Co-presented with Eastern Front Theatre as part of StageWorks

Conceived by Alex McLean
with (alphabetically) Chun Shing Au, Zach Faye, Carmen Lee, Kat McCormack, Briony Merritt, Lily Ross-Millard and Richie Wilcox

Starring: Kat McCormack, Briony Merritt and Richie Wilcox

Set/prop design: Chun Shing Au, Kai On Kerwin Lam and Carmen Lee
Direction and Script (from verbatim sources): Alex McLean
Preliminary Research: Myrto Koumarianos

Produced by Zuppa

January 21-22 | 7:30pm
January 23 | 1:00pm & 7:30pm

75 minutes long. No intermission.

Two-Show Pass!

Tickets on sale starting November 22nd. For only $35, get early bird pricing now through a Two-Show pass with Fracas November 19-21 as part of StageWorks.

While you’re here, don’t forget to also check out HOMES | INVESTMENTS by Zachary Gough in the Alderney Landing Rotunda January 18-23.

A Disaster and the Traces Left Behind

In 1911, 146 people were killed in a fire at the factory of the Triangle Waist Company in New York. The highly contentious trial that followed  spurred the public to demand workplace safety reforms and became a touchstone for radical and progressive political movements. At the time, people swore that the victims and the fire would never be forgotten.

Three actors – from another country and century – are tasked with reading from the massive trial transcript as quickly as possible. Despite the  speed, they must communicate the key points and central conflicts, while giving insight into the 1911 events and their resonance with the world of today. Can they beat their best time? Can they surprise us? Can they help us remember?

Creative Team

Alex McLean
writer/director

Alex McLean (he/him) is a theatre artist based in Kjipuktuk/Halifax. He is a co-artistic director of Zuppa, with whom he has directed and devised numerous shows since 1999. Recent works with Zuppa are tiny, The Movements, The Archive of Missing Things, Pop-Up Love Party and This is Nowhere, an ongoing program of large-scale live/digital performance in the built environment.

With Surplus Production Unit, he directed and wrote (from verbatim sources) A Timed Speed-Read of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Trial Transcript with Additional Notes. With Ker Wells he was a founding member of Number Eleven Theatre (1998-2006), and he holds an M.A. from the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies.

A specialist in devising, Alex has taught extensively, published scholarly articles, and collaborated with practitioners across multiple disciplines. His work explores the past, the present, and things that are too big to grasp or too small to contain.

Kat McCormack
performer

Kat McCormack (she/they) is a theatre artist from Dartmouth/Punamu’kwati’jk with a passion for playful, collaborative creations. As the Artistic Director of Eastern Front Theatre, Kat aims to create a supportive and accessible environment for artists to push the boundaries of Atlantic Canadian storytelling, as well as their own artistic practice. As an artist, Kat has helped to create new works with companies such as ZUPPA, Shakespeare by the Sea, Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, The Villains Theatre, Eastern Front Theatre and others. Kat has been named Best Theatre Actor in The Coast’s Best of Halifax issue five times, and is a four-time nominee for the Theatre Nova Scotia Merritt Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor and Outstanding Direction, and a two-time nominee for the Screen Nova Scotia Award for Outstanding Performance. In 2025, Kat was awarded the King Charles III’s Coronation Medal for service to arts and accessibility, and was recognized in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for exceptional contribution to theatre in Nova Scotia.

Photo by James Arthur MacLean

Briony Merritt
performer

Briony Merritt (she/her) is a British-Canadian performer and writer based between Toronto and Nova Scotia. Briony is especially passionate about intergenerational and community-driven stories, as well as theatre that involves site-specific, immersive, or interactive elements. She recently completed a six-month writing residency at the Canadian Film Centre (Norman Jewison Film Program), and is excited to be developing her first feature with Picture Plant Films.

Photo by Calvin Thomas

Richie Wilcox
performer

Richie Wilcox (he/they) is a multi-talented director/actor/writer who has spent the last twenty years creating, devising and writing original works. They are the founding co-artistic director of HEIST where they have helped create several acclaimed works including Frequencies, The Princess Show and New Waterford Boy. Wilcox is a Merritt-award winner in acting, playwriting and directing, a past Mayor’s Award for Emerging Theatre Artist recipient and a Queen’s Jubilee Medal recipient. Most recently, Wilcox directed the acclaimed production of Casey & Diana at Neptune Theatre (Merritt Award for Outstanding Production and Directing) as well as the premiere of his original script Coal Bowl Queen.

Photo by Stevey Hunter

Photo by Trevor Beckerson

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