Play Description
I Carry with Me, written by Heather Cherron von Atzigen, is a play that looks at the differences and commonalities in what we carry as human beings from different racial and cultural backgrounds. What we carry can hurt, show similarities, educate, be shared, and enlighten. This play is designed to catalyze audiences to want to stand up, make changes in these stories, and discover actions they can take to foster inclusive and supportive spaces for people of all cultural backgrounds.
The scenes that make up the presentation look at the following themes: combatting harassment based on Islamophobia in a public space, navigating situations of Anti-Asian sentiment in the workplace, and understanding what active, supportive allyship looks like when a loved one experiences Anti-Black racism.
I Carry with Me is a Forum Theatre play, meaning the first act of the play shows a “worst-case scenario” drawn from consultations with community members. After the play has run through once, audiences are then invited by a facilitator to intervene in the action. Audience members can replace characters, suggest changes and try out their own strategies to result in a positive alternative ending.
This interactive process, called “rehearsing for reality”, is a safe place for participants to learn, build skills and then take those skills out into the wider community. It increases the community’s capacity to tackle racism and discrimination at a grassroots level, leaving participants feeling empowered and prepared to create change.
Content Note: This presentation depicts situations of racial tension and harassment.
Upcoming Performances
We will be performing “I Carry with Me” in the following spaces in Toronto in March , 2026. Please check each date for the registration/ticketing information for that specific venue. For all performances, the doors will open 30 minutes prior to the performance start time listed below.
Tuesday March 3, 2026
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm (ET)
Address: 310 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, ON
Space: Hurndale Room
Presenting Partner: East End United Regional Ministry
Price: “Pay What You Can” donations welcome
Registration: Click the button below to reserve your spot in advance. Non-registered attendees will be seated on a first come first served basis.
Wednesday March 4, 2026
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm (ET)
Address: 240 The East Mall, Etobicoke, ON
Space: The Experience Centre
Presenting Partner: Arts Etobicoke
Price: “Pay What You Can” donations welcome
Registration: Click the button below to reserve your spot in advance. Non-registered attendees will be seated on a first come first served basis.
Thursday March 5, 2026
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm (ET)
Address: Performing Arts Lodges, 110 The Esplanade, Toronto, ON
Space: The Green Room
Presenting Partner: Act 3 Theatre
Price: “Pay What You Can” donations welcome at the door
Registration: Seats are available on a first come first served basis for this performance.
Saturday March 7, 2026
Time: 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm (ET)
Address: 2029 Gerrard St E, Toronto, ON
Space: Fellowship Hall
Presenting Partner: Grant African Methodist Episcopal Church
Price: “Pay What You Can” donations welcome
Registration: Click the button below or contact the Church directly to reserve your spot in advance. Non-registered attendees will be seated on a first come first served basis.
grantamechurch@yahoo.ca; 416-690-5169
OR
Contact Information
Email: info@mixedcompanytheatre.com
Phone: 416-805-9272
What Audiences Are Saying About “I Carry with Me”
“Freedom Off Our Backs”
“Freedom Off Our Backs” is an original song written and performed by playwright Heather Cherron von Atzigen to complement I Carry with Me.
Song Credits:
Heather Cherron von Atzigen – Songwriter/Performer
Jocey von Atzigen – Performer
Alan Cohen – Producer
Artists
Susan A. Lock
Susan A. Lock doesn’t act much these days but has appeared here and there over the years either onstage or onscreen. She’s performed in the Grand River Arts Festival, Rhubarb Festival, Springworks Festival, Next Stage Festival, Summerworks Festival (won for best ensemble in Eating Pomegranates Naked), Paper Festival, Toronto Fringe Festival and other independent theatre companies such as fu-GEN, New Harlem Productions and Convergence Theatre.
She started her acting career in Prague, Czechia at Studio Ypsilon, acting in Czech and has completed her Czech Masters in Acting with the Theatre Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU), specializing in alternative and puppet theatre. Onscreen you might have seen her on Shelved as Tanya (CTV/Bell Media), State of Syn (Shaftesbury) and Mayday (Discovery/Bell Media). She has also directed for Women At Play(s) Festivals 4-7, Ergo Arts Theatre, Storefront Theatre and Divadlo Ano/Yes Theatre. She assisted directed for Drayton Entertainment under Sheila McCarthy in Steele Magnolias.
Hiyam Mahrat
Hiyam Mahrat is a Syrian Canadian artist, born and raised in the UAE. She came to Canada in 2018 and studied Performing Arts at Sheridan College. Besides her passion and work as the General Manager at The Multicultural Theatre Space (MT Space) in Waterloo, she is a growing actor, director
and singer.
She is interested in contemporary Canadian theatre, experimental short film, and performing arts that challenge traditional definitions of arts. Her practice focuses on issues of belonging, identity diffusion, and cultural erosion. Hiyam is the recipient of The 2023 Waterloo Region Emerging Artist Award and The 2025 Canadian Arab Institute’s “30 under 30” Award.
