Kim’s Convenience—the new CBC show about a Korean-owned convenience store in Regent Park—has a North Toronto connection! The ground-breaking comedy, which debuted this fall, is based on the play Kim’s Convenience written by NT alumnus, Ins Choi. The play successfully debuted in 2011 at the Toronto Fringe Festival, winning the Best New Play award with Ins both acting in and directing this production. The following year, Soulpepper Theatre remounted the play. An incredible hit, the production won the Toronto Theatre Critics and Best Canadian Play awards, and was nominated for the 2012 Dora Mavor Moore award for Outstanding New Play. After graduating from NT in the early ’90s, Ins attended York University and graduated from the acting program in 1998. Actor, playwright and poet, Ins is performing his celebrated one-man spoken-word play Subway Stations of the Cross at Wycliffe College, Toronto, on Saturday, November 26, starting at 7:00 p.m. For more on Ins Choi, visit http://inschoi.wixsite.com/inschoi

Lorraine Clarkson

An innovative backyard addition to a typical North Toronto home by award-winning Canadian architect and NT alumnus, Paul Raff, was recently featured in the Globe and Mail (June 3, 2016: http://evykb1pu18t3wms9b2yqgmtt.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/160603_GVR-004_Glencairn-House-Addition_The-Globe-and-Mail.pdf) and the National Post (July 23, 2016). The addition, described as “spirit in the sky from the backyard” and a “theme and variations” is, according to the National Post’s Martha Uniacke Breen, a brilliant combination of Paul’s belief that “there are spaces you design that are visually beautiful, with handsome materials, graceful lines and plenty of style. And there are designs that were primarily guided by the way the inhabitants want to live.” To read more about Paul Raff and the work of the Paul Raff Studio, visit http://paulraffstudio.com/ or http://torontolife.com/style/home/great-spaces-built-to-last/

Lorraine Clarkson