About the project

Can Lit Can Suck It is a play that confronts the white settler-centric narrative that has dictated the course of Canadian literature for years. The play seeks to challenge the cultural memory that surrounds the Canadian literature canon and ask questions about whose voices we hear and why.

Set in a hastily prepared virtual classroom in March 2020, a young TA is stuck teaching an exam review class. With the professor away, the students have a space to communicate their own opinions and feelings regarding the syllabus. Part comedy, part activism, part immersive theatre, Can Lit Can Suck It aims to call Canadians everywhere to think critically about what we as a country choose to remember and why.

Official poster of the show

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artists

Isabela Solis Lozano , Director & Producer (Co-Creator)

Isabela Solis-Lozano is an emerging theatre creator based in the liminal space between Toronto and Ottawa. She has developed plays with various playwriting groups such as the 2019 Emerging Creators Unit, funded by the Ottawa Arts Council, and Writers: Taking Flight through Fly the Nest Productions theatre company in Toronto. As a theatre director, Isabela has brought new, exciting works to life at the Youth Infringement Festival in Ottawa, and has adapted Sammy Paul’s short film, One Another, for the stage. Isabela graduated from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor of Arts with Majors in English and Theatre in June 2019. Most recently, she has been pursuing a career in arts management . She has interned and worked on small projects for several theatre companies such as Nightwood Theatre, Qaggiavuut Performing Arts, and Soulpepper Theatre. Currently, Isabela is exploring the wonders of working from home at her first ”big-girl job” as the Toronto Fringe Festival’s new Emerging Festival Producer.

Ryan Pepper as the TA, playwright (Co-Creator)

Ryan Pepper is an Ottawa-based arts journalist and theatre critic turned playwright. He worked twice as the Arts and Culture editor at The Fulcrum, the University of Ottawa’s independent English-language student newspaper, as well as an editor at Apartment613, an award-winning arts and culture blog. Ryan has also written several theatre reviews for Capital Critics Circle. On three separate occasions Ryan participated in NASH, a four-day conference for student journalists hosted by the Canadian University Press. Ryan recently completed his degree at the University of Ottawa with an Honours Bachelor of Arts with a Specialization in English in December 2019 and will go on to start his master’s degree in English in September 2020. Within the Department of English, Ryan is the outgoing Vice-President, Internal Affairs for the Undergraduate English Students Association, as well as a founding member of Rhombus 19, an experimental sound poetry group. After years of seeing and reviewing plays, Ryan is currently writing his first-ever original play, set to debut at the 2020 Ottawa Fringe Festival.

Alicia Plummer as Donna

Alicia is an actor based in Toronto. She also enjoys playwriting, writing poetry, and writing music. She has had the pleasure of performing her own original songs at Dark Day Monday’s Boys, Amirite?! this past November. Some of her acting credits include: 20/20: Vision and 20/20: Golden Standard with Can’t Stand Sitting Productions; Rayna, In Your Hand with Mixed Company Theatre; Monique, How We Breathe at the Paprika Festival; and Territorial Tales with Canadian Stage. Alicia is very excited and thankful to be playing Donna in Can Lit Can Suck It with Other(ed) Productions this Spring!

Armon Ghaeinizadeh as Sam

Armon Ghaeinizadeh is a Toronto based Actor, Director, Choreographer, Producer and Creator. A recent graduate of the University of Toronto’s Drama Centre and the Artistic Director of New Story Productions. Most recently Armon performed as Mahyar in Winter of 88 (NNNNN) with Nowadays Theatre at the 2020 Next Stage Festival, as well as Prince Charming in TYT’S Cinderella for which he was also the choreographer. Favourite credits include Simon Marwane in Scorched Directed by Djanet Sears, Brown Boy in LEMON LEMON produced by New Story Productions, Ali Baba in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves at Globus Theatre and THOMAS in One Small Step. At the 2019 Toronto Fringe Armon recently Directed and Produced DEEP END a site specific production with New Story Productions and also performed in OFF THE ISLAND. Armon could not be happier to be joining the OTHER(ED) Productions team for his first ever virtual production for Can Lit Can Suck It.

