Le Tour De FemFest

We have an exciting line-up of performances at this year’s FemFest including three touring shows we are excited to share with you! Like Mother, Like Daughter, 4inXchange and Raising Stanley/Living With Tulia are the free touring shows we are excited to be showcasing at this years FemFest. Here’s a little more about what to expect from these shows…

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Directed by Rose Plotek, Like Mother, Like Daughter weaves together stories from 12 pairs of mothers and daughters into a performance of unscripted conversations performed by the mothers and daughters themselves. At the end of each performance the audience is invited to join the mothers and daughters for a meal– to continue the conversations.

We are excited to welcome Why Not Theatre and their production. They will be bringing together mothers and daughters who were born outside of Canada (newcomers, as well as those who may have immigrated many years ago) as well as Indigenous mothers and daughters, in order to create and perform in a participatory project.

“Delicate, generous, inspiring, warm, funny, and in moments, heart-rending.” (Sprockets & Greasepaint).

4inXchange

A 70-minute interactive performance with three performers and four interactive spectators. Created, produced and performed by xLq (Jordan Campbell and Maddie Bautista [along with the help of Katherine Walker-Jones]) this touring team of three is sure to excite you all while providing thought-provoking questions.

“An interactive, site-specific game with four players and $1,000 cash- 4inXchange is a pop art business meeting that guides you through a series of dialogues, chances, competitions and meditations. Use the cash on the table to get to know your fellow participants, while xLq asks provocative questions about value, intimacy, love, and truth. Returns and exchanges guaranteed.”

FREE to book a spot to attend. 4inXchange culminates in a unique Pay-What-You-Choose process – please bring some cash of your own to participate.

4inXchange won the NOW Magazine Audience Choice Award at Summerworks2018 in Toronto, Ontario. Click here for a promotional video on 4inXchange: https://vimeo.com/290509007

Raising Stanley/Living with Tulia

 

The Journey from Puppy to Working Guide Dog for the Blind… Raising Stanley/Living with Tulia, is the story of two women and their relationships with guide dogs. Karen Bailey is a foster mom to puppies in training to be guide dogs and Kim Kilpatrick is a blind woman telling the story of her first guide dog.

 

“‘How are you ever going to give him up?’ is the question puppy walkers are asked most often by the public. Yes, it is difficult. Yes, we get attached. But like having children, we are happy and proud to see the puppy we raised go off to University (aka guide dog school) and get a job.

That’s what we signed up for as volunteers with Canadian Guide Dogs for the blind; our role is integral to the process.”- Karen Bailey

“What kind of dog would I get? I had said no preference. Some people would rather a boy or a girl, a Lab or a Golden, a dark or a light. I just wanted a living breathing guide dog that would make it easier for me to move through the world with grace, ease and dignity, just as I had always wanted.”- Kim Kilpatrick

See these as well as a long list of local performances at the FemFest 2019: All The World’s a Stage September 14-21. More information and festival line-up coming soon, we hope to see you there!

NEW BLOOD

As we get closer to Fem Fest 2019, we have brought on two new staff members eager to help us ring in the festival year! Please join us in welcoming Sami Desiree as our new Production Assistant and Brooklyn Kilfoyle as our new Marketing and Community Outreach Assistant.  We asked the girls to tell us a little bit about themselves so we can all get to know them a little better.

Sami Desiree is currently a production student at the University of Winnipeg. Her passion for theatre started at a young age when she began acting. She has since developed her interests and has begun working in various aspects of theatre including production, directing, designing and producing. Sami founded Beau Theatre Co in 2017 and since has produced four full productions with the company. She could not do any of it without the support of her partner Matt and her cat Zella.

Now, she joins the Sarasvàti team as our new Production Assistant! An opportunity Sami says she is, “excited and deeply grateful” for.

“I am blown away by the care Hope and the whole Sarasvàti team puts into their work.”- Sami Desiree

She cannot wait to be part of that initiative.

Currently, Sami is working on a summer tour with Beau Theatre Co, taking the show, Seascape with Sharks and Dancer, to Regina International Fringe Festival and Gimli’s A-Spire Theatre Festival. You may also catch her in a tech booth somewhere controlling light and sound.

