At the height of the pandemic, we asked twenty theatre (and theatre-adjacent) artists from Atlantic Canada to translate the essence of live theatre into a micro digital experience.
Artists were encouraged to explore ideas that allowed them to experiment with new digital mediums of any kind, so long as the final product was no longer than 60 seconds in duration. The finished projects now include audio, video, text, song, puppets, comedy, poetry, animation, and even a DIY hologram.
Artists were also tasked with incorporating accessibility as wholeness into their creations, an idea encouraged by fellow artist and Accessibility Consultant, Sara Graham. This allowed artists to take control of their own captions and descriptions (something that is usually left to a third-party) and resulted in visual captions, described audio as poetry, and other considerations that will allow audiences to better experience the work as intended.
The projects were released online in the Spring of 2021, one a day, right here and on our social media accounts.
To engage with the pieces further, see them on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
“I have been continually staggered by the curiosity and imagination of these Atlantic Canadian artists as they worked with new mediums and collaborators while the world around them shut down.
The resulting creations fill me with hope for whatever comes next.
I am so proud to share them with you.”
Kat McCormack, AD
Artists were encouraged to explore ideas that allowed them to experiment with new digital mediums of any kind, so long as the final product was no longer than 60 seconds in duration. The finished projects now include audio, video, text, song, puppets, comedy, poetry, animation, and even a DIY hologram.
Artists were also tasked with incorporating accessibility as wholeness into their creations, an idea encouraged by fellow artist and Accessibility Consultant, Sara Graham. This allowed artists to take control of their own captions and descriptions (something that is usually left to a third-party) and resulted in visual captions, described audio as poetry, and other considerations that will allow audiences to better experience the work as intended.
The projects were released online in the Spring of 2021, one a day, right here and on our social media accounts.
To engage with the pieces further, see them on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
“I have been continually staggered by the curiosity and imagination of these Atlantic Canadian artists as they worked with new mediums and collaborators while the world around them shut down.
The resulting creations fill me with hope for whatever comes next.
I am so proud to share them with you.”
Kat McCormack, AD
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Alone, now
Annalise Prodor Awakening Drifting Amber BURROW Robyn Vivian + Azal Dosanjh Chameleon Liliona Quarmyne Current, Current Mary Fay Coady + Jamie Kronick Digital Set Model Hologram Renate Pohl |
The Eyes of Nature
Natasha Thomas Felicities in D Minor Stewart Legere The German Watermelon Sara Graham + Jonah Campbell Kings & Queens Friends First Productions Lear Sara Tilley Mi-Carême Nicole O'Connor + Nacer Ayad |
Monster
Sue Rose, John Rose + Anna Shepard PASSING Shauntay Grant Sleeping Bluebird Michael Lake Skriker Costume Studies Katrin Whitehead Until Death Do Us Part Prajwala Dixit + Colleen MacIsaac What’s in a Name? Taylor Olson + Koumbie |
Felicities in D Minor by Stewart Legere
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I recently moved closer to the neighbourhood I grew up in. My running route sometimes takes me near my old elementary school. As I was running past one evening, I saw the (now abandoned) schoolyard and was struck (!) by an incredibly vivid memory: the exact moment I realized I was queer, as a very young child. A juggernaut of self-awareness, what that all might mean, the thrill and dread...I didn't have the words then, so I kept my mouth shut, and kept playing ball.
This music is an imagined choir, humming their song of joy in the key of D minor. Some people say that D minor is the saddest key - and so what? This sad song is a song of joy, too. If you are graced with time, pain can metamorphose into something still burning, but also tender, and precious. A hummingbird at the window, perhaps. [VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Looking down, circling the cracked grey pavement of a school yard. A choir is humming a song. A poem appears on the screen: for the next minute and thirty seconds / imagine eighteen people singing / like a gentle choir / or a hummingbird at the window. this is the exact cracked pavement where / (playing foursquare, thirty-four years ago) / i / (green sapling) / realized / (purple ball out-of bounds) / i might be / (was). i heard / (and there was) / music. / a song, hummed in four breaths. where you are now? / (green sapling) / your song / (green sapling) / you have one. does it sound like / i dunno / thrown open curtains? you have one. / (green sapling) where you are now?] |
[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background is a round photo of artist Stewart Legere, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshot, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photo reads: STEWART LEGERE, NOVA SCOTIA.]
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Stewart Legere is a multidisciplinary artist from Halifax/Kjipuktuk. He is the Co-Artistic Director of The Accidental Mechanics Group and Associate Artistic Director of Zuppa Theatre Co. His performances have been presented at theatres and festivals across Canada and the UK. He is a vocalist with orchestral pop outfit The Heavy Blinkers, and a solo singer/songwriter. He composes music and sound for theatre and film. An avid and passionate collaborator, his work is fascinated with sexuality, vulnerability, intimacy, the destruction of persona and the celebration of performance. He is currently an artist-in-residence at The Theatre Centre in Toronto.
