arts

Murray Rob Roy McGregor

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So many people have moved to Ottawa to work for government they sometimes act surprised when they meet Murray, an actual local-born Ottawan who grew up here along with the city itself. Murray discovered oral storytelling in 2010. At first he dabbled across the board telling all types of stories. More recently he has focused on local history and Scottish folklore. He enjoys researching and creating original stories and characters true to historical events.
Until recently Murray wrote and edited web content for government and business. Previously, he did a lot of reading in his own bookstore for 19 years. And in a former life, based in Toronto, he worked in film production, freelanced to CBC radio and wrote for magazines — all connected to telling stories in different ways.
Murray is a member of OttawaStorytellers and Storytellers of Canada. He has a BA in history and art history from Carleton. He is a fifth-generation Canadian from the Scottish Highlands. He loves smokey single malt whisky, dark coffee, dark chocolate and storytelling workshops amongst many other things.

Martha Stiegman

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Martha Stiegman is a passionate and engaged community-media and documentary filmmaker. Currently based in Toronto where she teaches at York University’s Faculty of Environmental Studies, her work has screened in festivals around the world from Tunisia and New Zealand to Brazil. Her first two documentaries, In Defense of our Treaties (2007) and The End of the Line (2007) explore alliances between Mi’kmaq and non-native fishing communities in her home province of Nova Scotia. Honour Your Word (2013) is an intimate, behind the blockades portrait of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake and their fight to defend their traditional lands. Indigenous struggles and non-native solidarity have been the focus of Martha’s film work, community-arts practice and academic research for more than ten years.

 

Gianhi Tran & Elizabeth Trinh

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GianhiElizabeth

Of Chinese-Vietnamese origin, Gianhi left Vietnam at the age of 5 with her three sisters and her parents to join her grandmother and aunt who were settled in Montreal. With an increasing fascination for the issue of multiple identities, her current interest lies in the reality of ethnic communities in pluralistic societies and the legacy of cultural values of immigrants parents to their children.

Born and raised in Montreal, Elizabeth’s first memorable experiences with stories were Disney animations, watching Chinese soap operas with her parents, and spending time in the library. She is content when she connects with others and when she can briefly “step in their shoes” to understand where they come from. Every time, she gets to experience a different life…

In Cantonese, maternal grandmother is called A pò and paternal grandmother is called A mā. In creating a series of short video clips highlighting A pò and A mā and their knowledge of traditional remedies, not only do Gianhi and Elizabeth seek to share their tips to fight colds or their solutions to soothe a broken heart, but they especially strive to learn these excerpts of stories and memories that are such a significant part of these women.

http://apoama.tumblr.com/

 

Kayla Carter

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I am  a writer, a storyteller, a poet,  an actor,  and a dancer. I am a Toronto-born artist who is of Jamaican, Cuban, Maroon and Taino ancestry and believes that her existence is not accidental nor is it coincidental. I believe that art is a healing, transformative and meditative process not only for those who are receiving it but also giving it. My work focuses on regimes of trauma, healing, diaspora, affect, shame, institutions and histories of violence, queer theory, blackness, transnational feminist thought and storytelling.  I am currently completing my Masters in the Critical Disability Studies Department at York University, where I am focusing on mental health within Caribbean communities, histories of ancestral trauma and how there is healing through art.

I have always been of the belief that telling our stories is how we step into an understanding of our past. For Fried Plantains is how I understand my past. I am so honoured to be part of Staging Histories because it is a space where the cultivation of histories that are so often forgotten is honoured, cultivated and respected.

 

Elise Gauthier

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http://delireszeliens.blogspot.ca/p/my-ottawa-moi.html

Ottawastiltunion.ca

Elise Gauthier is a bilingual, multidisciplinary creator with deep roots in her native Ottawa. She’s best known as a theatre performer, and is a core member of the Ottawa Stilt Union, a colingual theatre company using various forms of physical expression to tell stories. She also writes, directs and teaches in various capacities. When not telling stories through her art, Elise tells stories as a tour guide with the Haunted Walk of Ottawa. She’s been a tour guide in Ottawa for the past ten years, and has developed an intense love for her city, inspiring her series of bilingual poems: My Ottawa à moi. One of the joys of being a tour guide is making history come alive for the visitors, out of the history books and into the streets. The poems, and the videos that were eventually produced to accompany the poetry, are the perfect way to combine Elise’s identity as an artist to her life as a tour guide. Follow Elise on Twitter: @OttawaZel

 

Luminartists

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Unfortunately, Amy and Anthony are no longer able to perform live on stage on May 31st for Staging Our Histories. Visit http://www.luminartists.ca for a glimpse of their powerful achievements in interactive storytelling through art and tech, and to find out about their latest work.
 Amy Loder and Anthony Scavarelli are a husband/wife team with a 3 year old son and a newborn daughter trying to navigate the often chaotic waters of parenthood. Through this performance piece, they try to understand how and if the roles of parents and families have changed in Canada over the last century through storytelling, scene work and projections.
Amy is a high school teacher with the OCDSB and a grad of Concordia’s drama program in Montreal. Anthony is an interactive artist ( http://www.luminartists.ca ), who seeks to use technology to bring people closer together while making us more aware of the issues that surround modern western society. Thanks for watching!

