WHO WE ARE
Toronto-based Broadleaf Theatre creates original works based on local, national and global environmental issues. The company seeks to merge environmentalism and theatre praxis and to make little-known environmental issues immediate and accessible.
Since its conception in 2014, Broadleaf has engaged over 70 emerging, diverse, and socially-engaged artists. Its debut work The Broadleaf Plays won the Presidents' Award for Best Production at the University of Toronto Drama Festival. In 2016, Broadleaf Theatre produced Bite-Sized at the Toronto Fringe, which featured 18 plays in 60 minutes, each exploring environmental topics from a Canadian perspective.
Its current work The Chemical Valley Project, created by Julia Howman and Kevin Matthew Wong, documents the vital work of Indigenous water protectors and land defenders Vanessa Gray and Lindsay Beze Gray for their community, Aamjiwnaang. The Chemical Valley Project was a NOW Magazine Summerworks Critics' Pick and will be touring locally, nationally and internationally in 2018/19.
The company is led by Artistic Director and Producer Kevin Matthew Wong, and Associate Producers Mirka Loiselle and Angela Sun.
UPCOMING:
Broadleaf Theatre is thrilled to be a company-in-residence this year at Theatre Passe Muraille.
We will be presenting The Chemical Valley Project as part of Theatre Passe Muraille's 2018/19 Season in April 2019.
The Chemical Valley Project will tour throughout Canada in 2018/19 appearing in Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, Victoria B.C., Vancouver, Braunschweig Germany and more. Contact broadleaftheatre@gmail.com for more info.
Our next performances takes place in Braunschweig, Germany at Festival Theaterformen, July 12-13:
More info and tickets: https://www.theaterformen.de/
In Fall 2018, Broadleaf will be presenting a Theatre-for-Young-Audiences version of The Chemical Valley Project for youth in Toronto. The production is presented by Mixed Company Theatre. Contact communications@mixedcompanytheatre.com for more info and to book tickets!
Support Broadleaf Theatre
HELP MAKE OUR ART HAPPEN.
DONATE TO BROADLEAF THEATRE.
For more information on how you can support our work, email us at broadleaftheatre.communication@gmail.com
Water Protectors Lindsay Beze Gray and Vanessa Gray during an interview for The Chemical Valley Project. Photo by Kevin Matthew Wong.
Broadleaf theatre is currently working on
The Chemical Valley Project
PROTEST. PERFORMANCE. RECONCILIATION.
In Sarnia, Ontario, an Indigenous community of 800 residents, is smothered by the Canadian petrochemical industry. Two siblings from Aamjiwnaang First Nation, Vanessa and Lindsay Gray, have dedicated themselves to fighting environmental racism and to protecting their community’s land, air and water.
A breathtaking blend of documentary-theatre, innovative projection design, a charismatic script and playful solo-performance engage and implicate audiences in The Chemical Valley Project. This urgent production delves gracefully into difficult conversations on Indigenous treaty rights, the nature of contemporary Canadian identity and values, and Canada’s notorious “chemical valley”.
Kevin Matthew Wong performs The Chemical Valley Project at the Aamjiwnaang Water Gathering. Photo by Michael Tol.
An air quality monitoring station on the Aamjiwnaang First Nations Reserve.
ABOUT
The Sarnia Chemical Valley is a petrochemical processing hub located in Southern Ontario. The Valley is home to numerous factories that process petrochemicals into consumer goods. It also acts as a terminal for several oil and gas pipelines that traverse North America. Completely surrounded by the Chemical Valley, the Aamjiwnaang First Nation's Reserve is directly impacted by industry.
Learn more about Aamjiwnaang at:
aamjiwnaangsoldiarity.com
THE TEAM
Playwright/Performer/Creator/Concept: Kevin Matthew Wong
Production Design/Creator: Julia Howman
Dramaturgy and Advisement: Vanessa Gray
Dramaturgy and Advisement: Lindsay Beze Gray
The Chemical Valley Project in Germany
Our next performances take place on:
• May 12 and May 13, 2018 at Festival Theaterformen in Braunschweig:
Tickets now available at: https://www.theaterformen.de/en/programme/olbivion
The Chemical Valley Project in Kingston
• June 20, 2018. as part of SpiderWebShow's foldA at the Isbael Bader Theatre in Kingston:
Festival tickets available now at: foldA.ca
Kevin Matthew Wong in rehearsal for "The Chemical Valley Project." Photo by Dahlia Katz.
