From Page to Stage: Writers perform their words

Many years ago I had a bad experience collaborating with three others on a small business venture; we had grand ideas but somehow forgot (how?) to factor in the effort to find clients for our service. Crazy, and stupid, too. But, as my dear mother comforted me, the money I lost was far less than I ever would have paid for an MBA — and the lessons I learned run deep and inform my decision-making to this day.

So.

With that experience and those lessons in mind, I am putting it out here today that, a few (or maybe several or possibly many) months down the line — if all goes according to a larger plan, I’ll be seeking an audience for a venture that exists, so far, only in my head, and for which the location is not yet ready.

Amanda playing a nerdy
kid in "Emil and
The Detectives" at the
children's theatre, 
summer 1978

While my main creative act these days is writing, back in my younger days I did a lot of theatre — beginning in Grade Two when I played the shoemaker’s wife in a class play, through high school when I adored my drama teacher who introduced me to the power of readers theatre, a summer on Cape Cod volunteering in a children’s theatre, and then after university when some feminist friends and I created a theatre collective to perform self-written scripts about women’s issues. I loved it all.

I am always nervous before stepping onto the stage and into the spotlight, but the glory of being there in that light with the audience waiting for the magic to be woven between us — oh, that, now that is glorious, indeed. It doesn’t happen alone; it happens in community and through connection. That’s what I love about the performing arts.

These days, I have an evolving writing community around me. I appreciate the connections, the support and the sheer fun of being on this writing path together. Some of us are more extrovert than others, but we all love words and the stories they can weave. Many of us write to be read, but finding channels through which our work is read can be challenging.

So, wouldn’t it be fun to have a stage open to us and our work? Maybe it would be for only one night, but it would be an exciting night of words shared live with an audience. This is one way of being read. Of being heard. Of celebrating our work.

I have a particular stage in mind. 

In Winnipeg, Kelly Hughes, arts-community visionary formerly of Aqua Books, is working to transform an old church (at 376 Logan Avenue in Winnipeg North End) into a performing arts space. He calls himself “Chaplain of the Arts” and has named the space The Valiant Theatre. Kelly’s rallying cry is, “Art will save us all.” I cannot disagree.

And I can see writers performing their words on its stage. Not just reading and being bashful, but performing and presenting their words to the audience to bring them to life — to take those words from the page and birth them into the world. 

That’s the vision I am holding onto, and I am going to do everything I can to bring that vision to life.

You heard it here first, folks.

Read about Kelly Hughes' venture here. Listen to an interview with Kelly on local radio station CJOB here. (Note: Select March 24 at 7am from the 'audio vault', then drag the cursor to the 7:50am time-mark [towards the top of the hour] when the interview begins.) Funds are needed to bring The Valiant to life; donate here.

Let's dream a little.
I'm going to work hard to make this dream come to life. 

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Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.