This year’s Heart of the City Festival’s theme is “Stories We Need to Hear.” Among the stories we still need to hear are those brought to prominence by the #metoo movement. Stories of harassment, assault, and the abuse of personal power first need to be told before we can all take the next steps towards a more just and equitable world. 

The Heart of the City Festival is hosting Alley Theatre’s production of #whatnow, a multi-perspective documentary theater and dance creation, in which performers listen to actual recordings of #metoo related stories through earphones and then “translate” them on stage for the audience. Marisa Emma Smith is the Artistic Producer of Alley Theatre and the creator of #whatnow. She began the project in 2018 and interviewed about 40 people. Early in the project, Smith talked with “My co-director...cause I was like, I want to figure out how to develop this with movement and maybe [she] could work with me on that, and we had a lot of coffee shop dates to figure out the tone that we wanted to achieve with it, and then I went deeper into interviews.”

The performances at the Russian Hall in Strathcona run throughout the length of the festival and include three special performances for those who identify as either female, male or trans, including non-binary. 

Links for tickets are available at the Heart of the City Festival website, heartofthecityfestival.com.