A FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT MODEL & VIRTUAL READING SERIES.
October 21 & 28,
November 4, 12, & 18, 2023
3:00 PM PT | 5:00 PM CT | 7:00 PM AT
Streaming Online and In-Person Across Canada
Facilitated conversation to follow each reading.
Project Lead | Cameron Mackenzie
Reading Producer | Bronwyn Carradine
Lead Dramaturg | Joanna Garfinkel
IN-PERSON TICKETS:
Queer & Trans Playwriting Unit Consortium:
FULL LIST OF PARTNER COMPANIES & PLAYWRIGHTS HERE
Zee Zee has identified a gap that exists in the Canadian theatre ecology. Time and again there is a lack of queer and trans plays being produced on stages across Canada. What started as a four year hunt for our own programming purposes, led to a country-wide conversation with many other artists and producers who all share the view that as curators, producers and presenters of theatrical seasons it is a challenge to find queer and trans focused work.
To rectify this, Zee Zee has established a new model for play creation and dissemination, in order to ensure more equitable representation of 2SLGBTQ+ artists and stories on Canadian stages, as well as strengthen and deepen the bonds of professional artists and collaborators across the country, while ultimately furthering equality for all queer and trans people.
Join us in celebration of the culmination of this 10 month project with readings happening both live and in-person across the country throughout the fall.
Generously supported by TD Bank, Canada Council for the Arts, 100 Gay Men for a Cause, Canadian Heritage.
FIND OUT ABOUT THE PLAYS:
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Equinox by Robyn Vivian
Dramaturgy: Lara Lewis
Presented by: Zee Zee Theatre Company, in partnership with the Cultch (Vancouver, BC)
Deep in the woods, somewhere not very far from here, there’s been a very exciting development in the field of modern medicine: a cutting-edge, state-of-the-art inpatient treatment and psychiatric research facility.
With access to some of the world’s top doctors, and every material need (and want!) provided for, the clinic boasts unfathomable success rates, rave reviews, and the easiest ‘yes’ its patients will ever give: a six-month stay onsite, with part-time participation in field research, in exchange for any and all required therapy, treatments, and surgeries — and unbridled euphoria.
It’s the ultimate evolution — at 100% coverage.
And Avis and Ursa are 100% onboard.
At first.
The thing is, there’s something not-quite-right about this arrangement. The seasons are changing. Again. Time behaves strangely in this place. The staff more strangely still. (Like, what’s the deal with that weird custodian?)
And even for a medical facility, there’s an awful lot of stuff being tested around here.
Bodies.
Neurology.
Sex.
Desire.
Relationships.
Play.
Patience …
But everyone has a breaking point.
And when push comes to shove, creatures in captivity will make very interesting choices.
Content Warnings: Genocide, medical discrimination/ trauma, transphobia, explicit sexual content.
ARTISTIC TEAM
PLAYWRIGHT – Robyn Vivian
Robyn Vivian is an actor and playwright currently based in St. John’s, Ktaqmkuk/Newfoundland. She holds a BFA in Theatre (Acting) from Memorial University. Select performance credits include: Sideshow Absurdica (Under The Bridge Productions); The Kraken and The Brass Button Man (Under The Bridge Productions/Salt Teeth Theatre Co./RCAT); The Tales of Dwipa (White Rooster Theatre/RCAT); and I want that free mind! and Cross Stitch (Power Productions/lemonTree creations). Production credits include: I Forgive You, The Imaginary Real, and Everybody Just C@lm the F#ck Down (Artistic Fraud); Room For a Pony (Persistence Theatre); and The Fire Kedgy’s Howl (Neighbourhood Dance Works/National Arts Centre).
DIRECTOR – Jack Bumbala
Sprouting in The unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe Nation (Ottawa, ON), Jack Bumbala (They/Them), graduated from The Canterbury Dramatic Arts Program before rooting down in Vancouver, BC where they finished their “formal” education at Studio 58 (production). Jack is an eccentric artist, who spends way too much time observing pop culture, fashion and our ever changing, unstable world. They hope to translate their love of learning and observation into unique and important theatre. Credits include: Costume Designer for the Expressions Theatre Festival(Arts Umbrella), Assistant Director for In My Day directed by Shawn MacDonald and Assistant Director for My Little Tomato directed by Cameron Mackenzie. Leaping forward Jack strives to translate their love of learning and observation, through directing and the creation of their own work.
DRAMATURGE – Lara Lewis
Lara Lewis (she/her) is a queer and trans mixed Mi’kmaq/Northwest Euro-settler theatre artist living in Kouwa’qamikt at Kjipuktuk (colonially Halifax, NS), on the unceded land of her ancestors. Lara works primarily as a dramaturge, actors, and writer. As an actor, she prioritzes work in the Dawnland, while her other pursuits take her elsewhere. Her first script, I See You, an experimental performance artwork, was performed at Mayworks Kjipuktuk/Halifax in 2023, and most recently, her full-length script Weltamultiek was read at Nightwood Theatre’s Groundswell Festival.
Trained through mentorship chiefly from Pamela Halstead, but also Natasha MacLellan, Richie Wilcox, Jenny Munday, and a series of other perfect queens, Lara has been a resident dramaturge at several retreats and festivals including Fresh From the Island (Georgetown, PEI), PARC Retreat (Sackville, NB), and NotaBle Acts (Fredericton, NB). She also works independently, a pursuit which has brought her collaboration with writers from across the Atlantic Provinces, Ontario, Quebec, and New York.
