About the Play:

HER2 is a full-length drama by Maja Ardal. Faced with an aggressive HER2-related of breast cancer, a group of women are recruited for a clinical drug trial. While the researcher measures its progress, the subjects of her experiment forge an unbreakable bond characterized not by medical statistics but by courage, wisdom, and humour. HER2 is a poignant meditation on the uneasy relationship between science and the human spirit.

HER2 deals with a group of women aged nineteen to sixty-three carrying the very aggressive breast cancer gene HER2 who are recruited for a clinical drug trial to test a new chemotherapy treatment. For some of them the trial is renewed hope; others feel it's a weary last resort. For Dr. Danielle Pearce, the research scientist in charge of the program, the trial is the most critical moment of her career. Her mission is global, and measured outcomes are her chief concern. But in the chemo room, medical statistics are just background noise as the women gradually form a collective bond through humour and compassion, raising the question, does community positively influence immunity? HER2 is an epic story of survival.

HER2 premiered in 2015 at at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto.

Cast: 10 female

What people say:

"A wise, funny and thoughtful piece about a difficult subject." — The Globe and Mail

"…an admirable portrayal of challenged, but not defeated, women who are loud, funny, sexy and imperfect." — The Toronto Star

"…Maja Ardal finds exactly the right tone. Her script is laced with droll humour and so much emotional intelligence that you connect deeply to the characters and Ardal's pointed critique of the ways medical treatments use and abuse patients." — NOW Magazine

About the Playwright:

Maja Ardal is a Canadian director, playwright, actor, and theatre trainer. Born in Siglufjordur in the north of Iceland, she trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, but she has made Canada her home since she landed in Toronto in 1970 at age 21. Over a more that thirty-five-year career she has directed at the Shaw Festival, the Grand Theatre, and Alberta Theatre Projects among others. She was the artistic director of Young People's Theatre from 1990-1998, and played the gossipy Mrs. Potts on Road to Avonlea.