ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: THEATER
Melanie Jones is a Canadian-born writer, performer and producer. Her solo work, ENDURE: A RUN WOMAN SHOW was presented in London during the 2012 Olympic Games and as part of the 2013 Scotiabank Calgary Marathon. Jones was awarded 2012 NYIT (New York Innovative Theater) Awards for Solo Performance and Original Full-length Script and was shortlisted for the Brick Award at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Her theatrical work has been presented in four countries, and video excerpts of her work IN YOU. (AND YOU?), created at BAX, have received more than 20,000 views. Author of three published nonfiction books, Jones also created more than 50 episodes for CityTV, 55 videos for the LEAP PROJECT, an online course for distressed youth, and more than 25 stories for WAVES OF CHANGE, documenting the world water crisis. She was a 2013 TEDxCalgary speaker and 2014 NYFA Immigrant Artist.
ABOUT THE WORK
CANADIANS ARE MEAN is an ensemble performance installation, written and produced by Melanie Jones and created collaboratively with an ensemble of Albertan (Calgary, Peace River), Manitoban, Torontonian, Vancouverite, French-Canadian and First Nations (Métis, Sioux/Cree, Ojibway) performers. Set in a dystopian near-future in the wilderness of the largely undefended Canada-U.S. border, the work casts the audience as American refugees, and the performers as Canadian customs officers and staff of the nonprofit organization Canadians Without Borders. Exploring immigration, stereotype, the problematic relationship between two colonial siblings – and drawing loosely from the 1971 film “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” – the audience journey walks a fine line between amusement park ride and bizarre administrative entrapment.
Audience are processed, questioned and indoctrinated with Canadian culture, traveling through an absurd bureaucratic obstacle course. Immigration requirements are written and rewritten. Canadian cultural traditions are altered, fabricated and packaged as truth. Simmering Canadian rage comes to a boil and the refugees are forced to answer for generations of minimizing, neglect and moose jokes.
Developed with support from Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
UPCOMING SHOW:
CANADIANS ARE MEAN
Friday-Saturday, April 17-18 @ 8:00 pm
Sunday, April 19 @ 6:00 pm
(in the BAX Theater)
Written by Melanie Jones
Performed by Tanya Marquardt, Melanie Jones, Doug Chapman, Karen Grenke, and Jessica Ranville
SUPPORT MELANIE JONES
BAX is a fiscal sponsor of Melanie Jones. Tax-deductible donations earmarked for Melanie Jones can be made by clicking on the DONATE icon.
CONNECT WITH MELANIE JONES
Website | melanie-jones.com
Facebook | facebook.com/calamity.jones.nyc
Twitter | @calamityjones
Vimeo | vimeo.com/60646619
Youtube | tedxtalks.ted.com/video/The-Power-of-Not-Knowing-Mela-2
Tumblr | www.canadiansaremean.tumblr.com
Instagram | instagram.com/calamityjonesnyc