@ thisislaralewis
CAST
Kitra Jeanne – AVIS
Kitra is thrilled to help bring this new wonderful work to life and would like to thank Robyn for sharing this story with us.
Big hugs & gratitude to the Zee Zee Theatre team for supporting young Queer/Trans voices and helping us be heard in this time of global challenges. The beauty of theatre is to hold and cherish the human experience, to reach out and ensure that no one feels alone.
Sabrina Symington – URSA
Victoria Bell – SNAKE
Katie Voravong – THE CHILD
Katie Voravong is a theatre artist based in “Vancouver” who has worked in performance, writing, stage management and direction with companies such as Studio 58, the Chop, the frank theatre, ITSAZOO, Green Thumb, jkjk, and Neworld theatre. Most recent endeavours include assistant directing with Carousel Theatre for The Three Little Pigs, living in Asia from January-July, and being the Production Assistant for Wrecked with the Vancouver Fringe Festival. Katie centers their artistry with compassion and empathy, and is immensely grateful that they get to do something they love while getting to meet so many awesome individuals. Katie is an acting graduate of Studio 58 and is currently part of the Arts Club’s Actor’s Intensive.
Samantha Levy – THE OTHER(S)
Samantha Levy (she/her) is a theatre artist who works as a performer, director, writer and teacher. Born and raised in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal), she is now based in so-called Vancouver. Samantha is a recent graduate from the Acting program at Studio 58. She was nominated for a 2022 Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding Performance in a Theatre for Young Audiences piece for her work on Le merveilleux voyage d’Inès de l’Ouest (Emilie Leclerc, Théâtre La Seizième). You may have also seen her in the East Van Panto: Alice In Wonderland (Roe / Elliott / Testini, Theatre Replacement), Metamorphoses (Daniela Atiencia, Studio 58), or in the most recent iteration of her solo show, Wrecked (Raugi Yu, Vancouver Fringe Festival).
Community Partners – Realwheels, Live Educate Transform Society
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Death and Dolores by Nathaniel Hanula-James
Dramaturgy: Sadie Berlin
Presented by: Neptune Theatre (Halifax, NS)
Toronto, 1950. Halloween. Gladys Potter, scientific-luminary-in-the-making, swans into a gay bar for the very first time. She’s dressed as a cuttlefish. No one gets it. Also, she might be the only Black person there.
Toronto, 2023. Dolores, an archivist at a queer museum, stumbles upon the story of Gladys Potter. Raised colourblind by a white father and Black mother, Dolores yearns for a deeper connection to Blackness. When a mysterious being named Idontknowher appears, Dolores follows them down, down, down, into the Underworld, determined to meet Gladys. But all knowledge comes with a price.
Sometimes, that price is the last remaining ticket to a Mariah Carey concert.
Sometimes, it’s a meeting with your ancestors.
Every.
Single.
One.
Content Warnings: Internalized racism, shadeism, racist micro-aggressions, references to histories of colonization and slavery, loud overlapping sounds.
Saturday, November 4, 2023
Constellation by Tyra Ashauntie Gill
Dramaturgy: Yvette Nolan
Presented by: Persephone Theatre (Saskatoon, SK)
Join the story of a group of four teenagers navigating life and their sense of self in a small Indigenous rural community. Winter comes back from the city for the summer and soon realizes she may not be as welcomed back as she hoped. She goes on to spend time with her group of best friends. Winter, Nunkra, Emma and Clem soon discover that things are not always as they appear the older they get as they butt heads doing their best to understand life. The four continue to march through the madness of their small town, growing up, dysfunctional families, and blossoming romances all while trying to stick closely together and to keep life the same as before. Will they stick close together as they have for years or will the pain of growing be too much for this friend group?
Content Warnings: Homophobia, emotional abuse, transphobia homophobic slurs/hate speech, addiction.
Sunday, November 12, 2023
PEACHES by Elio Zarrillo
Dramaturgy: Erik Berg
Presented by: Theatre Outre (Lethbridge, AB)
Set in a peach orchard, PEACHES tells the story of Greg and Prince, a peach farmer and his apprentice, who grow a play and decide to put it on. Can a sharp 2-hander set in an elevator in a hospital, staged on a peach farm help Greg and Prince save all that’s gone bad between them?
Content Warnings: Physical violence, transphobia, public urination, suggestions of horrible things not explicitly described.
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Seven and One Heart by Smokii Sumac
Dramaturgy: Yolanda Bonnell
Presented by: Imago Theatre (Montreal, QC)
In this riveting queer and trans love story, we see a group of 2SQ folks sorting out what it means to be themselves while living in the small town Ktunaxa ʔamakʔis (territories). At a new moon gathering held at Sev’s land (bought with inheritance from his late father), Sev is wrestling with what it means to be a settler on his friend One Heart’s territory. He takes One Heart to the side and asks him about how to do a land acknowledgment Little do they know that this ask will take them on a journey across worlds as Sev reckons with the violent histories of his ancestors and One Heart tries to make sense of what is happening through his own cultural knowledges and frameworks.