HALF OF THE MOON

A playreading and party to celebrate 30 years of Volcano

Text by Roland Schimmelpfennig

Translated and Directed by Ross Manson

Music by John Gzowksi

Starring Ins Choi, Sébastien Heins, Oyin Oladejo, Anand Rajaram & Bahia Watson

ONE NIGHT ONLY: Aug 7, 2026, 8pm, at the The Citadel: Ross Centre for Dance Mimi Herrndorf Studio Theatre, 304 Parliament St, Toronto

Part of the SummerWorks Festival, Toronto: Tickets available here after July 13, 2026.

THE EVENT:

Volcano presents the first English-language performance of Half of the Moon by Roland Schimmelpfennig, one of the most influential playwrights of our time.

This reading marks a continuation of a long artistic relationship between Schimmelpfennig and Ross Manson, who first introduced the German superstar’s work to Toronto at SummerWorks in 2004, with Volcano's award-winning production of The Arabian Night. 

Over the next two decades, their collaboration has shaped some of the city’s most memorable productions. Schimmelpfennig has described Half of the Moon as a bookend to The Arabian Night - both works exploring the collision of magic and storytelling in an urban apartment complex that is home to people from all over the world.

This reading, with live music, celebrates Volcano's 30 years of boundary-breaking theatre in Toronto and across the globe.

THE STORY:

Blind was that yesterday,

that had no idea

how it would turn into today…

In Half of the Moon, the travelling circus Narva arrives at a huge housing complex in a giant city in the global north. These are high rises full of people from all over the world - immigrants and their communities. At the centre of the play is a love triangle between three people from very different backgrounds. All three go to the circus – in more ways than one. When the magic they have come to witness goes more than a bit sideways, the unexpected not only happens, but consumes its entire audience in utterly surprising ways.

Half of the Moon is a startling meditation on love, the contradictions that make us human, and the simultaneous possibility and impossibility of seeing the whole truth of anything.

We are thankful to our presenter, Summerworks, for their partnership on this exciting first step for Half of the Moon.