Theresa Shea, Author at Theresa Shea, Author

Edmonton Comes to Calgary

In the spirit of deepening the literary connections between Alberta’s two major cities, this new reading series showcases the work and career trajectory of an Edmonton-based writer in conversation with Julie Sedivy. This edition, we are pleased to welcome Theresa Shea (The Shade Tree and The Unfinished Child). Join us for a reading and in-depth conversation in which we’ll explore her treatment of potentially explosive topics—abortion, disability, racial injustice—through a nuanced and intimate lens that acknowledges the complexity of human experience.

Edmonton Fringe: Or, How to Pace Yourself at a Theatre Festival

Forget the notion of pacing yourself. Go hard. Take the week off of work. Throw yourself headlong into the chaos of creativity. You will be amazed. You will be disappointed. You may even come away thinking you should write your own damned play because you can do better.

This year, I saw 35 shows (31 during the festival and 4 holdovers post-festival). My favourite: Peter Pan Cometh, by Clevername Theatre from Minneapolis. It’s the writer in me who admires a script that combines elements from Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh with J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and sheds light on the perils of growing up. The parallels between addiction as an endless loop of barstool dreaming and despair, and Neverland as a place from which you cannot escape, still have me thinking.

Here’s the thing about the Fringe. It’s an unjuried festival. People get in via a lottery. The quality is wildly varying, but there’s an energy that can’t be denied. Doors are opened, audiences show up, and sometimes magic happens.

I always come away exhausted, exhilarated, and committed to improving my own artistic practice. It’s a brave thing to make your art public. (Look at me! Look at me!) The Fringe reminds me that part of the process of getting a work to the finish line is sharing it with others even if/when it still needs polishing. As such, there’s a whole lot of bravery on display.

Here’s to being brave.

Payphones: Let’s Communicate

There are roughly 2,000 payphones in Montreal. It’s impossible not to notice them. It’s like seeing an old mustang on the street and harkening back to a time when cars had better designs. What once was a normal sighting now stirs nostalgia.

The first working payphone was installed in Hartford, Connecticut in 1889. The story goes that William Gray, the son of Scottish immigrants, was inspired to create the payphone when his boss or neighbour (stories vary) refused to let him use their phone to call the doctor for his ailing wife. If only there was a public phone he could use!

The humble payphone became a necessity as cities grew and people began to travel. If you’re of a certain age, you have made a collect call when travelling or stood in a line outside a phone booth, waiting for someone to finish their call.

Why has Montreal retained its payphones when most other cities in Canada have not? Every metro station in the city has payphones, and there are still phone booths on the streets. It’s as if, for the most part, a vandalism truce has been agreed upon. A call today costs .50 cents. Compared to the inflationary rise of costs of other things, that’s not bad.

I would like to believe the payphones continue to exist because the city administrators care about those who live with economic hardships. Not everyone carries a charged smartphone in their pocket. The infrastructure already exists, so there’s no reason to get rid of them entirely.

And in an emergency, the payphone may be the lifeline we all turn to, as its operation isn’t dependent on electricity.

So Much Beauty!

Tulips Tulips Tulips!!

May in Edmonton is glorious. Pushing my non-electric bike up Skunk Hollow this afternoon, I had to stop and take pictures of these perfect tulips. After I was finished, the owner of the house pulled into her driveway, and I was able to thank you for the beautiful yard she has created.