by Hillary

Write From the Hip Readings:

Eva by Pearl ChanA Leninist, a Jew, an idealist. During WWII, Eva was a member of a Leninist cell group led by charismatic Imre Lakatos. Too vocal, too radical, too exposed - Eva risked not only her own life but the lives of the other members. The decision was made: she should commit suicide for the greater good of the cause and for the protection of its members.After WWII, Imre Lakatos flees to England to begin an illustrious career as a philosopher of science. The remaining members are left struggling with their involvement in Eva’s death. As memories begin to fade, the facts become harder to pinpoint.

Playwright: Pearl ChanDirector/WFTH Program Facilitator: Andrea DonaldsonFeaturing: Simon Bracken, Sara Farb, Tara Rosling, Courtenay StevensStage Directions: Stephanie Zidel

Pearl Chan | PlaywrightPearl is a writer of short fiction and plays. She is the publisher of Paisley Chapbook Press and fiction editor of The Impressment Gang. She works with bikes otherwise and enjoys cooking. She acknowledges the support of Nova Scotia Talent Trust.

It was five years ago that Laura was Alan’s student at Corpus Christi High School. She was uncharacteristically intelligent for fifteen years old—perceptive and vulnerable—a dream student for a flailing English teacher. Now, five years later, all that remains is the dust of controversy that surrounds their relationship. Told through the lens of a young woman in retrospect, Lo explores how in the same breath, a relationship can both save and sink us.

Rose Napoli | PlaywrightRose's first play, Oregano, was shortlisted for the Tarragon's Emerging Playwright Competition and premiered at the Storefront Theatre last year featuring Diane D'Aquila and Richard Greenblatt. She is currently a writer in the Playwright's Unit at the Thousand Islands Playhouse and has another play in development with Theatre Passe Muraille. As an actor, Rose has worked around the country, most recently playing the title role in Romeo & Juliet with the St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival. She is a graduate of the University of Windsor and a two-time participant in the Banff/Citadel Professional Training Program.

Oct 27th - Oct 27th -

Playwright: Rose NapoliDirector/WFTH Program Facilitator: Andrea DonaldsonFeaturing: Vivien Endicott-Douglas and David JansenStage Directions: Elizabeth Stuart-Morris

Write From the Hip Readings:

Lo (or Dear Mr. Wells) by Rose