A promotional poster for "tak wa hi mi na na" featuring a person in a denim jacket and multiple arms outstretched behind them on a colorful background. Text details include the collaboration between Punctuate Theatre and Soulpepper, and information about the writer, director, choreographer, and starring actor. The theme is "From India to Alberta - A Cultural and Culinary Collision."

TAKWAHIMINANA

Playwright Matthew MacKenzie
Director Mike Payette
Choreographer Anoshinie Muhundarajah
Starring Michaela Washburn

World Premiere

Soulpepper Theatre - Toronto, ON - May 1-11, 2025

Tak.wa.hi.mi.na.na is a darkly funny, deeply moving new play by award-winning playwright Matthew MacKenzie (First Métis Man of Odesa, Bears). 

Sharon—a Métis woman born in India, who moved back to her ancestral home in Alberta as a teenager, has always been caught between cultures. 

Now an adult, at a lavish foodie dinner party hosted by her longtime paramour, she’s marking the unofficial 20th anniversary of their extramarital affair.  But as this complicated love simmers, her Indigenous knowledge is appropriated and fetishized.  

Blending biting satire with stunning Bharatanatyam choreography, this world premiere is a theatrical feast you won’t soon forget.

Group of people posing in dance positions against a dark background with a red stripe.
People celebrating Holi festival with colorful powders, smoke, and water buckets.

“Like her mother, Sharon was a serial monogamist. Sharon’s monogamastic quirk, was that she was devoted to a man who was married to somebody else.”

Creative Team

Playwright Matthew MacKenzie
Director Mike Payette
Choreographer Anoshinie Muhundarajah

Set Design Dawn Marie Marchand
Costume Design Jolane Houle & Bharathy Vivekanantham
Video Design Amelia Scott
Lighting Design André du Toit*
Sound Design Aaron Macri
Composition Noor Dean Musani
Set Design Consultant Daniela Masellis
Stage Manager Lore Green*
Consulting Elder Jo-Ann Saddleback

Creative Producer Andy Cohen
Producer: Sheiny Satanove
Production Manager / Technical Director Trent Crosby
Assistant Production Manager: Erik Richards
Marketing & Communications: Alyson Dicey
Production Support: Kathy Le

STARRING

Michaela Washburn*

FEATURING

Prithvi Castelino
Vanessa Mangar Dance Captain
Kajaanan Navaratnam
Swetha Pararajasingam
Naveeni Rasiah

*The participation of these Artists is arranged by permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the provisions of the Dance Opera Theatre Policy (DOT).