The area of post-colonial studies is primarily concerned with how societies and cultures have been affected through the processes of colonization, and Canada is considered by many literary and cultural critics to be such a nation not only due to its historical lineage as a settler colony but also by playing host to many multicultural immigrant communities that bring with them their own histories embedded in colonialism. Performing Back aims to generate discussion about the different kinds of theatrical and political output this country is generating, and fills a glaring void in current theatre scholarship in Canada. This collection of plays examines topics such as race, ethnicity, imperialism, and notions of "otherness" insofar as they intersect with the broader theme of post-colonial theatre. This first volume of the Contextualizing Canadian Theatre series includes Yvette Nolan's The Birds, a Native retelling of the Aristophanes play; Camyar Chai, Guillermo Verdecchia, and Marcus Youssef's The Adventures of Ali & Ali and the aXes of Evil, a satirical play on Western neo-colonial forays into Iraq; and Donna-Michelle St. Bernard's Salome's Clothes, a harrowing domestic tragedy set in Côte d'Ivoire.