From first drafts to festival stages, AMPD students are making their mark in theatre. Many productions that begin in the classrooms and theatres of York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD) don’t end there—they go on to captivate audiences across Canada and beyond.
The Department of Theatre, Dance & Performance has a history of nurturing student-led productions that go on to thrive at national and international Fringe Festivals.
A recent success story is Meat Market, a play co-written by Alex Boese (BFA Theatre ‘22) and Shaun Soutar (BFA Production ‘22) and directed by David Civcic (BFA Theatre ‘22). Originally staged as part of playGround 2024, AMPD’s annual student-run theatre festival, this bold and humorous exploration of online dating and identity will take the stage at Hamilton Fringe this year.
Meat Market is just one of many productions that began at AMPD and went on to thrive beyond the university stage. Other incredible success stories from AMPD Theatre alumni, and current students, include:
The Evolutionary and Inescapable Rotting of Girlhood by Payton Oswald (current student), originally presented at playGround 2024, before travelling internationally to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2024.
Raccacloon by Bethany Robert and Jesse Lewis (both current students), presented at playground 2025, is set to take the stage at Hamilton Fringe this year.
Satsuki Sakurai and the Blade of Broken Bonds by Mari Wilson-Higuchi (Current student) & Nick Moss (Current student), another performance at playground 2025, is preparing for its next run at North Bay Fringe.
Mercedes Isaza Clunie (BFA Theatre ’23) is an alumna whose work continued to grow beyond AMPD. Her award-winning play Gringas—which appeared at Toronto Fringe, Hamilton Fringe, and the RUTAS International Festival of Performance—was shaped by earlier works developed at playGround.
“I wrote two short plays during my time at AMPD, Prude (2022) and Splinters (2023), both exploring female friendship, queerness, self-exploration, and identity,” she says. “Themes that are very present in Gringas, the play that launched my career.”
Mercedes now runs her own theatre company, First Born Theatre, with fellow AMPD alum Zoe Marin (BFA Theatre ’22), a collaborator she met through York’s Devised Theatre stream.
These achievements are a testament to the training, mentorship and hands-on experiences offered through AMPD’s Theatre program.
“The Theatre program fosters creativity, with a specific focus on playwriting and playmaking,” says Eric Armstrong, Chair of the Department of Theatre, Dance & Performance
“Our Devised Theatre series of courses serves as a hub where students from any discipline within the department can come together to create new work, rather than interpreting existing plays or screenplays.”
An example of this is the playGround Festival, an annual student-led initiative that allows participants to take bold artistic risks in a supportive and collaborative environment. “Because playGround isn’t for a course, it’s a safe place to take risks in a public space. Participants feel free to swing for the fences, to really go for it,” says Armstrong.
playGround Festival 2025. Photos by Brianna Wheeler.
Whether performing at renowned festivals or founding their own theatre companies, AMPD’s training prepares graduates to take their work beyond the university stage, reaching audiences across the country and around the world.
Cover photo by Brianna Wheeler.