WELCOME TO MY UNDERWORLD
Nine blazing hot works written and performed by new Canadian dramatists with gate-crashing ideas, delicious poetry and unique characters woven into a spectacular journey to the Underworld, in search of the self.
These Canadian dramatists bring gatecrashing ideas, serious politics, and fresh bracing language to the stage. They have created current, compelling characters never seen on our stages before, showing us how the very concept of human identity is shifting.
The playwrights include: Bilal Baig, a queer Muslim artist; Ellen Ringler, who has navigated the mental health system; Nikoletta Erdelyi, a young poet who uses a wheelchair, Radha S. Menon, a brazen South Asian British Canadian playwright; Grace Campbell, a fearless writer, performer and visual artist living with a disability, Maddie Bautista, a Saudi Arabia-born Filipino theatre maker and composer/sound designer; Simone Dalton, a queer Trinidadian-Canadian playwright; Samson Brown, is a self described, Jamal Of All Hustles, with a primary focus on trans advocacy and the arts; and Carolyn Hetherington, an 89 year old internationally acclaimed actress who has proven to be an extraordinary playwright.
“Bautista’s story-telling is gently gripping. I can’t remember the last time I heard silence in a theatre that complete. No rustling. No coughing. No breathing until the end. Shattering.”
--Lyn Slotkin, The Slotkin Letter
Direction and dramaturgy: Judith Thompson
Written by: Bilal Baig, Ellen Ringler, Nikoletta Erdelyi, Radha S. Menon, Grace Campbell, Maddie Bautista, Simone Dalton, Samson Brown, and Carolyn Hetherington
Developed and produced by RARE Theatre
World premiere at Soulpepper Theatre Company
PRESS
Review: WELCOME TO MY UNDERWORLD - The Slotkin Letter
PRESENTATIONS
World Premiere at the Young Centre for Performing Arts - June 2019
Tour to Kingston, ON presented by Theatre Kingston - October 2019