Zee Zee Theatre: Virtual Humanity
Photo: Christache Ross.
Zee Zee Theatre: Virtual Humanity
PRESS RELEASE
Zee Zee Theatre Invites Audiences to Get Up Close & Personal in One-on-One Online Experience
— Virtual Humanity —
Digital pivot for company’s immensely popular ‘Human Library’ project creates intimate, authentic connections with individuals of diverse cultures & lived experiences
Vancouver, BC — Zee Zee Theatre presents the world premiere of Virtual Humanity, streaming online from March 6 to 28, 2021. The deeply personal, one-on-one experience adapts the company’s annual Human Library project into the digital space, where participants can ‘check out’ a human for a candid conversation about their life experiences, culture and beliefs—including such titles as Perspective of a Mixed Man; Indigi-Queer Identities, Two Spirit and Beyond; I am not a scammer, and more. Co-curated by Sam Chimes and Bunny (Daisy Joe), the online edition will feature an array of new and returning ‘Virtual Humans’—with a particular emphasis on representation from BIPOC individuals—available for 20-minute loans over the course of four weekends.
“This past year has been one of both intense isolation and frisson. There has been a severe lack of face-to-face interactions that are not fraught or functional,” says Virtual Humanity Producer Jordy Matheson. “Virtual Humanity creates a digital space that allows for a kind of open conversation and learning. The kind which can be difficult to come by in the intense and polarized online world. A great deal of division is created from people not engaging with each other and really listening. What makes this project so powerful— radical, even—is that we’re asked to face our differences straight on, literally. There is no turning a blind eye, no resting in apathy. It’s two people sharing something intimate as a means to incrementally change the world.”
Human Library began in 2000 in Copenhagen by a collective called ‘Stop the Violence’ and since then, the hugely popular “open source” project has popped up in more than 70 countries. The original Human Library project was ignited by a brutal hate crime perpetrated against a friend—and this act of healing for four people became a global movement. It was a commitment to end violence—one person at a time—by narrowing the ideological gaps that divide us.
In the past eight years of Zee Zee’s edition of Human Library, public response has been tremendous, creating lasting memories, relationships, and shifting people’s understanding of otherness and difference. This new digital pivot becomes an opportunity to welcome those outside of the Lower Mainland to participate as virtual humans and audience, and become part of the broader conversation on challenging prejudice.
In Virtual Humanity audience members will select a title from the collection of 20+ ‘Virtual Humans’—something that intrigues or confounds them. They will then proceed into a one-one-one digital conversation over Zoom with their Virtual Human, a person who will share their true personal story that is reflected in their title, over the course of 20 minutes.
As with Human Library, the project is designed to shatter preconceived notions about otherhood, to challenge our biases and misunderstandings and to put a human face to difference as a means to foster empathy. The breadth of individuals extends from Zee Zee Theatre’s core philosophy: everyone has a story worth sharing, if we simply take the time to sit down and listen to them.
Day Passes are now available at zeezeetheatre.ca. Reservations are $5 with a subsequent request to ‘Pay What It’s Worth’ after the show. The full roster of titles available each day for bookings will be announced the morning of through a secret portal at zeezeetheatre.ca.
Virtual Humanity is inspired by the Human Library—created by Stop The Violence (Copenhagen)—and presented with support from community partner Vancouver Public Library.
About Zee Zee Theatre (zeezeetheatre.ca)
Founded in 2008 by Cameron Mackenzie, for nearly thirteen years, Zee Zee Theatre has shared individual stories that provoke and inspire us, and that foster common understanding and empathy across our diverse human experiences. Zee Zee Theatre is devoted to telling diverse stories and amplifying the voices of those on the margins with a focus on LGBTQ2SI+ communities. We explore intimate moments through which the infinite complexity of human character can be revealed.
From our first production, Whale Riding Weather, to 2020’s hit, Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women, Zee Zee continues to drive unique and provocative conversations with audiences on stages across Vancouver. We believe that theatre is for everyone, and that performance can encompass more than mainstream voices on large stages.