Cahoots Theatre embraces the world of intimate solo performance with its 2025/26 featured production, Searching for Aimai by Coleen Shirin MacPherson. The story, that of a woman reconciling impending motherhood with a primal need to hear the voices of her ancestors, is the playwright’s follow-up to her critically praised and Dora-nominated 2024 opus Erased — but explores that show’s title in a completely different way.

“This play speaks of an erasure that is invisibly pervasive,” MacPherson states. “When you are the daughter of an immigrant from India of Persian (Parsi) origin and look white and have blue eyes, you navigate the world in a very particular way because the world around you assigns you as white. There is a sense that your identity is fixed and bound, and that you are not privy to the experiences of those from your own culture.”

In Searching for Aimai, a woman is about to give birth. Afraid and unsure, she wonders how she can bring a child into the world - and teach her daughter to claim who she is - when her own connection to her ancestry feels so fraught and diminished? This question, among others the play poses, captured the imagination of award-winning theatre artist Raha Javanfar, who makes her highly-anticipated directorial debut. The widely sought-after multiple Dora Award recipient, acclaimed in the theatre and performing arts world as a gifted musician and designer, was both personally and professionally enticed to direct the piece.

“When I look at my half Persian, half "white" kids, I wonder what their lives are going to be like,” Javanfar reflects. “Will their experiences in the world be different from one another? Will the one who looks more Persian feel that way? Will they find a way to connect with their heritage and their past? And what can I do to build a bridge for them to go back in time, should they one day feel so inclined? In Searching for Aimai, Coleen uses beautiful poetic language, vivid imagery, and a deeply personal story to ask these very questions.”

Tanisha Taitt, Cahoots’ artistic director, commissioned the play early in her tenure. After the pandemic postponed planning programming by over two years, she is pleased to see it finally about to take the stage.

“I vividly recall the conversation in which Coleen first shared with me her mixed-race heritage. It was way back in 2008, and my more naive notions of identity were rocked at the time. I gasped “But... your eyes!”

Looking at her then, I saw only the Irish. It made me consider how many people I see everyday whose racial complexity is not readily apparent — where privilege and quiet, lonely cultural mourning might meet. I started to ruminate on what living that life would feel like. When I became A.D. of Cahoots in 2019, I reached out to Coleen and asked “So... do you remember that conversation we had 11 years ago?” Taitt chuckles. “She did.”

MacPherson shares, “What is feIt is an erasure that slinks away unnoticed, it is an erasure that many of us with immigrant parents or grandparents feel, but might not have the words for.” She continues. “It is an erasure we see in our own children who no longer look or sound like us - who do not speak the language of our native tongue. This play speaks to the loss of ancestral connection, of spirit, of the invisible.”

The creative team for the upcoming production includes set and props designer Shannon Lea Doyle, lighting designer Lilian Adom, sound designer and composer Janice Jo Lee, and projection designer Laura Warren.

The show is stage managed by Alysse Szatkowski with production management by Jadi Darawi, and produced by Samantha Vu with associate producer and social media manager Tessa Bourchier.

Searching For Aimai runs Sunday January 15th to Sunday March 1st at the BMO Incubator in The Theatre Centre. Tickets are on sale now at The Theatre Centre website or in person at the box office.

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SEARCHING FOR AIMAI

Written and performed by Coleen Shirin MacPherson | Directed by Raha Javanfar

BMO Incubator at The Theatre Centre | 1115 Queen Street West, Toronto

Performances: Sunday February 15th to Sunday March 1st, 2026

Showtimes: Tuesday-Friday 7:00 pm, Saturday 2:00 pm & 7:00 pm, Sunday 2:00 pm

Purchase tickets at theatrecentre.org