Buddies in Bad Times Thea is si of a and of T T n land (a una unre presen of as TkaronTo (“Where The Trees meeT The WaTer”; “The gaThering plaCe”). Buddies is honoured To Be a home for queer, Trans and 2-spiriT arTisTs on These sToried and saCred lands ThaT have Been sTeWarded By Indigenous peoples for Thousands of years Before The arrival of Colonial seTTlers.
This play is an exploration of labour. I am wondering how we can begin to map our interconnection. I am wondering how our daily work can centre care and attention. I am wondering about the problem of time, and how to direct it toward our collective liberation when we all have to make money. I am wondering about love and being in a body. I am wondering about loneliness and isolation and how to continue this work of being alive. I am wondering about the role of art and how to be most useful at this moment in time.
together since 2019. We have been making a play where we can include our own selves and our own labours in the making of it. We have been creating structures for performance so we can work with embodied listening and responding in live time. We have overlaid various terrains — ancient Greece with here + now, our own bodies with the body of Herakles — to get at this question of labour from different access points. We have referred to star maps and energetic maps. We have tried to increase our capacity to work with the unknown and to see each other.
The creation and performance of this play belongs to the performance ensemble and is a form for their genius and group trust. The design and production team have manifested this play in the physical realm and created a beauty and meaning for this play text. I am moved to find a home for our team and this work at Buddies, a place of queer liberation. I am grateful to my beloved longtime It Could Still Happen collaborators, whose devotion and artistry is inseparable from anything we have made. Your being here as an audience allows this work to begin, end, and continue to appear.
I want to put all the names here of the people who have made this work possible, but I cannot. The whole making of this play is itself a map of this love and devotion. I am so glad you are here with us, doing this work.
Jill Connell // playwright + director
William Ellis, Stephen Jackman-Torkoff, Jackie Rowland, Rose Tuong, Fan Wu // performance ensemble
Elena Eli Belyea // production support
ciaran brenneman // stage manager
Paul Chambers // original lighting concepts
Sascha Cole // creative producer
Ishan Davé // scenography
Brian Drader // dramaturgy
Sebastian Marziali // lighting design + technical director
Philip Nozuka // music + sound design
ORXSTRA // costume design
Laura Philipps // production manager
Tedi Tafel // embodied practice + meta-witness
Awl or Nothing Creative Inc. // tent construction + design consultant
Dariush Zadeh // makeup consultant
El Patey, Darren Shaen, Mojo Noble // head technicians
Van Ward, Kit Norman, Zoe Daca, Stephanie Taylor, Antel Kollenberg, Mike Dowdall, Brawk Hessel, Dylan Tate-Howarth, Christopher-Elizabeth, Elaine Wong, Mackenzie McCallum-Mallory, Lindsay McDonald // production crew
Ishan Davé // JASON
Dove Dey-Kerr, Brett Donahue, Xina Gilani, Alexander McLeod, Justin Nozuka, Roberto Soria, Dariush Zadeh // ARGONAUTS
Jill Connell and Ishan Davé // co-directors + producers
Ishan Davé // editor
It Could Still Happen is moved by the love and generosity of our theatre community in supporting this production, lending their time, expertise, equipment, and space: Mel Hague, Rachel Penny + Factory Theatre; Mike Scott + Theatre Gargantua; Adam Paolozza + Bad New Days; Crystal Lee + Why Not Theatre; Amy Nosbakken, Norah Sadava + Quote Unquote Collective; Victor Pokinko; Indrit Kasapi; Tori Morrison + David Gagnon Walker; and Daniel Bennett.
We miss and adore Monica Garrido and Katie Swift: ensemble members during this play’s development, whose imprint is forever on this show and in our hearts. Additionally huge thank you to Sally Roberts who contributed much genius to the production management of our November 2025 design residency.
Thank you also to artists who were part of the Toronto Men’s Boxing Club in 2019, including: Carmen Alvis, Xina Gilana, Mel Hague, Chala Hunter, Robert Kingsbury, Krista Shilter, and Sophie Traub.
