QUEER & TRANS PLAYWRIGHTS UNIT
JUNE 26th & 27th 2026 | LOCATION: BONNY BOOM THEATRE
Tickets for this event are free of charge thanks to support from:
The Calgary Arts Development
ABOUT THE SHOWCASE
Over the course of Verbs 2025/2026 season, four Queer & Trans playwrights and two mentors have been gathering monthly to discuss their work, the industry, community, and queerness. This is the second time Verb Theatre has curated a playwrights club of this nature, and did so in response to a deep need expressed by the queer community in Calgary. We cannot wait to show everyone what these incredible playwrights have been creating!
See below for show details!
June 26th: Show at 7:30pm
The Last Mortal Age
By Madeline Hunter Smith
Directed by Heids MacHawk
Mentored and Dramaturged by Natalie Meisner
About the piece: Natural death has been eradicated. A compulsory implant on the pituitary gland halts all aging. The end of human life has become taboo. Genevieve, an ailing grandmother with one of the last natural lifespans on Earth, has come to spend her last days with her family. As she approaches the end, the family is forced to confront everything they thought they knew about life, death, and all the bits in between.
The Last Mortal Age is a sci-fi dark comedy exploring the significance of death in our hyper-productive western society, as well as the commodification of youth, our aversion to natural aging, and the consequences of removing the only guarantee we each have in this life: dying.
Something in the Garden & The Garden at the End of the World
By Camille Pavlenko & Kathryn Smith
A new work offering by the Verb Theatre artistic team.
About the pieces: Queer & Trans musings based on The Garden of Eden. Something in the Garden is a queer retelling of the original story, told through music with a vibe of concert meets theatre. The Garden at the End of the World is a short, speculative fiction story by Camille Pavlenko.
June 27th: Show at 7:30pm
Interior Blue
By Ryan Danny Owen
Directed and Mentored by Marshall Vielle
About the piece:
Somewhere in the dark, in a place of no particular importance, there is a motel. The sign lit for any passerby, in need of solace. Thin walls, blue sheets, drawn curtains.
Two familiar strangers meet in a room.
Untitled
By Taylor Williams
Directed and Mentored by Marshall Vielle
Accessibility notes for Bonny Boom:
The entrance to the theatre is in the fenced in, back lot of Bonny Boom. The entrance to the building is wheelchair accessible and two accessible parking spots will be reserved for those who require them.
One accessible, single stall washroom will be available. Three other single stall washrooms will be available up a set of stairs.
This event is alcohol free.
The Playwrights:
Cece Chow is a Moh'kinstsis (YYC) born, autistic, ADHD, disabled, Chinese trans woman, voice feminization coach, multi expressionist artist, filmmaker and transgender rights advocate. She firmly believes that positive representation is a key factor in creating equity for the trans community and especially for queer and trans people of the global majority. She is a raconteuse at heart, infusing nuanced and multifaceted narratives into her work to nurture exploration, growth, and unity in human kinship.
Madeline Hunter Smith is a queer, award-winning playwright and performer based in Mohkínstsis/Calgary, Alberta. Select writing credits include Carnaticum (Play Right Prize, 2018; Wildfire National Playwriting Competition Shortlist, 2020), Silica (Play Right Prize, 2019), The Folly (New Jersey Web Fest Best Original Audio Play Nominee, 2020), People Who Stand With the Gods (Wildfire National Playwriting Competition Shortlist, 2025), and Evergreens (Lunchbox Theatre Stage One & Two, 2025). Madeline uses her personal artistic practice to explore the experiences of femme people through writing and devising high-fantasy horror for the stage and other media. She is a founder and Artistic Producer of cross-disciplinary art group, Sucker for Punishment, and plays D&D as Maeve Maldorava on The Die As Cast Podcast. @madelinehuntersmith
Ryan Danny Owen (they/him/her) is a non-binary award winning author, researcher, queer archivist, and interdisciplinary artist based in Mohkinistis/Treaty 7/Calgary, Alberta. Their work reexamines nostalgia, trans identity, longing, and kinship through a multi-disciplinary approach combining archival research, installation, video, craft, poetry, performance, and writing.
Taylor (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist from Mohkinstsis. She is passionate about writing, acting, and storytelling. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre which she completed at the University of Victoria in 2022. Taylor has been fortunate to work with organizations like Collectivus Theatre (Victoria), Theatre One (Nanaimo), Calgary Young People’s Theatre, the Museum of North Vancouver, and the Toronto Fringe Festival.
The Mentors:
Natalie Meisner
Marshall Vielle