it's very much about seeing the audience, and
letting the audience see me. The end of the
play kind of points towards the idea of landing
somewhere. The audience is going through
this journey with Baby Bird, interacting with
these figures of authority and these figures
of assurance and these figures of rage and
craziness and being in this place of ‘Well, how
do | find myself in relation to other people?’ It’s
that commonality of belonging; it’s something
that connects to people, connects to anyone
who finds themself wondering who they are,
given what’s going on, given that we're living
on colonial land.”

The emotional journey and the thoughts
that will accompany the audience are clear,
but what about the visual experience? “[Early
on] we have some shadow puppetry.” Esmaeili
begins by saying: “Before Baby Bird meets the
actual Bird, the audience and Baby Bird meet
the shadow. All you can see is a shadow first—
Baby Bird really wants to be that bird, but as
soon as that bird enters the stage, there is no
mask, you can see the whole bird, you can see
all of their emotions, and their identity, and all
their insecurities. This is something interesting;
it is something that | really want the audience
to see: ‘Who are these birds? Who are their
true selves? Is their true self what we see in the
shadow? Or is it when they come on-stage?”

Importantly, the collective aims for
viewers to go home changed: “I think when
viewers leave our play [they] will carry along
this embodied and thought-provoking piece
[,] questioning their connection to their
ancestry and moving towards this place of
self-acceptance.” Solomon adds: “Something
we Say all the time when we’re going into
rehearsal, is that we treat the play like a ritual,
and in our ritual, we are exploring questions
of where we belong and how we accept
ourselves for who we are and where we are. |
think viewers will leave feeling stimulated by
all sorts of light, shadow, dance, music, that
we produced ourselves, and walk away telling
their friends that they saw a really awesome,
creative and inventive show.”

 

Yet, after completing the process of creating
this play—the music, the choreography, the
poetry, the puppetry—having treated the
rehearsals like a ritual, the question becomes
does the collective feel closer to answering
‘Where is home?’ Likewise, are they closer
to a sense of self-acceptance and belonging?
“Absolutely,” Esmaeili answers, “I rarely
recognize these internalized voices that come
from my family.” The collective continues by
describing how the different characters in the
play are directly relatable to their own familial
experiences. “The play helped me recognize
that we can love all these birds, but at the same

Promotional images for 'Wings Over Water' via Three Flying Birds Collective

 

time, we don’t have to become them; we don’t
have to do what they ask us to do. How can we
separate their voices from our voices? | think
that the play really helped me to grow and be
like ‘Hey, these Birds—or these people can still
love me, but I’m just gonna follow my path and
break the cycle.”

“The play really deals with themes of
breaking cycles,” Solomon elaborates. “So,
in performing the play, and in creating the
play, [we were] thinking about ancestral
cycles that we’re breaking. | feel the growth
in acknowledging that and imagining a world
in which Baby Bird can break cycles.” Esmaeili
finishes by describing how the theme of
breaking cycles extended through the realms
of the play and into their process of creating
Wings over Water. “Working with these two
really helped me innovate theatre, [since] I've
been used to traditional theatre for so long.
But because we were so connected, it felt
very fun and very fluid and smooth; we were
improving in the beginning, we were really
helping each other and offering feedback and
there was no power dynamic happening—
which is something that theatre needs to have.
We should all be on the same level, and share
and receive, our team really has that.”

Wings Over Water premiers on September
10 and runs through September 19 via
Vancouver Fringe Fest. To accompany Baby Bird
and experience an otherworldly collision of
visual pleasures, original music, and evocative
poetry, tickets are available online at the
Vancouver Fringe Festival website.