Large text on the bottom says "The Tao of the World". Two women are laughing together. They are wearing long, glamourous dresses. A man sits a bar behind them, also laughing. A staff member in formal wear manages the bar as they observe the women.

Manami Hara, Karthik Kadam, Agnes Tong and Nestor Lozano Jr. Photo: Dariane Sanche.

Tom Patterson Theatre

August 2 – September 26 |

Opens August 20

Modern

THE TAO OF THE WORLD

By Jovanni Sy

World Première

Directed by Jovanni Sy

Old money, new rules

In this world première, Singapore’s wealthy elite hatch schemes to bed other people’s partners and swindle one another out of dynastic fortunes. This inventive mash-up of Restoration comedy and the modern Asian rom-com is filled with hilarity, romance and billionaires misbehaving.

MEIGHEN FORUM EVENTS

CAST & CREATIVE

CAST

2026: Arabella Flynn in The Tao of the World. Second season. Stratford: Mrs. Darling in Wendy and Peter Pan and Liu Jun/Qiu in Salesman in China. Elsewhere: Silvia in Two Gentlemen of Verona, Margaret/Seacole in Much Ado About Nothing (Bard on the Beach); Sarah in The Birds and The Bees, Beckett/Jasmine/Lenore in carried away on the crest of a wave, Connie in The Great Leap, Phyllis in The Shoplifters, Jess in King Charles III, Amanda in 4000 Miles (Arts Club Theatre). Film/TV: The Last Stand of Ellen Cole (Feature); A Million Little Things, The Good Doctor (ABC); Superman & Lois, Charmed (CW); Under Wraps (Disney). Training: Studio 58. Online: @aggyT, healingbreathworks.com. Et cetera: Thank you Jovanni for being such a loyal friend and collaborator.

2026: Fili in The Hobbit, Millicent Tan in The Tao of the World and appears in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire (The Citadel/Theatre Calgary); Amy in Little Women (Theatre Calgary); Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bard on the Beach); Mustard (The Arts Club/Belfry); The Brothers Paranormal, Peril in the Alps, Murder on the Links (Vertigo Theatre); Please Return to Empire Video (Lunchbox Theatre); New Canadian Kid (Green Thumb Theatre). Film/TV: Grandma Lee's Dress (CBC Gem). Video games: Melody in 1000xResist (Sunset Visitor), motion capture for K/DA at the 2020 League of Legends Opening Ceremony. Training: UBC BFA Acting, FDC Intermediate Actor Combatant. Awards: 2x Betty Mitchell Award Nominee for Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Drama and Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble, Wesbrook Scholar, recipient of the HSBC Undergraduate Award and Stephen Woodhouse Memorial Prize. Online: @heidi.damayo. Et cetera: For all my loved ones.

2026: Lady Helena in The Tao of the World. Second season. Stratford: Assistant director and Tomi in Forgiveness and understudy in Anne of Green Gables. Elsewhere: Nurse Wong in Snow in Midsummer (Shaw Festival/NAC); The Shaw Variety Show (Shaw Festival); Tomi in Forgiveness (Arts Club/Theatre Calgary); Yukiko Sugihara in Courage Now (Firehall Arts Centre); Baking Time, Cat Killer (Presentation House Theatre); Kuroko (vAct); China Doll (Richmond Gateway Theatre); After the Quake (Pi Theatre/Rumble Productions); Lady Nijo in Top Girls (Vancouver Playhouse); Sexual Practices of the Japanese (Theatre Replacement); Hanna's Suitcase (Grand Theatre); Miranda in The Tempest (Globe Theatre); Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Carousel Theatre). Film/TV: Shōgun, Pachinko, War Between Us, Stargate Atlantis. Training: Studio 58. Playwright: Courage Now, The Café-Anna's Story, Pillar Clock, Nom Nom Gnomes. Et cetera: Big thanks to Bart, Keita and Leina for their unconditional support!

