Rooted yet boundless. That’s the guiding idea behind FlyingTree Theatre and Film Collective, founded in Calgary last year by Julie-Anne Bolduc and Arash Minhas.
Firm in their belief that art can act as a catalyst for social change, the duo set out to create a space that amplifies voices often left unheard.
“We are trying to provide more opportunities for first-generation immigrants, for women, for people of colour, for neurodiverse individuals,” said Minhas. As a first-generation immigrant himself, he has seen first hand the lack of representation across the theatre industry.
Bolduc and Minhas are creative collaborators as well as life partners. With backgrounds in playwriting and acting, respectively, they complement each other, bringing different cultural perspectives to their work. Creative disagreements are part of the process. “They only help us become better,” Minhas said, “as long as we share the same values and vision.”
That sense of duality carries into their latest production, the double bill of Next Door and Where Is Home? taking place this month at Spanic Arts. Bolduc wrote and directs both pieces, while Minhas serves as assistant director and dramaturge on Next Door and also performs in both productions.
Both plays explore identity, belonging, family, and the quiet resilience required to build connection. Bolduc notes that presenting two separate works allows them to draw clearer lines of difference and similarity while reaching distinct audiences, including Iranian, Indian, and French communities.
“Instead of creating one long show, we wanted two separate stories to show where the differences and the similarities exist,” she said.
Next Door follows the relationship between a French-Canadian woman and a South Asian man as they navigate love amid family expectations and cultural pressures. It asks a familiar yet urgent question: what does love look like when you come from different backgrounds and it involves members of your community?
Where Is Home? shifts the focus to a young refugee arriving in Canada, torn between the home he left and the one he is trying to build. In that in-between space, the search for belonging becomes a search for self. It’s an experience many immigrants recognize, said Minhas — living between two worlds at the same time.
While the themes overlap, the tone of each piece differs. Next Door is more lively, incorporating movement, dance, and Bollywood music. Where Is Home? is quieter and more introspective, accompanied by an original classical score by pianist Eric Chen.
Both productions reflect the theatre’s commitment to representation, featuring a diverse cast and multiple languages, including Farsi, Punjabi, and French.
“It was very important for me to have a mixed couple on stage,” said Bolduc. “I want to normalize the mixing of cultures.”
At its core, the project is about expanding what and who gets seen.
“We just want to see more of everything on stage, in all kinds of stories,” she said.
Bolduc and Minhas hope the show sparks conversation not only among local audiences, but within immigrant communities themselves.
“It’s an invitation to explore the sense of home,” said Minhas. “I hope people feel they are not alone.”
Running an independent theatre company comes with its own challenges, particularly in logistics and scheduling.
“The unfortunate reality is that many theatre artists have several jobs,” Minhas said. Still, the creative process remains the reward: developing a story, bringing it to life, and collaborating with a diverse cast.
They value each member of the team not just as a professional, but as a person shaped by their own cultural background.
When they asked the cast what “home” means to them, the answers ranged from safety and security to a space free of judgment, a sense of purpose — where the heart is. When asked the same question, the founders paused. They are still searching for that answer.
Where Is Home? Next Door runs May 28 to 31 at SpanicArts, 131 6 Ave. S.W.
The company offers a sliding-scale ticket system to support accessibility.
