Sometimes surviving in dark times involves becoming part of the darknessÉgas and dust, two plays about war, introduce a powerful new voice in Canadian theatre.A highly theatrical, violent, and ultimately moving examination of the young men and women currently fighting in Iraq, gas follows two American soldiers who kill two Iraqis and dump their bodies in a bombed-out building. This story is inter-cut with that of Rocky, a young soldier who goes AWOL after refusing to escort a tanker full of contaminated diesel to another military base. The play examines the collision of these two stories, the tragic aftermath. gas is a vibrant and important play that seeks to challenge and provoke its audience.dust is set in Abu Ghraib prison. Jenny works in the office. Jonathan is a prison guard. They meet. They fall in loveÉdust is a chilling, examination of torture, decency and the limits of hope.

Jason Maghanoy is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, was a member of the Banff Playwrights Colony, and a finalist for the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwriting Fellowship at Juilliard. He has been a member of the Tarragon Playwrights Unit, Playwright-In-Residence at Theatre Passe Muraille, and Playwright-In-Residence at Young Peoples Theatre. He has received grants for his work from the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, and Canada Council for the Arts, and his plays have been presented and produced in Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto, New York and Japan. His play Throat received second place in the Uprising National Playwriting Competition (2010); his play Hangman won the 2011 Write-On-Q Playwriting Competition in Quebec; and Heart won the 2013 Mario Fraati-Fred Newman Political Play Contest in New York City. His plays Gas and Dust were published by Scirocco Drama, and his play The Corner was published in The Canadian Theatre Review. His plays have been taught at McGill University, Humber College, the National Theatre School of Canada, and Smith College. Most recently, Jason was he playwright-in-residence at fu-GEN, was a 2017 Finalist for the K.M. Hunter Artist Awards, and a member of the 2017 Stratford Playwrights Retreat.

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ÒThe standout show is Jason MaghanoyÕs Gas. The script, full of language both heightened and coarse, is gruesome and gripping. Maghanoy directs it himself with violent precision.ÓÑThe Globe and MailÒAnchored by a remarkably assured, powerful script, Gas tells the story of five U.S. soldiers fighting the war in Iraq and the war raging within each of themÉHighly recommended.ÓÑToronto StarÒDust is deftly written, ably performed. The writing is subtle, focused on character, allowing only brief talk of horrific details, as the two peek into the bank of images on her cameraÉThe banality of evil creeping into young souls in the military is an unsettling thing to witness.ÓÑMontreal GazetteÒDust brought some very beautiful and evocative writing to the Centaur stage.ÓÑWarehouse Magazine