Are We Cooked? A Casual Conversation on the General State of Affairs

In a time of overlapping crises, when the phrases like ‘unprecedented’ and ‘now more than ever’ pepper the popular lexicon to the point of incoherence, we are called to ask: is there a reason to have hope? Should we do our best with what we have or burn it all down and start over? Are we capable of change? If we stay the course, what future are we heading to?  

These questions, contended with in the production Witch, will be examined by trusted thinkers Amil Niazi, Niko Stratis, Tantoo Cardinal and moderator Elamin Abdelmahmoud on Saturday February 21 at Soulpepper Theatre, prior to the evening performance. 

Witch is on stage at Soulpepper in the Micheal Young Theatre until March 1.  

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Elamin Abdelmahmoud is the host of CBC's daily arts, entertainment, and pop culture show Commotion. He is an award-winning culture writer who has written for the New York Times, BuzzFeed News, the Globe and Mail, and others. Elamin is the author of the No. 1 best-selling memoir Son of Elsewhere, a New York Times notable book and a Globe and Mail 100 book.

Amil Niazi was born in London, U.K. to Pakistani parents before the family moved to Canada. She studied journalism in Vancouver, founded her own print magazine, and then moved to Toronto, where she worked at CBC and Vice. She moved back to the UK to work for the BBC and The Guardian, and then, when the pandemic hit, returned to Toronto to go freelance. She’s published essays in the New York Times, The Cut, The Guardian, Romper, the Washington Post, Hazlitt, Elle, Vice and Refinery29.

Niko Stratis is an award-winning writer and the author of the book The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman. Along with Tuck Woodstock, Niko co-runs Girl Dad Press, an independent trans-led literary imprint that released the Lambda Award winning anthology 2 Trans 2 Furious, and the upcoming Sex Change and The City. She lives in Toronto with her fiance Alysha, their dog and two cats. She is a cancer and former smoker.

Tantoo Cardinal: Over 130 projects over a 50-year career. Awards include: Earle Grey Award, the Order of Canada, CBC Hall of Fame, Governor General's Lifetime Achievement Award, a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, Honorary Doctorates from 5 Universities. Select Credits Film: Killers of the Flower Moon, Legends of the Fall, Dances with Wolves, Black Robe, Falls Around Her, Wind River, The Grizzlies, Where The Rivers Flow North, Maina, Chasing Shakespeare, Eden. TV: Stumptown, 3 Pines, Marvel's Echo, Avatar: Last of the Air Benders, SEE, Westworld, Longmire, Mohawk Girls, Frontier, Blackstone, Lonesome Dove, Nobody’s Girls, Godless, Penny Dreadful. Theatre: "Gertrude - Hamlet, Regan -King Lear, Pelajia - The Rez Sisters, The Inheritance.

Questions about the talk can be directed to Jacqui Arntfield, Public Programming Lead at jacqui.arntfield@soulpepper.ca