Flush Ink Productions has been pushing the boundaries of traditional theatre since 2006 and has established four unique projects; Asphalt Jungle Shorts, She Speaks and UnHinged Festival of Disturbing Theatre. Incorporated in 2008, we have continued programming and forging forward. Established by Artistic Director, Paddy Gillard-Bentley, aside from occasionally presenting a full-length play, and U
rban Scrawlers, a playwright’s collective that has run off and on since for the past fifteen years, Flush Ink Productions presents three annual events. Asphalt Jungle Shorts - at the intersection of Theatre & Reality - challenges the perceptions of traditional theatre by taking it out of the theatre. This is Flush Ink Productions signature event - an evening of site-specific theatre in and around downtown Kitchener, and in the past, both Waterloo and St. In the past, we’ve presented two events a year, which is why 2026 will be our 23rd event, not including our shortened versions like Asphalt Jungle Hot Pants - part of IMPACT. Asphalt Jungle Shorts was the impetus for creating Flush Ink Productions. Since 2006, with just this event, we have presented over 350 plays from local playwrights, and playwrights in the USA, England, Ireland, Israel, and Brazil. Women's Words. Our artistic director was the president of the International Centre for Women Playwrights (ICWP) at that time, and created a project to elevate the voices of women in theatre set to coincide with International Women’s Day. At that time, only 18% of produced plays in North America were written by women. We have presented this event in various locations, including, restaurants and coffee shops, art galleries, and most interestingly, the council chambers at Kitchener’s City Hall. In the past three years, we have produced She Speaks as part of Neruda Arts’, She Creates. It was a very good fit for us, and has worked out well. In 2008, UnHinged, Festival of Site Specific Theatre was added to our repertoire. It became too complicated for our artistic director, to find the plays, locations and to be able to afford the event. In 2011, it transformed to UnHinged Festival of Disturbing Theatre, giving playwrights an opportunity to challenge the audience emotionally with theatre that is dark and disturbing. These are plays that are often overlooked by theatre companies not willing to take risks. UnHinged is preceded by Write or Flight that sees several playwrights taken to disturbing locations and left there to write a play, inspired by the atmosphere they've been left in. This has taken place in various versions since 2011, but the plays are staged during the UnHinged Festival - Write or Flight Response. Locations we have send playwrights included a haunted coachhouse at Homer Watson Gallery, backstage at a body building competition and in a barn full of nearly feral cats.
