Lifespan of A Mattress OutFest

I gave this members statement in the Nova Scotia Legislature on March 18, 2024:

Mx. Speaker OutFest is the largest queer arts festival in Atlantic Canada, and it will take place in Halifax from April 23rd to 28th. OutFest Emerging Stage will feature the inaugural production of Lifespan of a Mattress, written and partially performed by Dartmouth North resident Sara Graham. Sara and the play’s director, Rooks Field-Green, are the co-artistic directors of Think of the Worst Theatre. In Lifespan of a Mattress, Aubrey, played by Sara, is a chronically ill person traversing the medical system and queer relationships while trying to keep their room tidy, all from their very own bed. The play has various mask-mandatory shows between April 24th and 28th to make sure that more people can have a chance to take in that show. Think of the Worst Theatre is also hosting the Crafters Resistance Community Quilting Workshop during this year’s Mayworks Kjipuktuk-Halifax Festival. Throughout April, attendees will work on three quilts, which will represent buildings in Halifax that could be housing. I ask all members of the House to join me in congratulating Sara, Rooks and all involved in OutFest, and thank them for their contributions to art and culture in Nova Scotia.

Walter Borden publishes The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time

I gave the following members statement in the Nova Scotia Legislature on March 7:

Speaker, New Glasgow-born Walter Borden is a provincial and national icon of stage and screen. He also occupies the centre of my very first memory of seeing theatre when he toured to my elementary school and performed in the gym in Shad Bay. In 2023, Nimbus Publishing released Borden’s semi-autobiographical play, The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time, which he has been creating over the course of the last 48 years. The play draws upon Borden’s life experiences as a Black gay man and civil rights activist alongside the likes of Rocky and Joan Jones. It is considered one of the first Canadian theatrical productions to delve into male homosexuality from a Black perspective. Excitingly, The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time is the first of three books acquired by Nimbus to be penned by Borden, the next two being a poetry collection called Africadian Mi’kmaq Songs in the Key of the Universal Anthem and a memoir entitled A Word or Two Before I Go. I look forward to learning more about Walter Borden’s life or, as he calls it in The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time, “some itty bitty madness between twilight and dawn.”

Deepwater world premiere from Villains Theatre

I gave the following member statement in the Nova Scotia Legislature on March 7, 2024:

Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to Villians Theatre’s new theatrical production Deepwater, which was written by Dartmouth North resident, Dan Bray, and directed by another Dartmouth North resident, Burgandy Code. The play will make its world premiere at the Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax from March 13th to 17th. Deepwater is an original, dark mystery, which takes place in Hants County, Nova Scotia. Audiences accompany a police inspector as she looks into a seemingly inexplicable tragedy involving a reclusive marine biologist and her young daughter. The play explores the unknowable nature of life and relationships, and the ways that humans and deep sea creatures alike must create our own light in the darkness. @brayowulf is the co-founder and artistic director of Villains Theatre. He is a Merritt Award-nominated and -whinning playwright, and interdisciplinary theatre and visual artist. Burgandy Code, a Merritt nominee and winner herself, is a 37-year veteran of the theatre in Nova Scotia - an actor, director, dramaturge, playwright, and teacher. I am thrilled that both of them have chosen Dartmouth North to call home. I wish them lots of good wishes and broken legs on the opening of Deepwater.