Did I Just Say That?
Read moreL-R: Soprano Eva Tavares as Cecilia, and Canadian-Asian Mezzo-Soprano Emma Parkinson as Gabriella in Did I Just Say That?
In the Shadow of the Mountains
Update: February 9, 2022
We're thrilled that In the Shadow of the Mountains was curated as part of Ruby Slippers Theatre's 2022 Advance Theatre Festival at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts (Burnaby, BC) on February 8th at 8pm for a Studio Theatre and livestreamed reading!
Back row: June Fukumura, Angela Chu, Lauren Preissl, Sharon Crandall, Odessa Shuquaya
Front row: Donna Soares, Jordan Waunch, Ray Koh, Evan Adams, Raugi Yu
Directed by Valerie Sing Turner, with dramaturgy by Debi Wong, the stage directions were read by Chris Gatchalian, who also moderated the post-show talkback. The audience was complimentary about the performances of the talented cast of 10 Indigenous and East Asian actors, and were even more impressed upon learning that the cast had only started rehearsals that morning!
With pandemic restrictions starting to ease, we are hoping to attract producing partners to support a longer and more robust workshop process that such a large ensemble piece requires, before moving on to a full production.
Synopsis: It’s 1988. A family gathers to discuss what to do with Esther, a Chinese-Canadian WWII veteran, as they can no longer ignore her growing dementia. She keeps talking to Victor, her beloved brother, whose death she blames on the Japanese when he volunteered to serve in the Pacific arena during World War II. Her husband George, an Indigenous WWII veteran, was Victor’s best friend. Their son, Gary, arrives with his Caucasian wife, Joanna, and their 18-year-old daughter Lucy. Things are already tense when estranged elder daughter, Nancy, shows up with husband, Ken, and their two daughters Denise and Andrea, who have never met Esther and George because Ken is Japanese-Canadian and Esther refuses to acknowledge his existence. But the real fireworks begin when Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announces his plan to apologize to the Japanese Canadians who were interned during WWII. Will the weight of Canadian history tear them apart?
Read moreThe Road Forward
Created and directed by Marie Clements
Read more...three magnificent divas--[Jennifer] Kreisberg, Cheri Maracle, and Michelle St. John...combined fierceness and vocal power [to] quite literally "take [our] words away" (to paraphrase the song...)...a powerful experience...
Peter Dickinson - Performance, Place and Politics
CultureBrew.Art
ARTISTS! THE CULTUREBREW.ART ARTIST PORTAL IS OPEN!
The CultureBrew.Art Artist Portal is open! If you are an Indigenous or a racialized artist, join now to set up your artist profile, add your disciplines, marketable skills, portfolio items (audio, video, and images), and other information that will ensure that when the Engager Portal opens, they can easily find you for opportunities, gigs, and other work. You can browse the profiles of other BIPOC artists, and connect with them through our private and secure internal messaging system!
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ABOUT CULTUREBREW.ART
CultureBrew.Art (CBA) is a digital platform that promotes and fosters intersectional interculturalism throughout the literary, performing, and media arts sectors – and beyond! Its central tool is a national searchable database of Indigenous and racialized artists – writers, directors, actors, musicians, dancers, singers, filmmakers, designers, choreographers, composers, stage managers, production and other performing and media arts professionals – to which theatres, dance and opera companies, film/TV casting directors, indie directors/producers, schools and post-secondary training programs, social service agencies, ad agencies, media outlets, and governmental agencies may access as subscribers. Other digital tools and educational enhancements will be added as demand dictates and funding allows.
We welcome creators, performers, and any other design/technical/production professionals in the performing, literary, and media arts who self-identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour).
CBA will be a powerful tool for building a more inclusive arts sector that more authentically reflects Canada by promoting Indigenous and racialized artists; increasing hiring opportunities for BIPOC; and fostering intercultural connection, community, and artistic collaboration. CBA is searchable by gender, racial/ethnic heritage (Indigenous, African, East Asian, Latin American, South Asian, West Asian (Middle Eastern), mixed ethnic heritage), languages, artistic disciplines, and other fields as determined by research data gathered through community consultations.
Based on input from accessibility testers as well as artist and engager feedback, we are constantly making improvements and updates to CultureBrew.Art to increase user-friendliness, and improve ease of navigation.
Key members of our team include Creative Director Valerie Sing Turner and Technical Director Anju Singh.
For those with privacy concerns, please note that CBA will not be a public database; artists and potential subscribers will need to register for log-in access. The privacy and safety of our artistic community is a priority; please see our privacy policy here.
It's been said that farmers don't grow crops; they create the essential conditions for crops to grow. CBA will be a vital tool to break systemic divides, disrupt institutionalized structures, and create conditions under which BIPOC artists – and by extension, the wider Canadian arts ecology – can thrive. We are therefore grateful for support from:
