Female, 50s, South Asian. Speaks Urdu), immigrated to North America with Abid. Had a harder time adjusting to life here with little community and family, living through a marriage that was often without much affection – but despite that, her marriage brought her much comfort and at times happiness. Struggles with the question of who Fatima really was for her late husband but accepts that despite knowing it was a paper marriage, this was the woman her husband would have truly loved.

Female, Late 20s, South Asian. Speaks Urdu, has had to become the primary caretaker since her father’s passing. Balances between the care for her mother during this time of grieving but also is curious to know who her father was at that point in his life with Fatima. She contends with the distanced marriage her mother and father had while hearing a level of intimacy that her father shared with this other woman earlier in his life. She projects what she wants to do with her life through seeing her father’s maybe unfulfilled past and unhappy present.

Male, 60+, South Asian. Speaks Urdu, Abid’s older brother. Came to the West before Abid did and helped him settle down. He knew Fatima during her time in college and thought fondly of her for helping his brother out.

Female, 30s, Eritrean. Performer must be partially fluent in Tigrinya. Selam is the eldest daughter of Eritrean refugees, the firstborn in a new country, raised between worlds. From an early age, she was tasked with adult responsibilities like translating for her parents, managing family logistics, parenting her younger siblings, and becoming the family’s symbol of success. She is the first to go to university, the first to achieve “stability,” and the one on whom the family’s hopes quietly rest but that responsibility came at a price. As the stoic, high-achiever, Selam learned to suppress her needs, compartmentalize her pain, and perform composure. And now, after the sudden death of her youngest sister, Betty, those lifelong repressed emotions have nowhere left to hide. Her grief, unprocessed and long-denied, is beginning to rupture her carefully curated self-image and threaten her fragile mental state. What appears as a haunting may actually be the emotional aftermath of a life spent surviving rather than feeling. Selam represents the emotional cost of being the “model” daughter, the immigrant child who carries generational survival on her back. Her journey is one of internal collapse and a reckoning with identity, grief, and the trauma of never being allowed to feel. Performer must be partially fluent in Tigrinya.

Male, 30s, Eritrean. Performer must be FULLY fluent in Tigrinya. Binyam is a quiet, haunted Eritrean man shaped by the journey to flee out of one of the world’s most closed-off countries. Born and raised in Eritrea where forced military conscription is indefinite and dissent is silenced, Binyam longed for freedom and illegally fled. His escape led him through a gauntlet of trauma through Sudan, Libya, smugglers, black-market labor, starvation, and boats that didn’t always reach the shore. He’s one of the few who made it to Canada alive. Now, Binyam is a survivor with a fractured sense of self. As a newcomer, he’s watched many of his friends, fellow refugees, take their own lives in a country that promised safety but was met with isolation. In Toronto, where the Eritrean community often celebrates success, upward mobility, and reputation, Binyam feels invisible. He doesn't fit the model of the assimilated newcomer. He doesn’t belong in the living world. Instead, he finds companionship among the dead, cleaning headstones, speaking to graves, and listening for the voices of those who’ve crossed over. Whether it's spiritual, psychological, or both, this connection has become his lifeline. He isn’t crazy, he’s displaced, grieving, and clinging to a reality where he still has purpose. But as his connection to the dead grows stronger, his hold on the living world grows weaker. Binyam is the embodiment of immigrant trauma that doesn’t get healed, a man surviving in the margins of both his culture and his mind. He is a mirror to Selam: where she suppresses grief in favor of survival, Binyam lives in grief because survival cost him everything else. Performer must be FULLY fluent in Tigrinya.

Male, 30s, Eritrean. Joseph is Selam’s husband, her rock, her refuge, the first person who truly made her feel safe. Where Selam’s childhood was survival-focused and burdened with expectation, Joseph’s upbringing was supportive, and less restrictive where he was allowed more freedom. Making his family proud was a goal but not a mandate. He chose that path willingly. This emotional contrast is at the heart of Joseph’s dynamic with Selam. He sees her drowning in grief and refuses to abandon her, but he cannot understand the weight of what she carries, which is years of repression, the trauma of being a parentified child, and the loss of someone she was responsible for. For Joseph, grief is something to be felt and moved through. For Selam, it is a world she’s trapped inside. Joseph has been patient, endlessly so. He supported Selam when Betty lived with them, even when it strained their relationship. He made space for grief. He waited. But now, years later, he’s running out of room to defer his own desires, especially the life they promised to build together. A nursery. A family. A future. He is loving and loyal, but deeply conflicted and unsure if the woman he fell in love with is ever coming back, and unsure how much more he can give without losing himself in her grief. Joseph is the emotional bridge between grief and normalcy, not the enemy, but the limit. He embodies the version of survival that Selam was never afforded. One that is supported, encouraged, and allowed to rest. His struggle is not just with Selam’s loss, but with his own: the loss of a shared future, the loss of a partner, and the possibility that love may not be enough.