It Could Still Happen has been supported since its inception in 2013 by Jill’s mom, Linda Connell — physically, spiritually and practically — with love, time, belief, and food. Linda has also supported ICSH projects financially in the memory of her mom and my grandmother, Ellen Gallagher, including support for The Herald during development and production. Thank you to Tink, Sharon, and Linda for beautiful writing time at Lake Huron.
Thank you also to our beloveds/pals: Georgina Beaty, Julia Beyer, Cory Bobiak, Michael + Luca Collinge, Claudia Dey, Molly Flood, Susanna Fournier, Chala Hunter, Sarah Kitz, Tara Koehler, Petros Tzatzas, Heidi Sopinka, Evan Webber, Ker Wells, Logan Williams, and ted witzel
The Herald is made possible with project funding from the for the Arts, the arts organizations have supported creation and development of dearly grateful and fortunate for this funding. It has made this teamwork possible and has enfranchised our small company to pay artists in our community.
Jill Connell (she/they] // playwright + director – Jill is a writer and theatre artist living in Tkaronto/Toronto. Jill’s plays include The Supine Cobbler (published with Coach House Books), HROSES: An Affront to Reason, The Tall Building, and Arctic Ocean. She began the theatre collective It Could Still Happen in 2013 alongside her beloved friends and collaborators — including Sascha Cole, Tedi Tafel and Ishan Davé, from the very beginning. Recently, Jill has loved teaching creative writing at Sheridan and Humber. Making The Herald with this team is a highlight of their life. Previous credits at Buddies include Since Santino XXX at the 2014 Rhubarb! Festival.
William Ellis* // ensemble – William Ellis works in performance, video, and live art, with presentations at First Thursdays at the AGO and Dancemakers’ Flowchart series. He recently participated in Summer School with Richard Maxwell and the New York City Players. Selected performance credits include Other Jesus, WorkingOn WorkingOnUs, Hot Cuts, Even This Old Town Was a Forest, Feral Child, S h e e t s, A Man Vanishes, The Coating Project, Machinery Room, and This Is a Costume Drama. William also co-founded Videofag with Jordan Tannahill, a performance space that ran for four years and presented work across cinema, performance, and interdisciplinary art.
Stephen Jackman-Torkoff* [they/them] // ensemble –Stephen Jackman-Torkoff is a wandering poet and aspiring architect who enjoys doing creative experiments and walking around. Previous Buddies credits include Black Boys 2016/2018. Stephen is a pisces.
Jackie Rowland (she/her) // ensemble – Jackie is a theatremaker and soon-to-be acupuncturist. Born in Hong Kong and trained at the National Theatre School of Canada, she’s drawn to devised processes and physical theatre. Buddies holds a special place in her heart: she’s an alum of the Young Creators Unit and Emerging Creators Unit, has performed at the Rhubarb! Festival, and still carries the baby-gay glow the theatre helped nurture. She is an associate artist with Re:Current Theatre and thrilled to be working with It Could Still Happen again after performing in The Supine Cobbler. Outside of the theatre, she’s been making music with her band, Three Half Cigs.
rose tuong* [they/them) // performer – top notch performer + insecure autobiographer so i guess it evens out. i was invited to The Herald (then called toronto men’s boxing club) in 2018 by Jill Connell (enigmatic connoisseur of the aesthetic poetic), which is coincidentally the same year of the last show i did at Buddies (lulu v6://aspects of a femme fatale by ted witzel/Susanna Fournier/Helen Yung). I recall feeling enchanted and fortunate af to be engaged in an investigation of labour that was, yeah technically my job, but also felt like a portal into a new mode of being here. thus concludes my bio.
Fan Wu (he/him) // ensemble – Fan Wu is a bleached bone found pristine at your high school prom night bonfire. He is currently working on Erotic Awakenings, a writing/ performance series in collaboration with Hearth gallery. You can read his writing online at Flaherty Seminar, C Magazine, Ex-Puritan, and Capilano Review. He performed Primordial Chaos in Rhubarb! Festival 2025 with Thom Gill, Germaine Liu, and Jonathan Adjemian.
