Radio Aluna Teatro

“We don’t need the ‘you’ from a year ago, we need the ‘you’ now. We need the ‘you’ that you’ve become, and what that requires is a lot of honesty.” - Camila Diaz-Varela   This week is all about reflecting, and checking in with the community. Camila and Monica discuss how a year of physical distancing has impacted their art practice, and we hear from extra special guests Yolanda Bonnell, Rhoma Spencer, Sofia Fly, and the Party People Collective, Elizabeth Staples and Jordan Campbell.  How have you adapted your craft to this new context? Did you venture into digital or different live performance, or keep to yourself? What do you wish you knew 12 months ago? We dive into all these questions and more.    Guest bios in order of appearance:  Sofia Fly is a DJ/Producer/Vocalist from Toronto. Listen to her music on all major music streaming services and tune in to her DJ sets on Twitch (twitch.tv/djsofiafly). Check out her instagram.   Yolanda Bonnell (She/They) is a Queer 2 Spirit Anishinaabe-Ojibwe &

“The majority of the world is not aligned towards us. And yet we’re creating a world that we thrive in.” - Umang Antariksh Sagar   This week we’re interviewing Umang Antariksh Sagar and Kumari Giles, host/creator and producer host of Possibilities Podcast!   Possibilities Podcast engages in deep dive conversations with queer and trans, Black, Indigenous, people of colour artists and possibility makers. They seek to be a portal for inspiration and insight, and invite listeners to generate their own infinite possibilities. Umang Antariksh Sagar, the creator and host, and Kumari Giles, the show’s producer are also  multidisciplinary artists - Umang is a filmmaker, writer, visual artist, and Kumari is a dancer, curator, aerialist, and community cook.  In this interview we talked about their podcast meetcute story, how their definition of a ‘possibility’ guides their work, and their insights on what makes a strong collective movement. Also later this spring, they’ll be releasing an episode with us as their

"Life is way too short to be learning everything by yourself" - Ghenoa Gela  Our guest this week is Ghenoa Gela, a strong Torres Strait Islander woman from Rockhampton, Central Queensland! She's a Sydney-based independent performing artist working across dance, circus, television and stage. Ghenoa is a recipient of the Keir Choreographic Award and winner of the Deadly Funny Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award 2017. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook!  In this interview we talk about traditional dance as an artform and a lifestyle, what makes Ghenoa laugh, the connection between performer and spectator, and “leveling up”.   Show Notes : Fragments of Malungoka - Women of the Sea, choreographed by Ghenoa Gela and winner of the 2016 Keir Choreographic Award  Mura Buai (Everyone, Everyone), choreographed by Ghenoa and co-directed with the Artistic Director of Force Majeure Danielle Micich. Presented in Toronto as part of the 2019 CAMINOS Festival.  Move-It Mob Style, a dance-based fitness progra

Next week we launch Season 5 of Radio Aluna Theatre! Here’s what to expect… Merendiando: More interviews with local and international artists and activists - and snacks for the soul. Conversatorios: Curated conversations from the archive of Aluna’s past RUTAS and CAMINOS festivals, where we continue conversations that have been going on since at least 1492.  Studio Series: This season we’ll present 4 new theatre works in development! Listen in to the Aluna Studio as invited artists experiment with audio storytelling and develop their theatre performances.  Join us for Season 5 of Radio Aluna Theatre, from March to June 2021!    ¡La semana que viene estrenamos la Quinta Temporada de Radio Aluna Teatro! Esto es lo que puede esperar ... Merendiando: Más pláticas con artistas y activistas- y snacks para el Alma.  Conversatorios: Conversaciones seleccionadas de los archivos de los festivales RUTAS y CAMINOS, donde continuamos las conversaciones que han estado sucediendo desde al menos 1492. Studio Series:

“Pleasure is a gift I gave you and it’s a gift you don’t only need to give to others, but you can give it to yourself too, you know?”   Welcome to the Studio Series: experiments in audio storytelling from some of the most exciting theatre artists from our TransAmerican community in Canada. First you’ll hear a work in process, then a short talk by the artist on their creative process. This presentation is also available in Spanish.    A journey from one home to another. The Cunning Linguist tells the story of Monica, a young Mexican girl that realizes that God made her queer. What Monica sees as an honour, people close to her see as wrong. Thanks to a TV show Monica decides to move to Toronto, with God (Diosito) as her unlikely sidekick, where she begins to learn more about herself, freedom and sex.    Monica Garrido is a Toronto based Mexican Artist, Filmmaker, Writer, Producer, Comedian, Performer and Storyteller that uses comedy as a tool and a shield to express herself. Her short films "Diferente" and the

