From the author of Cast Iron comes two plays that feature young black women who suddenly find themselves navigating unfamiliar territory on their own. As they embark on journeys from the only homes they’ve ever known, they’re challenged to think for themselves and to fight for what they want and believe in.

In Up the Garden Path, Rosa, a young Barbadian seamstress, offers to pose as her brother to go to the Niagara Region in Ontario to work. There, she meets an aspiring actress obsessed with Joan of Arc, the ghost of a black Loyalist soldier who wants to die and a boss who can’t keep the starlings away from his failing vineyard. Finding it impossible to ignore their demands, but not wanting to be found out and sent home, Rosa has to stop and figure out what she really wants instead of what everyone around her needs.

Based on Bernard Shaw’s short story, The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God follows a black girl who is abandoned by a white missionary for asking too many questions. Taking matters into her own hands, the Black Girl sets off to find out who or what God really is. Along the way she meets a number of characters who have very different views on God, but the Black Girl’s unrelenting questions create conflict, and in the end she’s forced to make her own decisions on God and her search.

Lisa Codrington is a first generation Canadian whose family emigrated from Barbados to Winnipeg, Manitoba. She currently resides in Toronto where she is playwright-in-residence at Theatre Direct Canada and co-director of Youth Initiatives at Nightwood Theatre, where her first play Cast Iron received its world premiere in association with Obsidian Theatre Company. Most recently Cast Iron received its Caribbean premiere at Frank Collymore Hall in Barbados, WI. It has been published in Canadian Theatre Review and Beyond the Pale: Dramatic Writing from First Nations Writers and Writers of Colour and heard on CBC Radioâ??s "Out Front" and "Sunday Showcase." In 2006 it was nominated for the Governor Generalâ??s Literary Award. As an actor, Lisa has performed for Mirvish Productions, Prairie Theatre Exchange, the Winnipeg and Toronto Fringe Festivals, the Hysteria Festival, and Torontoâ??s SummerWorks Theatre Festival. Lisa has a BA in criminology from the University of Manitoba as well as a BFA Honours in acting from Ryerson University.

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“Lisa Codrington has crafted a fast-paced, thematically rich and startlingly funny narrative.”

Istvan Dugalin, Mooney on Theatre

“Codrington’s subtle exploration of people caught in exile and limbo is sound.”

Steve Fisher, Torontoist

“An exhilarating theatrical hour with a touch of slapstick."

Jon Kaplan, NOW Toronto

“It is provocative, playful, dialectical and deeply embroiled in contemporary debate around contentious issues. It’s an exceedingly entertaining comedy that will also fuel conversation—about religion, yes, but also race and representation.”

J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail

“Regardless of its brevity, this is the most delightful, inventive show at this year’s Shaw Festival.”

Jon Kaplan, NOW Toronto

“Short, sharp and hilarious.”

Karen Fricker/Carly Maga, Toronto Star

“A fast and wild voyage into Shaw’s original source material that simultaneously turns it upside down.”

Carly Maga, Toronto Star

“Lisa Codrington has a wild imagination for storytelling and fine ear for dialogue.”

Lynn Slotkin

“Codrington’s voice is original and lively.”

Karen Fricker, Toronto Star