The characters in Exile in the Cradle are confronted with the looming threat of loss through death, assimilation, and acculturation. The play begins during the early moments of the Armenian Genocide in April 1915 then moves to the present in Toronto, where several generations of Armenians cope with the imminent break-up of their family. Faced with the forces of assimilation, some individuals willingly yield to claim their future, while others out of fear cling to a past that is becoming more and more distant. The characters choose their form of exile, either from the past or from the future. In his ³Notes Towards an Armenian Diaspora Theatre,² Lorne Shirinian articulates some of the fundamental ideas underlying his theatre.