'Where Do We Stand?' A decolonial arts exploration with 50 children and youth to imagine living in harmony with the land and each other as the Treaties of this territory intended. This multi-disciplinary production will bravely explore what reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people must look like to create a more just future for all.
Directed by the amazing Tanisha Taitt.
Music Director Ruben Esguerra .
Lido Pimienta as Visual Arts Director and Darla Contois as Assistant Director.
Directed by the amazing Tanisha Taitt.
Music Director Ruben Esguerra .
Lido Pimienta as Visual Arts Director and Darla Contois as Assistant Director.
Director Tanisha Taitt
Tanisha Taitt is a writer/director/actor, producer and artist-educator. She has worked with YPT, Obsidian, NAC, Acting UpStage, Buddies In Bad Times, Nightwood, and has been the Director of the Peace Camp program at Children's Peace Theatre for the past eight years. Also a singer and songsmith, she is a winner of the Canadian Music Publishers' Award for excellence in songwriting. Tanisha's other plays include Violent Be Violet, which received favourable reviews at the 2012 SummerWorks Festival and Admissions, a play for high schools. An ardent anti-VAW activist, Tanisha is a two-time YWCA Woman of Distinction nominee for her commitment to anti-violence and social justice. Keeper is her first published play.
Tanisha is also currently directing A seat next to the King in this years Toronto Fringe Festival.
Tanisha Taitt is a writer/director/actor, producer and artist-educator. She has worked with YPT, Obsidian, NAC, Acting UpStage, Buddies In Bad Times, Nightwood, and has been the Director of the Peace Camp program at Children's Peace Theatre for the past eight years. Also a singer and songsmith, she is a winner of the Canadian Music Publishers' Award for excellence in songwriting. Tanisha's other plays include Violent Be Violet, which received favourable reviews at the 2012 SummerWorks Festival and Admissions, a play for high schools. An ardent anti-VAW activist, Tanisha is a two-time YWCA Woman of Distinction nominee for her commitment to anti-violence and social justice. Keeper is her first published play.
Tanisha is also currently directing A seat next to the King in this years Toronto Fringe Festival.
Music Director Ruben ‘Beny’ Esguerra
Born in Colombia - Ruben 'Beny' Esguerra is a multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and arts educator who has composed original scores for the CBC, City Life Film, Amnesty International and the National Film Board of Canada; presented his pieces in festivals held in Canada, US, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile and is currently the Program Coordinator and instructor for the the Rhyme N Reason Music and Media Arts program based in Jane and Finch Toronto. Ruben is a PhD (ABD) candidate in Musicology/Ethnomusicology specializing in traditional and urban music.
http://peachyouth.org/rhyme-n-reason-program/
http://www.newtraditionmusic.com/BenyEsguerraEPK/Bio.html
Born in Colombia - Ruben 'Beny' Esguerra is a multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and arts educator who has composed original scores for the CBC, City Life Film, Amnesty International and the National Film Board of Canada; presented his pieces in festivals held in Canada, US, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile and is currently the Program Coordinator and instructor for the the Rhyme N Reason Music and Media Arts program based in Jane and Finch Toronto. Ruben is a PhD (ABD) candidate in Musicology/Ethnomusicology specializing in traditional and urban music.
http://peachyouth.org/rhyme-n-reason-program/
http://www.newtraditionmusic.com/BenyEsguerraEPK/Bio.html
Visual Arts Director Lido Pimienta
Lido Pimienta (b.1986) is a Toronto-based Colombian born interdisciplinary artist-curator and musician. She has performed, exhibited, and curated around the world since 2002. Her work explores the politics of gender, race, motherhood, identity and the construct of the Canadian landscape in the Latin American Diaspora and vernacular.
In 2007 Pimienta created The Tiny Box Collective alongside Kyle Mowat and Toni Darling in London Ontario, the collective focused on marrying art, music and performing arts as a way to integrate the artistic community in the city. In 2010 supporting the release of her first album Color LP Pimienta toured Latin America, USA and Europe gaining international recognition not only as a music performer but as advocate for Women in technology and Arts and the reformation of immigration policies in Canada. In 2012 she created Bridges, a multi-disciplinary festival featuring artists and musicians from South America and Canada working in similar ways as a way to break with Latin pre-conceptions. In 2013 she created Girl Talkz, a curated show featuring female-up-and-coming performing artists in Toronto. In 2014 she created GlitClit - A dj collective alongside music partners Kvesche Bijons and Blake Macfarlane, now HIGHWORLD, this dj collective aims to integrate electronic and live music, opening doors to djs, mcs and performers outside of Toronto, as a way to integrate music communities in the GTA. All of these projects are still active today.
Lido Pimienta (b.1986) is a Toronto-based Colombian born interdisciplinary artist-curator and musician. She has performed, exhibited, and curated around the world since 2002. Her work explores the politics of gender, race, motherhood, identity and the construct of the Canadian landscape in the Latin American Diaspora and vernacular.
In 2007 Pimienta created The Tiny Box Collective alongside Kyle Mowat and Toni Darling in London Ontario, the collective focused on marrying art, music and performing arts as a way to integrate the artistic community in the city. In 2010 supporting the release of her first album Color LP Pimienta toured Latin America, USA and Europe gaining international recognition not only as a music performer but as advocate for Women in technology and Arts and the reformation of immigration policies in Canada. In 2012 she created Bridges, a multi-disciplinary festival featuring artists and musicians from South America and Canada working in similar ways as a way to break with Latin pre-conceptions. In 2013 she created Girl Talkz, a curated show featuring female-up-and-coming performing artists in Toronto. In 2014 she created GlitClit - A dj collective alongside music partners Kvesche Bijons and Blake Macfarlane, now HIGHWORLD, this dj collective aims to integrate electronic and live music, opening doors to djs, mcs and performers outside of Toronto, as a way to integrate music communities in the GTA. All of these projects are still active today.
Assistant Director Darla Contois
Darla Contois is a Cree/Salteaux performer, playwright and poet. She has graduated from the Centre for Indigenous Theatre's professional training program in 2014, attended David Smukler's National Voice Intensive and is premiering her one woman show White Man's Indian this year at Summerworks 2017. She was last seen in Angelique produced by Black Theatre Workshop and Tableau D'Hote Theatre in Montreal's Segal Centre 2016-2017 season.
www.summerworks.ca/artists/white-mans-indian/
Darla Contois is a Cree/Salteaux performer, playwright and poet. She has graduated from the Centre for Indigenous Theatre's professional training program in 2014, attended David Smukler's National Voice Intensive and is premiering her one woman show White Man's Indian this year at Summerworks 2017. She was last seen in Angelique produced by Black Theatre Workshop and Tableau D'Hote Theatre in Montreal's Segal Centre 2016-2017 season.
www.summerworks.ca/artists/white-mans-indian/
