NotaBle Acts Theatre Company partner with Solo Chicken Productions to bring the coop’s Fruit Machine to Mainstage.
The NotaBle Acts Theatre Company and Solo Chicken’s the coop will partner to present the coop’s riveting new work, Fruit Machine, as a featured mainstage production of the 2019 NotaBle Acts Summer Theatre Festival. The production, created by Alex Rioux and Samuel Crowell during their stint as coop Artists in Residence, is a timely exploration of queer history that was directed and created by a queer positive cast that aims to shine a spotlight on a largely hidden part of our past.
“It’s a pretty timely piece and a story that has only recently been brought to light,” said Solo Chicken’s Lisa Anne Ross. “And I would say, in Fredericton, maybe we don’t tell enough Queer stories, so we’re very excited to be supporting this particular story.”
Using physical theatre to interpret historical text and quotes, this new work focuses on the questionable practices of the RCMP that targeted the LGBTQ+ community in the 50s and 60s. One such questionable practice was the ‘fruit machine’, which was said to be capable of determining if an individual was interested in homosexual activity.
Fruit Machine shines a light on these barbaric practices and on the unfair treatment of queer individuals in Canadian history. Fruit Machine Director Alex Rioux notes that, “Seeing Fruit Machine take the mainstage at NotaBle Acts marks an important milestone in our community where we are finally seeing queer stories take centre stage. Queer history has often been actively suppressed and erased by the dominant culture and so it is critical to ensure that these stories find a voice and are finally told.”
Fruit Machine will receive three performances at St. Thomas University’s Black Box Theatre, July 23-25.
