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Love, Loss and Longing: South Asian Canadian Plays
Love, Loss and Longing: South Asian Canadian Plays
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Edited by: Dalbir Singh Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press Format: Softcover # of Pages: 322 Pub. Date: 2015 ISBN-10: 1770913483 ISBN-13: 9781770913486
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About
the Play:
Love, Loss, and Longing: South Asian Canadian Plays
is a collection of six plays from acclaimed and award-winning South
Asian Canadian playwrights that explore themes of family, love,
trauma, race, and more. Featuring introductions by directors,
dramaturgs, and playwrights, each play is contextualized to explain
its relevance and importance in the community.
The collection Love, Loss, and Longing includes:
Bhopal by Rahul Varma (introduced by Guillermo
Verdecchia) is a world-renowned, critically acclaimed play that
brings to life the human stories within the complex political and
economic milieu that created the worst industrial disaster the world
has ever known. An explosion at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal,
India in December 1984 spewed poisonous Methyl Isocyanate gas that
took an estimated 25,000 lives and currently affects nearly 500,000
people with neurological and respiratory illness, birth defects, and
disability and malformation among children. Rahul Varma weaves
a fictional plot around the events leading up to and after the gas
leak to create a powerful, moving piece. Bhopal is a reminder
that the frequency of industrial disasters is on the rise all over
the world with oil spills, pipeline leaks, hazardous chemicals being
dumped into our oceans, and closer to home, the disaster in the town
of Lac-Mégantic in Québec. (Premiered in 2001 at Montréal arts
interculturels (MAI); Cast: 3 female, 5 male)
Bombay Black by Anosh Irani (introduced by Brian
Quirt) is a searing love story between a blind man and a dancer.
In a seaside flat, the iron-willed Padma takes money from men so they
may watch her daughter, Apsara, perform a mesmerizing dance. Apsara's
extraordinary beauty and erotically charged dancing cast a powerful
spell over her wealthy and famous clientele. One day, a mysterious
blind man named Kamal visits for a private dance. Kamal is somehow
linked to their past. His secret threatens to change each of their
lives forever. Bombay Black features a remarkable poetic text,
bold theatrical imagery, and a gritty twist. (Premiered in 2006 at
Theatre Centre in Toronto and was a Finalist for the Governor
General's Award for Drama; Cast: 2 female, 1 male)
A Brimful of Asha by real-life mother and son Ravi
Jain
and Asha
Jain (introduced by Nicolas Billon) tells
the true tale of how Ravi's parents planned a surprise trip to India
to intercept him on his vacation and arrange his marriage. Ravi
Jain
is an award-winning actor, director, and producer. Asha Jain
is his mother and until A Brimful of Asha, had never performed
on a stage. (Premiered in 2012 at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto; Cast:
1 female, 1 male)
Crash by Pamela Mala Sinha (introduced by Judith
Thompson). After the loss of a loved one, a woman must face the
shattering memories of a past trauma. Crash is the fractured
unravelling of memory; a tour de force narrative about family, faith
and love. (Premiered in 2012 at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto;
Cast: 1 female playing multiple roles)
Pyaasa by Anusree Roy (introduced by Andy McKim).
Set in Calcutta, Pyaasa tells the story of Chaya, an
eleven-year-old untouchable who dreams of nothing more than learning
her times tables. When Chaya's mother begs a woman from a higher
caste to give Chaya a job at a local tea stall, Chaya's journey from
childhood to adulthood begins and ends over ten days. A moving and
heartfelt play, Pyaasa illustrates with subtlety and nuanced
truth the inequalities and injustices that persist through the Indian
caste system. (Premiered in 2007 at Theatre Passe Muraille in
Toronto; Cast: 1 female playing multiple roles)
Boys with Cars by Anita Majumdar (introduced by
Yvette Nolan) follows Naz, a classically trained Indian
dancer, who dreams of getting out of the small town of Port Moody to
attend the University of British Columbia. But when Buddy causes a
stir over Naz at her high school, Naz's university plans begin to
crumble quickly. With her future in serious jeopardy, where will Naz
turn, and, more importantly, to whom? (Premiered in 2014 at the Great
Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa; Cast: 1 female playing multiple
roles)
About the Editor:
Dalbir Singh is a Canadian editor, educator, playwright,
and academic. His publications have been included in such journals
and anthologies as Canadian Theatre Review, Critical
Perspectives on Canadian Theatre, Red Light, and She Speaks.
His plays have been performed at the Harbourfront Centre, Factory
Theatre, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, and on CBC Radio. He headed
theatre festivals whilst attaining a PhD in Theatre and South Asian
Studies at the University of Toronto, and has taught courses at the
University of Toronto, University of Guelph, and University of
Waterloo.
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