DRAMATURGS
Dramaturg/Program Facilitator
(he/him)
Dramaturg
(she/her)
Vishesh Abeyratne
Jen Cressey
Vishesh Abeyratne is a Sri Lankan-Canadian playwright, dramaturg, and storyteller who divides his time between Ottawa, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec. He currently serves as Artistic Facilitator for Teesri Duniya Theatre where he coordinates the Fireworks Playwrights' Mentorship Program. He also recently served as playwright-in-residence at the Great Canadian Theatre Company. His latest play The Agony Market received a workshop with Horseshoes and Hand Grenades Theatre in 2023. Other works include Blood Offering, White Lion, Brown Tiger, and Exposure (published by YouthPLAYS, Inc)
Jen Cressey (BFA Theatre, MA Individualized Program, Concordia University) is a theatre artist and practice-based researcher living in Tiohtià:ke/ Montreal. She directs, dramaturges, devises, and co-creates contemporary performance. Recent credits as a director/dramaturg/ collaborator include The Streets segment of roving site-specific Dwellings (Concordia University), the little life of we (Nuit Blanche), Keeper (Art Matters, Freestanding Room), and The Yellow Wallpaper (Concordia). As a performer/ collaborator, Jen participated in ineradicable voices: narratives towards rerooting, headphone verbatim performance. As a director/ dramaturg, she workshopped Ms. Rebel, with performances at Odyssey Theatre (LA) and United Solo Festival (NYC).
deidre “d-lishus” walton
2023/24 COHORT
Kamal Pandya
Teesri Duniya Theatre's Fireworks Play Development Program is a guided 6-month-long mentorship that seeks to provide an encouraging and safe environment for BIPOC, LGBTQ+ , and socially conscious playwrights to experiment in the creation and development of their work. Fireworks serve as an incubator for new and original plays.
8x10 (eight by ten)
(Excerpt)
A young woman finds herself visiting the world of spirits and goddesses while navigating an oppressive and racist medical system.
Director: Aladeen Tawfeek
Girl/ one of The Entities: Sophie-Thérèse Stone-Richards
Friend/ one of The Entities/ Social Worker/ Nurse: Ahlam Gholami
Goddess/one of The Entities/ Doctor: Simon Pelletier
Stage Directions: Sophie Gee
Sunday, April 21 - 7:00 to 10:00pm
Fred Azeredo
Parastoo Geranmayeh
Biodegradeables
(Excerpt)
A war photographer is killed and his spirit finds its way back home.
Director: Prerna Nehta
Sepideh: Azin Mohammadi
Kaveh: Sebastian Quint
Mina: Ahlam Gholami
Hades: Emilio Ferreira
Stage Directions: Nasrine Khairi-Arancibia
Saturday, April 20 - 7:00 to 10:00pm
Laurie Dumont-Bal
Leya/Luke/Lore Graie
Yasna Khademian
Alice Wu
Chelsey Fawcett
Lila Ciesielski
Terra Incognita
(Full play)
Looking for treasure, a cangaceiro finds a talking severed head inside of a box. A young woman embarks on a holy crusade with a priest who has seen all manner of supernatural monsters. Worlds collide and hilarity ensues.
Director: Vishesh Abeyratne
Guilhermina: Alexia Maldonado
Head: Bailey Bird
Father Barreto: Aladeen Tawfeek
Mother: Emma Lee
Mosca: Vishesh Abeyratne
Carranca: Molly McKenzie
Stage Directions: Jassinth Thiagarajah
Sunday, April 21 - 7:00 to 10:00pm
The Arrangement, the Marriage, (and Me?)
(Excerpt)
The Arrangement, the Marriage, and Me by Kamal Pandya: The tale unfolds around the lives of two queer Indian women. One lives in Winnipeg; the other lives in Delhi. Both women are falling in love, worlds apart, yet subjected to the same intense threats of loss of families and communities.
