The Exchange Pre-show Conversation and The Salon Reading Series
In October 2026, BTW’s Salon Reading Series and The EXCHANGE pre-show conversations brings two provocative works to the Segal Centre Studio. Jeremy O. Harris’s Slave Play, directed by Diane Roberts, confronts the entanglement of race, desire, intimacy, and the enduring legacy of slavery. Amanda Parris’s Governor General’s Award-winning The Other Side of the Game, directed by Rayvn R. Bekh, illuminates the women behind Black activism and community care, exploring the costs of loyalty, incarceration, and the struggle for collective liberation.
In April 2027, BTW’s Salon Reading Series will be back, bringing Natasha Adiyana Morris’s The Negroes Are Congregating to the MAI cafe. Blending spoken word, satire, and sharp-witted social commentary, this acclaimed work confronts anti-Black racism, internalized self-hatred, identity, and the question of what it means to be Black in Canada and beyond.
In partnership with Concordia University’s Black Community Engagement Office and University of the Streets Cafe, BTW will host pre-show opening-night conversations, inviting audiences to engage with the tensions these plays bring to the surface. These are not stories designed to settle every question. They are invitations to ask better ones.
Slave Play
22/10/2026 & 24/10/2026 | Studio
By Jeremy O. Harris
Directed by Diane Roberts
Montreal Premiere Workshop Reading
Daring, unforgettable, and controversial, Slave Play hits audiences with the weight of history carried in everyday sexuality. It focuses on the experiences of Black partners in interracial couples as they grapple with the trauma and legacy of American slavery, in this case through highly unusual therapeutic methods.
WARNING
This play is intended for audiences 18 years and over.
Slave Play is explicit in its use of:
- Racial slurs and racist language
- Sexual violence
- Explicit slavery and historical trauma role-play
- Graphic sexual content
- Intense emotional and psychologically challenging themes
SLAVE PLAY is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc., a Concord Theatricals Company.
** Original Broadway Production Produced by Seaview Productions, Troy Carter, Level Forward, Nine Stories Sing Out Louise! Cohen Hopkins Productions Thomas Laub Blair Russell Salmira Katler Productions WEB Productions OHenry Productions Jeremy O. Harris Mark Shacket, Executive Producer and New York Theater Workshop
Slave Play received its world premiere at the New York Theatre Workshop on December 9, 2018, Jim Nicola, Artistic Director, Jeremy Blocker, Managing Director.
Slave Play was developed during a residency at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center’s National Playwrights Conference in 2018 Preston Whiteway, Executive Director Wendy C. Goldberg, Artistic Director.
In partnership with Concordia University’s Office of Community Engagement: University of the Streets Cafe.
On October 22, don’t miss the pre-show University of the Streets Cafe held in the lower lobby of the Segal. In partnership with Concordia University’s Office of Community Engagement, we are hosting a conversation around themes of Interracial dating, the objectification of Black bodies, and holding space for the nuances of language and culture on identity. The pre-show conversation starts at 5:30 before the opening night’s reading, with guest speaker Shirlette Wint, a psychotherapist, clinical social worker, researcher, and cultural consultant, BTW Artistic Director Dian Marie Bridge, and Concordia University’s Kristen Young. This pre-show conversation will be catered by Lloydie’s, a highly regarded Caribbean restaurant in the area.
22/10/2026, 7pm: Play reading
24/10/2026, 2:30pm: Matinee play reading, followed by a Q&A with the director, actors, and BTW team
24/10/2026, 7pm: Play reading, followed by a Q&A with the director, actors, and BTW team
Thursday Evening
(via Zeffy)
Saturday Matinee and Evening Tickets
(via Segal Centre)
Cast & Crew
Alexandra Laferrière
as Kaneisha
Alexandra Laferrière (she/her/elle) is Dora Mavor Moore winning actor, performer, and creator based in Montreal. She is a graduate of John Abbott College’s professional theatre program and participated in Black Theatre Workshop’s Artist Mentorship Program. Select theatre credits include: Baobab (Théâtre Motus), Sinkhole (or six ways to disappear) (Infinitheatre), Taking Care of Maman (Black Theatre Workshop & Roseneath Theatre), Dominoes at the Crossroads (Infinitheatre), Camille: The Story (Au-delà du visuel), Virginia Wolf (Geordie Theatre), Simone, Half & Half (Black Theatre Workshop), The West Woods (Mulgrave Road Theatre), and Gas Girls (Black Theatre Workshop).
Marc-Antoine Kelertas
as Jim
Marc-Antoine Kelertas is delighted to join Black Theatre Workshop for this public reading of Jeremy O. Harris’s Slave Play. He is a graduate of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England. On stage, he has played Townley in Edward Ravenscroft’s The London Cuckolds at the Tobacco Factory Theatre and Peter Tee in Harry Standjofski’s Sakuraat Centaur Theatre, directed by Eda Holmes. On screen, he has played Producer Gary, a recurring role on CBS’s Ghosts. He directed the short Svelarsi (Bare), which has won festival awards. A member of the international company GraceMoon Arts, he splits his time between New York, Rome and Montreal. Next, he joins the New York cast of Theresa Rebeck’s What We’re Up Against as Ben.
