Braiding Peonies, a new play by Sobia Shaheen Shaikh, premieres with TODOS Productions this November.
This intimate and timely work follows a Muslim family in St. John’s as they navigate the aftermath of an Islamophobic attack, exploring the many ways justice, healing, and community care can take shape.
Many collaborators are bringing this story to life including: Brenda Duran, the set designer and props manager crafting the physical world of the play; Santiago Guzmán, the artistic director guiding this productions vision, and Nikhilesh Paliath, who takes on the role of Tahir.
For Set and Props Designer Brenda Duran, the visual language of Braiding Peonies began with finding a middle ground between grounded realism and something more poetic: “This one, like many other shows, are the in-between of, like, realism and a conceptual, abstract world,” she explained. “How do we find the right balance… so that it’s not too gimmicky?”
A September workshop allowed the team to experiment physically in the space. “It’s so rare that the team of designers get to play with just stand-in actors and… move them to see what happens if we went with this kind of vibe,” she said. The earliest spark came from a single word: fabric. “His first word was fabrics,” Duran recalled of Guzmán.
After discovering the director and playwright had already explored fabric in an early workshop, she realized, “Oh, so we’re on the same track.” She hopes audiences leave with a renewed appreciation for original local work: “There are so many amazing writers out there… and this company takes chances on emerging artists.”
Director and TODOS Artistic Director Santiago Guzmán has been part of Braiding Peonies since its very first spark. “I have been living with this play with Sobia since it was just an idea,” he said. His role throughout development was to help Shaikh shape the piece and then translate it onto the stage.
“My job is trying to bring the story to life based on what the playwright has in their head and then translate that in a three-dimensional form.” He kept returning to the image of peony petals. “For some reason… I always saw fabric… looking at a peony… how those petals also fall.”
Representation was also central to his approach. “The reason why we didn’t have diverse stories locally in theatre was because there were not enough diverse writers,” he said. TODOS was built to change that. “It was founded with the premise of creating space for voices and stories that historically have never been seen or… silenced.” Part of that work includes nurturing new performers: “My job has become to nurture new talent… to give opportunities to people to be on stage for the very first time.”
Actor Nikhilesh Paliath, who plays Tahir, was immediately struck by the emotional weight of the script. “There’s so many layers… I did not imagine such depth in how a family goes through the after-effects of a hate crime,” he said.
While he was initially drawn to “the mother-daughter dynamics,” the process deepened his connection to the themes of trauma and recovery: “Now I connect more with the trauma that Sameen is going through… how the family is healing.”
To embody Tahir, he focuses on the character’s gentle, loving nature: “It is those words of affection that connect me.” He hopes audiences leave with an understanding of “how small actions matter” and how deeply justice can be felt and interpreted by those harmed.
Braiding Peonies premieres November 27–29 at 7:30 p.m., with matinee performances on November 29–30 at 2:00 p.m., at The Lantern Community Centre in St. John’s. Audiences are invited to experience this new story and support its first-ever staging.