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Digital Set Model Hologram by Renate Pohl
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When people can't come to the theatre, reflected light can be manipulated to bring the theatre to them. This video of a digital scale set model displayed as a Pepper’s Ghost “hologram” is combined with construction instructions for a simple viewing device, allowing isolated audience members to hold a rotating and floating theatre in the palm of their hands at home. The illusion of a miniature light object in one’s hand can bring a moment of enchantment and levity into the darkness of the pandemic.
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background is a round photo of artist Renate Pohl, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshot, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photo reads: RENATE POHL, NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR.]
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Renate Pohl is a Set, Lighting, Projection and Costume Designer with a background in performance and social theatre facilitation. She is a Resident Designer and Associate Professor of Technical Theatre Production in the Theatre Department at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Grenfell Campus. She has worked with multiple theatre companies in Newfoundland including RCA Theatre Company, Arts and Culture Centres, She Said Yes!, NAX, White Rooster, C2C Theatre, Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, Opera on the Avalon, and Theatre Newfoundland Labrador. Outside of Newfoundland, some of her credits include work with Mixed Company and Nightswimming in Toronto; Old Earth Productions and Free Will Players in Edmonton; and Union Theatre, Greenwich Theatre, Bush Theatre, New Ambassadors Theatre, Arcola Theatre, and Heart and Soul in London, UK. Renate’s work also includes research in applied creativity for STEM education and the space industry. This includes creative works for the UpRoute Space Program with the Canadian Space Agency and JP Aerospace as well as the European Astronaut Centre for the European Space Agency and International Space Station.
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Passing by Shauntay Grant
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A 12-year-old girl arrives at her grandmother’s hospital bedside just moments before Grannie’s last breaths. From her wheelchair, Jelana listens as Grannie shares a final lesson. Passing is a scene-play about family, final words, and finding the strength to go on.
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background is a round photo of artist Shauntay Grant, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshot, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photo reads: SHAUNTAY GRANT, NOVA SCOTIA.]
(Photo by Shyronn Smardon)
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Shauntay Grant is a playwright, poet, and children’s author who lives and works in Kjipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia). As a playwright her most recent works include Beyere, monodrama commissioned for Obsidian Theatre Company’s 21 Black Futures project in a partnership with CBC Gem, and KK, a short play commissioned for Boca Del Lupo’s touring Red Phone project. Her stage play The Bridge was published in 2021 by Playwrights Canada Press. The Bridge premiered at Neptune Theatre in 2019—a co-production between 2b theatre and Neptune in association with Obsidian Theatre—and received eleven 2020 Robert Merritt Award nominations, winning four including the award for Outstanding New Play by a Nova Scotian. A former poet laureate for the city of Halifax, Shauntay’s other literary honours include a Best Atlantic-Published Book prize from the Atlantic Book Awards, a poet of honour prize from the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, a Joseph S. Stauffer Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, and the 2019 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award for Africville. Visit her online at shauntaygrant.com and facebook.com/shauntaygrant
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Until Death Do Us Part by Prajwala Dixit + Colleen MacIsaac
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Nandini and Neil are out buying vegetables in a busy market of Bengaluru when suddenly an untoward accident occurs. In this modern retelling of an age-old Indian tale called The Gritty Savitri, Nandini finds herself talking to Yama, the God of Death and Deeds who is taking Neil's soul away with him. Can Nandini stop Yama? Will she succeed in ensuring Neil survives?
[VIDEO DESCRIPTION: A series of black and white photos in and around Bengaluru, India with blue animations of wind blowing throughout.]
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background are round photos of artists Prajwala Dixit and Colleen MacIsaac, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshots, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photos reads: PRAJWALA DIXIT, NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR, COLLEEN MACISAAC, NOVA SCOTIA.]
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Prajwala Dixit is an award winning storyteller working in journalism, playwriting, creative writing and doc filmmaking whose work has been (and will be) produced and published by CBC, The National Film Board, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, SaltWire Network, Resource Centre For The Arts, White Rooster Theatre, Artistic Fraud, PerSIStence, Eastern Front Theatre, The Halifax Theatre for Young People, Breakwater Books, Newfoundland Quarterly and Riddle Fence. Winner of the Arts & Letter 2020 award (Creative Short Fiction), 2020 ArtsNL Arts in Education Nominee & a 2020 CAJ finalist for Community Broadcast, a mother, a wife and an engineer by education, Prajwala spends any free time consuming copious amounts of stories through cinema and books.
Colleen MacIsaac (they/she) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, working as a creator, performer, comic artist, playwright, producer, and illustrator. A winner of the Halifax Mayor’s Award for Emerging Theatre Artist and the Bhayana Invisible Champion Award, Colleen is also the artistic producer of The Villains Theatre and co-chair of Theatre Nova Scotia. As a performer, Colleen has worked with Zuppa Theatre (This is Nowhere), Matchstick Theatre (The Little Years), Workshirt Opera (Orlando), Xara Choral Theatre (Rings Through Water), Terra Novella Theatre (In Spaaaaaace!), and Lions Den Theatre (Waiting for the Parade), among others. Recent works as a theatre creator include 'the effects were cumulative and i almost didn't notice', 'mercury', 'Cartography', 'The Blazing World', 'Ah, Hell! The Words of Dorothy Parker', and 'dark matter'. Colleen received a Bachelor of Media Arts from Emily Carr University and is currently an MFA candidate at NSCAD University, and you can see more of their work at littlefoible.net. |
Mi-Carême by Nicole O'Connor + Nacer Ayad
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La Grande Mi-Carême is on her way. Have you been good this year?
