Sifting Through the Rubble - (un)earthed presented by Undercurrent Theatre - A Theatre Preview

This week Undercurrent Theatre presents (un)earthed, premiering at the Arts-Based Research Studio (4-104 Education North, University of Alberta) on April 25, 26, and 27 at 7:30 PM. Undercurrent Theatre is an artist-run company dedicated to the critical exploration of society through the development of new theatrical works and community-engaged artistic projects. Tickets are by donation, and a talk-back follows each presentation. 

 About the Piece:

Sifting, digging, burying; planting, seeding, uprooting. A group of five women from various pockets of time and space are brought together. In defying materiality and temporality, they uncover a sense of place. (un)earthed investigates the nature of agency, power, and (second) chances.
Facilitated and Directed by Nikki Shaffeeullah 
Stage Management by Emily St Aubin 
Featuring Saima Butt, Neelam Chattoo, Aliya Jamal, Rebecca John, and Natalia Knowlton

The play (un)earthed is the final installment of the Staging Diversity project, a year-long series of theatre-based workshops and performances that explore themes of gender and race, and the practical component of Director Nikki Shaffeeullah's MFA Theatre Practice thesis.  Excessively current, it stems from research into questions about internal and external racism, Islamophobia, patriarch, xenoracist pseudo-feminism and the decolonizing of public cultural space.

About the development and creation of the piece:

"We worked on our feet, in conversation, and on paper. We found that we wanted to tell typically untold stories in ways that were accessible and dialogic. We want to tell stories that have universal resonance, without universalizing or appropriating the social particularities in which these stories originate. The result is (un)earthed: a play that collapses time and space to explore agency, opportunity, community, and what it means to be at “home” in a post colonial world."
                                                 - Nikki Shaffeeullah, Director

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