Skylark Song
Set in the beginning of 2020 in the wake of Poland’s national campaigns against LGBTQ+ individuals, Skylark Song is an exploration of intergenerational queer diaspora as related to Eastern European masculinity. Through the embodiments of an elderly Polish man and a dislocated young Ukrainian man, Skylark Song weaves histories rooted in stodgy military masculinity and closeted sexuality together with contemporary queer confusions under the banner of re-finding joy in enmeshed unsettlements
When Mikael receives a phone call from his estranged father back in the Ukrainian settlement of Shellmouth Valley, Manitoba, his diasporic history intrudes on his budding relationship with boyfriend Dan and his process of finding roots on the East Coast of Canada. Caught within a resultant depressive spiral, Mikael butts heads with the stodgily masculine Polish man in the adjacent condominium unit, who is stuck on the opposite end of a familial diaspora. Through recognition of mirrored trauma rooted within the ongoing Eastern European unrest in Canada and abroad, the two men grow to find queer comfort in each other’s well-worn arms, re-finding joy in their enmeshed unsettlements
“This was a very emotionally intense show with difficult subject matter, handled in a thoughtful, impactful way. […] I am grateful to be able to see work that moves me out of my comfort zone.”
