This August 20-22, 2026, Theatre of the Beat’s MADGEN Theatre Festival is back for its third-year with Canada’s only Festival solely dedicated to developing socially-engaged, and community-centred producers. In April, four producers - all under 30 - were selected to receive paid training under Toronto’s top theatre-makers (including Daniel Chapman-Smith - Project: Humanity, Laura McCallum - Outside the March, Sheree Spencer - Lincoln Center, and Kevin Matthew Wong - WhyNot Theatre). They then receive funding to produce a new one-act Canadian play as part of the MADGEN Theatre Festival.

This year's curation presents four new one-act plays that explore personhood through intimate narratives centring personal identity within the Canadian context. These plays are:

 • I Have a Dream in Chinese by Irene Yi (Friday Aug. 21 - 8:30pm, Saturday Aug. 22 - 8:45pm)

On a long-haul flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, a woman unpacks the struggle of the immigration system, the COVID-19 pandemic, workplace discrimination, and the lasting impact of political repression. I Have a Dream in Chinese explores the beauty and complexity of living between two worlds, two cultures, and two names.

 • PEACHES by Elio Zarrillo (Thursday Aug. 20 - 7pm, Saturday Aug. 22 - 1pm)

A Peach farmer and his apprentice make a startling discovery in the midst of their harvest: a play has grown from one of their trees. With the orchard’s peaches spoiled by the sprouted script, the two decide to act it out, blurring the lines between the play and their own lives.

 • Uprooted by Kabrena Robinson (Thursday Aug. 20 - 8:45pm, Saturday Aug. 22nd - 3:30pm)

When a young Jamaican woman migrates to Canada in search of "a better life”, she finds herself lost in a surreal world where ancestral spirits, folklore, and memory blur the line between dreams and reality. Uprooted is a bold solo performance about migration, identity, survival, and the enduring pull of home.

 • Problematic History Teacher by MJ Kang (Friday Aug. 21 - 7pm, Saturday Aug. 22 - 7pm)

A comedic satire that follows Mike, a white male history teacher, self-proclaimed good guy, who teaches Asian Canadian studies at a private arts boarding high school. Problematic History Teacher investigates the complexities that arise when specific ethnic studies courses taught by those without lived experiences in that culture.

This one-of-a-kind program is supported by Canada Arts Presentation Fund, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, City of TO, and Metcalf Foundation and works to create both a high-level, hands-on job training program, as well as a high-calibre theatre festival in Toronto's East End.

Mission: Celebrating its fifteenth anniversary, Theatre of the Beat (TOTB) is a Canadian touring theatre company working to catalyze conversations on social justice and its intersection with the beliefs of the communities in which we find ourselves.

Visit theatreofthebeat.ca.