Set in present-day Scarborough, Singkil tells the story of the Perez family, from the separate lives Mimi's parents led in their native Manila to the lives they adjusted to together once they moved to Canada. Bridging the Perez's past and present is the Singkil, the dance of a Muslim Filipina princess who cleverly escapes the debris left after a violent earthquake. Caught in the relentless grip of the past and forced into the unfamiliar terrain of forgiveness, Mimi must find her own way out of the tangled mess her life has become and gracefully step into a new one, making her way back to the land of the living by facing the mysteries held by the dead. Catherine Hernandez's play illuminates the page with gentle grace, bringing the Perez family to life through the rich steps of the Singkil.

Catherine Hernandez (she/her) is an award-winning author and screenwriter. She is a proud queer woman who is of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and Indian descent and married into the Navajo Nation. Her first novel, Scarborough, won the Jim Wong-Chu Award for the unpublished manuscript; was a finalist for the Toronto Book Awards, the Evergreen Forest of Reading Award, the Edmund White Award, and the Trillium Book Award; and was longlisted for Canada Reads. She has written the critically acclaimed plays Singkil, The Femme Playlist and Eating with Lola and the children’s books M Is For Mustache: A Pride ABC Book and I Promise. She recently wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Scarborough, which is currently in post-production by Compy Films with support from Telefilm Canada and Reel Asian Film Festival. She is the creator of Audible Original’s audio sketch comedy series Imminent Disaster. Her second novel, Crosshairs, published simultaneously in Canada and the US and the UK this spring, made the CBC's Best Canadian Fiction, NOW Magazine's 10 Best Books, Indigo Best Book, Audible Best Audiobooks and NBC 20 Best LGBTQ Books list of 2020. Her third children's book, Where Do Your Feelings Live? which is a guide for kids living through these scary times, has been commissioned by HarperCollins Canada and will be published in winter 2022. 

Catherine Hernandez's profile page

• Short-listed, Dora Mavor Moore Award- Outstanding New Play