CONVERSATIONS FOR LOVE + loss
This project has been unfolding since last Winter. Throughout 2022, Curtain Razors engaged 10 artists in a conversation with the goal of creating a unique audio offering. Each artist (or team of artists) created an audio imprint that shares their voice and vantage point on the expansive themes of LOVE + LOSS.
The contributing artists share remarkable bravery. Thank you to each of them for bringing their ideas and sensibilities into the public sphere. We hope that the stories, songs, shared knowledge, and poetry gathered here land gently in your mid-winter heart.
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Rania Al-Harthi, Kris Alvarez, Gaetan Benoit, Katrine Deniset, Terri Fidelak,
John Loeppky, Arthur Milner, Orion Paradis, Jess Richter.
Recorded & Mixed by Orion Paradis at SoulSound Studios.
Narration by Vuyo Ginindza.
Produced by Johanna Bundon.
Conversations for Love + Loss is an audio series produced by Curtain Razors, created in partnership with New Dance Horizons LOVE + LOSS Series (2022). This series opens a window on liminal spaces, exploring ideas, stories and resonances of love + loss, through live performance featuring dance, visual art, theatre, performance art, and sound artists from across the country.
1 | Holding on, Letting Go
Credits
Artist / Creator: Gaetan Benoit
Music by: Gaetan Benoit
Vocal Contributions from: Katrine Deniset, Jazmine Toupin, Messi le Chat
Sound Design & Engineering: Orion Paradis
Support from: Francis Marchildon
Artwork by: Katrine Deniset, Anick Boulianne, Chloé Boulianne
Graphic Design by: Gaëtan Lamarre
2 | GETTING TO ROOM TEMPERATURE
GETTING TO ROOM TEMPERATURE is a hard-hitting, sentimental and funny one-person play about dying. Based on a mostly true story by playwright Arthur Milner and — for the first time — performed by Arthur Milner.
“My spry mother was ninety-three and a half when she took a turn for the worse. I accompanied her to the doctor. He closed a file on his desk, turned to her and said, “Well, Rose, what can I do for you?" My mother said, "Doctor, I would like to die. Can you help me?" The doctor said, “No. And don’t ask me again.” And I thought: I can write a play about this.”
This is an audio recording of the play, performed by Arthur Milner (February 2022) at the RPL Film Theatre.
3 | ZAGHAREET
Artist Rania Al-Harthi engages the traditional Palestinian calling technique Zaghareet to deliver several messages following the performance of Getting to Room Temperature. Rania is introduced by her friend and mentor Arthur Milner and, in turn, offers a call to Arthur’s mother, Rose. From here Rania moves through the audience, gathering names and messages from the audience.
This performance took place in the RPL Film Theatre and migrated, with the audience, through the Regina Public Library Main Branch, February 2022.
4| what do we talk about whEN we talk about death?
John Loeppky is a disabled artist and freelance writer/editor. In this piece he ponders questions about what it means to perform — and, by extension, write about — medical assistance in dying though a Saskatchewan lens. From the ever-present reverberations of the death of Tracy Latimer by her father’s hand, perhaps the most public example of disabled filicide in the province’s history, to disability community discussions surrounding the expansion of Bill C7, this piece reflects on how discussions about death, grief and body autonomy are shifted and informed by the current political moment.
Photo credit: Jaecy Bells
5| SOUNDING
Sounding is an ongoing collaborative project and a vocal expression of personal and communal grief, as embodied and performed by four prairie-based artists: Rania Al-Harthi, Kris Alvarez, Terri Fidelak, and Jess Richter. From diverse backgrounds in performance, theatre, and visual art, we live and work on Treaty 4 Territory in Regina, Saskatchewan. Each of us tends distinct creative practices alongside our collective explorations in Sounding.
The work we do together is in service to ourselves and one another but extends further, to our communities. In acknowledging and giving voice to grief, we offer an intentional act of care to the places and people we encounter. As our voices resonate in harmony and discord, we tune the energy of any given space in preparation for whatever is meant to come next.
Rania Al-Harthi, Kris Alvarez, Terri Fidelak, Jess Richter
Image by Jess Richter.
6| three poems
Katrine Deniset est une écrivaine, poète et comédienne de Winnipeg. En plus d’être l'auteure du recueil de nouvelles Faites comme chez nous et des pièces Je m’en vais et Débâcle, elle a contribué à une vingtaine d'autres projets littéraires au cours des dernières années. En tant que théâtreuse, elle est montée notamment sur les planches du Théâtre Cercle Molière à Winnipeg, du Centre du Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui à Montréal, et du Centre national des Arts à Ottawa.
PARTNERS
This project is created in partnership withNew Dance Horizons LOVE + LOSS Series, which opens a window on liminal spaces, exploring ideas, stories and resonances of love and loss, through live performance featuring dance, visual art, theatre, performance art, and sound artists from across the country.
This project is created with support fromGlobe Theatre and the City of Regina New Initiative Grant (2022).
