Local playwright tries something new

 

An all-new, original play is opening this week in a unique location in Windsor.

United We Fall was penned by local playwright Talish Zafar and produced by Angelica Haggert. Zafar also serves as the play’s director.

“The space that we’re in, the audience we’re attracting, the theatre we’ve been given, we’ve been presented with a unique challenge and we addressed it in a unique way,” said Zafar.

“It’s a story you’ve never seen before, this is locally written, it’s never been produced or directed before. This is the first it’s being shown to an audience so that’s something that’s really exciting,” said Haggert.

The duo as well as a cast and crew of 17 additional people has been working on the show since the end of January and will be performed at Walkerville Brewery. The play focuses on six university students who become trapped in a residence building after a shooting has taken place on their campus. It is revealed throughout the play that the six of them know the killer’s identity.

Actor Jarrod Broderick, who plays Mark, said the play was shelved but later brought back after other theatrical accomplishments.

“For Talish, it made him feel like his work was out there, it was local and a lot of people came,” said Broderick. “I think that plus the genuine desire to want to do more work made it all fit very well.”

Stage manager, Cherry Theresanathan, worked on every tech aspect within the play from lighting to video. He said that Walkerville added an extra challenge.

“All I knew was the layout of how things were going to be. Everything else was off the top of my head,” said Theresanathan.

United We Fall previewed March 6 and was open to the public March 7-9. Zafar’s next production will be The Watchers, a play based on angelic mythology expected to release later this year.