A Tarragon Theatre, Native Earth Performing Arts, and Neptune Theatre Co-production: Mischief (world premiere). Written by Lisa Nasson, directed by Mike Payette with Joelle Peters; Cast: Nicole Joy-Fraser (Emily); Devin MacKinnon (Fisherman Fred/Good Guy); Trina Moyan (Tammy); Lisa Nasson (Brooke); Jeremy Proulx (Uncle Chris). January 21, 2026 at Tarragon Theatre, continues until February 8, 2026; tickets here.
Brooke is a young woman whose life consists of selling cigarettes, fireworks, and a few other staples from a store on the Rez, near Kjipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia). Uncle Chris owns the store — it’s called Chris’s Convenience in a nod to that other play — and he largely leaves Brooke to tend to business while he goes for smoke runs and other sundry errands.
Brooke seems content with her life of all work and no play… but is she really? Tammy, a close friend of the family, adds a lively touch and her support to both Chris and Brooke, who are still grieving the loss of Brooke’s mother two years ago. Tammy is involved with a protest in the city looking to tear down the statue of Edward Cornwallis (1713 – 1776), a British general who became the founder of Halifax — and a man who offered a bounty on the scalps of the Mi’kmaq people in an effort to eradicate them from the region.
Cornwallis and his statue become an important symbol of the long history of injustices and indignities that the Mi’kmaq are simply expected to live with.
Writing
It’s a simple premise that sets up an examination of the realities face by Mi’kmaq and other Indigenous people. The story begins as a comedy. A local fisherman enters the store, full of complaints — first, that they’ve opened a few minutes late, and second, because they’ve run out of the king-size Canadian Classic cigs that he favours.
Through the conversation, both character and themes begin to emerge. He’s the classic obnoxious white guy, harassing her, complaining about the usual — claiming that Indigenous people don’t pay taxes and get free housing — but then downplaying his stream of microaggressions when she objects.
Brooke tries to be nice through it all.
Uncle Chris is a source of a lot of the fun. His justification for raising the price of fireworks is that the Creator told him so. He points out their adverse effects on wildlife and the environment. “Let the people pay extra for their wrongdoings,” he says.
Uncle Chris and Tammy are a lively contrast to Brooke’s stoic work ethic. When they leave, however, the lights flicker and go out, and as Brooke investigates the cause, she comes across Emily, a woman in traditional dress who claims to be her 288 year old ancestor, in touch with her mother, and living in the stars. Brooke is skeptical at first. “Pow wow isn’t until August!” she says.
Brooke asking what she’s on, and threatens to call the police.
“The only drugs I take are the natural gifts of the Creator!” Emily insists.
The light comedic tone is maintained, but begins to crack a little further when Uncle and Tammy come back into the picture. It’s the second anniversary of losing Brooke’s mother, and Chris talks about his anguish. Brooke, of course insists that she’s just fine.
But, the visits from Emily continue, and Brooke’s doubts begin to melt as they talk about her mother. Fisherman Fred comes back, and this time he’s flirtatious, while maintaining his stance on “your people”, and unleashing another stream of denigrating stereotypical assumptions.
“I’m a nice guy,” he says. “There’s no need to get all hostile with me. I’m just being honest.”
It sparks some honesty from Brooke, and the beginnings of a revolution of her own. When Tammy’s car is vandalized while she’s at the Cornwallis protest, Brooke’s anger reaches its flash point.
Performances
Lisa Nasson is both the writer and star as Brooke. She’s convincing as someone who’s trying to live what she thinks of as a peaceful life, but bubbling with unreleased tension and aggression underneath that facade. Ultimately, she can’t live the lie, and erupts in an act of “mischief” that leads her down a very different path.
She portrays Brooke with a nice sense for the physicality of a tightly wound character attempting to suppress her emotions.
Trina Moyan (Tammy) and Jeremy Proulx (Uncle Chris) have a genuine chemistry as longstanding close friends. Proulx plays Uncle Chris with an ever ready joke on his lips, all the better to mask the real feelings underneath. His moments of vulnerability come through to add depth.
Tammy is someone who wears her heart on her sleeve, and Moyan’s portrayal fleshes out her outsized personality and emotions compellingly. She’s an effective thread that connects Brooke and her Uncle, and a catalyst for the play’s climax.
Devin MacKinnon plays the thankless dual roles of Fisherman Fred and Nice Guy with aplomb, just the kind of unearned uber-confidence of a man living in a society that ensures he’s never had to question his own motives. Nice Guy is someone Brooke meets in the second half of the play, in the woods, at first seemingly a naive white pseudo-liberal, but in reality someone with a much larger agenda. As such, he’s got layers we only begin to see in the story, and MacKinnon handles the subtle changes in his approach persuasively.
Nicole Joy-Fraser as Emily the spirit has an appropriately otherworldly sensibility, sprinkled with a wicked sense of humour.
Stage and Design
The stage design by Andy Moro is both striking and effective. The stage opens up into the store for the first half of the play, held up by a framework that looks like the spine and ribs of a whale. The store shelves are created with horizontal lengths of wood.
Throughout the story and into the second half, projections (also designed by Moro) enhance the story, including the starry night sky, swimming fish and birds (elements that come up in the story), the oceanscape of Brooke’s memories with her mother, and later, a forest where she hides.
When Emily appears, the starry sky takes over, changing colours in reaction to the action of the story and her exchanges with Brooke.
Maddie Bautista’s imaginative and complex sound design enhances the effect. When Emily speaks, her words echo slightly, and there’s an underlying hum that builds intensity. Bits of music punctuate various scenes, adding texture and depth.
I won’t give away the projected effect that accompanies Brooke’s car ride into town. It’s simply too good, and sparked a spontaneous reaction from the audience that I don’t want to spoil.
Final Thoughts
Director Mike Payette uses the mid-sized stage to good effect, moving the characters convincingly around and in and out of the store, then through a forested park in the second half. He’s created a compelling ensemble of characters with the right chemistry to bring the ideas behind the story to life.
The play leaves a couple of key plot points unresolved at the end, and it’s absolutely the right decision. The story raises complex issues and situations that can’t simply be wrapped up in the bow for a convenient finish. Leaving the audience to their own conclusions means that the message lingers.
In a historical footnote, the actual statue of Cornwallis in Halifax was removed from its public display in 2018. May it gather dust in perpetuity.
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