TODO'S 2021 Writing Unit
FEBRUARY, 2021
TODOS Productions, in association with Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, held in December 2020 an open call for applications for the initiative entitled “2021 Writing Unit” led by Robert Chafe, award-winning Canadian playwright, and Santiago Guzmán, TODOS Artistic Director and playwright.
This unit mentored three writers based in Newfoundland and Labrador self-identified as Black, Indigenous, Person of Color, Deaf, Disabled Person, and/or 2SLGBTQIA+, in the development of a new 20-30-minute script that told a story from the perspective of a character who identifies with a social minority.
The three writers selected for the 2021 Writing unit were Mark Harnett, Ana Maria Alcantara, and Sobia Shaheen Shaikh. This unit took place remotely in February 2021.
This unit mentored three writers based in Newfoundland and Labrador self-identified as Black, Indigenous, Person of Color, Deaf, Disabled Person, and/or 2SLGBTQIA+, in the development of a new 20-30-minute script that told a story from the perspective of a character who identifies with a social minority.
The three writers selected for the 2021 Writing unit were Mark Harnett, Ana Maria Alcantara, and Sobia Shaheen Shaikh. This unit took place remotely in February 2021.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this unit was put on hold, yet all the writers are welcome to return to their scripts and the support from TODOS at any point in the future.
ALTAR - CURTAIN RAISERS
November, 2021
In 2021, the production of Santiago Guzmán’s ALTAR saw a partnership between RCAT and TODOS Productions to present 8 curtain-raisers featuring acts from racialized artists in our community. Moreover, aspiring artists were invited to witness the rehearsal room and tech week, encouraging a shadowing practice where knowledge is shared, and a community altar was built at the Cox and Palmer 2nd Space, celebrating the Mexican tradition of Día de Muertos, collecting donations for organizations in our community that needed them.
NEWFOUNDLANDED - Research and Development
December, 2021
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With the support of a Research and Creation grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, TODOS Productions embarked on the development of a new verbatim theatre play titled NewfoundLanded, focusing on the experiences of immigrants and refugees across Newfoundland and Labrador.
In the Winter of 2021, multidisciplinary artists Santiago Guzmán (originally from México) and Vanessa Cardoso-Whelan (originally from Brazil) interviewed over 30 immigrants and refugees from St. John’s, Corner Brook, Gander, Pasadena, Botwood, Stephenville and Labrador City about their journeys in our province and their relationship to it. Due to the still-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, these in-person interviews were adapted to online meetings and written forms. During these meetings, Guzmán and Cardoso-Whelan held space with empathy to allow fellow immigrants to open up about their experiences. Later on, these interviews were transcribed and noted by Robyn Huxter and Nora Barker, core members of TODOS Productions. |
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Then, Santiago Guzmán, Vanessa Cardoso-Whelan and Nabila Qureshi, an emerging South Asian artist, formed a playwriting team to use the collected interviews as source material to write the first draft of a new dramatic verbatim theatre piece, NewfoundLanded. Taking direct quotes from the interviews, the writers devised a theatre piece where immigrants share their journeys of studying abroad, their process of adapting to a new country, making friends and falling in love, the experience of racism and discrimination in the community, the complex and overwhelming paperwork requirements of immigration, and the decision to call Newfoundland and Labrador home.