“El placer es un regalo que yo les di, y es un regalo que no solo se le da a los demás, sino que también puedes dártelo a ti misma.”   Bienvenidos al Studio Serie: experimentaciones de narrativas de audio creadas por algunos de los artistas de teatro más interesantes de nuestra comunidad TransAmericana en Canadá. En este episodio podrás escuchar un trabajo en proceso, seguido por una breve charla del artista sobre su proceso creativo. Esta presentación también está disponible en Inglés.   Un viaje de un hogar a otro. The Cunning Linguist cuenta la historia de Mónica, una joven mexicana que a los 12 años se da cuenta que Dios la hizo “queer”. Lo que Monica ve como un honor, las personas cercanas a ella lo ven como algo incorrecto. Gracias a un programa de televisión, Mónica decide mudarse a Toronto con Diosito a su lado, donde comienza a aprender más sobre sí misma, sobre la libertad y el sexo.    Mónica Garrido es una artista, cineasta, escritora, productora, directora, comediante y performer mexicana basada

“I’m an ancient recipe that has lost its origin.”   Welcome to the Studio Series: experiments in audio storytelling from some of the most exciting theatre artists from our TransAmerican community in Canada. First you’ll hear a work in process, then a short talk by the artist on their creative process. This presentation is also available in Spanish.    Sharing a meal is an intimate and immediate gesture of love. Reina is a performance ritual that strives to create this same atmosphere. It invokes and celebrates personal femininity and Indigeneity through a collection of memories, stories, recipes, and physical scores in conversation with live afro-venezuelan percussion and vocals by musician Y Josephine. And arepas.   Augusto Bitter is a Dora Award-winning performer, writer, facilitator, and artistic producer based in Toronto. He is a Resident Artist at Aluna Theatre and has been in-residence at Canadian Stage, Theatre Passe Muraille, and hub14. He has trained with Teatro delle Radici (Switzerland), Manifesto

“Soy una receta antigua que perdió el origen.”   Bienvenidos al Studio Serie: experimentaciones de narrativas de audio creadas por algunos de los artistas de teatro más interesantes de nuestra comunidad TransAmericana en Canadá. En este episodio podrás escuchar un trabajo en proceso, seguido por una breve charla del artista sobre su proceso creativo. Esta presentación también está disponible en Inglés.   Compartir una comida es un gesto de amor íntimo e inmediato. Reina es un ritual de actuación que se esfuerza por crear esta misma atmósfera. Invoca y celebra la feminidad personal y la indigeneidad a través de una colección de recuerdos, historias, recetas y partituras físicas en conversación con percusión afro-venezolana en vivo y en voz de la artista musical Y Josephine. Y arepas.   Augusto Bitter es un intérprete, escritor, facilitador y productor artístico ganador del premio Dora basado en Toronto. Actualmente es artista residente en Aluna Theatre y ha tenido residencias artísticas en Canadian Stage, Thea

La próxima semana estaremos presentando el “Studio Series”, donde podrá escuchar obras teatrales en desarrollo de dos de nuestros artistas en residencia cobrar vida en el estudio de Aluna.   El 2 de Diciembre podrán escuchar, “Reina” de Augusto Bitter y el 16 de Diciembre “The Cunning Linguist” de Monica Garrido.    ¡Próxima semana, comenzamos!

Starting next week we’ll be presenting the Studio Series, where you’ll hear works-in-process by artists in residence come to life from Aluna’s studio. On December 2nd you’ll hear Augusto Bitter’s Reina; on December 16, Monica Garrido’s The Cunning Linguist. Join us here next week!