Jaimie Henderson as Bayley

Jaimie Henderson is a graduate of the UC Drama program at the University of Toronto. She has been acting, singing, dancing and choreographing since she was three. She has danced and sang her way through the worlds of: Anne & Gilbert, Grease, Beauty and the Beast, Legally Blonde, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As a classically trained actor Jaimie has also explored the complex lives of Nina (The Seagull), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), and Imogen (Cymbeline). With the world in the middle of a great pause, Jaimie is so excited to be able to ”play” even in a virtual space, which this group of artists.

Jill Goranson as Emilie

Born and raised in Red Deer, Alberta, Jill Goranson is a singer, dancer, and creator who is passionate about physical theatre, clown, and creating new works. Since graduating from Sheridan’s Honours Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance Program, Jill has developed one-night-only Art Pop-Ups in Toronto with her colleagues Alexa MacDougall and Micheal Derworiz. Some of her recent creations include her one woman show, Sweaty, Bloated, and Stressed , and two physical theatre pieces performed at the Art Pop-Ups: blue and RED . Due to the spread of COVID-19, Jill has returned home to Alberta to be with her family and is so grateful for this team that is finding new ways to create within these strange times.

Linus Holmes as Colin

Linus Holmes is an actor from Gloucestershire, England. He has acting credits in such plays as Inherit the Wind, Another Country, Richard the Third, and Our Country’s Good.

Click here to watch a recording of the live performance!

About the project

After This is a show about loneliness, about being alone with yourself — within a community or without. Part audio documentary, part verbatim theatre production, After This is a creative compilation of phone interviews with students, parents, professionals and seniors in Canada and abroad. These interviews were conducted by playwright Katie Clarke in April and May 2020, during the period of social isolation prompted by COVID-19. This theatrical short film asks us to consider what it means to be alone, to be lonely and to be isolated. After This also examines community: its creation, the different forms it may take and how it is sustained. While we are alone, while we stay at home, what does it mean to be in a community? When does a community, or company, become claustrophobic? What does it mean to escape — and where will we escape to?

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artists

Katie is a playwright and poet living in Halifax. She studies Psychology and Contemporary Studies at the University of King’s College as a LORAN scholar. Passionate about women’s rights and mental health, she uses poetry and playwriting as a site for social change and difficult dialogue. Katie has written two full-length plays, both of which focus on conflicting narratives of sex, sexuality and identity. Women’s Issues, Katie’s first play, was staged at the University of King’s College in January 2019 and was restaged at Halifax Fringe in September 2019. Her second play, Will You Taste Our Blood, is a feminist re-examination of Euripedes’ The Bacchae which addresses hook-up culture, sexuality and sexual violence. Will You Taste Our Blood was first staged at the University of King’s College in March 2020. In After This, Katie uses verbatim theatre, documentary audio and film to investigate themes of community, care, discomfort and loneliness.

Benjamin Burchell

Benjamin Burchell is a twenty-year-old Halifax local studying Theatre and Acting at Dalhousie university. This is the second production Benjamin has taken part in under the direction of Katie Clarke with the first being Will you Taste Our Blood; a play in which modern rape culture is juxtaposed with the sexualized cults of ancient Greece. Benjamin made his post-secondary acting debut at the University of King’s college with his role as King Aegeus in the King’s Theatre Society’s production of Medea directed by Adrianna Vanos. Benjamin was initially excited to partake in a production in this format with the circumstances surrounding COVID-19 and hopes to be a part of more unique productions like this one.

Tessa Hill

Tessa is a second-year student majoring in English and Contemporary Studies at the University of King’s College and an artist who works in various mediums. Her short films have screened and garnered recognition internationally. During her time at King’s, she has gotten involved in the theatre community, acting in a production of Euripides’ Medea and Katie Clarke’s piece Will You Taste Our Blood. Tessa is very excited to be a part of After This and its vision of pandemic theatre-making!