2026: Edward Lim in The Tao of the World. Stratford debut. Matthew is an accomplished actor, director and certified fight choreographer, known for his dedication to authentic storytelling and commitment to fostering creative collaboration. Screen credits include Supergirl (CBS), Knights of Bloodsteel (Syfy), and festival shorts such as See the Animal (TIFF) and Harmony of Grey (Cannes). Voice work includes The Running Man (Netflix/Cartoon Network/Prime) and Lassie Come Home (Warner Bros.). Stage credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream across Italy, and Vancouver's Bard on the Beach (Hamlet, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Much Ado About Nothing). Matt continues to appear at New York's Metropolitan Opera, executing fight choreography in a number of shows. A graduate of Circle in the Square and a Vancouver Improv Centre Mainstage alum. matthewipshaw.com

(he/ him)

2026: Devan Pillay in The Tao of the World and understudy in Death of a Salesman and The Hobbit. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Don John and the Sexton in Much Ado About Nothing, Sir Eglamour in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Lucio and Kevin in Measure for Measure, the Courtesan and the Second Merchant in The Comedy of Errors, Bardolph and the Dauphin in Henry V (Bard on the Beach); Ensemble and understudy in Mahabharata (Why Not Theatre); Rexy and Jason in The Legend of Georgia McBride (Arts Club Theatre). Training: University of British Columbia. Awards: The Edmund Kean Sword Award, Bard on the Beach 2022. Online: @karthik.dhananjaikadam. Et cetera: Karthik dedicates this season to the memory of his beautiful mother, Sandhya.

(he/him)

2026: Balin in The Hobbit. Jackson Lee in The Tao of the World, and appears in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Third season. Stratford: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Annie, Salesman in China, Romeo and Juliet. Elsewhere: Zhang Lin in Chimerica (Duceppe); Jay in Frog Song (Here For Now/Stratford Symphony); Chinatown (City Opera Vancouver); Old Man and the River (WeeFestival); The Cave (Luminato); Antonio in The Tempest (Citadel); Narrator/Mysterious Man in Into the Woods, Louis in Pal Joey, Beadle in Sweeney Todd (TIFT); Mr. Beaver in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Theatre New Brunswick); Mr. Shi and His Lover (Tarragon/NAC); Boy in Blood Weddings (Modern Times/Aluna Theatre). Awards: Toronto Theatre Critics Award - Best Supporting Actor in a Musical. Online: derekkwan.net, @kwanzoku.

2026: Starveling in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Bard, Gollum in The Hobbit and Wilson Wong in The Tao of the World. Second season. Stratford: Silvius in As You Like It, Hideo in Forgiveness. Elsewhere (selected): Four seasons at the Shaw Festival, title characters in Everybody and Prince Caspian; Village Wooing, Doctor's Dilemma, Victory, Cyrano...; Handsome in Snow in Midsummer (Shaw/National Arts Centre); Edgar in Lear, Demetrius in Titus Andronicus (Canadian Stage/Shakespeare in High Park); Borachio in Much Ado About Nothing, Octavius in Julius Caesar (St. Lawrence Shakespeare); Arcite in Two Noble Kinsmen, Lucio in Measure for Measure (Shakespeare BASH'd); Mowgli in The Jungle Book (Magnus); Christmas Carol (Grand); Hymn of the Weaverbird (找我劇場 ESP-I, Taiwan); Man in 彼岸 (Gateway). Writing: Translation and adaptation: The Orphan of Chao (Shaw). Film/TV: What We Do in the Shadows (FX). Awards: Dora nominee; Maureen Forrester Award (Stratford); Saunderson Award (Shaw). Online: @michaelman1n.

(she/her)

2026: Fangirl in The Tao of the World. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Diana Barry in Anne of Green Gables, Fan in A Christmas Carol (Gateway Theatre); Luisa in The Fantasticks (White Rock Players' Club); Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream (National Theatre School of Canada); Snow White in Snow White: A Traditional Metro Pantomime (Metro Theatre); Swing/Ensemble in The Prom (Theatre Under the Stars). Film/TV/radio: Lily in SuperChefs the Web Series. Training: The National Theatre School of Canada, Estill Figure Proficiency Certificate (EFP) in Estill Voice Training®. Online: @scotiabrowner. Et cetera: Thank you to Jovanni, Ari and the Stratford Festival, and to my teachers and mentors for guiding me. To Mom, Dad and West: thank you for your constant support. I love you very much.

2026: Egeus in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Gandalf in The Hobbit and Trevor Flynn in The Tao of the World. 14th season. Stratford (selected): Matthew Cuthbert in Anne of Green Gables, John Proctor in The Crucible, Chris Keller in All My Sons, Sir Robert Chiltern in An Ideal Husband, Alcibiades in Timon of Athens, Horatio in Hamlet, Buckingham in Henry VIII. Elsewhere (selected): James Piper in Fall on your Knees (Canadian Stage/NAC/Neptune/Grand); Oberon/Theseus in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare Theatre Company, D.C.); Victor in Private Lives (Chicago Shakespeare); Hap Loman in Death of a Salesman (Soulpepper); Nick in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Soulpepper). Film/TV (selected): High Commander Reynolds in The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu), Dave Holm in Fellow Travellers (Showtime), Leconte Bascomb in Under the Banner of Heaven (FX). Awards: Dora Award, Best Ensemble (Twelve Angry Men); recipient of the Dora Mavor Moore Guthrie Award (for outstanding contribution to the Stratford Festival).

