Concluding a season that saw record audiences experience the joy of live theatre at Crow’s, the company is thrilled to welcome frequent collaborator Zorana Sadiq back to their stages for the World Premiere of her sophomore play, COMFORT FOOD.

A Crow’s Theatre Commission on stage May 13 – June 8, COMFORT FOOD tells the story of Bette, a popular cooking show host whose young-mom persona is about to expire – both on tv and in real life. As she faces the reality that her long-running TV series may be on its last legs, Bette is also grappling with her only son’s creeping withdrawal from the safety of their relationship into the deep space of the internet. Whereas cooking was once a shared love language between them, Bette’s son is now increasingly fixated on concerns about the climate crisis. As Bette looks towards the next chapter of her life, she can’t shake the feeling that everything she defines herself by is about to go up in flames. A play brimming with humour, warmth, and empathy, at its heart COMFORT FOOD explores the widening gap between a mother and son and what happens when analog parenting collides with a digital childhood.

A parent – and avid home cook- herself, Sadiq was drawn to the exploration of food as an expression of love and the tension felt by parents when their love and guidance is no longer the dominant influence in their children’s lives. “COMFORT FOOD is certainly about love,” Sadiq shares, “the ways we love and nourish. A central question I had was how we can be sure that our children will thrive once we are no longer the primary source of their emotional and intellectual nourishment. Children have always been sprouts of hope in the world, but given what we have populated their worlds with and the vastness of the digital landscape they have access to, will they be able to thrive?”

“The recent global success of Netflix’s ADOLESCENCE has made the intense growing concern parents have about what their kids are doing online powerfully clear,” adds Crow’s Theatre Artistic Director Chris Abraham. “As a father raising children in the internet age, I share this mix of curiosity and worry, and Zorana has crafted a story that speaks directly to this cultural moment. How do we keep the channels of communication open when so much of their world is invisible to us? COMFORT FOOD tackles that question with warmth, humour, and profound empathy that will resonate with – and nourish – so many people right now.”

Directed by Siminovitch Prize Protégé and Artistic Director of Outside the March, Mitchell Cushman (Jerusalem, The Flick), COMFORT FOOD stars Sadiq as Bette and introduces Toronto audiences to an astonishing new talent, Noah Grittani, playing Bette’s son KitKat. An award-winning Pakistani Canadian actor, playwright, and classical musician, Sadiq just recently performed a leading role in the Crow’s Theatre/National Arts Centre co-production TRIDENT MOON and previously debuted her solo show MIXTAPE with the company, garnering three Dora nominations. Zorana was playwright-in-residence at Crow’s Theatre in 2020 and participated in the Banff Playwright’s lab in 2024. A Dora Mavor Moore award-winning actor, Sadiq has appeared in TOWARDS YOUTH (Crow’s Theatre), BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM (Starvox), WILDFIRE (Factory Theatre), and TOUT COMME ELLE (Necessary Angel Theatre).

Also, a celebrated soprano, Zorana has been a guest host for CBC Radio’s program, Tempo, and has sung with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tanglewood Music Centre, Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Symphony, Tapestry Opera and Boston Musica Viva.

Joining Sadiq and Cushman on the creative team are set and costume designer Sim Suzer, sound designer Thomas Ryder Payne, lighting designer Echo Zhou, and video designer Tori Morrison.

COMFORT FOOD runs Tuesday to Saturday at 8:00pm, and Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2:00pm. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.crowstheatre.com or call 647.341.7390 ext. 1010 or emailboxoffice@crowstheatre.com or drop by 345 Carlaw Avenue (at Dundas Street East).