Adriana Loewen

Adriana Loewen is an actor and director living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A recent graduate of the Theatre program at Dalhousie University, some of her favourite past projects have been performing in Peter Fechter: 59 Minutes (KTS 2018), Women’s Issues (Halifax Fringe 2019), and Concord Floral (DMV 2019).

David Woroner

David Woroner is an actor and director who has worked in theatre and film for several years. David’s most recent work includes An Orchid and Other Such Lilies and Lies (BodyCube Art’s Collective) at Toronto Fringe and the Atlantic Fringe Festival, Women’s Issues (Dir. Katie Clarke) at Atlantic Fringe, Concord Floral (DMV Theatre), as well as many other credits as both an actor and director with The King’s Theatrical Society and other independent companies. David has also acted in several films, most recently The Lockpicker (Dir. Randall Okita) which premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2016. David recently graduated with a joint degree from The University of King’s College and Dalhousie University, with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies with honours, and a minor in the Early Modern Studies Program. David is also starting a Master of Fine Arts in Directing at the University of Alberta this fall.

Jessica Hannaford

Jessica Hannaford is a second year student at the University of King’s College. She was very involved with her high school musical theatre productions. She played Little Red in her high school performance of Into The Woods in 2016 as well as Mrs. Corry in Mary Poppins in 2018. Last Year, she was part of the chorus in her university’s performance of Euripides’ Medea. She also played Clark in Katie Clarke’s play, Will You Taste Our Blood. She’s very excited to be a part of another one of Katie Clarke’s productions!

James Ersil

James Ersil is so excited to be a part of their third theatre project written by Katie Clarke. Previously seen in Women’s Issues and Will You Taste Our Blood, they are thrilled to be able to navigate this new theatrical format. An acting student at Dalhousie, they are glad to be a part of any and all theatre during this time of social isolation. They hope that you enjoy After This, and that it brings you some sense of community and comfort.

Hannah Peres

Hannah is entering her fourth year at the University of King’s College, where she is studying Economics and History of Science and Technology. She enjoys acting in and viewing plays produced by the King’s Theatrical Society (KTS) and was cast in a production of “Him”, by E.E. Cummings pre-Covid19 closures in April. This summer, she is spending time biking to Value Village and reading by the ocean. Hannah wants to thank Katie for including her in this project, and for keeping her voice down during the initial phone interviews when they were roommates and she was trying to get a nap in. Thanks Katie!

Moneesha “Misha” Bakshi

Moneesha “Misha” Bakshi is an Indian-American Actor for theatre, film, and voiceover. Originally from Greeneville, Tennessee, Misha has just finished her 3rd year with the Fountain School of Performing Arts, Dalhousie University, where she studies acting as part of her master plan to become a C-list celebrity. Proudly bisexual, and proudly a woman of color, Misha strives to make theatre that reflects the lived experiences or herself and all other marginalized people. Previous Theatre Credits include: EVIL (Halifax Fringe), 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche (Dal Theatre), Ephemera (FSPA), Onion Play (Villains Theatre).

Marlee Sansom

Marlee is a 20-year-old student currently attending the University of King’s College. There she has been involved in many productions with the Kings theatrical society such as Peter Fechter 59 minutes, Hamlet, Puppet Prince of Denmark and Women’s Issues. Last year she was involved in her first Halifax Fringe festival continuing her role in Women’s Issues, written and directed by Katie Clarke. Marlee is excited for you to see her debut online quarantine theatre performance and hopes you enjoy watching on the comfiest theatre seats yet, your couch!

Keely Olstad

Keely Olstad is an actor/designer/director/wearer of many hats in Theatre and occasionally Film. Recent work includes Little Death (Kings Theatrical Society 2020, Dir. Daniel Halpern), Hamlet: Puppet Prince of Denmark (KTS 2019, Dir. Jack Smith).

