Stories from the heart come alive in ‘im:print 2024’
Photo via Phoenix Theatre.
The multidisciplinary showcase im:print 2024 is an anthology of stories with themes of place and displacement, longing and belonging, and connection and disconnection. The Phoenix Theatre production’s cast comes together to explore these themes through dance, music, and spoken word.
The im:print 2024 project is produced by the Inter-Cultural Association (ICA) of Greater Victoria, an organization that helps immigrants to Victoria establish their new lives, and provides community support. This isn’t their first production of an im:print show — previous shows took place in 2019 and 2022, respectively. A call for submissions from Indigenous, immigrant, newcomer and settler artists was put out earlier this year, the only caveat being that the stories needed to come from the heart.
And if there is one word to describe the show, it is heart.
All nine performers, whether they were performing for their very first time on stage or for their hundredth, have put so much love and care into their personal stories, which include the journeys of Indigenous, settler, immigrant, and refugee characters as they all grapple with their personal relationships to the idea of home.
The play presents twenty individual performances over the course of two hours. The performances aren’t completely unified, but given that everyone is exploring similar themes in telling very personal stories, they don’t have to be. Sometimes a spoken word monologue gives way to a dance performance, or to a song, and so on.
The production itself is pretty bare bones. Given only a few props, the occasional use of projections, sound effects, and a fog machine, what brings everything together is the strength of each performer. It’s truly remarkable to see how different people use the same space to imply different settings and moods. In the first story, we are shown the busy streets of the Philippines as vendors sell goods to the main storyteller, and in another, with only a bright orange background, a hot desert sun.
The performers use their time very effectively. Each performance was between five and ten minutes long, and was concise and direct in its message. One performer reflected on their time in Palestine and their ongoing grief since Oct. 7, another grappled with the difficulty of his father working abroad, and one presented a song of Indigenous resistance to colonial violence. These are very personal and intimate stories, and the audience can feel the weight as a new performer takes the stage in a new way, making room for another story, another voice. There is a real sense of camaraderie amongst the cast, a careful awareness of each other, and a true joy in each other’s company — best seen in the opening and closing dance scenes, which included the entire cast.
I think that im:print 2024 is best enjoyed in the first person. It is a beautiful exploration of the themes of connection, place, people and belonging; as inventive as it is touching.
The play im:print 2024 is playing at the Phoenix Theatre until Oct. 12. Tickets can be purchased on the Phoenix Theatre’s website.
