Crip Shorts
Six extraordinary disabled performers from Canada and the UK bring their distinct creativity to this one-night celebration. Five short acts, each responding and re-defining the experience of disability through performance, featuring the UK “stumppeteer” Jackie Hagan, Canadian interdisciplinary creator Jessica Watkin, aerialist Erin Ball, poet Tamyka Bullen and theatrical dancers Justin Many Fingers and Brian Solomon.
Alex Bulmer at Crip Shorts
January 25, 2019 Harbourfront Centre, Toronto
Performer Alex Bulmer standing on stage wearing red boxer shorts and boxing gloves. Her arms are held high up above her head.
Erin Ball performing at Crip Shorts
Erin is balanced by her hips on a bar across the top of the frame of an old hospital wheelchair. Her hands are on the arm rests, she is side profile. Her gaze is forwards, towards the audience. Behind her, from her prosthetic legs, two long pegs extend, one straight out and one up in the air, from her bent knee. They are about three feet long each. She has red hair in a side pony tail.
Jackie Hagan performing at Crip Shorts
A wide shot of Jackie on stage. She is holding her prosthetic leg to her forehead. The screen behind her has an image of an amputated leg with a face drawn on it. The ASL interpreter is pictured on the left side of the photo.
Tamyka Bullen performing at Crip Shorts
A photo of Tamyka Bullen. She is standing in front of a screen and gesturing with one hand over the other. The words on the screen say "textures, flavour, odour, colours stimulate my soul; enlighten my soul Rangoli I bury my hands into colourful rices on the floor Feel the rices clash Smell the raw of rices My hands create pictures, vibration, the dance in the air..."
Brian Soloman and Justin Many Fingers performing at Crip Shorts
A photo of Justin Manyfingers and Brian Solomon on stage. They are holding hands, and looking at their clasped hands with expressions of shock/grimacing.
Performers on stage during standing ovation
Every performer from Crip Shorts stands on stage. From left to right: Jessica Watkin, Justin Manyfingers, Brian Solomon, Jackie Hagan, Erin Ball, Tamyka Bullen, and Alex Bulmer. They are illuminated in pink light.
Performers
Erin Ball (Canada) is a circus artist, coach, owner of Kingston Circus Arts, and co-owner of LEGacy Circus. After events resulting in the loss of her lower legs, Erin works to create new, creative, and different ways of executing her skills as a circus performer.
Jessica Watkin (Canada) is a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies focusing on disabled approaches to creating performance in Canada. She is a playwright and interdisciplinary creator working with physical and non-visual approaches to creation.
Jackie Hagan (UK) is a multi award-winning playwright, poet, and stand-up comedian. She is passionate about inclusivity in the widest sense and experiences often excluded from the mainstream narrative. She has performed and delivered workshops in hundreds of venues, including prisons, homeless shelters, and high-secure psychiatric units.
Tamyka Bullen (Canada) has been involved in social justice activism and social services for 20+ years and has worked with women, immigrants, LGBTQA, and youth. She has been performing her poetry at different theatres since 2015 and in 2018, began acting for Deaf That! and After the Blackout.
Justin Many Fingers (Canada) or Mii-Sum-In-Iskum (Long Time Buffalo Rock) is a founding member and the new Artistic Director of the Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society, and an international performing artist. His Government name is Justin Many Fingers, and he is a Queer, Indigenous, disabled, and Mad artist from the Kanawa Blackfoot Reserve in Southern Alberta.
Brian Solomon (Canada) is an award-winning creator of Anishinaabe and Irish descent, born in Shebahonaning, located in the Manitoulin district of Northern Ontario. Solomon has presented his multidisciplinary works across Turtle Island and internationally. He is passionate about helping people relearn about their forgotten bodies, and take back the space those bodies occupy. Website: electricmoose.ca
Alex Bulmer (Canada) is an award-winning writer, director, and performer who divides her time between working in Canada and Europe. She is co-Artistic Director of Common Boots Theatre in Toronto, and Artistic Director of Invisible Flash UK. In 2014, Alex was named one of the most influential disabled artists by UK’s Power Magazine.