Creating a scene of our own: making theatre in spite of all odds against us

Date: Wednesday, Feb. 26
Time: 2–3:30 pm
Location: Emrys Jones Theatre, John Mitchell Building, 118 Science Pl., Saskatoon

Free and open to the public

About this event

This talk explores the emergence of multilingual theatre company rice & beans theatre and its design process-focused way of theatre-making, It was not an easy road taken by founders Pedro Chamale and Derek Chan, but one that has formed a way of working that creates wholistic safe creation spaces for marginalized IBPOC theatre creators. Covering topics of language and cultural reclamation, formation of an alt theatre community and the necessity of spaces for those working in non- official languages of Canadian theatre.

Pedro Chamale is a Latiné-Canadian director, playwright and performer who was born and raised on the unceded, ancestral, and traditional territories of the Treaty 8 Nations, the Sikanni, Slavey, Beaver (Dunne-za), Cree, and Saulteau, known as Chetwynd, BC. He now lives on the lands of the Qayqayt First Nations, New Westminster, BC. He creates on the unceded and traditional lands of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations . He completed the acting program at Douglas College and then received his BFA in Theatre Performance from SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts. He then went on to form rice & beans theatre with Derek Chan, where he served as co-artistic Director until 2021, when he became the sole Artistic Director of the company. Pedro was the Artistic Resident at Neworld Theatre in 2014, the guest curator of the 2018 rEvolver Festival, and was one of the playwrights in the 2019 Playwright’s Lab at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. His play Made in Canada: an agricultural operetta was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was transformed into Made in Canada: an agricultural song cycle, released both physically and digitally along with a companion podcast - all of which can be found wherever you stream your music. In 2019, Pedro was part of the second cohort of Banff’s Arts and Culture Leadership program in partnership with the National Theatre School of Canada. Pedro is a founding member and current board president of CALTAC (The Canadian Latinx Theatre Artist Coalition) which is an organization that advocates, networks, and celebrates professional Canadian Latinx theatre artists. He also sits on the steering committee of the Latinx Theatre Commons. In 2021 Pedro was the recipient of the SFU Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology’s Young Alumni Award along with rice & beans cofounder Derek Chan. In 2023 Pedro was a nominee for the BC multicultural and anti-racist “Breaking Boundaries” award, which he is grateful to be recognized for the work he has done both personally and at rice & beans. Most recently, his latest play, Peace Country, a climate crisis play inspired by Pedro's growing up in the Peace Country area of BC and the forest fires that are raging worldwide was published by playwrights Canada Press. You can find out more about Pedro’s work at riceandbeanstheatre.com.

This FARLS event is organized by the University of Saskatchewan School for the Arts. 

Info: drama@usask.ca