A creation by Gillian Clark (Playwriting, 2020)
An Imago Theatre and Keep Good (Theatre) Company Collaboration 
 

Be carried away in a story that is for the hopeful and the hopeless. Part fairy tale, part gritty-real-life story, Adventures invites us to the roots of the Mother Tree in this time of collective grief, to witness PJ and Wendy on the edge of a life-altering moment. This story poses the question: am I a good enough person to bring a child into this big, sad and beautiful world

This project offers a 40-hour workshop exploring Contemporary Shadow Theatre, where participants will experiment with shadow techniques, learn to craft puppets and silhouettes, and create their own reflectors using simple materials.  

The workshop will culminate in a free public presentation of scenes or a scene created by the participants, providing an opportunity for the local community to experience this unique art form and witness the creative process. The event serves as both a celebration of the participants’ creativity and a cultural contribution to the community.  

Open to both beginners and experienced artists, the workshop encourages creativity, collaboration, and skill development in an inclusive and accessible environment. Participants will gain hands-on experience, regardless of prior knowledge of theatre.  

Led by João Veloso, a multidisciplinary artist with expertise in puppetry, shadow puppets, and community-driven projects, this workshop aims to make theatre and storytelling accessible, blending traditional methods with contemporary techniques. 

RECOMPOSÉES

I am 31 years old and I have been a stepmother since I was 18 years old. I took on this role for 7 years with Eli, and then I had to leave him at the same time as his father. Learning to lose is also part of being a stepmother. I fell back in love with a father and for the past 4 years, I have been watching Arielle, an 8 years old mermaid, grow up. If there is a complex and fertile role in the theater of my life, it is indeed that of being a stepmother.

Through this project, I wish to give a voice to stepmothers and stepchildren. It seems to me that the next challenge is to think of the family as a non-binary entity, the reconstituted family being made up of several parents.

With Recomposed, I want to dive into the complex situations that arise from the experience of the stepmother. I aspire to create a radio-play halfway between documentary theatre and family theatre.

Tina-Ève Provost Biography (Québec)

Originally from Montreal, Tina-Ève is a playwright and singer-songwriter. She holds a bachelor’s degree in teaching French as a second language and studied one year in musical theater. A graduate of the École nationale de la chanson de Granby (2010), she has participated in numerous competitions and won several awards, grants and distinctions. She has released four albums, including one as a producer.

In order to explore another form of expression, she completed the National Theatre School’s playwriting program in 2022. She was guided by Rébecca Déraspe for Notre épopée (sera longue et douloureuse), directed by Marie-Ève Milot at the Monument national, and by Frédéric Blanchette for La cicatrice, created by Charles Dauphinais.

In the 2021 edition of the Festival mots de la rive, her text Le soleil du plateau won the audience award.

Her songs and her theater explore, in a language that is both poetic and concrete, her lifelong obsessions: love, emotional dependence, the relationship to the body and to beauty, the impossible detachment from the gaze of others and the quest for the absolute.

SIN FOR YOU

Sin For You is a satirical, saucy, and sentimental audio project that views the modern world through the lens of the outport Newfoundlander. Using satire, scenes, and songs the project will pit globalization, pop culture, and modern ethics against a vernacular and culture that has been brined and preserved like bottled moose.

Evan Mercer Biography (Newfoundland)

Evan Mercer is an actor, writer, comedian, and musician from Shearstown, Newfoundland. He is attending the National Theatre School (Acting). Evan has been fortunate enough to work with many wonderful theatre companies in Newfoundland. He has also worked in film and television, appearing in Son of a Critch, Little Dog,and Frontier. For Riverhead, he was nominated for a CSA for Best Supporting Actor. Check out Evan’s most recent project, Halfhandsome’s The Codcast, on all audio streaming platforms.

THE MIXED CRIPS PODCAST

The Mixed Crips podcast is an interview podcast that aims to explore the similarities and differences between invisible and visible disability. The podcast sparks informative as well as amusing conversation that highlight the experiences of people with both physical and cognitive mixed abilities.

Conversations delve into the awkward, challenging, personal and intimate encounters of two best friend’s comparative lived experiences from two very different realities. Subjects range from public treatment, misdiagnosis, and employment to relationships, sensuality, sexual preference and monogamy (just to name a few). Although everyone on the podcast identifies with disability in some way, the spectrum of difference between the hosts of the podcast as well as the invited guests is vast. The conversations lend a voice to the disabled minority to share what has perhaps gone unheard or unnoticed in many people’s lives.

Michael Wanless Biography (Ontario)

Michael is a sound designer and theatre artist living in Tkaronto. They are a graduate of the Production, Design, and Technical Arts program at the National Theatre School of Canada, and have worked professionally as a sound designer since 2013. Their recent projects include assisting on Little Women at the Stratford Festival, sound designing Holdin’ On To What’s Golden with Globe Theatre, and producing and sound designing the narrative podcast The Rest is Electric. They have also worked in live sound mixing for over a decade, with experience working in large concert venues and outdoor festivals Their interests are wide ranging, but of particular interest to them are queer stories as well as stories from other marginalized and under-served communities.

THE PRINCESS’S MOTHER

sad girls watch The Princess Bride
A woman and her mother gather together on every major holiday to watch The Princess Bride together. This tradition is one they have clung to steadfastly, but when the mother begins to deteriorate from dementia, the woman must come to terms with facing a world without her mother. A story of grief, loss, and the importance of ritual in our lives.

Mara Teare Biography (Saskatchewan)

Mara Teare is a Saskatoon raised actor, singer, writer, and creator. She is a recent graduate of
the National Theatre School of Canada’s acting program. Through her art and work, Mara strives to create and be a part of spaces with a strong presence of marginalized voices. Just as theatre has given her a voice, she wishes to inspire and uplift others like her through the power of theatre. She is excited to begin her journey as an emerging playwright with sad girls watch
The Princess Bride. Mara firmly believes in theatre being a safe meeting space for all, and she hopes to bring the community around her closer together in joy and love through her writing. She is so grateful to be a recipient of a TEC Grant this year.