WIGHTS Comes to the Crow's Theatre in January

This January, Crow’s Theatre will launch the new year with the world premiere of WIGHTS, an explosive and thought-provoking new drama that explores a marriage—and a country—at a crossroads. The world premiere of WIGHTS runs January 7 – February 9, with media night on January 15, 2025.
 
Set in late October 2024, during the run-up to the U.S. federal election, the story introduces English professor Anita Knight on the eve of a pivotal job interview for the leadership of Yale’s Centre for Reparative Thought and Justice. As her friends and husband help her prepare, an unknown future looms just beyond the window, pressing to get in. At once enigmatic and hard-hitting, WIGHTS delves into the intricate power of language and its profound influence on our relationships, society, and the very fabric of reality.
 
A Crow’s Theatre commission, WIGHTS is written by playwright Liz Appel and directed by Crow’s Theatre Artistic Director Chris Abraham. The cast features Ari Cohen (Infinite Life, Coal Mine Theatre), Sochi Fried (The Game of Love and Chance, Shaw Festival), Richard Lee (The Orphan of Zhao, Shaw Festival), and Rachel Leslie (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Broadway).
 
“WIGHTS offers a rare space where the quality and character of an audience’s understanding can shift very suddenly,” says Chris Abraham. “It’s a richly textured story that I couldn’t put down when I first read it. With this play, Liz is tackling big ideas head-on in a deeply personal, up-to-the-minute meditation on our cultural moment. I can’t wait to bring its premiere to Toronto.”
 
An acclaimed New York-based Canadian writer and journalist whose work has appeared in Vogue, Liz Appel holds a master’s degree in English from Yale University and has a background in modern and medieval languages from the University of Cambridge. With WIGHTS, Appel has crafted a riveting exploration of language, race, identity, and politics.
 
“This play was born of witnessing the intense fractures in the U.S. over the past several years,” offers playwright Appel. “I'm interested in examining how the country is reckoning with itself in this charged moment, and what that looks like. I refuse to be hopeless, and this play lives in the deep conviction that change is possible if we have the courage to look.”
 
Joining Abraham and Appel on the creative team are set designer Joshua Quinlan, Costume Designer Ming Wong, lighting designer Imogen Wilson, sound designer Thomas Ryder Payne, and assistant director Peter Fernandes.