4 STARS “... a masterful portrait of loneliness, yearning, grief and marriage which blends snappy, Neil Simon-esque domestic dialogue with a dramatic sharpness” – The Free Press Please note: The Santa Claus Parade is Saturday at 3pm. For street closures and other info, visit the parade website. In torpedo bras and skinny ties, and set against a backdrop of social upheaval in 1970s Winnipeg, a group of immigrants from India are all in search of freedom. But what they find is much greater than what they expected. Written by Winnipeg-born playwright Pamela Mala Sinha, New grapples with the complexity of love, marriage and belonging, and shows us that it’s never too late to begin again.
Click on the images to download the digital program and enrichment guide:
Playwright
Pamela Mala Sinha is an award-winning Canadian actress/writer working internationally in theatre, television and film. Pamela was the recipient of Canada’s prestigious Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play (playwright) and Outstanding Lead Actress for her solo debut play, CRASH. Published by Scirocco Drama, CRASH was also included in Bloomsbury Publishing’s (UK) Audition Speeches and Love, Loss and Longing (Playwrights Canada). Her second play, Happy Place, premiered in Toronto in 2015 at Soulpepper, followed by Vancouver’s Touchstone Theatre in October 2017 and Winnipeg’s Prairie Theatre Exchange in 2018. CRASH’s US debut was at New York’s Signature Theatre in 2017. As one of few artists selected nationally to receive a prestigious Project Imagination commission from Soulpepper, Pamela wrote her third play, New. Following its world premiere at Royal MTC, it will have a second production at Toronto’s Canadian Stage Theatre (co-produced by Necessary Angel Theatre). Pamela’s film adaptation of Happy Place (Sienna Films, dir. Helen Shaver) premiered at VIFF in 2020. She has completed development with CBC and Sienna on her original television drama series Nirvana and production has just wrapped on the filming of CRASH (dir. Alan Dilworth) starring Pamela. Selected acting: Y, The Last Man, ER (3 seasons), HBO’s Huff and Live From Baghdad, Traders and The Newsroom. Films include Happy Place and What We Have. Selected theatre: The Orchard (Shaw Festival); CRASH (Signature); Happy Place (Soulpepper); Nirbhaya (Assembly, London/NY); The Little Years (Tarragon); The Penelopiad (Nightwood).
Director
ROYAL MTC First engagement.
OTHER THEATRE The Events, The Great Fire (Necessary Angel); The Last Wife, The Virgin Trial, Mother’s Daughter (Stratford/ Soulpepper); Idomeneus, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, Incident at Vichy, Eurydice, Happy Place, Twelve Angry Men, La Ronde (Soulpepper); This Is War (Porta, Athens); Crash, The De Chardin Project (TPM); If We Were Birds, After Akhmatova (Tarragon).
TRAINING MFA Directing (York).
ET CETERA Artistic Director of Necessary Angel Theatre Company (Toronto). Alan’s work has played across Canada, the US and in Europe. Alan has premiered over 20 Canadian plays, in addition to his work on classical and established texts. He is the inaugural recipient of the Christopher Plummer Award, a seven-time Dora Award nominee for outstanding direction and five-time Dora Award nominee for outstanding production. Many thanks.
Set Designer
ROYAL MTC Network (with Citadel), Kim’s Convenience.
OTHER THEATRE The Miser, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stratford); Of Mice and Men (Joffrey Ballet); Pipeline (Soulpepper); Orphans for the Czar, Julius Caesar (Crow’s Theatre); Mother’s Daughter (Stratford/Soulpepper); Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Les Grand Ballet Canadiens).
TRAINING/TEACHING Graduate of University of British Columbia (MFA) and inaugural Soulpepper Academy. Design instructor for Soulpepper Academy. Member of Associated Designers of Canada.
ET CETERA Lorenzo is the recipient of four Dora Mavor Awards for outstanding design. lorenzosavoini.com
Costume Designer
OTHER THEATRE Off-Broadway: A Four-Letter Word (Classic Stage Company); Richard III, King Lear, Macbeth (New York Classical Theatre); Orpheus (Next Wave Festival). Select regional: All’s Well That Ends Well, Hamlet, I Am William (Stratford); Jukebox Hero (Mirvish); Measure for Measure (CS); Theory (Tarragon); The Nether, Between Riverside & Crazy (Coal Mine); The New Canadian Curling Club (Blyth); Amadeus, The Gamblers (TiFT); Could I Have This Dance? (Rebecca Cohn Auditorium); The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Kimberly Akimbo (SouthernRep); Coriolanus, Henry V (New Orleans Shakespeare Festival).
FILM/TV Save Me, For the Record (CBC Gem).
TRAINING University of Missouri – Kansas City (MFA), Concordia University (BFA).
ET CETERA michellebohndesign.com
Lighting Designer
ROYAL MTC (selected) Lighting & Video Designer: The Mountaintop, Vietgone, Venus in Fur. Lighting Designer: Calpurnia, Orlando, All is Bright, Women of the Fur Trade, Fun Home, The Color Purple (with Citadel), Kill Me Now (with NAC), Seminar (with Mirvish), Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing and many other productions since the ‘80s.
