CANCELLED - The Archivist

Warning: Performances may contain mature content.

THE ARCHIVIST

BY SHAISTA LATIF

Produced in Association with Why Not Theatre

Shaista Latif is a perpetual guest.

She has been invited to tell a story.

Shaista Latif is a storyteller.

Shaista Latif is a story. 

To mark her position and her eventual disappearance, Shaista creates a live archive of found objects, music, photos and film to boldly question who has the right to document a history of war.

In this compelling and hilarious documentary performance, Latif invites the audience to name what is at the risk of being erased and forgotten. 

Shaista Latif would like to continue the conversation by inviting responses and reviews from audience members of colour. A limited number of complimentary tickets are available if you are interested in participating in this initiative.  Please visit Why Not Theatre to reserve yours.

"I learned things—interesting, wonderful, and upsetting things. I’m not sure there’s any higher praise I can give than that: this show made me laugh, made me think, and made me just a bit wiser. Within five minutes of leaving the theatre I’d told two people to see it. - Apt 613 (Mer Weinhold)

She asked the audience, “Who’s brown?” and I felt my arm tense, uncertain of which direction to take it. I marvelled at how unapologetically and uncomplicatedly she identified as a person of colour. I can’t relate to that feeling of belonging that she seems to have, even as she mounts a show about the complications of it all. For my part, I do not think of myself as white, nor do I think of myself as a person of colour. If pushed, I would say I was olive-skinned. And Shaista’s show pushes. It pushes you to ask yourself how you locate yourself, or not. In my view, identity(ies) is a kind of construction and performance. The Archivist made me look at the reality of those constructions and performances  - More Than Food Mag (Sophie Afriat)

Shaista Latif is a working-class Queer Afghan-Canadian multidisciplinary artist, consultant and facilitator. Her works and collaborations have been presented by Koffler Gallery, Ontario Scene Festival, SummerWorks, Why Not Theatre, Blackwood Gallery, Mercer Union, the AGO, Halifax Queer Acts Festival, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and recently the Undercurrents Festival. Her video installation Learning the Language of My Enemies was recently presented in conjunction with Nevet Yitzhak: WarCraft at the Koffler Gallery.  Her current project How I Learned to Serve Tea, a series of workshops focused on the politics of inclusion and the language of invitation, is co-funded and supported by Why Not Theatre and Koffler Centre of the Arts. Latif is a published playwright (Playwrights Canada Press) and voiced the character Soraya in the Oscar-nominated film The Breadwinner. 

Join us for more! Stay for a post-show talkback on March 19th, 20th & 21st (matinee performance only).

Ticket discounts available for this event up to 50% off.  For information click here.