PILGRIMAGE

Imagine the Bible meets Don Quixote if it was a western reimagined in a Beckettian world. Grizzled Clayton and naïve Vanessa are pilgrims on a mission to cross the Gulf of America and reach the birthplace of their recently-deceased religious leader, Nuestro Padre. Evading dangerous and mendacious critics at every turn, they also don’t seem to be going anywhere. Camping out in a burning bush, they encounter the end of doubting Thomas’ gun barrel – a French-Canadian secularist protecting his land. A mock-epic battle ensues about the most righteous path. 

Ridiculousness floats existential dread in this comedy about zealots of all kinds and their purity tests. Pilgrimage punches up at the dangers that exist when anyone thinks they hold the capital “T” truth or worse, when people follow leaders whose capital “T” truths have been exposed as fraudulent, toxic, and exploitative.

Public reading:  Nouveau Play Tuesday (Création in Vivo), undercurrents festival, Ottawa (2026)