Craft Bites International: Makram Ayache (Canada) and Susi Siriya Orenius (Finland)

Craft Bites International – Connecting Playwrights Across Borders

Canadian playwright has been paired up with a Finnish playwright to share their work and discuss the craft of playwriting with one another. You can tune into these live events and get a glimpse of what these theatre creators have been up to!

Craft Bites International is open and free to the public.

Please note registration is required one hour prior to each session.

Register HERE.

Makram Ayache is a Governor General’s Literary Award Finalist, Lambda Literary Award Finalist, and Dora award-winning playwright, performer, director, and producer. His playwriting explores representations of queer Arab voices and aims to bridge political struggles to the intimate experiences of the people impacted by them. Ayache was selected as one of six breakthrough artists in Toronto in the Toronto Star in 2023. His play, The Hooves Belonged to the Deer was selected as one of 10 best productions in Ontario in 2023 by the Globe and Mail and won an Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for “Outstanding Independent Production” in Edmonton in 2023. His Governor General nominated play The Green Line was published by Playwrights Canada Press in the spring of 2024 and named a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in 2025. Alongside writing, Ayache directs, most recently The Green Line (In Arms Theatre Company in association with Buddies in Bad Times and Factory Theatre).

Susi Siriya Orenius is a playwright and dramaturg from Finland, born in Bangkok and later grew up around Helsinki. They graduated from the dramaturgy and playwriting department at the Theatre Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, in 2023. In their works, Orenius deals with topics such as gender, sex, death, time, the supernatural, fantasy, class and pop culture. For Orenius, theatre is a portal and art’s role in society is to disrupt the status quo. Orenius has worked with various theatres and festivals in Finland, such as the Viirus theatre, the & theatre, the Baltic Circle and the Helsinki Biennial as a playwright and performance dramaturg. They have also written essays for various publications.