This show was performed live on May 9, 2020. Watch a recording below.

About the project

Imagine, if you will, a show. Not just any show—a spectacular show. A show that exhilarates; a show that changes hearts and minds; a show that has definitely been written and was absolutely going to be produced by us. You see, this was going to be our year: the year we went from Emerging Artists, to Emerg-ed Artists. We had for sure created an intimate-yet-explosive production that was going to change theatre forever, and would have toured the world connecting individuals both emotionally and physically. It definitely exists.

However, for obvious reasons, we cannot mount that production. Instead, we would like to offer you the next best thing: a variety show, starring us, explaining how cool this definitely real fringe show was going to be and sharing songs and stories about our lives in quarantine.

Instead of our show-stopping opening number, we perform our two-person show-slowing number about how excellent this original opener is. Instead of a love song inspired by what was going to be Keauna’s spring trip to Hungary, we create an immersive romantic journey using only a guitar, our imaginations, and the Wikipedia page for Budapest. Instead of the awards our original show would have surely won, we give ourselves awards like Refrained From Learning a TikTok Dance Out Of Boredom and Did Not Text My Ex. All the fun and fear of seeing a Fringe show from the safety of your own home! This new show, comprised of songs, sketches, and performance art, has it all. Just trust us.

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artists

Keauna Miller and Emily Jane King are the co-founders of Bitter Ink: a growing collective of female (inclusively defined) theatre creators who collaborate to tell stories not found in the traditional theatre canon. They met at Studio 58 in Vancouver, where they debuted their first co-written comedy song in 2016: an ode to their teenage selves, Oh My God, What if I’m Not Straight?

Keauna moved to Toronto where she graduated in 2019 from Randolph College for the Performing Arts. She has continued her practice most recently in a three person take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at Canada’s Wonderland; as a dancer with Diva Diverse; and as a movement dramaturg for creator Alix Sideris.

Emily graduated from the acting stream at Studio 58 in 2019, and remained at the school for an additional semester to apprentice under the Head of Voice as an intensive study program. She continues her work as a performer, recently appearing in Mx by Lili Robinson (Vancouver Fringe New Play Prize Winner, re-mounting at The Cultch in 2021) and Infinity by Hannah Moscovitch (co-pro between Toronto’s Volcano Theatre and The Cultch).

Via Bitter Ink, Emily and Keauna collaborate on music, playwriting, and performance, creating memorable pieces inspired by their feminist ideals and personal experiences. Their primary project, pre-COVID, is The Sisters Wild, a new musical about the original fairy tale tellers, for which they received partial funding from the OAC.

About the project

Originally scheduled as a part of the Montreal St. Ambroise Fringe Festival, feather tales is a creation for young audiences. Using puppetry, live projection, and storytelling, Caite Clark and Daniel Hickie are continuing their creation process over physical distancing.

The story begins with a carefree kookaburra, hosting a party in the Eastern Australian forest. They are forced to flee their home upon the arrival of a wildfire, eventually finding solid ground on Turtle Island. There, kookaburra meets a cautious chickadee, learning a thing or two about friendship, and what it means to make a home. The artists were inspired by how they relate to each other, having grown up in countries on opposite sides of the world.

This project began shortly following the epidemic of wildfires that had impacted Daniel’s home country of Australia. The artists had a lot of conversations about the meaning of home, and how to begin again in a new place. Birds were the best fit to explore this story, as they are notorious migrators, and mutually loved by both artists.

The first part of feather tales has been made into a radio play, available on Soundcloud.

Follow Caite’s blog for the latest video and radio updates on feather tales.

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artists

Caite Clark is a community-engaged theatre artist working in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. She is the coordinator and resident lighting designer of the Acts of Listening Lab; a centre for oral history performance bringing to life stories that matter into the public sphere.

