tomboy

(chłopczyca)

​​Premiering ​​March 4-8, 2026 at the Cultch Lab

Co-produced by the frank theatre company

Presented by The Cultch as part of Warrior Festival

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 Mateusz West

Choreographer/Collaborator: Oh Augustine

Dramaturg/Collaborator: Joanna Garfinkel

Performers: Rae Takei, Calder White, and Emily Jane King

Costume & Scenic Designer: Jaewoo Kang

Lighting Designer: Alexandra Caprara

Sound Designers: Roxanne Nesbitt & Sasha J. Langford

Stage Managers: Jasmin Sandhu & Alexa Fraser

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

Intimacy Director: Lisa Goebel

Photography: Kimberly Ho

development

SUPPORTERS

Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, City of Vancouver, Rice & Beans Theatre, Playwrights Theatre Centre, the frank theatre company, Odd Meridian Dance, Major Matt Mason Collective, and the Federation of Russian Canadians of BC.

Tomboy (Chłopczyca) was developed through Odd Meridian Dance's CONJURE Residency at MORROW Studio, Sage Theatre’s IGNITE Festival and Rice & Beans’ DBLSPK Program.

workshop

contributors

Workshop Theatrical Director: Fay Nass

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

Workshop Technical Director: Fil Wiatrak

Accessibility Consultant: Veronique West

Intimacy Director: Lisa Goebel

Workshop Co-Choreographer: Tanya Marquardt

Workshop Producer: Kimberly Ho