Winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play
our place by Kanika Ambrose is a new work set in a fictional Caribbean restaurant, Jerk Pork Castle in Scarborough, where newcomers Andrea and Niesha work in exchange for cash under the table. As the two women scrape out a life in Canada, leaving their children in their Caribbean homelands, they must also navigate their status as undocumented workers. This funny, keenly observant script unveils the lives of these undocumented Caribbean workers who go to desperate lengths to get Canadian citizenship for the betterment of their children–a moving, timely story of those rendered invisible in a “welcoming” Canada.
About the Author
Kanika Ambrose is a playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Her play our place was first produced by Cahoots Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille in November 2022. Her children’s opera Anansi and the Great Light (with composer Nick diBerardino) premiered at Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia) in 2019. Her opera Of the Sea (with composer Ian Cusson) premiered at the Bluma Appel Theatre in March 2023, commissioned by Tapestry Opera and Obsidian Theatre Company. Other short works have premiered across North America including celebrated digital work Tak-Tak-Shoo with composer Rene Orth. As a screenwriter, Kanika has worked in several development rooms and is in residence in Canadian Film Centre’s Bell Media Primetime TV Program (2022-2023). Kanika is a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University and is Associate Artistic Director of Necessary Angel Theatre Company. She was featured as one of Cahoots Theatre Company’s “30 for 30” theatre-makers for their 30th anniversary season. A long-time Scarborough native, Kanika currently lives in Orono, Ontario with her husband and son.
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