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From the Heart - How 100 Canadians Created an Unconventional Theatre Performance about Reconciliation

VIDEA, 2015

Over the summer of 2013, a group of over one hundred community members from 16 to 88 years old took part in an unconventional theatre production in Victoria BC. From the Heart: enter into the journey of reconciliation was performed in a beautiful 14,000 sq. ft. indoor labyrinth made from salvaged doors and windows, trees, and hundreds of metres of fabric, all lit by paper lantern lights. In the alcoves and chambers of the labyrinth, the audience encountered songs, scenes, and shadow theatre performances created by our ensemble of non-Indigenous Canadians to tell the transformative stories that have deepened our understanding about the lived experience of Indigenous peoples in Canada. We created the show to encourage dialogue about what it might mean for non-Indigenous people to take responsibility for learning more about our own history as a first step toward standing in solidarity with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people.

This book tells the story of how the show was developed and what it was like in performance. For those with an interest in reconciliation, From the Heart offers a gripping example of how theatre can contribute to public dialogue in a creative and vital way. Community groups will be able to use the book as a model to create their own unique production of From the Heart based on the pilot project.

Visit the project website at

https://www.fromtheheartcommunity.com/

To order a copy of From the Heart, click here

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