fu-GEN Theatre Presents MIXIE AND THE HALFBREEDS

An optimistic tale for a remixed nation - fu-GEN Theatre presents the Toronto premiere of MIXIE AND THE HALFBREEDS by Japanese Canadian Julie Tamiko Manning and Chinese-Canadian Adrienne Wong. A playful exploration of being mixed race in Canada, MIXIE AND THE HALFBREEDS is on stage April 3 - April 15, 2018 at Pia Bouman School, Scotiabank Studio Theatre.

"Being mixed race means living on shifting territory." Playwright Adrienne Wong says "It's all about context: you can belong in some circles, but in others you just don't fit in. With this play we are trying to unpack the complexities of mixing, how the experience is different for each mixed raced person, and what we have in common."

In MIXIE AND THE HALFBREEDS, two unlikely neighbours are not as different as they think. Haunted by peroxide teeth and blondissima hair, Mixie and Trixie tackle a question that has plagued mankind through the ages: do blondes really have more fun? MIXIE AND THE HALFBREEDS invites the audience to explore complex and relevant issues of culture, identity, and race, and tackles questions of mixing in contemporary Canadian society and popular culture.

MIXIE AND THE HALFBREEDS began as a series of 15-minute radio plays. It has since been supported by like-minded organizations that foster intercultural mixing like Urban Ink, Gung-Haggis Fat Choy, and Neworld Theatre. Over the past year, Adrienne and Julie have been given the extraordinary opportunity by fu-GEN Theatre to revisit and re-write a play that is just as relevant today as it was in 2007 when it premiered in Vancouver.

Julie Tamiko Manning is an award-winning Montreal actor and theatre creator. Her play, The Tashme Project: The Living Archives (created with Matt Miwa), is a verbatim one-act about the Japanese Canadian WWII internment experience, told through the childhood memories of her community elders. It is set to tour to Toronto and Vancouver in 2018/19, including a Montreal run this fall and is to be published with Playwrights Canada Press this year. She currently working with the French company cie IKB, creating Identités, a play about the many facets of Québecois identity.

Adrienne Wong is an Ottawa-based artist whose work straddles theatrical and digital space. Web projects include The Apology Generator, which earned her the inaugural Artist in Residence position on CBC Radio's Q; SadSongs.ca, commissioned by Nightswimming Theatre (Toronto); Landline (created with Dustin Harvey); and Me On The Map (created with Jan Derbyshire), which received a Jessie Award nomination. Adrienne's writing has been published in CTR, CdnTimes (where she is co-editor), and the anthology Asian Canadian Theatre.

Director Jenna Rodgers is also of mixed race, and is founding member of Chromatic Theatre, which is a company dedicated to producing and developing work by and for artists of colour. She is an arts equity advocate, an active member of the Theatre Arts Collective for Consent and Respect (TAC), and a founding member of Calgary Congress for Equity and Diversity in the Arts.

The play stars Zoe Doyle (Mixie), whose recent film and television credits include The Silence (New Regency), Isabelle (Rob Heydon Productions), Workin' Moms (CBC), EXT (Exocentric Productions), and Orphan Black(Space/BBC America); and Vanessa Trenton (Trixie) whose recent Theatre credits include Letters to Annabelle (Toronto Fringe); Hangman (The Storefront Theatre); and Julius Caesar Project (Spur-of-the-Moment Shakespeare Collective.

Performances are at Pia Bouman School, Scotiabank Studio Theatre, 6 Noble Street, Toronto Ontario. To purchase tickets please go to www.fu-gen.org - Performances are from Tuesday - Saturday at 8pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets run from $15-$35.

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