By Winnie Czulinski –
Matthew MacKenzie and Mariya Khomutova have made a poignant return to Toronto with their play First Métis Man of Odesa (see February issue of the bridge).
The play, produced by Punctuate! Theatre (www.punctuatetheatre.com/), reflects their lives, love, marriage and new family in a dramatic transatlantic time of Covid-19 and war. The production captivated Canadians in its tour of several cities and 96 performances.
Métis Canadian playwright MacKenzie and Ukrainian actor Khomutova – who with son Ivan live in Cabbagetown’s Hugh Garner Co-op – recently returned from a run in Barrie, Ontario, where they performed on the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
From May 8 to May 19, 2024, First Métis Man of Odesa is at Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre in the Distillery District (www.soulpepper.ca/performances/firstmetisman).
MacKenzie was a Baillie artist in residence at Soulpepper, one reason he and Khomutova moved to Toronto. “Having toured to five other cities and played to over 15,000 people since we premiered in Toronto, it feels wonderful to come full circle,” he says. “Toronto is home to so many Ukrainian Canadians and has welcomed a great many Ukrainian refugees, who we hope to see out during our run at Soulpepper.”
“It is a dream for any theatre artist!” says Khomutova. “Soulpepper is such an influential space for Toronto theatre culture. We want this show to stay as real and sincere as possible, so we are always searching for the ways to keep it alive. Our director, Lianna Makuch, helps us so much with this intention.”
The play’s original Toronto performance, says MacKenzie, was “an overwhelmingly positive experience” with much support from local theatre, Ukrainian and Indigenous communities. After every performance, audiences stayed to chat, sometimes for hours.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Soulpepper artistic director Weyni Mengesha reached out to the couple, supported them to develop their play and invited them to perform at Soulpepper a year later. For MacKenzie and Khomutova after their Canada-wide success, this May 2024 run feels like “a homecoming.”
