PlayME

When Denise and Simon are called to the police station, what they find there will connect their family to Kayla's story in ways they never could have imagined and force them to reckon with a question with no comfortable answer: how much did they really know?

Featuring: Ordena Stephens-Thompson, Tony Nappo and Richard Tse.

Denise and Simon have lived on Stanley Court for thirty-one years. They know their neighbours, they wave hello, and they throw a barbecue every May. But seven months ago, their next-door neighbour was exposed as the man who kidnapped ten-year-old Kayla Brown and kept her locked in a cage in his basement for twelve years. Now, as the couple pieces together the aftermath, the uncomfortable questions are just beginning.

Featuring: Ordena Stephens-Thompson, Tony Nappo and Richard Tse.

And if you are looking for more thrillers by Nicolas Billon, check out Butcher available on PlayME in our archives.

In this special PlayME episode, host Chris Tolley sits down with Brian Quirt of Night Swimming as the company celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Brian shares insights into the long, collaborative process of developing new plays, Night Swimming’s philosophy of “faith over hope,” and the re-release of Boys With Cars by Anita Majumdar—exploring how the work resonates with audiences today.

Playwright and actor Pamela Mala Sinha joins Chris Tolley to talk about NEW, her play about a generation of South Asian immigrants who came of age in 1970s Winnipeg. Sinha shares how a box of old photographs and her mother's stories sparked the idea, and why she felt compelled to tell the story of a generation that built this country but has been largely skipped over in our cultural narrative. She talks about casting her own mother as cultural consultant, what it means to take notes from a parent, and the unexpected rehearsal room moment that unlocked the emotional truth of a key scene. She also reflects on writing trauma without centering it, the role of comedy in her work, and what she wishes she had known at the start of her writing life.

It's 1970 in Winnipeg, and a young Bengali bride has just arrived in Canada to marry a man she's never met. But the husband waiting for her is hiding a secret, and the tight-knit immigrant community she's stepping into is holding more than a few of its own. Three couples. A doctor with a double life. A marriage frozen by grief. Two students being pulled apart by the new world around them. And one unexpected arrival who refuses to behave the way anyone needs her to. Theatre critic Glenn Sumi calls New by Pamela Mala Sinha "specific in its details but universal in its themes" and one of the best new Canadian plays in years.

And if you're looking for more great plays to listen to, we highly recommend our PlayME recording of Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, adapted by Liisa Reppo-Martell, featuring some truly incredible performances, including actor Ali Kazmi, who plays Qasim in this production of New.

NEW features: Ali Kazmi, Lisa Ryder, Zorana Sadiq, Ellora Patnaik, Shelly Antony, Fuad Ahmed and Pamela Mala Sinha.