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Graham Isador
Graham Isador is a writer and theatre creator based in Toronto. Best known for his time as a contributing editor with VICE, his work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, the BBC, and GQ. Isador is the author of several plays including Situational Anarchy, Served, and White Heat.
LEARN MORETara Beagan wins 2025 Governor General’s Award for drama
Published by Playwrights Canada Press, her multilingual play Rise, Red River connects environmental devastation with the intergenerational impacts of colonial violence.
REVIEW: Lepage’s ethereal The Far Side of the Moon is insomniac theatre
The Far Side of the Moon begins and ends with a large mirror on stage, and the show extracts enigmatic power from the tantalizing question of whether its protagonist is losing himself in his reflection, or moving toward self-discovery.
iPhoto caption: Shaakir Muhammad, Christopher Gerty, and Matthieu Pagès with artists of the National Ballet in 'Procession.' Photo by Karolina Kuras. Courtesy of the National Ballet of Canada.
REVIEW: National Ballet’s Procession tangles the lines of sorrow and sensuality
Procession, the National Ballet of Canada’s brooding and stylized world premiere ballet, rushes to the stage with startling vitality — and does so at a funeral.
REVIEW: Tarragon’s CHILD-ish takes a hopeful and hilarious look at life through kids’ eyes
It’s a giggly good time, if a pinch oversweet.
iPhoto caption: Vincent LeBlanc-Beaudoin, Drew Moore, and Peter James Haworth in 'Abraham Lincoln Goes to the Theatre.' Photo by Emelia Hellman.
REVIEW: At Ottawa’s GCTC, you won’t expect what happens when Abraham Lincoln Goes to the Theatre
Sarah Kitz’s production leans into the play’s real strength: its exploration of narrative. The characters attempt to narrativize the play’s events before, after, and even while they take place. But their failure to impose narrative logic onto complex realities only results in escalating cycles of violence.
REVIEW: During this year’s TIFF, two films depicted theatre as a vessel for transcendence
Of the several performing arts-adjacent selections I took in, most affecting were two dramas: Lee Sang-il’s Kokuho and Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. In both period pieces, theatre creation serves as an emotional outlet for an artist navigating devastating loss.
YPT has crossed the theatre/comedy barrier for an imaginative retelling of Snow White with an all-star double cast spanning both genres.
Thriving, Brilliant, Brave, Sexy Activism: In Conversation with Darrah Teitel
"If I was trying to change the world, Canadian theatre spaces are probably not the most efficient way to do that..but the liveness of theatre and the beautiful communal experience just cannot be replicated anywhere else.”
What I Wish I’d Known: Laura Nanni
Cultivate the same environment of creativity and fun for yourself that you wish for the artists and audience you plan for.
What I Wish I’d Known: Andrea Donaldson
I believe in a huge distinction between pressure and stress. One is exciting and passionate and one is toxic.
What I Wish I’d Known: Johnnie Walker
You’re going in the right direction, even if the journey winds up taking longer than you planned for.

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