About the project

Meet Dolly, a new mother to a very fussy newborn. Audiences will be diving in head first alongside Dolly as she experiences bursts of intense postpartum psychosis periods within a surreal, nightmarish nursery full of her beloved dolls. As she seeks to discover the root of her life failures she finds that motherhood might finally allow her to find some success. Content warning: language and suggested violence.

Motherhood is supposed to be one of the happiest times in a woman’s life, but what happens when a mother isn’t happy? Ex Utero explores the effects of postpartum psychosis, a widely unspoken issue that millions of women have experienced. When an illness such as postpartum psychosis is put into the mix, how can a woman possibly enjoy her new life as a mother? How is she expected to survive when she cannot protect herself or her child? This piece seeks to raise awareness about this illness and to expose some of the truths about motherhood that too many are afraid to speak up about.

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artist

Katy is a recent graduate University of Windsor’s BFA Acting degree. Her passion lies completely in storytelling and the art of sharing the voice. Katy focuses her art on Shakespeare, classical text, devised work and Grand Guignol Theatre.

About the project

E-TRANSFERS is focused on the intersections between money and trans identity and explores how these components shift over time based on circumstances. Wyn and Eva are both young trans individuals working towards self-actualization while trying to survive the unfavouring structures of capitalism. These two characters rely on Zein, Wyn’s childhood best friend and Eva’s partner, for emotional support. These two characters have phone calls, video chats, and exchange messages with Zein as a means to connect socially. They are exploring their options in their circumstances, they are asking for Zein’s advice, they’re looking to be heard. Zein is the audience.

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artists

Playground Productions was founded in the summer of 2017 by a group of newly graduate Dawson Professional Theatre students in Montreal. Playground’s flagship production, Rajiv Joseph’s GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES, starred Merlin Simard (they/them) and was directed by Gabe Maharjan (they/them). Cognitive and physical disabilities were at the centre of the production; it was an exploration on how love and connection can manifest despite difference.

Playground Productions has since shifted its mandate to develop new texts by playwrights of diversity. Gabe Maharjan’s EVA IN RIO was developed under Playground Productions with support from Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal, Emploi Québec, MAI, Centaur Theatre, and Black Theatre Workshop. A reading of the text was presented at the Centaur as part of their Queer Reading Series in January 2019, and Playground produced a development presentation of the piece in June 2019.

E-TRANSFERS is Playground’s latest project. Co-created by Merlin Simard and Gabe Maharjan, the script is currently being developed at the Emerging Creators Unit at Buddies in Bad Times.

As intersectionally diverse theatre artists, we are highly aware of the lack of visibility. Due to a personal longing to see trans narratives authentically performed, we are committed to representing nuanced trans/gender nonconforming voices. This is at the heart of Playground’s mandate.

Presented by the Buddies in Bad Times Emerging Creators unit in partnership with B Current Theatre, and the National Theatre School’s Art Apart Program

Watch the Facebook Live on June 10 at 9PM, EAST

About the project

Talk to Me is an original, live, lo-fi site-specific radio play – broadcast for free on Canada’s oldest radio station, CRFC 101.9. A call-in sex and dating advice show, Talk to Me is a comedic exploration into intimacy, liveness, and exposure through the means of radio broadcast. Tune into the full show at FOLDA.ca.

Cellar Door Project’s Talk to Me

Written by Sean Meldrum
Dramaturged and Directed by Wallis Caldoza
Produced by Mariah Horner
Starring Mariah Horner and Sean Meldrum

Presented at FOLDA, produced with CFRC 101.9FM.

