Speaking Vibrations
Sunday, Sept. 17 at 4pm
About the Show
a single sign told a story
she lifts her hand. sound moved through her and within me
she signs my sensations. my fears and dreams fell out in her rhythm
something stirs in me
what happens when I come into contact with a body in all its forms?
when I see in my feet, hear in my hands and speak in vibrations?
Speaking Vibrations might just be the most complex multi-media theatre piece Theatre Wakefield has ever presented. It’s about the immigrant experience in Canada, but there’s a whole other dimension that’s about sound and vibration. Poet Jo-Anne Bryan performs three of her works in ASL (American Sign Language) while three other performers – one of them Alcove resident Jordan Samonas – follow Bryan’s lead through subtitles, contemporary dance, rhythmic tap, movement, and voice. It’s a fascinating glimpse into a world where sound IS vibration. Someone trained in ASL will be in the lobby before and after the show to greet Deaf audience members, and a dozen vibrotactile devices will be available for audience members to “feel” the vibrations of the performance.
Sound, song and story are experienced visually through projected graphics and dynamic captions, and tactically through feeling and vibration: There will be a limited number of seats (12) with vibrotactile devices prioritized for D/deaf and hard of hearing patrons. If you would benefit from the use of a vibrotactile device to experience this show, we will do our best to accommodate your request.
WARNING: If you are pregnant, have a pacemaker, or have a medical condition that may be aggravated by intense vibration or magnets, do NOT use or be near the vibrotactile devices. Please ensure you are distant from these devices as it is the vibrations themselves that can cause issues. If you have a condition that means you can’t use a vibrotactile device, and you are sitting at or near a vibrotactile device, please tell a staff member or a volunteer to assist you to move to a different seat.
Creation/performance | Jo-Anne Bryan, Carmelle Cachero, King Kimbit, and Jordan Samonas
Producers | Carmelle Cachero and Jordan Samonas
Stage & production manager | Kat Wong
Director/dramaturg | Jacqui du Toit
Deaf culture director | Pamela Witcher
Lighting design | Emilio Sebastiao
Projection & video designer | Lesley Marshall
Vibrotactile specialists | David Bobier and Jim Ruxton (VibrafusionLab)
Lead interpreter | Marianne Kelly
Accessibility: English “Creative” Captioning throughout show (dynamic and moving captions integrated into set design; captions reflect mood, characterization and tone); Script available to audiences to request as needed. There will be an ASL interpreter available in the lobby before the show starts, during intermission and after the performance.
Bios
Jo-Anne Anita Bryan
Creator and Performer
Jo-Anne Anita Bryan is an Ottawa-based Artist experiencing life through the intersections of being Black, Deaf, Queer, and Woman. Her artistry includes American Sign Language (ASL) storytelling and performance. Jo-Anne is one-quarter of the Speaking Vibrations group; they did their first performance at Uproar Arts Festival (2019). Jo-Anne performed her ASL storytelling Where You Come From (Phenomena Festival, 2019) and 400 years (Sound Off Festival, 2021). When not performing, she works as ASL consultant/Deaf interpreter to interpreters and Deaf theatre actors and creates illustrations in her spare time. She wants to ensure that theatre is accessible to Deaf communities.
Carmelle Cachero
Creator and Performer
Carmelle Cachero has lived her whole life in the arts world and tells her story through rhythm. In addition to Speaking Vibrations, she currently dances with the Ottawa Rhythm Initiative Ensemble and YOW City Tap. Her passion for the art form of rhythm tap is a driving force to her pursuits. She co-founded the West Coast Tap Dance Collective, which promotes the art of tap dance and is looking forward to future projects currently in the works. Carmelle’s love for the arts extends into other aspects of her life working as a Sign Language Interpreter for theatre and performing arts.
Jacqui du Toit
Director and Dramaturg
Jacqui Du Toit is an award-winning, actor, playwright and an internationally celebrated storyteller from Kimberley, South Africa. Jacqui received the 2019 Prix Rideau Award for Outstanding Female Performance in Drowning Girls and an Outstanding Female Performance nomination for her role in Omnibus Bill. She created The Hottentot Venus – Untold, a monodrama nominated for best actress at the 2017 Rideaux Awards and Capital Critics Awards. Jacqui has performed across Canada and the world. She serves on the Board of Directors of GCTC, Ottawa Storytellers and Tactic Indie Theatre festival. Jacqui is the founder and director of 8thGeneration Storytelling Company and the Co-owner and Creative Director of The Origin Arts and Community Centre.
