All in Downstage
This month Downstage Theatre and Chromatic Theatre come together to bring the world premiere of The Green Line to Calgary. Braiding together past and present, The Green Line is a compelling contemplation of how memories are inherited and erased by those closest to them. Director of The Green Line as well as artistic director of Chromatic Theatre, Jenna Rodgers shares her perspective on this exciting new play.
When I saw a workshop reading of Sunny Drake’s play Men Express Their Feelings I was still living in Tkaronto/Toronto and had no idea I would become the Artistic Director at Downstage. The moment the reading was over, the audience leapt to their feet in rapturous applause and I knew that I wanted to direct Sunny’s brilliant hockey comedy. That night, I told Sunny about my desire and we agreed that it could be a wonderful project for us to collaborate on.
Long-time patrons of Arts Commons, as well as avid supporters of the arts, Rodney and Karen McCann along with their family, wanted to find a meaningful way to give back to our essential workers who have given so much to get us safely through the pandemic. The idea that they came up with, in collaboration with Arts Commons, is the Season of Gratitude program which aims to bring essential workers to productions by the Resident Companies of Arts Commons.
Deer Woman’s first public audience was the reading at Native Earth’s Weesageechak festival in November 2017. After four days of development we had a showing. We experimented with blocking and video design. The primarily Indigenous crowd was silent when we concluded, and Cherish recalls feeling worried. The first sound to explode from our people was not applause, but a loud sob from one woman, followed by resounding cheers.
