A Generation Of Women – **CANCELLED due to emergency health issues**
The play A Generation Of Women evolved from a single monologue written twenty-five years ago into a saga spanning a century with five different storytelling descendants. As the writer and performer Theatreworks’ Kymme Patrick tells humorous and insightful stories of five generations of women who helped shape our community with their dreams, with obstacles overcome and achievements for women in workplaces formerly dominated by men.
Creating A Generation Of Women began with an historic look at women on Vancouver Island, incorporating facts about the mining town of Cumberland in 1910, the docks of Comox in the 1920s, the Campbell River logging activities in the 1930s and a variety of local areas with details that depict the changing times and challenges. Whether Maggie is escaping the coal pits of Wales to journey to a better life in Canada, or Lillian is cooking meals for the loggers while dreaming of faraway places that the steamship travels, or Florence is building airplanes during wartime while pining for romance and peace, or Lulu is having a moment of clarity while enjoying free love and pesticide-free farming life, they each add a colourful thread to the tapestry of women’s experience throughout the twentieth century.
“In this play I explore how women have struggled during their times with issues of poverty, prejudice and deadly working conditions. I became fascinated by the changing roles of women and of the working class in the Comox Valley and surrounding area.”
Kymme Patrick is a well-known actor, director and writer of dozens of plays, winning awards from Theatre BC in all areas of theatre production. After much deliberation she decided to perform the piece as a one-woman show. “I don’t leave the stage between characters,” she explains. “because I dress in layers to make quick transitions. A new look, a different voice, I’m ready to go!” Although Patrick has performed A Generation Of Women several times any thought of retiring this piece has been met with another request. “Women like to watch it,” she says, “with their mothers, daughters, sisters and friends.”
So come out to celebrate the sisterhood of women and bring your mothers, daughters, sisters and all those who love them. A Generation Of Women will be presented at the following dates, times and venues:
Showtimes are May 9, 7:00 pm at the Abbey Studios in Cumberland and May 10, 7:00 pm at the Gathering Place, United Church on Denman Island.
Tickets are $20 at the door – reservations are recommended at theatreworks@shaw.ca or call 250 792-2031.
