Jiv is “Canadian.” And “Indian.” And “Hindu.” And “West Indian.” “Trinidadian,” too. Or maybe he’s just colonized. He’s not the “white boy” he was teased as within his immigrant household. Especially since his Nova Scotian 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. Whatever he is, 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. By now, Jiv’s collected a lot of observations about trying to find your place in your world.

In this funny, fresh, and skeptical take on the identity play, Jivesh Parasram blends personal storytelling and ritual to offer the Hin-dos and Hin-don’ts within the intersections of all of his highly hyphenated cultures. This story asks the gut-punching questions: What divides us? Who is served by the constructs of cultural identity? And what are we willing to accept in the desire to belong? Then again—it doesn’t really matter, because we are all Jiv.

Jivesh Parasram is a multidisciplinary artist and facilitator of Indo-Caribbean descent. He grew up in K'jipuktuk in Mi'Ma'ki (specifically Dartmouth, NS), and currently lives and works primarily on the Unceded Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver) where he works as the Artistic Director for Rumble Theatre. Jiv spent over a decade in T'karonto/Toronto working mostly in the independent theatre scene; there he co-founded the award-winning political theatre collective, Pandemic Theatre. He also worked as the Associate Artistic Producer at Theatre Passe Muraille. His performance work has toured across Canada, to the UK and Europe; and his research has taken him back to the Caribbean to Cairi (Trinidad & Tobago) Taino Carib & Arawak territory. He has been honoured with numerous awards and nominations including the Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award, The Dora Mavor Moore Awards, The Jessie Richardson Awards, The Harolds, and the Herald Angel at the Edinburgh Festival. He is also published with playwrights Canada Press, and has been a contributor to publications including CBC, the Canadian Theatre Review, and Spiderweb Show.

Jivesh Parasram's profile page

Tom is a T’karonto-based arts worker and the founding artistic director of Pandemic Theatre, a collective with a mandate for creating political work. Since 2018, Tom has acted as a producer for Why Not Theatre, where he manages multiple projects including the RISER Project (a collaborative producing model designed to address the challenges of producing independent theatre) and the Space Project (a program designed to access temporarily underutilized space for artist use). He was also the inaugural director and program designer of TENT, the Toronto Fringe's educational program that teaches entrepreneurial skills to theatre artists. Works for the stage include Mahmoud (co-writer), Take d Milk, Nah? (co-creator/dramaturge), and The Only Good Indian (co-creator).

Tom Arthur Davis' profile page

Graham Isador is a writer and photographer in Toronto. He is a former contributing editor at VICE. His work has also appeared at GQ, Men’s Health, and The Globe and Mail. Isador’s latest play, White Heat, won outstanding performance text at the SummerWorks performance festival in 2019.

Graham Isador's profile page

• Nominated, Governor General's Literary Award
• Nominated, Jessie Richardson Critics’ Choice Innovation Award

“Screamingly funny.”

Sam Mooney, Mooney on Theatre

“This engaging and powerful solo blends hilarious family-focused storytelling, incisive historical analysis of colonialism and imperialism and gut-punch first-hand accounts of everyday racism and marginalization in Canada.”

Jordan Bimm, NOW Magazine

“It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you’re from, Take d Milk, Nah? Is a must-see experience.”

Alyssa Mahadeo, Toronto Caribbean

“Hilariously entertaining and insightful.”

Cate McKim, Life With More Cowbell

“I was impressed—nay, thrilled—by its boldness.”

Carly Maga, Toronto Star

“A thing of beauty.”

Lynn Slotkin, The Slotkin Letter