Factory Theatre kicks off its Performance Spring festival of new Canadian works on Wednesday (April 18) with shows aimed at Toronto-based Newfoundlanders.
Oil and Water tells the true story of Lanier Phillips, who was the only African-American survivor from the USS Truxton, which ran aground near St. Lawrence, Nfld., in 1942. Racial sensibilities are front-and-centre as Phillips, the product of the segregated American south, is embraced by the uniformly white population of St. Lawrence, many of whom have never seen a black person before. Staged by the St. John’s Artistic Fraud company, the play unfolds to an a capella score that — in keeping with the meeting-of-cultures motif — blends Newfoundland's folk traditions with African-American gospel.
Following the afternoon performance on Sunday, April 29, the theatre will also hold the “Oil and Water Mixer” for Newfoundland and Labrador expats in Toronto.
Later in the festival proceedings take a decidedly sombre turn. Vancouver’s The Chop Theatre will be performing How to Disappear Completely (May 8-13), a powerful work about a son’s devotion to his dying mother, while the festival will be closed by a workshop reading of Judith Thompson’s Watching Glory Die (May 11-13), a chilling piece about three women bound by death.
Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst St., 416-504-4473. April 18-May 13.
