Presented by SkirtsAfire Festival in partnership with Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre supported by YWCA Edmonton
Shoes accompany us on our journeys. They are with us wherever we go, they say who we are, where we came from, and where we are going.
March 2 & 3
March 2 @ 7:30pm
March 3 @ 1:30pm & 7:30pm
Walterdale Theatre
10322 83rd Ave NW
Tickets are $27 for adults and $21 for students/seniors (plus applicable fees) and there are 10 Pay-What-You-Can tickets available per performance. Group rate of 6 or more tickets for $18 each (plus applicable fees). Purchase your tickets here!
Due to limited capacity, we highly recommend securing your seat in advance!
Festival passes available now. Get 3 shows, 5 shows or an All Access Pass!
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The Shoe Project is a national initiative that amplifies the voices of Canadian immigrant and refugee women through storytelling. Whether selected by choice or imposed by circumstance the shoes we wear can make or break a journey, shape our experiences, and open doors to our future. The Shoe Project 2024 is Edmonton’s third live iteration of this compelling project. In November, a group of immigrant and refugee women began working with veteran Canadian playwright Conni Massing to write stories of their arrival and adaptation to Canada centred around a pair of shoes they have worn. Once their stories were complete, each woman was coached by local theatre professionals and they now tell their story for audiences in a revelatory public performance.
Click Here for the Plain Language Description
The Shoe Project is a community-art* theatre project that happens across the country. Newcomer women share their stories of coming to Canada. The stories are centred around a pair of shoes they wore during their arrival and settlement journey, or that impacted them. They work with professional theatre artists (Conni Massing and Alyson Connolly) to write and practice their stories and get them ready to be heard by an audience. As in a play reading format, the stage is simple and the scripts are read without memorization.
This is the third time The Shoe Project has occurred in Edmonton. Each time, new women tell their unique stories centred around shoes as a metaphor of the past, present and future journey.
*Community art: art created for and by a community with professional artists coaching the process.
Click Here for the Content Warnings
The Shoe Project deals with subject matter around immigration, refugee camps, war, and other hardships while fleeing a country and travelling to a new one. While many stories can be uplifting and happy, there will be some tragic, sad, and harrowing stories shared as well. If you have any questions or concerns or would like more information, please email us at info@skirtsafire.com.
“I have never imagined I could be standing in front of an audience sharing a personal story in English. The Shoe Project has been the most empowering experience of my life.” — Natalia Rodriguez Bussi, Uruguay
“I’ve been blown away. Those women are amazing, their stories [are] bold and brave and filled with humour, love, and all the travails of making their journeys here. I loved the various shoes, the boots, the “slippers”. What an outstanding project!” — Catherine Mitchell, publisher
THESE PERFORMANCES WILL OPEN YOUR HEART AND TRANSFORM YOUR PERCEPTIONS OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE CANADIAN
Featuring:
Iryna Kalynka, Ukraine
Farzana Nemat, Afghanistan
Lydia Nabunya, Uganda
Yanal Alhussein, Syria
Sawsan Helwa, Syria
Nancy Kirugi, Kenya
Freshta Rezaie, Afghanistan
Fatima Subaita, Bangladesh
Vlada Savitskaia, Ukraine
Olya Yatsiv, Ukraine
Ama Dogbefou, Togo
Artistic Team:
Amena Shehab, Project Coordinator
Conni Massing, Writing Mentor
Alyson Connolly, Voice & Speech Coach
The Shoe Project’s mission is to advance education by providing programs, courses, workshops and seminars to immigrant and refugee women to develop their written and oral skills, as well as their leadership skills.
Thank you to The Shoe Project Charity for their guidance and contributions towards the Edmonton chapter of this initiative and to YWCA Edmonton for continuing the journey.
To find out more about the original shoe project, visit https://theshoeproject.online/