"a person who's terrified - TERRIFIED - of life, but they show up anyways: I think that that's what tenderness is." - Dainty Smith.   Meet Dainty Smith - Toronto based actor, burlesque performer, playwright, producer, and speaker. She is the founder of Les Femme Fatales: Women of Colour Burlesque, and the co-creator of the Body Love program. In this interview we talked about what burlesque means to her, how there are many ways of being sexy, her passion for telling the stories of complicated women, and the power of tenderness.   Show Notes Josephine Baker, world renowned performer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist. Les Femmes Fatales: Women of Colour Burlesque Troupe, the first burlesque troupe for women of colour in Canada, which Dainty founded. Body Love, a series of affirming dance classes led by Dainty Smith and Ravyn Wingz. Toronto Burlesque Festival and the Burlesque Hall of Fame Museum, examples of celebrating excellence in burlesque.  The PUSH.PULL project, a series of workshops, pan

“The accent is a trace of something that does not want to go invisible. Contrary to the way we study traces in archaeology - those traces are marks of something that has gone.” -Marta Marin Domine   From the CAMINOS 2015 festival of new performance works, researchers, academics and the festival audience gathered to discuss: How can performance articulate the condition of being bilingual, and of crossing cultural boundaries? How do bilingual performers negotiate their “border” spaces while resisting notions of authenticity, and othering practices?    In order of voices you will hear, the panelists are:   María Constanza Guzmán, Ph.D: Graduate Program Director of Translation Studies, York University.   Bruce Gibbons Fell, Toronto-based Chilean playwright.   Sasha Kovacs, Artist, Performance scholar, Core/Founding member, Ars Mechanica, Ph.D. candidate at University of Toronto.   Elena Basile, Poet, Translator, Translation scholar, Artist.   Margaret Manson, Faculty of Education, Glendon College, Research Associ

“You have to do it until you get the answer you want”   This week’s guest is Mela Pabón, a Puerto Rican improviser, writer, illustrator and astrologer who has garnered almost a million followers on Instagram with her digital monthly horoscopes and illustrated art.  In this Spanglish interview we talked about Puerto Rican slang, Mela’s connection to ‘Latin culture’ while living in a US colony, and creating and running her own brand.    Show Notes  Mela’s instagram @checkinmela, where you can find her Bola Magica / Magic 8 Ball filter.  Non Gratas, Mela and Patricia Tab’s bilingual improv comedy duo  The Jones Act or the Cabotage Law which controls shipping to and from Puerto Rico.  Madame Mela’s Boricua Glossary. Boricua is a word used to describe someone from Puerto Rico, derived from the Taino name for the island, Borikén.  Celia Cruz, a Cuban singer known as the Queen of Salsa Mela’s Meriendia: the Merengue song A' Güiro’ by Rafa Pabön. Perfect for Christmas, and any occasion you want to dance at!   Tienes

“We assume that people understand their own history, but so often that’s not the case.” - Armando Minjarez Armando Minjarez is a Mexican interdisciplinary artist, designer and community organizer. His artistic practice is guided by themes of displacement, collaboration and empowerment to open spaces for the development of social change strategy and creative expression.  In this interview we chatted about community organizing in Kansas’ rural communities, how he produced the biggest mural ever made, and designing public space.    SHOW NOTES  Kansas’ history of resistance includes Carrie Nation, John Brown, Dodge City and Billy the Kid  Parral, Chihuahua and Ulysses, Kansas have more in common than you might think  Day of the Dead and Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, traditional Mexican holidays  Del Norte Studio, Armando’s ceramics studio  The Horizonte Project, which produced North America’s largest mural designed by Colombian visual artist Gleo  Armando is currently exhibiting a new work ‘Technotitlan’ in Pap

“Al estar cruzando fronteras, estamos agrandando la familia teatral, y con eso estamos  transformando el mundo.” - Conchi León               (English transcript can be found here) Del Festival Internacional de Multiartes “RUTAS 2018”, presentamos esta conversación entre los artistas del festival Conchi León y Lukas Avendaño y los fundadores de Aluna Teatro, Beatriz Pizano y Trevor Schwellunus. En esta conversación los artistas hablan sobre el poder de la memoria, la documentación de historias, como reclamar su voz y como es compartir sus historias con audiencias internacionales. Este episodio es completamente en español. Una traducción al inglés de esta conversación estará disponible en nuestro blog.  Los Conversatorios son conversaciones presentadas y grabadas en vivo frente al público de los festivales RUTAS y CAMINOS, que son tan relevantes hoy como lo fueron entonces. Estos festivales son producidos por Aluna Theatre en asociación con Native Earth Peforming Arts.   Bibliografía Conchi nació y actualmente

