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Image featuring text and photo collage. Left: Women at Play(s) 8. Original one act plays by Canadian women playwrights, directors, and actors. March 6-8 + 11-15, 2026. 7PM evenings + Sat/Sun 2:30PM & 7PM. Videocabaret, 10 Busy Street (Queen St. E & Logan) Toronto. Women at Play(s) is an approved festival under Canadian Actors' Equity Association's Festival Policy. Tickets: www.womenatplays.ca Right: Image of a woman's hand & forearm, holding up a circular collage of women's faces, a lighting instrument shining down along the arm.
Image featuring text and photo collage. Left: Women at Play(s) 8. Original one act plays by Canadian women playwrights, directors, and actors. March 6-8 + 11-15, 2026. 7PM evenings + Sat/Sun 2:30PM & 7PM. Videocabaret, 10 Busy Street (Queen St. E & Logan) Toronto. Women at Play(s) is an approved festival under Canadian Actors' Equity Association's Festival Policy. Tickets: www.womenatplays.ca Right: Image of a woman's hand & forearm, holding up a circular collage of women's faces, a lighting instrument shining down along the arm.

Women’s voices Women’s voices

with stories for everyone in an annual short one-act play festival.

Home Events Performance Women At Play(s) 8

Women At Play(s) 8

From Friday, March 6 to Sunday, March 8 and Wednesday, March 11 to Sunday, March 15, 2026 – Women At Play(s) presents their annual festival of original short one-act plays written, directed and performed by Canadian women theatre artists. Presented at VideoCabaret.

Women At Plays(s) returns for its 8th edition

Producing original works to create opportunities for women, Women At Play(s) is meant to inspire artistic achievements in theatrical production for women – cisgender, transgender, gender-fluid and non-binary, of varied ages, abilities, racial and cultural backgrounds, appearances, sexualities and life experiences – presenting stories for all audiences.

Stories of surprises, secrets & lies

Women at Play(s) 8 will take you on a journey with seven new plays, from a young woman’s life-changing discovery in New York in 1901 (Daddy’s Girl by Emma Donoghue) to tough life decisions for contemporary seniors in Vancouver (Aging in Place by Barbara Ellison) to a forest where nature and religion collide (The Mary Tree by Brenda Kamino). This year’s program also ponders beginnings (Waiting for Love by Lindsay Ellis), celebrates achievements (And the Oscar Goes To… by Colleen Curran and The Circle by Rebecca Singh), and remembers survivors (A Violation of Violets by Marni Walsh). Surprises, secrets and lies abound in stories that will make you laugh, cry, dream and think.

About Women At Play(s) (WAP)

Women At Play(s) (WAP) was founded by Artistic Director Marianne Sawchuk in 2005 and the first festival was launched at Carousel Theatre’s rehearsal space on Granville Island in Vancouver on January 6, 2006. They had folding chairs for the audience and two lights. Since then, this grass roots group has produced 46 plays written, directed and performed by Canadian women theatre artists, including 31 playwrights and 31 directors, with 90 actors gracing their stages. A total of 173 artists have had the opportunity to hone their craft at WAP, with three festivals produced in Vancouver before moving to Toronto in 2019. In 2023, Sawchuk was honoured with a Playwrights Guild of Canada Tom Hendry Bra D’Or nomination for her ongoing support of women playwrights in Canada. You can see WAP’s production history here.

Image featuring text and photo collage. Top: Women at Play(s) 8. Tickets available. Centre: Image of a woman's hand & forearm, holding up a circular collage of women's faces, a lighting instrument shining down along the arm. Bottom: Tickets $28. Students \ Seniors \ Art Workers $22. At the door (cash only). Reservation: womenatplays@yahoo.com Tickets: www.womenatplays.ca Women at Play(s) is an approved festival under Canadian Actors' Equity Association's Festival Policy.

(Photo credits: Graphic design by Joanne Howard at Small Dog Design. Photography by Lisa Kannakko.)

 

Event details

Presented by: Women At Play(s)

Type of event: theatre performance (short one-act plays)

Program of plays: All seven short plays will be presented during each performance. 