Female, 27, any ethnicity. A talented actress struggling under the pressure of a dismissive director, and a tennis ball as a scene partner. She’s frustrated, insecure, and just wants to get it right. She’s the one we’re rooting for to break through. Her frustration is only alleviated by a genuine moment of human-connection. Key Traits: Vulnerable, frustrated, determined, seeking connection, talented but blocked.

Male, 29, East Asian. The guy who hears everything but is treated like he’s not there. He’s great at his job, but feels invisible and marginalized by the director due to his strong, authentic East Asian accent. He’s quiet, keeps to himself, but feels things deeply. The whole story hinges on him finally being heard in the most unexpected way. Tom’s face can say a thousand words with just a look. He makes us feel his quiet hurt and his huge heart, all without much dialogue. Key Traits: Observant, empathetic, patient, marginalized, professionally skilled, emotionally resonant

Male, 45, any ethnicity. A working director defined by a certain contradiction. While he is passionate and highly professional, these qualities are completely undermined by his pretentious attitude and lack of leadership. He is normally caring and considerate, but when under the immense pressure of having to create his vision on schedule, it manifests as severe impatience and a dismissive attitude toward his crew. Key Traits: Being under pressure, professional, passionate, Pretentious, impatient, insensitive, dismissive.

Male, 35, any ethnicity. A professional 1st AD, whose main goal is to keep the production on schedule. While not overtly hostile, he is complicit in the toxic environment, choosing efficiency over confronting the director's poor behavior. He represents the "go along to get along" attitude. Key Traits: Pragmatic, complicit, schedule-oriented

Male, Mid to late 30’s, any ethnicity. He has the distracted, impatient quality of a former alcoholic. He can’t stand in one place too long, focus on anything too intently, or go too long without a cigarette. He’s at a new stage in life, now sober and dedicated to running his cafe business. He feels a complicated need to uphold the memory of his alcoholic father as a stark reminder of who not to be. He makes a sustained daily effort towards gratitude, to appreciate the mundane and the simple pleasure of hard work. This is a new development for himself, as well as a sharp contrast to his more successful, more hedonistic, more carefree younger brother.

Male, Late 20s - early 30s, any ethnicity. Handsome, something of a finance bro. He’s unbothered, detached, pleasure-seeking, self-interested, and has a laid-back charm. Rob likes to have a good time, and he pursues whatever he’s into head-first without calculation and without doubt, just self-determination and self-interest. He doesn’t know what bravery is, because he doesn’t know what fear is. He simply does what he wants, because that’s always worked for him. He likes to party and can do so without the issues with addiction that have plagued his brother and their father. Though his detached personality is of benefit in the context of addiction (or lack thereof), there’s an unacknowledged inability to open up and connect with others on a deep level, and he harbours an attitude of casual dismissal towards the various relationships in his life.

Female, Early 20’s, any ethnicity. Guardian angel. Sister figure. Barista. Darren’s right hand gal at the cafe. She manages various aspects of the business and takes on more than just the basic duties of the job. It won’t be long before she moves on to a better job. Jess is quiet, thoughtful and observant, and can locate the truth in a given situation. She is the perspective through which we observe both Darren and Rob, and it’s through her lingering gaze that we are able to perceive these brothers, in ways that they aren’t aware of with each other or with themselves.

Asian, late 20s to mid 40s. Ideally has theatre experience and ability to memorize and deliver a long monologue.

White, 60s, Male. A bit of a clown, conservative values, easily gets on people’s nerves. (would love to see some frail, unassuming options – Woody Allen vibe)

White, 50s, Female. Theatrical, commanding, confident.

BIPOC, 20s, Female. Liberal, quiet, but has opinions she’s not afraid to stand up for.

Black, 20s, Female. Expressive, assertive

White, 20s, Male. An introverted film bro.

White, 20s to 30s, Female. Sympathetic, though perhaps selective in who she sympathizes with.