LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER Returns For Eight Shows

Koffler Centre of the Arts presents Like Mother, Like Daughter, the thought-provoking participatory theatre project co-created by Toronto's Why Not Theatre and UK-based Complicité Creative Learning, for eight performances, November 15 to 24, 2018 at 918 Bathurst Centre for Culture. "Delicate, generous, inspiring, warm, funny, and in moments, heart-rending," (Sprockets & Greasepaint) Like Mother, Like Daughter enjoyed a sold-out run for its Toronto premiere in 2016.

Directed by Rose Plotek, Like Mother, Like Daughter weaves together stories of migration and cultural identity from pairs of real life mothers who emigrated to Canada and their Canadian-born daughters (no professional actors). The result is a series of unscripted, unfiltered conversations between the mothers and daughters themselves. At each performance, four different pairs of mothers and daughters engage in a 'game' of answering questions randomly chosen by the host from a large stack of cards on stage. The women's responses are honest, surprising, and as fascinating as fictional drama; no two performances are the same.

Following every live performance, the entire audience is invited to continue the conversation with the mothers, daughters and creative team over a meal created by Newcomer Kitchen. This social enterprise project began in 2016 with newly-arrived Syrian refugee women who prepare meals in a communal kitchen for sale online or by delivery. The sharing of food is integral to the creative process behind Like Mother, Like Daughter: The first rehearsals (not open to the public) take the form of a pot-luck dinner and a communal bread-baking session, providing the mothers and daughters with a relaxed opportunity to break the ice through conversation and personal story-telling.

"The Koffler is excited to be collaborating once again with the remarkable Why Not Theatre to produce and present Like Mother, Like Daughter. The rich intergenerational and intercultural conversations that emerge from the participating mothers and daughters strongly align with the Koffler mandate to engage artists and audiences in meaningful, socially relevant dialogue" said Cathy Jonasson, Executive Director, Koffler Centre of the Arts.

Performative reality theatre that erases the line between public and personal, Like Mother, Like Daughter was initially conceived as an inter-generational, inter-faith exploration of the relationship between mothers and daughters. Like Mother, Like Daughter received its world premiere in Montreal at OFFTA (2014), was presented at the Battersea Arts Centre in London, UK (2015) and at 918 Bathurst Centre for Culture, Arts, Media and Education in Toronto (2016), and has numerous global productions with local mothers and daughters in the works.