Groundswell Festival 2024

November 18-20, 2024
Buddies in Bad Times – Tallulah’s Cabaret (12 Alexander St)
Tickets: $12 online or at the door.

Join us as we celebrate creation, conversation and community at our 39th annual Groundswell Festival! This November our annual Groundswell Festival is coming to the Buddies in Bad Times Cabaret Space to spotlight brand new works from Nightwood Theatre’s Write From The Hip playwright’s unit (WFTH) led by Interim Program Director Keshia Palm and Program Associate Jan Alicia Jennings. Hear new plays from Kijo Gatama, Meara Khanna, and Hilary Smith.

GROUNDSWELL 2024 Schedule

Wednesday, November 13

Monday, November 18

Tuesday, November 19

Wednesday, November 20

Wednesday, November 13

1-4PM – Shoot! A Write From The Hip Workshop with Keshia Palm

Giddyup for 3 hours of impulsive, reactive, responsive and collaborative writing (with breaks). For folks who are feeling stuck, craving a space to play, looking to meet new writing partners, or a little creative adventure. Artists will be given prompts, collaborate on docs, swap texts, live edit, and more to run with. This workshop requires a device that can connect to wifi and that you can write and read from comfortably: ideally a laptop or tablet, but a smartphone also works. Be prepared to respond, read aloud, and most of all — WRITE!

Date: Wednesday, November 13
Time: 1-4pm ET

Location: Daniels Spectrum (585 Dundas St E)

This event has reached capacity. Please contact Jade at jade@nightwoodtheatre.net if you would like to be added to the waitlist!

Monday, November 18

This evening’s reading will begin with excerpts from work by Curtain Raisers Rakhee Morzaria and Thalia Gonzalez Kane.

7 PM – The Forage by Kijo Gatama

Show Description: What could possibly go wrong when your family’s medical history is blank, suspicions of it are disregarded as happenstance or curses or a good tale to discuss at family dinner reminiscing about that “crazy” uncle that mysteriously passed away? This play embarks on a deeply emotional journey exploring family, heritage, and health, shedding light on rarely discussed topics in African households. Mumbi’s revelation of an irreversible hereditary condition during a checkup unravels generations of untold medical history. Who is in her corner?

Content Warnings: Adult Language

Runtime: 50 minutes

Directed by: Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu
Featuring: Natasha Mumba, Walter Borden, Virgilia Griffith, Tarique Lewis, and daniel jelani ellis

Workshop Shadow: Keira Marie Forde

8:30 PM – WFTH Playwrights Talkback

If you love Reunion Episodes, Behind-the-Scenes content, Director’s Cuts, or want to learn more about the playwrights from this season’s Groundswell, don’t miss the first time all five WFTH playwrights gather in the same room for a very special IRL conversation in front of a live audience (you)! Stick around after the reading to hear the playwrights talk about their scripts, writing process, creative inspirations, and curiosities. Moderated by Interim Program Director Keshia Palm, featuring Hilary Smith, Kijo Gatama, Meara Khanna, Mily Mumford, Pesch Nepoose.

BOOK TICKETS

Tuesday, November 19

This evening’s reading will begin with excerpts from work by Curtain Raisers Srutika Sabu and Laurel Marie Munro.

7 PM – Involuntary Parenthood by Hilary Smith

Show Description: Danika is a single woman in her late thirties who lives far away from her family and feels increasingly isolated from her peers. Then she gets pregnant by a guy she doesn’t know well. When she decides to keep the baby, he refuses to let her choices affect his. She brings him a co-parenting agreement, he responds by suing her. This story is based on the 2017 Ontario Court of Appeal case, PP v DD.

Content Warnings: sexually explicit scenes, profanity/mature language

Runtime: 45 minutes

Directed by: Bryn Kennedy
Featuring: Alice Snaden, Johnathan Sousa, Karl Ang, Sochi Fried, Nancy Palk, and Mercedes Isaza Clunie
Workshop Shadow: Avery MacDonald

BOOK TICKETS

Wednesday, November 20

7 PM – Gremlin by Meara Khanna

Show Description: Maya is a mid-twenties malcontent and chronic people pleaser, whose opposing qualities are an emotional ticking time bomb. After a mental breakdown in Dollarama goes viral online, she is subjected to racism, isolation and court appointed anger management therapy. Gremlin illuminates Maya’s journey with accepting all the parts of herself that she’s been taught to resent.

Content Warnings: Suicide/Self Harm, Mental Health discussions, Racism, Coarse Language

Runtime: 35 minutes

Directed by: Michelle Mohammed

Featuring: Mercy Cherian, Jakob Ehman, Hume Baugh, Farhang Ghajar, Pamela Sinha, Caroline Gillis, and Rouvan Silogix

Workshop Shadow: Sanskruti Marathe

8 PM – Playwrights’ Platform

Wrapping up our festival celebrations, we are holding our first Playwrights’ Platform! Stacked with Nightwood program alum, the Playwrights’ Platform will host writers as they boldly explore snippets of their recent work. Come get a taste of all of their pieces and help us send off the 39th annual Groundswell Festival with flare!

