Why Not Theatre presents THE CLIMATE COMMISSIONS
Three Short Plays Exploring the Climate Crisis by Award-Winning Playwrights TARA BEAGAN, SABRINA MAHFOUZ, AND TA-NIA
Presented by Why Not Theatre
Why Not Theatre presents THE CLIMATE COMMISSIONS, a new series of plays commissioned from national and international playwrights exclusively for the ThisGen Fellowship 2025-2026. ThisGen Fellowship is a prestigious, hands-on theatre training program that supports BIPOC women and non-binary artists in reaching the next level of their careers. ThisGen Fellowship is also a powerful professional platform. By pairing rigorous training with visible artistic leadership opportunities, the Fellowship is designed to actively shift perception within the field and to ensure that institutions, presenters, and senior leaders see ThisGen Fellows as the next generation of bold, capable, cultural leaders shaping Canadian theatre. ThisGen Fellowship is curated and led by Artistic Producer Intisar Awisse.
A triple bill, THE CLIMATE COMMISSIONS features workshop presentations of MATRIATE written by Tara Beagan, 2025 Governor General Award for Drama Winner for Rise, Red River, and the 2020 Siminovitch Prize Laureate; MANY WATERS written by Sabrina Mahfouz, award-winning British writer who was grew up in London, UK, and Cairo, Egypt; and A RITUAL OF RETURN created by Ta-Nia, an American-based duo dedicated to creating uncompromising BLK spaces of liberation by challenging traditional boundaries in the theatre.
MATRIATE, written by Tara Beagan and directed by Cheyenne Scott, is a short, powerful play centered on an Indigenous burial ground threatened by development. Bon, a worker who refuses to vacate the construction site, chooses instead to remain close to the uncovered burial of the Nlaka’pamux woman, Tshoolsh. As machinery approaches and pressure mounts, the play explores the intersection of land, loss, and agency revealing the deep spiritual bond between the living and the dead.
The only time estranged sisters Amina and Khadija see one another these days is in court, as opposing counsel for a case between Guyanese labourers and a Canadian oil corporation drilling offshore in Guyana. In MANY WATERS, written by UK playwright Sabrina Mahfouz and directed by Michelle Mohammed, the two feuding lawyers come together in sisterly love for their mother’s funeral and to travel to their estranged homeland, where grief becomes the catalyst for difficult conversations about inheritance, environmental responsibility, and the future.
Emaya is on a journey to meet her ancestors. In A RITUAL OF RETURN, created by American duo Ta-Nia (Talia Paulette Oliveras and Nia Farrell) and directed by Adonis Critter King, Emaya, struggling to imagine a future amid widespread loss, encounters her ancestral presences who offer hope and guidance and remind her of her own endurance, community, and possibility.
Credits
Why Not Theatre presents
THE CLIMATE COMMISSIONS
A Triple Bill of Workshop Presentations:
MATRIATE by Tara Beagan
Director Cheyenne Scott
Dramaturg Brefny Caribou
Produced by ThisGen Fellows Shyanne Duquette and Sue-Tanya Lee
MANY WATERS by Sabrina Mahfouz
Director Michelle Mohammed
Dramaturg Keavy Lynch
Produced by ThisGen Fellows Lily Chang and Jade Silman
A RITUAL OF RETURN by Ta-Nia
Director Adonis Critter King
Dramaturg Mya Wong
Produced by ThisGen Fellows Shannon Corenthin and Meryl Ochoa
Why Not Theatre is an award-winning, critically acclaimed, international theatre company based in Toronto, Canada. The company has built a reputation for cutting-edge, cross-cultural theatre, and for facilitating opportunities for underrepresented artists. For almost 20 years, Why Not Theatre has been creating work that is visually stunning, physically virtuosic, and playfully provocative. To date, Why Not has developed 55 new works, which have toured to over 40 cities in 11 countries. Most recently, the company’s two-part epic Mahabharata toured internationally, with acclaimed runs at Barbican Centre, Perth Festival, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Why Not Theatre is led by Founder and Co-Artistic Director Ravi Jain (2025 Siminovitch Prize Laureate), Co-Artistic Director Miriam Fernandes, Executive Director Karen Tisch and Executive Producer Kevin Matthew Wong.
Why Not Theatre acknowledges the ongoing support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Clearview Foundation, Lindy Green Family Foundation, and Wuchien Michael Than Foundation.
ThisGen Fellowship is presented in collaboration with the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund, who has partnered with Why Not Theatre on the program since its inception and hosts an annual residency for each cohort.
ThisGen Fellowship is made possible by the generous support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Arts Training Fund, the National Arts Centre, and RBC Foundation, with additional support provided by Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, the Paul Barber Foundation, and the Youssef-Warren Foundation.
Tickets are $15 – $45
Venue
BMO Incubator
Performance Dates
Thursday 4 June 2026 – 7:00pm
Friday 5 June 2026 – 7:00pm
Saturday 6 June 2026 – 7:00pm
12+ Allusions to colonial violence, sexual violence, and race and gender-based discrimination.
This performance is This performance is 2 hours 5 minutes with two intermissions.