  • Daddy’s Girl by Emma Donoghue, directed by Zoe Marín and featuring Iris Rhian. This is a true story of secrets and lies. Based on articles from New York newspapers in 1901, this is a one-woman show about young Minnie Hall and the day she learns her father was not who she thought he was at all.
  • And the Oscar Goes To… by Colleen Curran, directed by *Marjie Chud; and featuring *Debra Hale and *Lorna Wilson. Set in Hollywood, Agnes Higden – winner of an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress many, many years ago – receives a visit from Val, a writer who is there to do a feature on her for The New York Times Magazine.
  • Aging in Place by Barbara Ellison, directed by Lee Bolton; and featuring *Linda Joyce Nourse and *Tricia Williams. The house is old, the rent is cheap and the tenants are managing to survive on their Old Age Pensions. Then the house is sold and, in order to find shelter, sisters Silvia and Dorothy have to fight their way through the bureaucracy – and their lifelong antagonism.
  • The Mary Tree, written and directed by *Brenda Kamino; and featuring *Jajube Mandiela and Christina Song. Even trees can have principles. Watch closely while nature and religion collide, with amazing and amusing results.
  • Waiting for Love by Lindsay Ellis, directed by Lidiia Semesiuk; and featuring with Mariia Lovkutsovska, Tonjha Richardson and *Dawn Obokata. Two women linger on a bench outside a party, paralyzed by the idea that life cannot be enjoyed unless “love” arrives first. Despite their declared intention to seek it out, they remain stuck in endless waiting, afraid to either join the party or truly leave the bench. Waiting for Love is inspired by the Samuel Beckett classic Waiting for Godot and the Beatles’ 1964 B-side track “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party”.
  • A Violation of Violets by *Marni Walsh, directed by Marianne Sawchuk and featuring *Louisa Martin. Setting tea for two, a woman awaits the arrival of a long lost childhood friend. A Violation of Violets is the first short play in the trilogy SHE, which reimagines real-life stories of violence against rural women in the 1960s. Today, incidents of violence in rural areas – including sexual assault against girls and women – remains significantly higher than that in urban areas.
  • The Circle written and performed by *Rebecca Singh, directed by Autumn Davis. After a lifetime of advocacy, Anna calls together her friends for one final act of creation. Will it weave her hope into action?

* Women At Play(s) is an approved festival under the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association’s Festival Policy.

Dates: Friday, March 6 – Sunday, March 8 & Wednesday, March 11 – Sunday, March 15, 2026 (no performances on Monday, March 9 or Tuesday, March 10). There will be a talkback with the playwrights, directors & actors following the matinée performance on Sunday, March 8. Please note: There will be a mask mandatory performance on Wednesday, March 11.

Start times:

    • Evening performances (including Saturdays & Sundays) @ 7:00 PM ET (doors at 6:30 PM)
    • Saturday & Sunday matinées @ 2:30 PM ET (doors at 2:00 PM) There will be a talkback with the playwrights, directors & actors following the matinée performance on Sunday, March 8.

Duration: approx. 2 hours (including intermission; each play is about 10 – 15 minutes)

Cost: Ticket prices do not include fees. Tickets are available online (see booking link below) & at the door (cash only at the door).

  • Regular: C$28.00
  • Seniors, students, arts workers & frontline workers: C$22.00
  • Group rate: C$20.00 each for groups of 10 or more (book via email below)

Location: VideoCabaret, 10 Busy Street, Toronto, ON, M4M 1N8, Canada (near Logan Ave. & Queen St. E.)

Booking link: Book your tickets here. Tickets will also be available at the door (cash only). You can also make reservations at: womenatplaysinfo@yahoo.com. For group reservations (10 or more), please book via email.

Donations: Support them with a donation. 

Contact Details: Women At Play(s); womenatplays.ca, womenatplaysinfo@yahoo.com

 

Content warning: All are welcome, recommended age 12+. One of the plays includes the use of a toy gun and another has subject matter referring to child sexual assault.

Accessibility: Wheelchair-accessible, ground floor, with a wheelchair-accessible bathroom.

Health & safety policy: There will be a mask mandatory performance on Wednesday, March 11.

Refund & cancellation policy: Refunds up to seven days before event. Please contact the organizer at womenatplaysinfo@yahoo.com.