By Hiro Kanagawa
Adapted from the book Forgiveness: A Gift from my Grandparents by Mark Sakamoto
Directed by Stafford Arima
Adapted from the Canada Reads-winning memoir by Mark Sakamoto, Forgiveness tells the story of two people traumatized but not broken by the Second World War. Mitsue Sakamoto and her family are sent to a civilian internment camp in the Canadian interior after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Ralph MacLean joins the Canadian army and endures years of privation in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. When the conflict ends, Mitsue and Ralph are forced to confront their long-buried anger and grief when Mitsue’s son and Ralph’s daughter fall in love. An emotional map across time, this story of love and family is a testament to the power of choosing forgiveness over hatred.
The 2025 Season is supported by Ophelia Lazaridis.
Production Co-Sponsors:
Jody & Deborah Hamade
Three Generations of the Schubert Family
Jeff Lillico and Yoshie Bancroft. Photography by Ted Belton.
(she/her)
2025: Mitsue in Forgiveness and understudy in Anne of Green Gables. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Mizushōbai (Tableau d'Hôte); God Said This (Pacific Theatre); Forgiveness (Arts Club/Theatre Calgary); Exit, Pursued by a Bear (Globe); The Orchard (Arts Club); Griffin & Sabine (Belfry); JAPANESE PROBLEM (Universal Limited/Soulpepper); Pride & Prejudice (Chemainus); Home Is A Beautiful Word (Belfry/Persephone). Select Film/TV: Superman & Lois, Emily Owens M.D. (CW); Bones of Crows (CBC); Alaska, A Million Little Things (ABC); Bates Motel (A&E); Loudermilk (Prime).Podcast: Eli in Apocrypha Chronicles (re:Naissance Opera). Training: UBC. Awards: Jessie Award - Ithaka, Excavation Theatre; Jessie nom - The Double Axe Murders, Rusticate Theatre; META nom - Mizushōbai, Tableau d'Hôte; Vancouver Critic's Choice Award - JAPANESE PROBLEM, Universal Limited. Online: @YoshieBancroft.
(he/him)
2025: Ralph Maclean in Forgiveness and Le Beau in As You Like It. Third season. Stratford: Shakespeare in Something Rotten!, Bertram in All's Well That Ends Well, Lucentio in The Taming of the Shrew. Most Recently: Dr. Pomatter in Waitress, MTC; Jack in The Importance of Being Earnest, Citadel Theatre; Mack in Fairview, Canadian Stage/Obsidian; Charles Kean in Red Velvet, Crow's Theatre. Elsewhere: Soulpepper (23 productions, including Of Human Bondage and Spoon River at Signature Theatre, Off-Broadway); Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Shaw Festival (5 seasons). Film/TV: Coffey in Netflix's Locke & Key, Fitzpatrick in On the Basis of Sex, Carl Jung on Murdoch Mysteries, Designated Survivor, Hudson & Rex, Nurses, Flashpoint, Copper. Awards: Dora Award for The Light in the Piazza. Five other Dora nominations. Online: Instagram: @jefflillico. Et cetera: Love and gratitude to Kimwun, my family and my agent, Emma.
Birmingham Conservatory, 2024
2025: Cooper in Forgiveness, appears in As You Like It and understudy in Dangerous Liaisons. 12th season. Stratford: Peter in Something Rotten!, Gord in The Diviners, Romeo in Play On!, Al in A Chorus Line, Henrik Egerman in A Little Night Music, Rolf Gruber in The Sound of Music, Pinball Lad in Tommy, and appeared in Chicago, King Lear, Rent, Billy Elliot the Musical, The Rocky Horror Show, The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, HMS Pinafore, Fiddler on the Roof and Carousel. Elsewhere: Johnny alternate in Green Day's American Idiot (first US tour); Hank Majewski in Jersey Boys (Dancap); Gilbert in Anne of Green Gables (Charlottetown). Film/TV: Captain von Trapp in The Pacifier. Training: Birmingham Conservatory, Etobicoke School of the Arts. Online: Twitter/Instagram: @GabrielNacci. Et cetera: Huge thanks to Stratford and Colin McMurray. This season is dedicated to Gabe's Beautiful Wife Robin.
2025: Duke Frederick in As You Like It and Ralph's Father in Forgiveness. 23rd season. Stratford (selected): La Cage aux Folles, Richard III, Serving Elizabeth, Guys and Dolls, Julius Caesar, 42nd Street, A Little Night Music, The Neverending Story, Pericles, King John, The Pirates of Penzance, Titus Andronicus, Three Sisters, The Merchant of Venice, Cabaret, Trojan Women, The Tempest, As You Like It, Timon of Athens, The Swanne: Princess Charlotte, Macbeth, London Assurance, Twelfth Night, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Elsewhere (selected): Casey and Diana (Soulpepper); The Immigrant (Harold Green); London Road (Canadian Stage); Othello (Segal Centre); The Winter's Tale (McCarter/Shakespeare Theatre); Phèdre (A.C.T.); A Christmas Carol, The Turn of the Screw (Grand Theatre); The Importance of Being Earnest (Roundabout); Copenhagen (US national tour). Film/TV: 12 Monkeys, Mayday, Murdoch Mysteries, Dark Matter, Reign, Defiance. Training: Juilliard. Awards: Dora Award and nomination, Toronto Theatre Critics' Award.
