We are very excited to share news about this coming season’s TNB Young Company tour. After our 2020 tour was cut short due to the arrival of COVID-19, the past two years saw the TNB Young Company working almost entirely online. This adaptation in programming saw Company members working through a variety of means including live streaming and in-classroom workshops. 

In 2023, the TNB Young Company will return to touring with two productions and a cast that includes past TNB mainstage performers and theatre school veterans. 

This season’s productions will feature work by Santiago Guzmán, an award-winning playwright, dramaturge, performer, and director originally from Metepec, Mexico, now based in St. John’s, NL. Guzmán first joined TNB as an actor in our 2022 production of Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley and we are very excited to welcome them back as a featured playwright in our 22/23 season.

Both plays will be performed by Guzmán, Jillian Hanson and Lucas Gutiérrez-Robert under the direction of TNB Young Company / TNB Theatre School director Sharisse LeBrun. 

About the Plays:

ALTAR by Santiago Guzmán (High School & Middle School)

Eugenio is a queer young immigrant living in St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador. Less than a year has passed since his move from Mexico, but in that time, he experienced deep love and deeper heartbreak when his new boyfriend, Benjamin, inexplicably “ghosted” him. No, Benjamin isn’t dead; he just stopped calling and texting. And the thing is…Eugenio’s still not over it. Looking to the traditional Mexican holiday Día de Muertos (The Day of The Dead) and his father’s previous experience with paranormal activities, Eugenio decides to build an altar (a central part of the Día de Muertos ritual) in the hopes that he will be able to summon his boyfriend’s ‘ghost’ to sort out the end of their relationship once and for all. Through the altar, Eugenio realizes that he has been something of a ghost himself to the loved ones he left behind in Mexico. Will setting up an altar be enough for Eugenio to forgive, forget, and love again? Or enough to help him heal the relationships with his friends and family far away?

Santiago Guzmán’s ALTAR focuses on themes of Cultural Diversity, Loss, Familial Relationships and 2SLGBTQQIA+ relationships.

S.T.O.P. by Santiago Guzmán (Elementary School)

Bruno is new to Canada and hasn’t made any friends on his first day of school and is playing all alone. His new classmates, Charlie and Alex, want to play with him but they realize that Bruno doesn’t speak any English. After failed attempts to communicate with signs and noises and a looming sense of defeat, the kids will have to find another way of communicating and playing with each other. Magical candy, anyone?
S.T.O.P. focuses on themes of Cultural Exchange, Language & Communication, Friendship and Immigration.

About the Playwright:

Santiago Guzmán (he/him/they) is an award-winning playwright, dramaturge, performer, and director originally from Metepec, Mexico, now based in St. John’s, NL. He is the Artistic Director of TODOS Productions & the Artistic Associate for Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre.

Santiago’s work as a writer aims to put local, under-represented narratives and characters on the frontlines, whilst inviting audiences to appreciate the vibrancy of Newfoundland and Labrador from a diverse perspective.

Their work has been supported, developed and/or produced by theatre companies and festivals such as TODOS Productions (NL), Resource Centre for the Arts Theatre Company (NL), Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland (NL), Rising Tide Theatre (NL), Neighbourhood Dance Works (NL), Eastern Front Theatre (NS), PARC (pan-Atlantic), Ship’s Company Theatre (NS), Theatre New Brunswick (NB), Boca Del Lupo (BC), Paprika Festival (ON), and the National Theatre School of Canada’s Art Apart Program (QC).

Most recently, Santiago’s play “Urn” received the Senior Dramatic Script Award of the Newfoundland and Labrador 2022 Arts and Letters Awards & was shortlisted for the NLCU Fresh Fish Award 2022.

Santiago’s work is very gay, very brown, and very real. Representation matters.

Complete information on booking performances as well as a study guide outlining the themes and topics related to ALTAR and S.T.O.P. will be released in late summer. 

Watch our social streams for actor profiles and features on these plays in the weeks to come.