[Bright staccato synth music.] [ADAM] Hello, my name is Adam Grant Warren. I'm a playwright, an actor, and the Co-Artistic Director of Realwheels Theatre. [NATASHA] And I'm Natasha Nadir. I'm a director, a dramaturg, and a playwright. [ADAM] For those of you who are new to Realwheels, we're a disability-led company based in Vancouver, Canada. Our work in theatre and performance creation explores the fullness and complexity of disability experience, identity, and community. [NATASHA] It's been our absolute pleasure to spend the last 10 weeks from September to December of 2024 with an incredible group of 10 emerging playwrights who identify with disability. Each week, we dug into ideas of character, story structure, and even creative process to bring excerpts of some really exciting plays in progress, from the minds of these writers to your ears. [ADAM] Our Playwriting Circles have been around for a while, but this year we thought we'd try something new. For the first time in our history, we're sharing this work in podcast form, featuring original music and sound designed by the award-winning duo Finka Wood. [NATASHA] With one excerpt per episode, you'll also hear the playwrights in conversation with us. We'll talk a little bit about what drew them to write their play and why the work feels important to them. [NATASHA] Without further ado, [ADAM] Welcome to Waveforms. [Music fades out.] [NATASHA] This week, we're joining playwright d-lishus in Montreal to talk about her play, 8x10, a play in which girl has an unexpected spiritual experience that leaves her with more questions than answers. d-lishus, could you briefly set up anything that you feel your audience should know going into the excerpt? [D-LISHUS] For this particular excerpt, I think that I want people to be able to suspend belief and suspend imagination for just a moment and let it take them where it will. [Low ambient tones.] [STAGE DIRECTIONS] Scene: "Gotta be starting something." In the Spiritual realm, the No-Where, three Supreme Entities exist amid others of their kind. [Sound of conch shell.] [STAGE DIRECTIONS] The sound of a conch shell catches the attention of the Three. They stir. [ENTITIES] It is time. [ENTITIES] I agree. [ORISHA] I concur. [ANCESTOR] It will be a long trip. [DEITY] Preparations need to be made. [ORISHA] Let us begin. [ANCESTOR] You know what has to be done. [DEITY] What must be done, must be done. [ORISHA] It will not be easy. [ANCESTOR] It will be harder for her. [ORISHA] She does not know... [ENTITIES] Anything. [DEITY] She must learn. [STAGE DIRECTIONS] The Three move and enter the dream world, the Now-here where Entities of their kind interact with and in-spirit the living. Here, in the material plane, Girl is asleep. The Three pull her into Now-Here. She steps into the dream and finds herself on the shore next to a large body of water. The Three are with her. They give her a large conch shell. She raises it to her lips and blows into it. [Sound of conch shell. West African drumming fades in.] [STAGE DIRECTIONS] The Entities and Girl dance. Frenzied. Ecstatic. Girl ends up lying on the rocks with the shell flung just out of reach. Lights out. [Ambiance fades out.] [NATASHA] Can you tell me about the inspiration for this play? [D-LISHUS] Gladly. One summer I had two very interesting experiences, both within a short space of time. And the first thing that happened was that I went to the beach at the lake, you know, with some of my friends. And had a very, let's just go with the word unique, at least in my experience, spiritual experience, which left me thoroughly confused and questioning everything that I thought I knew that was possible in the world. And then shortly thereafter, I ended up encountering the mental health system, in which I was locked in the psychiatric ward for over a week, even though I hadn't tried to commit suicide. What was interesting about that for me as somebody with a psychology background is that the way that I was treated when I was locked in the psych ward made me say, this isn't how you help to support people, you know, who are experiencing depression or experiencing suicidal ideation. Like the way that you're treating people in here is never going to help improve their mental health. At the same time, I was also like, don't tell them about that spiritual experience that you had, because then they're going to really think you're crazy. So the juxtaposition of those two experiences in a short space of time really made me want to explore that story more through my theatre practice. Shortly after those two experiences happened, I went back to school. I was doing a master's degree at the time, and I told my research supervisor about the personal spiritual experience that I had that summer, and she suggested that I peruse the academic literature