Brooklyn Kilfoyle has been an active member of the theatre community from a young age. Her passion has always been performing; whether it is on a big stage under lights or in her living room dimly lit by the television. Brooklyn has recently completed her degree in Theatre with The University of Winnipeg. When she’s not performing, Brooklyn enjoys spending time with her friends and family, including (and quite often limited to) her dog and best friend Bowie. Currently, Brooklyn is rehearsing for the 2019 season of the Winnipeg Fringe, where she will be performing with her own company, 803 Productions. This is the first time Brooklyn has both written and will be performing her own work. The play is titled Growing Op and will be performed during The Winnipeg Fringe Festival at the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film.

Though her medium bends towards acting, she has joined the behind the scenes action of the theatre world with us at Sarasvàti Productions as our newest Marketing and Community Outreach Assistant!

“I am excited to be part of a theatre company that promotes positivity and change!”- Brooklyn Kilfoyle

Best of luck, Sami and Brooklyn! We’re happy to have you both on board.

Keep an eye out for more information on Fem Fest 2019, coming soon!

Celebrating New Works!

New name, new play…time for spring renewal! We’ll be back at Prairie Theatre Exchange’s Festival of New Works (formerly the Carol Shields Festival) for another year. This time we’ll be showcasing a reading of a former One Night Stand script turned full-length play by Wren Brian. A Fine Line was featured in our April 2018 One Night Stand scene-reading series and we’re proud to present the full script as part of the festival.

This dystopian war drama follows seven people as they struggle to cope with increasing conflict in their country. As their world is turned upside down, they must decide what they will or will not sacrifice in order to survive.

Wren Brian

Wren has worked with Sarasvàti Productions for many years and recently returned as our part-time administrator! She started her diverse career in Whitehorse, Yukon (territory of the Kwanlin Dün & Ta’an Kwäch’än) where she was born and raised. Currently based in Winnipeg on Treaty 1, Wren is a playwright as well as an arts administrator and producer. In her writing she is dedicated to creating characters that can be played by actors of any gender, ancestry, ability and/or age. Recently her play Anomie won the 2017 Rintoul Award for Best New Manitoba Play at the Winnipeg Fringe, and in October 2018 her play Bystander was premiered by Gwaandak Theatre in Whitehorse.

 

Tatiana Carnevale

Directing the reading is Tatiana Carnevale. Tatiana is based in Winnipeg (Treaty 1, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene people and homeland of the Métis nation). Select directing credits include: The Trump Card, Tigers Be Still (District Theatre Collective); One Night Stand, Shorts from the Short List (Sarasvàti Productions); You Were There, [title of show] (Pocket Frock Productions), and Godspell (Winnipeg Studio Theatre). Tat received her MA from the University of Guelph and BA from the University of Winnipeg. She is very excited to be collaborating with Wren and this wonderful group of artists on A Fine Line.

 

Performing A Fine Line are local actors Joshua Balzer, Hera Nalam, Matthew Paris-Irvine, Robert Piche, Anaka Sandhu, Amanda Shymko, and Sophie Smith-Dostmohamed. We’re excited to see how they bring this work to life onstage!

 

Anaka Sandhu

Amanda Shymko

 

Join us on Saturday, June 1 at 4PM for a reading of this powerful new script! We’ll be at PTE’s Mainstage, located on the third floor of Portage Place Shopping Centre. Admission to this event is free –a hat will be passed for contributions to support the festival.

Exploring Responses to Reconciliation

We’re excited to share what’s come out of Seven Visions: Reconciliation through Theatre project launch! We’ve had incredible audiences over the last few days respond to the notion of reconciliation. There’s one more chance to be part of the conversation tonight at 7pm!

We’ve had a great experience so far working with the amazing artists who are part of this project – here are just some of the reasons they’re excited to be involved as we look ahead to the next phase of the project!

