8 Days of Stellar Theatre

Let the countdown begin! Just two days until we take over the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film and some other spaces to showcase the best in Canadian theatre by women for everyone. You bet we are beyond excited for FemFest 2017: Coming of Age.

This year’s festival is jam-packed with stuff you won’t find anywhere else. Our 15th annual festival is guaranteed to leave a lasting impact on you.  Here’s the festival breakdown to help you plan your FemFest-filled week!

Ivan Coyote Reading
SEPT 16 • 4 PM

FemFest brings you the opportunity to meet & greet this multiple award-winning writer and LGBTQ advocate. This event is free and catered by Elements Restaurant—need we say more?

Opening Cabaret and Reception
SEPT 16 • 7 PM

Our beloved annual variety show is back! The cabaret includes pizza from Garbonzo’s U of Winnipeg AnX and wine courtesy of The Winehouse. You won’t want to miss this!

Tomboy Survival Guide
SEPT 17 • 8 PM at the West End Cultural Centre

Part anthem, part campfire story, and part instructions for the dismantling of the gender stories we tell ourselves and each other.  Prepare to dance and shout!

Bake-Off
SEPT 18 • 7PM

FemFest-favourite returns to stage five new scenes written by playwright’s under-the-wire.

Kit and Joe
by Jessy Ardern
SEPT 18 • 9 PM

Bake-Off winner Jessy Ardern left us on a cliff-hanger with her scene last year. Now it’s time to find out what really happened between Kit and Joe all those years ago.

Grounded Heroes
by Castlemoon Theatre
SEPT 19 • 7 PM

Bring your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews to this reading of a new play for ages 6 and up!

Two Indians
by Falen Johnson

SEPT 19 • 9 PM,  SEPT 20 • 9 PM,  SEPT 21 • 7 PM,  SEPT 22 • 9 PM

When the words missing and murdered, truth and reconciliation, occupation and resistance are everywhere, how do two Mohawk women stand their ground?

New Beginnings
SEPT 20 • 7 PM, SEPT 23 • 4 PM

Join us for the launch of Sarasvàti Productions’ next community-based project featuring speaker Ali Saeed.

Watching Glory Die
by Judith Thompson
Produced by Mulgrave Road Theatre
SEPT 21 • 2:30 PM,  SEPT 21• 9 PM,  SEPT 22 • 7 PM

Inspired by the true story of New Brunswick teen Ashley Smith,   this one-woman show is must-see theatre!

Human Library™
In partnership with the Winnipeg Public Library (at the Millennium Library)
SEPT 21 • 4 PM – 8 PM,  SEPT 22 • 1 PM – 4 PM,  SEPT  23 • 1 PM – 4 PM

Real people are on loan to readers for discussion. Difficult questions are expected, appreciated and answered.

One Night Stand and a toast to 15 years!
Coordinated by Tatiana Carnevale
SEPT 23 • 7 PM

This city is home to female playwrights who challenge us, question us, inspire us and make us laugh. Check out their newest work in development along with a reading by guest playwright Judith Thompson. Made possible with the support of the Playwrights’ Guild of Canada and the Canada Councils’ PlayConnect program.

Tickets are selling fast! Get yours in advance.

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Spring into FemFest 2017 with a daring Cabaret

We absolutely love launching into FemFest with a dazzling Cabaret showcase of some of the most talented entertainers this city has to offer. The Cabaret has it all: everything from music, dance, comedy, theatre, film and a party to follow! Come and celebrate the launch of our 15^th annual FemFest with us and enjoy this unstoppable line up of entertainment.

BUNNY

Arguably Winnipeg’s best all-female-90’s-R&B-comedy-ukulele-duo, Bunny members B-Rabbit and HunnyBunny’s charming and unapologetic attitude will take you by surprise. This is the perfect duo to host the opening Cabaret, singing about everything from Instagram to networking to unsatisfying sex, this disarming pair doesn’t shy away from taboo subjects and real-life problems.

