Theatre of the Beat recently concluded a cross-Canada tour of a new play, inspired by Mennonite ministries in Toronto, about exploitive conditions in global retail systems.

The play, Invisible Threads, was performed mainly in Mennonite congregations May 2 to June 7 from British Columbia to Ontario. One performance was in a women’s federal penitentiary.

The touring theater company was founded in 2011 when it produced Rebecca Steiner’s Gadfly: Sam Steiner Dodges the Draft in partnership with Conrad Grebel University College.

The play follows a retail worker, Mark, who stumbles upon a hidden note while folding a new pair of jeans. The message is from a factory worker in Bangladesh asking for help to escape unjust labor conditions. As Mark begins to pull at the threads, something that started overseas leads right back to home.

Invisible Threads was written over seven years by artistic director Cedric Martin, a Mennonite who began the piece after volunteering with Aurora House. Started by Toronto United Mennonite Church and Mennonite New Life Centre of Toronto, the house provides transitional housing and services to survivors of trafficking and exploitation.

After volunteering to help prep the house for guests, Martin thought of another way to contribute. He researched and developed the play in consultation with experts and people with lived experience.

The result is a story that begins in the textile industry, moves to migrant labor and ends up at human trafficking, raising awareness about the hidden systems that enable exploitation globally and locally.

Performances coincided with “On the Mend” pre-show events to swap used clothing, teach each other how to mend clothes and “upcycle” old garments with embroidery, colorful patches and even Theatre of the Beat-themed fabric prints.

Information about Invisible Threads is at theatreofthebeat.ca.