b current is the hotbed for culturally-rooted theatre development in Toronto. Originally founded as a place for Black artists to create, nurture, and present their new works, our company has grown to support artists from all diasporas. We strived over two decades to create space for diverse voices to be heard, always with a focus on engaging the communities from which our stories emerge. As a result, these communities trust our company and respect the work that we do. Whether our audiences identify with our work through ethnic experience, social values, or political awareness, these groups are loyal to our programming because they recognize the high level of cultural authenticity and integrity we foster in our artists and their works.

We develop new works by diverse artists primarily rooted in the cultural, social, and political experiences of the Canadian and international Black and brown Diaspora. In order to effectively do this we have dramaturgy & workshop sessions, public readings, and workshop performances, as well as in-depth training programs for emerging creators. We produce daring and groundbreaking theatre creations and since inception we’ve mounted over a dozen main stage plays, and 100+ other public performances.

For over 28 years, b current has produced outside-the-box performance pieces, ideas, workshops, and mainstage productions. We splashed onto the scene in 1991, when ahdri zhina mandiela founded the company, and we brought to Toronto the first ever production of a Dub Theatre script, mandiela’s dark diaspora… in dub. The kinetic artistic energy from this fuelled our pioneer work, feeding and shaping the future of Canadian performance art through culturally-rooted creation. Since inception, b current has developed scores of internationally celebrated artists and their works, with a focus always on engaging the community and creating space for diverse voices to be heard.