Mami

Poster by Jamiyla Lowe for the 2025 Mami Tour

Mami is a solo performance that challenges the conventions of what we assume about essential and migrant workers. It’s about the people who clean our bathrooms, who maintain public hygiene, whose acts of service gives us the freedom to go about our lives, day in and day out.

Drawing inspiration from Victoria Santa Cruz’s spoken word poem, Me gritaron negra, this semi-autobiographical theatrical experience delves into the intergenerational curses between mothers and daughters. Performed primarily in English, this intimate piece explores lineage, healing, and the lived experience of a Black female identity.

Development History
The first draft of Mami was written under Factory Theatre’s 2017/2018 training enhancement program, The Foundry led by Nina Lee Aquino. The workshop reading was directed by Himanshu Sitlani and performed by Ngabo Nabea, April Leung and athena kaitlin trihn.

While attending the National Theatre School of Canada, from 2018 to 2021, discoveries were made during a solo performance class directed by Rose Plotek with dramaturgical support from Ann-Marie MacDonald.

Further advancements were unearthed while participating in a micro-residency with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre’s 2024 Emerging Creators Unit, conducted by Stephen Jackman-Torkoff.

Moreover, developments persisted through the 2024/2025 IATI Theater’s international Play Development Program, Cimientos hosted by Guillermo Severiche.

Production History
Mami was first produced for the 2024 Rhubarb Festival, as a work-in-progress, at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre on February 8th with the following cast and crew:

Playwright/Performer - isi bhakhomen
Director - desirée livingstone
Dramaturg - Kalale Dalton-Lutale
Sound Designer - Alejandra Nuñez
Assistant Sound Designer - Mathew Robert-Nuñez
Festival Lighting Designer - Steph Raposo
Cultural Consultant - Maritza Uculmana-Falcón

Another, one-night only, work-in-progress, presentation was performed as part of the 2024 Emerging Creators Unit showcase at the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre’s Queer Pride Festival on June 4th with the following cast and creative team:

Playwright/Performer - isi bhakhomen
Director - desirée livingstone
Dramaturg - Kalale Dalton-Lutale
Sound Designer - Alejandra Nuñez
Assistant Sound Designer - Mathew Robert-Nuñez
Choreographer - Jocelyn Bermudez
Festival Lighting Designer - Darren Shaen
Mentor - Stephen Jackman-Torkoff
Outside Eyes - Sebastian Urmom & Heddy Graterol
Cultural Consultant - Maritza Uculmana-Falcón

A full staged reading of the play, directed by Sandie Luna, was performed on June 22, 2025 at IATI Theater’s Cimientos Festival in New York City.

Playwright - isi bhakhomen
Director - Sandie Luna
Performers - Yohanna Florentino (Janitor), Angela Reynoso (Stage Directions/Voices), Erica “Kika” Parra (Cajón Player)

In the fall of 2025, Mami will go on a mini, two-stop tour. The performances will begin at Aluna Theatre’s Caminos Festival on October 2nd, inside Factory Theatre’s Mainstage. Then, the second performance will be on November 9th, at the STAND (Strength Through Art Network Diversity) Festival in North Vancouver inside the Presentation House Theatre.

The cast and creative team:

Playwright/Performer/Producer - isi bhakhomen
Director - desirée livingstone
Stage Manager - Jessica Zepeda
Dramaturg - Kalale Dalton-Lutale
Sound Designer - Alejandra Nuñez
Choreographer - Jocelyn Bermudez
Lighting Designer - Darren Shaen
Projection Designer - Samay Arcentales Cajas
Cultural Consultant - Maritza Uculmana-Falcón
Poster Designer - Jamiyla Lowe

Support & Recognition
The Elliott Hayes Playwright Development Fund, Stratford Festival, 2022
Recommender Grants from Aluna Theatre and Factory Theatre, OAC
3rd Place, New Play Contest, Toronto Fringe, 2025
Theatre Projects Grant, OAC, 2025

Testimonials (includes spoilers)
”This was FRIGGING INCREDIBLE ISI! You are so incredibly skilled, able to navigate and express such depth and variety of emotions, and the writing was 🔥🔥🔥 I hope you feel so so so good after today and can relive that standing ovation any time you may doubt yourself. Big congratulations and thank you for sharing such a powerful work with the world!”

— Kass Prus, Artsworker and Movement Therapist

“I thought it was stunning, urgent, and deeply moving! The physicality of your transformation into and performance of the Virgin Mary was terrific, and I really loved the narrative twists in the presentation - i.e. that the protagonist is not talking to their mother via a theatrical device, but actually talking to themselves in the bathroom; that they are not actually being visited by the Virgin Mary, but are pretending. It's some really exciting work, and I was so glad to see the whole audience give you the standing ovation you deserved! I really hope you will have the chance to present Mami again somewhere soon, and that you've had the chance to celebrate your triumph!”

— Dr. Signy Lynch, Theatre Critic and Professor

“Omg so I just wanted to message you to express my undying love for you, your work and your abilities. Your work was so raw, and the only thing that my heart wanted to do was hold you and never let you go. Thank you for letting us into a very personal place of your life, I had so many thoughts and emotions throughout it. And I don’t wanna bore you to death, the only thing I do want to say is thank you. Thank you for sharing the story of immigrants, of refugees, of struggle. I see you, I feel you, I am with you and I walk beside you in this journey. This weight that we carry can sometimes be heavy, so when you need it - I am here for you, to hug you and love you and cheer you on.”

— Selene Florean, Childhood Friend

“I first saw the beginnings of Mami some years back and immediately I knew that Isi was an artist to watch. Their presence, poetic text and raw energy on stage takes you into a world that is often in the shadows. In the afterhours while we sleep, others clean those places that we will return to after the day breaks. Isi’s work introduced me to Victoria Santa Cruz and the power of a community of Afro artivists in the Americas.”

— Beatriz Pizano, Aluna Theatre Artistic Director

“it was so special to see you onstage again, to see you absolutely fill a stage with just your presence and a toilet. it feels like both an eternity and a second since we were on that stage together.

that show was fantastic. it was funny and light, but also very complex and at times dark. i don’t always love plays about multiculturalism written for Canadian audiences because I feel like they have to dilute the story to be digested. this one, however, was so genuine that i loved it. maybe it was that you wrote it for your mom and for yourself first. I could feel that. that truth and love and need to get it out made it stand strong regardless of the audience. we were just lucky to have been in the room when it happened.”

— Isabel Fuentes, Artist and Storyteller

Portrait of my mother painted by Sloan Oliver-Mitchell