GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY
The Brave New Works Festival is Theatre Aquarius’ annual showcase of new Canadian plays, dedicated to championing them. Selected works receive dramaturgical support, a professional reading, and the opportunity to engage with the artistic community through talkbacks and workshops.
Professional actors will read new plays out loud in the morning while working with the playwright in real time. After working on the play, it will be read aloud to an audience at 7:00pm in the Studio Theatre.
Admission to the reading on June 22 is free, and there is a $15 ticket fee for An Evening with Emma Donoghue that includes the play reading, a Q&A with Emma and a book signing with Epic Books.
Directed by Mary Francis Moore
BIO: Christina has performed on some the biggest stages in Canada including The Royal Alex, FirstOntario Concert Hall, and The Charlottetown Festival. Most recently, Christina took on the role of Bernadette in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert for Drayton Entertainment.
In that production, Christina made history as the first trans woman to play the leading trans role in any professional production of Priscilla in North America.
Christina is also an award-winning writer and composer with her works garnering ‘Best of Fringe’ and ‘Patron’s Pick’ at the Toronto International Fringe Fest.
Christina is excited and honoured to have the opportunity to present her new musical at Brave New Works.
SYNOPSIS: Key Change is a powerful and compelling musical that explores the dynamic and challenging process of accepting one’s true identity and what it’s really like to live as a trans woman in today’s world.
Using an array of beautiful melodies to underscore this very complicated and often volatile journey, Christina shines a light on the healing powers of love, kindness, and acceptance.
BIO: Born in Ireland, Emma Donoghue has lived in London, ON since 1998. She is best known for her novels (including ROOM, THE WONDER, THE PULL OF THE STARS and THE PARIS EXPRESS) and films (ROOM, nominated for four Oscars, and THE WONDER and H IS FOR HAWK). Canadian productions of her plays have included KISSING THE WITCH at Buddies in Bad Times, ROOM (Grand/Mirvish, shortlisted for the Carol Bolt Award), and THE WIND COMING OVER THE SEA (Blyth).
SYNOPSIS: Rising Voices, a comic drama about four teenagers attending a singing competition, is set in a hotel room over a single evening and morning. It explores friendship, rivalry, and ambition in the high-pressure hothouse of adolescence.
Sita’s Revenge Devi Triptych (2023) – Red Beti Theatre. Photo by Dahlia Katz
Michael Kras and Kiera S. West (2023). Photo by Frame-work
When We Talk About Trump (2025). Photo by Corinne Nyffenegger
The Paisley Hood (2025). Photo by Corinne Nyffenegger