Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Performer call-out

Now that we've got a date and venue nailed down, we're looking for performers! You don't have to be a pro thespian or songstress (although we suspect that many of you possess the natural talent to be both)... there are no auditions involved. If you have something to say on the topic of women or gender, we invite you to say it, through whatever means you prefer. At past Radical Vulvas, people have performed monologues or skits, played music and sung songs, told stories, read poems or performed spoken word... it's totally open and you are free to explore your full range of creative expression. I'm not sure we've ever had dancers at Radical Vulvas, so I personally would be thrilled if somebody chose to incorporate dance into their performance.

Anyways, here is the "official" performer call-out. Please, if you are interested, RESPOND!!! This whole thing is not meant to be exclusive in any way; we are committed to diversity and to including as many voices as possible.

*****

Hi!
Are you interested in performing in, contributing to, or attending the following? If so, please email radicalvulvasottawa@gmail.com – we would love to have you!

"The Radical Vulvas" originated in 2007 in Halifax, at the Dalhousie University Women's Centre. It is a community response to the Vagina Monologues: a play that started a necessary dialogue about what we experience as women, but a dialogue that should absolutely not end there, or be limited only to a certain kind of woman, or limit itself to women at all. The Radical Vulvas aims to be a multi-disciplinary art and discussion forum, enabling further discourse about women's experiences and gender issues. As such, we are inviting anyone and everyone to express themselves, through any medium (song, monologue/dialogue, poetry, theatre, visual art, dance, performance, etc.) on the subject of women. As a "write your own" production, the Radical Vulvas is whatever the community makes of it. Since its original performance in Halifax, it has been performed in Victoria, BC., and in Montreal for International Women's Day. We hope that this fourth incarnation in Ottawa will be an empowering evening of respectful communication and a celebration of women everywhere.

The event itself will take place on Sunday, August 10th at Club SAW, 67 Nicholas Street. If you would like to perform or participate, wonderful! We are accepting submissions by email until August 1st. Please send either a copy of your text or a sound recording to radicalvulvasottawa@gmail.com. If your piece does not include text, or if the bulk of your piece is made up of some other element, a description of your piece and what you are communicating would be ideal. You can perform original work or someone else's work, or they can perform yours; whatever makes you comfortable. We would also like to emphasize the visual arts at the Ottawa show, and are looking to display paintings, photography, etc.

Performance submissions should be under ten minutes. If you are interested in performing but are unable to meet the August 1st submission deadline, please contact us anyway, as soon as possible, so that we can do our best to include you! Questions or comments can also be directed to us via email.

Thank you!

Andrea deBruijn and Allison Chick