ANTIGONISH: Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre will present Take d Milk, Nah? by Jivesh Parasram, on March 31 and April 1 at the Bauer Theatre as part of a special East Coast tour.
In this funny, fresh, and skeptical take on the identity play, Festival Antigonish said Jivesh Parasram blends personal storytelling and ritual to offer the “Hin-dos” and “Hin-don’ts” within the intersections of highly hyphenated cultures.
The theatre group said the story asks gut-punching questions about divisions, cultural identity and belonging.
Festival Antigonish said the character Jiv is Canadian, and Indian, and Hindu, and West Indian, Trinidadian too, or maybe he’s just colonized. They said he’s not the white boy he was teased as within his immigrant household, especially since his Dartmouth neighbours seemed to think he was Black, except for the Black people; they were pretty sure he wasn’t.
He’s not an Arab, and allegedly not a Muslim; at least that’s what he started claiming after 9/11, said Festival Antigonish. Whatever he is, the festival said the public education system was able to offer him the chance to learn about his culture from a coffee table book on eastern mythology.
And then he had a religious epiphany while delivering a calf in Trinidad, said Festival Antigonish.
“I can’t wait to welcome this show to our theatre,” says artistic director Andrea Boyd. “It is such a unique, funny, and thoughtful play, by an incredibly charismatic and talented performer. It’s rare that we can offer something like this to our community.”
Festival Antigonish said Parasram grew up in Dartmouth and is Artistic Director of Rumble Productions in Vancouver, BC.
Take d Milk, Nah? debuted in 2020 and has been performed at the National Arts Centre, Theatre Passe Muraille, and several other theatres throughout Central and Western Canada, the festival said, noting that the play was published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2021 and was nominated for both the Governor General’s Literary Award and Dora Mavor Moore award for best new play.
Now Magazine said the play is “Engaging. Powerful. Hilarious. Incisive…” while they called Parasram “a gifted and endlessly watchable performer.”
Festival Antigonish said it has established a proud legacy as the largest professional theatre in Northeastern Nova Scotia. With a 35-year history, an artistic commitment to innovation and inclusion, and deep community roots as an economic and cultural anchor, the festival said it is proud of its successes and committed to growth.
Festival Antigonish said it strives to create a supportive environment for Nova Scotian artists while producing and presenting a balanced selection of Canadian and international works.
Festival Antigonish said it has a history of pushing boundaries and defying expectations for what should be possible for a little theatre company in rural Nova Scotia. In recent years, Festival Antigonish has been the first established theatre company in the province to hire a BIPOC female in a leadership role (2016), introduce Relaxed Performances (2017), and produce radio plays as an accessible COVID response (2020).
The move to promenade-style outdoor theatre in 2021 was another first (not for the industry, but for the company and for the region), Festival Antigonish said.
Tickets are available online at www.festivalantigonish.com or by calling (902) 867-3333, Festival Antigonish added.