CBC’s PlayME debuts 2026 season, starting with Kim’s Convenience
PlayME has kicked off its 2026 season, marking the podcast’s eighth year adapting Canadian stage plays for audio. The season opens with Ins Choi’s Kim’s Convenience, with new releases scheduled throughout the first half of the year on major podcast platforms.
Created and produced by Laura Mullin and Chris Tolley in association with Expect Theatre and CBC Podcasts, the season will present five Canadian plays as immersive audio dramas. Each production is followed by a companion interview episode featuring members of the creative team, released the following week, offering insight into the work’s themes and creative process.
PlayME has featured work by more than 30 Governor General’s Award winners and nominees, making some of the country’s most celebrated plays accessible to listeners nationwide. “What started as an experiment to bring theatre beyond the stage has grown into nearly 80 audio adaptations of the best Canada has to offer,” said co-creator Chris Tolley in a press release.
The full lineup is listed below.
Kim’s Convenience
Written by Ins Choi
Cast featuring Ins Choi, Brandon McKnight, Esther Chung, Ryan Jinn, and Kelly Seo
One of the most widely produced Canadian works of the past two decades, Kim’s Convenience follows a Toronto-based Korean-Canadian family as they navigate generational divides, cultural identity, and everyday life.
Table For Two
Written by Akosua Amo-Adem
Cast featuring Akosua Amo-Adem, Meghan Swaby, Ryan Allen, and Bola Aiyeola-Owens
Table For Two traces how dating apps, personal history, and cultural expectations shape modern intimacy. Structured around a series of dates between two Black professionals, it received a Dora Award nomination for outstanding new play after premiering at Soulpepper Theatre in 2025.
New
Written by Pamela Mala Sinha
Cast featuring Pamela Mala Sinha, Ellora Patnaik, Ali Kazmi, Lisa Ryder, Zorana Sadiq, Fuad Ahmed, and Shelly Antony
A contemporary drama examining love, marriage, family expectations, and identity, New explores intersecting relationships shaped by tradition and change against the backdrop of a tight-knit South Asian community in 1970s Winnipeg. The play had its world premiere at Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in 2022 and received a Toronto premiere at Canadian Stage in 2023.
The Drawer Boy
Written by Michael Healey
Cast featuring Tom Barnett, Stephen Jackman-Torkoff, and Patrick McManus
Set in rural Ontario, The Drawer Boy concerns two researchers whose visit to interview a farmer leads to the uncovering of buried memories and long-suppressed histories, raising questions about storytelling, truth, and trauma. Since its 1999 premiere, the play has become a touchstone of modern Canadian theatre.
The Neighbours
Written by Nicolas Billon
Cast featuring Tony Nappo, Ordena Stephens-Thompson, and Richard Tse
Fear and misinformation take hold in a contemporary urban community in The Neighbours, with lasting consequences for trust and relationships. The play will make its North American premiere at Tarragon Theatre’s Extraspace in February 2026.
Additional episode release dates will be announced on PlayME’s website in the coming months.
PlayME is an Intermission partner. Learn more about Intermission’s partnership model here.
Krystal Abrigo
Krystal is Intermission's Publishing and Editorial Coordinator. A Scarborough-based writer of Philippine and Egyptian descent who enjoys reading bell hooks, Audre Lorde, and James Baldwin. At any given moment, you can probably find her at a concert, or on a long walk somewhere in Toronto (or elsewhere).
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