A Look Into Different Worlds - The Photo and Tribes

I missed a lot of first weekends while I was away so I caught the final weekend's offerings last night and Friday.

Friday night, I finally got to see The Photo by Dana Rayment.  It was presented as a workshop reading at Skirt's AFire Festival 2 years ago, but was on a Saturday afternoon and my Mom-Duties prevented me from getting to it, so I was pleased to hear that it would be presented as a full production by Theatre of the New Heart at C103.  My lovely friend Lisa was in town from Calgary so I also got to share with her a little of the #yegtheatre I am so proud of. It's a piece that probably needs trigger warnings as it was about a couple (Elena Porter and Michael Peng) dealing with the immediate aftermath of an at home stillbirth.  Each deals with it differently, Gina (Porter) fragmenting into a defense mechanism of denial and fantasy as she tries to take the perfect photo of her child's imagined life.  Mark (Peng) is hip deep in grief and confusion about how to help his wife and how to deal with the physical realities of the situation, not knowing whether to pander to Gina's fantasies or shake her into facing the truth of what has happened.  The script is well-crafted, giving us a little mystery about what exactly has happened at the beginning and building with inevitability to the final acceptance of both Gina and Mark.

Last night I took in Closing night of Tribes presented by Studio Theatre at the Timm's Centre as the MFA Production of Directing Candidate Amanda Bergen. Tribes was a fascinating look into what it is to be deaf within a hearing family.  The family (Ashley Wright, Judy McFerran, Mathew Hulshof, and Zoe Glassman) is loud and argumentative and at times a little unbearable, and deaf son Billy (Connor Yuzwenko-Martin) is often left out of parts of discussions as they make little effort to ensure he is able to see their faces to read lips.  When he asks for clarification, they summarize or brush off the details as unimportant. They have also kept him from the Deaf Community, having him learn to read lips and learn to speak and not learn to sign.  When he meets Sylvia (Bobbi Goddard), a girl with deaf parents who can sign and who is also going deaf, he falls in love and also learns to sign himself and it opens up a world of communication for him.  He struggles then to make his family meet him half-way in communication by learning to sign as well. It was a fascinating night.  We also went, by chance, on one of the two interpreted nights where four interpreters dressed in black and purple graced the stage alongside the action and signed all the speaking parts. The audience was roughly 50-75% deaf or hearing impaired and it made for a fantastic experience. The places that drew laughs were different for those who were hearing and those who weren't, sometimes because of the signing and sometimes because of what things actually meant to someone who was hearing vs. someone who was deaf.  It seemed to me, particularly with the piece, that the additional layer of interpreters onstage made it richer. I worried it would be distracting, but it was not, it was enriched. It has made me think about how we make theatre accessible for everyone.  I am not sure how to tackle it myself, but costs and staging for each show is so unique, but it would be interesting to look into how theatres could make their shows more accessible even when the shows are not specifically related to deaf issues. Wouldn't it be cool to see Shakespeare signed? Just thinking...

As a companion piece I recommend this article by Curious Arts about Tribes and Accessibility. There's also a link to a fundraising page where you can help pay for the the many interpreters who worked on the project.

Whirlwind Weekend! ... Next!

Had a great time this weekend rushing from thing to thing.  The boys took up a significant portion as they usually do, but with one organizing a play date for Friday evening and the other having a bowling party on Saturday afternoon it meant that I couldn't see as much as I wanted. Oh well, it happens and I can't really complain because I do get out to a lot of things. Plus I was happy to see them both engaging positively with their peers and since I didn't have to do much more than be there it was all good.

It did make for a bit of running around.  After Mark got home from work on Saturday I scooted off to catch some of the Skirts AFire Festival. I was treated to a magic show by Billy Kidd and then a reading of a work under development (Her Story) by Annette Loiselle and Nadien Chu.  It might be the playwright in me, but I really love play readings.  I also have a very strong visual imagination so I am not bothered by not having a full set and all the blocking.  Plus with the strength of the local talent for actors, I have rarely been disappointed with the presentation. The reading was compelling and I am curious to see its future development.  I know, as a playwright, that the opportunity to hear your work read in front of an audience can tell you a lot about where it needs to go next so I hope that these two ladies got what they needed from it.

Sunday was it's usual madness.  I took the boys to piano then met Mark for lunch and did the switch so I could head off to Peep Show and my play reading. I was ever so pleased with the reception of my piece and have so many idea of where to go next with it.  I was also delighted with the line up of work. It was wonderful to hear five strong and varied pieces by all the writers.  Some of the pieces were comedies, some were dramas, all five had a strong individual voice.  I am thankful to the actors - Karyn Mott, Lora Brovold, Alison Wells, and John Ullyat - for their great work in bringing the text alive.  And I am also thankful to Tracy Carroll who acted as both dramaturge and director and was a wonderful resource int he process.  As well, I am so happy to hear that Skirts AFire will definitely be on the go next year.  It was a great opportunity and based on the turn-out at the events I attended, it is a festival that people want to go to! Following Peep Show was a Closing Concert by Colleen Brown.  She was delightful and the final song of Bird on A Wire was simply beautiful.  A nice end.

Then off to my rehearsal and finally, several hours later, home to bed!  A busy time!

I also heard about the following upcoming events and encourage you to check out one or more of them:

Be The First to Hear These Plays...