Jeremy Lewis
as Phillip
Jeremy Lewis is a multidisciplinary artist born and based in Tio’tia:ke. Actor, lyricist, improviser, and a pleasure to have in class. As a graduate of John Abbott College’s Professional Theatre Acting program as well as the National Theatre School of Canada’s Acting stream, Jeremy has performed on the streets of Place des Arts in Montreal(Chant de l’arbre – Toxique Trottoir, 2023), the Village of Senakw in Vancouver(Bard on the Beach 2024 season), and the Redbrick Cafe in Guelph, Ontario(Guelph Fringe 2023). Most notably, Jeremy has performed in two world premiere productions: Black Theatre Workshop’s Pirate and the Lone Voice, as well as Infinitheatre’s Dominoes at the Crossroads, earning them two META nominations and one META award for Outstanding emerging artist. As an improviser, they’ve performed with Tightrope Theatre in Vancouver, Outside Joke in Winnipeg, and Théâtre Sainte-Catherine in Montréal. As for their music, their interests mainly reside in storytelling hip hop. You can find their music on streaming platforms under the name The Court Jester.
Madeleine Scovil
as Alana
Madeleine is an actor, director, singer and theatre educator proudly based in Montreal. Recent theatre credits include Alex in Imago Theatre’s Cult Play, Sophie in Centaur Theatre’s Strawberries in January and Lara in Infinitheatre’s Extra/Beautiful/U. Since graduating from the acting program at The National Theatre School of Canada (2023), she has also been granted opportunities in video games, film, commercials, dubbing projects and puppet shows. She hopes to always work within a balance of performing and passing on what she learns from those performances to her students.
Anton May (He/They)
as Gary
Anton May is a British born; multidisciplinary artist based in Tiohtiá:ke (colonially known as Montreal). They are an honours graduate from Dawson College’s Professional Theatre Program, alumnae/Mentor of BTW Artist Mentorship Program and has had the privilege to perform across Canada as well as in New York as a singer and actor. When he’s not acting, he’s voguing or performing in concerts and cabarets singing or moving audiences with his poetry. Libra Sun, Cancer Moon and Rising for the astrology lovers. insta: @_anton.maye__
Sebastián Quint
as Dustin
Colombian-born, Montreal-based multidisciplinary artist Sebastián Quint is a powerful voice for the Latinx and Queer communities. With profound versatility spanning theatre, film, producing, playwrighting, scriptwriting, modeling, and dancing, his trajectory reflects an unwavering commitment to authentic storytelling. Quint’s impactful career ranges from national tours to activist documentary theatre addressing Colombian guerrilla violence. Having completed Black Theatre Workshop’s Artists’ Mentorship Program (AMP) and Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal’s Young Creators Unit (YCU) this past summer, he continues developing vital original projects. From producing his short film Marchita to founding ACTRA Montreal’s Latinx Subcommittee, Quint champions equity, using his multifaceted artistry to bridge cultures.
Tamara Brown
as Teá
Tamara Brown is a Montreal-based actor, singer, writer, director, and educator. Theatre: Da Kink in My Hair (Soulpepper/TO Live/NAC/Theatre Calgary); Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God (NAC/Centaur); Intimate Apparel, (Centaur Theatre); Afrika Solo, Blacks Don’t Bowl (Black Theatre Workshop); and Richard III (Metachroma Theatre). Film and television: Three Pines, Alert: Missing Persons Unit; The Bold Type; Helix; 19-2; The Game; and Real Detective. Videogame: Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, The Division 2: Warlords of New York; Outriders, The Outer Worlds; Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Valhalla, and Shadows; Outlast 2; and Deux Ex: Mankind Divided. A co-founder of Metachroma Theatre, in 2019 she co-wrote Blackout for Tableau D’Hôte Theatre and her work as a director has been seen on stages in Montreal, Toronto, Sherbrooke, Winnipeg, New York, and Stratford. She does it all for Nancy.
Julie Tamiko Manning
as Patricia
Julie is an actor and theatre creator from Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Recent acting credits include: 3 Women of Swatow (Centaur-Outstanding Performance META), Ricki (Scapegoat Carnivale), and Wildfire (Talisman). She is co-Artistic Producer of Tashme Productions with Matt Miwa. Their documentary play, The Tashme Project: The Living Archives was awarded a META for Outstanding New Script in 2019. Her most recent play, Mizushōbai- The Water Trade was shortlisted for the 2024 Carol Bolt Award, Quebec Writers’ Federation Playwriting Award and was nominated for Outstanding New Text (META). She is currently writing a new play about her grandfather’s life as a poet, called 孤村 Lonely Village.
