Suite 101’s Edmonton theatre enthusiast and participant, Andrea Beça, recently interviewed actress, playwright, and dramaturge extraordinaire Kristi Hansen about The Maggie Tree, a theatre group in Alberta geared directly towards developing work by female artists.
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Suite 101
When and why did The Maggie Tree come into being?
Kristi Hansen
I treasure all my friends and colleagues in the thriving Edmonton arts community. Among those artists is a group of amazing women whom I have had the pleasure to get to know over the past 7 years. Vanessa Sabourin and I wanted to celebrate the women in our community. Thus The Maggie tree was born.
The Maggie Tree is a developing network which encourages the growth of projects initiated and driven by women, for a sustaining interest and visibility towards women in the arts. Ultimately, we are seeking to support the development, collaboration and continuation of work initiated by women, as well as to create a support network for the ladies involved in this important work.
The Maggie Tree is a grassroots organization that came into fruition in December of 2007 at Edmonton hot spot, The ARTerty. After throwing an inaugural celebration, our first project was a theatre performance of Kit Brennan’s play, Hunger Striking, in January of 2008. Since then, we have collaborated with other female artists (i.e. Defiance Theatre in Edmonton, and Don’t Make Fun of Jesus out of New York City) in support of their fundraising endeavours.
Suite 101
What is your main role in the organization?
Kristi Hansen
Vanessa Sabourin and I are co-founders of The Maggie Tree and share the administrative duties in developing the company. I worked as an actor in Hunger Striking, and am dramaturging and stage-managing our up-coming production, A Life in the Day, written by Beth Graham. Vanessa directed Hunger Striking and will direct A Life in the Day.
Suite101
Why do you think that it is important to draw attention to women in theatre? Do you feel that there is a prominent gender bias in the field?
Kristi Hansen
According to Adding it Up: The Status of Women in Canadian Theatre (A Report on the Phase One Findings of Equity in Canadian Theatre by Rebecca Burton, 2006), there are a lot of women involved in theatre. Unfortunately, we tend to take on the supporting roles, rather than the leadership roles.
There is a shortage of females in artistic director roles, as working directors, and as produced playwrights. Instead, they tend to dominate in the TYA (Theatre for Young Audience) world, as stage managers and as administrators. And for female actors, there is more competition for fewer roles. On top of all this, our pay scale is significantly lower. I don’t just feel there is a prominent gender bias; I know there is.
The Maggie Tree is a vessel for women to develop and learn to tell their stories, and take the initiative to do so. We don’t want to be gender exclusive. We are not ‘anti-male’. Men are welcome. We want people to hear female voices and perspectives as being universal, not gender specific. We would like to produce work by women for people, not just for women, though that is a worthy cause too. When our stories are no longer labelled as “Women’s stories” only, but referred to as “Human stories”, I think we will have made progress.
Suite101
How has the response been to the Maggie Tree as a whole, and what has the male response been?
Kristi Hansen
The response has been overwhelming. From local to global, people have been incredibly supportive and interested in what we are doing. The women in our community have been outstanding, wanting to lend a hand and become involved however they can.
The male response has been just as great. It has been incredibly inspiring. We are so grateful. Both Vanessa and I have wonderful partners who are more than just supportive of our work; they acknowledge the difficulty that women have in the arts, especially the theatre. My husband’s support in the initiation of The Maggie Tree made it so that I wasn’t so surprised when many of my male friends came to the ring for our seedling project, which is starting to grow to fruition.
Suite101
What do you hope to achieve in the long run, or what is your ultimate goal in being a part of this project?
Kristi Hansen
A big part of the fuel of The Maggie Tree was Vanessa’s attendance at a Magdalena Project in 2006. The Magdalena Project – founded in 1986 – is a dynamic cross-cultural network of women’s theatre and performance, facilitating critical discussion, support and training. It is a nexus for diverse performance groups and individuals whose common interest lies in a commitment to ensuring the visibility of women’s artistic endeavours. The name, The Maggie Tree, is a seed of the Magdalena Project.
We are very interested in collaboration among artists from different mediums. We are interested in mentorship among female artists: in the emerging female artist, how to help her to find her voice, and to a large extent to discover our own voice, because we are also artists looking for our place in the Canadian Theatre community.
Suite101
What are you currently working on?
Kristi Hansen
We are prepping to enter rehearsals for A Life in the Day. Beth Graham and I are working on the script while Vanessa is getting ready to put her director hat on again.
A Life in the Day is a beautiful, lyrical play (inspired by Under Milkwood) that follows the waking and dreaming life of a small town. A Life in the Day runs at Catalyst Theatre in Edmonton from February 5-15, 2009 as part of the Indie 5 season, and is being co-produced with Urban Curvz Theatre. Production design by Daniela Masellis, sound design by Lori Gawryluik, and movement consultation by Lin Snelling. A Life in the Day stars Edmonton actors Amber Borotsik, Michele Brown and Mark Jenkins.
Suite101
Can anyone get involved in The Maggie Tree? If so, how?
Kristi Hansen
Absolutely!!!! We are always looking for pitches for projects, volunteers and cries for help (finding contacts, space, whatever)! Just send us an email, maggietree@yahoo.com, and chat with us. We are totally open.
Suite101
Finally, if you had to set a resolution for 2009, what would it be?
Kristi Hansen
To keep that dream alive! To try and keep this tree a growin’ and growin’!
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