La Grande Mi-Carême s'en vient. As-tu été bon cette année? [VIDEO DESCRIPTION: On a rainy, snowy day, an old woman dressed in a coat of fish tosses candies in her hand. Inside a cozy cabin with a fire, a young child makes a fabric costume to cover their face. Eventually, the woman makes her way to the cabin and opens the door, revealing the child. She whisks her fish cape, blocking the view of the child. The end.] |
[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background are round photos of artists Nacer Ayad and Nicole O'Connor, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshots, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photos reads: NACER AYAD, NICOLE O'CONNOR, NOVA SCOTIA.]
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Nicole O'Connor est une écrivaine acadienne venant de Halifax, NS. Son premier projet avec Eastern Front Théâtre était durant des ateliers d'écrivains dans lesquels elle a travaillé sur sa pièce bilingue Déport : la quête d' une jeune acadienne pendant la déportation. Elle est vraiment reconnaissante que Eastern Front lui donne l'opportunité de donner vie à une autre histoire à propos de la culture Acadienne, cette fois-ci à travers un écran. La tradition de Mi-Carême est un trésor caché du folklore Acadien et Nicole est vraiment heureuse de vous le montrer à travers l' animation créative de Nacer Ayad!
--- Nicole O'Connor is an Acadian writer from Halifax, NS. Her first project with Eastern Front Theatre was through their playwright’s unit, where she workshopped her bilingual play, Deport: the journey of a young Acadian woman during the deportation. She is very grateful to Eastern Front for the opportunity to bring another Acadian story to life, this time through the screen. The tradition of Mi-Careme is a hidden gem amongst Acadian heritage, and Nicole is excited to show it to you through Nacer Ayad’s creative animation! Nacer Ayad est un passionné de l’image. Il a travaillé comme graphiste et animateur dans l’industrie de l’animation en France et au Canada. Son travail en tant que freelance dans la publicité pour des agences parisiennes inclut des clips de musiques dont Cesaria Evora et le rappeur français Demi Portion, ainsi que des visuels marketing pour Eckhart Tolle et Deepak Chopra. Aux côtés de ses partenaires, Nacer a démarré une nouvelle aventure à Halifax avec son agence digitale 7allies. -- Nacer Ayad has a passion for imagery. He has been working in the animation industry as a graphic artist, illustrator, and animator for over eight years now, with studios in both France and Canada. His freelance work with Parisian agencies include music videos for French rapper Demi Portion and singer Cesaria Evora, and marketing materials for Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra. Alongside his partners, Nacer has begun a new journey in Halifax with his digital media company, 7allies. |
Sleeping Bluebird by Michael Lake
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Sleeping Bluebird is a stop-motion-glitter-Tchaikovsky-fantasy.
[VIDEO DESCRIPTION: A stop motion animation set to a short section of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty. An empty box is filled with various objects: greenery, toy soldiers, and a golden rock. A glittery green Venus de Milo appears and the soldiers gather around her. The soldiers disappear and Venus is in a gold room that fills with gold furniture. Two colourful birds appear and dance around. A bluebird appears, the colourful birds go nuts, Venus approaches the bluebird, and it falls to its death. The figures spin around.] |
[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background is a round photo of artist Michael Lake, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshot, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photo reads: MICHAEL LAKE, NOVA SCOTIA.]
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Michael Lake (he/him) is an artist based in Musquodoboit Harbour, Nova Scotia. Working primarily in live art performance and writing, Michael uses audioscapes, projections, and video in his practice to create interactive spaces. His work explores instances of intimacy and queerness, and often seeks to blur lines between the audience and the artist/performer. Michael also runs Workshirt Opera, a live art performance company that creates original work and fosters storytelling and theatre with a queer focus. Select credits include Confession: An Anagram (writer/performer), Tom at the Farm (director), Many Loves (writer/performer), SEASONS (director) and Orlando (director).
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Skriker Costume Studies by Katrin Whitehead
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In Caryl Churchill’s 1994 play The Skriker, ecological destruction has driven monsters and spirits from folktales of the british isles into contact & conflict with contemporary humans. Around the play's main story, the stage directions describe a silent ballet of monsters, uprooted and obsolescent, sick and kind of sickening.
