Starting tonight, January 30th, Burnaby’s Shadbolt Centre for the Arts welcomes Ruby Slippers Theatre’s Advance Theatre Festival. A showcase of new plays written and directed by female identifying and gender non-conforming artists who also identify as BIPOC (Indigenous, Black or Person of Colour). In addition to the first week’s five staged readings, this year’s Advance Theatre Festival as expanded to include a second week’s workshop presentation.
The Advance Theatre Festival program includes:
WEEK ONE
Sandra – Monday, January 30, 8pm
Playwright: Laura Di Cicco
Inspired by a true story, Sandra is a contemporary, fantasy drama about a courageous woman, who seeks closure to the violence in her life, and to her relationship with her mother.
Sitting on the Edge – Tuesday, January 31, 8pm
Playwright: Celeste Insell
After a long bout of “writer’s block”, Clarisse is writing again, but finds herself writing a play that is semi-autobiographical. Dealing with painful memories, her train of thought is constantly being interrupted by her alter-ego, Mavis, who prefers she write a comedy.
Parifam – Wednesday, Feb. 1, 8pm
Playwright: Aki Yaghoubi
Director: Panthea Vatandoost
Detached from family and friends, Parifam Mana draws and paints in her private studio—a place where memory and inspiration are in a continuous battle. Parifam’s world is turned upside down when her childhood friend Ramak re-enters her life.
ReZonance – Thursday, February 2, 8pm
Playwright: Yvonne Wallace
Director: Renae Morriseau
A mixed-race tragicomedy. Mixy is invited to a meeting to plan an Indigenous retreat based on land pedagogy. The only problem is her unwillingness to be treated anything less than equal.
Surrender – Friday, February 3, 8pm
Playwright: Jessie Liang
A group of twenty-somethings navigate life, transitions, and friendship in the face of unimaginable loss. This witty and acerbic coming-of-age tale is an exploration of the different ways we deal with grief – together and apart.
WEEK TWO
Dil Ka – Thursday, Friday, February 16 & 17, 8pm
A workshop production of an Advance Theatre offering from last season by Lee Nisar, directed by Patricia Trinh.
All readings and workshops of Advance Theatre Festival take place at 8pm at the Studio Theatre in The Shadbolt Centre for The Arts at 6450 Deer Lake Avenue. Find tickets at tickets.shadboltcentre.com and details about each performance at rubyslippers.ca
