Long-term care homes inspiration and audience for new Sum Theatre show

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In 2020, Saskatoon’s Sum Theatre took its summer show on parade along city streets.

During one performance, the company got word of a nearby long-term care home whose residents were eagerly waiting for it to pass by — so the performers took an unscheduled detour to present the show outside the home.

That got artistic director Joel Bernbaum thinking: out of everyone experiencing the pandemic, who could use a bit of joy and recognition more than residents in those long-term care homes?

“When the pandemic intensified … we thought, ‘Why don’t we make a show that’s not only joyful, but humanizes people in long-term care homes?’ ” he said.

Those experiences led to Sum Theatre’s newest show, Through the Window, a COVID-cautious outdoor production inspired by long-term care home residents and performed specifically for them. The show will run from March 22 to April 5.

Bernbaum said one of the key tenets of Sum Theatre is creating community-centric shows — and care home residents have had a more difficult COVID-19-addled year than most.

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“We think we’ve had it bad because we’ve had to wear masks and restrict our gatherings,” he said. “The people in long-term care homes have been isolated in their rooms for months on end.”

Through the Window was created from a series of interviews with care home residents throughout the province. Sum Theatre artists incorporated their stories, experiences and themes into different aspects of the show.

Judith Schulz, an artistic associate with Sum Theatre and the co-facilitator of Through the Window alongside Bernbaum, said she was struck by the “little things” people took for granted that recurred in different interviews.

“Very simple things kept coming up for us … the warmth of the sun, walking outside, that sense of family these folks haven’t had access to over the past year,” she said.

Since this is a show intended to be seen literally “through the window” of different long-term care homes, Schulz said it’s bright, joyous, and energetic, and features a soundtrack developed by Saskatoon’s Gilles Zolty.

It’s difficult to pick a specific scene that really stands out, Schulz said, but the ending in particular is a highlight for her. Communicating with the actors to translate the source interviews into a show without significant dialogue was a challenge, but Schulz praised the performers for their work and thoughtfulness in this unique project.

“The big challenge was figuring out the language and the world of the show … It’s very visual,” she said.

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Sum Theatre does not have a concrete number of shows in place yet, as the company is still arranging with different care homes to set up outside. Schulz said the goal is to perform at one or two homes per day, with up to eight performances at each home so the roughly 15-minute show can be seen by everyone living in a building.

The show is free, and Sum Theatre has launched a limited-time merchandise campaign to help fund projects like this in the future. As Bernbaum put it, this is an opportunity to make a “new normal” for COVID-19 into something better.

“I’m constantly asking myself, who’s not participating in theatre?” Bernbaum said. “I believe theatre should be for everyone, and this is another step towards that.”

maolson@postmedia.com

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