Churchill’s threatened, threatening fairies had been rattling around my head during these plague times, as we sit hostage to pathogens we've set loose through greed and disregard for the lives and territory of other creatures. Missing live performance terribly, I wondered how to conjure up the Skriker's ailing monsters onstage in a way that could invoke the same queasy discomfort I got from reading them on the page. What kind of costumes could do that? And I started making little 3D sketches of a few of the chorus fairies and figures. It doesn’t get less digital than handfuls of beeswax, paper and wool; the digital feature I want to make use of for this micro-project is the comments section. Modelling lumpy little figurines without collaborators is nothing like making a show: no lighting designer, no performers or choreographer or director or musicians to throw the ideas around with, to get rid of the worst bits & discover better ones together... So I've made these little creatures as the first step of an open design conversation, a micro-research exercise to think about how The Skriker could work onstage. Have a look and let me know what you think in the comments: Are they too goofy? Too human? Too Cirque? Clichéd? Gross? How would you move in these costumes? Light them? What would you build them out of? What soundscape could make them really unsettling? Whether you make live art or take it in from the audience, bring on your feedback: suggestions, reactions, critique… the kinds of thoughts we usually share in design meetings, rehearsals, talk-backs, or walking out of the theatre after a show digesting what we just saw. Thanks for looking! Comment on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter!
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background is a round photo of a creation to represent the artist - it appears to be a face made of tinfoil with glasses, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshot, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photo reads: KATRIN WHITEHEAD, NOVA SCOTIA.]
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Katrin Whitehead has been designing and making things for performance since the beginning of the century: wearable sculptures, analog-slide-projector animations, collapsible deer carcasses, tarpaulin tsunamis, luminous snarls of fibre optics... First in Montréal, then in Halifax, from time to time in Toronto. The best projects have been collaborative creations, throwing ideas, moves, shadows, noises, and half-built objects around with inspired, inspiring people to make something together we would never have dreamed of working alone or in other constellations.
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Chameleon by Liliona Quarmyne
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what it is to be a black performing body.
this black performing body. in this particular one minute. until the minute changes. [VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Close-ups of the described body parts interspersed with flashes of bright colours and blue text of the spoken word. A close-up of a curled hand slowly uncurling on a black cloth background. Overlaid shots that echo on top of each other of the artist, a Black woman, as she dresses and re-dresses with multiple items of clothing in conventional and then unconventional ways: a vest becomes a bib, a shirt becomes a skirt, a scarf becomes a cape. Her movements are fluid. The images are overlaid with flashing colours. They speed up and repeat with the text. It is a lot to process.] |
[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background is a round photo of artist Liliona Quarmyne, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshot, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photo reads: LILIONA QUARMYNE, NOVA SCOTIA.]
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Liliona Quarmyne has an eclectic background that has taken her through many performance styles on four different continents. Liliona is a dancer, choreographer, actor, singer, community organizer, and activist. She performs across the country and internationally, creates original works as an independent artist, facilitates community programming, and is the Artistic Director of Kinetic Studio. The scope of Liliona’s artistic work is broad, but is particularly focused on the relationship between art and social justice, on the body’s ability to carry ancestral memory, and on the role the performing arts can play in creating change. Liliona loves to work in collaboration and community, is mom to two wonderful kids, and is thoroughly obsessed with karaoke.
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Monster by Sue Rose, John Rose + Anna Shepard
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An audio piece exploring the guilt of a sister and what she would say now, if she could, to apologize for the monstrous actions of her past.
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background are round photos of artists Sue Rose and John Rose, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshots, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photos are their names.]
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Sue Rose is a multi-disciplinary artist who has been active in the theatre community in Sackville, New Brunswick since 2007. She is currently the Playwright-in-Residence with Live Bait Theatre and also serves as a founding member and current board member of Performers’ Theatre Company. She has had the privilege of performing in many plays produced by the Performers' Theatre Co. including the roles of Her Ladyship in The Dresser, Abby in Arsenic And Old Lace, Ruth in Blithe Spirit, Mrs. Graves in Enchanted April and Cissy in Quartet, among others. Her first play, Safe Harbour, was staged by Performers’ Theatre Company in 2017. Her play Zeus In A Zoot Suit was staged by The Saint John Theatre Company (Script Happens, 2018) and The Plucking Dark Ages was selected to receive a staged reading during the NotaBle Acts Summer Festival, 2019. She directed her play, One-Eyed Fish And The Drowned World, as part of Live Bait’s inaugural New Works Festival in Sackville, July 2019. The productions of two new plays, Tell The Bees and A Banishment of Poets, were postponed in 2020 due to covid. All of these things are true: she is originally from the Chicago area, she is an alumni of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and before moving to Sackville in 1997, she and her husband, John, lived in the western high arctic for twenty years. More things are true but that is all that will be revealed for now. Sue is currently working with dramaturge, Jennifer Scurlock, on her new play, Aloria's Orchard.
John Rose became involved in community theatre by helping out Sackville's Performers' Theatre Company — operating the music and sound effects, taking the occasional non-speaking role, and fabricating a few props. It was while doing sound engineering for Live Bait's production of Sue Rose's "One-Eyed Fish And The Drowned World" that he became particularly interested in how sound could provide a sense of time and location in lieu of an actual set. John was born in Moncton, but as an Army Brat moved around in Canada quite a bit. After taking Printmaking at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, he ended up in Ulukhaktok, NWT managing the print program for the Holman Eskimo Co-op for seven years. After getting a diploma in electronics technology from NAIT in Edmonton, he moved back north to Inuvik, to be a technician with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Northern Service for ten years. That was followed by 17 years (until retirement) at Radio Canada International’s Transmitting Station in Sackville, New Brunswick. |
[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background is a round photo of artist Anna Shepard, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshot, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photo reads: ANNA SHEPARD, NOVA SCOTIA.]
