PlayME

Chris Tolley talks to playwright and performer Akosua Amo-Adem about her hit play Table for Two, a funny, candid, and deeply relatable look at modern dating. Set in Toronto and centred on Abby, a hopeful romantic navigating apps, expectations, and one bad date after another, the play explores the search for connection in a world that can feel both hyper-connected and isolating.

Akosua shares how the play grew out of real observations and research into dating-app culture, why humour is essential to telling this story, and what audiences respond to most when they see Abby onstage. Together, they talk about vulnerability, rejection, desire, and the pressure to find love on a timeline that doesn’t always match real life.

Table for Two by Akosua Amo-Adem.

Still carrying the sting of a major breakup, Abby is trying to reset and move forward, but it feels like her best friend’s love life is racing ahead while she remains stuck in the same exhausting dating cycle. With pressure building from family, friends, and her own expectations, Abby puts her hope in a promising new match and a long-awaited dinner at Lucia’s, a night that just might shift everything.

Cast: Bola Aiyeola, Ryan Allen, Meghan Swaby and Akosua Amo-Adem

Table for Two by Akosua Amo-Adem.

If you’re interested in hearing more plays by Black female playwrights, check out the hit show Da Kink in My Hair by Trey Anthony, available on our feed.

“Ghanaian parents don’t talk about sex, and when they do, it’s not very helpful.”

Abena Ohemaa Frimpong is thirty-five, accomplished, and dating in Toronto. A Ghanaian Canadian woman with an impressive resume and a dating history that has taught her to manage expectations, Abby still shows up hoping this time might be different.

On the night she is meant to meet JD45, a man she has grown cautiously excited about, Abby arrives early and waits. As the table stays empty, the evening slips into memories of first love, missed timing, and the quiet pressure of a best friend’s engagement and a mother who wants answers. Faith, family, and romantic history all press in as the minutes stretch.

Abby sits with her phone in hand, the chair across from her untouched, and the possibility of connection hanging by a thread.

Cast: Bola Aiyeola, Ryan Allen, Meghan Swaby and Akosua Amo-Adem

Table for Two by Akosua Amo-Adem

If you’re interested in hearing more plays by Black female playwrights, check out the hit show Da Kink in My Hair by Trey Anthony, available on our feed.

Playwright Ins Choi joins Laura Mullin to talk about Kim’s Convenience, the play that eventually became the hit television series. Choi shares why he started writing the play, what it was like to spend years facing rejection, and how one chance meeting transformed the story he thought he was telling. He reflects on being a first-time playwright thrown into television, the full-circle moment of playing Appa after writing from the son’s perspective, and on Toronto’s talent that is often underestimated. It is a candid conversation about writing for the stage, adapting for TV, and how a small play became a cultural phenomenon.

Kim’s Convenience by Ins Choi

The Kim family is forced to face some uncomfortable realities. Appa confronts retirement after decades running the convenience store, while his daughter Janet refuses to follow his plans for her future. At church, Umma makes an unexpected connection that changes things for the family. When Janet's old friend shows up at the store and complicates matters, Appa's attempts to help predictably blow up in everyone's faces. This Kim's Convenience episode balances comedy with family drama as the Kims reach a crossroads they can't ignore much longer.

Cast: Ins Choi, Brandon McKnight, Esther Chung, Ryan Jinn, Kelly Seo

Kim’s Convenience by Ins Choi