HOW TO CATCH CREATION To Receive Canadian Premiere At Soulpepper Theatre

Soulpepper Theatre, Obsidian Theatre, and Nightwood Theatre will present the Canadian premiere of How to Catch Creation by Christina Anderson. Directed by Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu, the production will run April 23 through May 17 at the Baillie Theatre at Soulpepper Theatre. Opening night is set for April 30, with performances scheduled Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

The play follows four artists and intellectuals navigating questions of creativity, legacy, and relationships. Griffin, recently released after serving time for a crime he did not commit, is determined to become a parent. Tami, an art professor, confronts a loss of creative drive, while painter Stokes searches for purpose and his partner Riley seeks belonging. Their lives intersect through the rediscovery of a Black queer feminist writer from the 1960s, whose work reverberates across time.

The cast will include Amanda Cordner as Tami, Shakura Dickson as Natalie, Daren A. Herbert as Griffin, Germaine Konji as Riley, Danté Prince as Stokes, and Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah as G.K. Marche. The creative team will feature set design by Teresa Przybylski, costume design by Ming Wong, lighting design by Andre Du Toit, and sound and music composition by Heidi Chan.

The production marks the Canadian premiere of the play, which first premiered at The Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 2019. Anderson’s work has been produced at theaters including Berkeley Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, and Yale Rep. She received a Tony nomination for the book of the musical Paradise Square in 2022.

Speaking about the production, Tindyebwa Otu said, “I love how this play leans into the legacy of Black feminism and how Anderson embeds it as the foundation of a multigenerational, intersectional story about the power and importance of artistic practice.” She added that the work “reminds us that as Black artists, we have a responsibility to stand against the forces of erasure, and to persist in telling our stories.”

Soulpepper Artistic Director Paolo Santalucia said, “Christina Anderson has written a profound and beautiful celebration of the queer voice. Queerness isn't in the margins here, it's visionary.” Nightwood Theatre Artistic Director Andrea Donaldson added that the play is “a tender gift of lightness, of intimate relationships, compelling humans I'd like to meet and just the right amount of connective magic.”