what’s cooking

projects in development. stay tuned for updates.

Who Will Save the Night Sky?

As we speak Elon Musk is launching thousands of satellites into space, through his international for-profit space program SpaceX and Starlink. Nearly 4000 satellites are already in the sky, with a planned extension of 42,000. These satellites in 5-10 years will completely alter how we see and interpret the night sky. Shifting our current constellations to a new night sky, and as new constellations emerge, we interpret the satellites as a part of the canvas that is our sky. This is in addition to the already vast light pollution from the ground and the sky that makes star reading a challenge.

This project will blend a traditional understanding of original constellation stories - which I am in the process of investigating - with invented contemporary constellation stories based on the evolving makeup of our night sky. I hope to offer an archive for witnesses of the work, as we urgently need to turn our attention to the sky. Before the night sky as we know it completely shifts, we need to remember, retain, and reclaim. The piece, also, represents a path to the future where we live with these changes and as Indigenous peoples incorporate them into our re-creation stories. 

in early development with support from Ontario Arts Council Recommender Grants for Theatre Creators from Roseneath Theatre and Young People’s Theatre

upcoming development at the Banff Centre Indigenous Dramaturgies Exchange with mentorship from Jill Carter

fence posts divided

A new piece of performance-instilation that looks at two displaced communities coming together in rural Manitoba – the Métis and the Jews. Inspired by a journey to reclaim Indigenous identity through an understanding of self, community, and sovereignty. The piece examines our fluid personal search for identity and place in a world adamant about binaries

The seed for the theatre piece comes from research that my mother and I have been doing about my grandfather ni mooshum, John Logan. In our research we uncovered that in the 1920’s he lived in Narcisse, Manitoba that happened to be a few kilometers away from Bender Hamlet, which was one of the first Shtetls (a small Jewish town) outside of Eastern Europe. I am Jewish on my Father’s side so this incredible merging of history and present became extremely worth exploring and telling.

Bender Hamlet, a new Jewish community displaced by racism and colonial law in Russia encounters a Métis community, reeling from displacement through scrip and a settler-colonial government, during the early twenty century. The piece looks at this intersection of identities and communities.

We are looking at the surprising similarities of Métis and Yiddish identity and culture including: language; the power of the matriarch; survival of genocide; Louis Riel’s fascination in the Hebrews; similarities in oral histories; trickster figures; and circular storytelling. While investigating (re)conciliation through the setter-colonial (Jewish) Indigenous (Métis) relationship.

This is a piece of theatre that weaves past, into present, and looks towards the future. Inspired by a journey to reclaim Indigenous identity through an understanding of self, community, and sovereignty. The piece examines one’s fluid personal search for identity and place in a world adamant about binaries.

in development with support from

Winnipeg Jewish Theatre

Ontario Arts Council Recommender Grants from Native Earth Performing Arts, Jumblies Theatre, and Volcano Theatre

Ontario Arts Council Indigneous Arts Projects grant

images from research trip to Narcisse, Bender Hamlet, Stonewall and Rooster Town in Treaty 1

we wear our stories

A colloboarion between theatre/performance artist Philip Geller and Justine Woods garment artist and designer. Centring a practice-based approach involving a series of creative interventions, this experimental work will explore the point of intersection between Indigenous garment-making technologies and theatre/performance through a decolonial perspective. By bringing our respective artistic practices into dialogue with one another, we hope to learn how theatre/performance and garment-making can support one another, inform one another and challenge one another as a collaborative practice.

how is Indigenous garment making an act of performance?

how does an Indigenous garment worn or engaged with inform a performance?

how can a garment influence the performance of indigeneity?

is decolonizing performance inherently linked to the garment choices we make?

in early development with support from Native Earth Performing Arts 40 Seeds for 40 Seasons