BACHELOR MAN Plays As Tarragon Theatre's Guest Presentation Residency

RCTC's Artistic Director Andrew Moodie and Artistic Producer Brenda Kamino are the Tarragon Theatre's 2025-26 Resident Guest Presentation and will usher in their season with the reimagined revival production of BACHELOR MAN written by Winston Kam.

Renaissance Canadian Theatre Company was founded out of a need to take a classic work, or a forgotten gem of Canadian theatre and give it a new life. For the first time since 1987, Winston Kam's ground-breaking play will be performed by Sean Baek (Killjoys, Gangnam Project, Nisei Blue, 4 Seasons at The Stratford Festival), George Chiang (Dance and the Railroad, Salesman In China/ Twelfth Night, Stratford), Renée Wong (Harabogee & Me, If We Were Birds) Robert Lee (Kim's Convenience, A Map of the World, Canstage), Ziye Hu (Salesman in China, Romeo and Juliet, Stratford), Micah Chu (Streams and Loving Her), Oliver Koomsatira (Banana Boys, Factory, Ching Chong Chinaman, Fu-Gen) and Brenda Kamino (Naomi's Road, Mizoshobai, CTV's Carter and Rashomon, and Shaw Festival). The production will be directed by Brenda Kamino, with Diana Belshaw as Associate Director. Rounding out the team includes: Lily Chan 陳莉莉 (Stage Manager), Emmanuelle So (Assistant Stage Manager), Klein Wilhelm (Production Assistant) Barney Baylis (Production Manager/ Technical Director) Jackie Chau (Set/ Costume Designer) David Hoekstra (Head Of Props) Lyon Smith (Sound Design/ Composition) and Siobhan Sleath (Lighting Designer) and Damon Bradley Jang (Artistic Associate/Marketing and PR)

On July 1st, 1929, Toronto Chinatown teahouse owner, John, greets an extraordinary day. John left his wife in China. So did Grandad. Six men and the two women who enter their lives, grapple with the 6th anniversary of the Exclusion Act, the immigration act that prevented the wives and families of the men who came from China, largely to build the railroad, from joining them in Canada. It was the perfect 'Bachelor Society' that lasted 24 years.

"Our play's target audience is made up of adults who are interested in the history of the subject of the Exclusion Act and its effect on the Chinese community, for anyone who wants to see a show that could apply to any immigrant community, for anyone who enjoys a good drama with good actors." says Kamino. "It's a realistic drama, with a poetic style of writing. The characters represent a microcosm of Toronto's Chinatown, in 1929."