Something Wicked This Way Comes: Stories to Chill and Lift the Soul
Thursday, October 20, 2022 7:30PM ET | Something Wicked This Way Comes: Stories to Chill and Lift the Soul with Vishesh Abeyratne, Mohamad Altesseh, Kate Hunt, and Marie Victoria Robertson (Blackbox Theatre, Arts Court and On Demand)
As the sun turns from the earth and winter darkness approaches, face some of your worst fears with an evening of horrifying, traditional stories. Storytellers Vishesh Abeyratne, Mohamad Altesseh, Kate Hunt, and Marie Victoria Robertson will share tales from diverse cultures that have been told for hundreds of years. Sheltered within a community of fellow listeners, you will know evil in the human heart and in the world around you, but you will be forcefully reminded how this evil can and must be overcome.
About the Storytellers:
Vishesh Abeyratne is a Sri Lankan-Canadian playwright, actor, and dramaturg based in Ottawa, Ontario. His play The Agony Market was recently workshopped by the Major Matt Mason Collective in Calgary, Alberta, and is set to receive more development through Gruppo Rubato’s Playwrights Circle. Other works include White Lion, Brown Tiger (set to premiere in Toronto later this year), Blood Offering (premiering in Toronto in spring 2023). Vishesh writes black comedy and satire with occasional dips into the speculative genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. An emerging storyteller, Vishesh participated in Ottawa Storytellers' digital series Stories in 180 with a retelling of the Buddhist legend of Angulimala.
Mohamad Altesseh, born in Syria, Damascus rural, fled the Syrian war in 2014 and sought refuge in Lebanon, Emirates, and Turkey. He moved to Ottawa in late 2016 and now works in community engagement programming at a not-for-profit organization called MAX Ottawa. Mohamad started writing and telling stories lately and is working to gather more stories from his collective and personal experiences.
Kate Hunt is originally from New Brunswick but calls Ottawa home. Her first experience telling folk tales was when she was nine years old, and it was a strange Slavic story about a man with an iron head. Since then, she’s climbed mountains and come back to telling myths and legends, among other things, because they can be so strange and surprising and true. She’s told stories around Ottawa at Story Slam, Stories and Tea, (un)told, and OST’s Signature Series, as well as in OST’s 12-hour Iliad.
Marie Victoria Robertson is a theatre performer who is now deeply immersed in storytelling. Her repertoire includes stories from French-Canadian, Scottish, Irish, Greek and Japanese lore, as well as nail-biting true historical tales about the scary and the fantastic. Since 2021, she has hosted the monthly program (un)told, inviting tellers to share true personal stories. She has performed at the National Arts Centre, the Shenkman Arts Centre, numerous Fringe festivals across Canada, Children’s Festivals, and even the occasional pub. She was voted audience favourite at Pittsburgh TELL’s Folktale Fight 2022.
About the Musician:
Kluane Takhini is an award winning, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer. He plays a multitude of percussion instruments, guitar, bass, harmonica, flutes, keyboard, and many more from his exotic collection. He has played and recorded in international settings across Canada, USA and Europe from local pubs to 500,000 person festivals (Berlin).
He has toured and recorded many “world music” albums (before it was called that), playing in unique artistic venues as diverse as grand churches, water reservoirs under Munich, an island where 100,000 doves were released at the climax of the performance and the first-ever “simulcast”, live satellite, intercontinental concert. To find out more about Kluane, visit www.kluanetakhini.com