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An art party of experimental theatre and music performances is more than just an excuse to gather for Theatre Projects Manitoba. It’s a chance for the audience to engage in their mainstage season’s offerings in an active, exciting way.
For Suzie Martin, the artistic director of Theatre Projects Manitoba, the party – titled Bodies Politic – also represents a chance for collaboration with other theatre companies in addition to the theatre-going public. “This collaboration on this party came together because Theatre Projects has a show in the fall and We Quit Theatre has a show almost exactly at the same time... and we were thinking about ways to sort of join forces and celebrate and get the word out and invite people and get people to start thinking about the show before it starts,” she says. “Both of these shows in very different ways engage with ideas of politics and personal identity, and all of that situates on the body in different ways.
The theatre companies also joined forces with the Cluster Festival to create an interdisciplinary show that can engage with the thematic material of both upcoming projects. We Quit Theatre is preparing for their show Glory!, which they describe as a contemporary dance docu-drama that explores 70’s idealism and the anthropocene through a journey into the Playboy mansion, while Theatre Projects Manitoba prepares a bare-bones presentation of prompts to reflect on colonial harms in The Only Good Indian. Alongside musicians and sound artists from the Cluster Festival, audiences will have a chance to engage with a wide variety of interactive experiences at Saddlery on Market in the Exchange District that will present audiences with a chance to interact with the pieces in advance in order to gauge public response.
“It's kind of a fun way for us to do something else,” explains Martin, “because the cost of a production is just astronomical comparatively. And so, it gives us a chance to pay some artists for their time in a smaller way and also to think a little bit creatively about what is that conversation, that counterpoint conversation that we want to have and what other medium might best support it and who might be our best partner.”
“It’s a nice way for us as a staff and for me to be able to think a little bit more about what the programming might mean to people and how to offer them an opportunity for it to mean something else.”
Bodies Politic takes place on August 19 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Saddlery on Market in the Exchange District with doors opening a half hour in advance. Tickets and more information can be found at Theatre Projects Manitoba’s website.