Mission
Teesri Duniya Theatre is an intercultural theatre company dedicated to producing politically relevant plays that encourage positive change. Our plays foster critical thinking, address injustices, generate cross-cultural dialogue, create opportunities and enhance the representation of diverse, racialized and marginalized artists. We infuse art with social responsibility with a decolonizing consciousness.
Vision
"Change the World One Play at a Time."
Teesri Duniya Theatre is a socially responsible and culturally inclusive theatre company dedicated to meaningful stories that explore important issues, raise critical questions, motivate the public to imagine a better world, and promote positive social change in various ways.
We regard multiculturalism as the cultural framework to tell stories by, for and about people eclipsed by colonial institutions and practices. By doing so, we bring visible minorities from the margins to the centre, giving them a voice and representation.
We believe a theatre is a transformative tool that challenges oppressive powers and affects positive change. Our plays are inseparably tied to a change in their alignment with social justice and the struggle against powers that deny people human dignity. Our stage is a performative site where the struggle for human dignity and justice is enacted with the hope of transforming awareness into engagement addressing conditions that imprison people in poverty, injustice and oppression.
The Company prioritizes Canadian playwrights – BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other minoritized writers who are unafraid of intervening in social change. Our play-development program, Fireworks using an intercultural dramaturgy, is dedicated to developing conscious and diverse playwrights.
We see no separation between political and personal, between the issue and the aesthetic. Plays' characters don't exist in isolation as individual entities—but in a political system that simultaneously determines their personality and behaviour, which is biological, psychological, socio-cultural, and spiritual. Class, race and gender consciousness are critical determinants of our stories.
Teesri Duniya Theatre's socio-political goal is to unite marginalized artists and community groups in a class and cultural solidarity. We supplement our plays with various paratheatrical activities such as talk-backs, student engagement, and working in and with communities and social justice organizations. Teesri Duniya Theatre is a place for everyone regardless of class, culture, race, language, or ability.
Values
Engagement
The community is at the heart of everything that we produce. We create and present works that deal with internationally pertinent topics, broached at a local level. We engage our audience with public forums, information sessions, and panel discussions prior to, during, and after our presentations.
Our panels are comprised of experts with differing viewpoints for a true debate.
Representation
We are colour-conscious, not colour-blind. While colour-blind casting has its advantages, it ultimately promotes an assimilationist view. Presuming that the dominant culture is unified whole, visible minorities are denied their characteristics and social standing. We practice multicultural casting to respect the characters’ cultural heritage and colour.