This production was an international effort collaborating with people from both Canada and the USA. I directed this show from the unceded lands of the Piscataway and Conoy peoples now known as Washington DC.
It's May. Fourteen and half months since COVID-19 reached my country’s consciousness. The global upheaval of our lives has produced incredible strain physically, emotionally, spiritually and still we endure.
I understand the need for hope and the desire to dream of an emergent New World on the horizon. I shudder to think in our rush to the ‘new world’ of how the old world will and can remain; a decayed iteration of the original.
In directing this show we faced many instances of the old seeping into and disrupting the new seedlings of liberation, anti-racism, and anti-oppression we were trying to cultivate in our process. As a producing team and cast we wrangled with the shows archaic homophobia, misogyny, racism, sexism, fatphobia, nationalism, and patriarchy and we asked are these values still relevant for our new world. As we made space for the impact of presenting these harmful ideas we made changes that were aligned with our anti-racist theatre ethos and what emerged was a show that models and embodies changing values without sacrificing rigor. The rehearsal period was a communal process; generous, affirming, spacious, iterative, and flexible.
My hope for all of us is the already present ‘new world’ continues to emerge as anti-racist and anti-oppressive. May relational over transactional values permatate and center the decisions we make. Let’s lessen our anxiety and fears about what the future could be, by shifting our focus to the small changes towards liberation we can make now.
I am thankful for the brilliance of the creative team; Adam Sakiyama, Rachel Jett, and Alex Murphy. My gratitude to the Sheridan students, faculty and staff.
- Nicole Brewer, Director
