After its successful English debut in London UK, Expandido Theatre Group brings to Toronto for the first time, the renowned Brazilian play Mata Teu Pai (“Kill Your Father”) from March 19 to March 29 at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace (16 Ryerson Avenue, Toronto, ON, M5T 2P3). A radical reimagining of the Medea myth by black Brazilian lesbian playwright Grace Passô.

Kill Your Father places the audience face to face with pressing political and social issues such as gender based oppression and toxic masculinity, immigration, diverse cultural coexistence challenges and support networks, and patriarchy as a sickness. At the same time it highlights deep human themes such as maternal and romantic love, and the notion of unconditional affection, erotism, the need for community, and loneliness.

In this one woman show, Passô brings us inside the inner workings of Medea, the woman who transgresses from mother to anti-mother through the ultimate rebellious act of murdering her own children. Medea, one of the most powerful and best-known female characters in theatre history, is portrayed by Maria Paula - a Colombian born actor, a latina woman, an immigrant, a feminist, ready to infamously challenge the patriarchy.

Kill Your Father is for the feminists, the immigrants, the exiled, their allies, for women, and for those who love women.

“This is a terrific UK debut of Kill Your Father, a show that reclaims a classic. It is radical, urgent and unflinchingly honest.” - Lameesha Ruddock for Binge Fridge, London UK

About Grace Passô: An acclaimed Brazilian actress, playwright, director, and screenwriter. Known for her powerful exploration of race, identity, and social inequality, she has become a leading voice in contemporary Brazilian theatre and cinema. Passô wrote and performed in celebrated plays such as Por Elise, Amores Surdos, Vaga Carne, and Mata Teu Pai (Kill Your Father), earning major theatre honors including the Prêmio Shell, making her the first Black woman to receive it. In film, she has starred in Temporada, Praça Paris, and No Coração do Mundo, and has also appeared in TV series like Boca a Boca and Onde Está Meu Coração. Her works have been translated into multiple languages and continue to influence audiences in Brazil and abroad.

About Maria Paula Carreño-Martínez: Aka “Paula Carreño”, is an interdisciplinary actor born in Colombia. Maria Paula actively works in film, TV, voice, theatre, and as a movement and dance creator. She was recently awarded an OAC theatre grant, the second of its kind, to develop her own theatre based work. In 2024, thanks to the METCALF Foundation, she interned as an Artistic Leader at Aluna Theatre, focusing on work by underrepresented communities in Toronto. Her latest recognition as an actor was at the 2022 Lovie Awards in Europe with the “Adventure in Atacama” podcast series, winner of the people’s choice award. She has also branched out occasionally into writing, producing and directing. She is thrilled to work with Expandido on Kill Your Father for the stages of Toronto.

About Expandido Theatre Group: A queer collective of visual and performance artists founded by Canadian- Brazilian activist artists Marcio Beauclair (Playwright and Theatre Director) and Renato Baldin (Visual Artist, Set and Costume Designer). Their work reflects on contemporary social and political issues through a queer and immigrant lens. They are immigrants because they exist outside the dominant culture and their own homeland, and queer because they stand outside heteronormativity.

The play powerfully exposes the limits of patriarchy in our society. It’s raw, it’s poetic, and it’s killingly poignant.

This play is an act of resistance and a bold call to take action. Prepare yourself. The time of patriarchy is over.

Content Warnings: Violence, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, self harm and suicide, misogyny, guns, exile.

Age recommendation: 16+

Team:

Playwright: Grace Passô

Performer: Maria Paula Carreño-Martínez

Director: Marcio Beauclair

Set and Costume Designer: Renato Baldin

Light Designer: Brandon Gonçalves

Sound Designer: Julián Henao

Translation and Adaptation: Marcio Beauclair and Matthew Romantini

When:

March 19 - 20 7:30PM

March 21 7PM

March 22 2PM

March 25 - 27 7:30PMMarch 28 7PM

March 29 2PM

Where: Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace (16 Ryerson Avenue, Toronto, ON, M5T 2P3)

Tickets: $40 

expandido.ca.