Entertainment magazine online - Press+1. An internet entertainment magazine about performers and writers from books, the film industry, music, theatre, arts and culture.
Exclusive rehearsal video and interviews for Press+1 Entertainment News
Rape as a weapon of war is despicable and inhumane.
Throughout history - men, women and children - have been subjected to such intolerable atrocities without the blink of an innocent eye. From the earliest dawn of man to primal aboriginal tribes, the Romans, Medieval Europe, the New Land, to modern day interior Tibet, Central America, the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and Africa, it has been an inescapable reality and a way of life for many.
Calgary's latest upstart theatrical troop Ellipsis Tree Collective(ETC), and artists at large: Simone Sunders, Natasha Joachim, Janelle Cooper and Monice Peter, are determined to expose this notorious universal situation by mounting the 2008 Pulitzer Prize Award winning play Ruined. ETC is the only Afro-centric theatre company in Western Canada. It is a fresh and newly formed live theatre company founded by the 4 local Afro-Caribbean Canadian female multidisciplinary artists. They are comprised of experienced creators, performers, writers, directors and producers. According to their website, the ETC also aims to bring an exciting new theatre experience to Calgary! These ladies want to expand the city's live theatre audience by presenting rich, dynamic and compelling stories that echo Calgary's growing and culturally diverse demographic.
Written by New York based playwright Lynn Nottage and directed by the accomplished Calgary based 2010 Betty Mitchell Awards nominated actress Valerie Planche (Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain), this contemporary drama tells the story of a group of emotionally shattered female victims who seek refuge in a Congolese brothel. According to Planche, there is no suicide in today's Congo Republic; only survival of the fittest, and the horror that lingers in everyone's tormented memories. Everyone is a victim of these circumstances.
L-R: Janelle Cooper, Simone Saunder, Natasha Joachim, Valerie Planche and Monice Peter
Born and raised in Calgary, Simone Sunders has a BFA degree in Acting from the University of Alberta. She has been an active actor, writer and has collaborated on many professional stage productions since graduation. Janelle Cooper has been active in the Calgary theatre community since receiving her 2005 BFA degree in drama from the University of Calgary. Monice Peter has been acting since her professional arts educational degree from Mount Royal College. She has acted on stage, television and other creative productions. Peter also garnered an Audience Favorite accolade at the recent High Performance Rodeo's 10 Minute Play Festival. For the past decade, Natasha Joachim has been mentoring and empowering youth through the arts with her photographer brother Vincent in Calgary. She has been noted as an accomplished local actress, educator, director and activist. Joachim has also published numerous university publications, written/directed large ensemble productions, as well as been nominated for several awards such as the Women of Distinction Award and the Edwin Parr Teacher Excellence Award in Alberta.
Actor Mwabeni Indire
Fellow male actor Mwabeni Indire was drawn to Ruined because, "I detest violence by men against women, whatever the situation. A man who runs around abusing women because he thinks he has some power, whether it is a gun or not, to me is a failure of a man. I chose to act in Ruined to showcase what war can be like for women, good men and sinister men." Indire added, "Aside from that, the ladies from the Ellipsis Tree Collective are amazing professional actors. They worked very hard to bring this winning play to Canada, and they succeeded. Plus, the intense focus they apply to their work is remarkable!"
In order to transport and unsettle the Calgary audience, this production stages itself in an intimate but agressive participatory atmosphere. The setting will divide the public to a split side seating with the actors dividing the presentational space.
The ETC, along with Amnesty International and the Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse (CCASA), will also host an additional public symposium and fundraiser to create rape and war crime awareness at the Glenbow Museum on Sunday, August 22, 2010.
Press+1 had the privilege to preview Ruined on Thursday, August 12, 2010 at the Lunchbox Theatre. Click here and you can sample an exclusively staged rehearsal scene for Ruined and its rehearsal process for our online readers.
Ruined premieres nationally in Calgary on Friday, August 13, 2010 at the downtown Lunch Box Theater. It will play until August 27, 2010. For showtimes and more information, you can visit their official website.
