The Plum Tree by Gail Read
ARBEZ DRAMA PROJECTS is a Not For Profit theatre company. We got our start in 2005 when the Holocaust drama Sara’s Cave by Donald Molnar was accepted into the City of Brampton’s 2nd Annual NewWorks Playwrights Festival. All Don had to do was produce it. Produce it! He’d never done that before. Rather than pass up a great opportunity, Don and Alicia decided to form a company and make it happen. Though Alicia had never produced a play either, she agreed to take on the role of producer. Add the wise council of their friend John Sader and Arbez Drama came into being.
As a playwright-driven theatre company, our mandate is simple. We produce plays we feel passionate about.
Donald Molnar – Playwright/Producer
Photo by Diane-Marie Bridge
Donald Molnar is a bilingual playwright living in Toronto. He studied Political Science at the University of Victoria, and then did a Master’s Degree at McGill University in Montreal. Sara’s Cave, a Holocaust drama, won several playwriting competitions, and had a workshop production mounted at the Heritage Theatre in the Brampton 2nd Annual NewWorks Playwrights Festival in 2005. Inspired by his experience fighting forest fires in Northern Quebec, Molnar has written a Québecois working class comedy written in French, À la pêche avec Denis. In 2008, Molnar’s one act play Jack and Jill was mounted in the Short & Sweet One Act Play Festival at the Newtown Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Jack and Jill was also part of a larger production entitled Sliding in All Directions, which won a Masque for “production de l’année Langue anglaise.” Molnar was also the playwright in residence at the Centaur Theatre in Montreal.
Alicia Payne - Playwright/Producer.
Photo by Richard Yagutilov
Alicia Payne is a professional actor and published writer whose credits encompass theatre, film, television and radio. Her professional memberships include ACTRA, CAEA, Dramatists Guild of America and Playwrights Guild of Canada where she served as President (www.aliciapayne.ca). She is an adaptive change facilitator for the Metcalf Foundation Staging Change Program in association with EmcArts. Alicia is also an artist educator who works in school, community and corporate settings. She participated in the 2020 BIPOC TV & Film Writing for Kid’s TV Bootcamp. Alicia is a co-founder of Arbez Drama Projects.