SummerWorks Performance Festival is all about new and adventurous works, offering a diverse and boundary blurring assortment of performances. Now, in its 26th year, the program includes 69 original pieces spanning theatre, music, live art, dance and more. In this series, we talk to this year’s emerging artists.

For this installment, we spoke with the writer of Osia, Jijo Quayson.

SDTC: What’s your play about?

JQ: Osia is about a Ghanaian family grappling with their desire for a better future, whilst the youngest member of the family, Harmosia, works to understand the truth of her life.

I was born and grew up in Britain but my heritage is Ghanaian. I’ve travelled to Ghana many times, so that resonates with me. It’s nice to write a play set in a location I know and love. Many of my best summers were spent playing on the beach or in the backyard of my grandmother’s house. I can’t wait to visit there again.

What led you to come up with the concept?

I was a student in Djanet Sears’ playwriting class at the University of Toronto and the concept for Osia came the first assignment I wrote for that class. Djanet asked everyone to write a short monologue using a handful of random words as our prompt. She urged us to not be afraid to fail, and to write about happenings that we are passionate about. The rest of the play followed from that monologue.

What was the most challenging aspect of this project? Most rewarding?

Osia is my first play, which is very exciting for me. As a first-time playwright I’m learning on the job, which is where the challenging part comes in. That being said, I do love a challenge!

Getting to work closely with my mentors, Brad Fraser and Djanet Sears, has been immensely rewarding. As an emerging artist it feels incredible to have established artists whom you respect, reach out to mentor and work with you. It’s amazing how much I’ve learned from them. I hope to do the same for someone one day.

What do you want audiences to take away?

I would like Osia to generate discussion, entertain and challenge audiences.

Osia runs from Friday August 5th to Sunday August 14 at Factory Theatre Mainspace (125 Bathurst Street). Tickets are $15 and are available here.