Elena/Eli Belyea // production support – elena (or eli) belyea is a queer/trans playwright, performer, and producer from edmonton/treaty 6. they’re artistic director of tiny bear jaws (theatre with teeth) which they run with tori morrison. elena’s work has been produced across turtle island and internationally. currently in development: WILLOWS (set at a fictitious writing camp for teens, in response to Alberta’s recent anti-trans legislation), APOLOGY SHOW (a pop concert/research project where the audience is invited to roleplay their dream apology), and KILL CHAIN (an adaptation/defamation of Aeschylus’ tragedy The Oresteia). @elenabelyea / @tinybearjaws
ciaran brenneman* // stage manager – ciaran brenneman is a queer stage manager/theatre artist grateful to be living and working in so-called “Toronto.” They are delighted to have been invited to collaborate on The Herald. Recent credits include: Stage Manager – Small Gods: The Musical (Workshop, Factory Theatre); Game Of Life (bluemouth inc.) The Pool, Kioku No Ma, ALIENS (Toronto Dance Theatre). Assistant Stage Manager: &Juliet (Mirvish Productions); Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812 (Crow’s Theatre/Mirvish Productions/Musical Stage).
Paul Chambers (any pronouns) // original lighting concepts – Paul Chambers is a Black Queer Lighting Designer from Montreal. Rue Duplessis: Ma petite Noirceur (Duceppe), L’Amour ou rien ( Le Trident, Espace GO, MAYDAY), A Play for the Living in a time of Extinction (Centaur Theatre, Théatre La Licorne), Ricki (Scapegoat Carnival), Le Mont Analogue (Espace GO), Cabaret Noir (MAYDAY), L’ombre de Marie Brassard (NAC + Rideau Vert), PHOSPHOS (FTA, Montreal Arts Interculturels, Furies Festival, Rhubarb! Festival), Phoenix, Candide (Montréal Complètement Cirque). Contemporary Dance designs for Maria Kefirova, Clara Furey, Ellen Furey, Lara Kramer Dance, Katie Ward, Thierry Huard, Dorian Nuskind-Oder, Amanda Acorn, Catherine Lavoie-Marcus, PMEART, Emmanuel Jouthe, Sasha Kleinplatz, Benjamin Kamino, Parts+Labour_ Danse. 2022 Prix de la Danse de Montreal for his career as a collaborator and designer in dance, 2022 and 2025 META Award recipient for outstanding lighting design. Paul is a professor at Concordia University since 2015, a lighting design instructor The National Theatre School of Canada since 2018. Buddies debut!
Sascha Cole (she/her) // creative producer – This is Sascha’s third time collaborating with Jill and her first time collaborating with Buddies. With ICSH she co-produced The Supine Cobbler and HROSES. Sascha has been working as a producer for 10 years, previously at TO Live, The Theatre Centre, and Soulpepper. Favourite producing projects include: Obeah Opera at the Luminato Festival, Public Recording’s Other Jesus at Festival TransAmerique, and Sea Sick at the Edinburgh Fringe. Sascha also has been working as an actor for over 25 years. For Luca, the shiniest light of them all.
Ishan Davé (he/him) // scenography – is a Canadian-Gujarati actor and artist, based in Tkaronto|Toronto. A multiple Canadian Screen Award and Dora Award nominee, he is an associate artist with the performance collective It Could Still Happen and resident acting coach at the Armstrong Acting Studio (Toronto/Los Angeles). Select acting releases include: Paying for It (Sook-Yin Lee, Hawkeye), Mouthpiece (Patricia Rozema), Rabbit Hole (CBS/Paramount+), Kim’s Convenience (Ins Choi, Netflix/Cbc Gem), Sugar Daddy (LevelFilm/Kelly McCormack). Ishan is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, under the Artistic Directorship of Sherry Bie. His favourite theatre show of 2026 so far was FASHION, wr./dir. Amanda Horowitz. He wishes to thank the full Herald company for this collaboration, and dedicates the show to Paul Chambers w/ love & sass.