(she/ her)

2026: Snout in A Midsummer Nights Dream, Old Took in The Hobbit and Eleanor Marwood in The Tao of the World. Sixth season. Stratford: Muriel Eubanks in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Dindon in La Cage, Smee in Wendy & Peter, Annie, Man of La Mancha, A Little Night Music, Private Lives. Elsewhere: Miss Stacy in Anne, Tanya in Mamma Mia! (Charlottetown Festival); 5 Villains in the Ross Petty Pantos; Myth of the Ostrich, Take Care (Here For Now); Kate in The Wild Party, Charlotte in Falsettos (Musical Stage); Mary in Mary Poppins, Fantine in Les Mis, Original Canadian Alison in Fun Home (Arts Club); Baker's Wife in Into the Woods (Neptune); Velma in Chicago (Mayfield); Rona in Spelling Bee (Belfry); (Drayton). Online: @sjhosie. Et cetera: Check out SJ's new venture The Leonor on George Street. @theleonorongeorge.

2026: Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Thorin in The Hobbit and understudy in The Tao of the World. Fifth season. Stratford: Jaques in As You Like It, Monty Python's Spamalot, The Homecoming, Twelfth Night and Henry in Henry V. Broadway: The Lehman Trilogy, The Height of the Storm, Summer, Cabaret, Macbeth, The Farnsworth Invention, The Coast of Utopia, Julius Caesar, Henry IV, The Invention of Love. West End: The Lehman Trilogy. Off-Broadway: Coriolanus (Red Bull); Clive (the New Group). Regional: Theatre Royal Sydney, ACT, La Jolla Playhouse, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Westport, Hartford Stage, TUTS, ASF, The Old Globe. Sam Mendes's The Bridge Project. Film/TV: Fosse/Verdon; I Love You… But I Lied; Boardwalk Empire; Law & Order: SVU; Welcome to New York. Training: MFA, The Old Globe Theatre. Online: @aaronckrohn. Et cetera: Check out his band, Notes From Underground, and their EP, Rock, Pith & Brevity wherever you listen to music.

(he/him/il)

2026: Bilbo in The Hobbit and appears in A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tao of the World. Second season. Stratford: Nibs in Peter Pan. Elsewhere: Bing in WIGHTS (Crow's Theatre); Ensemble in Snow in Midsummer (Shaw Festival/NAC); Orphan of Chao (Shaw Festival); Leontes in The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare in the Ruff); Richard in The Humans (Citadel Theatre/Canadian Stage); Falkor in The Neverending Story (Roseneath Theatre); Kai in acquiesce (Factory Theatre/fu-GEN Theatre). Film/TV: Law & Order Toronto: CI; Kim's Convenience; and SHORTY, a light-hearted short about being "short" in a basketball world. Awards: Dora Award Recipient - Sultans of the Street, Cinderella: A RATical Retelling (YPT); paper SERIES (Cahoots Theatre). Online: @RichardTheArtistLee. Et cetera: Richard is also a fight and movement designer, educator, and emerging filmmaker. His passion for storytelling in all forms led to the creation of Monday Nights (Theatre Centre/6th Man Collective), an interactive and immersive basketball theatre show.

2026: Toto in The Tao of the World. Third season. Stratford: Angel Dumott Schunard in Rent, Mrs. Whatsit in A Wrinkle in Time, Tink in Wendy and Peter Pan and appeared in Salesman in China. Elsewhere: The Wicked Witch in Shrek The Musical (Drayton Entertainment); La Cienega in Bring It On: The Musical (Globe Theatre); The Wizard in The Wizard of Oz: The Panto (Drayton Entertainment); Miss Understanding in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Stage West Calgary); Derrick in Peter Pan: The Panto (Neptune Theatre); Papa Ogre/Bear in Shrek The Musical (Globe Theatre). Training: Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance, Sheridan College; Wexford Performing Arts. Et cetera: Endless love to family, friends, 10 Talent and the Stratford Festival. Nestor dedicates this season to all the lil' Asian kiddies - may you always remember there's a special place for you here. Online: @nestorlozanojr.

