After 15-year-old Nelson is deported from Toronto with his parents, he lands on the volcanic island of São Miguel, Azores — where being a deportado marks him as criminal, unwanted, other. He falls in with two older men: João, a tender-hearted dreamer tending his Azorean Red tomatoes while waiting for a girlfriend who will never arrive, and Sergio, a former whaler who buries his grief in alcohol and Fado songs. Their makeshift tomato-selling business becomes both economic lifeline and the fragile thread binding them together.
When Nelson discovers a legal path back to Canada, the triangle fractures: joy for one means abandonment for the others. The play asks what happens when hope sustains one life while quietly undoing another — and what home means when return feels impossible.
Keywords: deportation, exile, immigration, Azores, São Miguel, Portugal, Azorean identity, diaspora, belonging, home, return, hope, resilience, loss, father-son, intergenerational, memory, Fado, whaling, tomatoes, multicultural, Canadian identity, Toronto, non-linear, poetic realism, doubling, ensemble, small cast, unit set, bilingual, English, Portuguese, coming-of-age
Excerpt presentation, Brave New Works Festival, Theatre Aquarius, Hamilton, ON, 2022.
Workshop and public reading, Pia Bouman School of Ballet, Toronto, ON, 2024.
Workshop and public reading, Back Lane Studios, Toronto, ON, 2025.
(One-act version), Strawberry One-Act Festival, New York, NY, 2017.
Genre: Drama
Acts: 1
Run time: 90 minutes
Suitable for students 14+
Content notes: This play contains strong language, including occasional profanity. It explores themes of deportation, displacement, and family stress, including emotional distress related to immigration status and separation from home.
There are references to crime (including a past robbery), brief depictions of substance use, and discussions of economic hardship. The play also includes moments of verbal conflict within a family context and references to violence (including a stabbing and whaling scenes), though these are not graphically depicted.
The work addresses themes of identity, belonging, and loss, which may be emotionally affecting for some audiences.
Cast size: 4 actors
Male roles: 3
Female roles: 1
Casting notes: This play is written for four actors, with extensive doubling.
The three central male roles—Nelson (15), João (mid-50s), and Sergio (60s)—are Azorean deportees and should reflect the cultural and linguistic background of the Azores/Portuguese diaspora where possible. Nelson is a teenager, while João and Sergio are older men; however, age may be approached with some flexibility depending on the production.
The fourth actor plays multiple roles, including Nelson’s mother and other supporting characters, often portrayed in silhouette or behind a scrim, allowing for creative interpretation in casting and staging.
Supporting roles (e.g., father, authority figures, community members) are doubled among the cast and may be staged with flexibility in gender and presentation.
The play incorporates occasional Portuguese language (Azorean dialect), and familiarity with or sensitivity to this cultural context is an asset.
