Director Portfolio
Selected Work
Dil Ka 2024
Co-Presented by Blackout Arts Society and Presentation House Theatre | Performance Run: May 22nd - 31st at The Presentation House Theatre
Playwright: Lee Nisar
| Producer: Ruby Slippers Theatre
Synopsis:
Dil Ka follows Zahra, a 26 year old Pakistani woman, as she prepares to meet her latest arranged match for marriage. Zahra spends the majority of the play in her family’s kitchen preparing the traditional Pakistani dish, biryani, to present to the prospective groom’s family.
Dil Ka investigates the concept of the kitchen as both refuge and place of constriction for many South Asian women, and dissects the way in which we inherit familial habits and – most importantly – recipes.
Toying with direct address as a confessional to explore the intersecting identity of a queer Muslim woman and the growing tension between her familial duties and her own desires for life. As the story unfolds the biryani becomes a metaphor for the ingredients that make a “perfect bride”.
Director's Note:
Dil Ka translates to “of the heart”.
Heart is the driving force of this story.
What makes up our hearts? Our beliefs? Our values? Our love? Does one outweigh the other?
This production hopes to take the audience on a deep dive investigation into the multiplicity of intersectional hearts. How do we learn to coexist with all the facets of ourselves, so that we may meet ourselves in wholeness? In wholeness can our love for our source, for our family and for our partner meet in unity? May one strengthen the other?
As a queer, genderfluid, Chinese - Vietnamese - Canadian; raised by refugee parents in so-called Vancouver this story resonates with me on a profound level. My artistic practice is dedicated to investigating intercultural socio-political influence on queer identity and gender identity. Growing up, my initial access point to my displaced lineage was the kitchen. My fragmented intersectional identity required a deep dive journey into introspection, self-awareness, to meet myself in wholeness. It is still a constant practice in navigating, unlearning, remembering, claiming, holding, arriving, dropping in, centering - it asks of me to sit with it, breathe with it and move with it on the daily. It will be a lifelong practice.
To illuminate the intricate internal conflict of a young Queer Muslim Pakistani woman, grappling with her queerness against the backdrop of her familial duties and her belief system, this production toys with staging Zahra’s memories through a series of vignettes; inspired by the visceral text.
The directorial exploration of vignettes hopes to limelight the weight of family and belief in Zahra’s internal conflict by inviting the audience to bear witness.
To amplify the illumination we’ve built a world in which the language of the design elements are fragmented, abstract and metaphorical; extending the kitchen, the pillar of immigrant homes, into the rest of the house. By utilizing distinctive storytelling conventions we hope to invite the audience to see the world through Zahra’s lens, in this pivotal moment of her life in which her internalized shame is in the driver’s seat.
The fragmented abstract kitchen hopes to offer a window into the liminal space of Zahra’s psyche, in which her perception of the world is blurred and pixelated. It isn’t until Zahra gains clarity through her journey into self awareness, does the world reveal itself in clarity. As Zahra inches closer and closer to meeting herself in wholeness, to taking accountability for her truth, she is able to see the world as it truly is.
This production is dedicated to all the versions of us that try to shrink into spaces that do not have room for us. May all those versions know, they are enough, exactly as they are, in all their entirety.
This production strives to honour both the traditional and contemporary reality in present day Muslim culture in so-called Canada, while investigating the reality of queer intersectional identity.
Relentless gratitude to Ruby Slippers, Presentation House and Blackout Arts for championing feminist forward narratives with queer, immigrant, systemically excluded, POC experiences at the forefront.
Assistant Director
Henry V 2023
Playwright: Shakespeare | Adaptation: Lois Anderson
Director: Lois Anderson | Performance Run: June 28th - August 13th at The Howard Family Stage
| Producer: Bard on the Beach
The 2023 Bard on the Beach production of
Henry V at Vancouver's Vanier Park was
adapted and directed by Lois Anderson
with assistant director Tricia Trinh. It
framed Shakespeare’s classic history play
around an apocalypse-style travelling theatre
troupe arriving through a violent storm with suitcases and tattered clothes.
At the edge of the world, at the end of the world,
a travelling theatre troupe performs Henry V.
So begins the tale of a war-torn land and of young King Hal, whom destiny has cast as a leader. Manipulated by false advisors, he plunges two nations into war. But will victory be worth the price? Can there be another way? Shakespeare’s famous story poses timeless questions about the moral cost of war – and whether love and hope might turn the tide, both in Henry’s world and for us today.
"We see that war is a perpetual reality in the history of humankind, just as love is. With a focus on loyalty, friendship and community, we are reshaping the narrative of this war tale. In an installation-like environment, we have an imaginative troupe celebrating, through creative storytelling, the internal growth of the person who will become King Henry V.” - Lois Anderson
we the same 2021
Playwright: Sangeeta Wylie
Director: Diane Brown | Performance Run: November 3rd - 7th at The Cultch: Historic Theatre
In 1979, a Vietnamese family fled Saigon by boat, enduring pirate attacks, typhoons, shipwreck and starvation. Forty years later, a mother finally shares their tale with her daughter. we the same is a multicultural journey through reality, fantasy, and the supernatural. Utilizing ritual dance, shadow play, live music, and animation, this heart-rending play is simultaneously unfathomable and familiar. Inspired by the incredible true story of the Truong family, it is also a universal story of reconciliation between generations seeking to understand each other’s experiences.
Assistant Director
Since its original inspiration—a remarkable story told over a shared meal—we the same has come to life over the past four years. Playwright Sangeeta Wylie has spent countless hours in research, through interviews, travels to Vietnam and Malaysia, and speaking with the Truong family and other refugees, organizations, historians, etc.
In 2018, we the same went through its first stage of development with the help of vAct and PTC’s MSG Lab. In 2019 it was selected for Advance Theatre Festival, culminating in a Public Stage Reading.
| Producer: Ruby Slippers Theatre
“The reading was standing room only, and I realized it was resonating with a diverse audience. One of the most impactful things about we the same is that it reflects real lived experiences. In a world that swims in ‘alternative facts’, lived experiences matter now more than ever. By weaving several art forms together to realize this story, our production aims to humanize the refugee experience, and create deeper understanding for all.” - Diane Brown