A Door To Be Kicked

a DOOR TO BE KICKED: A RADIO PLAY BY FRED WAH

Picture
LISTEN
  • Home
  • Press
  • Contact


Introduction

A Door to be Kicked is a radio play and podcast in three-acts by poet, novelist, scholar and former Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate Fred Wah. 

Set in a small-town Chinese-Canadian cafe in the 1950s, the play explores themes of place, identity, history, and culture, with particular focus on the Chinese heritage that was such an important (and often overlooked) aspect of the settlement period of the Columbia Basin.

A Door to be Kicked is a patchwork of poetic narratives and historic voices, drawing on Fred’s Nelson, B.C.-based “biofiction”, Diamond Grill, his poetry and his writing for the collaboration “highmuckamuck.ca”, a web-based, British Columbia history project sub-titled “Playing Chinese.”

Produced as a partnership between Kootenay Co-operative Radio and Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History, the play was workshopped in two live performances in Nelson in 2019. It has subsequently been recorded and produced for radio and podcast in Nelson, somewhat delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic.



Creative Team

Script by: Fred Wah
Dramaturge: Nicola Harwood
Producer, audio producer, podcaster: Catherine Fisher
Director: Bessie Wapp
Original music by: Don Macdonald
Technical director: Anthony Sanna
Vancouver studio technician: Molly Caron

Cast

The Poet: Brahm Taylor
Fred Wah Sr.: Fred Wah (recording), Clement Lam (public performance)
Freddie Wah: Tashi Higgs
Connie Wah, Mary Morrison: Marya Folinsbee
Pong, Shu Mar, Grampa Wah, Lawrence Mar, storekeeper, waiter: Jason Xiao
Ed, Sandy, bus driver, girlfriend's father: Don Gordon
Teacher: Bessie Wapp
Cafe customer: Anthony Sanna


Presented by


Kootenay Co-operative Radio
Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History



Supported by

Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance
Osprey Community Foundation
Kootenay Country Store Co-operative

Nelson and District Credit Union
Vancouver Co-op Radio
Several private donors



Copyright

Script: Fred Wah
Radio broadcast: Kootenay Co-operative Radio
Podcast:
Fred Wah/Catherine Fisher/Bessie Wapp
Original music: Don Macdonald



Meet the Creative Team

Fred Wah

Fred Wah’s most recent project is Music at the Heart of Thinking: Improvisations 1-170 published by Talon in 2020. Also recently, a collaboration with Rita Wong about the Columbia River, Beholden: a Poem as Long as the River. High Muck a Muck: Playing Chinese, an Interactive Poem, is available online (http://highmuckamuck.ca
/). He lives in Vancouver and on Kootenay Lake.

Nicola Harwood


Nicola Harwood is a queer, Anglo Canadian writer, theatre and media artist. Her plays, performance and installation projects have been produced in galleries, theatres and artist run centres in Canada, Europe and the USA. Her work has also appeared in the bush, on a river, in a hanger and on a miniature train.

Bessie Wapp

Bessie Wapp is a theatre artist, musician, educator, Jessie Award nominee, and City of Nelson
Cultural Ambassador (2015) of Jewish-Lithuanian / Swiss-German ancestry residing on Sinixt territory in Nelson, BC. Wapp's most recent project, Pandora's Jukebox, upends the Greek myth, recasting the "first woman" as a musical alchemist with the power to transform collective burdens into soul medicine: music. Wapp also contributed to High Muck a Muck (see Fred Wah's bio).


Don Macdonald

Don Macdonald (born 1966) is an award-winning composer of film and concert music and he has an eclectic musical background as a performer, producer, educator, and conductor. Don’s composition credits include music for theatre and dance, published choral works, and forays into everything from classical orchestral music to rock, jazz, and world music. A multiple Canadian Film Awards nominee and 3 time Leo Award winner, he has over 50 film music credits and has worked with many of the major studios including 20th Century Fox and Lions Gate Films. 


Catherine Fisher

Catherine Fisher lives in Nelson and is a founding member of Kootenay Co-operative Radio. In 2012 she worked with Sinixt Elder Marilyn James to produce Definitive Lines, a documentary about the impacts of past and present colonial policies and practices on the Sinixt. Recently, she won the Neskie Manuel Award for Indigenous Programming for her production work on the Sinixt audio documentary, In the Shadow of Extinction.

Anthony Sanna

Since 1990, Anthony Sanna has built a career as a content producer and editor. His experience includes 9+ years as a community radio volunteer, producer and host (Kootenay Co-op Radio), 5 years as a podcast host and producer (Fusion Health Radio), video production, website development, copy editor and writer, live stream producer and more. See his business card at www.anthonysanna.com .

Contact Us

To contact us, use the "contact" form (see menu).
For information about rights or reproduction of A Door to be Kicked email Catherine at catherinefisher551  (at) gmail (dot) com

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Press
  • Contact