PlayME

Everyone has a party story. Host and creator of Personally: Discount Dave (and the Fix) Rebecca Auerbach’s involved in a run-in with rock icon David Lee Roth (you know, from Van Halen). At least, that's who he said he was. It’s Vancouver. 2005. Becca, a young actor who loves hard and parties harder gets her first big break at a Shakespeare Festival. She’s young, she’s having fun, party girls are F...

Governor General's Award-winning playwright Nicolas Billon joins Laura Mullin to talk about his play The Neighbours and why the thriller form is the best tool he has for asking the questions that haunt him. Billon traces his love of suspense back to Hitchcock and explains why dread is one of the most honest ways to get an audience leaning in. He breaks down his choice to use direct address, what i...

When Denise and Simon are called to the police station, what they find there will connect their family to Kayla's story in ways they never could have imagined and force them to reckon with a question with no comfortable answer: how much did they really know? Featuring: Ordena Stephens-Thompson, Tony Nappo and Richard Tse.

Denise and Simon have lived on Stanley Court for thirty-one years. They know their neighbours, they wave hello, and they throw a barbecue every May. But seven months ago, their next-door neighbour was exposed as the man who kidnapped ten-year-old Kayla Brown and kept her locked in a cage in his basement for twelve years. Now, as the couple pieces together the aftermath, the uncomfortable questions...

In this special PlayME episode, host Chris Tolley sits down with Brian Quirt of Night Swimming as the company celebrates its 30th anniversary. Brian shares insights into the long, collaborative process of developing new plays, Night Swimming’s philosophy of “faith over hope,” and the re-release of Boys With Cars by Anita Majumdar—exploring how the work resonates with audiences today.

Playwright and actor Pamela Mala Sinha joins Chris Tolley to talk about NEW, her play about a generation of South Asian immigrants who came of age in 1970s Winnipeg. Sinha shares how a box of old photographs and her mother's stories sparked the idea, and why she felt compelled to tell the story of a generation that built this country but has been largely skipped over in our cultural narrative. She...

Two months after her arrival, Nuzha is beginning to understand that something is deeply wrong in her marriage. Qasim comes home late every night, and has never once reached for her. She arrived ready to build a life and instead finds herself waiting in a cold apartment in a city she doesn't know yet, wondering if she's about to be sent home. As she confides in the women around her, the close-knit...

It's 1970 in Winnipeg, and a young Bengali bride has just arrived in Canada to marry a man she's never met. But the husband waiting for her is hiding a secret, and the tight-knit immigrant community she's stepping into is holding more than a few of its own. Three couples. A doctor with a double life. A marriage frozen by grief. Two students being pulled apart by the new world around them. And one...

Laura Mullin talks to actor Tom Barnett about Michael Healey’s celebrated Canadian play The Drawer Boy. Barnett was part of the original 1999 Theatre Passe Muraille production, where he played the young actor Miles in a play inspired by the creation of the groundbreaking documentary theatre project The Farm Show. In this conversation, Barnett reflects on discovering the play as a young actor befor...

Morgan begins to share the story of the wartime accident that changed everything for him and Angus. But as the past comes into focus, the careful world the two farmers have built together starts to crack, forcing all three men to confront the consequences of turning memory into story. Cast: Tom Barnett, Patrick McManus, Stephen Jackman-Torkoff The Drawer Boy by Michael Healey

One of the most produced Canadian plays of the past three decades, The Drawer Boy is inspired by the creation of The Farm Show, the legendary production that sent a group of actors to rural Ontario to learn directly from farming communities. On a quiet farm, lifelong friends Morgan and Angus live inside a carefully structured routine shaped by a wartime injury that altered Angus’s memory. When Mil...

Chris Tolley talks to playwright and performer Akosua Amo-Adem about her hit play Table for Two, a funny, candid, and deeply relatable look at modern dating. Set in Toronto and centred on Abby, a hopeful romantic navigating apps, expectations, and one bad date after another, the play explores the search for connection in a world that can feel both hyper-connected and isolating. Akosua shares how t...

Still carrying the sting of a major breakup, Abby is trying to reset and move forward, but it feels like her best friend’s love life is racing ahead while she remains stuck in the same exhausting dating cycle. With pressure building from family, friends, and her own expectations, Abby puts her hope in a promising new match and a long-awaited dinner at Lucia’s, a night that just might shift everyth...

