Artists of the Comfort production
Diana Tso, Playwright
“be the change you wish to see in the world”~ Mahatma Gandhi
“The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change” ~Heraclitus
Diana graduated from the University of Toronto with Honors BA in English Literature & from Ecole Internationale de Théâtre de Jacques Lecoq, in Paris, France. She has worked with diverse theatres internationally for over 18 years. Her favorite theatre co-creations/ performances include: Dante’s Inferno and Chekhov Shorts, both with Theatre Smith-Gilmour, and by the way, Miss… with Urge/Theatre Direct, for which she shares the Dora Mavor Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. Her Monkey Queen, Journey to the East, a one-woman performance creation inspired by the Monkey King stories in Wu Cheng-En’s 16th century Chinese novel, Journey to the West premiered at the 2010 Toronto Festival of Storytelling & continues to tour it. As an artist in schools her program guides youth empower their voices through the theatre creation www.arts.on.ca. Currently she is performing in Chimerica at Manitoba Theatre Centre Feb 25-March 19 and Canadian Stage (Toronto) March 29-April 17 (Details). photo by Denise Grant
William Yong, Movement Director/Music Director www.zataomm.org
As the movement and music director for the previous production, Red Snow, William is honored and excited to be making his theatre directorial début with Comfort. “I felt like I have been given a very important responsibility to direct a chilling story that could have been easily swept under a rug. Why are people silenced? What makes us human and what makes us abandon our morals and plunge into creating hell?” His professional dance career spans more than twenty-one years since starting with Random Dance in 1994. He has performed in 75 cities within 15 countries. He has created over sixty-four dance and theatre works worldwide. William was trained at the London Contemporary Dance School in England and was admitted to the Master of Arts with distinction by University of Kent. He’s received three Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations, the Young Centre Performing Arts Multidisciplinary Dance Artists Award & K.M. Hunter Artist Award nominations. He was awarded the 2013 Canadian Dance Assembly’s ‘I love dance/J’aime la danse’ Award for Innovation. Upcoming: Steer for World Stage premiering in May 2016 at the Fleck Dance Theatre. photo by David Hou
Constantine Caravassilis, Music Composer www.caravassilis.ca
“When I was first approached by Diana I immediately felt compelled by her immense talent in storytelling, and I have been equally amazed by the work of William Yong since being introduced to him. In my view, Comfort is a collective journey by which the struggle of women in war is reflected as a cry for peace in a world dominated by crises rooted in human greed. We hope that through our art we will be able to educate our audience by bringing awareness on a wide range of important topics which include gender equality, the irreversible damages on the human psyche that wars have always brought as well the continued dialogue human rights and peacemaking.” Driven by emotion, beauty and spirituality, and inspired by the worlds of nature and literature, Constantine’s evocative music is intimately connected to his Hellenic roots. He is a prolific composer currently based in Toronto and his music has been performed in 25 countries. His has received awards including the Karen Kieser Prize in Canadian music and the Harry Freedman Recording Award & he was composer-in-residence with institutions in Canada, Europe and South America. photo by Rita Alexopoulos (Chroma Photography)
Beatriz Pizano, Director www.alunatheatre.ca
Beatriz is a writer/director /actor and the artistic director of Aluna Theatre: a leading company that creates, develops, produces and presents artistically innovative and culturally diverse performance work, with a focus on Latin Canadian and women artists. Beatriz has written and directed a trilogy of plays about women and war in Colombia (For Sale, Madre, La Comunión) that has received a total of 4 Dora Mavor Moore Awards and 13 nominations. Beatriz has been recognized with the prestigious John Hirsh Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts. The jury said: “Beatriz Pizano is one of the most important directorial innovators in a landscape of new developing artists in Canada. We recognize her ability to galvanize her community into productive, proactive commitment to process and production. She is guided by a strong directorial vision that is continually expanding her breadth of theatrical knowledge.” “Colombian-born Beatriz Pizano is one of Canada’s important Latin-Canadian writer/directors” Paula Citron The New Classical 96.3 FM photo by Victor Yeung
DIRECTOR’S NOTE:
I come from a country that has lived more that fifty years of an armed conflict. Over the years I have worked with survivors of massacres, as well as with those directly involved in the conflict such as child soldiers. I’ve learned that survivors need to recover their historical memory, and have their stories validated to begin the healing process.
With the help of Toronto ALPHA, a group who brings the history of World War II in Asia to light, I went to Nanjing to meet with survivors of the 1937 holocaust. Two stories touched my heart and my soul. The first day in Beijing I met a grandmother, a woman in her eighties who had been a “comfort woman”, a military sex slave for the Japanese. I could not take my eyes off her. As she spoke, she transformed into my own mother in front of me. I tried to imagine myself as the daughter of this beautiful woman who had suffered unimaginable acts of brutality at a tender age. At the end of her testimony she said: “I have never felt like a human being”.
Our last stop was Seoul. There we listened to the testimony of a ninety-year old Japanese veteran from the Imperial army. He took us through his perspective, from seeing the Chinese as less than human to recognizing the wrongs that he and his people had committed. Upon his return to Japan after the war, he made it his life mission to bring what happened in China to light, risking his own life. This man showed me that change is possible and that we can unlearn deeply rooted beliefs that foster hate towards other individuals and cultures.
In Nanjing I understood the importance of two words: “I’m sorry”; so simple yet monumental. I hope the survivors of Nanjing get to hear an apology from the Japanese government in their lifetime.
Theatre is about transformation. This experience has offered me an opportunity for growth beyond of what I could have imagined. I want to thank Diana for bringing me on this journey and for relentless passion.
Alice Ping Yee Ho, Music Composer www.alicepingyeeho.com
William Lau, Chinese Opera Consultant www.littlepeargarden.com
Aries Cheung, Graphic Designer www.transmedia9.com
