The Obsidian Playwrights Unit is an intensive play development program that will support 2 to 3 Black playwrights through virtual group sessions and individual mentorship from November 2024 through June 2025. Facilitated by actor and playwright, Lisa Codrington, the unit will discuss and develop their plays culminating in a performance where each playwright has the chance to workshop an excerpt of their piece with actors and a director, and hear it read aloud at Obsidian’s annual Playwrights Unit Showcase in Toronto, ON.
Obsidian Theatre is interested in showcasing the richness and complexity of Blackness in all of its intersections so that our art can truly reflect the communities we serve. What stories do you want to bring to the stage and why? What does your idea/play bring to a Canadian stage that has not been seen before? These are just some of the questions we are interested in discussing and exploring as we begin the journey of developing new work.
Playwrights Unit Showcase
June 26th, 7:30pm
The Theatre Centre – 1115 Queen St W, Toronto
Free Admission, RSVP Required
Introducing our 2024/2025 Playwrights Unit!
Cameron Grant
Cameron Grant
Cameron has worked across Canada as an actor, director and playwright. As a playwright, Cameron’s first play Meet Chloe, received its premiere at Carousel Players in 2021 and continued to tour virtually for 3 years to schools across Canada. He has a strong interest in plays that focus on the lives of Black people in Canada. Other recent credit include: Acting: Controlled Damage (Grand Theatre), The Fiancée (Persephone Theatre), Kim Convenience (Thousand Islands Playhouse), 1851: Spirit & Voice (Soulpepper), Serving Elizabeth (Stratford Festival), and 4 season at The Shaw Festival. Directing: The Assembly (Crossroads Theatre), Twelfth Night (Theatre Erindale) as well as assistant directing productions at Bard of the Beach, Factory Theatre and Theatre Erindale. Cameron was the artistic director of Crossroads Theatre (formerly Shakespeare in Action) from 2022-2023. He is excited to continue development on his play Inheritance… (If You Want It) as part of the Obsidian Playwrights Unit!
Instagram: @camm_grant
Oprah Lemorin
Oprah Lemorin
Oprah Lemorin is a multifaceted theatre artist whose passion for the stage knows no bounds. A proud graduate of Concordia University with a degree in acting, Oprah is emerging as a dynamic force in the world of theatre, seamlessly wearing the hats of playwright, producer, and actor.
Oprah envisions herself as Theatre’s Pop Princess, a visionary artist with a mission to infuse the age-old art form with a contemporary vibrancy that resonates with today’s audience.
@Oprahlemorin
Phillip Dwight Morgan
Phillip Dwight Morgan
Phillip Dwight Morgan is a Toronto-based writer and editor of Jamaican heritage.
insta: @phillipdwightmorgan
twitter: @philldmorgan
Playwrights Unit Facilitator
Lisa Codrington
Lisa Codrington is an actor and writer based in Toronto. She has been nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Drama and is a recipient of the K.M. Hunter Theater Award and the Carol Bolt Award for Playwrights.
Selected writing credits include The Prescription – 21 Black Futures (Obsidian/CBC) The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God (Shaw Festival, Karamu House); Up the Garden Path (Obsidian Theatre); The Aftermath (Groundswell Festival, Femfest); The Colony – Opera to Go (Tapestry); Cast Iron (Nightwood Theatre & Obsidian Theatre).
Currently, Lisa is developing two new plays and is playwright in residence at Why Not Theatre.
To see Playwright Unit Alumni, click here!
For any questions you might have about the unit, please contact our artistic producer, daniel jelani ellis, at op@obsidiantheatre.com.