May 29th, 2018 - Île à la Crosse & Beauval We awoke later than usual, thanks to the school being a whole 5 minutes away. The night before we had fallen asleep to cloudy cotton candy skies with flashes of lightning in the distance. Thuriga spent the night taking videos while a wild dog lay at her feet. We were prepared for our next 2-show day.
The drive to the school in Île à la Crosse was gorgeous, as we’ve come to expect from Saskatchewan. The entrance to the school faces the shore of the lake, much different from the concrete that's outside our old high school Garneau (although the Valley is beautiful as well). The stage was the perfect size and our voices carried well throughout the hall. The backstage was a little weird, which lead to a lot of throwing of props, and we were almost locked out of the sound system, but as always, SExT finds a way! During the show, a briefcase that was supposed to be empty made its way onto the stage. At the climax of our "Revenge Porn" court case scene, Ahmad yelled “This briefcase is empty!” and threw open the "empty" briefcase. In dead silence, all of our papers and SExT stickers fell out into the audience’s confused faces. After a brief moment, Ahmad quickly said, “It’s not empty.” Great save, Ahmad. The performance was relaxed and comfortable, and the audience asked great questions. I even had a girl play the fiddle for me which was a super cool experience. It’s amazing when people share their Art with us - it inspires us and reinforces why we do the work we do.
We left for Beauval and rushed to set up. I do interviews at every school to get a feel for the community, so I quickly flagged down some students to ask some questions. I ask a couple sex-related questions, and I always get a kick asking teenagers if their peers use protection during sex. There’s always a brief, "Did I just hear that right?" or a nervous giggle before I get a candid answer.
Our second show of the day started and the audience was enthusiastic, amping up our performance. There was an emotional reaction during "Tunnel Vision", our abuse scene that chronicles one of our cast member's experience with domestic violence and recovery. A student shared with us how much that scene and the show meant to her, how inspiring it was to see other young people openly expressing their emotions and traumas, and how healing the experience was for her. There were so many amazing people to talk to after the show, but eventually we had to look for food before heading to North Battleford. Amazingly our beds got upgraded so we all get beds tonight! Good night!
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