Facilitating Change

Annabel Soutar, co-founder of the amazing Porte Parole, will present at Pecha Kucha Montreal tonight. Care about democracy? Citizen engagement? Clear your schedule and be there!

Their latest production is called Sexy Beton — a play about the tragic collapse of a highway overpass. Five people died. The conclusion? The collapse was “nobody’s” fault. The survivors went on to be further victimized by evasion and bureaucracy. Here’s the video:

Pretty amazing, huh? Sexy Beton is playing next week — from November 24 though to December 1st. I’ll likely go on the 28th. Here’s the ticket info.

Why is Porte Parole so important? Because much of our public discourse is what I lovingly call polarized and paranoid. People ferociously hold on to their weird little theories about how the world works and talk at each other instead of l-i-s-t-e-n-i-n-g. Yeah, I know, listening is hard work. I suck at it most of the time. But it’s important. Another reason: The most critical social issues are complex and overwhelming. Enough to make you run in the other direction. Or go shopping. Shoes or the healthcare system… Hmmm….

Porte Parole humanizes controversial social conflicts. They do a ton of research: conducting interviews and combing through legal documents, transcripts, and newspapers. They use all of this to create great theatre. Theatre that becomes the spokesperson — the porte parole — for the issue. Theater that brings you the people and stories and voices (literally!) from all sides. The actors embody the people within the conflict, animating and defending them in a public space. You’re compelled to listen. Dialogue becomes possible. And as you sit at the edge of your seat — laughing, feeling angry, frustrated, touched, wanting to jump in — something has just happened: you’ve become engaged. You’ve taken on step into participating in democracy and in your public life. It’s a gift.

Kudos to Laurence Miall and Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet for putting together the Porte Parole Pecha Kucha presentation. You guys rock.