JAMES & EDDIE Comes to the Toronto Fringe

Fresh off its win as Best New Play at the 2025 Toronto Fringe Festival, James & Eddie, a moving new work by playwright, actor, and producer M.J. Kang, will make its debut at this year’s Toronto Fringe from July 3–12 at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse (79 St George St, Toronto, ON). The production by Skylark Productions marks a milestone in Canadian theatre as M.J., the first Korean-Canadian playwright professionally produced in the country, returns to tell one of her most personal stories yet.

Set in 1980s Toronto, James & Eddie explores the friendship between two Korean families navigating life in an unfamiliar city still largely unaware of Korean culture or history. Through the eyes of Eun-Kyung (played by M.J. Kang), the youngest daughter in one of the families, audiences are taken on a memory-filled journey of post-war trauma, cultural invisibility, resilience, and the fragile bonds between parents and children.

"I wrote this play to honour the strength of so many Korean-Canadian families who shaped their lives in a country that hadn’t yet seen them," says M.J. Kang. "It’s a story of what happens behind closed doors, grief, love, violence, and hope, and how children carry all of it in their hearts and translate it into curiosity and joy. Through memory, I wanted to revisit the beauty and pain of that era and give voice to what often went unsaid. We are a powerhouse group of Korean storytellers, proud, passionate, and ready to take up space. This show is for every child who grew up translating for their parents, for every family that held grief in silence, and for every audience ready to hear something new.”

Told with theatrical skill, honesty, and childlike wonder, James & Eddie weaves moments of joy with the stark realities of immigrant life when Korea was still a mystery to many Canadians. The play is both a cultural reckoning and a tender act of remembrance, asking how families can forgive one another in the shadow of inherited history.

Developed through The Road Theater's Under Construction cohort in Hollywood and presented in a one-night reading at The Road Theater in 2024, James & Eddie has already gained recognition for its unique voice and emotional depth, earning the Walter E. Dakin Fellowship (2024, 2025), the AGE Legacy Award (2024), and the Signpost Fellowship (2024). This Fringe premiere is not only a major moment for M.J., but a significant milestone for Korean-Canadian representation in the performing arts.

James & Eddie features a stellar cast of Korean actors, including M.J. Kang (Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Disney+, Gangnam Project, CBC/BBC), Elsha Kim (Trigger Happy, The Garcias, Disney+), and Katherine Ko (The Morning Show, Apple TV), and directed by Doug Kaback, the production brings together a dynamic group of multi-talented artists, actors, dancers, mothers, and storytellers, united by their Korean heritage and a shared passion for bringing untold stories to the stage. It is produced by Skylark Productions.