A polyamorous birthday party, gangsta grannies, and more as Advance Theatre Festival hosts live-reading series February 5 to 9
At Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, Tricia Trinh curates plays that centre new voices around gender and culture
Playwright and Advance Theatre Festival curator Tricia Trinh.
Advance Theatre Festival is at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts from February 5 to 9, 7:30 pm
FOR A SENSE of the fresh perspectives on culture and gender debuting in the new play readings at the annual Advance Theatre Festival, look no further than Tricia Trinh’s new Attachments.
Not only does it tell the story of six queer characters, all from immigrant families, who are navigating a polyamorous relationship, but it also features simultaneous dialogue in English, Cantonese, Japanese, Spanish, and Italian. Attachments centres on Frankie, who finds out her friend is throwing her a surprise birthday party, and inviting all her partners and partners’ partners. In another innovation, Trinh, who also directs, has cast all these lovers as their partner’s parents—a way of exploring how our relationships with fathers and mothers affects future relationships.
The artist, who is curating the entire festival at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, says she draws on observations made in daily life—“fleeting moments, passerby moments, glimpses of people, places and things, which are then woven together by way of embellishment of imagination through the lens of my lived experience, values and deep rooted questions.
“My artistic practice aims to examine the duality in intersectional lived experiences, specifically investigating intercultural socio-political influence on queer identity and gender identity,” the artist adds. “Attachments is fuelled by a call to action to centre QTBIPOC narratives, experiences, and artists at the forefront. I approach theatre as the most direct vessel in which we can share with one another our humanity.”
Those words resonate across the five other works the playwright has curated at this year’s Advance Theatre Festival, presented by Ruby Slippers Theatre, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, and Playwrights Guild of Canada. The annual live-reading showcase spotlights plays written and directed by female-identifying and gender-nonconforming artists who also identify as BIPOC.
Filipino-Canadian playwright, actor, and filmmaker Abi Padilla’s Grandma. Gangsta. Guerrilla. (February 5) follows grandkids Nika and Jun-jun as they kick into action after their “butt-kicking” grandma goes missing after escaping her care home. Lili Chang’s Leila Roils the Sea, meanwhile, is also about a grandma—in this case about the title character leaving her home in Canada to return to Taiwan, and finding out she can interact with her comatose elder’s consciousness (February 9).
Iranian-Canadian theatre artist Aki Yaghoubi’s Evina’s Barrier focuses on a would-be actor who freezes in her first speaking part, thinking she might have spotted her father, who’s a world away, in the audience (February 6). In Natasha Chew’s A Captivating Woman, meanwhile, Sarah Roa takes on the one-woman meta-theatrical role as Annalyn, who we meet holding Steve, a convenience store clerk, at gunpoint for a box of cereal (February 7).
“Especially amidst the rise of anti-Asian and anti-Trans sentiment, it is more important than ever to celebrate our intersections and resilience,” Trinh tells Stir. “My practice is dedicated to carving a seat for systemically excluded artists at the creation table, with an overarching goal to give agency to narratives foregrounding QTBIPOC communities with authenticity and sensitivity.“
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