August 15, 16, 17 at 8:00 p.m. August 17 @3:30

If we don’t tell their stories all will be forgotten…

Written and composed by Onalea Gilbertson
With additional compositions and arrangements by the ensemble

Featuring:

Onalea Gilbertson:  Vocals/piano/guitar
Jonathan Lewis:  Violin/clarinet/electronic soundscape
Morag Northey:  Cello/back up vocals

BLANCHE is a theatrical song cycle set in a dusty sitting room in the far corner of a 93-year-old woman’s mind. The songs are poetic family movies inspired by the bittersweet life of this wild prairie dame. The sonic landscape includes Blanche’s voice carefully pieced together from interviews over the years. Visually, the audience is treated to projections of fantastic photographs that Blanche and her friends took during the 1930’s on an old Brownie Camera.

BLANCHE is a meditation on memory; what we remember, when we remember, who we remember and what others remember about us.

BLANCHE was commissioned by the Banff Centre and it had its premiere at the 2007 Banff Summer Arts Festival.  Author Onalea Gilbertson has appeared in musicals, plays and concerts across Canada, as both a freelance artist and as an ensemble member of One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre.  With her company Dandi Productions she has created and performed shows with symphony orchestra across Canada.