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

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.

Alicia Payne is a multidisciplinary storyteller whose credits include theatre, film, television, and radio. Alicia is a member of ACTRA, CAEA, Dramatists Guild of America and Playwrights Guild of Canada (former president). Alicia facilitates workshops with youth and adults in community and organizational settings. Alicia attended the 2022 Gros Morne Playwrights’ Residency. Presentations of Alicia’s work include: Toronto for Everyone; Canadian Forces Artist Program Exhibition (Group 6); Toronto Fringe; Atlanta Black Theatre Festival, Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. Readers' Theatre of New Work at the National Black Theatre Festival (North Carolina); and Valdez Theatre Conference Play Lab (Alaska). Alicia participated in the BIPOC TV & Film Kids' TV Writing Incubator and narrated the audiobook Flower Diary by Molly Peacock. Alicia is a cofounder of Arbez Drama Projects and believes in the power of storytelling to build community.