THEATRE: Eva In Rio by Gabe Maharjan (the reading)

Co-produced by bigT collective, lemonTree creations + Buddies

for Pride In Place performance on June 23, 6PM

It's so wonderful to work on a production more than once. It opens up opportunities to dig deeper into the piece, develop other ideas or in this case explore the designs using a different medium! Questioning if we can still be creative in a global pandemic?... we sure can!

If you'd like to visit the post of my previous collaboration on Eva In Rio click here.

Short description of the piece

Eva wakes up in her wonderland – Rio de Janeiro. With a physical transformation scheduled today, she Tinders her way to one last dose of vitamin D before 8 weeks of post-surgical celibacy. Tune in for a virtual reading of a comedically twisted trans-fantasy by Gabe Maharjan, directed by Cole Alvis, to see Eva’s surreal ambitions flirt with reality.

The process

Below is a visual taste of the shapes, colours and compositions I got to revel in this second time around. I started off with a colour scheme:

Fashion design by Marianne Fassler, photographed by Paul Samuels

Then I progressed to creating digital collages for each scene of the play. Images and shapes were drawn by me using the Procreate app on my ipad as well as sourced from various royalty free images and videos online. I did borrow the Starbucks logo for the evening though and we certainly had a blast 😉

- a screenshot I grabbed while watching the reading... shh

The Team:

Gabe Maharjan // playwright

Cole Alvis // director

Jesse Stong + Letícia Tórgo // dramaturges

Nalo Soyini Bruce // visual design

Evan Stepanian // sound design

Sebastian Marziali // tech

Featuring:

Dakota Jamal Wellman

DM St. Bernard

Kern Albert

Michelle Tiwo

Ryan G. Hinds

Yago Mesquita

The script was developed in collaboration with Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal, with dramaturgy from Jesse Stong and Letícia Tórgo, and the support of the Young Creators Unit (2017-2019). Further workshop support was provided by Centaur Theatre (Queer Reading Series 2019), Black Theatre Workshop, Teesri Duniya (Fireworks 2018), Emploi Québec (Jeune Volontaire 2018-19), and Montréal, arts interculturels (Alliances 2018-2019).The play was shortlisted for the Playwrights Guild of Canada’s 2020 RBC Emerging Playwright Award.