A local theatre company with a mission to be a 'local theatre that tells local stories', is presenting the workshop production of Heirlooms & Baggage (My Mother's Story) at KinVillage in Tsawwassen from Feb. 16 to 18.
The performances take place at 7:30 p.m. and include a matinee on Feb. 18 at 3 p.m.
“This show emerges from of a year-long writing and theatre devising process involving diverse voices from the Delta community and professional theatre artists weaving together stories about their individual mothers' lives,” says Peg Christopherson, Delta Stageworks artistic lead.
Audiences follow the unique and universal journeys of five diverse women, all knit together with the personal discoveries made by their storytellers - their children. The catalyst for the show's development is the My Mother's Story writing project founded by award-winning actor/author/playwright Marilyn Norry. Norry's book Writing Women's History - Starting With Your Mother, has been hugely popular, and she just filmed a TEDX Talk about the important and transformative work of writing our mothers histories.
Heirlooms & Baggage (My Mother's Story) features Stageworks actor/writers Camryn Chew, Ragini Kapil, Renee Iaci, Eric Keenleyside and Christopherson who all came to the project with a personal desire to delve into their Mom's life story.
Kapil, whose mother's journey began in Fiji, took her to Nelson, B.C. and a noted career as an educator says, “I've often taken my mother's strengths and accomplishments for granted, and this creative process has really opened up my understanding of who she is as a woman - not just as my mother - and what it's been like for her to negotiate the cultural expectations and judgements faced by a woman of colour coming to Canada in the 1960s.”
In turns celebratory, humorous, relatable and transformative, the play explores those oh-so-essential relationships, the ones we have with our mothers.
Working with Norry and the actor/writers to shape their written stories into theatrical scenes is director Cory Haas who has worked with the company as a devised-theatre facilitator for the past three years. Also on the creative team; shaping the visual elements of the work-in-progress show, is Ladner filmmaker Cliff Caprani.
Heirlooms & Baggage (My Mother's Story) also features veteran Film and TV actor Keenleyside, whose mother's story offers glimpses into the extraordinary ordeal of a woman escaping Europe in the wake of The Second World War and coming to Canada as a refugee with little but two pieces of her family's silverware.
“We hope the take-away for audiences is that understanding 'diversity' in our community can be more than a media buzz word, and that it lives in our everyday ability to share and listen to the stories of our neighbours' life journeys,” says Christopherson. “In the big picture we believe that the theatre - and the arts in general in our community - is a great way for people to come together, connect and work towards a more inclusive future.”
She also thinks that this is the perfect show for Moms and their adult children to come and see together!
Tickets are now available on eventbrite.ca, through the Delta Stageworks website or at the door. Discounted tickets are available by signing up for email: deltastageworks@gmail.com.
