Ash Knight, Artistic Executive Director of Pleiades Theatre, today announced the world premiere of The Roof is Leaking ਛੱਤ ਚੋਂਦੀ ਹੈ by Sanskruti Marathe and Davinder Malhi. The show will be directed by Ash Knight, starring Sarabjeet Arora, Harry Gill, Kiran Kaur, Sarena Parmar, Tia Sandhu, Harpreet Sehmbi, Harit Sohal and Dharini Woollcombe. Tickets are on sale now at CanadianStage.com. Opening night is Friday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.pleiadestheatre.org.

Creators Marathe and Malhi call The Roof is Leaking ਛੱਤ ਚੋਂਦੀ ਹੈ “a love letter to South Asian mothers,” exploring the quiet endurance and unspoken sacrifices of Punjabi/South Asian women that hold their families together. The characters in the story grapple with duty, love, the weight of tradition, and what it means to truly see your family.

The Roof is Leaking ਛੱਤ ਚੋਂਦੀ ਹੈ opens in the home of a middle-class Canadian-Punjabi family in Brampton, Ontario. When their father's death brings the family to its knees, the mother of the household attempts to divorce her dead husband to recapture her personal freedom.

The play questions: How much can we truly ask of our mothers? What do Punjabi families give up in order to uphold tradition? And what must we break to create freedom for ourselves and each other?

“Continuing our season theme of fragmentation, we explore a family fragmented by tragedy,” says Knight. “The play explores familiar Canadian family dynamics in a comedic way while also wrestling with very serious topics. Everyone on the project has felt a need to call the important women in their lives, the ones who have sacrificed for them or educated them (moms, aunts, teachers, grandmothers, elders) and let them know how much they appreciate them. We are bringing many Punjabi-Canadian artists and creatives together to bring authenticity and cultural specificity to this truly Canadian story. After spending three years developing the piece, Pleiades is honoured to present such a moving work for its world premiere.”

The Roof is Leaking ਛੱਤ ਚੋਂਦੀ ਹੈ will feature set design by Jackie Chau, costume design by Des’ree Gray, sound design by Gurpreet Chana, and lighting design by Simran Kapoor, with Stage Manager Jennifer Stobart and Fight Director Siobhan Richardson.

The Roof is Leaking ਛੱਤ ਚੋਂਦੀ ਹੈ runs from May 2 to 18, 2025 in the Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs (26 Berkeley St). Opening night is Friday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.pleiadestheatre.org.

Run time: 105 minutes with no intermission.

Content note: Mature content and language.

Tickets start at $10, with a tiered pay-what-you-can structure.

Pleiades Theatre

Sharing First and Second Generation Canadian Stories | www.pleiadestheatre.org

Pleiades aims to redefine what it means to be Canadian by sharing stories from 1st and 2nd generation Canadians. We encourage 1st and 2nd generation storytellers - particularly artists of colour, but through intersectionality, also Deaf artists, artists with disabilities, artists living with mental illness, New Gen artists, 2SLBTQIAP artists, and Indigenous artists - to create:

• INSPIRATIONS: new, relevant plays exploring 1st and/or 2nd generation stories;

• TRANSLATIONS: sharing stories from other languages for all audiences;

• ADAPTATIONS: exploring existing works through a new lens.

Founded in 1997 by John Van Burek, then led by Andrey Tarasiuk from 2017-2023, Pleiades is now under the leadership of Artistic Executive Director Ash Knight.