Janet Kish

Janet moved on from an esteemed teaching career in Toronto to focus on her writing and to further her work as an indie director, adjudicator and acting coach. She is the former Curriculum Leader of the Arts and Head of Drama for the Claude Watson Arts Program, a renowned performing arts school in Toronto. Janet is an accomplished playwright with over thirty scripts that have been produced. The Offering, one of her plays for young people is a Festival favourite and is included in the Sears anthology Concrete Daisy and Other Plays. Janet also co-authored the drama textbook Rattling the Stage published by McGraw-Hill Ryerson and soon to be on-line with Apple iBooks. Currently, she is running workshops for Theatre Ontario as member of their Talent Bank and is an adjudicator for the ACT-CO...

Janet moved on from an esteemed teaching career in Toronto to focus on her writing and to further her work as an indie director, adjudicator and acting coach. She is the former Curriculum Leader of the Arts and Head of Drama for the Claude Watson Arts Program, a renowned performing arts school in Toronto. Janet is an accomplished playwright with over thirty scripts that have been produced. The Offering, one of her plays for young people is a Festival favourite and is included in the Sears anthology Concrete Daisy and Other Plays. Janet also co-authored the drama textbook Rattling the Stage published by McGraw-Hill Ryerson and soon to be on-line with Apple iBooks. Currently, she is running workshops for Theatre Ontario as member of their Talent Bank and is an adjudicator for the ACT-CO and NTS Festivals. Other projects include directing for the New Ideas Festival, participating in the Directors’ Lab in Chicago and Toronto, performing in the ZED.TO trilogy produced by the Mission Business at the Toronto Fringe, Nuit Blanche and Toronto Brickworks. Her clown script THE KISS was selected as a finalist by the Newmarket National Play Festival in 2018. For more information about Janet please visit her website at www.janetkish.ca

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Scripts

1969

1969 by Janet Kish

Cast Size
7—15
Genre
adventure,
drama,
period,
political

It's 1969 and two Canadian girls are hitchhiking to Montreal to join John Lennon and Oko Ono in their protest of the Vietnam War. Featured to sold out houses at the Kingston Fringe Festival in 2025. " A wonderfully intriguing piece of political nostalgia. It is a multimedia, coming-of-age story about young people hitchhiking to protest the Vietnam War, featuring a "groovy pulse" with live keys and a large...

It's 1969 and two Canadian girls are hitchhiking to Montreal to join John Lennon and Oko Ono in their protest of the Vietnam War. Featured to sold out houses at the Kingston Fringe Festival in 2025. " A wonderfully intriguing piece of political nostalgia. It is a multimedia, coming-of-age story about young people hitchhiking to protest the Vietnam War, featuring a "groovy pulse" with live keys and a large, energetic ensemble." ~Intermission Magazine

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The Delightful Chaos of Mistila and the Motlies

by Janet Kish

Cast Size
6
Genre
adventure,
comedy,
dark comedy,
drama,
movement/physical,
political

Mistila is a living puppet who is slowly dying of Weltschmertz (world weariness). Her family and friends go on a mystical quest across Canada to find a cure. Dialogue is Toronto-centric but can be adapted.

Mistila is a living puppet who is slowly dying of Weltschmertz (world weariness). Her family and friends go on a mystical quest across Canada to find a cure. Dialogue is Toronto-centric but can be adapted.

Howard and Hope

by Janet Kish

1
Cast Size
2
Genre
comedy,
drama

A milestone birthday. Twins. Body art. Premiered at the Port Hope Arts Festival in 2022.

A milestone birthday. Twins. Body art. Premiered at the Port Hope Arts Festival in 2022.

Before the After Party

by Janet Kish

Cast Size
2—28
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy,
drama,
movement/physical,
romantic comedy

Birth Life. Dying. Death. BEFORE THE AFTER PARTY is an award winning play large-cast production first presented by Claude Watson Performing Arts students for the Sears Drama Festival in Canada. It's a poignant collection of comedic, absurdist and dramatic vignettes exploring what it means to be alive before we die. Scenes can be played as stand-alone or collectively as a 70 minute play.

Birth Life. Dying. Death. BEFORE THE AFTER PARTY is an award winning play large-cast production first presented by Claude Watson Performing Arts students for the Sears Drama Festival in Canada. It's a poignant collection of comedic, absurdist and dramatic vignettes exploring what it means to be alive before we die. Scenes can be played as stand-alone or collectively as a 70 minute play.

The Kiss

by Janet Kish

Cast Size
3
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy,
drama,
fantasy,
movement/physical

This is a play about clowns. Or maybe not.

Maybe it's a play about clown-like things. Wonderful, wispy, ethereal things. Things that come and go before we even realize. Maybe, it's about childhood. Innocence. Playfulness. Love. Yes, maybe this is a play about love.

And maybe, just maybe, beneath such splendid and sacred things, there are shadows. Maybe, this is a play about those shadows. Maybe, this is a...

This is a play about clowns. Or maybe not.

Maybe it's a play about clown-like things. Wonderful, wispy, ethereal things. Things that come and go before we even realize. Maybe, it's about childhood. Innocence. Playfulness. Love. Yes, maybe this is a play about love.

And maybe, just maybe, beneath such splendid and sacred things, there are shadows. Maybe, this is a play about those shadows. Maybe, this is a play about love and life, and all of its shards.

The set is bare. Or not. The time is now. Or not. The place is here. Or not.

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