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The Last 15 Seconds’ 13 Year Tour Comes to a Heartfelt End

by | May 1, 2023 | stories

A scary male figure in a Michael Myers mask from the Halloween movies attacks a woman he is holding off the ground, punching down towards her stomach, while she screams silently and reaches towards us, during a performance of the play, The Last 15 Seconds.

This June, The Last 15 Seconds will travel overseas for final performances at the Beirut Spring Festival in Lebanon – the home country of MT Space’s late founder, and the show’s original director, Majdi Bou-Matar. 

13 Year Tour 

Originally premiered in 2009, the show is an award-winning production that has toured nationally and internationally.   

In September 2022, the play toured North Africa in honour of Majdi Bou-Matar, visiting: Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt; Casablanca, Morocco; and Tunis, Tunisia. In November there was a stop in Hamilton, hosted by Tottering Biped Theatre. It returned to its Kitchener home for a packed one-night-only fundraiser at The Registry Theatre on December 1st, followed by a Lebanese banquet. Generous donations from that night gave birth to a new bursary in support of new artists, dedicated to the memory of the visionary director. 

Journey’s End  

It feels deeply fitting that the show’s final breaths will be heard in the heart of the city and country of Majdi’s youth – a place he often expressed his undying love for. Majdi’s friend and frequent collaborator Badih Abou Chakra will reprise the role of Moustapha Akkad. 

The show will likely not be re-mounted or tour again, as MT Space moves on to its next chapter—but will live on in our hearts, as we continue to reflect fondly on Majdi’s memory and his incredible life and creative achievements. 

More about the show here.

Performance Details 

Date & Time: June 4 & 5 2023, 9 PM  

Venue: Sunflower Theatre, Beirut, Lebanon 

Cast & Creative Team (On Tour 2023) 

Performed by Bó Bárdos, Trevor Copp, Nada Humsi, Nada Abusaleh, and Badih Abou Chakra 

Remount Director: Pam Patel 

Dramaturg: Ric Knowles  

Lighting Designer: Jennifer Jimenez

Lighting Director: Chris Malkowski  

Video and Sound Operator: Gary Kirkham 

Production Stage Manager: Cameron Slipp  

Technical Director: Mohamed Hedi Belkhir  

Images from this show:

A woman in a hijab accused of terrorism waits in jail, in the stage play The Last 15 Seconds.
The silhouette of Moustapha Akkad, sitting at a café table smoking a pipe, as part of stage play The Last 15 Seconds.
Moustapha Akkad has a cellphone conversation with his daughter Rima, in profile, in the stage play The Last 15 Seconds.
Two women in a black hijab and niqab, and a man in white traditional clothing in front of an orange backdrop and handing laundry, in the stage play The Last 15 Seconds.
Three female movie executives in purple pantsuits consider the parodic movie pitch of a suicide bomber, in the stage play The Last 15 Seconds.
Moustapha Akkad has a cellphone conversation with his daughter Rima, in the stage play The Last 15 Seconds.
Moustapha Akkad and his family assemble for a family photo during his daughter Rima's marriage, an uninvited guest tries to photobomb, in the stage play The Last 15 Seconds.

MT Space & IMPACT Theatre Festival acknowledge the generous support of:

MT Space Sponsor and Partner Logos for the 2024 through 2025 season.

With gratitude and appreciation, MT Space acknowledges that we live, learn, and benefit within the boundaries of the Haldimand Tract, which includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. 
 
This is the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (Neutral Confederacy), Anishinaabeg (Ojibway, Mississauga, Chippewa, and Algonquin), and Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Six Nations including the Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca, Oneida, and Tuscarora Nations). 
 
We honour that these Nations of people have been living on, working on, and caring for this place from time immemorial and continue to do so today. 

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