Eraser

An immersive experience, Eraser delves into the memories and fantasies of a classroom of students as they figure out who they want to be. Six students guide readers through their different journeys, taking them along to the cafeteria, change rooms, and playground, to the places where they feel safest and the most brave, vulnerable, and afraid.

Afroze just moved to Canada from Pakistan and is struggling to fit in as a white-skinned gender-questioning convert to Islam. All Jihad wants is to be cool, but he struggles with the appearance of this new student who doesn’t look like any of the Muslims he knows. Noah’s brother just died, and he’s been avoiding processing his grief, which makes him lash out at his best friend, Eli. Eli doesn’t know how to support Noah, who he also harbours questioning feelings for. Whitney wants to live by her own rules in her own imaginary world, but she’s forced to deal with annoying kids like Tara. Tara loves school and getting straight As, but all the pressure she feels eventually adds up and she crumbles.

Finding a balance between tough realities and honest fantasies, Eraser is an energetic and sentimental look at what it’s like to navigate differences and connections as a kid.

Bilal Baig (they/them) is a queer, trans-feminine, Muslim playwright, performer, and workshop facilitator. Bilal’s first play, Acha Bacha, had its world premiere in 2018 and has been published by Playwrights Canada Press. Other written work in development includes Kainchee Lagaa, Kitne Saare Laloo Yahan Pey Hain, and I want that free mind! Bilal is a core team member at non-profits such as Story Planet and Rivers of Hope, where they develop and facilitate workshops for youth in under-resourced neighbourhoods in Toronto focused on creative writing and literacy (Story Planet) and combatting Islamophobia through the arts (Rivers of Hope). Bilal has been the Playwrights Unit Facilitator for the Paprika Festival since 2019. Bilal is the lead and co-creator of the CBC/HBO Max/Sienna Films series Sort Of.

Sadie Epstein-Fine (they/them) loves telling stories, being in nature, working with young people, and being surrounded by community. They take on many artistic roles including directing, writing, and choreography. They are passionate about watching and creating musicals, immersive theatre, and theatre for young audiences. They are driven to work in queer, trans, and queerspawn communities, and in 2018 they edited a book called Spawning Generations about the experience of having queer and trans parents. Spawning Generations was a top ten book of 2018 in NOW Magazine and was nominated for Lambda Literary and Foreword INDIES awards. Theatre credits include The Last Five Years (Director, Langham Directors Workshop), Eraser (Director/Choreographer/Creator, the Riser Project/Why Not Theatre), Mamma Mia! (Director, Nightwood Theatre). Sadie is currently developing Sugar Plum about the experience of growing up as a queer ballet dancer.