direction

Radium Girls / 2024 / Theatre@York Production / director Keshia Palm / playwright D.W. Gregory / performers Kayla Silvestre, Stephanie Bisram, Melissa Kiley, Irfaan Suleman, Natalie Pepe-Francis, Rick Karwal, Tipelo Hildebrand, Naomi Lopez Morales, Isabella Ciarlandini, Kostyn Mitruk + Elena Hrkalovic / assistant director Grace Sokolow / intimacy director Corey Tazmania / access consultant Kayla Besse / set + props design Danny Whincop / costume design Sarah Kolody / lighting design Rian Tran / sound design Gabby de Manuel / stage manager Yuqi Ding / ASMs Renee Pasher, Alessia Penna + Aurora Andrews / PMs Priscila Gonzalez + Vasilisa Filippova / APM M Graham / ATDs Denise Obiazi + Jay Graham / photography by Jeremy Mimnagh (including cover photo)

Inspired by a true story, Radium Girls traces the efforts of Grace Fryer, a dial painter, as she fights for her day in court. The fight for worker’s rights, equity, and safe working environments continue 100 years later, including on York’s campus. This production stands in solidarity with CUPE 3903 as we tell the story of one factory’s fight for workers’ rights, and they live one.

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SEPH / 2023 / RISERx Production presented by Why Not Theatre and Toronto Metropolitan University / director Keshia Palm / playwright Tori Keenan-Zelt / performers Haley Garnett, Kendra Cordick, Ali Farhadi, Jade Tardif Da-Silva, Avery Rose, Kiara-Kumail / set + props design Delia Yuan / costume design Carlyn Rahusaar Routledge / lighting design Gavin Mcdonald / sound design Sam Fergusson / intimacy director Corey Tazmania / fight director Christopher Mott / stage manager Sofia Di Cicco / ASM Myann Vu / assistant set & props design Alyssa Duhaney / assistant lighting design Sasha Alymova / PM Carlos Varela / TD Curtis Whittaker / APMs Jonathan Cestnick, Kiera Deorksen Smith / directing coach Sarah Garton Stanley / photography by Jeremy Mimnagh

Forget what you think you know about gods. Set in an America post-capitalist collapse, this contemporary retelling of Persephone‘s story examines the heartbreaking challenges of growing up in a broken home, a rupture defined by life and death. A (queerfeminist) teenage coming-of-age story with epic themes; love, choice, consequence. Love again.

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shadow girls / 2017 / Pencil Kit Productions x Rhubarb Festival / co-directors, co-creators, co-performers Keshia Palm + Claren Grosz / creative team + overhead projectionists Maya Findlay, Jocelyne Lamarche, Kathleen O'Reilly, Elyse Waugh, Sydney Herauf + Jackie Rowland / photography by Greg Wong + Justin Alexander

A queer love story scored by overhead projector art animating the inner and outer worlds of Maggie and Amelia; two bi women attempting reconnection and intimacy years after an adolescent hookup-and-breakup.

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Staged Readings + Workshops

  • Staged reading produced by theatre potluck at Tarragon Theatre / written by Robin Luckwaldt / original compositions by Deanna H. Choi + Olivia Wheeler / fiddle arrangements by Sierra Haynes / stage managed by Emma Jo Conlin / produced by Aaheli Mukherjee / performed by Sierra Haynes, Jane Miller, Hilary Wheeler and Alexa MacDougall / directing + dramaturgy Keshia Palm

  • Staged Reading presented at Kitchen Potluck by fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre / created by Keshia Palm / performed by Adam Paolozza, Liz Der, Merlin Simard, isi bhakhomen, Janice Jo Lee / compositions by Maddie Bautista / dramaturgy by Elyne Quan

  • Staged Reading presented by Watermark Theatre in North Rustico, PEI / written by Brynn Cutcliffe / directing + dramaturgy by Keshia Palm

  • Staged Reading presented at Groundswell Festival by Nightwood Theatre / written by Stephanie Fung / Performed by Stephanie Fung, Emily Jung, and Phoebe Hu / directed by Keshia Palm

  • Staged Reading presented at Tales from the Flipside Festival by Carlos Bulosan Theatre / written by Davey Calderon / performed by Chris Vergara / directed by Keshia Palm

  • Workshop Presentation at Nightwood Theatre’s 2019 Groundswell Festival / written by Tabia Lau / performed by Joella Crichton, Diego Matamoros, Aaron Willis, John Jarvis, Maev Beaty, Sofia Rodriguez, Karl Ang, Fab Filippo + Ari Cohen / directed by Keshia Palm

Assistant Directing

  • A Theatre Passe Muraille and Music Picnic Co-Production / co-created by Marjorie Chan and Njo Kong Kie / Director Marjorie Chan / Assistant Director Keshia Palm

  • A Factory Theatre production / written by Erin Shields / directed by Andrea Donaldson

  • A Convergence Theatre site-specific production at Next Stage Theatre Festival performed at Toronto Carpet Factory / written by David S. Craig + Richard Greenblatt / directed by Aaron Willis

  • A Shakespeare in the Ruff production performed in Withrow Park / written by William Shakespeare with additional text by Sarah Kitz / directed by Sarah Kitz