THEATRE PREVIEW

AUGUST 2026 | Volume 266

 

Touchstone Theatre Opens its 2026–2027 Season with Jordyn Wood's Dark Comedy Vascular Necrosis, a Queer Zombie Love Story About Mental Illness, Trauma, and Choosing Life in Turbulent Times

Touchstone Theatre launches its 2026–2027 season with the world premiere of Vascular Necrosis, a darkly comedic new play by Flying Start Playwright-in-Residence Jordyn Wood (she/they), a Vancouver-based playwright, theatre artist, and producer. A Touchstone Theatre and Glitch Theatre co-production, Vascular Necrosis runs October 7–18, 2026 at The NEST on Granville Island.

Five years ago, Penelope killed herself. Shortly after, she rose from the grave as a flesh-eating monster. Now, with the help of "de-necrotizers" — medication designed to suppress her zombie instincts — she has been given a second chance to rejoin the living.

Blending zombie lore, queer romance, and dark comedy; Vascular Necrosis turns the post-apocalyptic genre inside out. As Penelope (Gabrielle Nebrida-Pépin) navigates the uneasy territory between her former life and the afterlife she has come to inhabit, the play asks what it means to choose life in a world shaped by trauma, uncertainty, and profound change.

"At its core, Vascular Necrosis invites audiences into a conversation about life itself: why we are here, and why we might choose to stay or not to stay," says Lois Anderson, Touchstone Theatre Artistic Director. "Jordyn Wood has crafted a queer zombie love story at a moment of great precarity for the human species. With extraordinary emotional depth and humour, the piece considers hope and mental health in a time of global trauma."

A Flying Start play — Touchstone's incubator program for early-career artists — Vascular Necrosis represents the culmination of a development process designed to take new work from its earliest stages to full-scale production. The program reflects Touchstone's commitment to championing emerging Canadian and Indigenous voices and creating pathways for new plays to reach the stage.

For Wood, zombie mythology provides an unexpected lens through which to examine some very human questions: What makes a life worth living? What happens when the world we return to no longer feels like home? And what does hope look like when "getting back to normal" is no longer possible?

"At Touchstone we are interested in stories which consider what it is to be human, and what values we are prioritizing as we rattle forwards into the future," says Anderson. "Vascular Necrosis looks at depression, trauma, disability, and queerness through zombie lore and end-of-the-world narratives. It asks why we might choose life on this planet and how that decision is entangled with both hope and despair."

Funny, unsettling and deeply human, Vascular Necrosis puts a fresh spin on the zombie apocalypse, exploring what it means to rebuild a life in the aftermath of trauma.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT:
Jordyn Wood is a Vancouver-based playwright, theatre artist, and producer. Their practice has been intentionally varied, jumping from devising to playwriting to directing to curating and producing. Their written work negotiates the line between autobiography and fiction, refracting lived experience through science fiction and horror genres in service of a search for the self. Influenced by their intersections of queerness, chronic illness and mental health disability, their work poses the question: how do you find belonging in a world you never felt a part of? They hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from SFU's School of Contemporary Arts in the Theatre Performance stream. Recent playwriting credits include Vascular Necrosis, (presented as staged readings by Glitch Theatre in 2024 and rEvolver Festival 2023), Dry Rot (Or Festival 2022), and Grounded (Calgary Young People's Theatre 2017).

CREATIVE TEAM:
Playwright:  Jordyn Wood
Director:  Daniela Atiencia
Performers:  Gabrielle Nebrida-Pépin, Evelyn Chew, Marguerite Hanna, Brynna Drummond, and Terrence Zhou
Set Design:  Paula Viitanen Aldazosa
Costume Design:  Emily Friesen
Lighting Design:  Jonathan Kim
Sound & Video Design:  David Mesiha
Stage Manager:  Julia Lank
Apprentice Stage Manager:  Claire Brown
Production Manager:  Kayleigh Sandomirsky
Technical Director:  Jack Chipman
Intimacy Director:  Lisa Goebel
Producers:  Touchstone Theatre & Glitch Theatre

BOX OFFICE + SHOWTIMES:
Vascular Necrosis runs from Oct 7-18
Where: The NEST, Granville Island | 1398 Cartwright St, 3rd Floor
Tickets:  $20 - $35 | Available online at www.touchstonetheatre.com 
Performance Times:  Tuesday – Saturday at 7:30pm | Saturday & Sunday at 2:00pm
Preview Performance | Wednesday, October 7 at 7:30pm
Media Opening | Thursday, October 8 at 7:30pm
Post Show Talkback:  Tuesday, October 13 (Q&A with cast and crew)

For more information on Touchstone Theatre, please visit www.touchstonetheatre.com

 

 

 

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