Persistence Theatre
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      • Offensive to Some (Jan 2019)
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      • The Haunting of Margaret Duley >
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        • Workshops with Edward Daranyi
      • Working with Respect Conference
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      • Original (2021) >
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      • Offensive to Some (2021) >
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      • Pink Tie Auction (2020)
      • What Hangs in the Balance (2021)
      • I AM A GENIUS DOES ANYONE HERE KNOW ME? (2021)
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Canada’s PerSIStence Theatre Company presents
​I AM A GENIUS (DOES ANYONE HERE KNOW ME?),

created and performed by Lois Brown.
Part of this feminist theatre company’s one-woman play series IT’S WOMEN’S PLAY, the performance is a look into a shimmering world of forgotten and brilliant things with the help of paper, plastic, foil, and a microphone. Newfoundland-based artist Lois Brown shares a look into memory and dementia, value and worthlessness, and the rational and the magical. I AM A GENIUS… is an improvised sonic choreography of things, composed by Montreal-based James O’Callaghan and infused with Brown’s off-beat humour, her mis-use of objects, and her genuine playfulness with the audience. “Brown’s wry text and visual metaphors offer a searingly fresh way of looking at the world.” – Governor General’s Award-winning playwright Robert Chafe
PerSIStence Theatre is delighted to premiere the worldwide broadcast of this acclaimed production 
March 10 at 7 PM EST / 4 PM PST / 8:30 PM NST 
and on demand March 11-17 
Tickets are $15 USD - available from Events.BroadwayWorld.com.
purchase tickets
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I AM A GENIUS DOES ANYONE HERE KNOW ME? by Lois Brown 

I inherited a dictionary from my father after he died. It was outdated. I didn't really want it. I brought it into the studio and I flipped through it, shook it, flung it, without letting go. I picked up a microphone and amplified my investigation. The covers came off. More pages flew out and fluttered to the floor. That was the way my father had died: meaning, ripped away. I witnessed the progression of his dementia, protesting - as if death was a problem that could be solved.
​
In I AM A GENIUS... the audience encounters experiences like the one I just described. As I improvise with a 30-ft piece of paper, the plastic bag I carry it in, my Dad's old dictionary, and in the final section, 30 square ft of foil; together, the audience and I struggle with impatience, boredom, and control until the distinction between animate and inanimate become irrelevant. Then, together, we discover an energetic relationality between ourselves, paper, plastic and foil that political theorist Jane Bennett calls "thing power." Impatience, boredom and a desire to dominate are replaced with curiosity and joy.

Over the course of the performance, Montréal-based composer James O'Callaghan and I create an improvised work that engages with the strange sensuality and sonically intense worlds of paper, plastic bags, and foil, trying ultimately to manifest a "fugitive dimension of experience": the genius of everything, where curiosity eases grief and pain, and we are somehow less alone.

As my father was developing dementia, I developed chronic pain. In fact, I AM A GENIUS... offers audience interventions constructed around chronic-pain management strategies. I invite audiences to stand, to move, to catch little ticker-tape messages as they float down... to notice each other, to get comfortable, or to acknowledge they cannot get comfortable, Negotiating this other physical pain weaves through the work.
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Cast and Crew

Created by Lois Brown

Composition by James O'Callaghan

Performed by Lois Brown & James O'Callaghan

Stage Management by Emily Austin 

Lighting Design by Phil Winters

Projection Design by Pat Dempsey

Dramaturgy by Thea Patterson & Emma Tibaldo 

Direction for the Digital Platform by Andrea Cooper & Ruth Lawrence

Production Management by Mara Bredovskis

Production Assistance by Olivia Brown-Curtis
Lois Brown - Playwright and Performer
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Lois Brown was educated in Drama at The University of Alberta. She returned to St. John’s, Newfoundland where she established her cross-disciplinary artistic practice, including theatre, dance and film. She is original member and past Curator of Neighbourhood Dance Works and past Artistic Animateur of RCA Theatre Company. In 2004, she was one of five Canadian directors short-listed for the Elinore & Lou Siminovitch Prize. The following year The Canada Council for the Arts gave her The Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award for outstanding achievement in theatre by a mid-career Canadian artist. She was awarded the YWCA’s Women of Distinction Goodwill Award for contribution to the local, national or international commnity.  And in 2019, she was inducted into DCD’s Encore! Dance Hall of Fame. Lois holds a Masters from Memorial University, where she has taught acting and directing. She has worked with performers as diverse as Andy Jones, Alison Woolridge, Ruth Lawrence, Marthe Bernard, Mark O’Brien and Rick Mercer.

PerSIStence Theatre Company is supported by:
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INDIGENOUS LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

At PerSIStence, we feel that it is vital to support the Indigenous people and communities of Newfoundland and Labrador and understand our privilege, as beneficiaries of both historical and ongoing colonialism, in being able to live and work together on this beautiful land.

We sincerely acknowledge the territory in which we gather, as the ancestral unceded home-lands of the Beothuk and the island of Newfoundland as the ancestral homelands of the Mi’kmaq and Beothuk. We would also like to recognize the Inuit of Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut and the Innu of Nitassinan, and their ancestors, as the original people of Labrador.

We encourage all to join us in learning more about and supporting the Indigenous people and communities of Newfoundland and Labrador. A great place to start is by connecting with First Light an organization that provides programs and services rooted in the revitalization, strengthening and celebration of Indigenous cultures and languages in the spirit of trust, respect, and friendship. Please visit firstlightnl.ca to learn more.

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  • Home
  • Votes for Women 100
  • Blog
  • About Us
    • About
    • Staff & Governance >
      • By-laws
      • Board Bios
    • In The News
  • SUPPORT US
  • Persistence Shop
  • Past Projects
    • 2017-2018 >
      • Isle of Demons (Sept 2017)
      • Pink Tie Gala (2017)
      • Offensive to Some (Dec 2017)
      • Women Playing Hamlet (Jan 2018)
      • Isle of Demons (April 2018)
      • Play Workshops
    • 2018-2019 >
      • Pink Tie Gala (2018)
      • Original (Nov 2018)
      • Offensive to Some (Jan 2019)
    • 2019-2020 >
      • The Abortion Monologues
      • Pink Tie Gala (2019)
      • The Haunting of Margaret Duley >
        • Teacher's Guide
        • Workshops with Edward Daranyi
      • Working with Respect Conference
    • 2020-2021 >
      • Original (2021) >
        • Programme
      • Offensive to Some (2021) >
        • Programme
      • Pink Tie Auction (2020)
      • What Hangs in the Balance (2021)
      • I AM A GENIUS DOES ANYONE HERE KNOW ME? (2021)
  • Policies
    • Black Lives Matter
    • COVID-19
    • Respectful Workplace policy
  • OPPORTUNITIES
  • Podcasts
  • Contact