Suitcase Stories | Maki Minute
1. You have been performing versions of Suitcase Stories for almost six years now! Since it started as the Lobby Project, how has telling the story of Maki and her suitcase changed for you?
It is constant re-learning and un-learning. New perspectives and new discoveries have deepened my understanding of self and personal history.
2. When you play a version of yourself, like you do here or in Gramma earlier this year, do you feel very different from when you play a fictional character, like Umma in Kim’s Convenience?
Not much different. Whether it’s me or someone else, I try to be ‘here and now’ as the character. When I am on stage, it becomes ‘my’ story.
3. What is something new at the theatre that surprised you on your return?
Green room make over!
4. You thanked your dramaturg, DD Kugler, and your director Colleen for helping you to shape the story we see. How does collaboration affect your process?
Playmaking is always collaboration. Especially in my autobiographic writing, the role of Dramaturg helped to keep the healthy distance from my hurts and wounds, and to avoid self-indulgence.
5. What makes you the happiest on stage?
The magic of imagination to transform the make-believe world on stage into heightened reality.
6. You quote Shakespeare and the Haitian-Canadian novelist Dany Laferriere in Suitcase Stories. Are there other stories or writers whose words follow you across continents?
The Little Prince by Saint-Exupery & Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami.
7. It is a challenging time for theatre and theatre artists, along with the wider world. Where do you look for hope when things seem dark?
Look up to my God, look back to lessons learned, look within to gratitude accumulated.
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