TOMBOY (CHŁOPCZYCA)

by Anais West

In Development

Staged Reading June 6th, 2024

The Pumphouse Theatre, 2140 Pumphouse Ave SW, Calgary

Presented by Sage Theatre's IGNITE! Festival & Major Matt Mason Collective

Winner of the 2023 Wildfire National Playwriting Competition

Developed through Odd Meridian Dance's CONJURE Residency at MORROW Studio

Development supported by Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, City of Vancouver, Playwrights Theatre Center, the frank theatre company, Odd Meridian Dance' and the Federation of Russian Canadians of BC.

Tomboy (Chłopczyca) is a dance-theatre performance investigating gender, memory and cultural belonging. After learning that a boy from their Polish immigrant community attacked their childhood best friend, a non-binary historian recalls their shared adolescence. But with each remembering, the sequence of events becomes more ambiguous, the choreography of memory more complex, unraveling the narrative they’ve constructed of themself, the boy, and their vampiric bond. Were his actions his own, or was he cursed by a monstrous and mythic inheritance? By deconstructing memory, cultural dance, and the folk-horror genre, Tomboy redefines masculinity.

Tomboy is an interdisciplinary collaboration between queer and trans creators from various artforms, cultures and generations. By exploding formal, narrative and genre conventions, it reimagines the staging of violence, sexuality and trauma, re-orienting performance towards an autonomous queer gaze. Inspired by upiory (vampires of Slavic folklore), by playwright Anais West’s upbringing, and by those of fellow queer Poles, it reclaims cultural rites and notions of masculinity that have historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, including dances that have been traditionally reserved for cisgender men. Witnessing queer and trans bodies disrupt these “rules” is a powerful act of affirmation, evidenced in previous workshops. Rigid, binary gender roles are not unique to Poland, and within the climate of anti-trans rhetoric and legislation in North America, Tomboy offers a transgressive vision of metamorphosis.

Development Workshops Creative Team:

Playwright: Anais West

Co-Producers: Anais West & Kimberly Ho
Choreographer: Oh Augustine
Theatrical Director: Fay Nass
Performers: Joylyn Secunda, Calder White, Kira Radosevic, Rae Takei, Franki Reed-Schuyler and Emily Jane King
Dramaturg: Joanna Garfinkel
Sound Designers: Roxanne Nesbitt & Sasha J. Langford
Intimacy Director: Lisa Goebel
Stage Managers: Alexa Fraser & Jasmin Sandhu
Technical Director: Fil Wiatrak
Accessibility Consultant: Veronique West

Cultural & Linguistic Consultants: Piotr Wieczorek, Karo Hanula and Julia Siedlanowska.

Previous Residency Collaborators:

Co-Choreographer: Tanya Marquardt

Photography: Kimberly Ho