OTHER THEATRE Hugh has collaborated with choreographers, visual artists and dance and theatre companies worldwide.
ET CETERA Hugh enjoys working beyond the constraints of traditional lighting design using various forms of interactive media, video and photography. His photographic work resides in private collections and has been published worldwide. Hugh is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada and L’Association des professionnels des arts de la scène du Québec. www.pellucid.me.
Sound Designer
ROYAL MTC Selected: It’s a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play, The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead, Mrs. Warren’s Profession.
OTHER THEATRE Over 200 shows at Stratford Festival, Dracula (Shaw Festival), Luminato, National Arts Centre, Arts Club, Citadel, Mirvish, Canadian Stage, Soulpepper, Tarragon, Factory Theatre, Theatre Calgary.
ET CETERA 6 Dora Mavor Moore awards. As a musician, has toured Canada and the EU.
Intimacy Director
ROYAL MTC (selected) Actor: Sense and Sensibility, Kill Me Now (with NAC), Hand to God, Late Company, The Seagull, A Christmas Story, August: Osage County, Top Girls, Steel Magnolias, Humble Boy, Of Mice and Men, Angels in America, Les Belles-Soeurs, Our Country’s Good.
OTHER THEATRE The Outside Inn (Premiere – Festival Antigonish); The Wizard of Oz (Rainbow); coming up Afterlight (Premiere – The Keep and Walk&Talk).
TRAINING Studio 58, Michael Langham Directing Program (Stratford). Certified Intimacy Director and Coordinator with Intimacy Coordinators Canada and Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (New York).
FILM/TV Recent projects include Dark Harvest, Ordinary Angels, Acting Good, Little Bird, Run; Intimacy Coordinator for The Porter, Skymed, Wintertide, El Toro and Alter Boys.
ET CETERA sharonbajer.com
Fight Director
ROYAL MTC Assistant Fight Director: The Rez Sisters. Actor: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, A Christmas Carol, Alice Through the Looking-Glass.
OTHER THEATRE Actor: A Chorus Line, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Little Shop of Horrors, Les Misérables, The Producers (Rainbow); Another Way Home (WJT); A Little Night Music, The Addams Family (Dry Cold); Reefer Madness, American Idiot, Heathers: The Musical, Avenue Q (WST); Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (The Keep Theatre).
FILM Actor: Spencer Sisters (Bell Media); Polarized (Enlightenment Productions); Hannukah on Rye, Christmas by Starlight, Merry and Bright (Hallmark).
TRAINING Bachelor’s in Vocal Performance from the U of M, Opera NUOVA, Rainbow Stage Training Intensive.
Cultural Consultant
Apprentice Director
OTHER THEATRE Actor: Whatever Happens After? (Naked Theatre); Knock Knock Ginger (One Trunk Theatre); Seasons of Love (ViC); The Country Wife, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure for Measure, Hedda Gabler (DSL). Musical Director: The Selfish Giant (DSL); Little Women (Genesis).
FILM Writer: Inhibition Exhibition (ViC). Actor: Canada in Focus (Coelement); Inhibition Exhibition (ViC); A Winter Getaway (Hallmark).
TRAINING/TEACHING Alumna of Drama Studio London & The Village Conservatory for Music Theatre; Bachelor of Philosophy (Carleton/Collège Universitaire Dominicain). Jodi heads up the musical theatre program at Genesis School of Dance.
ET CETERA Jodi is also a pianist, writer, choreographer, singer and dancer. Many thanks to Royal MTC and Alan, as well as to my family and friends. Shout out to Mum and Ba, who bravely immigrated to Canada in 1969. IHS
Stage Manager
ROYAL MTC (selected) Stage Manager: Calpurnia (with NAC/BTW), Vietgone (with fu-GEN/Hope and Hell), Hand to God. Assistant Stage Manager: The Mountaintop, The Color Purple (with Citadel), A Christmas Carol, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (with Citadel), Chimerica.
OTHER THEATRE (selected) The Wizard of Oz (2022), Mamma Mia! (Rainbow Stage); The War Being Waged (PTE); The Winter’s Tale / Le conte d’hiver (SIR/TCM); MTYP’s Midwinter Mosey (MTYP); The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk (WJT); Meet Me at Dawn (TBTR).
TRAINING B.A. (Hons) in Theatre Production and Stage Management at the University of Winnipeg.
ET CETERA Enjoy the show!
Apprentice Stage Manager
ROYAL MTC Apprentice Stage Manager: Morning After Grace. Lighting Design Apprentice: A Christmas Carol.
OTHER THEATRE Festival Manager of the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival. Apprentice Stage Manager: A Short History of Crazy Bone (TPM). Stage Manager: The Hollow (Vault Projects); The Cassilis Engagement (U of W). Lighting Design: The Heidi Chronicles, Big Love (U of W); The Stock (ArtLaunch Theatre Company).
TRAINING Bachelor of Arts Hons., with a specialization in Theatre Production and Stage Management (University of Winnipeg 2017). Stage Management and Production Assistant Practicum (Banff Centre 2018-2019).
