Back from Away

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/07/2023 (1138 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With little fanfare, a Tony nominee stealthily made her way onto one of the 30 stages at this year’s fringe festival.

That would be Irene Sankoff, the co-creator, with creative/life partner David Hein, of the hit Broadway musical Come from Away.

Sankoff is flying solo as a performer in the one-woman comedy-drama Dog Gone at the Planetarium Auditorium (Venue 9) until Sunday. Written and directed by Brenda McFarlane, it’s the story of Alice, a transplanted Canadian who ditches her husband in Los Angeles to return to Canada with Sassy, a problematic dog she stole from an animal shelter.

It may be news to some that Sankoff started as a performer, earning a master’s degree at the Actor’s Studio in New York. Sankoff was studying there during 9/11, the day that would inspire the creation of Come From Away. That play tells the story of stranded airline passengers being welcomed by the townspeople of Gander, N.L., when their plane is diverted after the terrorist attack.

In a phone interview, Sankoff says returning to the fringe festival was a matter of returning to her theatre roots. My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding, the pre-Come From Away musical she wrote with Hein, started out on the fringe circuit.

“The fringe is really where my career started,” she says. “If it hadn’t been for the fringe, none of this would have happened.”

Sankoff acknowledges another reason why the time was right to come to the Winnipeg fringe, leaving Hein and their daughter in their New York home base.

“I just handed something in to Disney when the writers strike happened,” Sankoff says, referring to the ongoing labour action by the Writers Guild of America. “I support the writers strike. David and I were just in New York picketing.”

The strike has stopped all writing projects in their tracks, she says, so it was a good time to return to the stage.

“I needed the instant gratification of performing,” she says. “Whether it’s film, TV or theatre, it’s a long marathon (to create new work). And sometimes you don’t make it, through no fault of your own.

“I wanted to do something that would give back right away. And why fringe? Because it’s hard for theatre companies right now to take a risk on someone who isn’t known as a performer.

“If I go to the fringe, the risk is mine and Brenda’s,” she says. “And so I’m happy to do it. I’m happy to see all of the people that are doing this. It’s very inspiring.”

Sankoff found it easy to relate to the character of Alice, who strives to meet the needs of her husband and her Canadian parents before acknowledging her own needs.

“It’s written about a middle-aged woman, and it’s not someone that you often see,” she says. “To this day, it seems, women of a certain age and size and temperament are kind of pushed to the side.”

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The animal theme also hit her where she lives.

“I love dogs, but I’m more familiar with cats and I have more of a feline temperament,” she says. “I think the way people treat animals says a lot about who they are.”

While enmeshed in fringe-world, Sankoff has engaged with other fringers, such as Alberta cabaret performer Melanie Gall and the local cast of the Rainbow Stage-bound musical Ma-Buhay!, as well as checking out shows such as Neurohilarity.

“My nephew is neuro-diverse so I wanted to see what they’re up to,” she says. “Honestly, I love looking at new Canadian work. It’s so hard to get attention and it’s so hard to get development, which is why fringe is so important.”

randall.king.arts@gmail.com

Randall King
Writer

Randall King writes about film for the Winnipeg Free Press.