FemFest play examines poverty, features Sylvia Kuzyk

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This article was published 22/08/2012 (5129 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The 10th annual edition of FemFest, the local celebration of plays penned by women, will include a new play based on true stories of Winnipeg food-bank users, Sarasvti Productions announced Tuesday.

Empty by Hope McIntyre is described as “a powerful, sensitive and humorous exploration of the human side of poverty.” It will have festival performances Sept. 21 and 22 and tour to Winnipeg high schools and community spaces throughout the fall.

The 12-person cast includes former broadcaster Sylvia Kuzyk in her post-retirement stage debut.

FemFest, running Sept. 15-22 at the University of Winnipeg’s Asper Centre for Theatre and Film, will also include a play called Immigration Stories, collectively created by local immigrant women. The festival’s overall theme is Staging Identity.

Out-of-town plays in the festival are Sonofabitch Stew: The Drunken Life of Calamity Jane (from Vancouver); My Pregnant Brother, Johanna Nutter’s true story of growing up in Montreal with a younger sister who was to become her brother; and Women in Fish, a multimedia piece from Vancouver about women’s contributions to the fishing industry.

Sarasvti Productions, a company dedicated to “using theatre to promote human understanding,” also unveiled its 2012-13 season.

From mid-October to mid-December, Sarasvti teams with playwright Rex Deverell to present Diss, a forum-theatre production about youth gangs and gun violence, in high schools.

March 4-10, 2013, a cabaret of monologues by playwrights from across Canada will be held to celebrate International Women’s Week.

May 16-26, 2013, the world premiere of the play Jail Baby will be presented in partnership with the Elizabeth Fry Society. It tells stories of women involved with the justice system and was based on workshops with incarcerated women.

For ticket information, see www.sarasvati.ca.