THE WOUNDS OF LOVE AND OTHER GIFTS

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The Wounds of Love and Other Gifts
a new work of music theatre by Bruce Dow
after the words of Oscar Wilde and Friends

Words and Music by Bruce Dow
after the words of Oscar Wilde and Friends

Directed by Bruce Dow
Choreographed by Jeff Dimitriou
Musical Direction, Supervision, and Orchestrations by Ethan Rotenberg

Produced by Olivia Daniels and AIR Collective
in association with The Alliance for Canadian Musicals
for the 2026 Toronto Fringe Festival

Stage Management, Bella Szpalla
Assistant Stage Managers, Jacqueline Chan and Justyn Nishimura

ABOUT THE SHOW

Age Recommendation: 14+

(What you will see is one movement from within a larger work.
For more information about the complete piece, please contact: thewoundsoflove@gmail.com)

Created, composed, and directed by award-winning theatre artist Bruce Dow — a two-time Dora Award winner with five featured roles on Broadway and 12 seasons at the Stratford Festival — this new work of music theatre, featuring text drawn from the writings of Oscar Wilde and his contemporaries, has been in ongoing development since 2008, with previous iterations presented at the Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival, and as a full professional production with Pittsburgh International Classic Theatre.

Shaped in its current form by Dow’s work in existential psychotherapy, the piece approaches these fables not as moral lessons, but as lived dilemmas — intimate, complex, and deeply human.

Inspired by Wilde’s The Happy Prince and Other Tales — originally written for his sons — the piece moves beyond the familiar comfort of “stories for children” to ask more challenging questions of us as adults: What does it cost to care? What does it mean to give? And how do we live meaningfully in relation to others?

With choreography by internationally renowned choreographer, artist, and creator Jeff Dimitriou, and new orchestrations by Musical Director and Music Supervisor Ethan Rotenberg (Shaw Festival, Shifting Ground Collective), the production brings together a cast of emerging voices from across the Canadian theatre, dance, and opera worlds. Blending chorus, aria, movement, and text, the work unfolds as a fluid interdisciplinary experience — music, movement, and theatre.

This is a piece that asks something of its audience — and offers something in return.

The Wounds of Love and Other Gifts is a true interdisciplinary experiment that we are so excited to share with Toronto audiences.

THE CAST

DANCER Erinn Bekkers
Body of The Swallow

SHE Kendra Dyck
Voice of The Swallow

HER Priha Khatri
The Protagonist and The Mothers

HE Ronan Hayes
The Happy Prince

HIM Braeden Soltys
The Young Poet
The Professor of Ornithology,
and The Town Councillor

THE TEAM

PRODUCER Olivia Daniels

CREATOR, COMPOSER, DIRECTOR Bruce Dow

CHOREOGRAPHER Jeff Dimitriou

MUSICAL DIRECTION, MUSICAL SUPERVISION
and ORCHESTRATIONS Ethan Rotenberg

STAGE MANAGEMENT Bella Szpala

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGEMENT Jacqueline Chan
Justyn Nishimura

COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES

“DANCER” – ERINN BEKKERS
THE BODY OF THE SWALLOW