by Jason Long
Directed by Andrea Donaldson
Grades 9 +
Joey is 17 and obsessed with basketball, his Irish background and his Chinese girlfriend Christine. When Christine hears a rumour that Joey might have been involved in a racist attack on a storeowner, their relationship is put to the test and both characters must confront their underlying attitudes and biases.
Over the month of April 2008, Theatre Direct’s production of Offensive Fouls reached over 4,000 young people and educators across the York Region and Toronto District School Boards. Here is what one student had to say:
The play was excellent … What I liked about this play was that it wasn’t preachy in the slightest. It took on the questioning approach, throwing questions that didn’t have a defined right or wrong answer to them at the audience … I want them to be able to go beyond these barriers, become stronger and show everyone that their love for one another can leap through those racial and family disapproval that greets them.”
- Student, Aurora High School, April 3, 2008
Offensive Fouls was originally commissioned and produced in Calgary, Alberta by All Nations International Theatre Society (Natasha Nadir, former Artistic Director) in 1999-2000.
The playwright wishes to acknowledge and thank Jared Matsunaga-Turnbull and Concrete Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta, for workshopping and producing the play in the summer/fall of 2006.
Creative Team
| Director | Andrea Donaldson |
| Sound Design | Duncan Morgan |
| Set & Costume Design | Jung-Hye Kim |
| Assistant Director | Elizabeth Helmers |
| Stage Manager | Gerry Egan |
| Cast | Ella Chan |
| Colin Doyle |