Theatre and circus work in Montreal includes directing TOMORROW (Hooks and Crooks for Centaur Theatre’s Wildside Festival/Montreal Fringe), as well as lighting design for Nibabima’adoomin (Canadian Roots Exchange 2020 Gathering), Specktacle avec un <<K>> (dir Maja Maletković and Anna Vigeland), Blue Stockings (Persephone), Seminar for Contemporary Circus Creation (Concordia University), and The One (Hopegrown Productions). She has also been an artist in residence with the VAV Gallery, creating puppets from repurposed materials with Concordia’s Centre for Creative Reuse.

Caite graduated with a BFA in Theatre & Development from Concordia University in 2019, minoring in English Literature. She co-founded Young Hearts Theatre with Daniel Hickie, a sustainability-driven company telling stories for all ages.

Daniel Hickie is a theatre artist, young peoples theatre maker, and workshop animator with young people. He grew up on Gadigal Land (Sydney, Australia) and has been living and practicing in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal, Canada) since 2017.

Daniel completed his theatre training at the Australian Institute of Music (Sydney). He was a performer in the Australian and New Zealand tours of #Fairest of them All and Shakespeare: As You Write It – performing at 300+ schools in a 12 month tour. Daniel completed an internship with the Children’s Theatre Company (Minneapolis), as well as directing and producing the Youth for Youth program at the Vancouver International Children’s Festival. While living in Montreal between 2017 and the present – Daniel has worked consistently as a workshop animator and drama teacher with the English Montreal School Board, Geordie Theatre Company, the Segal Centre, The Montreal Childrens Theatre and others.

Daniel co-founded Young Hearts Theatre with Caite Clark in 2019 and is so excited to pursue vibrant theatre for young people, for adults who seek imagination and joy, and within communities across Montreal.

About the project

“Even though I had great examples at home that went so far against this nuclear heteronormative ideal, I still felt pressure to uphold that shit. If I didn’t, then I had to fully confront my own queerness- and that’s a lot to handle at 13.“

“The first time I remember coming out as a queerspawn, I was shocked that my kindergarten class didn’t know the detailed intricacies about artificial insemination.“

“I’ve attended a lot of boring lesbian potlucks in my time. Eaten a lot of quinoa.“

“You never stop coming out. One time, I came out to an Uber driver and he literally swerved onto the sidewalk.”

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artist

Kira is a queer, feminist, theatre artist whose work is focused on LGBTQ+ representation. She is a PhD student studying Theatre & Performance Studies at York University where her research focuses on queer performance autoethnography. She is an alumna of the inaugural writing unit, The Women’s Room by Pat the Dog Theatre Creation. Her show Queer Spawn has been showcased on stages throughout Kitchener/Waterloo, Toronto and Hamilton. Recent writing credits include: Under (HamilTEN), Lay to Rest (staged reading, Pat the Dog Theatre Creation), and Futch/ Bemme (OutFest2018 & Gay Play Day Festival). She is also the co-author, with her mom Susan Meyers, of the chapter The Queer Baby Project: Excerpts from the Experiment published in Swelling with Pride: Queer Conception and Adoption Stories. Select acting credits include: Dariya in There are No Gays Here (Page1), Alex in Futch/Bemme (OutFest 2018 & Gay Play Day Festival), and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet; Occupy Verona (Theatre Erindale). Kira is committed to creating art that motivates social change and is grateful to Pat the Dog (especially Lisa!) for their continued support with Queer Spawn! More details at kirameyersguiden.weebly.com or follow on Instagram @kiraasha

This project has been presented live on Firday, May 1st on Instagram. You can watch a recording below.

About the project

Zephyr who Swallowed Four Moons is a physical, poetic solo show that follows a teenage girl over one night as she wrestles with her mixed-race identity, unreliable sources of guidance, and problematic sexual attention. Anime, K-pop and magical realism influences are used to create her fantastical world as she fights to hold onto her imagination, sense of self, and power.

