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It is hardly revolutionary for parents to have complicated relationships with their coming-of-age children. What is less common is a teenager taking those complexities and turning them into a piece of theatre that audiences can take in during this year’s Winnipeg Fringe Festival.
I Hope You Know is the brainchild of Adia Branconnier, who wrote and stars in the semi-autobiographical production of their coming-of-age. After much consideration, they came to the conclusion that the best person to portray their parent, was, well, their parent – Mike. Together, they form Interstellar Theatre Company, who produces this show.
“To get the right connection between the characters, it had to be me and my dad,” they say. “It was definitely a few conversations about being a parent versus being co-workers, so to speak.”
“It was tricky because I’m not one of those parents that just want to be your friend,” says Mike. “But at the same time, I want to support Adia in all of their creative endeavours, period. As soon as we established some boundaries, it was a matter of me checking my ego at the door and really kind of conceding the fact that for this to work, I had to listen to all of their advice, all of their direction.”
Much of the material of I Hope You Know is based on real conversations the two of them had in the car when Adia was younger. Despite holding the power over their father in the dynamic of a rehearsal hall, Adia was careful not to abuse that power by idealizing the conversations they had in their favour.
“I wanted so deeply for both the characters to come to this happy, perfect ending where they feel connected,” Adia recalls. “We got to a point where it’s not perfect, but they’re healing. They're learning to heal. And I think I’m happy with this way, because you come out of it thinking these characters are going to be okay. They’re going to make it work, but it’s not going to be perfect. And I feel like a lot of people can relate to that.”
That relatability factor is something that Mike observes in the audiences that have come to see I Hope You Know, particularly in other parents. “The best part is every night we hear literal sobbing from the audience and see people walk out crying and thanking us,” he smiles. “And these are people my age and older because I think they really relate to not understanding this generation gap. And so, if they can watch our play and go home and start important, honest conversations and reconnect and humble themselves and hand gracefully hand the world over to this next generation of Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids, then we’ve done something special here.”
I Hope You Know runs on the fourth floor of the Creative Manitoba offices in the Exchange district. More information and tickets are available at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival website.