In Development
Maps of Utopia.
A Queer Digital Anthology
By Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, Tanya Marquardt and Yolanda Bonnell
A frank theatre company production
Directed by Fay Nass
In Post-Production
Nneka Croal in Futur/us. Photo by Kimberly Ho.
Kelsey Kanatan Wavey in Waazakone. Photo by Kimberly Ho.
JD Derbyshire in Get Back To You. Photo by Kimberly Ho
Maps of Utopia is a series of filmed solos, penned by three of the country’s leading queer playwrights. This anthology of digital performance seeks to be both intimate and expansive, theatrical and cinematic. The frank theatre commissioned artists to write beyond the limitations of time and place, dreaming stories that would be impossible to stage in a live performance context. At the nexus of film and theatre, the personal and the political, Maps of Utopia embraces queer as visionary, as a blueprint for new worlds and new ways of being.
Futur/us by Tanya Marquardt
Futur/us is a letter written in real time and read to a future lover. A calling and a longing, the film attempts to speak "the love that dare not speak its name", with queer desire as a jumping off point to ask: Who are we writing to when we write to our lovers? And are we just writing to ourselves? Directed by Fay Nass, performed by Nneka Croal, and written by Tanya Marquardt.
Waazakone by Yolanda Bonnell
Roxy has memories that don’t feel like their own. They know words in their traditional language, despite never being taught. Their dreams are often simple but vast. Roxy grew up knowing that they are not just themselves, but someone else too.
Waazakone explores the possibility of remembering a past self; a Queer 2 Spirit ancestor reborn. That it’s more than blood that connects us to our ancestors. It’s time. Memory. Love. Remembering that we are star people. Made of stardust and energies that continue to cycle through space and time.
Get Back To You by Donna-Michelle St. Bernard
Hilo is determined to eradicate communication barriers for doctors, diplomats and daughters-in-law. Their new device can do it all - but it can't make Hilo take that call.
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Artistic Team
Director: Fay Nass
Written by Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, Tanya Marquardt, Yolanda M. Bonnell
Producers: Maria Zarrillo & Anais West
Post-Production Producer: Karter Masuhara
Featuring: JD Derbyshire, Nneka Croal, Kelsey Kanatan Wavey
Directors of Photography: Mikah Sharkey, Polly Pierce and Rose Stiffarm
Editor: David Titus
Composer & Sound Designer:MJ Coomber