A Chat with our Co-Directors Part II: An Awesome, Mind Blowing, Intellectually Stimulating Show

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IMG_3180On Nov. 29th, the three co-directors of Staging Our Histories (Arpita Bajpeyi, Sinead Cox and Marie-Anne Gagnon) met with colleague Christina Parsons via the magic of the internet to talk about the concept and their expectations of the event. You can catch up with Part I  of the the discussion here.

Christina Parsons: Do you feel that you may encounter some contention between people who have experienced certain histories differently?

Marie-Anne Gagnon: There are so many pages of history to choose from that it would be a big coincidence. But if so, I don’t think that would be a problem, but rather a great opportunity for exchange and fostering understanding.

Arpita Bajpeyi: Absolutely! Part of the event will be opening up the floor so that the audience and performers can have those conversations in a positive, constructive space. But I think the very nature of the performance implies each history will be a personal interpretation.

Sinead Cox: There will be the talk-backs. And as much as performance can be very cathartic and personal for a performer when they’re talking about history, I think an audience can also have a very visceral reaction, positive or negative. The day we had our performances [at Carleton], I remember it being very draining: they were incredible, but it was emotional. I think performance is great for engaging you intellectually and also getting you right in the gut.

Marie-Anne: We have left the theme very open-ended so that people can bring forward whatever project they would like. In future years (if we are lucky enough to make this happen again!) it could be interesting to narrow the subject to see different interpretations of the same topic

Christina: Very true, it would be great to see many facets of the same topic.

Marie-Anne: As Sinead was saying, in our experience, people chose very personal topics, that had to do with their own history or that of their family.I guess we wanted to see that happen again. Because it was so powerful.

Arpita: Those are the stories that were the most powerful.

Sinead: It’s interesting how commonalities pop up even when the topic is broad. I think patterns emerge. Like grandparents.

Marie-Anne: Did you know genealogy is the most researched thing at LAC? Just proves that people care about where they personally come from. Henry VIII can seem rather far.

Christina: Being able to share personal stories on a larger scale can be very affirming to someone who does not usually have that platform.

Sinead: Yes! And I think as much as [submissions] can be about a personal history, they can also be about NOT having that history. Of being divorced or alienated from your history, or conflicted about it.

Arpita: And that is something we’re hoping to provide, for sure. A space for histories that are typically overlooked or ignored because of the way that they are told, or because of who is telling them. And those can be incredibly powerful pieces too.

Marie-Anne: But I suspect we might also see performances about parts of history that interest the participants, even if they are not directly connected.

Sinead: What speaks to people isn’t always directly close, for sure. Maybe someone feels very connected to and passionate about Henry VIII! As long as they’re telling that story in a new way, we’d be interested.

Marie-Anne: Most historians study not their own culture. Part of being a historian is having a curiosity for what you don’t personally know.

Christina: Are you making an effort to include indigenous or counter-colonial narratives?

Arpita: I think the three of us definitely gravitate towards those kinds of narratives, for various reasons. I’d be surprised if none of them appear in the program!

Marie-Anne: Indeed.

Sinead: I hope so. Attention all of you with counter-colonial narratives: please submit!

Arpita: That’s part of the fun of this experiment. Seeing what comes our way.

Christina: What mediums are available? For instance, will you have audio/visual equipment?

Arpita: We will provide most equipment, unless it’s highly specialized.

Sinead: That’s a good question! We’re definitely interested in film and multimedia. So we will try to accommodate the proposals we accept within the limits of the venue.

Marie-Anne: We should probably mention how long the performances should be, and how long the evening will be.

Arpita: The evening will begin at 7:30, and performances and talk-backs will run until 9:30, after which there will be a reception. Performances should run between 5-20 minutes.

Christina: Also, for posterity, what day is it?

Arpita: Sunday May 31.

Marie-Anne: If you’re coming to Ottawa for the CHA AGM, please drop by! [It will be] an awesome, mind blowing, intellectually stimulating show. (You don’t need to include that. Just a fact.)

Sinead: It may need to be the title!

Keep an eye out for exciting news and updates about Staging Our Histories in  the days to come, including the official announcement of our venue! Many thank yous to Christina Parsons for her time, and for her thoughtful questions as our moderator. You can hear much more from Christina in her upcoming podcast, H is for History and read her work at History Watch.

You’ve read how the co-directors envision the outcome of Staging Our Histories, but the reality will be up to you, and the challenging, surprising and powerful work you submit by January 9th! Read more about the submission guidelines here.

If you have any queries for Arpita, Marie-Anne or Sinead before you submit, email us at StagingHistories@gmail.com.