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artists

Mariah Horner (actor and producing lead) is an artist based in Kingston, Ontario. Selected credits include: assistant directing Unholy (GCTC, upcoming), directing Hana Hashimoto: Sixth Violin (Thousand Islands Playhouse, 2019), assistant directing Behaviour (GCTC/SpiderWebShow, 2019). She has worked as Digital Content Producer with SpiderWebShow and foldA for the past three years. She is the Festival Director of CFRC’s Shortwave Theatre Festival and helmed Kingston’s Storefront Fringe Festival from 2016-2018. Co-founding the Cellar Door Project with Devon Jackson in 2013, Mariah has produced 15 original site-specific works. Mariah played Kate Unger in George F. Walker’s HBO Canada series Living in Your Car and graduated with an MA in Theatre Theory & Dramaturgy from the University of Ottawa in 2017. She has been published by SpiderWebShow, Visit Kingston, Canadian Theatre Review, the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario. She is also currently co-writing a book about Participatory Performance with Dr. Jenn Stephenson.

Sean Meldrum (playwright and actor) is a Canadian theatre artist, filmmaker, and musician. Credits as a writer include Gnaw (Theatre Mies, Toronto Fringe, 2016) and From the Thunder (True Perspective, 2019). Selected credits as an actor include Delusion (Out There Creative, 2020) and Judith Thompson’s HotHouse (Original Cast, Theatre Kingston, 2015). Over the past year, Sean’s short film From the Thunder screened at festivals across the world, winning Best Short Film at the Florence Film Awards, and his experimental piece I Am Like The Moon premiered at the Squat Betty Avant Garde Film Night in London, England. He is a playwright-in-residence with The Cellar Door Project and the in-house screenwriter for Toronto film production house, True Perspective. His play, The Diagnosis, was shortlisted for the Newmarket International Playwriting Competition. For his performance in Cakewalk, he was the recipient of the Focus Film Festival’s 2016 Award for Best Actor. In 2019, he was the recipient of the George Brown Opportunity Award for his work in Sound Design. Voices is his seventh collaboration with The Cellar Door Project.

Wallis Caldoza (dramaturg and performance lead) is a dramaturg and artist-researcher pursuing her PhD in the Social Justice Education Department at OISE at the University of Toronto. Her research works at determining how to prevent Othering in tertiary academic institutions using quotidian dramaturgy. Selected credits include: research as a graduate assistant for Dr. Kathleen Gallagher’s SSHRC-funded project Audacious Citizenship (University of Toronto, 2019-2020), playwriting for Beyond the Bard (Driftwood Theatre, 2020), playwriting for Trafalgar 24 (Driftwood Theatre, 2019), postgraduate induction workshop facilitator (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCSSD), 2018), collaborative writer and scenographer for Armen Avanessian & Enemies #33 Corresponding with ghosts – A staged reading with music on the legacy of debt (RCSSD and the Volksbühne Berlin, 2017 – 2018), founder and facilitator of A Space: 48 Hours at Queen’s University (2017), dramaturgy intern at CAHOOTS Theatre (CAHOOTS Theatre, 2016 – 2017), and stage manager of the Young Company’s touring production of Violet’s the Pilot (The Thousand Islands Playhouse, 2016). Wallis also holds an MA, with distinction, from RCSSD for Theatre Criticism and Dramaturgy and a BAH from Queen’s University.

About the project

Trapped is a call for hope to our society. Many people live in a place where hope and solidarity are slowly fading. We the immigrants, the future generations, are facing the biggest displacement of all time. José Maria and Susana are just two glimpses of what it means to be a refugee living in fear. They are an example of survival. They are what nationalists see as the outsiders, trespassers, criminals, or as”those kind of people”.

Meanwhile, these people are obliged to rebuild their lives away from their homeland.
Today is José Maria and Susana’s turn, tomorrow it might be yours. This play is a call for solidarity to those who are our neighbours, our community, our future.

EXCERPT OF THE PLAY

The play takes place in Ecuador. It is current time. It is evening in the city of
Ibarra. It is very dark outside.

The lightning should give us the sense of chaos and desperation. We hear the sound of people throwing things out of the building’s windows and burning tires on the streets.

José Maria and Susana enter the stage running with fear and no direction.

JOSÉ MARIA
Corre! Corre! (RUN! RUN!) They are behind us! They are almost catching us!

SUSANA
Oh my God! They are going to stone us to death! God, have mercy!