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Anna Shepard is a multidisciplinary artist based in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, currently working in direction, video design, and devised creation. Shepard recently co-created and co-produced from:Florine, an interactive-immersive-multimedia-mailout-performance-art-piece, with New Pants Project for EFT’s Stages 2020: Behind the Curtain Festival. Shepard is a graduate of the drama program at Mount Allison University, was the 2017-18 Emerging-Artist-In-Residence at 2b theatre company, and recently trained with Ghost River Theatre in Calgary as part of their National Devised Theatre Intensive. She was a part of the 2019-2020 Directors Unit of Neptune Theatre’s Chrysalis Project, and is the recipient of the 2019 Theatre Nova Scotia Chrysalis Emerging Artist Award.
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The German Watermelon by Sara Graham + Jonah Campbell
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Sara and Jonah take a satirical look at the current media accessibility options for those who are deaf and hard of hearing. Sara and Jonah perform a live fifty five second sketch show with a cognizant reflection on the pitfalls of auto captions.
Written by: Sara Graham and Jonah Campbell Filmed by: Tim Mombourquette Featuring: Sara Graham, Jonah Campbell, and Erik Garf
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background are round photos of artists Jonah Campbell and Sara Graham, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshots, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photos are their names.]
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Sara Graham is a Kjipuktuk-based deaf comedian, mental health counsellor, activist, improviser, and workshop educator. Sara uses her work to advocate for accessibility and theatre created by and for deaf people. Sara’s goal is to create art and spaces that acknowledge and address the need for inclusivity and accessibility for all artists. Sara graduated from Dalhousie University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and minor in Gender and Women studies. Sara has taught spoken word workshops and writing workshops focused on youth engagement all across Canada. She is happiest when she has a full calendar, full tummy, and full heart. Sara and Jonah have been writing sketches and improvising together over the past two years and look forward to continuing to create more art and comedy together.
Jonah Campbell is an actor, improviser, and sketch comedian based in Halifax/Kjipuktuk, Nova Scotia. He is also an aspiring podcaster, conservation officer, and brunch restaurant owner. Aspiring being the operative word here. Jonah graduated from Dalhousie’s Acting program in 2018 and has since worked at two summer camps, travelled Japan, and lived on an organic farm. Millennials, am I right? Before the world of live performance imploded in mid-March Jonah would perform sketch and improv in local comedy group Same Boat, and at Mousetrap Comedy at Good Robot. He also created video content for Same Boat’s YouTube channel as head producer and editor. Jonah is thrilled to be working with past-collaborator Sara Graham again, and is extremely grateful to Eastern Front Theatre for believing in their vision: that yes, accessibility can be funny too. |
Lear by Sara Tilley
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This video is a short experiment in combining tabletop puppetry, overhead projection and text from Shakespeare's King Lear. This is an early exploration for an eventual puppet play.
[VIDEO DESCRIPTION: We see Lear, a bald, battered puppet with sad, empty eye sockets. He wears a filthy coat that was once light tan in colour, with the hood up. He is puppeteered from behind by a hooded figure wearing fingerless gloves and a blue face mask, exposing only their eyes to view. Lear stands in the middle of a storm, daring it to do its worst. The storm clouds are created with simple cutout shapes on an overhead projection for a bold luminescent effect. The clouds are animated with swirls of colored ink moving through water over the projection light, resulting in beautiful patterns which shift from blue to green to purple and finally to a bright red which saturates the sky. Rain and lightning are also created with projection, using simple cutouts in bright blue and yellow. We hear a fierce wind, cracks of thunder, and heavy rain as Lear challenges the weather to do its worst. The text is taken from Shakespeare's King Lear, Act III Scene II.] |
[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background is a round photo of artist Sara Tilley, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshot, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photo reads: SARA TILLEY, NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR.]
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Sara Tilley (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, living and working on Ktaqmkuk, the unceded, traditional territory of the Beothuk and Mi'kmaq. A graduate of the BFA Acting Program at York University in Toronto, Sara ran feminist theatre company She Said Yes! in St. John’s from 2002-2016. She’s spent time as an actor, writer, director, designer, puppeteer, dramaturg, performance artist, comics maker and Pochinko clown teacher/performer. Sara’s written, co-written or co-created twelve plays, and published two award-winning novels, Skin Room, and DUKE (Pedlar Press, 2008 and 2015). Sara’s puppet play for all ages, Hungry Little Shadow, was released online in 2021, thanks to the Digital Originals fund from Canada Council for the Arts and CBC. For more information, visit saratilley.ca.
