#FridayReads
As part of the Purple Play Club, held this September, we asked participants to share pictures of themselves reading around the community. Those who did were entered to win a yearlong subscription to curated library bags delivered to their door each month. A big CONGRATS to Doug Mertz for taking home the prize!
Doug received his December bag this week (curated by Jenna Rodgers) and we would like to share it with you!
Here are Jenna’s picks!
“I selected these plays because I truly believe for the health of our national theatre ecology we must be vigilant in educating ourselves about work that represents perspectives that deviate from the ‘norm’. We must question what we relate to, and why – and strive to better understand the work that we instinctually resist. These are all Canadian works, and I have found each of them challenging in their own right, and in incredibly different ways. I hope you enjoy reading them, and that they are a source of productive discomfort for you, as they have been for me.” – Jenna Rodgers
- The Fish Eyes Trilogy by Anita Majumdar
- Performing Back: Post-Colonial Canadian Plays edited by Dalbir Singh
- carried away on the crest of a wave by David Yee
Jenna also recommended some BONUS plays and resources –
- Serial Black Face by Janine Nabers – on our Gift-a-Play Wishlist!
- Vietgone by Qui Nguyen – not yet published
- Theatre of the Unimpressed by Jordan Tannahill
Jenna is a mixed-race Director and Dramaturg based in Calgary. She is the Artistic Director of Chromatic Theatre – a company dedicated to producing and developing work by and for diverse artists. She is a Co-Producer of the Calgary Congress for Equity and Diversity in the Arts (CCEDA), and is the Associate Dramaturg at the Playwright’s Colony at the Banff Centre.
Recent Directing credits include: Lunchbox Theatre (Let the Light of Day Through) Chromatic Theatre (10-Minute Play Festival, Cowboy Versus Samurai, Parched); and Common Ground (Beneath the Skin). Assistant Director: Lunchbox Theatre (In on It; Book Club; Epiphany; What Gives?!), Downstage (A Bomb in the Heart);Tarragon Theatre (carried away on the crest of a wave), and fu-GEN Theatre (Ching Chong Chinaman, Yellow Fever). Beyond the Banff Centre, Jenna has had the pleasure of dramaturging work at the Kennedy Center, Lunchbox Theatre, Chromatic Theatre and fu-GEN Theatre. Jenna holds a MA in International Performance Research from the universities of Amsterdam and Tampere.
