In Their Own Words
Verbatim Theatre
Thursday, May 25, 7:00 pm ET
Joel Bernbaum & Yvette Nolan & Six playwrights
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SHORT DESCRIPTION (1-2 sentences)
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What is Verbatim Theatre?
Verbatim theatre is a term for scripts created from live interviews. An appealing aspect of this form of theatre is that voices not often present in the traditional media can be heard. Actors of all ages, genders and backgrounds shift between people of different ages, genders and backgrounds.
For this event, Joel and Yvette selected six playwrights from the Wakefield area who submitted proposals on a variety of social justice themes. Each writer interviewed people on their chosen theme, recorded and transcribed the words of those conversations, and edited them to create a compelling script, all the while being mentored by Joel and Yvette.
It is the hope that these plays will offer a kaleidoscopic view on important social issues of our times and introduce unfamiliar realities to broaden audience perspectives.
Adapted for the Writers Fête, the readings are co-produced with Theatre Wakefield and directed by Joel Bernbaum.
Verbatim theatre is a term for scripts created from live interviews. An appealing aspect of this form of theatre is that voices not often present in the traditional media can be heard. Actors of all ages, genders and backgrounds shift between people of different ages, genders and backgrounds.
For this event, Joel and Yvette selected six playwrights from the Wakefield area who submitted proposals on a variety of social justice themes. Each writer interviewed people on their chosen theme, recorded and transcribed the words of those conversations, and edited them to create a compelling script, all the while being mentored by Joel and Yvette.
It is the hope that these plays will offer a kaleidoscopic view on important social issues of our times and introduce unfamiliar realities to broaden audience perspectives.
Adapted for the Writers Fête, the readings are co-produced with Theatre Wakefield and directed by Joel Bernbaum.

JOEL BERNBAUM is an actor, director, playwright, journalist, and the founding artistic director of Sum Theatre. Born and raised in Saskatoon, Joel is the only child of a Buddhist mother and Jewish father. He is a graduate of the Canadian College of Performing Arts and Carleton University, where he did his master’s thesis on verbatim theatre’s relationship to journalism. With Sum Theatre, Joel created Saskatchewan’s first free professional live Theatre in the Park. To date, over 50,000 people have participated in Sum Theatre’s work.
Joel’s produced plays include Operation Big Rock, My Rabbi (with Kayvon Khoshkam), Home Is a Beautiful Word, and Being Here: The Refugee Project. Joel is currently an interdisciplinary Ph.D. student at the University of Saskatchewan, investigating the potential of theatre to strengthen cities. He is grateful to be the first Urjo Kareda Resident from Saskatchewan and the first Pierre Eilliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar from the University of Saskatchewan. He lives in Saskatoon with his son Judah.
https://www.playwrightscanada.com/Authors/B/Bernbaum-Joel
Joel’s produced plays include Operation Big Rock, My Rabbi (with Kayvon Khoshkam), Home Is a Beautiful Word, and Being Here: The Refugee Project. Joel is currently an interdisciplinary Ph.D. student at the University of Saskatchewan, investigating the potential of theatre to strengthen cities. He is grateful to be the first Urjo Kareda Resident from Saskatchewan and the first Pierre Eilliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar from the University of Saskatchewan. He lives in Saskatoon with his son Judah.
https://www.playwrightscanada.com/Authors/B/Bernbaum-Joel

YVETTE NOLAN is a playwright, dramaturg, and director. Her plays include Annie Mae’s Movement, The Unplugging, and The Birds. She has been writer-in-residence at Brandon University, Mount Royal College, Saskatoon Public Library, and McGill University, as well as playwright-in-residence at the National Arts Centre.
Born in Saskatchewan to an Algonquin mother and an Irish immigrant father and raised in Manitoba, Yvette lived in the Yukon and Nova Scotia, then moved to Toronto where she served as artistic director of Native Earth Performing Arts from 2003 to 2011. Her book Medicine Shows, about Indigenous theatre in Canada, was published in 2015. She lives in Saskatoon. Photo credit: Keesic Douglas
https://www.playwrightscanada.com/Authors/N/Nolan-Yvette
Born in Saskatchewan to an Algonquin mother and an Irish immigrant father and raised in Manitoba, Yvette lived in the Yukon and Nova Scotia, then moved to Toronto where she served as artistic director of Native Earth Performing Arts from 2003 to 2011. Her book Medicine Shows, about Indigenous theatre in Canada, was published in 2015. She lives in Saskatoon. Photo credit: Keesic Douglas
https://www.playwrightscanada.com/Authors/N/Nolan-Yvette