ET CETERA Enjoy! Thank you to everyone who works so hard at Royal MTC!
Sachin
ROYAL MTC Shakespeare in Love (with Citadel).
OTHER THEATRE Small Mouth Sounds (Segal); After Wrestling (Factory); Disgraced (Citadel); Uncovered: Queen & Bowie (The Musical Stage Co); Glengarry Glen Ross (Lower Ossington Theatre).
FILM/TV TV: Painkiller (Netflix); Hudson & Rex (Citytv); Kids in the Hall – Reboot! (Amazon), Strays (CBC); Coroner, Bomb Girls (Global). Film: 14 Love Letters (Hallmark); Stealing Vows (Feature); It Takes a Christmas Village (Lifetime).
TRAINING Canadian Film Centre Actors’ Conservatory.
Ash
ROYAL MTC First appearance.
OTHER THEATRE The Garneau Block (Citadel); Henry VIII, Nathan the Wise (Stratford); A Thousand Splendid Suns (Grand); Acha Bacha (Theatre Passe Muraille); Othello (Driftwood Theatre); Little Pretty and the Exceptional (Factory); Disgraced (Magnus Theatre); Scarberia (YPT).
FILM/TV Jett (HBO/Cinemax); Reach (Valence Films); A Gun & A Ring (Eye Catch Multimedia).
Aisha
OTHER THEATRE Selected: Coriolanus (Bard on the Beach); Kiss (CS/ARC/Theatre Smash); Habib’s House Party (RCA/WCT); The Comedy of Errors, Julius Caesar (CS); The Wanderers (Cahoots); You are Very Star (Electric Company); The Kite Runner (TC/Citadel); The Never Ending Story (YPT/NY Skirball); As You Like It, The Winter’s Tale, Three Sisters, Bartholomew Fair, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Romeo & Juliet (Stratford).
FILM/TV Selected: The Lost Symbol, Grandma Dearest, Bluff City Law, Slasher, Cardinal, In Contempt, Newborn, The Beaverton, The Bold Type, Lost Girl, Cracked, Combat Hospital, Flashpoint, King, Z.O.S.
TRAINING UVIC (BFA), National Theatre School of Canada and The Birmingham Conservatory.
ET CETERA Dalal is a first generation Lebanese-Canadian. She lives between Los Angeles and Toronto and is thrilled to be working alongside such open-hearted artists at Royal MTC.
Abby / Emcee
ROYAL MTC Outside Mullingar.
OTHER THEATRE Post Democracy, Happy Place, The Flats, Butcher (PTE); Red Earth (TPM/One Trunk); Que Faire d’Albert, Le Dieu du Carnage, Boing Boeing, Deux sur la Balancoire (TCM); Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, The Taming of the Shrew (SIR); Essay & The Russian Play (WJT); The Winter’s Tale (Tom Tom); Toronto Noir (SummerWorks); The Amorous Servant (Pleiades).
FILM/TV Champions, El Toro, Francesca Quin: PI, Acting Good, Padre, Orphan: First Kill, The Good Father, Tales From the Loop, JT Leroy, Burden of Truth, Less Than Kind, Cinderella Man.
TRAINING Graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.
Qasim
ROYAL MTC The New Canadian Curling Club, Romeo and Juliet, The Seafarer, Glengarry Glen Ross, Black Coffee.
OTHER THEATRE Oslo (Mirvish/Theatre 180); Timon of Athens, The School for Scandal, The Komagata Maru Incident (Stratford); As You Like It, Titus Andronicus (CS); The Wars, A Thousand Splendid Suns (Grand); The Kite Runner (TC/Citadel); Moonlight and Magnolias (PTE); Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, The Merchant of Venice (SIR); Iceland (TPM); Three Sisters (TPM/zone41).
TV Shelved (CTV); ZARQA (CBC Gem); Frankie Drake Mysteries (CBC); Remedy (Global); The Strain (FX); Less Than Kind (HBO Canada); Todd and the Book of Pure Evil (Space).
TRAINING BA (Theatre and Film), University of Winnipeg.
ET CETERA omaralexkhan.com
Sita
Nuzha
OTHER THEATRE Fifteen Dogs (Crow’s – Feb 2023); Mamma Mia! (Drayton Entertainment); Shakespeare D&D (Driftwood Theatre); Twelfth Night the Musical, Parkdale the Musical (Musical Stage Co. & Theatre Sheridan); Concord Floral (Theatre Sheridan); Sisters (Factory); Trident Moon (Contemporary Works/Stratford).
FILM/TV Life with Luca (Family Channel/Shaftesbury Films); Brothers in the Kitchen (Hot Docs FF); The Next Step – Season 1, 2 (Temple Street Prod.)
TRAINING Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance (Sheridan College – 2022); UC Drama (University of Toronto).
ET CETERA Thank you to everyone who have supported this journey. To my sister: So we grew together like to a double cherry, seeming parted, but yet an union in partition two lovely berries moulded on one stem. @mirabella_lydia