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BURROW by Robyn Vivian + Azal Dosanjh
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CONTENT WARNING: insects, bright/flashing lights and colors, sudden/loud noises.
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In BURROW, we ask ourselves:
- How does the fundamental nature of poverty exacerbate sensory overload? - How does this affect our connection to ourselves, each other, our surroundings? Our sense of time and place? - When the body is consistently invaded by the surrounding environment, what sense of self can be maintained? - If everything we are is transferable, can we be brought back again? We do not have the answers. |
[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background are round photos of artists Azal Dosanjh and Robyn Vivian, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshots, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photos reads: AZAL DOSANJH, ROBYN VIVIAN, NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR.]
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Azal Dosanjh is a theatre artist from India, now residing in St. John's, Newfoundland. He is a fourth-year student at Memorial University, completing his double major in English and Communication Studies, and is a recent graduate of the Stage and Screen Technique Diploma. His recent acting credits include Log Kya Kahenge and Metamorphoses. His recent directing credits include Until Death Do Us Part by Prajwala Dixit, The Boor, and The Proposal by Anton Chekhov, Laare, and Raahat by Gursharan Singh. Azal is currently working on translating and adapting a series of political satires from India.
Robyn Vivian is a theatre artist and writer based in St. John’s, Newfoundland. She holds a BFA (Theatre) from Memorial University. Select performance credits include: The Kraken (Under The Bridge Productions, Salt Teeth Theatre Co., and RCAT), The Tales of Dwipa (White Rooster Theatre and RCAT), Private Eyes (Power Productions and lemonTree creations), and Drinking Again (RCAT). Playwriting credits include: Lights Out (in development with Wet Ink Collective), Equinox (in development with the support of Realwheels Theatre), Deeper (workshopped with TODOS Productions/Meghan Greeley), and SNATCH (produced by Theatre Perimetric and presented by St. John’s Shorts). Robyn has also written columns for The Tempest Media and Riddle Fence magazine, and she was recently selected to take part in phase two of The Summit Project with Geordie Theatre in Montreal. |
Current, Current by Mary Fay Coady + Jamie Kronick
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Current Current is a brief glimpse into the inherent theatricality of every day life, even within a pandemic.
Current, Current is a visual project that is also available as a poetic transcript and audio piece.
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background are round photos of artists Mary Fay Coady and Jamie Kronick, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshots, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photos reads: MARY FAY COADY, JAMIE KRONICK, NOVA SCOTIA.]
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Mary Fay Coady is a theatre-maker from Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS. She has worked with various theatre companies in the Nova Scotia, most recently with 2b theatre company, who toured the world for three years with Old Stock: a refugee love story, and garnered 6 Drama Desk Nominations, A New York Times’ Critic Pic, won 9 Merritt awards (including Mary Fay’s Best Lead Actress win) and 3 Toronto Theatre Critics Award (including Mary Fay’s Best Featured Performer win.) She is currently working with Zuppa Theatre in their upcoming show Strike Anywhere and working on a first draft of her new play Matriarch. And maybe most importantly, because what we do isn’t necessarily who we are, Mary Fay is a true-blue Maritimer, who has affections for coffee, poetry and reading.
Jamie Kronick practices as both a photographer and drummer, based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. In his fine art and commercial photography work, he creates compelling, at times haunting portraits that reveal personality by linking the physicality of place to the internal individuality of each sitter. As a drummer, Jamie has numerous creative and professional outlets, most notably supporting Ben Caplan since 2015, performing over 700 concerts in 34 countries worldwide. |
The Eyes of Nature by Natasha Thomas
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An exploration of nature.
[VIDEO DESCRIPTION: A series of photos and videos of nature. The described audio is in the form of spoken word poetry, created by the artist.] |
[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background is a round photo of artist Natasha Thomas, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshot, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photo reads: NATASHA THOMAS, NOVA SCOTIA.]
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Natasha Thomas is a 10th generation African Nova Scotian and was honoured to be this year’s Shipwright Theatre Company's Artist in Residence. Natasha is a graduate of the Music Arts Program from the Nova Scotia Community College. She is the Artistic Director of "The Beyond Imagination Puppet Crew", and in 2020 curated the Puppet cantata “Freedom Runs”, combining her love of puppetry, music, and scriptwriting. Natasha performed at Pier 21 in the Jerry Brown production “Winter Solstice: Souls of Sirens” and appeared in “Beyond the Veil of the Sorrow Songs” on the Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts Stage in New York. She appeared as Addaperle in the 2017 Broadway In the Hood production of, “The Wiz” at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax and has appeared in various productions with the Charles Taylor Theatre Company. Natasha is a vocalist and enjoys composing, song writing and script writing.
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What's in a Name? by Taylor Olson + Koumbie
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Sparked by a comment on Facebook, Taylor and Koumbie go down the rabbit hole of how to combine their family names.
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background are round photos of artists Taylor Olson and Koumbie, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshots, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photos reads: TAYLOR OLSON, KOUMBIE, NOVA SCOTIA.]