Book the Show:
The Chemical Valley Project is available for touring in British Columbia in May 2018 and across Canada throughout 2018.
For inquiries please email Artistic Director Kevin Matthew Wong at broadleaftheatre@gmail.com
DEVELOPMENT
The Chemical Valley Project was the winner of Theatre Passe Muraille's fall 2016 Crapshoot! It has also been shown at the 2017 FOOT Festival at the Centre for Drama Theatre and Performance Studies and "Protest in Performance: Solidarity with the Chippewas of the Thames." The work has been generously supported by Theatre Passe Muraille and the Ontario Arts Council through the Theatre Creators' Reserve Program. The Chemical Valley Project was then developed at the 2017 SummerWorks Performance Festival, where the project was a NOW Magazine Critics' Pick. The Chemical Valley Project is being developed as part of Theatre Passe Muraille's 2018 BUZZ Series, supported by the Laidlaw Foundation.
Post-BUZZ Development of The Chemical Valley Project has been supported by Ontario Arts Council Recommender Grants for Theatre Creators from Studio 180 and Theatre Gargantua.
Contact broadleaftheatre@gmail.com for booking details and our show package.
REVIEWS & MEDIA
Mooney on Theatre:
"I highly recommend seeing this show for the important reality it exposes. To its diligent creators: thank you."
NNNN - Now Magazine Critics' Pick
"Wong has a warm, generous and fully present delivery style, and Howman's imaginative production design goes beyond a slide presentation to create something with a grassroots, humane feel....
Wong is sensitive to the idea of cultural appropriation, and so he lets the siblings talk for themselves in audio interviews; in a video clip, he even shows them the work in progress and asks for suggestions, which he then implements"
alt theatre magazine
"I left The Chemical Valley Project with a sense of the value in stories, and with a model for what it takes to really listen and come to understand others’ lived experience... earnest, accessible, and very well told."
Janis Lacouvee:
"The Chemical Valley Project is moving and disruptive theatre, a call to action beautifully told and executed, and a must see for any modern Canadian."
The Chemical Valley Project. Photography by Dahlia Katz.
Kevin Matthew Wong, performer/creator Heather Majaury, facilitator/academic Amy Smoke, water protectors and Broadleaf collaborators Vanessa Gray and Lindsay Beze Gray, and Julia Howman at The Registry Theatre.
SEE THE SHOW
The Chemical Valley Project will be seen next in:
- Vancouver, BC on May 8, 2018 at IGNITE Youth Fest: https://thecultch.com/youthprogram/ignite-youth-festival/
- Victoria, BC in May 10 - 12, 2018 at UNO Fest: http://intrepidtheatre.com/shows/the-chemical-valley-project/
- Toronto Theatre for Young Audience Production in late 2018.
Associate Producer Angela Sun, Artistic Director Kevin Matthew Wong and Associate Producer Mirka Loiselle. Photo by Graham Isador.
Contact BROADLEAF
General Inquiries
broadleaftheatre.communication@gmail.com
Artistic Director
Kevin Matthew Wong
broadleaftheatre@gmail.com
647-720-0886
Associate Producer
Mirka Loiselle
broadleaftheatre.outreach@gmail.com
Associate Producer
Angela Sun
broadleaftheatre.communication@gmail.com
The cast and crew of Bite-Sized (2016).
Who we've worked with.
Alex Jacob, Alex Treude, Alexandra Simpson, Alexander Friesen, Amalea Ruffett, Animacy Theatre Collective, Angela Sun, Ariel Martz-Oberlander, Bridget Yaqi Huang, Dan Newton, David Madras, Dorcas Chiu, Emma Tse, Emerjade Simms, Esme Coyle, Jesse Wabegejig, Jordan Angrove, Joseph Osawabine, Julia Howman, Kevin Matthew Wong, Keshia Palm, Kezia Island, Lucrece Shim, Lindsay Gray, Marlow Stainfield, Maya Wong, Michael Henley, Mirka Loiselle, Mimi Warshaw, Minha Lee, Morgan Johnson, Natalie Young, Nathaniel Rose, Nikolas Koschany, Parmida Vand, Rion Chow, Shashwat Sharma, Smith Purdy, Stephen Pereira, Tasha Stoltz, Vanessa Gray, Veronika Gribanova, Theatre Passe Muraille.