news | Saturday April 5, 2025

Hot Off the Press! Open House Has Arrived!

Get ready, because the latest play by the award-winning author, playwright, and documentarian Drew Hayden Taylor has arrived! Open House is a dark comedy that follows an African Canadian man, a Chinese Canadian man, and a Jewish/Indigenous lesbian couple hoping to find their dream home in a red-hot housing market. They all show up to an open house run by a white settler real estate agent. Each potential buyer feels most deserving of the prize. When a police incident outside traps them together in the house, debate erupts over which of their cultures has faced the most discrimination and exclusion. Passions run high and opinions clash.

An excerpt from Open House:

“NED
If she’s so hands-on about all this, why isn’t she here?

ADRIAN
Selling our house in Vancouver. This kind of thing is more
her thing. I’m not really a details person, as she so frequently
points out.

NED
Vancouver. Got too many relatives there. One of the reasons
why I live here. You two moving here?

ADRIAN
I’m already here, renting a very small and rather expensive
studio for the moment. You?

NED
Just divorced. Or freed. It’s just a matter of semantics. Looking
for a place to call my own. I was going to go condo, but I don’t
know. Spent my whole life either in apartments or condos.
Wanted to try something a little different. I mean … who can
argue with a lawn? Love that tree out front. Must be amazing in
the fall. (looking around) Yeah, I can have a lot of fun here.

ADRIAN
Fun? Who buys a house for fun?

NED
Life is full of phases. This is my buy-a-house-and-have-
fun phase.

ADRIAN
Hey, I’m sure you’re your own guy, but aren’t you a little old for
that kind of attitude?

NED
Au contraire, I was raised to be old. In the Chinese community,
there are always obligations. Family, cultural, social, etc. It’s
a long story, but those obligations are never-ending and can
quickly age you. So now I am in the process of de-obligating
myself. (toasting) To the art of de-obligating.”

With wry humour, Open House deftly navigates current conversations about oppression, colonization, and middle-class aspirations. Order your copy here.