Welcome to the digital show program: Diaspora Dialogues
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Collage by Emily Jung
Cast and Creative Team
Blind Dates
Playwright
Vivian Chong
Director/Dramaturg
Marjorie Chan
Performer
Diana Tso
Support Person for Vivian
Mandy MacLean
Miss Fortune 2023
Playwright
Taija Shonée-Chung
Dramaturg
Kanika Ambrose
Performers
Cole Alvis
isi bhakhomen
Jessica Konkle
Richard Alan Campbell
Trinity Lloyd
Mandy MacLean
About Theatre Passe Muraille
Theatre Passe Muraille means Theatre Beyond Walls.
We are a theatre company located in Toronto, known for our charming historic building (former Bakery & Stables turned into 2 theatre spaces). Our company is focused on developing and producing new alternative plays that strive to articulate a distinct Canadian voice that reflects the complexity of our intercultural society.
About Diaspora Dialogues
Diaspora Dialogues (DD) supports emerging voices from across Canada to turn their craft into a career through mentorship, professional development and opportunities to publish and present their work. Everything we do as an organization is made possible through the passion and commitment of our team, the board members, and our allies across the country.
About the Playwrights
Vivian Chong is an award winning playwright, author, comic artist, singer-songwriter, dancer, potter and athlete. Her graphic novel DANCING AFTER TEN was the winner of the US Library Journal Award and was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award in 2020. Her one woman show The Sunglasses Monologue was on tour from Toronto to Canmore. Her performance in Dancing with the Universe was nominated for the Dora Theatre Awards for best performer of the year in 2022. In addition, in 2021 Vivian was recognized by Achilles Canada as the most inspirational female athlete and was also the recipient of the Ontario Volunteer Service of the Year award. Participants with vision loss all across Canada have been benefiting from Vivian’s weekly accessible yoga classes on the digital platform. She is a leader of inclusion of wellness in the community.
Taija Shonée Chung is a Jamaican-Chinese multi-disciplinary artist, based in Toronto. A passionate actor, mover and creator, she’s enthusiastic about work that explores our perception of others and ourselves in this ever-changing world — who we are when we are at our most vulnerable, when we are trying to make a buck or when we think we are alone. Her theatre credits include: The First Stone (dir. Yvette Nolan), The Humans (dir. Chris Stanton) and The Green Bird (dir. Adam Palozza). She looks forward to amplifying her voice as an artist, both on stage and screen.
Collages by Emily Jung
Show Descriptions
Blind Dates by Vivian Chong
Blind Dates is a hilarious and intimate story where Vivian shares her experience dating as a Blind woman. Through storytelling and original songs, Vivian shares her past relationships and adventures, wrestling with how others perceive her Blindness and how she refuses to settle in any aspect of her life.
Miss Fortune 2023 by Taija Shonée Chung
Miss Fortune 2023 is a work-in-process that explores what society deems to be a ‘perfect victim’ of abuse through the lens of a pageant. Miss Fortune 2023 explores how women compete to be taken seriously by the world at large while grappling with the many hoops of both reckoning with their abuse and subsequent trauma, and how what they did or didn’t do in those situations determines how the world holds space for them. Is there a ‘correct’ way to live in an abusive situation? No. Does society still put that onus on victims of abuse? Yes. And that’s what is at the heart of Miss Fortune 2023.
Content Warnings
Content warnings are notes presented at the beginning of content–visual, audio, text, etc–that alert the audience to potentially distressing material.
For the content warnings of each play, please click on the below headings.
Content warnings:
Mentions of racism, ableism, and fetishization.
Content warnings:
Strong language, descriptions of sexual assault, descriptions of body mutilation.