Roger McKeen
Roger has been a resident of Mimico since birth. He and Mr. Malbogat first worked together almost 40 years ago and Roger is very happy to be part, once again, of the important work Mixed Company does.
Let the dice fly high!
Alicia Plummer
Alicia Plummer is an actor/writer from Scarborough, Ontario. She is a graduate from the University of Windsor’s BFA Acting program, and a Dora nominated and Broadway World Toronto nominated actor. Her credits include: Harriet in To A Flame (Workshop) with 1s1 Theatre, Mary and Her Jar of Jam in Women At Play(s) 6 Festival, Sweet Pea in Sweeter with Cahoots Theatre, and Alice in Alice in Wonderland with Guild Festival Theatre. She produced a workshop of her play It Just Bugs Me through Guild Festival Theatre’s YES Program summer 2025, and her play Oh Me, Oh Maya was in Women At Play(s) 7 Festival spring of 2025. Alicia’s horror themed Caribbean play, Shut The Front Door, aired on PROGRAMSOUND.FM radio June 2023. She also took part in Obsidian Theater’s Playwrights Unit 2021/2022
Pavla Uppal
Pavla Uppal, M.A. has spent over 20 years expanding the use of theatre-based methods in training, social change, and community building. As the founder of Your Story Matters, she created an alternative approach to staff development, tailored for diverse and multi-layered workplaces, organizations, and community-building initiatives. Her expertise lies in Forum Theatre—a powerful tool for community dialogue that promotes change by engaging participants in discussion and rehearsal of real-life challenges. Your Story Matters
She is now delighted to join Mixed Company in the I Carry with Me production, in which we bring to our audiences stories that must be changed. Thank you for being a changemaker!
Heather Cherron von Atzigen: Playwright, Director and Facilitator
Heather Cherron Von Atzigen is an accomplished artist with a diverse background in theatre. Approximately 27 years ago, Heather was introduced to Theatre of the Oppressed by Mixed Company Theatre, where she has been an associate artist now for many years, developing her acting, joking, and writing skills. She was part of the cast of “DISS”, which was nominated as an ensemble for a Dora Mavor Moore Award. This season, she wrote, created a song, directed and co-facilitated “PUSH” a virtual Forum Theatre piece about the culture of sexual assault on post-secondary campuses. She also performed as Marissa in MCT’s tour of “Two-Sided Mirror” in the Fall of 2022.
Lauren Allen: Stage Manager
More Information coming soon.
Angela Thomas: Designer
Angela’s career spans 25 years, designing and building costumes for independent theatre, opera, spectacle, dance, community and educational projects. In this time she worked primarily with directors Ida Carnevalli, Jim Millan, Ed Roy, Simon Malbogat, Robert Winslow, Valerie Buhaghiar, Keira Loghran, Jacquie Thomas/ Michael Spence and Soheil Parsa.
With Patria music projects she collaborated on several environmental opera projects with designers Jerrard and Diana Smith and Murray Schafer. She was nominated 10 times for Dora Mavor Moore Awards for costumes and won for ‘Blood Wedding’ with Modern Times Stage in 2015.
Angela has worked in various roles over the past 10 years as assistant designer and BG Coordinator in television, on Coroner, The Next Step, The Strain and numerous shows.
Script Development Process
To develop Forum Theatre scripts, MCT engages communities in workshop sessions to understand the current and pressing social issues facing those groups. In these sessions, MCT artists lead the community through various games and exercises to understand the group’s experiences and perspective on the topics. From these workshop sessions, the MCT artists draw out a “universal story” of the oppressions facing all the groups, to use as the foundation of the script. A “universal story” encapsulates aspects of each person’s stories, rather than any one individual’s experience.
Project History
We began this project in 2023 by engaging in conversations and online workshops with multiple groups to understand their lived experiences of race and privilege. From the ideas shared in all the sessions, MCT’s playwright, Heather Cherron von Atzigen, wrote the script for “I Carry with Me”.
The workshop facilitators were Heather Cherron von Atzigen, Julia Hune-Brown, Pavla Uppal, and Kelsey Rideout.
Funded By:
Once the script was completed, we did virtual performances for public audiences in June 2023.
Creative Team: Heather Cherron von Atzigen (Playwright/Facilitator), Simon Malbogat (Director/Facilitator), Julia Hune-Brown (Choreographer), Sean Rees (Virtual Background Designer), Maranda Tippins (Tech/Stage Manager)
Actors: Luciano Iogna (“Al”), Alicia Plummer (“Bystander” / “Shepbourne” / “Masego”), Kelsey Rideout(“Faiza” / “Joannie”), Jobina Sitoh (“Officer 2” / “Mailynn”)
Funded By:
Tour Partners
2026 Tour Funded By