Brian Drader (he/him) // dramaturgy – Brian Drader is a writer, dramaturg, actor, teacher, and artistic administrator. Awards for his plays include the prestigious Lambda Literary Award for Drama (USA), and nominations for the Governor General’s Award and the McNally Robinson Book of the Year. His plays have been produced in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Published work includes The Norbals, Prok, and Liar (Scirocco Drama), and Cursty and To Be Frank (Signature Editions). In his 40-year career as an educator and dramaturg he has supported hundreds of projects, from stage plays to Cirque du Soleil’s MJ ONE in Las Vegas to the revamp of the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa. Brian served as the Director of Playwriting at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal from 2004 to 2017. He now teaches playwriting at the University of Winnipeg and serves as the Executive Director of the Manitoba Association of Playwrights.
Sebastian Marziali (any pronouns) // lighting design + technical director – Sebastian Marziali is an award-winning Uruguayan-Canadian performer, designer, and creator based in T’karonto. Lighting designer for the 2018, 2019, and 2025 Toronto International Burlesque Festivals, 2019 Vanguardia Dance Festival, and venue designer at Factory for the 2022 RUTAS Festival. They were Lighting Designer on the acclaimed world premiere of Homelands for Kaha:wi Dance touring it to the NAC, and Prismatic Arts Festival in Halifax. Sebastian designed sets and lights for Theatre Francais de Toronto’s Convictions and Les Zinspiré.e.s. touring the former to Limoges, France, and garnering a Dora nomination for the latter. With their collective Other Hearts they’ve created a variety of works that exist between theatre, performance art, and installation with a focus on new creative methodologies for access measures. Other Hearts’ Quartet starred Sebastian and saw them co-design set, lights, and projection; receiving critical acclaim and a 2024 Dora nomination for set and projection design. Sebastian is always striving to use their varied skills and interests to create performance works that challenge traditional structure and aim to treat design elements as characters/collaborators in the creation process. Recipient of the 2024 Jack King Award from Associated Designers of Canada.
Philip Nozuka (he/him) // music + sound design – Philip Nozuka is a multidisciplinary artist working across music, video, and performance. He is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s acting program and has performed in numerous theatre, film, and television productions having worked with David Cronenberg, Robert Pattinson, Kimberly Pierce, Andrew Tay, and Jordan Tanahill. As a musician, Philip is a graduate of the Metalworks Institute for audio engineering and electronic music production and has worked with Bambii, Zacari, Alex Sawinsky of BADBADNOTGOOD, JP Saxe, Justin Nozuka, Kingo Halla, and Aquila. As a live sound composer he has worked on projects with Toronto Dance Theatre, Canadian Stage, and It Could Still Happen.
ORXSTRA // costumes – ORXSTRA is Tala Kamea Berkes and Alexander McLeod. Lifting its sensibility from the harmonic energy of the orchestral, the symphonic, and the mythological, ORXSTRA is an artistic partnership oriented toward communion and ceremony. Engaging deeply with body, mind, and spirit, ORXSTRA is inspired by infinite patterns, opulent texture, and transcendent beauty. ORXSTRA is a project in time, open and adapting to change in the form of temporal Offerings: wearable pieces, music, art, and designed experiences.
