Reflectory 1
Enforced isolation and reliance on tech
The first Raucous Reflectory took place on Thursday 13 August where the provocation was: "Enforced isolation and reliance on technology will be a game-changer in providing space for international collaboration"
Our generous participants were:
Yolanda Bonnell (She/Her) is a Queer 2 Spirit Ojibwe/South Asian performer, playwright and poet from Fort William First Nation in Thunder Bay, ON. Now based in Tkarón:to, and a graduate of Humber College’s Theatre Performance program, Yolanda was named one of NOW Magazine's Theatre Discoveries and most exciting artists to watch in Summerworks 2016. Her solo show bug, had its world premiere at the Luminato Festival in 2018, followed by a national tour and was part of the 2020 season at Theatre Passe Muraille. She was also a part of Factory Theatre’s The Foundry, a creation program for new career writers, where her play, Scanner continues to be developed. Yolanda also completed a season at the Stratford Festival as well as a residency at the Banff Playwright’s Lab with her piece, White Girls in Moccasins, which is now in residency at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
Kareem Fahmy is a Canadian-born director and playwright based in New York. He is currently a Theatre Communications Group Rising Leader of Color and is in an alumnus of the Sundance Theatre Lab, the Phil Killian Directing Fellowship at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the National Directors Fellowship at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center. He is the co-founder of the Middle Eastern American Writers Lab at The Lark and of Maia Directors, a consulting group for organizations and artists engaging with stories from the Middle East and beyond. MFA in Directing: Columbia University. www.KareemFahmy.com
Guillermo Verdecchia is an award-winning theatre-maker based in Toronto, Canada, Guillermo is the Director of Play Development at Soulpepper Theatre and an instructor at the University of Toronto. He is currently working on adaptations of The Conference of the Birds and (a tabletop) War and Peace. When not writing, reading, or napping, he can be found in his backyard growing hot peppers and herding his (two) chickens.
Seiriol Davies trained in clown and devising at LISPA. He writes, composes and performs glittering, broad-appeal musical theatre with anarchic, political bite in English and Welsh. His first musical “How to Win Against History” was a big success with critics and audiences. He's made shows for The Young Vic, The Old Vic, National Theatre Wales, English National Opera, Gate Theatre, Theatr Clwyd, Hijinx among others. His work tends to involve prophecy, sparkly dragons and queers.
Malaika Kegode is a writer and performer based in Bristol. She has performed around the UK at a number of celebrated venues, festivals and poetry events. In 2019 she was shortlisted for the Out-Spoken Poetry Prize. She was included in the BME Power List, celebrating Bristol’s 100 most influential black & minority ethnic people and continues to work towards diversifying arts. In 2020 Malaika premiered her debut spoken word gig theatre show Outlier at Bristol Old Vic with post-rock band Jakabol. Malaika’s work tells of how we can find beauty and hope through the darkness. Her overall themes of family, mental health, addiction and love always have an undercurrent of optimism and strength. Her poetry collections Requite (2017) and Thalassic (2020) were both published by Burning Eye Books.
Anna Näsström is a Stockholm based dancer and choreographer active since 2010 and working in different artistic projects, international tours, musicals or opera amongst things. Educated at The University College of Dance & Circus in Stockholm or “Broadway Dance Center” in New York as well as less institutionalized dance training and practices. Currently, she is working on her and colleague Jo Bandholtz' project "Ongoing realities" which is an interactive stage-performance where dance meets Virtual reality, researching VR as a choreographic tool, as well as opening up the space of what is the stage/performer/audience.
Our heartfelt thanks to Arts Council England and The National Lottery for making these Reflectories a reality by awarding us emergency funding during the Covid-19 pandemic.
