''Homegrown'' is a play about a friendship between a terrorist suspect and a writer.

It is based on the actual friendship that developed between Toronto writer Catherine Frid and

Shareef Abdelhaleem A database engineer, Friscolanti, Michael, Maclean's, "It Comes Down to These Four", June 9, 2008 Muhammad Shareef Abdelhaleem is one of 17 people initially arrested in the 2006 Toronto terrorism arrests. He is alleged to have plotted coordinated ...

, who was arrested with 17 other Muslims from the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater T ...

. According to theatre critic

Richard Ouzounian Richard Ouzounian (born March 8, 1950) is a Canadian journalist and theatre artist. He was the chief theatre critic for the ''Toronto Star'' and the Canadian theatre correspondent for ''Variety''. Early life, family and education Ouzounian was b ...

the Prime Minister's Office warned the public that the play presented a sympathetic portrayal of a terrorist—before the play had been performed.

David Akin David Akin is a Canadian reporter, currently the chief political correspondent for Global News. Akin's career began in 1993 with ''The Packet and Times'' in Orillia, Ontario, as the paper's city hall reporter. In 1995, he moved to ''The Chronic ...

, an

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

based political reporter for the ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

'', described the play as being important enough to justify traveling from Ottawa to Toronto for the play's premiere. The ''

Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...

'' republished one of Akin's articles on the play. According to Michael Wheeler, a prominent Canadian playwright, Akin "broke ranks" with the rest of the Parliamentary press gallery when he asked Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

about ''Homegrown'' prior to its opening night. According to Wheeler all reporters had agreed upon a question about a prominent issue of the day which they would all ask if they were called upon for a question from the Prime Minister. Some local writers and politicians were critical of the play, for what they described as its sympathetic portrayal of a "terrorist". Critics asserted that Frid should not have received government arts council funding to help support her writing the play. Frid defended her portrayal on the grounds that the case against Shareef was more complicated than was generally understood. James Moore, the

Heritage Minister A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizatio ...

cancelled funding for Summerworks in June 2011. Reporters widely assumed that the cancellation of support for SummerWorks was a politically motivated reaction to Frid's play. In response theatres across the country scheduled readings of the play.

References

{{Reflist Canadian plays 2010 plays