King Kimbit
Creator and Performer
King Kimbit is a literary and vocal Hip-Hop artist based on traditional land of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg. As a daughter of the Vietnamese Diaspora, King yearns to explore the roots of her journey as she expresses through art forms learned from an inner-city upbringing, some of which can be heard on her debut album, Life Lessons Poetically. King is passionate about empowering and encouraging youth, community care, and sharing love through writing, reciting, and the abolition of punitive, carceral institutions, and is currently working on her sophomore album, Healing Trauma From The Projects.
Lesley Marshall
Projection and Video Designer
Lesley Marshall is an award-winning filmmaker and intermedia artist. Projection art by Lesley has been performed at the National Art Centre, Montreal Jazz Fest, CentrePHI and in galleries in NYC, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and the Netherlands. Lesley is the founder of MAVNetwork (@mavnetwork Instagram) a production, media and marketing agency for audio visual design and presentation. In 2021, with collaborator Ashley Bowa, Lesley presented Green Gazing projection immersion project of plants and experimental movement at Ada X, Montreal, Workman Arts, Toronto, and at DARC, Ottawa.
Jordan Samonas
Creator and Performer
Jordan Samonas is a performer, choreographer and producer of interdisciplinary works and events, with an eclectic movement background. Visionary and go-getter, Jordan has a background in indie self-production: ROOTED Contemporary Dance (2015-2019); NORTH OF MIND with Don Ross (2018) and Speaking Vibrations Accessible Concert Film (2021). Select credits: Speaking Vibrations (Ottawa Fringe Festival, 2021; Uproar Arts Festival, 2019), ex-ducere (Nextfest Arts Festival, 2021); A Hug in Several Parts (Dark Horse Dance Projects, 2019) snowdance2 (ROOTED Contemporary Dance, 2019), technosapien (Series Dance10-Ottawa Dance Directive, 2018); Ottawa Rhythm Initiative Ensemble (Ottawa Jazz Festival, 2018). Upcoming: Speaking Vibrations (GCTC May-June 2022); YOWCityTap (2022).
Kat Wong
Stage Manager
Kat Wong can be found in various places and positions in the theatre including acting (Suspense: The Radio Show, Plosive Productions), stage managing (Midsummer [a play with songs[), lighting/projection (The Santaland Diaries, Theatre Vancouver), and scenic painting (Macbeth, Bear & Co.).
This theatre ninja can also be found in other sectors of the entertainment industry including festival streaming technician and production assistant (Ottawa International Animation Festival 2020), working as an IATSE stagehead backstage at concerts like Cher, as a production assistant at award shows (Indspire 2020), and writing novels and scripts.
She is a graduate of Carleton University’s Interactive Multimedia & Design program as well as Algonquin College’s Theatre Arts program.
Pamela Witcher
Deaf Culture Director
Pamela E. Witcher is a multidisciplinary artist, a director, a curator, an interpreter and a translator. Pamela’s implications have contributed several artistic projects, among others: Collective Reflection on Cultural Citizenship of Deaf People and Cultural Equity Practices; Phenomena Festival; VIBE Symposium; Edinburgh International Book Festival; Peuple de l’oeil, Écomusée du fier monde; Québec en mouvement !; Revue À Bâbord; Signed Music : A Symphonious Odyssey; Symposium Celebration of Sign Language; Conseil des arts du Canada; and, Ageing, Communication & Technology (ACT). Pamela finds it necessary to overlap old and new discoveries that have the power to change views and ideas. When the Deaf communities create information through art and documentation, our existence becomes concrete, known and valued.
Emilio Sebastiao
Lighting Designer
Artisan of stage arts for more than ten years, Emilio dedicates his time to various artistically and technically creative projects, dedicating the majority of his time to lighting and set designs for the performing arts. Recently, Emilio has created a wide variety of lighting designs for theatre and dance such as Néon Boréal, Delphine Rêve Toujours, and Le Lilas Africain, in collaboration with the Théâtre du Trillium, Théâtre de la Vielle 17, and the Théâtre de Dehors, respectively.