Queer & Trans Play Reading Series
October & November 2023
Gwaandak Theatre is participating in a first-of-its-kind new play development model and virtual reading series as part of a theatre consortium that includes Zee Zee Theatre (Vancouver), Theatre Outré (Lethbridge), Persephone Theatre (Saskatoon), Theatre Projects Manitoba (Winnepeg), Native Earth Performing Arts (Toronto), Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (Toronto), Imago Theatre (Montreal), and Neptune Theatre (Halifax). After reviewing 241 applications, the Consortium invited the following artists into the unit: Tyra Ashauntie Gill (Yukon), Smokii Sumac (British Columbia), Elio Zarrillo (Manitoba), Nathaniel Hanula-James (Ontario), and Robyn Vivian (Newfoundland).
Why Gwaandak Theatre Is Doing This: “There is a gap in the Canadian Theatre ecology of Northern 2SLGBTQ+ Indigenous writers for theatre – put simply we would like to help fill that gap through our engagement with this consortium, and the eventual playwrights unit. Gwaandak Theatre continues to strive to create meaningful opportunities for Northern and Indigenous Artists, and this unit led by Zee Zee Theatre is in alignment with our values. We are inspired by the potential outcomes, as well as the support provided by this unit to selected individuals. Gwaandak Theatre is keen to work with an Indigenous Northern individual throughout the Unit, and eventual production of their play at the end of the Unit – in order to do so we need to see a strong proportion of applications from Northern Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ individuals.”
The Change We Want To See: “I would like to see a shift away from theatre that explores the most common experience. I find many theatrical performances to inadvertently be a homogenizing force in Canadian culture – reinforcing colonial values through the re – creation of plays by long gone citizens of Empires, and those living colonists that look to Empires alone for inspiration. This unit is an opportunity to make 5 changes, to plant 5 seeds that will grow through the consortiums efforts and that will have a ripple effect on the artistic landscape around them – I want to see plants I have never dreamed of, I want to see plants that seed more opportunities, I want to see plants Empire failed to extinguish.”
– Colin Wolf, Executive and Artistic Director, He/They
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
October 21st – Vancouver BC – Equinox by Robyn Vivian (Dramaturgy: Lara Lewis; Presented by: Zee Zee Theatre Company, in partnership with the Cultch)
October 28th – Halifax, NS – Death and Dolores by Nathaniel Hanula-James (Dramaturgy: Sadie Berlin; Presented by: Neptune Theatre)
November 4th – Saskatoon, SK – Constellation by Tyra Ashauntie Gill (Dramaturgy: Yvette Nolan; Presented by: Persephone Theatre)
November 12th – Lethbridge, AB – PEACHES by Elio Zarrillo (Dramaturgy: Erik Berg; Presented by: Theatre Outré)
November 18th – Montreal, QC – Seven and One Heart by Smokii Sumac (Dramaturgy: Yolanda Bonnell; Presented by: Imago Theatre)
Readings are taking place at 3:00 PM PT/5:00 PM CT/7:00 PM AT and are streaming online and in-person across Canada with a facilitated conversation following each reading. To buy tickets or to find out more about the playwrights, creative teams, and participating theatres, please go to zeezeetheatre.ca/production/queer-trans-playwriting-series/.
