DETAILS

Ruined presented by Ellipsis Tree Collective
Lunchbox Theatre
Friday, August 13 - Saturday, August 28

More in: Theatre

According to a demographic breakdown of ethnicity in the Calgary area on Calgary Economic Development’s website, this city has an African and Caribbean population of zero. Obviously that isn’t true, but if you look at local stages, you might be misled into thinking it was.

Simone Saunders, Janelle Cooper, Monice Peter and Natasha Joachim are determined to change all that. Their troupe, The Ellipsis Tree Collective, is a new theatre company dedicated to showcasing Calgary’s artistic diversity.

“Myself and four other women in town, we knew each other as acquaintances within the theatre world and we just started talking amongst ourselves that there was really a lack of a multicultural theatre company in Calgary,” says Saunders. “Especially because Calgary has such a diverse demographic of people, so it’s kind of surprising that there isn’t a theatre company like that already.”

The company provides a platform for black actors, writers and artists to showcase their work. This includes breaking down the skin-colour barriers put in place by some traditional theatre companies. If they won’t cast a black actor in a Shakespeare play (besides Othello), then ETC will.

For its first production, ETC isn’t pulling any punches, going straight for the hard-to-swallow topic of rape as a weapon of war in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined by Lynn Nottage.

“It’s an incredibly beautiful and heartbreaking script,” says Saunders.

Set in a brothel in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ruined is about the shattered lives of the women who seek shelter in a brothel, the love that exists between characters and the pain of war and sexual violence.

“Essentially, yes, the content is very heavy,” says Saunders. “But underneath it all it’s about humanity and it’s about love and it’s what happens when we lose our humanity, because then where is the love?”

Diving into such a difficult topic hasn’t been easy for the 11-member cast. Delving into the emotional depths of women who suffer rape, followed by social ostracism, can take its toll, and right from the beginning, the cast was faced with the reality of the situation. Three women, one from Rwanda and two from the D.R.C., came to share their own personal stories of violence.

“Yes, it’s extremely difficult for all of us,” says Saunders. “The stories we share, they’re a voice to people, even in our city, who’ve experienced something like this.”

To bring the reality of the situation home, the setting for the performance will be confrontational — two banks of seating on opposite sides of the stage — and environmental — heat and jungle sounds amidst the bar on one side of the stage and forest on the other. Saunders says the intention is to transport the audience to another world.

ETC will also host a symposium at the Glenbow on Sunday, August 22, in partnership with Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse, featuring the three women who came to speak with the actors and moderated by Don Wright from Amnesty International.