on spirit possession. Oh my goodness, I was like, what is what, what just happened? Academic literature and spirit possession, don't go together, not in my mind. But when I went to the library and typed in spirit possession in the catalog, I got 14,000 hits. And that took me on a whole other journey of academic research that did actually help me hold and understand the experience that I had had that summer. [Ambiance fades back in.] [STAGE DIRECTION] Transition to Scene: Where is Here. Lights fade up from full dark slowly, eventually coming to a shadowy twilight, fog. [GIRL] I laughed and I cried. I laughed and then I cried. I laughed uproarously and wailed lamentably. I chortled. I blubbered. I dissolved into uncontrollable sobs and unconsolable keening. And then I died. Or so it seemed... I was nowhere, certainly not where I was used to being, which I could now discern was over there. From my nowhere-over-here place, I realized that my body was still body-ing along without me. Breathing, gasping, heart pumping, and my brain was over there too. And I was not. I decided to open my eyes. That was my first mistake. I could see nothing. Could. See. Nothing. I had just been sitting lakeside enjoying a nice lime with a couple of sister-friends, and now I was, well, nowhere. I blinked. At least I tried to. And then as if from a long way off, I felt a flutter. My eyelids moved like slow motion. I could still see nothing. Slowly, light started to filter in, like the soft gray that slides in between night and dawn. My whole world was gray. Gone was the craggy shoreline of Lake Ontario in Scarberia, the bright blue azure of endless Ontario summer sky, the call of hungry egrets. My sister-friends were lost in a wash of gray fog. It lifted slowly. There came the horizon, blue above, blue gray below, toe to toe. There came sound, and the waves lapping against the rocks we'd been sitting on. [Waves, egrets calling.] [GIRL] I turned inward to ask, what the hell just happened? And bumped into Presence. Someone not-me, where I should have been. [Record scratch.] [GIRL] That was my second mistake. [STAGE DIRECTIONS] Transition to Scene: Here, There, Nowhere, and Now-Here. [Ambiance fades in.] [GIRL] Who are you? [GODDESS] I am who I am. [GIRL] Pardon? [GODDESS] I am that I am. [GIRL] What is that supposed to mean? How are you inside my head? [GODDESS] You must have invited me here. [GIRL] Invited you where? [GODDESS] Here. [GIRL] And where is here exactly? [GODDESS] Here with you. [GIRL] This is going nowhere. Where did you come from? [GODDESS] That is where I came from. [GIRL] Huh? [GODDESS] I was No-Where and I am Now-Here. [GIRL] Uh-huh. And how did you get here? [GODDESS] The correct ritual prescriptions being satisfied, I can occupy the same space as any of my devotees. I generally get a much warmer reception. [GIRL] Devotees? Who are you again? [GODDESS] I am. That is, I am. [GIRL] Huh? [GODDESS] I am that I am, who I am that I am. Do you really not know me? [GIRL] I have no idea who you are. I don't know where you came from, and I don't understand how you're taking up space inside my head. [GODDESS] I'm obviously here for a purpose. [GIRL] And what purpose is that? [GODDESS] The purpose that you called me for. [GIRL] Oh, newsflash. I didn't call you. I don't know who you are. I don't know where you came from— [GODDESS] No-Where. [GIRL] And I don't understand how you come to be inside my head. MY head. [GODDESS] You must have done the ceremonial process to bring me here. [GIRL] I did nothing. I blew on a shell. [GODDESS] Ah! [GIRL] Ah? What ah? Ah, what? [GODDESS] You are the one that we have been waiting for. [GIRL] We? We who? There are more of you? [GODDESS] This is highly unprecedented. [GIRL] You're telling me. [GODDESS] You really don't know who I am? [GIRL] I really don't care who you are. Get out of my head. [GODDESS] Get out of my realm! You really shouldn't be in the No-Where. [GIRL] I'm so confused right now. You said you were waiting for me. [GODDESS] Yes. But humans never come to the No-Where without a guide or at least a map. [GIRL] Where is here? You're inside me. [GODDESS] You contain multitudes. Your body is on the physical plane, but you are No-Where. [GIRL] I can see that. [GODDESS] Yet somehow, at the same time, I am Now-Here, sharing your physical presence in the realm that the spirits occupy in the material plane. [GIRL] Spirits? You mean like ghosts and things. Are you a ghost? Am I being possessed? Do I need an exorcism? [GODDESS] Oh, child, as if that would help. [GIRL] You're not helping. [GODDESS] What help do you desire? [GIRL] I want you to leave and never come back. [GODDESS] I'm afraid we've come too far for that. [GIRL] What do you mean? [GODDESS] Usually the people who invite me in are not conscious of my presence while I am