Featuring readings by: Anita La Selva, Janis Mayers, Natércia Napoleão, Keshia Palm, Iris Rhian, Hanlon Uafás-Álainn, Alex Vermey, and Chelsea Woolley.

BOOK TICKETS

Book Tickets

View Program

Meet the Groundswell Festival 2024 Team

Kijo Gatama

Playwright

Kijo Gatama

Playwright

I’m Kijo Eunice Gatama, a creative, playwright, actor, dancer, and emerging artistic director based in Amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta). I co-curate and produce for Here,for:Fear Collective (formerly Fear The Festival), Edmonton’s first fear-focused theatre/film festival, emphasizing IBPOC artists (2020-present). As a playwright, I explore Folklore and Queer Afro-Canadian experiences. Recent works include Hyena’s Trail at rEvolver Festival (2022) and Mango of The Dead at A Thousand Faces Festival (2022). Premiere of Hyena’s Trail at Nextfest (June 2023) and A Tale of Two Bundles (Thou Art Here: Immersive Program 2023).

Pesch Nepoose

Playwright

Pesch Nepoose

Playwright

Pesch Nepoose is a Cree multidisciplinary artist currently residing in Toronto. She graduated from the Centre for Indigenous Theatre in May 2019. Pesch has many skills and experience as an actor, writer, dancer, singer, stage manager and tour guide. As a full time actor, she has been a part of many projects. Pesch wrote and performed her one woman show, The Bridge, at the Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival and Toronto Fringe Festival last summer.

Hilary Smith

Playwright

Hilary Smith

Playwright

Hilary Smith is a writer and lawyer living in Toronto. She is returning to life as an artist after spending over a decade as, variously, a producer, law student, and a corporate lawyer on Bay Street. She studied Drama and English at the University of Bristol and law at Queen’s University in Kingston.

Keshia Palm

Interim Program Director

Keshia Palm

Interim Program Director

Keshia Palm (they/them) is a storyteller seeking to spark connection and conversation through live, shared experiences in thoughtful and inclusive art/spaces — as Actor, Director, Dramaturge, Producer and Playwright, depending on the day. They have developed and performed new works from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland, and are particularly interested in developing new work with highly integrated design in collaborative, joyful spaces. As a dramaturge, Keshia accompanies artistic processes as a critical, sensitive and loving discourse partner, often collaborating on projects focusing specifically on poststructural, postcolonial and queerfeminist perspectives. Keshia is the Artistic Producer of Paprika Theatre Festival in Toronto, Canada. keshiapalm.com Recent projects: Dramaturge – WHITE MUSCLE DADDY (March 2024, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre + Pencil Kit Productions) // Director – SEPH (2023, RISERx Why Not Theatre + Toronto Metropolitan University) // Assistant Director + Understudy – The Year of the Cello (Theatre Passe Muraille + Music Picnic).

Meara Khanna

Playwright

Meara Khanna

Playwright

Meara Khanna is a multidisciplinary artist and writer. Born and raised in Mississauga, Meara has been immersed in story telling her entire life. She previously developed her first play in Tarragon Theatre’s Young Playwright’s Unit, and recently had the pleasure of joining the Reelworld Institute’s Emerging 20 Program. Meara works in scripted television and lives in Toronto. When she’s not writing, you can find her napping in a park or watching reality TV.

Jan Alicia Jennings

Program Associate

Jan Alicia Jennings

Program Associate

Jan Jennings is a British Jamaican Ghanian Non-Binary Woman, and Muva. Jan is an artist of many seasonings which include: Playwright, Poet, Art Facilitator, Singer, Songwriter, MC, Dramaturg in Queerness, Grief/ Trauma, and Comedian! With a degree in Gender & Women Studies from York University, Jan’s activism is rooted in protection of BIPOC Womxn, LGBTQIA+ Community, Children, and advocating for Neurodiverse supports within systems. Everything Jan does aims to celebrate individuality, and the freedom to create art that truly reflects the vibrant colorful world she lives in! Keep a look out for this fashionable quirky soul on her creative journey.

Mily Mumford

Playwright

Mily Mumford

Playwright

Mily Mumford (they/them) is a writer/director for film and theatre focusing on social justice oriented science fiction and horror. They were recently part of the Arts Club Emerging Playwright’s Unit (Vancouver, 2019) and a playwright’s associate with Playwright’s Theatre Centre (Vancouver, 2021-2024), and developed their sci-fi series Nostalgica with the Warner Brothers Canada Access Writer’s Program in 2022. They have a BSc. in biopsychology (UVic) and an MSc. in Interactive Technology (SFU).

Nightwood’s Write From The Hip playwright unit is generously supported by RBC Emerging Artists.