It’s 1970s Winnipeg—a time of revolution and radical possibilities—and an apartment building of Indian immigrant friends is about to be transformed by their latest arrival. A young Bengali Muslim woman, Nuzha, has just married Qasim over the phone at his mother’s insistence, and can’t wait to start her new life with him. But Qasim struggles to let go of his true love, a Canadian nurse named Abby, making him an emotionally and physically distant husband. Broken-hearted but full of pluck, Nuzha finds comfort and adventures on her own terms by exploring everything her new community has to offer. From braving the bus schedule to building close relationships with Qasim’s friends, Nuzha’s discoveries are thrilling, enriching, and crack open new possibilities for everyone.

From the creator of the powerful solo show Crash, Pamela Mala Sinha’s New is an evocative, emotionally astute comedy about the complex nature of love and sacrifice, joyful togetherness and piercing loneliness, and what it means to create entirely new ways of life through our willingness to tread uncharted territory.

Pamela Mala Sinha is an award-winning Canadian actress and writer, working internationally in theatre, television, and film. Pamela is the recipient of Canada’s prestigious Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Lead Actress for her solo debut play, Crash. Published by Scirocco Drama, CRASH was also included in Bloomsbury UK’s Audition Speeches anthology and in Love, Loss, and Longing (Playwrights Canada Press). Her second play, Happy Place, premiered in Toronto at Soulpepper, followed by runs at Vancouver’s Touchstone Theatre and Winnipeg’s Prairie Theatre Exchange. CRASH debuted in the US at the Signature Theatre, NY, as part of Soulpepper’s tour in 2016. As one of few artists selected nationally to receive a prestigious Project Imagination commission from Soulpepper, Pamela began research for New, which she completed as playwright-in-residence at Necessary Angel Theatre. New had its world premiere (after two years of COVID delays) in November 2022 at Winnipeg’s Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, followed by a Toronto run at Canadian Stage. Pamela’s film adaptation of Happy Place was produced by Jennifer Kawaja (Sienna Films/Sphere Media) and directed by Helen Shaver. Pamela completed development with CBC and Sienna Films on her series Nirvana and production wrapped in 2022 on the film version of CRASH (produced by Necessary Angel and Riddle Films) starring Pamela. Pamela is partner to playwright and mathematician John Mighton and proud stepmother to Chloe.

Pamela Mala Sinha's profile page

• Short-listed, Governor General's Literary Awards

"Specific in its details but universal in its themes, New . . . is one of the best new Canadian plays to debut this season."

Glenn Sumi, So Sumi

"... a masterful portrait of loneliness, yearning, grief and marriage which blends snappy, Neil Simon-esque domestic dialogue with a dramatic sharpness rarely deployed in a play quite so funny."

Ben Waldman, The Winnipeg Free Press