Saint John gets its annual fix of queer theatre

Saint John gets its annual fix of queer theatre
THEATRE / Diane Flacks performs her one-woman show Bear with Me
Nick Logan / Xtra.ca / National / Tuesday, August 11, 2009




















BEAR WITH HER. Diane Flacks brings her one-woman show Bear With Me to Saint John from Aug 12 to Aug 14.
(dianeflacks.com)


In a conservative place such as New Brunswick, offerings of queer theatre are few and far between, but for the third year in a row the Saint John Theatre Company (SJTC) will do its part to change that.

Each summer the company, led by artistic producer Stephen Tobias, hosts the Theatre on the Edge Festival. In 2006, it began a relationship with Port City Rainbow Pride (PCRP) to present Out on the Edge, running this year from Aug 12 to 14.

"We often partner with other community organizations here in Saint John," says Tobias, "regardless of subject matter."

Since PCRP usually began as Theatre on the Edge was wrapping up, he says, it made sense for the organizations to join forces. While the two groups enjoy a mutually beneficial partnership, they have remained independent of one another.

When the PCRP committee announced last month it would cancel this year's festival, Tobias wasn't worried. The show must and will go on.

"They're a promotional partner. Even if the festival wasn't going to proceed as planned, the community was still there."

Company members two years ago developed an "original script" based on personal stories they collected from people in the local queer community. The result was a performance titled Out on the Edge, a monologue-driven piece featuring personal stories from in- and out-of-the-closet.

The response to the Laramie Project style endeavour was tremendous, he says, and the company wanted to continue working with the queer community. It intended to mount the same production the following year, but couldn't due to scheduling conflicts with some actors.

Tobias made the commitment to keep Out on the Edge going, as a part of the greater theatre festival, even if the production wasn't the same.

Last year, he filled the slot with Nina Arsenault's The Silicone Diaries, a series of monologues based on articles she wrote for fab magazine. This summer, comic-writer Diane Flacks is bringing her one-woman show, Bear with Me, to the company's stage at 112 Princess St.

Year after year, Tobias is impressed with the audiences attending the productions. And, he adds, feedback to Arsenault's show was tremendous.

"When we look through the cards and letters and emails," he says of the reaction Diaries, "It was impressive how she [Arsenault] really kind of impacted people." He calls the feedback "life changing."

He has the same hopes for Bear with Me. Flacks' story about having a baby with her partner. It's the first time she'll perform it in the East.

The audience for Out on the Edge creates a cultural mix, says Tobias, between those attending it as a Pride event and SJTC's regular theatre-going crowd.

"To me it's about education. You bring people together and they realize they're not really that different," he says, "The subject matter may be different, but there's a kind of universality that works."

Looking ahead, Tobias would like to see SJTC further develop relationships with artists, such as Arsenault and Flacks, and companies, such as Toronto's Buddies in Bad Times, to bring more queer-themed theatre to the city.

"It's just helping us serve what is a huge segment of the community, here in Saint John, that a lot of other theatre companies aren't paying attention to."

Bear with Me.
Wed, Aug 12 to Fri, Aug 14. 9pm.
$20.
Saint John Theatre Company, 112 Princess St.

Pride revived in Saint John

Pride revived in Saint John
NEW BRUNSWICK / Back with new organizers and a different agenda
Nick Logan / Xtra.ca/ National / Tuesday, July 28, 2009





















BACK ON. The Saint John Pride Festival takes place from Aug 9 to 16. See below for event highlights.

When the organizers for Port City Rainbow Pride (PCRP) announced they were cancelling this year's festival, two Saint John nightclub employees decided to take matters into their own hands.

"We didn't want to see the momentum die," says Troy Morehouse, assistant manager at Element Dance Bar.

Along with the help of Michelle Petite (aka DJ Double Dee), Morehouse says they are planning a week of events and activities so the city's queer community doesn't have to wait until 2010 to celebrate Pride.

He understands there were numerous reasons to postpone PCRP, which has taken place every August since 2003, but, he says, the absence of the festival provides an opportunity to help it evolve. The current PCRP committee has offered its advice and blessings to Morehouse and Petite.

"We're didn't want to appear like we were rescuing Pride... or rubbing this in their face," he says, adding Saint John Pride 2009 — running from Aug 9 to 16 — will probably attract a different crowd than usual, which will help PCRP continue to evolve when it returns next summer.

Both Morehouse and PCRP committee member Mack MacKenzie acknowledge there has been a "rift" over the years between the younger bar-crowd and the more conservative members of the queer community.

During an interview, in early July, MacKenzie said he has heard criticism in the past about the Pride celebration being "elitist" — not targeting youth or being financially accessible to everyone.

The people behind PCRP chose to plan more cultural and educational events, Morehouse says, foregoing the glitz and glamour of big city parties.

"Their view was more to please or appease the non-LGBT community," he says. "It kinda lost sight of the LGBT people. The event should be for them."

Even though Element Dance Bar is hosting many of the events, it is merely a sponsor of the 2009 Pride Festival. Morehouse sees this as reflecting "the roots" of Pride, referencing the Stonewall Bar and the riots 40 years ago.

