TOMBOY (CHŁOPCZYCA)

by Anais West

WORKSHOP

July 18, 2025 at 7pm

Progress Lab (1422 William St.)

Produced by Rice & Beans Theatre as part of DBLSPK

Pay-What-You-Can Tickets

PRODUCTION

March 4-8, 2026 at the Cultch Lab

Co-produced by the frank theatre company

Presented by The Cultch as part of Warrior Festival

Season Tickets

Winner of the 2023 Wildfire National Playwriting Competition

Queer vampires and Slavic folklore converge in Tomboy (Chłopczyca), a kinetic dance-theatre performance exploring gender, memory and cultural belonging. This new interdisciplinary work is a trans coming-of-age story with a dark, supernatural twist.

After learning that as a teen, their best friend was attacked by a boy from their Polish immigrant community, a non-binary historian remembers their shared adolescence. But with each recollection, the sequence of events becomes more ambiguous, the choreography of memory more complex. Through repetition, they unravel the narrative they’ve constructed of themself, the boy, and their predatory bond. Were his actions his own, or was he cursed by a monstrous and mythic inheritance? By exploding cultural dance and genre conventions, Tomboy redefines horror, eroticism and masculinity.

Creative Team:

Playwright/Collaborator: Anais West
Choreographer/Collaborator: Oh Augustine

Dramaturg/Collaborator: Joanna Garfinkel

Performers: Rae Takei, Calder White, and Emily Jane King
Sound Designers: Roxanne Nesbitt & Sasha J. Langford
Stage Managers: Alexa Fraser & Jasmin Sandhu

Cultural & Linguistic Consultants: Piotr Wieczorek, Karo Hanula and Julia Siedlanowska.

Developed through Odd Meridian Dance's CONJURE Residency at MORROW Studio

Development supported by Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, City of Vancouver, Playwrights Theatre Center, the frank theatre company, Odd Meridian Dance, Major Matt Mason Collective, and the Federation of Russian Canadians of BC.

Previous Workshop Contributors:

Theatrical Director: Fay Nass

Performers: Joylyn Secunda, Kira Radosevic, Franki Reed-Schuyler

Technical Director: Fil Wiatrak

Accessibility Consultant: Veronique West

Intimacy Director: Lisa Goebel

Co-Choreographer: Tanya Marquardt

Producer: Kimberly Ho

Photography: Kimberly Ho