Director: Vishesh Abeyratne
Papa: Keith Fernandez
Mummy: Kamal Pandya
Kalyani: Ahlam Gholami
Shashi: Amanda Silveira
Stage Directions: Lisa Willia-Volcy
Sunday April 21 - 1:00 and 4:00 PM
Here
(Full play)
After receiving racist comments from her classmates and teacher during Multicultural Day, Lily, a biracial high school student, runs out of the classroom and ends up in a magical place called Here, where multiracial people go to find comfort and community support. By escaping the real world and exploring the land of Here, Lily learns more about her Indian heritage and how to honor it.
Director: Laurie Dumont-Bal
Grandma: Natalie Tannous
Beatrice: Aly Slominski
Lily: Amanda Silveira
Samantha: Christine Lee
Jack: Dylan Stanley
Maman: Elisabeth Couture
Drama Teacher: Elly Pond
Eddie: Hwaan Han
Grandpa: Kamal Pandya
Stage Directions: Vishesh Abeyratne
Saturday, April 20 - 1:00 to 4:00pm
A World of Fragile Things
(Excerpt)
Four souls from across the world meet in Limbo, each accompanied by they own Death, who take on a physical manifestation of what kind of death they represent (Natural, Homicide, Accidental, Suicide). These four souls are trapped, each unable to move on due to something from their past lives holding them back.
Director: Prerna Nehta
Emilie/Evander Poirier (she/her/he/him): Bailey Bird
Suicide (Su) (they/them): Lisa Willia-Volcy
Kanata Yuuya (he/him): Alyssa Yeung
Accidental Death (Ax) (they/them): Natasha Fagant
Stage Directions: Sebastian Quint
Sunday, April 21 - 1:00 to 4:00pm
Countercurrents
(Excerpt)
Isolated and living with chronic pain, a Chinese-American woman comes dangerously close to becoming radicalized by far-right misinformation online.
Director: Aladeen Tawfeek
Veronica Guo/Sharon Chiu: Hwaan Han
Rong Li: Sophie Gee
Dr. Waxman/Adam Johnson: Simon Pelletier
Stage Directions: Dylan Stanley
Sunday, April 21 - 7:00 to 10:00pm
Takht-e Jamshid
(Full play)
When Jamshid, the head of the (not so) golden family of the local Iranian community insists that his wife and two daughters attend the party of a family whose reputation they might’ve maligned, everyone puts on a performance. What follows is a dinner party gone wrong, a costume party without costumes, and the revelation of volatile secrets.
Director: Prerna Nehta
Yasmin: Azin Mohammadi
Shahnaz: Nasrine Khairi-Arancibia
Behnaz: Dalia Charafeddine
Shirin: Liz Valdez
Jamshid: Aladeen Tawfeek
Parvin: Natalie Tannous
Reza: Kym Dominique-Ferguson
Stage Directions: Emilio Ferreira
Saturday, April 20 - 7:00 to 10:00pm
Summerhouse
(Full play)
The sale of a beloved summer home threatens to tear apart a family. How strong are their bonds?
Director: Aladeen Tawfeek
Clara: Elly Pond
Remie: Alyssa Yeung
Luca: Gio Imola
Isabelle: Sophie Gee
Stage Directions: Amanda Silveira
Saturday, April 20 - 1:00 to 4:00pm
Venomous Heroine
(Full play)
A re-imagining of Medusa’s absent story from history which explores the physical manifestations of stress, sexual assault, and victim shaming from a contemporary perspective, woven into the world of Classical Greek Mythology.
Director: Chelsey Fawcett
Athena: Liz Valdez
Euryale (wide-leaping): Hwaan Han
Perseus: Jassinth Thiagarajah
Medusa: Sophie-Thérèse Stone Richards
Stheno (strength): Azin Mohammadi
Stage Directions: Vishesh Abeyratne
Sunday April 21 - 1:00 and 4:00 PM
We aim to provide:
Dramaturgy
To provide culturally sensitive dramaturgical support for your project
Artistic Development
To facilitate your development as a playwright
Mentorship
To arrange you with focused mentorship as an artist
We seek to create a safe space for BIPOC voices. Fireworks is a daring space for experimentation, for a new generation of plays and writers that speak to current Canadian consciousness. Our goal is not only to increase the pool of socially engaged work, but also to assist participants in gaining a better understanding of, and connection to, the arts ecology in which they work.