Witness the sheer power and force of the unaccompanied human voice in the newest work from Canadian multi-disciplinary performance company Quote Unquote Collective. Part concert, part theatre play (and self-consciously neither of these things), the ensemble screams about the lack of affordable child care and growing inequalities, while comparing different approaches to child care around the globe.
This urgent social and political message features an eight-person a capella choir, highly-stylized movement and songs delivered in multiple languages.
Company
Quote Unquote Collective is a Canadian multi-disciplinary performance company that aims to work outside the boundaries of tradition and expectation. Engaging with urgent social and political themes, the company is founded on the firm belief that art and performance are tools to provoke conversation and change.
Co-founders Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava, who both have a strong background in physical theatre and music, have joined forces to produce work in a variety of genres and disciplines as a means to make new, experimental, and provocative performance work that ignites conversation within the community and the world at large. Defying conventions of style and form, the collective is built on the idea that individual ideas demand to be expressed through different forms, and should be expressed by whatever means necessary.
Creative team
- Director, composer, co-writer Amy Nostbakken
- Co-writers Norah Sadava, Vicky Araico, Akosua Amo-Adem, Seiko Nakazawa and Stephanie Sourial
- Choreographer Orian Michaeli
- Lighting design André du Toit
- Sound design Matt Smith
- Set and projection design Lorenzo Savoini
- Costume design Christine Ting-Huan Urquhart
- Musical Director Alex Samaras
- Performers Joema Frith, Monica Garrido, Gemaine Konji, Alex Samaras, Fiona Sauder, Norah Sadava, Takako Segawa
- Producers Jenna Harris and Najla Nubyanluv
- Stage Manager Tara Mohan
National Creation Fund investment
The National Creation Fund’s investment of $200,000 enables the creative team to innovate what the creation process looks like, piloting a new model that changes the game when it comes to family care in theatre. This includes shorter work days, five-day weeks, flexible schedules, and support for care costs for the artists involved. The Fund’s investment also supports a four-week development workshop, with a particular focus on the integration of design to help tell the story.
Credits
Universal Child Care created by Quote Unquote Collective, commissioned by The Broad Stage in association with Nightwood Theatre, Why Not Theatre and the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund, presented by Canadian Stage.