Laura Philipps (she/her) // production manager – Laura Philipps is a Toronto-based Producer and Production Manager of theatre, dance, and multimedia performance works. Her practice centres around new work development, creative leadership, and process design. She is part of the Blindled collective Unsightly Arts (fka Fire and Rescue Arts) that produced Perceptual Archaeology or How To Travel Blind with Crow’s Theatre (Best New Play Dora Nominee, 2023). She works regularly with Lester Trips (Theatre) in theatre and series TV, including (CBC Gem) and a 2024 – 26 sci-fi body horror trilogy at Factory Theatre (upcoming November 2026). As co-founder of Action Pants, she works on research with University of Calgary into new creation methods integrating human-computer interaction and live performance. www.lauraphilipps.com
Tedi Tafel (she/her) // embodied practice + meta-witness –used to make site specific dance performances for urban and natural settings in my home of Montreal and in other places in Canada and abroad. I did this for about 35 years insisting through my choreographies on an intimacy between the human body the surrounding world. I wanted the performers to appear the work in real time, creating a space of spontaneity and listening that invited the audience to participate rather than merely consume. The last series that I made was called crying for the absence of any sense of the sacred in our communal lives and a longing for the deeper layers of our human experience to be played out in the public sphere. Now, I am an Energy Medicine practitioner working with ancient and contemporary forms of healing. These two things are related but different. I also love teaching and collaborating with other artist on their creations.
*The participation of these Artists is arranged by permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the provisions of the Dance Opera Theatre Policy (DOT).
It Could Still Happen is a theatre collective that has been working together since 2013. Founded by artistic producer Jill Connell, our shows are based on formally-innovative texts that approach the embodied experience of how things feel, prioritizing bold aesthetics and the space we’re in. We value long-term creation processes that invite experimentation, trust, group work, and care. We aim to offer performances that have a startling sense of aliveness and possibility; that are as ferocious as they are tender. Past productions include The Supine Cobbler and HROSES: Outrage à raison, both performed in abandoned warehouses prior to becoming condos. The world premiere of
Artistic Director
TED WITZEL
Director of Finance and Development
KRISTINA LEMIEUX
Rhubarb Festival Director
LUDMYLLA REIS
Operations Coordinator
MASON MCDONALD
Production Manager
REBECCA VANDEVELDE
Technical Director
ANTHONY ALLAN
Producer
AIDAN MORISHITA-MIKI
Director of Artistic Planning
SUE BALINT
Marketing Manager
KATIE CLARKE
Social Media Coordinator
ANASIMONE GEORGE
Facility Manager
PAUL THERRIEN
Senior Manager of Bar and Nightlife
AL THOMAS-HALL
Nightlife Programmer
RAE ABUNAHLA
Nightlife Producer
EMMA WESTRAY
Chamber Coordinator
AMBER PATTISON
Publicity
KATIE SAUNORIS | KSPR
Custodian
KEVIN NICOL
Hosting Team
CONI AGURTO, MAXWELL COWAN, HANNAH KENNEDY, DIVINE MARKSOWUSU, MACKENZIE MCCALLUM, LESLEY NICHOLLS, ASHER ROSE, SARAH ROWE, SIWAR SORIA, MAIREAD STEWART, DANNY SYLVAN
Head of Security AIDAN MCKENDRICK
Security Team MARY RUMBAWA
Bar Personnel
RICHARD BELL, CHARLEE BOYES, DANIEL HOANG, RONNIE LÉGÈRE, ASHER ROSE
Emerging Creators Unit Director AMANDA CORDNER
Board of Directors
SEDINA FIATI
JESSE GRIFFITHS
ALEXANDER HUTCHISON
MICHAEL MAN
ALEX RAND
SHIVANI SETH
Adam Morrison + James Owen
Brian Sambourne + Richard Isaac
Ed Cabell + Roy Forrester
Estate of George Edward Grant
Jim Robertson + Jim Scott
Richard McLellan
Russell Mathew + Scott Ferguson
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE
Lawrence Bennett
Cameron Bryant
Edward Scargill
Gregory Kim
House of Beida
Martha McCain
Michael David Trent
Paul Hartwick
Robert Sirman
Sarah Kaplan + Anita McGahan
Stephen McGregor + Tony de Franco
ted witzel
RENAISSANCE CIRCLE
Alan Dingle
Andrea + Ted Witzel
Andrew Gillespie
Anonymous
Anonymous Anonymous
Anthony Oliveira
Asher Maan
Brendan Healy
Chris Oldfield
Christopher + Cindy Hill
Dan Morin
Ed Cabell + Roy Forrester
Geoff + Nancy Browne
Janet + Doug Newlands
Karim Karsan + John Rider
Lydia Leatherdale in memory of Calvin Cox
Mark + Kris Schumacher
Michael David Trent
Montana Kimel
Oldfield Management Inc.
