Szepty/Whispers

Szepty/Whispers
In Development

Szepty/Whispers is an immersive, multimedia search for a story told by absences, ambiguities, and contradictions. A performer invites us to choose fragments from their mother’s life in totalitarian, Soviet-controlled Poland. We are their collaborators, as they attempt to assemble a narrative, using voice, shadow, projection design, and live-feed video. They are seeking answers about their family’s generations of silence around psychiatric disability. Every audience chooses different fragments, allowing for different accumulations of meaning. Through the act of piecing together and taking apart, Szepty/Whispers explores the role of the silence in survival, complicity, kinship, and self-determination.

To access an interactive, digital glimpse of Szepty/Whispers, follow this link.

Szepty/Whispers has been developed at Playwrights Theatre Centre as part of the Associates program. The project has received additional support from Boca del Lupo and Rice & Beans Theatre’s DBLSPK series, mentorship with Boca del Lupo’s Artistic Director Sherry J. Yoon, the National Theatre School’s Art Apart initiative, the Arts Club’s LEAP Playwriting Intensive, and the Wet Ink Collective.

A collage made of four square images, including: a black-and-white photo of a woman with her back turned, a page of messy handwriting, a redacted official document, and a black-and-white photo of tanks on a city street.

Veronique, a white non-binary femme with long hair, speaks into a microphone while holding a script. Behind them is a projection of a red Soviet-era bus.

A studio with projections on the back wall. The first projection is a black-and-white photo of a young girl wearing a white robe and a crown of fabric flowers. She clasps her hands as though praying. The second projection is a live-feed video of Veronique, a long-haired white non-binary femme, speaking into a microphone.

Veronique stands silhouetted against a projection of messy, handwritten Polish text.

Development History & Credits

Art Apart: Szepty/Whispers (National Theatre School)
Creator: Veronique West
Dramaturg: Kathleen Flaherty
Documentary Production Assistants: Kathleen Flaherty & Shania Smagh

June 2020 Workshop (Playwrights Theatre Centre)
Writer/Performer: Veronique West
Director: Jiv Parasram
Projection Designer: Candelario Andrade
Dramaturg: Kathleen Flaherty
Stage Manager: Andie Lloyd
Documentary Production Assistant: Shania Smagh

DBLSPK: Szepty/Whispers (Boca del Lupo/Rice & Beans Theatre)
Writer/Performer: Veronique West
Director: Pedro Chamale
Dramaturg: Kathleen Flaherty

February 2019 Workshop (Playwrights Theatre Centre)
Writer: Veronique West
Design Collaborators: A Wake of Vultures (Nancy Tam, Conor Wylie, Dan O'Shea)
Dramaturg: Kathleen Flaherty

Unscripted: Where the Devil Can't Go (Playwrights Theatre Centre)
Producers: Heidi Taylor, Kathleen Flaherty & Anjela Magpantay
Communications Manager: Belinda Bruce
Production Coordinator: Justine Fafard
Curator/Playwright: Veronique West
Space Animation: A Wake of Vultures
Performers: Vostok, JB the First Lady, Baraka Rahmani & Julia Siedlanowska
Community Partner: Downtown Eastside Women's Centre

VERONIQUE WEST

Szepty/WhispersIn Development

Szepty/Whispers
In Development