Touchstone Theatre to launch 2022-23 season with Kat Sandler's YAGA
Okinum and The Wrong Bashir also join the roster of contemporary Canadian works
Vancouver actor Colleen Wheeler stars as a forensics professor, and prime suspect, in YAGA. Photo illustration by Emily Cooper
TOUCHSTONE THEATRE has unveiled a season of three bold Canadian plays.
Things kick off with the cross-genre thriller YAGA by Dora Mavor Award-winning playwright Kat Sandler (whose Mustard was a hit at the Arts Club Theatre a few years back). Yaga centres on a small-town investigation into the disappearance of a yogurt empire heir and college-boy lothario. Vancouver stage veteran Colleen Wheeler plays Prof. Katherine Yazov, the prime suspect and a smart forensic bone expert with a shadowy past. Interwoven into the crime tale is the supernatural, in the form of the monster Baba Yaga. Touchstone artistic director Roy Surette directs.
Next February, Touchstone, the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, and Anvil Theatre copresent Okinum by Anishinaabe multidisciplinary performer Émilie Monnet. Inspired by the world of dreams and intuition, the show explores language reclamation and reconnecting to one’s ancestors. It’s performed in English, French, and Anishnabemowin, with a live score by musician Jackie Gallant.
Rounding out the season in March 2023, The Wrong Bashir by Ismaili playwright Zahida Rahemtulla hits the Firehall Arts Centre stage. A Flying Start play produced in association with the Firehall Arts Centre and directed by Touchstone associate artistic director Daniela Atiencia, the mistaken-identity comedy follows Bashir Ladha—a wayward philosophy major and budding nihilist—who assumes an important religious position. Nimet Kanji, Sabrina Shabana Vellani, Parm Soor, Salim Rahemtulla, Shera Haji, Hussein Janmohamed, and Leena Manro star.
Meanwhile, Touchstone continues its push for new play development all season. This year, it's supporting Anishinaabe theatre artist Herbie Barnes in the development of Father Penible. As part of its New Play Development initiative, the company has also put out a call for proposals for the David King Prize, a $3,000 cash prize awarded by a jury for the development or production of a new comedic work. The deadline is December 15.
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