2025: Matthew Cuthbert in Anne of Green Gables and understudy in Forgiveness. 13th season. Stratford: (Selected) Henry VIII, The Crucible, An Ideal Husband, To Kill a Mockingbird, Timon of Athens, The Changeling, All My Sons, Bunny, Macbeth, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, The Tempest, As You Like It, Titus Andronicus, Henry IV (pt1 and 2), Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, Antony and Cleopatra, Troilus and Cressida. Elsewhere: Fall On Your Knees (Canadian Stage/NAC/Neptune/Grand Theatre); Twelve Angry Men, Death of a Salesman, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Soulpepper); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare Theatre Company, D.C.); Private Lives (Chicago Shakespeare). Film/TV: (Recent) The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu), Brilliant Minds (NBC), A Season to Remember (OWN), SkyMed (CBS), Fellow Travellers (Showtime), Under the Banner of Heaven (FX), You Can Live Forever (Prospector Films), V/H/S '94 (Shudder), The Expanse (Syfy). Awards: Dora Award, Best Ensemble (Twelve Angry Men); 'Dora Mavor Moore' Guthrie Award.
2025: Phyllis, Ralph's Mother in Forgiveness, appears in As You Like It and understudy in Dangerous Liaisons. Ninth Season. Stratford: Rosemary (Hamlet-911), Madge Macbeth (1939), Patience Maria (Henry VIII), Stephanie Crawford (To Kill a Mockingbird), Calpurnia (Julius Caesar), Celia (As You Like It) and Caroline Bingley (Pride and Prejudice). Elsewhere: Thousand Islands Playhouse, Citadel Theatre, Blyth Festival, Shakespeare in the Ruff, Canadian Stage, Young People's Theatre, Theatre Northwest, Sudbury Theatre, Royal Manitoba Theatre, Resurgence Theatre, Theatre by the Bay, Brookstone Theatre, Buddies in Bad Times, Thought for Food, Equity Showcase, Toronto Fringe and SummerWorks. Film/TV: Welcome to Derry, Ruby and The Well, The Christmas Spirit (feature film), Re: Possessed Homes (short film), Murdoch Mysteries, Rookie Blue, Flashpoint, Little Mosque on the Prairie, Missing, Train 48, Our Hero, The City, F/X: The Series, Falling Fire. Awards: 2018 Tanya Award in recognition of excellence, and the Jean A. Chalmers Award.
2025: Miyoko, Mrs. Yamamoto in Forgiveness. Stratford debut. Self-created solo performance: Gloria Fukomachi - Grant Writing l0l (vActory); Gloria Fukomachi's Keynote Address (Vancouver Opera Indie Cabaret); My Name is SUMIKO (Vancouver Fringe Festival). Elsewhere: Miyoko, Mrs. Yamamoto in Forgiveness (Arts Club and Theatre Calgary); Shizu in Otosan (Little Onion Puppet Company). Film/TV: Guest star on Invasion Season 3, Pachinko Season 1 (Apple TV+); Joyride (Lions Gate Film and Point Grey Pictures). Voiceover: NPCs in 1000xResist (Sunset Visitors); Akiko in Handsome Molly (The Chop Theatre and JAR Audio); Mizuko in Mizuko (Play Me CBC Podcasts). Training: Simon Fraser University Theatre Performance, BFA. Awards: Pick of the Fringe - My Name is SUMIKO. Online: junefukumura.com, @june.fukumura Et cetera: June is the Co-Artistic Director of Popcorn Galaxies, an experimental theatre company creating new works in Vancouver since 2013. popcorngalaxies.ca
2025: Jane Andrews in Anne of Green Gables and Ron, Ichiro in Forgiveness. Second season. Stratford: Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet and Li Shilong in Salesman in China. Elsewhere: Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Canadian Stage); Pirithous/Wooer in The Two Noble Kinsmen (Shakespeare Bash'd); Scott The Rat Man/Mr.Rumpelstiltskin in Storybook Search (Bad Hats Theatre); Cockroach in Cockroach (Tarragon Theatre); Duke of Burgundy/Gentleman in King Lear (Shakespeare Bash'd); Dionysus/Zeus in Trojan Girls & Outhouse of Atreus (Outside the March/Factory Theatre). Director: A Perfect Bowl of Pho (Kick & Push Festival/Toronto Fringe Festival); Death to Prometheans (Studio 180); Ordinary Days (Shifting Ground Collective). Training: Toronto Metropolitan University. Awards: Toronto Workshop Productions (George Luscombe Award); Dora Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble. Online: @steven_haoby. Et cetera: Please say hi if you ever encounter Steven on the street!
