David has written a play for himself and a gathering of friends and strangers to read together out loud. It tells the story of the rise and fall of an imaginary civilization in an imaginary land. Some of it is fact, some fiction. But at any point you may be part of a Greek chorus, playing a main character, or collectively confronting your fears about a world on the verge of collapse. Are you ready to take a leap of faith? It’s okay if you feel nervous. David is nervous too. With so much to be fearful of these days, it’s best to brave this thing together.

An ingenious exercise in interactive storytelling, This Is the Story of the Child Ruled by Fear is a poetic and participatory fable about how to live with the slowly unfolding emergencies of our time. Playwright David Gagnon Walker guides us through an enchanting performance ritual that provides a communal, cathartic release for those prone to anxiety, fear, and depression. It’s an invitation to share the joys of creating a story together so that maybe we can all feel less alone.

David Gagnon Walker is a writer, performer, and translator born in Edmonton and based in Toronto. His work has been performed and developed in cities across Canada, and through residencies in Sweden, Finland, France, Australia, and the USA. His awards include the Playwrights Guild of Canada RBC Emerging Playwright Award for The Big Ship, first prize in the Wildfire National Playwriting Competition for Pink Moon, and the Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal Cole Foundation Mentorship for Emerging Translators. Other plays include Premium Content (Major Matt Mason Collective/High Performance Rodeo), The Last Children (Curtain Razors), and the English translation of Gabrielle Chapdelaine's The Retreat (Imago Theatre). David is Artistic Producer of Strange Victory Performance, a collaboration with composer and video designer Tori Morrison, through which he has been touring experimental and interactive performance projects since 2020. He holds an M.A. in Performance Studies from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the playwriting program at the National Theatre School of Canada.

David Gagnon Walker's profile page

Marcus Youssef
Writer and performer Marcus Youssef is a regular contributor of drama, commentary and documentary to numerous programs on the CBC network. He also writes regularly for publications such as Vancouver Magazine, Georgia Straight, Rice Paper, and This Magazine. For many years, Youssef has also dedicated himself to numerous community-based advocacy programs that aim at using writing and/or theatre as a tool for procuring political and social change.
Guillermo Verdecchia
Guillermo Verdecchia is a writer of drama, fiction, and film; a director, dramaturge, actor, and translator whose work has been seen and heard on stages, screens, and radios across the country and around the globe. He is a recipient of the Governor General’s Award for Drama, a four-time winner of the Chalmers Canadian Play Award, a recipient of Dora and Jessie Awards, and sundry film festival awards for his film Crucero/Crossroads.
Camyar Chai
Camyar Chai has worked in theatre and film for more than 20 years. He is the founder of Vancouver’s acclaimed NeWorld Theatre. He has worked as a freelance actor, director, and writer as well as engaging in Arts Education. In addition to writing plays, Camyar has also written librettos for opera. An award-winning theatre maker, he received his Master of Fine Arts in Directing from the University of British Columbia.

Marcus Youssef's profile page

“We all have fears and sometimes we can be brave and sometimes we can’t. The play evades a simple answer. Nevertheless, the true outcome is that in the end, we have all partaken in a collective journey to create something that we don’t know how it goes, and we journey together with generosity for the risk of participating. The result is a kind of vulnerable rough beauty."

Dr. Jenn Stephenson, PLAY: The Blog

“Such a brilliant idea. The piece is intimate and deeply personal. It’s also driven by big, deep questions about human purpose and the much larger, mythic forces at work in all of our lives.”

Marcus Youssef

“I can’t think of another work of art, let alone theatre, that makes it so easy to collectively consider the terrifying aspects of our changing world and warming planet without shame and panic as an underscore, and where instead of being a chore or embarrassment, audience participation truly makes you feel less alone.”

Zoe Glassman

“I left the theatre, and a discussable and pleasurable evening, with a renewed appreciation that theatre, the art form of real people together in the same room sharing an experience, is on the right track.”

Liz Nicholls, 12thNight.ca