THE CHRISTMAS MARKET Comes to Crow's Theatre

With the arrival of fall bringing first thoughts of the holiday season to mind, b current in association with Crow's Theatre and Studio 180 will present a Crow's commissioned World Premiere from two-time Dora Award-winner for Best Play, Kanika Ambrose. A new kind of holiday classic, THE CHRISTMAS MARKET is a radical and deeply felt story set against the shimmering bustle of a snowy holiday market.
 
Running November 4th to 30th in the Streetcar Crowsnest Studio Theatre, THE CHRISTMAS MARKET is directed by Canadian theatre powerhouse Philip Akin, with whom Ambrose last collaborated on the 2023 opera Of The Sea, leading an ensemble featuring Matthew G. Brown (Is God Is/Canadian Stage), Danté Prince (Rainbow on Mars/Outside the March), Savion Roach (Choir Boy/Canadian Stage), and veteran stage and screen actor Brenda Robins. 
 
The play follows three Caribbean migrant workers on an Ontario farm, trying to carve out a sense of belonging in an unfamiliar—and often unforgiving—landscape. In the quiet moments between shifts, they discover unexpected friendship, forging unshakable bonds through their humour, grit and shared determination to survive their first Canadian winter. Razor-sharp, funny, and unflinching, THE CHRISTMAS MARKET is a powerful exploration of community resilience and the hope created by found family, that reconnects the holiday season with meaning that exists beyond lavish expense.

“I have always loved Christmas and wanted to write a Christmas show,” shares Ambrose. “The reality is the majority of popularized Christmas culture does not reflect diverse communities, and I wanted to write something that reflected Caribbean people and rang true to our experiences. I was also interested in writing about the migrant workers who come to this country with so much hope and end up stuck in endless uncertainty on the furthermost fringes –the two ideas ended up entwined. So, this isn't what you might first think of for a Christmas show, but the characters within it are searching for connection and safety and in the end trying to find some joy in their lives despite really difficult circumstances – I think there is something central to the Christmas spirit in their story.”

“This collaboration represents precisely the kind of work b current is thrilled to support,” comments Kira Allen, Executive Director, b current. “From the outset, we recognized this as a special opportunity—one that aligns perfectly with our mission to amplify the untold stories of the Black diaspora. Kanika fearlessly dives deep into complex narratives. The story is intricate and layered, where humour and joy sit side by side with darker, heavier themes, creating a rich and nuanced theatrical experience that resonates on multiple levels. It's particularly beautiful and meaningful to have a Christmas story centred around the Caribbean experience and identity, bringing fresh perspective and authentic voices to a familiar season. It is such an honour to bring this show to life alongside Crow's Theatre and Studio 180 Theatre, two companies that are doing fantastic, groundbreaking work in the GTA. We can't wait for audiences to see it!”

“Many plays in our 25.26 season explore the ways in which communities and found families forge new ways forward and find connection in the face of despair and fragmentation,” adds Crow's Theatre Artistic Director Chris Abraham. “THE CHRISTMAS MARKET is a poignant example of this, offering one of the most urgent portrayals of economic precarity and its human costs I have come across in the theatre. The story is rendered with the beautiful dignity, detailed portraiture, and sense of humour that define Kanika's writing and have made me a such huge fan of hers – we are thrilled to get to share it with our audiences.”
 
Studio 180 Artistic Director Mark McGrinder adds, “Holidays bring people together. So does theatre. Connection, collaboration, and a shared sense of purpose are vital for finding ways to tell stories that inspire and engage. Studio 180 is delighted to be building on our growing relationship with Crow's (The Chinese Lady, A Public Display of Affection) and to finally step into a producing partnership with b current after several seasons of collectively delivering Reclaiming Black Canadian History workshops across the GTA through our Studio 180 IN CLASS education program. Kanika has written a deeply human play that speaks to complex issues through character and through action and we are grateful to be a part of the team bringing this world premier to the stage.”
 
The definition of a multi-hyphenate, in addition to her work as a playwright Kanika Ambrose is also an opera librettist and screenwriter.  In the last five years alone, she has won two Dora Award for Best New Play (our place/Cahoots Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille, 2022) and Truth (Young People's Theatre, 2024) and her opera Of the Sea with composer Ian Cusson premiered at the Bluma Appel Theatre in March 2023, commissioned by Tapestry Opera and Obsidian Theatre Company. Other credits include writer and co-creator of the concert The Big Easy: Music of New Orleans at Soulpepper in 2024, writer of two pieces on Juno nominated classical album Known to Dreamers: Black Voices in Canadian Arts Song produced by Canadian Art Song Project and she is a graduate of Canadian Film Centre's Bell Media Primetime TV Program (2022-2023).  This year she is Tarragon Theatre's OAC Playwright in Residence.

For this World Premiere production, Ambrose and Akin are joined on the creative team by Set Designer Ken MacKenzie, Sound Designer Jacob Lin, Costume Designer Des'ree Gray, and Lighting Designer Shawn Henry/