New Play Tuesday 2025

HHG is also committed to supporting Ottawa area artists in developing their work and finding pathways for these works to be staged professionally. We therefore prioritized works with a completed full draft for which New Play Tuesday can be a catalyst towards a full, professional production.

LINEUP:

Wind by Cullen Elijah McGrail 

Directed by Mary Ellis

Featuring Ananya Antony, Sasha Dominique, Geoff McBride, Will Somers and Puja Uppal

When Will discovers his neighbours up in arms over the recent wind farm development in the area, he sees it as the opportunity to write his first big play. The deeper he digs, however, the more he realizes that these neighbours — and his dad — are quickly falling for dangerous anti-science groupthink. Struggling to feel part of his rural community while maintaining his progressive beliefs, Wind offers a glimpse into the complex and heavily nuanced relationship between a father slipping out into the fringes and the son trying to pull him back in.

A Different Kind of Job by Jessica Anderson

Directed by Mary Ellis

Featuring Ananya Antony, Geoff McBride, Will Somers and Puja Uppal

After two students end up in an interlude that goes horribly wrong, a young teacher at a Conservative Catholic school ends up providing forbidden sex education to a teenage girl. The play is a darkly comic look at the fallout of this instruction and the ensuing results on the students, the teachers and the community. A Different Kind of Job explores how we evaluate pushing boundaries or just plain crossing the line.

Our Lives Inseparable by Sanita Fejzić

Directed by Manon St-Jules

Featuring Ananya Antony, Gabrielle Brunet-Poirier, Will Somers and Puja Uppal

Convinced they can make the world a better place through writing and reading, Saša, Director of Sunnyside Library’s non-fiction department, is forced to confront the harsh reality of living in a class society that elevates some at the expense of others. Saša, George, Iman and Cassandra meet at the library’s café, a space where everyone is welcome. But are they really? George, a gay unhoused man, is desperate to change his situation, while Iman, the child of refugees, struggles to get out of intergenerational poverty. When Cassandra, a wealthy noblewoman from Europe, enters their lives, difficult truths come to surface. A failure of governments to offer quality, affordable housing, homelessness is not a reflection of individual worth or will. A broken social net lacks dignity and limits authentic connection with others. Likewise, absurd inherited wealth can be isolating and a barrier to genuine social bonds, especially across class differences. Our Lives Inseparable dwells on the impacts of poverty in a time of escalating social and climate crisis. Homelessness and poverty are not just a policy and budget choice; they are embedded in our sexual and emotional lives, and deeply rooted in our psyches, echoing through the centuries like Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens.

Y’es-tu trop tard pour apprendre à aimer les écureuils? by Sabrina Auclair

*Francophone performance with English captions*

Directed by Manon St-Jules

Featuring Mélanie Beauchamp, Gabrielle Brunet-Poirier, Marie-Ève Fontaine, Alexandre Gauthier and Gabriel Gosselin

«Y’es-tu trop tard pour apprendre à aimer les écureuils?» (which loosely translates to “Is it too late to learn how to love squirrels?”) is a dystopian and apocalyptic epic about human fragility and, above all, our relationship with our own mortality. With only 60 minutes left before the end of the world, five colorful and perfectly imperfect characters navigate their imminent demise, each in their own way. When oppressive social codes and the relentless pursuit of happiness fade away, we are finally free to choose what we truly want, to indulge our deepest desires, without constraints. So, what do we do when we only have one hour left to live? In this tragicomic play, blending poignant sincerity with absurd madness, the audience witnesses Lori’s final moments, who trips on magic mushrooms and invents a deep connection with Tite-Fouine, her ferret. There’s also Jeanne, devoted to non-violence who secretly wishes she could embrace violence. Then there’s Tom, an influencer and agoraphobe who hasn’t left his home in five years. He’s searching for the courage to abandon the comfort of his digital bubble and face the real world before it’s too late. Lia, a non-practicing former Catholic, deeply regrets her apostasy and wishes she could end her days in Paradise after all. And finally, there’s Dave, who eagerly awaits the end while snacking on extra-butter popcorn. «Y’es-tu trop tard pour apprendre à aimer les écureuils?» is a story about endings, but also a grand story about life. Because when there’s no tomorrow, we can finally start living.

The evening will also include post-show talkbacks.