“Ghanaian parents don’t talk about sex, and when they do, it’s not very helpful.” Abena Ohemaa Frimpong is thirty-five, accomplished, and dating in Toronto. A Ghanaian Canadian woman with an impressive resume and a dating history that has taught her to manage expectations, Abby still shows up hoping this time might be different. On the night she is meant to meet JD45, a man she has grown cautiousl...

Playwright Ins Choi joins Laura Mullin to talk about Kim’s Convenience, the play that eventually became the hit television series. Choi shares why he started writing the play, what it was like to spend years facing rejection, and how one chance meeting transformed the story he thought he was telling. He reflects on being a first-time playwright thrown into television, the full-circle moment of pla...

The Kim family is forced to face some uncomfortable realities. Appa confronts retirement after decades running the convenience store, while his daughter Janet refuses to follow his plans for her future. At church, Umma makes an unexpected connection that changes things for the family. When Janet's old friend shows up at the store and complicates matters, Appa's attempts to help predictably blow up...

One of the most iconic plays of its generation, Kim's Convenience by Ins Choi opens inside a Toronto corner store run by a Korean Canadian family. Later adapted into the global hit CBC and Netflix series, the play introduces Appa Kim, who rules his shop with stubborn pride, sharp opinions, and a deep belief that the store is the centre of the community. As customers come and go, we meet Janet, his...

PlayME is back with a major new season of audio drama, hosted by Laura Mullin and Chris Tolley. Five acclaimed plays. Big performances. Theatre you can binge anytime, anywhere. Leading the season is Kim’s Convenience by Ins Choi, one of the most celebrated plays of its generation. Set inside a Toronto corner store, this iconic family comedy is warm, funny, and deeply moving, exploring immigration,...

Hosts Laura Mullin and Chris Tolley transform PlayME into an audio gala celebrating the Playwrights Guild of Canada’s Tom Hendry Awards, honouring the writers shaping the future of Canadian storytelling. This special episode reveals the 2025 shortlists and features conversations with leading voices in the arts, including The Globe and Mail’s Aisling Murphy, composer and lyricist Kevin Wong, Young...

Playwright Makram Ayache joins Chris Tolley to talk about growing up queer in rural Alberta. Hear about how the loss of Ayache's father influenced his acclaimed play The Green Line, and what it means to write from a place of “in-betweenness."  The Green Line, nominated for a Governor General’s Award, is a lyrical journey through love, loss, and the legacy of queer identity across generations.

A poetic and heartbreaking story of intergenerational queer history in Lebanon begins. In present-day Beirut, Rami, a twentysomething queer Lebanese Canadian, returns to bury his father. Grieving and searching for meaning, he finds himself drawn to a queer nightclub—where a drag queen named Fifi, dressed as a phoenix, awakens a sense of connection. At the same time, we flash back to 1978, when a y...

As Beirut descends into chaos in 1978, Naseeb is swept up in the war’s political tides, fracturing his bond with Mona. In the present, Rami follows a trail of memories—including a phoenix-shaped necklace left by his father—to uncover the truth about his family's past. The Green Line, nominated for a Governor General’s Award, is a lyrical journey through love, loss, and the legacy of queer identity...

Playwright Michael Ross Albert joins Chris Tolley to discuss his acclaimed play The Bidding War and the personal experience that helped inspire it. Michael shares what it was like to buy his first home through an affordable housing program — a moment that felt like winning the lottery, but also brought intense financial fear and uncertainty. Despite finally finding a place to call his own, Michael...

The open house descends into chaos as tensions erupt between buyers, agents, and unexpected guests. Secrets are revealed, alliances shift, and a medical emergency turns the high-stakes competition into something more personal. As the dream of homeownership spirals into a surreal showdown, everyone is forced to show their hand, whether they’re ready or not. Featuring: Aurora Browne, Sergio Di Zio,...

Welcome to Toronto’s hot real estate market, where even an open house can become a pressure cooker. It’s Sam’s first day as a real estate agent, and he’s hoping for a straightforward showing. But things quickly spiral when eager buyers swarm the home of his first client, June. Tensions rise, secrets surface, and the competition turns cutthroat. In this sharp, darkly comic audio drama, The Bidding...