The Program
Cast and Crew:
Caspian Keys
Playwright, director, producer
This is Caspian’s first play at the Toronto Fringe! And his first foray into directing! He’s very much looking forward to writing many more plays and collaborating with more amazing artists.
Nicky Nasrallah
Sister Lewis
Nicky is very busy and booked in Toronto as drag queen Selena Vyle, and has had many shows in the Toronto Fringe, including Broken Hearted Girl, and The Play We Just Wrote Just Now last summer! You can find Selena shows everywhere, but reliably every Sunday at Piano Piano for Drag Brunch. Find Nicky and Selena on insta for more info!
Claire Rice
Sister Jackson, producer
Claire is so excited to be back at the Toronto Fringe! Her original show Get a Clue was in the 2024 Toronto Fringe, and won the Patron’s Pick award in the Teen category!
Since Claire has been creating and collaborating on shows with kids for the past 7 years, she hasn’t performed in that long and frankly, she’s been climbing the walls, desperate for applause. So here she is!
You may know Claire from one of her many performances in Vancouver where she mostly played an evil queen of some kind. You’ll probably see her playing an evil queen again one day, and enjoy one of the many projects she’s planning for the future.
Andra Roston
Stage Manager, Lighting Design
Andra is honoured to be part of such an incredible team. She has done almost every job in theatre, and is excited to add Lighting Designer fo the roster! Previous credits include: Stage Manager - Footloose & Princess Ida, Directing - I Hate Hamlet & A Few Good Men, Acting - RENT & A Midsummer Night’s Deam. Thanks to everyone for coming, and extra big hugs to Zacky.
Mia Rice/Meadow Nakou: Assistant Stage Manager
Michael Nakou: Set construction
Mara Buda and Christina Roussel: Prop design and creation
DIRECTOR’S NOTE:
Who is Spiritual Bob? That’s a good question, and if you served a mission, or were taught by missionaries in the 80s or 90s, you might already know. If you didn’t, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not telling.
As a consolation prize, I’m willing to share some exclusive gossip about which parts of the show are real (including some bonus cut content)! That’s just as good, right?
I served in the Arizona Tempe Mission from 2003 to 2004 as a sister missionary, and had eight companions. Names have been changed, but everyone mentioned in the play is based on a real person.
Sister Jackson, played by my beautiful and talented girlfriend, Claire, is largely based on my trainer and companion when I got to AZ. The Elders did prank each other, and us on occasion (the blocks story is real). The meanest they ever were to us was when they put a card on our windshield that said, “Hey [Morons was written, then crossed out], you’ve been here for 24 weeks now, it’s time for you to get out, before I slash your tires. Heh hehheh.” I did have multiple companions that flirted with the Elders, who were actually very helpful with repairing our flats. I got a bad grease stain on my khaki skirt that a member was finally able to get out for me.
Here’s some more real tea that didn’t make it into the show: Two Elders got sent home because they decided to visit a strip club one night (then confessed out of guilt). Another two Elders crashed their car into a tree because they got out of it on a hill to watch some wild turkeys, and didn’t use the parking brake. One of the sisters was sent home early because she fell in love with a guy she was teaching, then came back three months later and married him. ¡escandalo! And no spoilers, but a certain homophobic sister got punched hard when she tried to wrestle with her companion (a detail I only learned recently).
Even though I’m a trans man and was never really a girl, I hadn’t fully realized it yet. The casting choice to have Nicky - a cis man and a drag queen - play Sister Lewis, the character based on me, was very deliberate. I had both him and Claire in mind as I was writing the show. It was important to me that you see a man in a frumpy skirt, because that’s how I felt the whole time I was on my mission. I also did not want to subject a trans man to possible gender dysphoria by playing the female version of me.
Preparation for this play involved reading hundreds of letters and notes I received on my mission from friends and former companions, as well as my own journal entries. The in-jokes, the dancing to ringtones, the shrine, and most importantly, the friendship, was all real. As much as this is the story of my church journey, it’s also a love letter to my companions, who have made a lasting impact on me, for better or for worse, long after our friendships died.