A new opera about B.C.’s missing aboriginal women and a variety show starring performers with developmental disabilities are among Victoria projects approved for more than $500,000 in federal grants.
The Canada Council for the Arts awarded Pacific Opera Victoria $375,000 for Missing, a new chamber opera with a libretto by Métis playwright Marie Clements and music by Brian Current.
Set in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and along the Highway of Tears, the opera will give voice to Canada’s missing and murdered indigenous women. It is a collaboration with Vancouver’s City Opera. Missing will première at Vancouver’s York Theatre in November, followed by a five-night run at Pacific Opera Victoria’s Baumann Centre.
The Canada Council also provided a $120,000 grant for a theatre project showcasing adult performers with Down syndrome, autism and other developmental disabilities. Producer Kathryn Popham and comedian Wes Borg will oversee the production, tentatively titled The Biggest Most Awesome Show Ever.
It will play the McPherson Playhouse for five performances from Feb. 6 to 10, 2018. All the performers will be paid.
“It will be a large-scale musical, variety, theatrical show. It will use people with developmental disabilities as creators and performers,” Popham said.
Since 2015, Popham and Borg have overseen comedy classes for the developmentally disabled, hosted by Lifetime Networks. Borg says performing in front of applauding audiences is a boost for these performers.
“That’s called the ‘show juice,’ that powerful, transformative moment,” he said.
The first audition for The Biggest Most Awesome Show Ever is Feb. 16. More information is available at dramaclubvictoria.ca.
As well, Orca Book Publishers received a $50,000 Canada Council grant for a book about aboriginal reconciliation. Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation is by indigenous author Monique Gray Smith.
These grants, three of 52 awarded nationally, are distributed through the Canada Council’s New Chapter program, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Confederation.