Theatre Passe Muraille is thrilled to present the World Premiere of their co-production with Silk Bath Collective, WOKING PHOENIX on stage April 12th – 27th in the Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace. 

An epic exploration of two decades of a family’s survival. WOKING PHOENIX tells the story of three siblings, their mother, and their restaurant as they seek to find belonging within small-town Ontario. An intergenerational Chinese love story about creating community and the food that reminds us of home.

Co-created, co-written, and co-directed by Silk Bath Collective members Bessie Cheng, Aaron Jan, and Gloria Mok, WOKING PHOENIX has many inspirations, including the company’s shared family legacies of running multi-gen immigrant family businesses. In fact, Jan’s family owned a Chinese restaurant in small town Ontario called The Blue Tavern. After making two shows with science fiction elements, the artists were interested in focusing on an intergenerational family story and exploring the multifaceted food culture within the Chinese diaspora.

“We’ve been doing sci-fi plays since inception,” comments Jan. “But that began to feel like it was getting us away from the stories that engage and affect us. We all have very different experiences growing up according to who our parents are and where we come from in the Chinese diaspora. We wanted to do something focused on watching characters growing up and the interplay of generations in a family.”

“We were really inspired by The Farewell actually,” adds Mok. “The three siblings in WOKING PHOENIX are loosely based on ourselves. Aaron’s family owned a Chinese restaurant in Levack, Ontario.” Jan adds, “My parents owned a small printing shop. We’ve been surrounded by family businesses and what effects them our whole lives.”

Food is central to family life and intergenerational relationships across cultures and often a meeting point between cultures, something the artists also wished to explore. “Restaurants can really bring families together or tear them apart, so it is a great setting to explore a family’s evolution. Food is also fundamental to how Asian people express and share love – our mother’s showed us love by asking ‘have you eaten yet?’” comments Cheng.

Silk Bath Collective, who are currently in residence at Theatre Passe Muraille, was founded in 2015 by Cheng, Jan, and Mok - all Toronto-based Chinese-Canadian theatre makers. The collective first met at fu-GEN Theatre’s Kitchen XII Playwrights Unit, where they developed a great respect for each other’s writing and found a shared passion for telling stories rooted in the Chinese Canadian experience. Silk Bath Collective made history with their inaugural production Silk Bath, which was Toronto Fringe’s first trilingual play (Mandarin, Cantonese, and English). Today the collective continues to create multilingual multidisciplinary work that centres around the Chinese diaspora. WOKING PHOENIX was developed as part of Theatre Passe Muraille’s BUZZ program.

“Collective creation processes are central to Theatre Passe Muraille’s history in play creation. It is so rewarding to have Silk Bath Collective creating in this form, and continuing a long tradition of developing work in a collaborative manner. The creators have brought together an incredible team in order to realize this moving work from the Chinese diaspora and affirmed our collective theatrical roots.” says Marjorie Chan, Artistic Director, Theatre Passe Muraille

We also welcome Dr. Jessica Watkin as Access Dramaturg, who is consulting with the Silk Bath team to make the production Blind Friendly which in addition to being imagined for audiences who are Blind or have Low Vision, will also be in a Relaxed Environment. More info about TPM’s Relaxed Environment and Blind Friendly performances can be found here.

Performances of WOKING PHOENIX will run Wednesday to Saturday at 7:30 PM and Sundays at 2:00 PM. Mandatory masking performances are scheduled for April 21 and 24.

Tickets are Pay-What-You-Can-Afford at three price points, $12, $35, and $65 and are available now online at passemuraille.ca.