DBLSPK: Szepty (Whispers)
Boca del Lupo/rice & beans theatre

DBLSPK is a quarterly series where Boca del Lupo and rice & beans theatre present works that traverse linguistic boundaries. They dive into what is gained and lost when we navigate through different languages and cultures in our lives and art.

The February 2020 edition featured Szepty (Whispers). Szepty is an immersive performance-in-progress that weaves together family secrets, a ritual, and the co-creation of a found text. After escaping from Communist Poland, my mother left behind her first language and refrained from openly discussing her past. Now, as I learn Polish, I catch glimpses of my mother's elusive former self. Szepty is an invitation to search for an ever-shifting character, through interview excerpts, untranslatable phrases, state propaganda, a prayer, a rock anthem, diary fragments, and other pamiątki (things “left after”). It's a collaborative inquiry into how culture shapes our understandings of memory, trauma, kinship, and agency.

Writer/Performer: Veronique West
Director: Pedro Chamale
Dramaturg: Kathleen Flaherty