Prairie Caravan Tribal Bellydancers

The awe-inspiring Prairie Caravan Tribal Bellydancers are back to entertain at another Cabaret! “Our women are a gorgeous mix of sizes, ages, and certainly personalities, but that is the beauty of Tribal”, says the troupe. “We are proud to say our troupe represents FIVE decades of age ranges among our ladies, proving that age is only a state of mind.”

Chimwemwe Undi

Chimwemwe Undi is a local poet and linguist, who has performed across Canada and the UK, and has been published widely. We’ve been hoping Chim would be in town for the Cabaret for a couple years now and we are so excited to have finally have her here to perform for all of you!

Phenomenal talents RobYn Slade and Jane Testar of Outside Joke take you on the wildly fun, unpredictable ride that is 50/50 Improv-Theatre Fusion. Actors have learned their half of the scene while talented improvisers go in blind. Audiences watch as each unlikely pair creates non-stop entertainment that will never be seen again.

RobYn Slade and Jane Testar

Logan Jax

Logan Jax is a Cabaret past fave! Born on the day of Elvis, Logan took his first steps back in May 2015. Now, Logan is exploring his new voice and the world around him as his authentic self. Logan is writing, but not by way of music. Logan is writing policy that would protect transgender inmates from discrimination and violence in Manitoba prisons. While Logan isn’t busy smashing the patriarchy, he’s cuddling with his beautiful daughter who lights his life.

 

“I am a Sign Language Interpreter (by day) and have not done enough Stand Up to even call myself a stand-up comedian!”, says Dianna Rasing. But the audiences who saw Rasing’s breakout stand up set at Sick & Twisted’s Lame Is… a disability cabaret would say otherwise! Although brand new to stand up, Dianna’s sense of humour shines strong. You might also recognize her from the 2016 Winnipeg Fringe Festival where she wrote & performed Seducing Father Brian.

 

Charlene Moore

Charlene Moore is the director and producer of Moccasin Stories as well as a masters student of the Indigenous Governance program at the University of Winnipeg . “Moccasin Stories is my way of educating Manitoba on the reason for loss of this skillful craft”, says Moore, “[of] how this skill is coming back, and how resourceful, skillful, strong, and powerful Indigenous women are.” We are thrilled to give you a sneak peek of this awesome new film.

Ady Kay, Emily Solstice and Victoria Emilie Hill combine forces to perform Green.  Ady and Victoria are recent graduates of the Honours Acting Program at the U of W, and have continued to work together on projects such as The Patriarchy, their two-woman Acapella band.  Emily Solstice is a dancer in the School of Contemporary Dancers Senior Professional Program and has worked as a choreographer and performer in Winnipeg and across Canada.   They aspire to create meaningful movement based work and collaborate with other artists working in various mediums.

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Connie Chappel

Visual art joins our Cabaret thanks to MAWA. Connie Chappel’s piece Away from the Dark is a mixed media assemblage sculpture composed of familiar forms that reference the natural landscape and investigate life cycles through connections of fragments that transform from one material, structure or state to another.  Away from the Dark will be displayed in the theatre all evening.

Kaitlin Aiello

Rachel Smith

Mindy and Marge are worldly travellers! The nomadic duo has done so much travelling that they feel it is their duty to pass on their wisdom to others. You may have already received expert travel advice from them if you saw Tourology: A Mindy and Marge Adventure as part of the Winnipeg and Edmonton Fringe Festivals in 2015, or Iceology: A Mindy and Marge Adventure as part of One Trunk Theatre’s Dollhouse of Commons last winter. Now enjoy Worldly Rituals: A Mindy and Marge Presentation at the Cabaret!

Stick around and mingle over pizza generously supplied by Garbonzo’s at the U of W AnX and wine from The Winehouse at our reception party after the show. We can’t wait to launch FemFest 2017 with you!