Thanks to everyone who participated in readings of Motherhouse and Bolsheviki
OTTAWA We had a very successful reading today, with a very engaged crowd of over 40 people. The readers were great and interacted well with the three musicians we had with us. The discussion after was passionate and political, with the audience really participating fully in the experience with their comments.
Jodi Essery was one of the readers: she teaches theatre and was a theatre critic. She told several people that the process of doing this really affected her: she wasn't sure about the politics going into it, but she said that then it really clicked, by doing it and by hearing the audience discussion at the end.
We raised $400 for the War Resisters Support Campaign!
Jodi Essery was one of the readers: she teaches theatre and was a theatre critic. She told several people that the process of doing this really affected her: she wasn't sure about the politics going into it, but she said that then it really clicked, by doing it and by hearing the audience discussion at the end.
We raised $400 for the War Resisters Support Campaign!
KINGSTON A full house at Box Theatre in Kingston for a reading of Motherhouse on April 7
directed by Kathryn MacKay, with Kingston actors: Sophia Christopher, Carolyn Hetherington, Holly Stewart and Ann Sudac.
directed by Kathryn MacKay, with Kingston actors: Sophia Christopher, Carolyn Hetherington, Holly Stewart and Ann Sudac.
TORONTO We had a fantastic event in Toronto at the Imperial Pub. We had over 50 people and 10 readers who reads excerpts from both plays. The readers included war resisters, from the Vietnam War and from the Iraq war including a current refugee awaiting status here. 3 of the readers were young theatre artists who have become activists recently. Mohammad Ali Aumeer, aka the Socialist Vocalist, was a reader and also spoke a poem between the plays.
The audience was a very engaged mix of artists, activists including Frank Showler, a WWII war resister, several seasoned theatre artists who are focused on political art making, young anti-racist activists and theatre students.
The readers were excellent, bold and passionate. Many people afterward commented on this and the strength of the scripts and the story they tell.
We raised $450 for the War Resister Support Campaign!
The audience was a very engaged mix of artists, activists including Frank Showler, a WWII war resister, several seasoned theatre artists who are focused on political art making, young anti-racist activists and theatre students.
The readers were excellent, bold and passionate. Many people afterward commented on this and the strength of the scripts and the story they tell.
We raised $450 for the War Resister Support Campaign!
Toronto Readers: Thomas McKechnie and Steven Bush.
MONTREAL On April 9 at 7 p m , sixteen Montrealers, proud of ourselves for having made it through the construction site that
McGill’s campus has become, settled down in comfortable chairs.
Connor Spencer, our host and MC, a member of the activist group Fishbowl Collective, got things underway by reading out a statement by Demilitarize McGill.
The first performer on the program was Guillaume Doussin, who read from Bolsheviki. Guillaume was playing an old man, and we knew it, but it was grand to see his fresh young self interpreting the role for laughs in order to bring us up short each time the truth got through both to us and him.
Up next, Norman Nawrocki, a seasoned storyteller, writer, singer, musician,
and activist, gave us powerful spoken word reflections bridged by music played live on his violin.
The program concluded with an excerpt from Motherhouse read by
Frederique Blanchard, a lively, clever actor who got across the irony
and the agony of being a working class female Munitions Worker in Verdun during
WWI. We all left feeling good that we had come and hopeful that Connor’s generation will never lose the hope and the zeal.
I thought of my own daughter, Gen, around twelve at the time, who said after an evening listening to Dave do one of his history shows,
“Mommy, that guy is really cool, isn’t he?” Yes.
McGill’s campus has become, settled down in comfortable chairs.
Connor Spencer, our host and MC, a member of the activist group Fishbowl Collective, got things underway by reading out a statement by Demilitarize McGill.
The first performer on the program was Guillaume Doussin, who read from Bolsheviki. Guillaume was playing an old man, and we knew it, but it was grand to see his fresh young self interpreting the role for laughs in order to bring us up short each time the truth got through both to us and him.
Up next, Norman Nawrocki, a seasoned storyteller, writer, singer, musician,
and activist, gave us powerful spoken word reflections bridged by music played live on his violin.
The program concluded with an excerpt from Motherhouse read by
Frederique Blanchard, a lively, clever actor who got across the irony
and the agony of being a working class female Munitions Worker in Verdun during
WWI. We all left feeling good that we had come and hopeful that Connor’s generation will never lose the hope and the zeal.
I thought of my own daughter, Gen, around twelve at the time, who said after an evening listening to Dave do one of his history shows,
“Mommy, that guy is really cool, isn’t he?” Yes.
"Yeah, Yeah, Vimy-fucking-Ridge. I was there. 'Birth of a Nation' they called it on TV, but, I didn't see nobody getting born, just a lot of people dying..." Rosie Rollins, Bolsheviki.