{"id":14343,"date":"2021-09-16T22:17:11","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T02:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.ryerson.ca\/asianheritage\/?page_id=14343"},"modified":"2026-03-22T16:54:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T20:54:28","slug":"bilal-baig","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/bilal-baig\/","title":{"rendered":"Zaiba Baig"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Zaiba Baig is the chosen name of a South Asian-Canadian playwright, actor and workshop facilitator who grew up in Mississauga, Ontario. They identify as a queer, transfeminine Muslim. Baig stars in the half-hour comedy Sort Of<\/em> that initially aired on the CBC Gem streaming service and ran for three seasons. Baig is also a co-creator, executive producer and writer of the show. In December 2023, Playwrights Canada Press will be releasing a book of monologues, essays, poetry and opinion pieces co-edited by Baig and Evan Tsitsias: This is Beyond: A Time Capsule of Queer Experience<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Drama<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Acha Bacha<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2020.
e-book<\/a> (Access restricted to members of the university community)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

For years, Zaya has delicately balanced his relationship with his Muslim faith and queer identity by keeping his genderqueer lover and manipulative mother apart. But when his mother ends up in the hospital on the same day his partner is leaving for pilgrimage, Zaya\u2019s worlds come crashing in on each other, opening a space for traumatic memories to resurface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acha Bacha<\/em> boldly explores the intersections between queerness, gender identity and Islamic culture in the Pakistani diaspora. It\u2019s about the way we love, the way we are loved and what it takes to truly accept love.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Drama<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Eraser<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Co-creator Sadie Epstein-Fine. With Christol Bryan, Maria Gomes, Yousef Kadoura, Tijiki Morris, Anthony Perpuse, and Nathan Redburn.
Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2023.
e-book<\/a> (Access restricted to members of the university community)
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Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

An immersive experience, Eraser<\/em> delves into the memories and fantasies of a classroom of students as they figure out who they want to be. Six students guide readers through their different journeys, taking them along to the cafeteria, change rooms, and playground, to the places where they feel safest and the most brave, vulnerable, and afraid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afroze just moved to Canada from Pakistan and is struggling to fit in as a white-skinned gender-questioning convert to Islam. All Jihad wants is to be cool, but he struggles with the appearance of this new student who doesn\u2019t look like any of the Muslims he knows. Noah\u2019s brother just died, and he\u2019s been avoiding processing his grief, which makes him lash out at his best friend, Eli. Eli doesn\u2019t know how to support Noah, who he also harbours questioning feelings for. Whitney wants to live by her own rules in her own imaginary world, but she\u2019s forced to deal with annoying kids like Tara. Tara loves school and getting straight As, but all the pressure she feels eventually adds up and she crumbles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding a balance between tough realities and honest fantasies, Eraser<\/em> is an energetic and sentimental look at what it\u2019s like to navigate differences and connections as a kid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Drama<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kainchee Lagaa and Jhooti: The Begging Brown Bitch Plays<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2026.
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Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In this daring and disruptive double bill, Bilal Baig dismantles the white saviour complex and demolishes the fourth wall with two subversive tales told by unreliable narrators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Kainchee Lagaa<\/em>, the lives of two estranged siblings intertwine across space and time. Billo, a tandoori-chicken-loving sex worker, is saving up to run away with someone special, while her brother Arsalan is haunted by their family\u2019s traumatic past. As memory and myth collide during a long-awaited reunion, nothing is certain, and no one is innocent. In Jhooti<\/em>, a trans woman on the run, carrying a plastic bag full of her belongings, pleads for protection. But soon her story unravels into a dangerous web of destruction. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Zaiba Baig interview by Christopher Turner<\/a> in the Sept.\/Oct. 2021 issue of IN Magazine<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Playwrights Canada Press<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zaiba Baig is the chosen name of a South Asian-Canadian playwright, actor and workshop facilitator who grew up in Mississauga, Ontario. They identify as a queer, transfeminine Muslim. Baig stars in the half-hour comedy Sort Of that initially aired on … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":70,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14343","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14343"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21944,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14343\/revisions\/21944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}