JOSÉ MARIA
Hurry, we need to get out of here!

They go and hide quietly in a dark alley. They are running out of breath. They watch how the mob is kicking people out of their houses.

SUSANA
No, es justo! (THIS IS UNFAIR!) We don’t deserve this. Están quemando nuestras cosas, José
Maria! (THEY ARE BURNING OUR THINGS, JOSÉ MARIA!) We can’t let this happen. They can’t kick us out like dogs and burn our belongings. What did we do to deserve this?! What?! I am tired of walking, of crossing borders, of hitchhiking and searching for a place to stay. We left Venezuela looking for peace. Not this! I feel lost. This is hopeless.

Screaming voices outside
Ay, mi Dios! They want to burn us alive! We are not going to make it José!

JOSÉ MARIA
Callate! (SHUT UP!) Let’s get out of here before the mob catches us.

LIGHTS CHANGE

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artists

Ed Mendez (Director & Multimedia Tech Operator)

Ed Mendez is an actor, director, sketch comedian, puppeteer, and arts administrator from Saskatoon, Canada. He has been an arts professional for over a decade and in that time has had the pleasure of working with most of the theatres in his hometown, attended various national and international festivals, and continues to learn from mentors both younger and older than himself. Ed is passionate about creating new works and inspiring the next generation of artists.

Yulissa Campos (Playwright & Laura)

Yulissa is a professional actress and an emerging playwright originally from Ecuador and currently living in Saskatoon, Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, both from the University of Saskatchewan. Yulissa is also the creator and artistic director of Ay, Caramba! Theatre, the first Latinx theatre in Saskatoon! She has been recently working in her new play The Newcomer and hopes to bring it to life soon. Selected theatre credits: Theatre in the Neighbourhood, Earth Diver (SUM Theatre), Prairie Nurse (Station Arts Centre) I, Frida (Ay, Caramba! Theatre), The Penelopiad (FerrePlay). Playwriting credits: Trapped (The Last Sunday, Short Cuts Festival 2020) I, Frida (Saskatoon Fringe 2019). She hopes you are all staying safe and healthy during this difficult time.

Kris Sandoval

Kris is your friendly neighborhood shorty, meaning she’s really nice and short. She has done a few theatre productions around Saskatoon. Most notably she was apart of the Persephone Theater Young Company from 2016-2019. She also was in the Romeo Project at the Fringe Festival 2019. She has also participated in a few productions for the Floyd theatre one-act festival, including Much Ado About Nothing, Drive, and Opening Night. Kris recently finished fashion school and hopes to create her own clothing business soon. She is thankful for each opportunity being thrown her way, because right now all she is used to is eating and sleeping all day. Just a friendly reminder we are all in this together.

Guifre Bantjes-Rafols (José Maria)

Guifre Bantjes-Rafols is a Catalan-Canadian actor and creator based in Toronto. He can be seen in Coroner episode 202 (CBC), the feature film Sebastian (Bonpland Pictures), and in the upcoming season of Private Eyes episode 405 (Global). Past theatre credits include: Jacob Mercer in Salt-Water Moon (QCT) and Lazarus in Lazarus and his Beloved (Broken Hill Theatre). He also wrote/co-created and acted in the short film Laundro which is currently in post-production.

In 2019, he founded Faula Creative Inc. with the goal of facilitating narrative creation projects for himself and his peers; giving specific focus to collaborating on projects that voice underrepresented stories and illuminate different perspectives.

Lenore Claire Herrem (Morgan)

Lenore Claire Herrem is an interdisciplinary artist living in isolation in her Montreal apartment. Born, raised, and educated in Saskatchewan, Lenore enjoyed studying Theatre Performance at the University of Saskatchewan. Her favourite role was playing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus in 2011. You may also know her as her alter ego, Sandy Bridges, your #1 funny source for tongue-in-cheek advice, eclectic journalism, and affairs of home and garden. Her current endeavours are working on new theatre works in Montreal as well as animation & digital medias.