Launching Landscape Theatre
In pursuit of “Theatre that can only be made here,” Yukon’s Nakai Theatre is launching an ambitious new program this summer that asks, “What is the theatre that matches the scale of our landscape?”
This first year of a multi-year project includes community build nights (July 24 and 31) at Makespace, hosting Outdoor Theatre Workshops for Youth (August 7-9) with Kwanlin Dun First Nation Youth Recreation and the inaugural Landscape Theatre Residency (August 14-25) at the Yukon College - Cold Climate Innovation wing at Northlight Innovation, the Yukon Arts Centre and a range of outdoor sites around Whitehorse and Carcross.
Learning on the land is a key element – three days will be spent working at Fish Lake with local youth in partnership with the Kwanlin Dun First Nation, and the residency cohort will also stay overnight at Conrad Campground outside Carcross, as well as take various day trips to sites around Whitehorse.
The residency brings together artists, performers, and academics from across Canada and the territory to learn, share, and prototype the potential for theatre in the landscape of the Yukon and the role digital immersive technologies might play in that.
Participants include Yukon artists and researchers Nicole Bauberger (visual and all-around artist, nicolebauberger.com), Heather Steinhagen (visual and community based artist and educator, heathersteihagen.ca), Véronique Lachance (immersive and devised theatre artist and educator, veroniquelachance.com), Brian Fidler (Theatre artist and host of Theatre in the Bush, Ramshackle Theatre ), Aimée Dawn Robinson (dancer, choreographer and educator, Trace Dance Practice), Jayden Soroka (Digital media creator, Outpost 31) and Suzanne de la Barre (Researcher and educator, Vancouver Island University, International Polar Tourism Research Network).
Joining them will be visiting collaborators Cole Lewis (Playwright, director and educator, Guilty by Association, Simon Fraser University), Bruce Barton (Dramaturge, researcher and educator, University of Calgary), Helen Yung (designer, researcher and consultant, helenyung.com), and Brandy Leary (dancer, choreographer and organizer, Anandam Dancetheatre).