Archives: Plays

Title: The Rainbow Dark, The Pacific Solution, Halal-el-Mashakel, Journey of Asylum – Waiting, Nothing But Nothing

Author: Victoria Carless, Ben Eltham, Linda Jaivin, Towfiq Al Qady and Catherine Simmonds

Year: 2013

Geography: Oceania > Australia and New Zealand > Australia

Synopsis: Edited by Emma Cox
CMI by version 1.0 is a smart, ironic verbatim work that deals with the Children Overboard Affair and the SIEV X disaster.
The Rainbow Dark by Victoria Carless is a surreal domestic satire about immigration detention.
The Pacific Solution by Ben Eltham takes armchair cricket commentary as a point of departure for a farce about the Howard government’s excision of migration territory.
Halal-el-Mashakel by Linda Jaivin looks at the friendship between two detained asylum seekers.
Journey of Asylum – Waiting is a series of vignettes based upon the personal experiences of asylum seekers and refugees living in Melbourne.
Nothing But Nothing by Towfiq Al-Qady is an autobiographical play about childhood and war.

Publication: Cox, E., Carless, V., Eltham, B., Jaivin, L., Simmonds, C., & Al Qady, T. (2013 2022). Journey of Asylum – Waiting. In Staging Asylum: Contemporary Australian plays about refugees (pp. 136–184). : Currency Press Pty Ltd.
Title: Kennedy, F. (Ed.). (2019). Migration plays: Four large cast ensemble stories for teenagers (1st ed.). Methuen Drama.

Author: Kennedy, Fin (Ed.)

Year: 2019

Geography: Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom

Synopsis: Note:This collection includes the following plays:
Sharmila Chauhan’ s Nothing to Declare， follows three precious keepsakes and the stories attached to them as their owners are stopped at a hostile border.
Satinder Chohan’s Potato Moon focuses on the potatoes buried in a share allotment. They become people’s memories in a magical realist Southall and so when they start to go missing, schoolgirl Mira set out to find out why.
Asif Khan’s Wilkommen follows 11 year Ammar on the most dangerous journey of his life, from war-torn country, across sea and land, to take up the offer of a new life in Europe.
Sumerah Srivstav’s by tells the story of how three angels, horrified by mankind’s cruelty, prepare to wipe them out… until they find an unlikely friend who changes their mind.

Publication: Kennedy, Fin, editor. Migration Plays: Four Large Cast Ensemble Stories for Teenagers. 1st ed., Methuen Drama, 2019.
Title: Staging Asylum: Contemporary Australian Plays About Refugees.

Author: Cox, Emma (Ed.)

Year: 2013

Geography: Oceania > Australia and New Zealand > Australia

Synopsis: Selection of contemporary plays about the asylum seeking process written by Australians and refugees.

Publication: Cox, Emma (Ed.). Staging Asylum: Contemporary Australian Plays About Refugees. (2013). 2013.
Title: Love and Relationships Volume 1：A Collection of Contemporary Asian-Canadian Drama

Author: Aquino, Nina Lee (Ed.)

Year: 2009

Geography: Americas > Northern America > Canada

Synopsis: Edited by Nina Lee Aquino, This collection includes the following plays:
a) Yellow Fever by Rick Shiomi follows private detective Sam Shikaze as he investigates the disappearance of the Cherry Blossom Queen, uncovering a web of racism, political intrigue, and seedy characters. This sharp parody of hard-boiled detective stories is a classic in Asian American theater.
b) Bachelor Man by Winston Kam depicts Toronto’s Chinatown on Dominion Day 1929, revealing the struggles of Chinese men barred from family reunification under exclusion laws. The play portrays resilience in a “Bachelor Society” facing discrimination.
c) Maggie’s Last Dance by Marty Chan is a play that may explore themes of family, loss, and memory.
d) Mother Tongue by Betty Quan is a poignant play about a Chinese-Canadian family divided by language—Cantonese, English, and sign language. It explores generational and cultural gaps as Mimi, the daughter, struggles between family loyalty and her dreams to leave Vancouver for graduate school.
e) Noran Bang: The Yellow Room by M.J. Kang follows a Korean-Canadian family coping with loss, cultural assimilation, and generational conflicts, blending Western theatre with Korean traditions. It resonates broadly with immigrant families navigating identity and belonging in Canada.
f)The Plum Tree follows George Murakami, who, after years of activism in the Japanese Canadian Redress movement, seeks a deeper connection to his past at a berry farm. The play explores themes of ownership, justice, and how history’s recurring impact shapes each generation.