Now-Here. [GIRL] Huh? [GODDESS] Yet you and I are having a conversation. [GIRL] Right. Sort of. If you want to call it that. [GODDESS] Only those from No-Where can communicate directly with those from No-Where. You should not be No-Where. [GIRL] You're hurting my head. [GODDESS] That can't be helped. Side effect. [GIRL] Maybe if you leave, you don't know 'til you try. [GODDESS] Of course! [GIRL] Great. [GODDESS] I'll be right back. [GIRL] Huh? Wait, who are you? [NATASHA] This piece is a great marriage of your academic background, your creative experience, as well as your own experience, which you just spoke about. Can you tell us a little bit about your creative work? [D-LISHUS] I started my professional arts career as a dub poet, and then I moved into theater very quickly because as a child, I was a theater kid, you know, so it really was my first love. I became an artist, to be honest, because I worked in the field of human rights and I did a lot of workshops, man. I did a lot of training, you know? And I always met with so much resistance when I was trying to, you know, break down these concepts that seemed to make so much sense to, you know, the vivid experience of a Black woman in Canada. But that like the white, usually white folks that I was training were just like, "No, you're making this up. This isn't real." And in the course of living a life, I would go to the theatre, I would go to a poetry reading, whatever. And what I noticed is that audiences will suck it up. They'll be like, "Yeah, racism is real." But they wouldn't have that same reaction in a workshop. They'd be like, "No, that stuff isn't real." Right? And so honestly, part of why I became an artist is because I was able to recognize the power that the arts had. To put across a message that otherwise wouldn't be well received. And so my creative practice has always been one of resistance, one of subversion. One of offering other narratives to counteract or undermine, yes, I said it, the mainstream narrative that's out there. So my stuff is always both deeply personal and very, very political. [Lakeside ambiance] [STAGE DIRECTIONS] Transition to scene: Back from No-Where. Girl comes to and finds herself still at the lake with her friend. The shell is sitting on a blanket between them. Friend is wiping Girl's face with a tissue. Girl becomes aware of the fact that she is crying, tears and snot and everything. [FRIEND] You're back. Are you okay? [GIRL] What happened? [FRIEND] It's all right. You're fine. It's fine. [GIRL] What was that? [FRIEND] It's okay. You went somewhere, but you're back now. [GIRL] I went somewhere. How? Where did I go? [FRIEND] Well, you were still here, but you weren't. [GIRL] Can you explain that in a way that makes sense? I'm a little fed up with ambiguity right now. [FRIEND] Well, you... [STAGE DIRECTIONS] Pointing at her body. [FRIEND] ...were here. But you... [STAGE DIRECTIONS] Pointing at her head. [FRIEND] ...were somewhere else. [GIRL] Pardon? [FRIEND] Like your body was here, but your consciousness wasn't. [GIRL] You saw that? [FRIEND] Yeah. Someone else was here for a minute. [GIRL] Wait, you saw that? [FRIEND] Uh-huh. Here, have some water. [GIRL] I don't feel so good. [FRIEND] Yeah, let's get you home. You'll feel better after a nice nap and some food. [STAGE DIRECTIONS] Friend begins to pack up, picks up the shell, and starts to wrap it. [GIRL] Oh, I don't want that. [FRIEND] Why not? [GIRL] I'm leaving it here. [FRIEND] What? No. [GIRL] It's a seashell. It belongs at the sea. [FRIEND] Yeah, it's a sea shell. This is a lake. It does not belong here. [GIRL] Maybe it belongs No-Where, but it somehow accidentally ended up Now-Here. [FRIEND] Yeah, maybe. [GIRL] I'm not taking it with me. [FRIEND] Okay. I'll take it till you want it back. [GIRL] Yep. Next. Never. [FRIEND] I'll just hold on to it for safekeeping. [GIRL] Here's an idea. Why don't you leave it at the place where I just left my sanity? [FRIEND] It's a shell. It can't transcend worlds on its own. [GIRL] Of course. [STAGE DIRECTIONS] They finish up packing in silence. Girl is unsteady on her feet. Friend carries her bag, surreptitiously slips the wrapped shell inside it. [Lakeside ambiance fades out. Music fades in.] [ADAM] Thanks for listening to Waveforms. For a full list of our cast and crew, check out the episode description. [NATASHA] Waveforms was produced by Realwheels Theatre with the cooperation of the Union of BC Performers. A special thank you to our funders, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Province of British Columbia, the City of Vancouver, and the Hamber Foundation. [ADAM] If you like what you heard, please drop us a rating and a review on the podcast platform of your choice. It really helps new listeners to find us. [NATASHA] See you next week. [Music fades out.]