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Image featuring photo, illustration and text. To the left, an elderly man with a salt and pepper receding hairline, wearing glasses and a white shirt, glances up at us as he writes at a desk covered in papers. In the top right corner, illustrated yellow post-it notes with the words Things My Dad Kept. By: Ronit Rubinstein, written in script on separate note pages. In the bottom right corner, illustrated blank white pages float, with paper airplanes flying about over them and around the photo of the man, including diagrams of how to make one.
Image featuring photo, illustration and text. To the left, an elderly man with a salt and pepper receding hairline, wearing glasses and a white shirt, glances up at us as he writes at a desk covered in papers. In the top right corner, illustrated yellow post-it notes with the words Things My Dad Kept. By: Ronit Rubinstein, written in script on separate note pages. In the bottom right corner, illustrated blank white pages float, with paper airplanes flying about over them and around the photo of the man, including diagrams of how to make one.
Photo: Poster art by benjamin lee hicks.

An archive of a life An archive of a life

A hilarious, moving piece of solo storytelling about the unexpected ways grief evolves.

Photo: Poster art by benjamin lee hicks.

Home Events Performance TOFringe: Things My Dad Kept

TOFringe: Things My Dad Kept

From Thursday, July 3 to Sunday, July 13, 2025 – Mom & Pop Productions presents Things My Dad Kept at Soulpepper’s TD Studio as part of the 2025 Toronto Fringe Festival. What would you do if, 12 years after losing someone you love, you discovered that they’d documented every moment of your life (in triplicate)?

Does it count as hoarding if the thing hoarded is… memories?

When Ronit Rubinstein’s mother decided to sell the family home, it needed to be emptied. This meant that, 12 years after her father’s death, Ronit could no longer put off going through his file cabinet.

In this show, the order of what unfolds is determined live, at each performance, based on paper airplanes thrown by the audience.

At the centre of the story is Ronit’s father’s file cabinet, which housed dozens of meticulously preserved file folders, organized by year, that archived every major moment of Ronit’s life (usually, in triplicate). Interspersed between stories of the surprising treasures she found, we hear tales about her father – the hilarious warnings he would issue about day-to-day household objects, the ways he showed up time and time again for his adult daughter, even when she lived in another country, and a gripping account of how her father and his family survived the Holocaust.

About the creative team

Creator/performer Ronit Rubinstein is an award-winning playwright and veteran storyteller – and Things My Dad Kept is her first solo show. Fringe darling, actor, educator, playwright and producer Janelle Hanna (Bad Baby Presents: Rules Control the Fun, Robert, Prairie Nurse) makes her Fringe directorial debut, making this a true full-circle moment: Janelle’s Fringe debut as a performer, in 2008, was Ronit’s first show Sitting in a Tree.

Things My Dad Kept was developed in part within Nightwood Theatre’s Creatryx 3.0 Unit and premiered in a workshop performance at the 2025 Replay Story Fest.

“It’s an irreverent and moving solo show about the things we forget, the things that are worth keeping, the unexpected ways grief evolves, and the wildly impractical ways we show love.”

– Ronit Rubinstein, playwright & performer

Image featuring a photo and illustration. An elderly man with a salt and pepper receding hairline, wearing glasses and a white shirt, glances up at us as he writes at a desk covered in papers. Illustrated paper airplanes fly around him, including diagrams of how to make one.

(Photo credits: Poster art by benjamin lee hicks.)

 

Event details

Presented by: Mom & Pop Productions

Type of event: solo storytelling show

Written and performed by: Ronit Rubinstein

Directed by: Janelle Hanna

Dates & times: Performances take place throughout the Toronto Fringe Festival – which runs from Wednesday, July 2 to Sunday, July 13, 2025 – at various times and dates:

  • Thursday, July 3 @ 4:00 PM ET*
  • Saturday, July 5 @ 12:30 PM ET
  • Sunday, July 6 @ 4:15 PM ET
  • Tuesday, July 8 @ 9:45 PM ET
  • Wednesday, July 9 @ 2:30 PM ET**
  • Friday, July 11 @ 7:45 PM ET
  • Saturday, July 12 @ 9:45 PM ET
  • Sunday, July 13 @ 6:30 PM ET**

* Indicates a pay-what-you-can performance.

** Indicates a mask-mandated performance. They encourage you to bring your own mask from home! And, if needed, masks will be available at the venue.

All performances are relaxed performances, meaning it is designed to be welcoming for audience members who are neurodiverse or have sensory sensitivities. Latecomers will be admitted into the theatre at any time during this performance. Re-entry will be permitted.

Duration: 60 minutes (no intermission)

Cost: C$15.00 plus fees, with discounts for kids and pass holders

Location: Soulpepper Theatre’s TD Finance Studio, 50 Tank House Lane, Distillery Historic District, Toronto, ON, M5A 3C4, Canada

Booking link: Book your tickets here.

Contact details: Mom & Pop Productions, undergroundrooftopstorytelling@gmail.com

 

Content warning: For ages 18+. Parental guidance advised. Audience participation. Frank discussion of loss of a parent and grief.

Accessibility: The venue is ground-level and accessible, with a wheelchair-accessible bathroom. Every performance in the run is a relaxed performance, meaning it is designed to be welcoming for audience members who are neurodiverse or have sensory sensitivities. As it a text-heavy show, it is appropriate for audience members with vision impairment, but not a good fit for those who are deaf or hearing impaired.

Covid-19 policy: Mask mandatory performances on July 9 at 2:30 PM and July 13 at 6:30 PM. Masks welcome throughout the run; masks and hand sanitizing stations will be available at all Toronto Fringe festival venues. Please do not attend if you have a fever or are experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19, have tested positive for COVID-19 within 5 days of attending, or if you have had close contact with anyone suspected or confirmed of having COVID-19.