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Taylor Olson (he/ him) is an actor, writer, and filmmaker based in Halifax (Kjipuktuk). He has written and/or directed a number of short films, which have won prizes at film festivals across the country including CBC’s Short Film Face Off. He is the recipient of the Arts NS Emerging Artist Recognition Award, 2020. Most recently, Taylor wrote/directed the feature film Bone Cage, which was adapted from Catherine Banks’ play by the same name. Bone Cage premiered at FIN Atlantic International Film Festival 2020 and swept the awards winning Best Atlantic Feature, as well as Best Atlantic Director, Screenwriting & Cinematography. Bone Cage has since won awards at Silver Wave Film Festival, Mosaic Film Festival of Arts and Culture, Hamilton Film Festival, played in competition in its European premiere at Camerimage, and made its US premiere in January 2021 with eight upcoming US festivals including Cinequest. As a film actor, Taylor has received seven ACTRA Maritimes nominations and the David Renton Award for Outstanding Performance at FIN, 2018.
Koumbie is an award winning director, writer, and actor. In front of the camera she has appeared in a number of local productions with reoccurring roles on shows including CBC productions; Mr. D, Diggstown and Addison, as well as the final season of Outtv’s Sex & Violence. Since going behind the camera, Koumbie has directed a number of award winning short films including the Short Film Face-Off winner Hustle & Heart, a 1k wave film, Ariyah & Tristan’s Inevitable Break-Up, and an episode of the Screen Nova Scotia ‘Best Series’ winner Studio Black. In 2016 they were named a “One to Watch” by Sea in Be Scene, in 2018 she was selected as a Five in Focus: Atlantic Director and in the same year won a Telefilm Talent to Watch Grant. Currently working on their first feature film B y s t a n d e r s, Koumbie is drawn to stories that feature new voices and perspectives. |
Kings & Queens by Friends First Productions
(Stevey Hunter + Peter Sarty)
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Inspired by the play Christina, the Girl King by Michael Marc Bouchard, Kings & Queens is a multimedia drag piece which explores the fluidity of gender in fashion.
[VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Photos interspersed with video of ANGEL, a white non-binary person with bleached hair dressed as a King. They are wearing masculine drag makeup with red lipstick, gold hoop earrings, and a drawn on simple brown moustache. They have a light pink and purple hair clip on the right side of their head, three white jewels framing the top left side of their face, and have white fur from their black cape tied around their neck and pinned with a golden broach. They have deep green eyes and are staring into the camera. Next to Angel is NATHAN, a Black male with short black hair and a faint beard. He is wearing feminine drag makeup with red lipstick, black and gold eye makeup, gold hoop earrings, a large gold crown with roses and spikes, a jade necklace, white lace dress and black fur lining around the neck. They are in front of a background made up of multiple fabrics draped behind them. There is gold on the left and a dark floral on the right along with a light blue fabric hanging between.]
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background is a round photo of artists Stevey Hunter and Peter Sarty, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Their faces touch in a familiar embrace and they look casually towards the camera. Above the headshot, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photo reads: FRIENDS FIRST PRODUCTIONS, STEVEY HUNTER, PETER SARTY, NOVA SCOTIA.]
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Stevey Hunter (they/them) is an actor, comedian, and multidisciplinary artist based in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Nova Scotia. Originally from Winnipeg, MB, Stevey moved to Halifax to attend Dalhousie's Fountain School of Performing Arts Acting Program. They are a member of local improv company Hello City (Silver for Best Comedy Night - The Coast 2018, 2019) and have performed in improv shows across the country. They have worked with numerous Nova Scotian theatre companies including: Neptune Theatre, Ship's Theatre Company, Zuppa theatre, and more. Their play FAT JULIET, a retelling of Romeo & Juliet from the perspective of a fat 16 year old, Juliet, will be presented by Shakespeare by the Sea in the Fall of 2021. They have always been passionate about photography and videography and are excited to be at the beginning of their career exploring the art of visual storytelling.
Peter Sarty (he/him) is a writer, actor, improviser, musician and sound designer based in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Nova Scotia. As a sound designer, Peter has collaborated on both film and theatre projects. Most recently, Peter created six original sound designs and scores for the Ship’s Company Theatre Play Building Program. Peter is also a member of Hello City! An award winning improv troupe based in Halifax. Peter’s theatre credits include: Listen to the Wind (Steady Theatre Co.) No Man Is an Island (Atlantic Repertory Company), Macbeth (Steady Theatre Co.), This Is Nowhere (Zuppa Theatre Co.), Three Seasons with Shakespeare by the Sea, Peter Fechter: 59 Minutes (Matchstick Theatre), Miracle on 34th Street (Neptune Theatre). Film credits include: Let’s Get Physical (Pop TV), Diggstown (CBC), I Hear You (Interwoven Films), and Cavendish (CBC) Chapelwaite (MGM). Most recently, a short film that Peter co-wrote, co-starred, and co-produced entitled: Inceldom, or why are the angry men angry, won Best Atlantic Short at the FIN Atlantic International Film Festival. |
Awakening by Drifting Amber
(April Hubbard, Emily Invidia + Matt Downey)
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CONTENT WARNING: This video discusses the experience of disability in an abelist world and contains partial nudity.
