What’s on the minds of Calgary’s emerging artists?
That’s the subtext of Ignite, Sage Theatre’s annual Festival of Emerging Artists, which kicks off Wednesday night and runs through Saturday at the Pumphouse Theatres.
This year’s multi-media, interdisciplinary festival combines film, performance, visual art and live music, featuring a broad cross-section of artists including Making Treaty 7’s Michelle Thrush who in collaboration with Sandi Somers created the seven short films that comprise Istotsi: The Land We Live On.
Students from Dr. EP Scarlett High School have created first-daywhich they describe as ‘a comedic romp through the world of workplace conflict, customer service and coffee.’
There’s Since Brass, Nor Stonewhich is an exploration of the complex relationships we have with historical statues, and how that might change if the statues could talk back.
There’s also a multidisciplinary and showcase, a Playwright Garagea live performance of the StarGazer Podcast and a closing night cabaret featuring Zenon and guitarist Jake Levesque.
What’s on the minds of Calgary’s emerging artists?
‘CHALLENGING THE STRUCTURE’
Overall, Ignite features seven different productions, presented by festival producer Alexandra Prichard, that figure to give Calgary audiences a snapshot of what young artists are obsessed about in 2022.
“Almost all the projects this year are challenging the structure of society in some way,” said Sage artistic director Jason Mehmel, in an email. “The readings are, the Statues Project is doing that, arguably Istotsi is also questioning or challenging structures by making space for and promoting new voices.
“stargazer is also something of a challenge, a post-pandemic reaction to making theatre. So many folks went into podcasting, and a podcast is coming back to the stage,” he said.
“This wasn’t exactly curated as a festival of challenging society, but it’s kind of going that way. Or less confrontational than ‘challenge’ is that this festival is all about today’s emerging artists engaging with the city and society and asking questions about what they find there.”
For Prichard, the dominant theme might best be described as a quest for self-understanding in a world fraught with trauma.
“Both texts in our staged reading series deal with intimate partner violence and other domestic abuse,” she said, in an email to CTV News.
“first-day and stargazer have a number of non-binary characters and performers, and Statues and Istotsi both explore themes relating to place, history, and colonization. Two pieces in the interdisciplinary series explore immigration and finding a new sense of home belonging.
“So, broadly, there’s a lot of exploration of self-identity and healing.”
For more information on Ignite, go to Sage Theater’s website.