Zee Zee Theatre’s annual storytelling project returns with The Rainbow Elders & Allies Collection

 Community-engagement project gives people the chance to hear queer histories one-on-one, 20 minutes at a time

By Gail johnson

Zee Zee Theatre presents The Rainbow Elders & Allies Collection on November 5, 6, 12, and 13 at the Vancouver Public Library central branch

THE RAINBOW ELDERS & Allies Collection marks the in-person return of Zee Zee Theatre’s annual storytelling project, now in its 12th year.

Co-curated by Allan Morgan, Melanie Ray, Alysha Collie, and Dallas Yellowfly, the 2022 community-engagement project focuses on 2SLGBTQIA+ elders whose experiences have helped shape Vancouver’s queer history and future. Event-goers have the chance to speak one-on-one with a Rainbow Elder—storytellers of diverse sexualities, genders, and lived experience sharing true stories from their lives—for 20 minutes at a time.

“The stories of our Rainbow Elders come from the perspective of a singular experience in the history of the world,” Morgan says in a release. “Many of us navigated through a time where being homosexual was diagnosed as a mental illness, and societal disdain rampant and dangerous. The changes we have witnessed and advocated for have changed the landscape immensely. Through these simple tales from our elders shared one-on-one with another human, we can help weave the tapestry of our rainbow cloth.”

An audience participant might hear about the lengths a lesbian couple went to to adopt a child in the 1990s or what it was like to be an out gay Canadian immigrant in the 1960s, notes producer Jordy Matheson. “Because so much of LGBTQ2SI+ history has not been documented, it is vital to listen to the people who hold this history, to remember them, and to carry these stories forward,” Matheson says. “Some are painful, others heartwarming, but all deserve to be told.”

The Rainbow Elders & Allies Collection is free. Sign-up is at the door of the Third Floor Atrium at the Vancouver Public Library’s central branch.

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