Grégory-Yves Fénélon
Additional reader
esi callender
Stage directions reader
esi callender is a performer, dramaturg, writer, producer and co-founder of two theatre collectives: UnCanon Theatre (est. 2025) and Sort Of Productions (est. 2018), also discussed in their book chapter “ineffable dramaturgies: experiments in Black queer and trans liberation,” in Contemporary Black Theatre and Performance: Acts of Rebellion, Activism, and Solidarity (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023). They have a masters in African Studies and won the 2024 German African Studies Association Young Scholar Award for their thesis. Their writing tends to deal with family histories, race, consequence, sexuality, and play.
Corey Weiser
Stage manager
Corey Weiser (he/any) is a Montreal-based Stage Manager. He attended John Abbott College in both the Professional Theatre Acting and Technical programs. In the Fall of 2025, he was one of two participants selected for the Stage Manager Intensive program at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Past credits include: as Apprentice Stage Manager – Grow, & Our Little Secret: A New Musical (Segal Centre for Performing Arts), Kohkom’s Babushka (Punctuate Theatre, Pyretic Productions, Banff Centre), Vierge (Black Theatre Workshop & Great Canadian Theatre Company), The Wolves (Geordie Theatre & Imago Theatre), Open House, Dominoes at the Crossroads, & Extra/Beautiful/U (Infinithéâtre).
Dr. Diane Roberts
Dr. Diane Roberts is an accomplished director, dramaturge, writer and cultural animator, who has collaborated with innovative theatre visionaries and interdisciplinary artists for the past 35 years. Her directorial and dramaturgical work has been seen on stages across Canada and her reputation as a mentor, teacher and community collaborator is nationally and internationally recognized. Diane’s celebrated Arrivals Personal Legacy Project, developed during her 7-year tenure as Artistic Director of Urban Ink productions, has birthed new Interdisciplinary works across Canada, throughout the Americas, in the UK, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. This work has allowed her to articulate, cultivate and realise a vision for theatre that encourages Indigenous ways of knowing as a steppingstone to creative expression. She is a founding member of Obsidian Theatre and backforward collective, Founder of The Arrivals Legacy Project and co-founder and Artistic Director of Boldskool Productions with playwright Omari Newton. Alongside her professional career, Diane completed her PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies, Fine Arts Humanities at Concordia University in Montreal having received a 2019 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholarship and a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship.
The Other Side of the Game
29/10/2026 & 31/10/2026 | Segal Centre Studio
By Amanda Parris
Directed by Ravyn R. Bekh
Workshop Reading
Amanda Parris is a member of the Playwrights’ Guild of Canada
Company
Letitia Brookes as Shevon & Beverely
Danny Blanco-Hall as Elder & Winston
Tiernan Cornford as Nicole & Akilah
Kareem T Alleyne as Devonte & Khalil
Grégory-Yves Fénélon as Social Worker, Cop & Flyn
Natina Selah | Stage directions reader
Corey Weiser | Stage manager
Winner of the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Award for English-language Drama, this striking debut by Amanda Parris follows the lives of two Black women whose approach to social activism, motherhood, and partnerships hinges on a “Ride-Or-Die” philosophy. The play weaves back and forth between the 1970s, where Beverly joins a Black social justice organization, and present day, where Nicole reconnects with her habitually incarcerated ex-boyfriend. This play turns a spotlight on the often-overlooked contributions of, and toll on Black women, who are often the backbone of households and community organizations alike.
The Exchange Pre-Show Conversation
Thursday October 29th, 2026, 5:30pm
In partnership with Concordia University’s Office of Community Engagement: University of the Streets Cafe On October 29th, don’t miss the pre-show University of the Streets Cafe held in the lower lobby of the Segal. In partnership with Concordia University’s Office of Community Engagement, we are hosting a conversation around themes of systemic oppression, the social justice, and the reliance on the labour of Black women in community.
The pre-show conversation starts at 5:30pm before the opening night’s reading, with guest speaker Shirlette Wint, a psychotherapist, clinical social worker, researcher, and cultural consultant, BTW Artistic Director Dian Marie Bridge, and Concordia University’s Kristen Young.
This pre-show conversation will be catered by Lloydie’s, a highly regarded Caribbean restaurant in the area.
(*cost in addition to reading)
The Salon Reading
Thursday October 29th, 2026, 7pm
Matinee play reading, followed by a Q&A with the director, actors, and BTW team
Saturday October 31st, 2026, 2:30pm
Play reading, followed by a Q&A with the director, actors, and BTW team
Saturday October 31st, 2026, 7pm
All events are Pay-What-You-Can online or at the door.
The Negroes are Congregating
All events are Pay-What-You-Can online or at the door.