(he/they)

2026: Appears in A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tao of the World and understudy in The Hobbit. Second season. Stratford: Casey and Diana. Elsewhere: Life of Pi (Citadel/RMTC); Wicked Nix (Young People's Theatre); Fifteen Dogs (Segal Centre); No Big Deal (Roseneath Theatre); rihannaboi95 (Young People's Theatre); Concord Floral (Canadian Stage). Training: York University's Acting Conservatory. Online: @davinder.pdf. Et cetera: I'm so grateful for my family and friends, and the wonderful team at 10 Talent. All of this is a dream come true.

(she/they)

Birmingham Conservatory 2025/2026

2026: Fairy in A Midsummer Night's Dream and appears in The Tao of the World. Second season. Stratford: Audrey in As You Like It, Forgiveness, Dangerous Liaisons. Elsewhere: Quartet (VideoCabaret, Other Hearts); On What Ground (Theatre Gargantua, Other Hearts); The Slaughter Brothers Dime Circus (babymonster); Mad Ones (Tangled Art + Disability); Lot And His God (Desiderata Theatre); Johnny Belinda (Smile Theatre); Little Red, Jack and the Beanstalk, Treasure Island, Three Musketeers (Stirling Festival). Film/TV: Murdoch Mysteries, Good Witch, Call Me Fitz. Training: B.A. English, Creative Writing and Interdisciplinary Sexuality Studies (Concordia University); Musical Theatre (American Musical and Dramatic Academy NYC); Theatre (Interlochen Arts Academy). Awards: 2024 Dora Nominee - Quartet. Online: otherhearts.ca. Et cetera: Vae is a founding member of Other Hearts Collective and a Mad/Disabled advocate for adaptive arts practice. Love to the Pondhouse, my otherheartists and community, and eternally Cake.

Birmingham Conservatory, 2025/2026

2026: Letta in Death of a Salesman and Kamila in The Tao of the World. Second season.

(she/her)

2026: Kili in The Hobbit, Anna in The Tao of the World and understudy in Death of a Salesman. Fourth season. Stratford: Anne of Green Gables, Forgiveness, Get That Hope, Les Belles-Soeurs, King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing. Elsewhere (selected): Rapunzel (Capitol Theatre); POTUS (Segal); Wedding at Aulis, Animal Farm, Alligator Pie, As You Like It, Threepenny Opera, The Time of Your Life (Soulpepper); James and the Giant Peach, Hana's Suitcase, Seussical the Musical, A Year With Frog and Toad, Blue Planet (YPT); Vietgone, Top Girls, My Fair Lady (RMTC). Film/TV: The Understudy (Stratford Festival/Paunch Pictures), Handmaid's Tale (Hulu), DeSync (Sheridan). Voiceover: Hyperscape (Ubisoft), Stillwater School for Mosquitoes (Bad Hats/The Mulligans). Awards: Guthrie Award (2023 Elliot Hayes Playwright Development Fund). Online: Instagram: @jennifer_villaverde. Training: B.A. Theatre - Honours, University of Winnipeg; Soulpepper Academy (2006-2008). Et cetera: Jennifer is a proud hockey mom - Go, Aces!

CREATIVE

2026: Director and playwright of The Tao of the World. Second season. Stratford: Director and co-playwright of Salesman in China. Elsewhere: Directing: Murder on the Orient Express (Vertigo Theatre); Stitch (Native Earth);《食盡天下》 (rice & beans theatre); God of Carnage, Antigone, Blackbird (Theatre du Pif 進劇場); The Orchard (After Chekhov) (Arts Club Theatre). Playwriting: Nine Dragons (Vertigo Theatre/Gateway Theatre), A Taste of Empire (Cahoots Theatre), The Five Vengeances (Affair of Honor). Acting: Mr Miyagi in pre-Broadway tryout of The Karate Kid, the Musical (Stages St. Louis); Prison Dancer (Citadel Theatre/National Arts Centre); Forgiveness (Theatre Calgary); Noises Off (Arts Club Theatre). Awards: QWF Playwriting Award (Salesman in China); Jessie Richardson Award (Nine Dragons); PGC Comedy Award (The Tao of the World); PGC Drama Award (Kowloon Bay). Et cetera: This play is dedicated to Desirée, my beloved 大姐.