“Creativity is basically learning how to manage fear.” - Paula Zelaya Cervantes  This week’s guest is  Mexican playwright, director and translator Paula Zelaya Cervantes. Since graduating from the University of British Columba and returning to Mexico City, she’s created several multiple award-winning plays, which have been celebrated by some of Mexico’s biggest cultural institutions. In this conversation we talked about the difference between translation and adaptation, how an audience favourite at the Vancouver Fringe Festival became a Mexican theatre hit, and what it’s like to be an independent theatre artist in Mexico City right now.   Show Notes:  Paula studied Theatre and English Literature at the University of British Columbia Los Metros, a new annual theatre award ceremony for theatre excellence in Mexico City  Narraturgia, a style of theatre presentation that “responds to limitations”, with limited set and lots of oral description  The El amor de las luciérnagas uses this technique The Orbweaver or E

“Do we need a North American Storytelling Agreement?”  From the RUTAS 2018 International Festival, this is a candid conversation about how stories move across territories, what they mean to us, and how we share them. Aluna invited Keith Barker, Denise Bolduc, Falen Johnson and Alex Williams to have a conversation about this, with Trevor Schwellnus moderating this panel. Conversatorios are curated conversations recorded live in front of the RUTAS and CAMINOS festival audiences, that are just as relevant today as they were then. The festivals are produced by Aluna Theatre in partnership with Native Earth Peforming Arts.   Show Notes:  Falen is co-creator / co-host of The Secret Life of Canada Podcast - and now hosts Unreserved on CBC radio The Pass System, a documentary written, produced & directed by Alex Williams Louis Riel, Métis leader, founder of Manitoba, and central figure in the Red River and North-West resistances  Bill C-31, a bill to Amend the Indian Act Keith Barker’s play This is How We Got Her

“I wonder what would happen in our world if there was real space and time to process these things that shake up our lives forever?” - Bilal Baig    Bilal Baig is a queer trans-feminine Muslim playwright and workshop facilitator. Bilal’s plays include Kitne Saare Laloo Yahan Pey Hain, Kainchee Lagaa, and Acha Bacha. Bilal is a facilitator with Story Planet, Rivers of Hope Collective and the Paprika Festival. Their play Acha Bacha has just been published by Playwright’s Canada Press!  In this interview we talk about the power of speaking Urdu on stage without compromise, religion, queerness, and why Bilal is passionate about youth accessing arts education.    Show notes:  The premiere production of Acha Bacha presented at Theatre Passe Muraille Bilal’s interview with OMNI TV   Paprika Festival, a performing arts festival celebrating the work of young and emerging artists Rivers of Hope Project, which offers workshops to high schools and youth challenging racism and Islamophobia through the art of Muslim and rac

Bienvenidx and welcome to Season 4 of Radio Aluna Teatro!  New this season we are serving two new shows: Conversatorios and the Studio Series, as well as our old beloved Merendiando.  Here’s what to expect... Merendiando: Snacks and chats with local and international artists and culture shifters from across the Americas Conversatorios: Curated conversations from the RUTAS and CAMINOS festival archives The Studio Series: Listen in to the Aluna Studio as invited artists experiment with audio storytelling and develop their theatre performances!  Join us!   Bienvenidx a la Cuarta Temporada de Radio Aluna Teatro!  Esta temporada les traemos dos programas nuevos: Conversatorios y el Studio Series, así como nuestro querido Merendiando. Esto es lo que puede esperar esta Temporada ... Merendiando: Snacks y pláticas con artistas y personajes locales e internacionales que transforman la cultura de las Américas Conversatorios: conversaciones seleccionadas de los archivos de los festivales RUTAS y CAMINOS. The Studio Seri

"Artistic leadership will look more like Elders than entrepreneurs, in my mind." Want to know what the folks are thinking about at Aluna Theatre? We chat with Trevor Schwellnus, Producer of Radio Aluna Teatro and Artistic Producer of Aluna Theatre, about what we’ve learned this season of MERENDIANDO and our intentions for the upcoming season at the company. Listen to get a sneak peak of what’s to come when we return in the fall for a new season of Radio Aluna Teatro. This is the final episode of season 3, so we say adios, and see you soon! Show Notes  Corporacion Colombiana de Teatro in Colombia Teatro la Candelaria in Colombia Teatro de los Andes in Bolivia Yuyachcani in Peru    "En mi opinión, el liderazgo artístico se parecerá más a los 'Elders' que a los emprendedores.” ¿Quieres saber qué piensan las personas en la compañía de Teatro Aluna? Tuvimos la oportunidad de platicar con Trevor Schwellnus, Productor de Radio Aluna Teatro y Productor Artístico de Aluna Theatre, sobre lo que hemos aprendido esta tem