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Folxs living with disability have unique strengths which allow them to adapt and thrive in a society that is often unwelcoming and hostile toward them. As a result, individuals living with disability have created their own worlds where they can not only exist but thrive. As our world tries to navigate covid isolation, we look to the expertise of those in the disability community to show us their alternate realities and teach us the art of adaptability. We will remove the barriers which exclude them from the traditional arts community and ask them to lead us through the beauty of the world they have created through visual mediums and spoken word. This presentation will be the first in a series of webisodes and photoshoots centering unseen bodies and unheard voices.
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A photograph of three beautiful people, dressed in black, sitting in front of a draped red curtain. April sits in the centre in her manual wheelchair, facing forward. She is a light-skinned white woman with short brown hair and glasses. She is wearing a shapely dress with a floral lace neckline, floral fishnet stockings and kitten heels. To April’s left, Emily sits on the floor, leaning in toward the wheelchair. They are a light-skinned white person with short brown hair and glasses. They wear a boat neck shirt with ¾ length sleeves, jeans and socks with pink polka dots. To April’s right, Matt sits on the floor, leaning in toward the wheelchair. They are a light-skinned white person with long brown hair pulled into a messy top knot and with a short beard & moustache. They are wearing a crop top with white stripes over a fishnet top, pink suspenders and pants with the cuffs rolled to ¾ length. Emily and Matt each have their outer leg crossed in front of them with their outer arm crossing their body to rest on their knee in a casual lounging pose. April’s legs are also crossed with her left arm resting across her lap. All 3 people wear mysterious, secretive smiles. Red & cool blue light rests on their skin and the group’s ominous shadow lurks on the curtain to their right.]
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Emily Invidia is a talented non-binary photographer who prioritizes working with queer folxs and alternate ideals of beauty.
April Hubbard is a proud wheelchair user, Disability advocate and performing artist with a background in theatre and circus. Matt Downey is a non-binary theatre artist and body positivity activist with 15 years experience in the field of lighting design and technical theatre. These three artists are currently working under the project name, Drifting Amber. They came together to create accessible art making environments for people with disabilities, starting with a pop-up accessible studio for photoshoots. Glitz & glam is for everybody! |
Alone, now by Annalise Prodor
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The audio piece explores the grieving process from the loss of human connection experienced during 2020-21. Taking experiences of emptiness where people and communities usually gather -- empty buildings, restaurants, public spaces -- and wading through the almost suffocating silence to recognize the white noise. It applies humor from pop music sensibilities to remind us not to get too lost in the muck of sadness. Or, perhaps, to just be sad and listen harder.
Thanks to: Eastern Front Theatre’s Micro Digital Residency & team. To Visual Arts Nova Scotia, Neptune Theatre, Trident Bookseller and Café and Mother Nature for their lush sounds of spaces. Also, to the Centre for Art Tapes and Scott Biggar for audio gear and support. Visual captions by Breton Lalama. |
[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a blue background is a round photo of artist Annalise Prodor, outlined by neon blue diamonds. Above the headshot, white retro digital font reads: EASTERN FRONT THEATRE MICRO DIGITALS, below the photo reads: ANNALISE PRODOR, NOVA SCOTIA.]
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Annalise Prodor is a multi-disciplinary artist and creative facilitator currently based in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Kjipuktuk). Annalise's work seeks to evoke curiosity and emotion through displays of the human experience. She explores ideas that surround femininity, complacency, mediocrity, and environmental responsibility.
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Sara is a fair skinned white woman with blonde hair down to her shoulders. Sara is wearing a white undershirt and green collared shirt over top, gold hoop earrings and a small gold necklace. Sara has blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and is smiling with her mouth closed. She has a slight chin dimple (which she is very proud of). The background is a warm orange colour with blurred arcade games and bright lights.]
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Sara Graham (she/her) is a deaf comedian, activist, improviser, and workshop educator. Sara uses her work to advocate for accessibility in theatre and wholeness in accessibility. Sara’s goal is to create art and creative spaces that acknowledge and address the need for inclusivity and accessibility for all artists. Sara graduated from Dalhousie University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and minor in Gender and Women’s Studies. Through her work Sara hopes to help in the creation of spaces that are radically accessible. Sara would like to thank Eastern Front Theatre for taking the time to learn and grow with her in creating accessible art on multiple mediums. Select recent projects include: Observatory Mansions (The Villains Theatre), Pride 2021 (Halifax Pride).
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Breton has perfect eyebrows and stares intently at the camera. They are surrounded by a very amateur frame that was drawn hastily to mimic those of the rest of the series.]
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Breton Lalama is a very cool person who insisted they didn’t need to be credited for their work on the Micro Digitals and therefore did not make a headshot image for themselves. Breton created the bumper images and the rest of the headshot frames for the series, and also did much of the captioning alongside Sara. We are very grateful for their work, or else the whole series might look like this one image.
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