Paul Hartwick
Peter Caldwell
Ron Lalonde + Jane Humphreys
Alex Rand + Craig Ruttan
Andrea + Ted Witzel
Anu Radha Verma
Caleb Buys
Carol Dilworth
Chris Ironside
Fran + John Brunton
Gordon + Michelle Young
James Davis
James Tennyson
Jesse Griffiths
Karim Karsan + John Rider
Kate Bishop + Doug Gerhart
Lucinda Wallace
Mandy McNeil
Mark Aikman + Gustavo Cerquera Benjumea
Matthew Harding
Philip Doiron
Philip Gazaleh
Sean Hillier
Shawn Daudlin
Aidan Morishita-Miki
Alia Ahmed
Anthony Oliveira
Ben Louie
Carol Dilworth
Catherine Stinson
Chloe Horgan
David Steinberg
Dennie Park
Dennis Findlay
Doug Arcand + Alnoor Karmali
Echo Czetyrbok
Gilles Marchildon
In honour of Frankie Bayley
James Davis
Kristina Lemieux
Lawrence Campbell
Lillian Gould
Marcus McCann + Paul Sutton
Mark Brodsky
Mathew McKenzie
Misha Teramura
Neil Guthrie
Raymond Helkio
Rebecca Purvis
Richard Sutton
Robert Gordon Coates
Sarah Garton Stanley
Sherri Gault
Susan Moellers
Susanna Fournier
Suzanne Brunelle
Taashi Gupta
Thomas Hopson
Thomas Pfanner
Tom Keogh
Tyler Gledhill
Vivek Shraya
Aliakbar Aminzadeh
Alice Sahazizian
Ally Lu
Andrea Houston
Anonymous
Ayse Turak
Barbara Fingerote
Belinda Wildenboer
Bernadette + Gene Morishita-Miki
Beth Rennie
BIPOC Executive Search
Blaine Adams
Brent Kopfensteiner
Caitlynn Fairbarns
Cameron Bryant
Cameron MacLeod
Chanti Zoelene Laliberte
Chiamaka Umeh
Cong Chi Nguyen
Curtis Bowie
Daniel Sylvan
Dawn Mortimer
Elliot Smith
Emily Weaver
Eric Turner
Erika Hennebury
Ethan Crowe
Eva Barrie
Evan Pacht
Fripp Auctions
Garrett Zehr
Gary Rogers
Gayle Kosokowsky
Gerald Crowell
Greg Kelner
Harold Averill
Ian Anderson
Ingrid Randoja
Jason Chow
Jason Murray
Javier Davila
Jeffrey Hammond
Jennifer Duffy
John Pariselli
Jordan Merkur
Joseph Callaghan
Joseph McLean
Katherine (Katie) Barnes
Ken Aucoin
Kevin Cormier
Kim Cousins
Lea Rossiter
Marc Michell
Mason McDonald
Mina Jalali
Nancy Tran
Neil Betteridge
Neil Guthrie
Nick D’Oria
Paul Michael Bayani
Peter Bruce Walker
Phillip Roh
Raymond Helkio
Reneese Dunkley
Richard Verrette
Rick Archbold
Ricker Choi
Roberto Bozac
Robin Crombie
Ronald Haynes
Rui Pires
Saaloni Sharma
Sandra Bender
Scout Swartz
Shawn Kerwin
Shivakumar Kodali
Signy Lynch
Sophia Salador
Susan Klassen
Suzanne Brunelle
Taashi Gupta
Talisa Ngo
Thompson Nguyen
Tim Witzel
Tom Hutchinson
Vivian Yoanidis
Vural Ozdemir
William Hunter Johnston
Zestaline Kim
C ommun IT y and edu C a TI on par T ner
C orpora T e par T ners
pu B l IC agen CI es