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artist

Shay Virginillo is a writer, actor and theatre artist based in Vancouver. She loves to create collaboratively, physically and experiment with form. Her show Zephyr who Swallowed Four Moons was developed at the Assembly Theatre in Toronto and was inspired by teens she met while co-creating various shows for young audiences, as well as her own experiences. She is a graduate of the National Theatre School’s Acting program and most recently was an actor and co-creator of Brain Storm (Lucid Ludic in association with Why Not Theatre).

This project was presented on May 2, 8PM on Facebook.

About the project

A dramatic reading of Feast, a documentary play looking into the life and legacy of British playwright Sarah Kane, using verbatim citations from newspaper articles, interviews, play texts, and academic work on Kane. Feast speaks to an academic discipline shrouded by the unfortunate events of Kane’s initial critical reception as an emerging artist who was criticized rashly and without empathy for their precarity and bravery. Even in these uncertain times, Feast makes concrete what artists know to be true: legacy matters.

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artist

Originally from Baltimore, MD, Aisling Murphy is a critic, playwright, and dramaturg currently pursuing her Honours BA with Specialization in Theatre at the University of Ottawa. Her first play, Feast, had its first workshop at the University of Ottawa in December 2019, and is now undergoing development with the Tarragon Theatre Young Playwrights Unit in Toronto.

An emerging academic, Aisling’s critical writing has been featured on Capital Critics Circle and The Theatre Times; this fall, Aisling will also step on as the Arts & Culture Editor for the University of Ottawa’s The Fulcrum, and as a co-editor for the December 2020 edition of the online IATC journal, Critical Stages.

Aisling’s creative and academic interests include those of post dramatic theatre, the ethics of contemporary theatre criticism, multilingual dramaturgy, and the life and legacy of British playwright Sarah Kane.

Click here to view all poems!

This project was presented on Sunday, May 3rd at 9am, MDT

About the project

The Edmonton Poems is a series of texts reflecting on places, people, and experiences from the author’s hometown. They’re a way of processing the wandering, rootless feeling he had over the last few years by trying to reconnect to where he comes from. A complicated letter to a complicated place in a complicated time.

David will be posting one text every day for seven days on the Instagram account for Strange Victory Performance (@strange_victory), the new company he formed with Tori Morrison. At the end of the week, he will read the whole series on Instagram Live. The Edmonton Poems uses the Instagram account as a platform for an online performance that speaks to a hometown he can’t get to right now. It’s a Strange Victory project for these strange times.

Excerpt:

Dad’s yodeling upstairs again. Dad’s
dressed like a doctor. Dad’s pouring whiskey
in his coffee and sitting on a drum stool
all day in the garage. Dad’s got an old
radio. Dad’s doing just fine. You’re
a wheel now. You’re part horse.
Lace falls from the sky. Nets fall
from the sky. Used instruments bought
on Craigslist for ungrateful preteens
fall from the sky. You’re adding
pins to the map so it don’t fall
down. Glass-blowing is on Netflix.
Irony is harmful but irony is good.
Dad’s selling antique jewelry. Dad’s
calling his fucked-up friend. Right
now it’s three hours from now. You’re
sloughing things off. You’re holding on tight.
You take your friend to the water
and you pass your friend a bottle
and you’re flying out tomorrow
and you sit there in the dark.

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artist

David Gagnon Walker is a playwright, dramaturg, and performer working across Canada. He was born and raised in Edmonton and currently lives in Halifax. His projects explore the spaces between text-based theatre, literature, and other modes of contemporary performance. His play Premium Content was presented at the 2020 High Performance Rodeo in a production by Major Matt Mason Collective. Softly, now, his collaboration with Anthony Black and Christian Barry of 2b theatre company, was scheduled to premiere in March 2020 before being postponed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. This Is the Story for the Child Ruled by Fear, his participatory solo show directed by Christian Barry and Judy Wensel, is programmed to premiere at Vancouver’s rEvolver Festival. David is the 2019-2020 RBC Emerging Artist-in-Residence with 2b theatre company, and a graduate of the Playwriting program at the National Theatre School of Canada. Find him online at www.davidgagnonwalker.com.