Why Not Theatre Presents A Season Of Award-Winning, Pioneering, And Thought-Provoking Theatre For 2018/19

Under Artistic Director Ravi Jain, Managing Director Owais Lightwala and Executive Producer Kelly Read, Why Not Theatre presents a season of award-winning, pioneering, and thought-provoking theatre, created in Canada and around the world, for 2018/19.

The fall begins with continued development workshops of Mahabharata, developed by Why Not Theatre in partnership with Shaw Festival for the 2020 season. Directed by Ravi Jain, this new adaptation of the classic Sanskrit epic poem is a contemporary take on an ancient story - bringing together an incredible ensemble of artists from across the South Asian diaspora.

In early October the beloved A Brimful of Asha, starring Ravi Jain and his mother Asha, will take the stage at Brampton's Rose Theatre, presented in association with Richard Jordan Productions. Seen all over the world, Ravi and Asha have performed together over 200 times including sold out runs Off West-end in London, Off-Broadway in New York City, and 15 weeks in Toronto. A Brimful of Asha is an inter-generational and inter-cultural story about marriage. And Love. But mostly marriage.

This year's Rendezvous with Madness Festival, presented by Workman Arts, will feature five performances of 4 1/2 (ig)noble truths, Thomas McKechnie's punk performance-lecture on life and clinical depression, produced by zeitpunktheatre in association with Why Not Theatre.

Later, but still in October, Now You See Her, a Nightwood Theatre, Quote Unquote Collective and Why Not Theatre co-production from Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava, the team behind the wildly successful Mouthpiece, premieres at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Six defiant voices explode the ways women fade from sight without a fight.

In November, Mouthpiece will begin the final leg of its international tour. The award-winning play recently premiered as a feature film at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the 2018/19 theatre tour begins in Halifax and ends in Berkeley, CA!

Here in Toronto, November sees a new incarnation of Like Mother, Like Daughter, a funny and emotional show where real mothers and daughters create and perform it, using their own lives and stories in an improvised format. Originally conceived in Montreal by Why Not Theatre and Complicité London UK, Like Mother, Like Daughter is being produced all over the world with local mothers and daughters. There will be eight performances of Like Mother, Like Daughter at the 918 Bathurst Centre, each one culminating in a communal meal, presented by the Koffler Centre of the Arts.

In the new year, the critically acclaimed and award-winning Prince Hamlet, a gender-bending, English/ASL bi-lingual production embarks on a national tour to Banff Centre, PuSh Festival and the National Arts Centre, plus a return to Toronto at Canadian Stage. Why Not will also co-present two internationally-acclaimed works (UK and Australia) to local audiences, both smash hits at Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Selina Thompson's journey to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, salt, a solo show about grief, colonialism, and being part of a diaspora, with The Theatre Centre as part of Progress Festival (supported by the British Council); and the unapologetically fierce cabaret Hot Brown Honey, fighting the power with political hip hop to rival Queen Bey, with Civic Theatres Toronto and Native Earth Performing Arts.

In May, with lemonTree creations and Buddies in Bad Times, a queer masterpiece is reimagined with Walter Borden (African/Mi'qmaq/Choctaw) leading a cast of Indigenous, Black, and culturally diverse artists in Michel Marc Bouchard's tragic love story, Lilies; or, the Revival of a Romantic Drama.

At virtually the same time, RISER, Why Not's collaborative producing model, returns for its sixth edition with four new productions at The Theatre Centre. Along for the ride are 13 senior theatre companies with more resources who support the RISER model while building long-term relationships with RISER's emerging artists. As a matter of fact, 80% of past RISER shows and artists have had second lives, and this year three shows will see remounts of their productions: Mumbi Tindyedbwa Otu, DJ L'Oqenz and Motion Live's Oraltorio: a theatrical mix tape at Soulpepper Theatre Company in association with Obsidian Theatre; Justin Miller's Pearle Harbour's Chautauqua and Adam Paolozza's Paolozzapedia, both at Theatre Passe Muraille.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail, on the eve of the company's tenth anniversary, Ravi Jain said, "I have a desire to make great art and make a place for other artists - and I'm fortunate to be able to do that in many great places. My only challenge is time." Eighteen months later, which also included directing stints at Soulpepper and Shaw Festival; growing the Why Not staff to a team of seven; exponential growth in the operating budget to $1.4 million in 2018 and projected budget of $2 million in 2019; the same can still be said.

This exciting growth phase in the young company's trajectory has been underpinned by large investments from the Canada Council for the Arts, as well as new partnerships with TD Bank Group as the New Perspectives Partner, RBC as the Emerging Artist Partner, and a group of visionary individuals and foundations