Participants in Nightwood’s Innovators Program decided to donate proceeds of a cabaret show to a charity helping Palestinian refugees. But due to fears around funder reactions, the company wouldn’t let this happen, according to emails and recordings of meetings. The program eventually fell apart.
Melissa Avalos is back where she started. The 26-year-old aspiring theatre producer joined Nightwood Theatre’s Innovators Program to get production experience in 2024.
But because her cohort chose to support a charity that delivers aid to refugees in Palestine (including Gaza), Jordan and Lebanon, their end-of-program show, “Fempocalypse,” was cancelled.
“To this day, I still have not produced anything,” Avalos told The Grind. “I was highly disappointed.”
At least three young artists, including Avalos, left the Innovators Program or contract work at Nightwood because of the fight over the event.
Nightwood’s leadership maintains that the decision was made because the cohort chose an American charity, and the theatre company could lose its charitable status if it transfers funds to a U.S. organization.
But in a March 2024 meeting with the cohort, a recording of which was obtained by The Grind, Nightwood’s leadership said that supporting Palestinians was the problem. “By inherently holding an event that is promoting Palestinian liberation, the assumption in that is you are against Israel. That is what makes this situation particularly challenging,” said Nightwood’s managing director Naz Afsahi.
The situation reveals the extent to which Toronto artists are being censored if they take pro-Palestine stances or suggest helping Palestinian refugees.
Avalos said that when artists are told what issues they can and can’t support, their work becomes moot. “You might as well be an AI robot pumping out corporate bullshit,” she told The Grind. “What’s the point of creating if you’re not creating from your heart?” (more...)
Nightwood Theatre Shut Down Showcase Supporting Refugees After Fight about Palestine
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