SAMCA
Written by Natalia Bushnik and Kathleen Welch
With music by Welch
Directed by Brendan Kinnon
SAMCA is a dark, immersive folktale play with original music. Set in the late 1800's in Hoia Baicu Forest, the most haunted forest in the world, we meet two sisters, Mihaela and Prava; and the Zâne, fertility forest spirits that guide us through pockets of memories found in the forest. It is said that the Romanian mythological figure, 'Samca', attacked pregnant women and their unborn babies. SAMCA is an interdisciplinary experience that includes conversations and themes of fertility, abortion, and fear of the 'feminine' body.
T.W. Sexual assault, harsh language, sexual content.
SAMCA won First Place at the 2022 Hamilton Fringe New Play Contest, and was a top ten finalist of the 2021 Wildfire Playwriting Competition. It has recieved funding by the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council as recommended by Why Not Theatre and Nightswimming. SAMCA was presented as a sold-out, site-specific roaming experience at the 2023 In the Soil Festival in Saint Catherines, touring audiences through a nighttime, spine-tingling event in Burgoyne Woods. A 'prologue' short film was created and presented at the 2022 Springworks 'tapashta' Digital Festival, which we encourage viewing on youtube prior to seeing the theatrical play.
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Current and past contributors of SAMCA include:
Natalia Bushnik, Kathleen Welch, Brendan Kinnon, Madeline Kennedy, Andra Zlatar, Jenna Geen, Camila Farrah, Sydney Nicholson, Jonathan Brown, Xanath Fuentes, Fae Alexander, Charlin McIsaac.