Blood Wedding is a creation piece with a deep outreach aspect. Angelica Schwartz and Anais West will start a monthly community outreach initiative with the support of Neworld Theatre with the goal of meeting with local trans and queer artists to seek collaborators. They will connect with a broad scope of queer creatives, not only to build a team for Blood Wedding but to gather various perspectives and strengthen community ties.
 
Based on this initial outreach, Angelica will create a paid Trans Ambassador program later in the show’s development. The Ambassador program would take after Neworld’s Cultural Ambassador program, bringing together a group of trans artists to consult on the play and help with outreach to their communities. In return, Angelica and Anais will offer them opportunities for theatre mentorship throughout the production. This integral community component will help Angelica strengthen their experience as an aspiring community-engaged director. It will also honour the history of trans stories by providing the opportunity for our modern community to tell their own.
 
Neworld Theatre will support with outreach and in-kind rehearsal space for the team’s gatherings, and TEC will pay the artists who get involved.

Angelica Schwartz is a director and collective creator born on Treaty 1 Territory (Winnipeg, Manitoba), where they founded the performing arts company Happy/Accidents. A recent graduate of the Directing program at the National Theatre School, Schwartz is now based in Tiohtiá:ke (Montreal, Quebec). Drawing on their background in technical production and their passion for storytelling, Schwartz is devoted to creating an authentic connection between performer and spectator. Whether across distances through online platforms or in the intimacy of live theatrical experiences, Schwartz is determined to create a sense of community in our highly digitalized era. Schwartz aims to trouble the public imagination around questions of identity, queerness and bodies. In their work, societal norms and pressures take a backseat to the complexity of the human condition. Schwartz is invested in highlighting the perspective of the Other, giving an alternative lens on how stories can be told.

While at NTS, Schwartz directed The Game: Zoom Expansion Pack, The Dragonfly of Chicoutimi and Miss Julie. Artistic mentors include Jackie Maxwell, Eda Holmes, Marcus Youssef, Anita Rochon, Julie Fox, Sarah Garton Stanley, Michael Wheeler, Naomi Campbell, Rose Plotek, and Catherine Bourgeois, among others. Schwartz is a Technical Production graduate of Studio 58 in Vancouver, BC.

Upcoming projects: participation in The Green Rooms of The Cycle - Climate Change, an NAC/FoldA partnership; and Haven, which will be presented at FoldA in June.