2025: Tomi in Forgiveness and understudy in Anne of Green Gables. Stratford debut.
2025: Playwright, and plays Yosuke and Kato in Forgiveness and Corin in As You Like It. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Sam Shikaze in Yellow Fever (Firehall Arts Centre), Boo-Seng in Durango (Theatre Smash/fu-GEN), Serge in Art (Gateway Theatre), Sender in Tear the Curtain! (Arts Club/Electric Company). Film/TV: Over 200 credits including: Shogun, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Orphan: First Kill, Star Trek: Discovery, Kim's Convenience, The Good Doctor, Altered Carbon, The X-Files, Best in Show. Training: MFA - Simon Fraser University, BA - Middlebury College. Writing Awards: Governor General's Literary Award and Jessie Richardson Award - Indian Arm; Betty Mitchell Award and Calgary Theatre Critics' Award - Forgiveness. Acting Awards: UBCP/ACTRA Award - Deeper I Go (Fedora Films); Jessie Richardson Award - A View From the Bridge (Pacific Theatre). Online: www.hirokanagawa.com. Instagram and X: @hirokanagawatv.
2025: Composer, and plays Diane and Socialite in Forgiveness and understudy in Anne of Green Gables. Stratford debut. Allison has appeared as an actor, singer, MD or sound designer/composer on stages across Canada and internationally, including the NAC, The Grand, Drayton Festival, Arts Club, Persephone, Rainbow Stage, Calgary Folk Festival, the Malaysian Philharmonic, Calgary International Jazz Festival among others, and as a soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic. Allison has five Betty Mitchell Awards - four for acting, one for Outstanding Score - and a Critic's choice award (Outstanding Design) from the Victoria Regional Awards. Allison wrote and performed the song "Try" for episode 6 of Hudson on CBC Gem and recently scored seven documentary shorts for the new SAM Centre at the Calgary Stampede. Allison was named one of Avenue Magazine's 2024 'Top 40 Under 40.' Her album Skin & Flame is available on all streaming platforms. Love to Joe.
2025: Silvius in As You Like It and Hideo in Forgiveness. Stratford debut. Elsewhere (selected): Four seasons at the Shaw Festival, including title characters in Everybody and Prince Caspian; Village Wooing, Doctor's Dilemma, Victory, Cyrano..., Sherlock...; Handsome Zhang in Snow in Midsummer (Shaw/National Arts Center); Edgar in Lear, Demetrius in Titus Andronicus, Twelfth Night, As You Like It (Canadian Stage/Shakespeare in High Park); Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing (St. Lawrence Shakespeare); Arcite in Two Noble Kinsmen, Lucio in Measure for Measure, Antonio in Duchess of Malfi (Shakespeare Bash'd); Mowgli in The Jungle Book (Magnus); Meet Chloe (Carousel); Christmas Carol (Grand); Hymn of the Weaverbird (找我劇場 ESP-I, Taiwan); Man in 彼岸 (Gateway). Writing: Translation and Adaptation: The Orphan of Chao (Shaw). Film/TV: What We Do in the Shadows (FX). Awards: Dora nominee; Saunderson Award (Shaw). Online: Instagram: @michaelman1n.
(she/they) Birmingham Conservatory 2025/2026
2025: Audrey in As You Like It, appears in Dangerous Liaisons and understudy in Forgiveness. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Quartet (Other Hearts/VideoCabaret); Mad Ones (Tangled Art + Disability); Johnny Belinda (Smile Theatre); Lil' Red, Jack and the Beanstalk, Treasure Island, Three Musketeers (Stirling Festival Theatre). Film/TV: Murdoch Mysteries, Good Witch, Call Me Fitz. Training: B.A. Honours English, Creative Writing and Interdisciplinary Sexuality Studies (Concordia University); Musical Theatre (American Musical and Dramatic Academy NYC); Theatre (Interlochen Arts Academy). Online: www.otherhearts.ca. Et cetera: Vae is a Mad performance artist, Dora-nominated designer and poet (Toronto International Festival of Authors New Embassy; The /t3mz/ Review Issue 22). Eternal gratitude to my community and especially to Cake, who constantly remind me that "the thing perhaps is / to eat flowers and not to be afraid."
