Young Turtle a beacon amid the widespread anti-trans movement
Azimuth Theatre's body-celebrating Expanse Festival is underway, headlined by a fun and powerful advocacy-based puppet musical.
The Adventure of Young Turtle glitters with an entirely queer and trans cast and creative team, with the aim of encouraging the forging of one's own path amid the widespread anti-trans movement.
After getting separated from their family, our hero meets all sorts of creatures: a butch shark, a genderfluid clown fish, a perpetually frightened eel and many others. Each teaches Young Turtle important lessons about identity, being true to who you are and the overall strength of community.
With these new friends, Young Turtle navigates the vast and uncertain ocean to find their way home.
This 50-minute musical bubbles with original music by Rae Spoon and Ruaridh MacDonald and large-scale puppetry, standing as another bulwark against Alberta's new policies threatening youth rights to access trans-affirming health care and social supports.
Jay Northcott directs, Mac Brock produces.
“Growing up trans in the prairies was a very lonely experience,” notes playwright S.E. Grummett. “I hope this show can bring a message of hope: that queer youth in our audience can know they are not alone, that they have a whole community that loves them just as they are and that a life of celebration is waiting for them.”
Dates for the show at Westbury Theatre in the Fringe Theatre Arts Barns (10330 84 Ave.) are 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, 2:30 p.m., Sunday and 1 p.m. on April 3 and 4.
Tickets are a suggested $25, but pay what you can, available at fringetheatre.ca.
Information about the rest of Expanse Festival — including various performance labs, dance showcases, mixers and the festival opening party at 8:30 p.m. Thursday — can be found at azimuththeatre.com.
ART
3/28: Spring Art Show (Aviary) 3/28-4/23: Sheila Luck, Mitchel Smith: Scenes from a Marriage
(Peter Robertson)
Thru 3/29: Aeris Osborne: YEG Old Houses/Colorful Travel Journey (Leduc Arts Foundry)
Thru 3/30: Kateryna Kryvolap
(Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts) Thru 3/31: Identity Ether
(AGA Community Gallery)
Thru 4/6: Finding Our Way group show; Rhayne Vermette: Letters (Ociciwan)
Thru 4/9: Metanoia: 2024 Bachelor of Design Graduation Show (FAB) Thru 4/9: Adrien Veczan: Nuances (CAVA)
Thru 4/13: Eveline Kolijn: The Energy Futures Portfolio Project (Harcourt) Thru 4/13: Luke Johnson: Farewell to the North (Do Not Apply Compression Gently) (Harcourt)
Thru 4/17: Oksana Movchan: Metanoia (Gallery@501)
Thru 4/19: Ingrained in Time
(Red Brick Common)
Thru 4/25: Raneece Buddan: Threading Through Time
(Art Gallery St. Albert)
Thru 4/26: Visions of Grandeur: Lands Worth Saving (Wild Skies)
Thru 5/4: Santosh Korthiwada: Inseparable Fragments
(Art Gallery of St. Albert)
Thru 5/5: Brenda Draney: Drink from the River (AGA)
Thru 5/5: Emmanuel Osahor: I made this place for you (AGA)
Thru 5/18: Coming Up Next
(Alberta Craft Gallery)
Thru 5/26: Braxton Garneau:
Pay Dirt (AGA)
Thru 6/15: Minutiae
(Alberta Craft Gallery)
Thru 6/29: The Wild Side:
Polar Prairie Pacific
(Musée Héritage Museum)
Thru 8/4: Dwayne Martineau: Boreal Fortress (AGA)
Thru 12/31: Damian Moppett: Untitled Abstract Object in Space (AGA)
BOOKS
Thru 3/28: YouthWrite Spring Break Camp (Highlands United)
3/26: Madeline Miller's Circe book club (Audreys)
COMEDY
3/28-31: Angelo Tsarouchas (Comic Strip)
3/29: Rob Pepper (Grindstone) 3/29-30: Casey Corbin (Yuk Yuk's) 3/29-30: Wayde Lever (Comedy Factory)
3/31: Terry Fubar Live (Union)
FESTIVALS
3/28-4/4: Expanse Festival (Westbury)
3/29-30: Downtown Defrost (Churchill Square)
Thru 3/31: Springboards New Play Festival (Gateway Theatre)
FILM
4/1: Jesus Christ Superstar (Metro)
MUSIC
3/28: Together YEG: Bad Buddy, Vertigo, cikwes, Bhuyash Neupane, Mustafa Rafiq (9910)
3/28: Robyn Ottolini (Starlite)
3/28: The MacEwan Generations
Big Band (Yardbird)
3/28: Trigger Mafia (Starlite)
3/29: Adelora, Tanjeryne (Felice) 3/29: Audio/Rocketry, Stem Champ, You, Me and Zach, Garrett Dale (Buckingham)
3/29: Jacob Do Octet (Yardbird) 3/29: Noah Kahan (Rogers)
3/29: Medical Pilot, Hungry Hollow, Monks on Call, The Nightstand (Starlite)
3/29: Pro Coro Canada: Good Friday (First Presbyterian)
3/29: Relics Touque, Wax Duplex,
Kill The Eclipse (Blakbar)
3/29: Ruby & Rake (Soho)
3/29: Runway, Peace Within, Blume, DJ Gulzar (Aviary)
3/29: That's Hot: 2000s Dance Party (Starlite)
3/30: Edmonton Chinese Community Spring Festival Gala (Winspear) 3/30: Jr. Gone Wild, Jody Shenkarek & the Strings of Destiny (Soho)
3/30: Madam X, Malcs (Starlite) 3/30: Mad Mastiff, Halcyon Loop, Dual Nature (Blakbar)
3/30: Open Eyes, The Spuds MacKenzies, Synesthesia, Midnight Diner (Aviary)
3/30: Preying Saints, Lams, Dad Religion, Abigail's Cross (Buckingham) 3/30: Rotting Christ, Uada, Abigail Williams (Starlite)
3/30: Saxophonic Reverie w/ Melissa Aldana (Triffo)
3/30: Shaguar (Black Dog)
3/30: Showtek (Union)
3/30: Jay Walker (Cook County) 3/30: Dana Wylie Tribute to Edith Piaf (Yardbird)
3/31: A Black Dog Queer Dance Party! (Black Dog)
3/31: Dahkabrakha (Winspear)
4/2: He's Already Dead filming w/ Eye Lash Out, The Issue (Aviary)
4/2: Life in Vacuum, Nigel Gannet, And Cowboys, No Idea (Buckingham) 4/2: Queens of the Stone Age, The Struts (Rogers)
4/2: Holly Sangster Tuesday Jam (Yardbird)
4/3: D12, Obie Trice (Union)
4/3: Oklahoma, Hope House, Bing Bang Boys, Ataxic Crux, Nebulae Complex (Aviary)
THEATRE/ DANCE 3/28,30-31,4/3-4: The Adventure of Young Turtle (Westbury)
3/30-4/21: The Mountaintop (Citadel) Thru 3/31: Robot Girls (Varscona) 4/2-21: Ronnie Burkett's Wonderful Joe (Roxy)