The Touchstone Theatre 2026–2027 season gets underway with the world premiere of Vascular Necrosis, co-produced with Glitch Theatre, at The NEST on Granville Island, from October 7 to 18.
The darkly comedic new play by Flying Start Playwright-in-Residence Jordyn Wood (she/they), a Vancouver-based playwright, theatre artist, and producer.
Five years ago, Penelope set things in motion by killing herself. Shortly after, she rose from the grave as a flesh-eating monster. However, she’s now been given a second chance to rejoin the living with the help of “de-necrotizers” — medication designed to suppress her zombie instincts.
Directed by Daniela Atiencia, Vascular Necrosis turns the post-apocalyptic genre inside out as it blends zombie lore, queer romance with dark comedy. Gabrielle Nebrida-Pépin, as Penelope, 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. The production also stars Evelyn Chew, Marguerite Hanna, Brynna Drummond, and Terrence Zhou.
“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.”
Vascular Necrosis puts a fresh spin on the zombie apocalypse, from October 7 to 18, 2026 at The New Emergent Studio Theatre (NEST) 3rd Floor at Festival House, 1398 Cartwright Street, Granville Island. Visit touchstonetheatre.com for more information, tickets and showtimes including Post Show Talkback on Tuesday, October 13.