Publication: quino, Nina Lee, editor. Love + Relasianships: A Collection of Contemporary Asian-Canadian Drama. Vol. 1, Playwrights Canada Press, 2009.
Title: Scripting (Im)migration : New Canadian Plays

Author: Meerzon, Yana (Ed.)

Year: 2019

Geography: Americas > Northern America > Canada

Synopsis: In this companion anthology to Theatre and (Im)migration, plays by immigrant artists take a look at communication, historic moments, the immigrant and refugee experiences in Canada, accents, and more. In The Aeneid by Olivier Kemeid, translated by Maureen Labonté, the classic tale of searching for a new home is reimagined into an urgent modern-day refugee story. Settling Africville by George Elliott Clarke is a dedication to the African American refugees of the War of 1812 that settled in Nova Scotia. The Tashme Project: The Living Archives, a documentary-style play, carefully pieces together the experiences of Japanese Canadians who were in the internment camps in the 1940s. Foreign Tongue: The Musical represents the mark that accents place on immigrants. In My Name is Dakhel Faraj, the true story of a refugee of the Iraq war is presented in English, English Sign Language, and Arabic. And In Sundry Languages is a collection of multilingual skits on immigrant experiences.

Publication: Meerzon, Yana (Ed.). Scripting (Im)migration : New Canadian Plays. 2019.
Title: Staging asylum, again

Author: Cañas, T., & Wake, C. (Eds.)

Year: 2023

Geography: Oceania > Australia and New Zealand > Australia

Synopsis: An anthology that exposes Australia’s mistreatment of people seeking refuge. Building on the success of its predecessor, this collection presents a timely and powerful exploration archive of artistic resistance to one of Australia’s most enduring and unjust policies. The anthology showcases a diverse range of plays that delve into different facets of seeking asylum.

Publication: Cañas, Tania, and Caroline Wake, editors. Staging Asylum, Again. Currency Press, 2023.
Title: Take d milk, nah?

Author: Parasram, Jivesh

Year: 2021

Geography: Americas > Northern America > Canada

Synopsis: In Take d milk, nah?, Jiv grapples with his multifaceted identity, and more, facing confusion about his place within these intersecting cultures. Teased as a “white boy” in his immigrant household and misidentified by others, Jiv’s quest for self-understanding is further complicated by societal labels and his own experiences, including a transformative moment while delivering a calf in Trinidad. Jivesh Parasram’s play humorously and critically explores cultural identity, questioning what separates and unites us and what we accept in our quest to belong. Ultimately, it highlights that, despite the diversity of identity, we are all connected through our shared experiences.

Publication: Parasram, J. (2021). Take d milk, nah?. Playwrights Canada Press.
Title: Santos & Santos

Author: Solis, Octavio

Year: 1995

Geography: Americas > Northern America > United States of America

Synopsis: Play about Latino immigration in the US.

Publication: Solis, O., & Langworthy, D. (1995). Santos & Santos. American Theatre, 12(9).
Title: Yes Yoko Solo

Author: Yoon, Jean

Year: 2009

Geography: Americas > Northern America > Canada

Synopsis: A multimedia piece showcasing Yoko Ono’s work and legacy, exploring various aspects of the art and media industry while addressing the stereotypes often encountered by Asian immigrant artists.

Publication: Aquino, N. L. (Ed.). (2009). Love and relasianships: Volume 2: A collection of contemporary Asian-Canadian drama (Preface by M. Chan). Playwrights Canada Press.
Title: The Bone Sparrow Adapted

Author: S. Shakthidharan

Year: 2022

Geography: Oceania > Australia and New Zealand > Australia

Synopsis: The Bone Sparrow is a moving stage adaptation by S. Shakthidharan of Zana Fraillon’s novel, exploring refugee life in an Australian detention centre. Born behind fences, Subhi meets Jimmie, a local girl with a mysterious notebook. Their friendship uncovers painful truths and inspires hope. Despite structural shakiness, the production’s powerful staging, puppetry, and strong performances highlight urgent themes of displacement, resistance, and humanity across generations and borders.56.

Publication: Fraillon, Z. (2022). The Bone Sparrow (S. Shakthidharan, Adapt.). Nick Hern Books.