Touchstone Theatre is thrilled to announce its upcoming production of Behind the Moon, a play by award-winning playwright and novelist Anosh Irani.

Recently named the 2023 recipient of The Writers’ Trust Engel Findley Award for his exceptional contributions to Canadian literature, Irani’s newest play promises to captivate audiences with its powerfully moving exploration of human connection, belonging and the immigrant experience.

Set in a Mughlai eatery in Toronto, Behind the Moon delves into the intertwined lives of three South Asian men navigating their migration journeys in Canada. Directed by Touchstone’s Artistic Director Lois Anderson, the play centers on Ayub, the hardworking and lone employee at Mughlai Moon. Under the watchful eye of the restaurant’s owner, Qadir Bhai, Ayub devotes himself to cooking and cleaning while holding onto the hope of reuniting with his family, who are still living in Mumbai. One fateful night, Jalal, a cab driver, walks into the restaurant, sparking a complicated friendship that disrupts Ayub’s delicate world and the buried truths that lie at its centre.

What unfolds is a profound journey through faith, loss, brotherhood, and the struggles of building a new life in Canada.

“With Behind the Moon, one of the characters from an earlier play of mine, The Men in White, kept haunting me. Ayub is a version of that character. I was extremely interested in his inner life. Why did he come to Canada? Who did he leave behind? What does he dream of? So, I wrote a short story about him called “Behind the Moon,” which was published in the Los Angeles Review of Books,” says Irani. “The deeper I dug, the more he revealed himself. Until, eventually, he showed up on stage, cleaning the glass counter of the restaurant that he works in.   If characters refuse to leave me, I just follow them. And listen.”