Birth
Stories (working title) is a multi-disciplinary verbatim
theatre piece about the stories women share about labour and the effects these
stories have on a woman’s experience of childbirth (in collaboration with 12
pregnant women who will study Fitzmaurice Voicework with Laura). The project includes teaching 12 pregnant women to destructure
and breathe using Ftzmaurice Voicework for pain during contractions and the
pushing phase of labour. My overriding theatrical interest lies in the stories
we share as women about labour. In my experience the stories we hear before we
give birth are filled with terror, immense pain and emergency. I'd like to see
if this might change when a woman learns more about her own body - her
impulses, her power, and sense of herself through the destructuring /
restructuring phases of FV and how it might affect her own experience of labour
and birthing when consciously applied. Birth stories are always the most
fascinating and riveting stories to hear - and they also shape how women view
themselves. I will be filming the 12 pregnant women before they learn FV to
talk about their own contextual stories of birth, then throughout their
pregnancies, and post birth of their babies. The material will be used in a
performative lecture (or solo show with film).
From
HERE To HERE is a
site-specific promenade piece about what happens to our imaginations when we
escape the city and enter the wild. The site is a 300+ acre farm in Prince
Edward County Ontario and the project is in collaboration with Small Pond Arts
with the support of the Ontario Arts Council, Festival Players and Theatre
Direct.
