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Onelight Theatre

Theatre company based in Halifax Nova Scotia, founded in 2002 by Shahin Sayadi (Artistic Director) and Maggie Stewart (Managing Director), colleagues at Dalhousie University. Its first theatre space was The Crib on Gottingen Street, a 40-seat black-box theatre, which references the birth of their first child. Onelight currently performes in Alderney Landing Theatre.

Since 2002, Onelight Theatre has debuted nine original productions, most by Shahin Sayadi in collaboration with other individuals and companies, some of which have toured across Canada and to Iran. Josette by Sayadi (2004) is a psychological journey that explores a little girl's ability to communicate while coming to terms with the absence of her mother. My Own True Love, War by Sayadi (2005) is a multimedia production about a soldier enduring the ongoing trauma of war. Death of Yazdgerd by Sayadi (2005) portrays the Arab takeover of Iran in 651 B.C. and the murder of its last king. The Veil (2007) recounts a Persian princess's epic journey from a palace harem to France and Germany during World War II, where she survives personal and political traumas, and her return to Iran, a country changed by revolution. She tells her story to her jaded Westernized granddaughter, showing how women's lives have been obscured and limited by cultural and religious veils. The play was remounted in the Neptune Theatre in 2009, before touring to the Fadir International Theatre Festival in Tehran.

Return Ticket (Neptune Theatre, 2008) by Sayadi shows the impact on individuals of a society at war. The bilingual show, The Toxic Bus (2009) by Greg MacArthur examines the poisonous consequences of racial profiling and paranoia. Chess with the Doomsday Machine (2012) is an international co-production with a cast of Iranian and Canadian theatre artists. The play examines how people from vastly different backgrounds can build relationships of trust and support in times of intense social and political upheaval. It premiered in Iran at the Fadjr International Theatre festival, and was performed in Halifax in 2015.

Onelight Theatre initiated “Prismatic” in 2008, a national festival and conference that showcases and celebrates the work of Canada’s leading Indigenous and culturally diverse artists. In 2012, it featured Raven Stole The Sun by Red Sky Performance, Alberta Aboriginal Arts’s newest work, They Shoot Buffalo, Don't They?, and a staged reading of Falling in Time by C.E. Gatchalian. Hawk or How He Plays His Song by Shahin Sayadi (dramaturge Yvette Nolan) was developed with the Manitoba Theatre Centre; it portrays a year in the life of a young Mi’kmaq who is trying to balance the culture and traditions of his people with his dreams of finding success in the city. The cast included Monique Mojica.

Since 2007, Onelight Theatre company has offered an innovative mentoring program, “Firestarter,” that supports the development of emerging theatre artists from under-represented communities.

Website: www.onelighttheatre.com

Last updated 2019-10-19