On Dec. 8 and 9, the Department of Dramatic Arts (DART) will host progress showings of Patchwork Productions’ original show “All That Makes Us” at the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre.
Patchwork Productions is a student collective emerging from the DART 4F56 course on Advanced Studies in Theatre, taught by Professor Mike Griffin. Throughout the semester, the collective has worked towards their very own original theatre show, centring around the theme of nostalgia.
“All That Makes Us” explores feelings of nostalgia by connecting different throughlines of emotion to build off the main theme. In particular, the scripters for the show created three throughlines off the theme of nostalgia: a “coming of age” theme with queer love undertones, a theme of being a child to a single parent and not knowing one’s father, and the role of cultural influences in the scope of nostalgia.
According to one of the scripters for the show, the process of connecting these throughlines to the theme of nostalgia is what explains the collective’s name.
“We connected these through lines with interludes that tie them together, kind of like pieces of string, like attaching a quilt. [This] is where our name comes from,” said Kaitlyn Boyer, a fourth-year DART major involved in the production.
To bring the production to life, students who applied to enroll in the DART 4F56 course had to carefully pick their desired roles. DART 4F56 is a full-year course revolving around a capstone project for fourth- and fifth-year DART students, where enrolled students rank their desired tasks to create a fully original production. This time, 22 students enrolled in the course, and most students were assigned multiple roles to fulfill.
For instance, Grace Labelle-Scott, a fourth-year DART student with a concentration in performance will fulfill the roles of performer, assistant stage manager, part of the wardrobe crew and part of the publicity team. The upcoming showings of “All That Makes Us” will showcase the work of students involved in the production thus far and allow for amendments to be made prior to their final showing in March. When the showings are finalized, the audience will be invited to stay back and share their feedback with the crew. This feedback will then be incorporated by the collective in preparation for the final performances.
“If people who aren’t familiar with the DART program come to see our show, I think they will take away that we have a lot of multitalented people in the show,” said Benoit St-Aubin, a fifth-year DART major and associate director for the production.
One of the key takeaways that the crew wishes to communicate with the audience in the progress showings is the theme of self-acceptance.
“I really hope this show allows people, or shows them, that they can just be themselves and fully accept that in whatever way it may be. Whatever has happened to them makes them who they are and that doesn’t mean they are flawed or less than, it just makes them,” said Boyer.
Those interested in the progress showings of “All That Makes Us” can choose to attend either on Friday, Dec. 8th at 7:30 p.m, or Saturday, Dec. 9th at 2:00 p.m or 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available here.