4. RISE
In Cooped, which Jamar Roberts choreographed, danced, and filmed, his inverted body rights itself.
It's powerful.
Here’s the video link.
...
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Yvonne Emmanuel is one of the actors who called out Persephone Theatre’s black-tile post on Blackout Tuesday. (Photo by Daniel Nwabuko)
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5. OFF-THE-JOB TRAINING
On Tuesday, Del Surjik announced that he is stepping down from his position as artistic director of Saskatoon’s Persephone Theatre, a job that he’s held for almost 13 years. The move comes amidst a Black Lives Matters controversy.
As CBC reports, “Last week, Persephone replaced its regular avatar on its Facebook page with a black square, meant to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Some actors began publicly criticizing the theatre for its lack of diversity.”
Yvonne Emmanuel, who worked as a performer and in other capacities at Persephone from 2016 to 2018, asked, “How are you as a company going silent for blackout Tuesday when you have not really been vocal about anything?”
Then Persphone’s post was deleted, which provoked even more anger in the community.
Emmanuel told FRESH SHEET, “Personally, I dealt with racist comments from both staff members and patrons while working there. I had kept quiet about it for years. So for them to publicly silence me was frustrating.”
On Facebook, Surjik and Persephone’s general manager Kristen Dion wrote, “At Persephone Theatre, we made mistakes this week with our social media posts. For this we deeply and sincerely apologize. It was not intended to be disrespectful, tone deaf, or meant to silence. But it was and it did and that is not acceptable. The post that was deleted was done so in error. We had meant to replace the image, not silence the comments. Nevertheless, that egregious error resulted in pain and harm was done.”
Logan Martin-Arcand, who is a Queer Indigenous theatre artist, worked in the box office at Persephone for two years. On Monday morning, Martin-Arcand and Emmanuel hosted a Zoom meeting with Persephone’s executive team and other community leaders.
Martin-Arcand told FRESH SHEET that “There is a long history of gaslighting, intimidation, threats of blacklisting, and overall toxicity from the leadership of Persephone.” During the meeting, Martin-Arcand and Emmanuel called for changes at the top. Emmanuel adds, “Del's resignation was not a choice he made as he stated in his statement online. It was forced onto him by a community who needed change and respect.”
In that statement, Surjik wrote, “We know that our organization has much work to do in appropriately supporting, respecting, and amplifying the voices of our Indigenous artists, Black artists, and artists of colour. As the artistic leader I am responsible for these shortcomings. Now, given the urgency of this moment in our society, it’s clear that the best thing I can do to help Persephone move forward is to step aside and make room. I welcome the coming change, but I am not the right person to make it happen. I am doing my own work and self-assessment, and look forward to seeing how Persephone will evolve.”
Surjik’s last day on the job will be June 22.
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