Calgary theatre company One Yellow Rabbit originated in 1981, but it really hit its stride in the 1990s, a trajectory that landed co-founders Blake Brooker and the late Michael Green, along with Denise Clarke, who joined the ensemble in 1988, on the cover of Avenue’s inaugural issue, with a declaration of their company as the one that “goes where others fear to tread.” We caught up with Brooker for a chat about making theatre then and now.
What was it like making theatre back in 1994-1995?
Brooker: “We have always been a local and what we call ‘authentic’ theatre company. We’ve always believed in being real to ‘here,’ in the sense that all culture comes from somewhere. When you live in a colonized mindset, you always think that superior material comes from other places, but that’s just the commercial world breathing down our necks. I always point to Pina Bausch coming from Wuppertal, Germany, or, of course, The Beatles coming from Liverpool — [all art] has got to come from somewhere. We always dared ourselves to survive here and not have to leave and be elsewhere.
“What it was like making theatre in 1995 was us against the world, in a way, and also us against Canada, because, at that time, there was a kind of chauvinism against Calgary in Canada, to a certain degree. If you pay attention, it still exists. It’s like, ‘Oh, why would you be there? What are you doing there?’
“In September 1994, we had been in Edinburgh doing a show, and some people there invited us to Singapore and Australia — to a festival in Perth, Australia, and then to Singapore where this contemporary Chinese theatre company wanted us to come and make a show for them! So, in ’95, it felt like we were on the cusp of possibility, and the cusp of a potential to share our Calgary sensibility with others.”
How has the Calgary theatre scene changed?
Brooker: “It has changed with the same fever speed and delirium as everything else. It has changed because of this unholy, unlikely and unpredictable relationship with the digital revolution, because everything is mediated digitally these days — sometimes your short little Instagram expression about a show is seen by more people than will ever see the show.
“And the whole context is changing. We’re seeing more micro-events and different kinds of performances. For example, at the High Performance Rodeo, it used to be a lot of plays. Now you don’t see as many plays as you did before. Now you see more performance theatre. You see happenings. You see immersive events. You see experiential events. You see comedy.”
Who are the theatre artists that will be the ones to watch in the next 30 years?
Brooker: “Well, the Beautiful Young Artists (One Yellow Rabbit’s development program). Javier Vilalta, a Mexican-Canadian visual performance creator; Makambe K. Simamba, she did a show last year about Trayvon Martin with Handsome Alice Theatre; [actor-puppeteer] Ali DeRegt; and Jamie Dunsdon, who has been a director around town and did a show called Bliss at the Rodeo a few years ago. The last person I’d put on this list is an actor I saw last spring in The Shakespeare Company’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream — incredible voice and energy. His name is Nikko Angelo Hinayo.”
Interview has been edited and condensed.