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A man with short curly dark hair, beard and moustache, wearing glasses, a black vest over a bare chest and black pants, gazes at us. He holds ivory prayer beads in his right hand and has a white cloth draped over his left wrist. A pixilated patterned image is projected on him and on the wall behind him, the entire image bathed in purple blue light.
A man with short curly dark hair, beard and moustache, wearing glasses, a black vest over a bare chest and black pants, gazes at us. He holds ivory prayer beads in his right hand and has a white cloth draped over his left wrist. A pixilated patterned image is projected on him and on the wall behind him, the entire image bathed in purple blue light.
Photo: Makram Ayache. Photo by Fran Chudnoff.

Two love stories Two love stories

bound together in 1978 & 2018 Beirut – beyond space and time.

Photo: Makram Ayache. Photo by Fran Chudnoff.

Home Events Performance The Green Line

The Green Line

A poetic, heartbreaking story of intergenerational queer history in Lebanon

From Friday September 19 to Saturday, October 4, 2025 – Buddies in Bad Times Theatre opens their 47th season with the Toronto premiere of award-winning Canadian play The Green Line, by Makram Ayache. Produced by In Arms Theatre Company and the MENA Collective, in association with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and Factory Theatre.

Memory is a funny thing, so quiet if left undisturbed

Two love stories twist together in two Beiruts riven by time and conflict. In 1978, two women share spit on the ends of cigarettes and yearn for tenderness under the tumult of war. In 2018, a foreigner and a local flirt over vodka sodas as their contradictions collect like condensation on the sides of their glasses.

Winner of the Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play, 2022;

finalist for the 2025 Lambda Literary Awards;

and finalist for the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award.

Poetic realism braids past and present into the green line of vegetation that bisected the concrete of Lebanon’s capital during the civil war. The Green Line, written and directed by In Arms Theatre’s Artistic Director Makram Ayache, unearths queer history that has always been there, whether the region’s ancestors wanted it to be inherited or erased. The Green Line is a bilingual production in English and Arabic, with subtitles in both languages at every performance, with translation by Hiba Sleiman. The cast features Waseem Alzer, Oshen Aoun, Basma Baydoun and Zaynna Khalife.

About In Arms Theatre Company

In Arms Theatre Company is a creative studio for art born from rupture. Dedicated to bold, heart-led theatre that centres the margins, holds space for care, and imagines spiritual and political transformation through resistance.

About Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is the world’s largest and longest-running queer theatre. For 46 years, Buddies has carved out a sexy, disobedient edge in Toronto’s theatre scene and has been a world leader in amplifying queer voices and developing their stories for the stage. In its year-round theatre season, Buddies is a home for artistic risk – a place where emerging talent hone their radical visions, and where established artists do the daring works other theatres might shy away from. Since 1979, Buddies has welcomed over one million audience members and premiered over 1,000 new works for the stage. BMO is Buddies in Bad Times’ Lead Season Sponsor.

About Factory Theatre

Factory Theatre’s mission is to enthrall audiences with the imagination of Canadian playwrights and develop the next generation of diverse theatre artists. Since its founding in 1970, Factory has committed to exclusively produce Canadian plays. Factory has made it an artistic priority to invest in, and showcase, Canadian artists who bring their stories to their theatre in Toronto. This has made Factory the home of the Canadian playwright and for over five decades, developing and producing some of the finest theatrical works in our national canon, and giving space to some of the most gifted and prolific playwrights in Canada.

Read about the MENA Collective here.

A man with short curly dark hair, beard and moustache, wearing glasses, a black vest over a bare chest and black pants, gazes at us. He holds ivory prayer beads in his right hand and has a white cloth draped over his left wrist. A pixilated patterned image is projected on him and on the wall behind him, the entire image bathed in purple blue light.

(Photo credits: Makram Ayache. Photo & creative direction by Fran Chudnoff, styling by CC Calica & makeup by Rahnell Branton.)

 

Event details

Presented by: In Arms Theatre Company & the MENA Collective, in association with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and Factory Theatre 

Type of event: theatre performance

Written & directed by: Makram Ayache 

Translation by: Hiba Sleiman

Cast: Waseem Alzer, Oshen Aoun, Basma Baydoun & Zaynna Khalife

Dates: Friday, September 19 – Saturday, October 4, 2025 (Previews on September 19, 20 & 24; Opening on September 25). Please note: There are no performances on Sundays or on Tuesday, September 23.

Start times:

  • Tuesday – Saturday evenings @ 7:30 PM ET
  • Saturday matinées @ 2:00 PM ET

Duration: 90 minutes (no intermission)

Cost: Pay-what-you-can-afford: C$10.00, $25.00, $45.00 or $75.00 (plus fees)

Location: Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander Street, Toronto, ON, M4Y 1B4

Listen: Listen to playwright/director Makram Ayache discuss The Green Line with Chris Tolley on CBC PlayME Podcast

Booking link: Book your tickets here

Contact details: Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander Street, Toronto, ON, M4Y 1B4, Canada; Box office: (416) 975-8555, tickets@buddiesinbadtimes.com, buddiesinbadtimes.com

 

Content warning: For audiences 19+. Simulated violence and harsh language.

Accessibility: The theatre is wheelchair-accessible through an entrance ramp. The bathrooms are accessible through an accessible elevator. The Green Line is a bilingual production in English and Arabic, with subtitles in both languages at every performance. More info here.

Refund policy: If you would like to exchange your ticket or be granted a refund, please email tickets@buddiesinbadtimes.com. Requests will be approved at the discretion of Buddies in Bad Times and Tallulah’s Cabaret, as well as any producing partners. No refunds or exchanges will be granted within 48 hours of the event start time. If approved, a full refund of the ticket cost minus any applicable service fees will be credited to your account within 30 days.