2025: Appears in As You Like It, Forgiveness and Dangerous Liaisons. Second season. Stratford: Cymbeline, The Diviners. Elsewhere: Truffaldino in A Servant of Two Masters, The Flying Doctor, As You Like It, Our Eliza (Perchance); John Dodge in Middletown (NTS); Squawk (RCAT); Falling Trees (Poverty Cove); The Beauty Queen of Leenane (TNL); Salt-water Moon (Rising Tide); Almost Baymous (Half Handsome). Film/TV: Son of a Critch (CBC); Hudson and Rex (CityTV); Little Dog (CBC); Frontier (Discovery/Netflix); Riverhead (Riverhead Prod.); Body and Bones (Scattered and Small Inc.). Et cetera: I am grateful and delighted to be returning to the Stratford stage. Thanks to you, the audience, for making what we do possible.
2025: Adam in As You Like It and appears in Forgiveness. Stratford debut.
2025: Stan, Pat in Forgiveness and understudy in Anne of Green Gables. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Max in The Little Mighty Superhero (Geordie Theatre); Reverend Parris in The Crucible (Canadian College of Performing Arts); Valentine in Two Gentlemen of Verona (Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival); Marshall in 7 Stories, Man in Chair in The Drowsy Chaperone (UVic); Various roles in Beginning/Middle/End (Victoria Fringe); Ferdinand in The Tempest (GVSF); E. Antipholus in The Comedy of Errors (UVic); Horatio in Hamlet (UVic Student Alternative Theatre Company); Pierre in The Madwoman of Chaillot, Jacques in The Inspector (UVic). Film/TV: Ry (principal) in Cruel Intentions (Amazon Prime). Training: University of Victoria, The Phoenix Theatre. Online: @dougoyama. Et cetera: Doug would like to dedicate this performance to his mother Yukari, his partner Lara, and his cat Momo.
(he/him) Birmingham Conservatory, 2025/2026
2025: Le Chevalier Danceny in Dangerous Liaisons and appears in As You Like It and Forgiveness. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Jung (Kim's Convenience, Grand Theatre); Marcus (Fatal Charade); Han and others (The Late Wedding); Ferdinand (The Tempest); Malvolio (Twelfth Night); Oberon (A Midsummer Night's Dream); Edwards (Blue Stockings); Sir John Middleton (Sense & Sensibility). Film/TV: Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent; The Food That Built America. Training: NYU. Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Online: leonqin.com, @crimsonqin. Et cetera: To my Mom, Dad, Ryan, Katherine, 爷爷, 奶奶, 公公, 婆婆, my cousins, my entire family, my friends, my mentors, and Iroh. Thank you all for your unyielding support. I love you.
(she/her) Birmingham Conservatory 2025/2026
2025: Madame de Volanges in Dangerous Liaisons, appears in As You Like It and understudy in Forgiveness. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Polonia in Hamlet (The Shakespeare Co, Hit & Myth), She in Lesson in Forgetting (Pleiades), Phoenix/Empress Dowager in The Forbidden Phoenix (Citadel, YPT), Mimi in Singkil (Fu-Gen), Karen in Gladstone Variations (Convergence). Nadine also co-wrote and performed as Jennifer in Miss Orient(ed) and Lorna/Geline in PEOPLE POWER (Carlos Bulosan Theatre/Teesri Duniya). Training: Birmingham Conservatory 25/26. Awards: Dora Nomination - The Forbidden Phoenix. Online: @beanbabble. Et cetera: Nadine is forever grateful to her first artistic home, Carlos Bulosan Theatre, and would like to give a shout out to all arts organizations for continuing to do the challenging work of keeping theatre, arts and culture alive. She dedicates this season to her loving mom Fely, her babycakes Maxine, and to the holder of her heart, Troy.
2025: Major-Domo in Dangerous Liaisons and appears in As You Like It and Forgiveness. Third season.
2025: Director of Forgiveness. Second season. Stratford: Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Broadway and West End: Allegiance (Broadway); Seussical (Associate Director, Broadway); A Class Act (Associate Director, Broadway); Ragtime (West End). Off-Broadway: Altar Boyz; Carrie: The Musical; The Tin Pan Alley Rag; Saturday Night; bare; Two Class Acts. USA: Dial M For Murder (The Old Globe); Bhangin' It (La Jolla Playhouse); Abyssinia (Goodspeed Musicals); Candide (San Francisco Symphony); Poster Boy (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Ace (Cincinnati Playhouse); Bright Lights, Big City (Prince Music Theater); Miss Saigon (Broadway At Music Circus). International: The Secret Garden (Tokyo); Broadway Dreams (Moscow); Bhangra Nation (UK). Theatre Calgary: A Christmas Carol; Mary and Max the Musical; Billy Elliot. Training: York University. Online: staffordarima.com. Et cetera: Artistic Director, Theatre Calgary.
2025: Set designer of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and set and costume designer of Forgiveness. 12th season.
2025: Sound designer of Forgiveness. Fourth season.
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