Jordyn Wood’s lifelong love of writing leads zombie tale Vascular Necrosis to the stage
New blend of horror, dark comedy, and queer romance emerges from Touchstone Theatre development program and Glitch Theatre’s disability-led approach
Vascular Necrosis’s Evelyn Chew, Gabrielle Nebrida-Pépin, and Marguerite Hanna. Photo by Chelsea Stuyt
Touchstone Theatre and Glitch Theatre present Vascular Necrosis at the NEST from October 7 to 18
KICKING OFF BOTH Touchstone Theatre and Glitch Theatre’s 2026–27 seasons, Vascular Necrosis channels playwright Jordyn Wood’s love of horror movies into a post-pandemic allegory where flesh-eating zombies are given a second chance at life.
The initial idea came to Wood in 2022, just as stringent COVID-19 measures were waning across Canada. Wood recalls walking and feeling like a zombie during a bad mental health day, before coming home to write out the idea. Following this impulse would lead Wood to be chosen for Touchstone Theatre’s early-career incubator, Flying Start, and now, to the play’s upcoming world premiere.
“It was definitely inspired by that time in my life where I really had to deal with this creep of returning to normal when I wasn’t ready physically,” says Wood in conversation with Stir.
Wood credits Flying Start and Touchstone Theatre artistic associate Daniela Atiencia (the director of this production) for giving Vascular Necrosis the time and space it needed to be ready for the stage.
“I think it’s sort of funny, but Daniela is not a zombie person,” says Wood. “It helped strengthen my own world-building instead of just, because you have to shoot a zombie in the head. I had to justify it in my own world dramaturgically rather than just rely on tropes of the past.”
Growing up in Alberta, Wood became a self-professed fan of the horror genre and began writing at a young age. “I’ve been writing pretty much as soon as I learned how to write,” Wood says, referring to the stacks of journals they still have of stories they wrote as a kid. While they performed in some high school and community theatre productions, they didn’t get into playwriting until they joined SFU’s theatre program to pursue acting.
“Through that, I realized I love making my own work, like devising things and integrating different tech elements,” says Wood. “It brought me back to writing because of these devising processes. I’ve definitely come home to playwriting.”
Blending zombie lore, dark comedy, and queer romance, Vascular Necrosis is also a disability-led production that Wood believes will resonate with a wider audience. Having come to accept their disability during the pandemic, Wood wants to give audiences “a bit of hope”, no matter how they identify.
“There’s definitely the theme of: we all went through this thing together, but no two people experienced the same pandemic,” Wood adds. “Just because I am living with mental health disability, chronic illness disability, it doesn’t have to just be a barrier. It can be something that makes me a better storyteller, a better carer, and a better producer in my role.”
Wood is the company producer at Glitch Theatre, which rebranded from Realwheels Theatre in 2025. The disability-led company approaches disability not only through a medical lens, but as a political identity and community. Alongside managing co–artistic director Shawn Macdonald and co–artistic director Adam Grant Warren, Wood has worked to expand Glitch’s representation of disability beyond physical disabilities to a broader spectrum of experiences.
“I think for us, it’s been [about] having representation not just onstage, but also as part of the team, and not just for representation’s sake,” says Wood. “For our production of Faye’s Room, we had a majority neurodivergent cast, designers, and directing team, and we got feedback like ‘I don’t have to explain myself in this room because everybody gets it.’ It created a working environment for those artists that was so fruitful to bringing a story of autism to life in that production.”
Alongside the fulfillment of producing and supporting other artists, Wood admits a highlight of their journey with Vascular Necrosis has been returning to the magic of the rehearsal experience.
“I’ve read this play a million times over and they still find ways to surprise me with a different delivery or a different offer,” Wood says, referring to a cast that includes Gabrielle Nebrida-Pépin, Evelyn Chew, Marguerite Hanna, Brynna Drummond, and Terrence Zhou. “It’s just been so incredible to witness the care and passion they have for this production, and we’re also just having so much fun in the room.”
As Vascular Necrosis reaches its premiere, the production is also helping raise awareness of Touchstone’s fundraising campaign for Flying Start, currently the only program in Canada dedicated to helping early-career playwrights bring their first professional productions to life. Previous recipients of the two-year residency include playwrights Zahida Rahemtulla for The Wrong Bashir, Amy Lee Lavoie for C’mon, Angie!, and Jordan Hall for How to Survive an Apocalypse. 
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