“I’m very excited about this project because I feel like the perspective that comes forward in the play is very important – very comedic, very funny, very relatable – to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. I’m really excited to see how that affects the audience.” – Darla Contois, Performer, OUR HOME & native land and Indigenous Advisory Committee member

 

 

“As an artist engaged with this project, I’m hoping to work with some youth on creating art works that really bring forward their voices and their thoughts on reconciliation and what that means to them. The interactive art work we’re creating at the theatre allows for the public to come out and have their voices heard around reconciliation as well.” – Jaime Black, Visual Artist

“I think it’s really important to have reconciliation in theatre because it’s a very important way of communicating different styles. Historically speaking, theatre came from settler colonies – Britain, mainly – and First Nations and Indigenous peoples’ way of communicating and passing down knowledge has been storytelling. What is storytelling but performance and theatre? The coming together and meeting in that spot is really important for reconciliation.” – Nova Courchene, Indigenous Project Coordinator

 

 

“It’s been almost three years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report. It put out a challenge to all Canadians. While it was a legal proceeding and even bringing to bear the need for an apology, that doesn’t really bring reconciliation. What we present is an opportunity to have a difficult discussion in a creative and stimulating environment involving youth. There will be hard discussions and there will be hard topics, but it will also be creative and full of hope.” – Myra Tait, Vice President and Indigenous Advisory Committee member

 

 

We’ve had some incredible audience responses so far as community members interact with the art installations, writing down their thoughts and responses to how each of us can do our part for reconciliation. One audience member mentioned that growing up, Indigenous peoples’ history wasn’t taught in her school and it wasn’t until much later in life that she was able to learn more about her own history. Starting this project with a focus on youth allows for an earlier connection to one’s roots. As well, discussions after OUR HOME & native land focused on how each of us can avoid being a “George”: admitting when we don’t know something and recognizing the importance of listening when others have something to teach us.

Discussions from this event will also help us as we move forward in shaping the full production for May 2020. Huge thank you to Patrick Rabago for these incredible photos from the event so far! For more information on the project, check out our website.

Bringing Seven Visions to Life

Last week we posted about what Indigenous youth brought up in our seven consultation circles, this week it’s time for visual artist Jaime Black to echo their comments in an interactive art installation!

Jaime is a Metis multidisciplinary artist and is well known for her REDress Project which she created to give voice to the hundreds of murdered and missing Indigenous women across Canada. For this project she is finding a way to visually represent ideas of the Indigenous youth who participated in the consultation circles and transmit that to audiences of Seven Visions: Reconciliation Through Theatre. There will be an opportunity for all attending to interact with and add to visual representations as we continue the conversation of what reconciliation means.

Audiences will be able to participate prior to the reading of Jo MacDonald’s play OUR HOME & native land (so feel free to come early!), during intermission, or after we’ve completed the presentation. While we’ll be holding conversation circles, we understand talking about these issues may not be the best form of communication for everyone. This is why Jaime has been part of the project since the beginning. Our aim with this presentation is to share what we’ve learned so far and to gather more information on current thoughts and feelings about reconciliation and treaty relations. We want everyone to feel comfortable doing so in whatever medium they choose.

Starting Wednesday Jaime has been setting up several stations throughout the theatre. She is using a variety of materials to provide several options for audiences to engage with. Including fabric, paper, and even rocks! While that’s a lot of material, she’s still leaving room for us to set up conversation circles, and space for our actors.

Also helping to bring the public presentation to life are actors Darla Contois, Patricia Hunter, Kevin Klassen, Marsha Knight, and Spenser Payne with Stage Manager Tamera Grace reading stage directions! With the guidance of director Heidi Malazdrewich these actors have been hard at work rehearsing Jo’s witty play confronting treaty violations and our history. Their rehearsals have been filled with laughs and deep conversations, and we’re excited to share this play with audiences during our Seven Visions presentations!

If interactive art installations and a great cast aren’t enough incentive to come out, there will also be food at intermission. And, the presentations are pay-what-you-can-afford. What is there not to love?

Book your tickets today on our website or call our office to reserve (204-586-2236). We will also accept cash, cheque or credit card at the door. For more information please visit our website by clicking here!

 

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