Erased is an urgent, fiercely theatrical, absurdist play set in a greeting card factory after climate collapse, where workers are forced to manufacture messages of celebration while struggling to survive within a system that is slowly erasing them. As three workers navigate this anonymous system, they are haunted by The Disappeared—a chorus of punk ghosts living within the walls—whose growing resistance begins to disrupt the order that has consumed them all.
A collision of dark comedy, political theatre, and poetry, Erased confronts the realities of labour, environmental collapse, late-stage capitalism, and the human cost of systems built on endless production. As The Disappeared emerges from the shadows and quiet acts of defiance awaken a collective resistance, the play asks what remains when a society built on extraction begins to consume itself—and how, from its ruins, another future can still be imagined.
The premiere production was produced by Open Heart Surgery Theatre in partnership with Theatre Passe Muraille (Toronto ON) in November 2024.
Erased was named one of the top ten productions by the Toronto Star in 2024, and was one of three productions chosen to represent Canada at the Heidelberger Stückemarkt in Heidelberg, Germany in 2026.
Keywords: dystopian, climate collapse, physical theatre, environment, poetic theatre, revolution, eco-drama, absurdist
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Physical theatre
Run time: 80 minutes
Content notes: Contains references to the deaths of workers and animals, violence, torture, grief, loss, climate change, genocide, the term "disappeared" for women and trans people, child abuse, disease, suicide, and themes of late-stage capitalism.
Cast size: 11 actors
Female roles: 3
Trans/ Non-Binary/ Gender Non-Conforming roles: 1
Chorus: 7
Casting notes: The Chorus involves a cast of 7 female-identifying and trans-female or trans-male performers separate from the leads. In the premiere production, two Chorus members doubled as The Woman and Frith, which are both non-speaking roles but feature in the piece. It is important that the Chorus remains a group as The Disappeared, so no less than 3 – future productions can grow the chorus or experiment at will.
"Set in a dystopian world, Coleen Shirin MacPherson's new play is a startling allegory that's as dark as it is hopeful."
-- Toronto Star
“★ ★ ★ ★ (out of 4) [it’s] the year’s most gutsy and original new play”
— Joshua Chong, Toronto Star
“Erased carries in its very form a sense of urgency, one I’ll amplify here: See it before it’s too late.”
— Aisling Murphy, Globe and Mail
