She, Robot is a one woman, one act performance piece that I recently created for Women From The Future – a project initiated and produced by Roles 4 Women and funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Black Bag Media Collective.
The show premiered as one of four new works at the Factory Theatre in Toronto last month. I went minimalist with this piece – a tight script (dramaturgy by Jody Richardson) a kick-ass costume by Sequoia Erickson, a simple but effective lighting design by Stephen Wallace, and four props – a suitcase, a puppet and two paper bags. My seal puppet made a couple of very well-received appearances during the show, adding to their growing resume.
I created She Robot to be super portable and the show is currently available for booking – Contact me to inquire. Here are a few more pictures (by Shawn Carnegie) and some thoughts on the piece from Toronto based reviewer Jennifer Echin:
“Picture a stand-up set by a female robot comedienne who has come to Earth to perform for a sea of “soft skins,” a.k.a. humans. It’s fresh, poignant and surprisingly entertaining. Solo’s positivity is contagious, she’s like a robotic Pollyanna with a hint of impending doom behind her eyes. Her eerie cheerfulness lends for some memorable moments. I also became oddly attached to her seal robot companion which seems to have a life all its own. This performance is unforgettable; she has you in the palm of her hand the entire time and takes you on an intergalactic journey that’s both exciting and unexpected…. I will never forget the sheer wonderment I experienced, delivered by a robot comedienne and her seal puppet companion.” Jennifer Echin
It was awesome to work with strong production support and the support of a full,production team that included the extraordinary talents and hard work of Nicole de Angelis (SM) Renee Hackett (PM), Quinn Hoodless (Technician) and Dan Fletcher (Technician). A Dream Team, actually, that I really hope to work with in the future.