Exquisite mask designs by Pat Simms.

Many thanks to Milan Ilnckyj for these striking photos.

The Mask Backstory

This is one of the three magnificent masks created for "The Walk" by theatre artist extraordinaire Patricia Simms. The masks are worn by actors portraying the stories of trafficked women. So how did Pat come up with the haunting designs, each one so expressive and unique? She drew her inspiration from photos in The Ottawa Citizen about a moth exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Nature. That's right--moths! In fact, she overlaid the newspaper photos directly onto her papier maché creations. Genius!

 

Programs about sex trafficking

Seems there's no shortage of info on this topic lately. This is a link to CBC documentaries:

http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/sexslaves.html

Winning the lottery!

So much of the journey of creating and presenting "The Walk" has felt like winning a lottery--a very rich experience indeed. But we actually did win a lottery: the Ottawa Fringe Festival 2011 lottery. The play's prodcution company, Threshold Players, was the sixth name drawn at the Fringe lottery party at the Raw Sugar Cafe on Nov. 17. So hurray, "The Walk" will have (at least!) six performances at the Fringe Festival, June 16-26, 2011. (See http://www.ottawafringe.com/.)

December 2 End Slavery Day Performance

We presented a staged reading of a few scenes from "The Walk" at End Slavery Day at the Bronson Centre on Dec. 2.  (See http://www.pact-ottawa.org/) The cast included Bev Wolfe, Ward Minnis, Stephanie Haines, Nadia Gandhi, Rachelle Casseus and Kristin Delcellier. (Photos by Pauline Gagné)