The Election
Theatre Passe Muraille presents a Common Boots Theatre production in association with Nightwood Theatre and Theatre Direct
The Election
How do we hold different truths together in the same space?
Written by
Yolanda Bonnell & Natasha Greenblatt with the company
- Land Voice / Terry / Anthony / Others Augusto Bitter
- Land Voice / Zoe / Leslie / Others Rachel Cairns
- Land Voice / Skye / Meenakshi / Others Joelle Peters
- Land Voice / Samraj / Remi / Others Anand Rajram
- Land Voice / Milly / Abinisha / Others Rose Stella
- Land Voice / Jake / Landon / Others Courtenay Stevens
- Director Jennifer Brewin
- Playwrights Natasha Greenblatt and Yolanda Bonnell
- Set Design Anahita Dehbonehie
- Lighting Designer Kaitlin Hickey
- Costume Designer Jackie Chau
- ComposerAlex Samaras
- Dramaturge Yvette Nolan
- Contributing Artist (Script/Voice/Dramaturgy)Alex Bulmer
- Stage ManagerMeghan Speakman
- Apprentice Stage ManagerStephanie Taylor
- Assistant Director Theresa Cutknife
- Associate Set Designer Rachel E. Kula
- Associate Costume Designer Farnoosh Talebpour
- Production Manager Katherine Smith
- Technical Director Eric Read
- Assistant Production Manager Elizabeth Kenny
- Wardrobe Farnoosh Talebpour
- Deaf Community ConsultantElizabeth Morris
- Open CaptioningNicole Smieja
- Braille ProgramMarcia Yale
- Associate ProducerJessie Fraser
- Mainspace TechnicianDavid Fisher
- Graphic DesignerDaria Domnikova
Following the wildly successful run of The Public Servant, Common Boots Theatre delivers a provocative and hilarious investigation of how Canadians engage in democracy.
In 2015, a group of artists from Ojibwe, Jewish, Polish, Tamil and Pakistani backgrounds, identifying as straight, queer and bi-sexual, infiltrated the election as volunteers for three major political parties and documented their experiences. Incorporating kaleidoscopic political views as well as questions of Indigenous sovereignty, The Election promises to spark an urgent dialogue just as Canadians are about to take another swing at the ballot box.
Created with the support of Studio 180 Theatre’s IN DEVELOPMENT program.
Show History
In 2016 lead writer Natasha Greenblatt was awarded a two-week residency at the Banff Playwrights Colony to shape the written work and oral recordings into a first draft.
Over the 2016/17 season, we held a series of workshops for The Election. We added actor/writer Georgina Beaty to the process. In the summer of 2017 Natasha wrote a second draft, which we continued to develop and shape into our performance.
This theatre project is the second in a series of works about public engagement in Canada. The first work Common Boots created for the series was The Public Servant, a play developed from extensive interviews with federal employees.
A workshop production was performed in Toronto in the spring of 2019.
Reviews
“The Election serves up all the highs, lows, doubts and fears, spirit and hope that emerge along the campaign trail—and, most importantly, the myriad voices of the people framing and responding to the issues.”
– Kate McKim, Life With More Cowbell
“The writing at times is superb…The show, thanks to director Jennifer Brewin, has lots of energy”
– Susan G. Cole, NOW Toronto, NNN
“One of my favourite things in the play are the vocal descriptions that are used throughout…It’s a result of Accessibility Dramaturg Alex Bulmer’s work to make the play accessible for blind audiences…..Composer Alex Samaras’s earth sounds and chorus music were haunting”
– Sam Mooney, Mooney on Theatre
Common Boots would like to thank the following for their support
Shawn Abrahim, Laura Baxter, John Beebe, Janis Benson, Kim Blackwell, Alison Brewin and Elisabeth Geller, Gillian Brewin, Gretchen Brewin, Jennifer Brewin, Cameron Britton, Christine Brubaker, Ines Buchli, Alex Bulmer, Barbara Bulmer, Paul Butler, Naomi Campbell, Marjorie Chan, Jennifer Chan, Celia Chassels, Leah Cherniak, Debbi Clark & Andrew Brewin, Eric Coates, Andrew Crerar, Steve Cumyn, Jane Czarny, Cheryl Daniels, Lisa Marie DiLiberto, Karen Earl, Brian Estany, Alexander Farquhar, Tracey Ferencz and Greg Spotiswood, Jane Field, Ameela Gallo, James Gallo, Melissa Gallo, Allie Gilks & Richard Chan, Tara Goldstein, Mary Gray, Natasha Greenblatt, Iain Graham, Janelle Hanna, Lisette Henrich, Joyce Henry, Pete Higginson, Lynda Hill, Anne Hines, Maggie Huculak, Grant Hurrle, Gigi Inara, Vanessa Jacobsen, Joan Jamieson, Jacqui Jensen-Roy, Anne Beach Johnston, Martin Julien, Beth Kates, Niki Kemeny, Annie Kidder, Peg Lahn, Shery Leeder, Julia Lefebvre, Dawn Leger, Jeanne LeSage, Janet Lewis, Mary Lewis, Rebecca Liddiard, Barbara Linds, Ilana Lucas, Elisabeth Lunder, Kate Lushington, Kelly Lyons, Coleen MacPherson, Lubna Marium, Sarah Mcvie, Arthur Milner, Paul Milner, Thea Mistry, Kathy Munn, Cathy Nosaty, Shannon Peet, Sean Pratt, Farah Rahman, Sucheta Rajagopal, Kaitlyn Riordan, Martha Ross & John Millard, Els & David Salisbury, Jenny Salisbury, Norm Seli, Chloe Shantz-Hilkes, Jessica Sikora, Alex Simpson, Ryan Singh, Tischa Singh, Joel Slonetsky, Janet Solberg, Sarah Stanley, Courtenay Stevens, Martha ter Kuile, Pat Thompson & John Brewin, Tamara Trojanowska, Rachel Tyndale, Peter Wall, Emma Ward, Sandra & Michael Wayne, Joanne Williams, Mark Wilson, Laura Wood, Janelle Yanishewski, Paul Yeung, Jeff Yung, Cheryl Zinyk
