|
Centaur Theatre’s outdoor event, Portico Project, returns for its second year with a new commissioned work developed by the event’s inaugural curators: Julie Tamiko Manning, Eo Sharp and Nalo Soyini Bruce.
They were given ‘carte blanche’ by Centaur’s Artistic and Executive
Director, Eda Holmes, to create a new interdisciplinary piece for the
steps of the theatre, which the trio dubbed The Exchange.
Referencing Centaur’s Montreal Stock Exchange origins, The Exchange features five performers with a wide range of artistic skills. They include Maryline Chery (actor, theatre creator and improviser of Haitian descent); Corrina Hodgson (award-winning Queer playwright and disability advocate); Sandra Kadowaki (Japanese Canadian percussionist and composer); Kayin Queeley (Afro-Caribbean educator and founder of Montreal Steppers); and Ainsley McNeaney (multi-faceted musician, composer and singer/songwriter).
In The Exchange, a
small group of travelers encounter a theatre performer who seems
paralyzed … an empty statue. They resolve to awaken the actor from the
fundamental limitations of their discipline to see the myriad creative
possibilities available. Challenging the theatrical norm of written text
and making full use of the unique setting, the exchanges between the
travelers and the actor take shape through spontaneous movement, sound,
and music in an exciting and powerful 20-minute work that explores
various aspects of theatre invention and performance, from the process
of how a new work is born and where it is presented to who is on stage
and who is watching.
“The
driving goal in this endeavour was to ensure performers and patrons go
home feeling they have gained something valuable from their experience”,
said director Julie Tamiko Manning.
“There’s a certain inaccessibility that conventional theatres have,
which can sometimes get in the way of that happening. It’s definitely
changing, which is great, but it’s so ingrained in the system we often
can’t see that there are other ways to make theatre. We forget that we
can question our methods. It begins with something as basic as the
universally-accepted assumption that we start with a written script but
language can be a barrier too. We wanted to unpack ‘exchange’, because
of Centaur’s history with the word, but also draw from an extraordinary
rehearsal I had with another drummer, working on a previous project. We
realized we were conversing in another language, one that sprang from a
deeply spiritual place—rooted in cultural complexity—that words could
never have fully expressed. With The Exchange, we wanted to investigate
and flesh out how artists can create within a new rehearsal paradigm,
how stage characters communicate with each other in performance, and how
the performers connect with the space. We’re so grateful to Centaur for
the gift of complete autonomy in this undertaking and for its
unwavering faith in us.”
|
