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SkirtsAfire brings world premiere of Makings of a Voice to virtual viewers

Dana Wylie's theatrical song cycle speaks to the heart of motherhood

Edmonton folk-roots singer-songwriter Dana Wylie spent more than a year exploring the concept of motherhood and what it would be like to bring an audience along on that journey. 

Her theatrical song cycle was originally slated to be performed live on the 2021 SkirtsAfire main stage in early March. However, all the COVID-19 closures in the past 12 months threatened to sideline the project. 

But after numerous adaptations due to the pandemic’s moving-target regulations, SkirtsAfire made it happen. Makings of Voice is a go as a 75-minute virtual performance that runs March 8 to 14. 

Recounted in flashbacks and flashforwards, Wylie confronts herself as woman who is seven months pregnant with her second child. She has questions about being a good mother and living up to her expectations of what a good mother is. 

“She’s looking for connections. She feels severed, floating. She doesn’t know what passes for forward or where she comes from,” said director Vanessa Sabourin, a former St. Albert Children’s Theatre alumna. 

“She thinks through her family history. She thinks through her expectations of motherhood. You end up hearing the birth story of her second child. The song cycle has a fluid timeline, but it has a direct question. It’s a straightforward search of identity and context of self.” 

The two first met as students at MacEwan College’s two-year music program. Through that initial connection and ongoing mutual respect for each other’s increasingly sophisticated body of work, they paired up. 

Originally, Makings of a Voice received a stage reading at Chinook Festival as part of Azimuth Theatre’s showcase. 

“I was excited and thrilled to be working together. Then COVID got into the mix,” Sabourin said. 

In order to follow pandemic protocol, the creative team was forced to cut the four-person show down to one – Wylie. Yet throughout the multiple adaptations, Wylie’s questions about isolation and identity remained intact. 

In emotions that cannot be expressed by mere words, the vocalist harnesses the power of music through seven original songs. 

“Dana is such a beautiful singer and musician. Her songs are soothing and empowering. Her story is a quest for identity and the transitions which we all experience now through the pandemic. There’s a wide range of motherhood and a lot of women are feeling isolated at the moment. In a way, this is a love letter from Dana and me.” 

The song cycle’s film work was booked for one-day shoot in the basement of Whyte Avenue’s old Army and Navy Store. Freelance filmmaker Andrea Beca headed the film crew. 

“We wanted it to be a film of a performance, a staged theatre piece captured on film,” Sabourin said. 

One of the challenges was having Wylie stand 20 feet at a distance. Live theatre shows are always filled with challenges, but – usually through experience – a director knows what to expect. Makings of a Voice, on the other hand, was trial by fire. 

“This process kept shifting. It was just the nature of the pandemic. It was a big learning curve in adapting and how to achieve all the bits of work without stockpiling stress. It’s very different how an audience receives a piece through their computer screen from a live stage." 

Ultimately, the production’s entire team hopes this song cycle will provide support and solidarity to both women and men in a myriad of ways. 

Tickets are $27 per household plus applicable fees. There is additional pay-what-you-can pricing for anyone unable to purchase full-price tickets. Each ticket has a 24-hour window of time to screen the production. They are available at www.skirtsafire.com.

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