Short History of a Small Town

ROLE: Text, Performance

DATE: April 2015, July 2016

PRODUCED BY: Valedictorian (Barbara Adler & Paul Paroczai) with direction and design by Kyla Gardiner.

PRESENTED AT: Verses Poetry Festival 2015, Word Circus. Denman Island International Readers and Writers Festival, 2016.

ABOUT

They built a small town, next to a rushing river, in the throat of a valley, beneath a high pine pass. They built a chapel and a hat shop, a laundry, and a general store. They built a school house and a post office, a jail cell and a library. The buildings were all made of pinewood. The people were all impressively resilient. This is a short history of that town.

Part radio play, part audio magic trick, Short History of a Small Town was a first foray into laptop theater. Balanced on the brink of a very possible disaster, two humans and a mostly loyal machine team up to tell the story of a strangely familiar small town. Darkly sensuous, absurdly nostalgic and always playful, this history takes Canadiana on a precarious adventure. The text, "Short History of a Small Town" is adapted from writing created for Three Cornered Hat, by Mascall Dance.

Verses Festival Photos by Evil Patrick Shannon.

Denman Island Poetry Festival Photos by Brent Reid.