The bar's management has organized annual events separate of PCRP for years, so taking the reins of a city-wide Pride festival is just an extension of that, he says. Many of the planned events were already in place.

There was no intention to do a parade, he says, until (co-organizer) Petite declared there would be, to a packed dance floor.

"Michelle, while she was DJ-ing, picked up a microphone and told everyone we were doing a parade. So, we said, we announced it, now we've gotta do it."

The goal, he says, is for the Saturday afternoon spectacle to be more vibrant and lively, "less funeral march-like." As of last week, he says, there were 15-20 confirmed groups and floats.

He is also taking into consideration the late-night parties that weekend, scheduling the parade for 3pm — rather than noon, as in previous years — in hopes of attracting more participants.

Some traditions, however, are carrying over from Port City Rainbow Pride.

The week's festivities will commence with a Sunday morning church service and the Monday afternoon flag-raising ceremony, with Saint John Mayor Ivan Court doing the honours.

The Saint John Theatre Company will, for the third year in a row, host Out on the Edge — a queer-theatre performance that rounds out their two-week Theatre on the Edge festival.


SAINT JOHN 2009 PRIDE FESTIVAL AT A GLANCE

Sun, Aug 9. Ecumenical church service, 10:30am at Queen Square United Church, 212 Wentworth St.

Mon, Aug 10. Pride flag raising ceremony, 10:30am at City Hall, King St.

Wed, Aug 12. Out on the Edge: Saint John Theatre Company presents Diane Flacks' one-woman show, Bear With Me. 9pm - 11pm at Saint John Theatre Company, 112 Princess St (runs thru Fri, Aug 14).

Thu, Aug 13. Beach Party Battle of the DJs. 10pm - 2am at Element Dance Bar, 112 Prince William St.

Sat, Aug 15. Pride Parade, 3pm - 4pm commencing at Kings Square. Post-Parade BBQ, 4pm - 6pm at Pugsly Park, Water St at the foot of Princess St.

Sun, Aug 16. Drag Show, 8pm - midnight at Element Dance Bar.


For further details and event schedules Elementdancebar.ca/events.html.

Xtra.ca: Pride festival in Saint John cancelled

Pride festival in Saint John cancelled
NEW BRUNSWICK / Organizers cite burn-out, lack of support
Nick Logan / National / Friday, July 10, 2009

The queer community in New Brunswick's largest city won't be taking to the streets in a show of Pride this year. Organizers of Port City Rainbow Pride (PCRP), in Saint John, pulled the plug last week on the 2009 celebration.

In a Jul 2 press release, the committee's president highlighted a lack of confirmed events as reason for the cancellation.

"We believe that the community deserves a first rate celebration," Don Uhryniw said, "and [we] have decided to turn our energies to planning next year's event."

This will be the first year, since 2003, without a Pride celebration in Saint John.

Pride's board and committee are entirely volunteer-based and, this year, there was not enough commitment and involvement to successfully organize the week's events, says the board's spokesperson, Mack Mackenzie.

After years of piecing together the festival with little support, many repeat volunteers have "burned out" a bit, says Mackenzie. Lack of time and family obligations are some of the reasons people don't get involved with organizing committees, but others have the notion that "somebody else is going to do [the work]."

"I think they've been successful with it over the years," he says, "but my motion at the last board meeting was, in order to do this as well — or better — as past years, realistically we're not going to be able to pull this off in the next six weeks."

Criticism over the size and style of the celebration has also taken its toll on board members, Mackenzie adds. He's heard feedback from past attendees complaining Port City Rainbow Pride did not have the glitz and glamour associated with Pride in larger centres.

It's hard to motivate people to put their heart into planning, time after time, when it's not appreciated, he says.

"People are always willing to offer plenty of good ideas, but when you challenge them to get involved, and help to implement those ideas, sometimes the fear factor comes in... or general apathy."

With a metropolitan population of only 122,000, Saint John can't play by the same rules as Canada's bigger cities, he says. Considering Pride's small crew of volunteers and a budget of next-to-nothing, he says the city is lucky to have had a Pride celebration at all.

The current board plans to use the next 13 months wisely and have Pride Week organized for its usual slot — the week after Canada Day. Saint John will mark its 225th anniversary — as this country's oldest incorporated city — in 2010, and Mackenzie wants Pride to be a prominent part of the celebrations and homecoming.

"This is a city that is far more open than it has ever been," says Mackenzie. "We can let the LGBT people from the greater Saint John area — who have moved to larger centres — know they are welcome to come home and to rediscover their roots here."

Board members also want to reach out to segments of the population they haven't necessarily accommodated in the past. There have been criticisms, he says, that Pride is "elitist," not offering much for young people or those living on limited means.

Above all, Mackenzie hopes this year's absence of Port City Rainbow Pride will be a wake-up call to the queer community in Saint John to get involved. He wants people to know what they are missing and, he says, those messages have already started coming in.

Port City Rainbow Pride.
portcityrainbowpride.com.

Tags: new brunswick, pride, saint john