PlayME

A funny and honest play about loss and redemption

Floyd and Mooch are haunted by their residential school experience. Mooch wants to talk about it but Floyd would prefer to leave the past in the shadows. When someone from Floyd’s old life arrives at the bar to reconnect with him, he isn’t ready to confront what has been left behind.

Where the Blood Mixes by Kevin Loring

A funny and honest play about loss and redemption.

Floyd retreats home when his past catches up with him. He’s not ready to discuss what happened and provide the answers they desire. Mooch’s girlfriend, June, is left to pick up the slack and helps fill in some missing blanks. But Floyd can’t escape forever, and his visitor has come with their own surprises.

Where the Blood Mixes by Kevin Loring

Laura talks to playwright and performer Zorana Sadiq about her love of making mixtapes when she was a kid. She shares how music can activate our limbic system transporting us to different places, which makes hearing our most sophisticated sense. She discusses how her very personal play about her obsession with music and sound impacted audiences and why she doesn’t think artists should worry about being “great.”

MixTape by Zorana Sadiq

A solo show about a life told through the sounds and music

Zorana shares her real-life story about discovering her love of music. A child of Pakistani immigrants who grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, Zorana’s obsession with sound began at school. There she learned to play the flute at band camp, using her imagination to play the notes. When her teacher instructs her to visualize the notes in her mind, she discovers she can play the music she sees in her imagination. Suddenly becomes keenly aware of the sounds around her, including the angry voices of her parents as they fight. She loses herself in the music she compiles as mixtapes on her double-cassette player.

Written and performed by Zorana Sadiq

A solo show about a life told through the sounds and music

A fledging soprano, Zorana heads to arts high school to pursue her love of music and gets a lead role in the school musical. She’s discovering herself as an artist just as her parents’ marriage falls apart. Zorana graduates high school and moves to Montreal to study classical singing. But even there, she can’t escape her family drama. In the rehearsal hall, she begins to struggle with her confidence as a performer.

Written and performed by Zorana Sadiq

A solo show about a life told through the sounds and music

Zorana graduates from university. She no longer feels like singing anything. She takes a job at a call centre and tries to figure out who she is. She stumbles on something unexpected that helps open both her heart and mind.

Written and performed by Zorana Sadiq

Laura talks with award-winning playwright David Paquet and writer/ translator Leanna Brodie about how David’s research into his family’s past helped inspire his dark comedy, “Wildfire”. He shares how specific images and phrases help craft his unusual characters and why he feels drawn to those on the margins. Leanna Brodie opens up about her job of adapting the play for anglo audiences and why she’s tasked with translating more than just the language. They both reveal what it’s like to work as a writer today and why it's not just about making great art.

Wildfire by David Paquet, translated by Leanna Brodie.

A dark comedy about a family overcoming a difficult childhood.

Claudette, Claudia, and Claudine are triplets who live in the same triplex. They are reeling from being raised by an unloving mother. They do what they can to get by. Claudette keeps her young son in a cage, Claudia has developed an unhealthy interest in her mailman, and Claudine has taken to befriending baked goods. The three sisters live nearby but never see each other and only communicate by phone. That is until Claudia leaves her apartment one day, reuniting the sister and forever altering their lives.

Wildfire by David Paquet, translated by Leanna Brodie.

A dark comedy about a family overcoming a difficult childhood.

Carol is mourning the death of her beloved cat, the only thing she's ever truly loved. Callum is taking his brother's advice to get off his computer and out in the world to make friends. He meets Carol, and they share a love for movies and popcorn. Carol wonders if Callum shares her feelings, but her inability to articulate them is just one of the things they have in common.

Wildfire by David Paquet, translated by Leanna Brodie.

A dark comedy about a family overcoming a difficult childhood.

Caroline has just put a hammer through her TV. She has issues that she's trying to drown out with vacuuming. There were hints of her problem during childhood when she accidentally killed her parents' beloved pet tarantula. She tries to bury her worries by collecting figurines. It helps soothe her mind for a while, but her urges are strong and can't be kept under wraps forever.

Wildfire by David Paquet, translated by Leanna Brodie.