Park Life

Park Life is a story about a neighbourhood that is crumbling and about to be gentrified, Regent Park.  In this project we’re examining the consequences of rapid gentrification, addiction, mental health, and the stigma attached to poverty. We follow the main character’s way out of a seemingly impossible situation, the odds are stacked against her.  We examine the external and intrinsic risk factors that impact the individuals, the collective and the physical space.  This play is a way to make sure people never forget what Regent Park was.

“Regent Park is a place that has gone through a relocation process. What I love about this project is that it talks about this city, about a neighborhood I have visited often, and yet didn’t know much about its history, the people who were relocated. A place that higher powers dress up to sell us an image of what is not, ignoring the individuals who lost their homes, their community. Park Life also talks directly to and about poverty, (something I don’t see enough on our stages) and it does so in a poetic and imaginative way.” – Beatriz Pizano

September 29, 2023 at 7:30 PM

About the artist

Janis Mayers is a Playwright, Performer, Docu-Filmmaker and Audio Describer. A member of ensembles such as Derives produced by Sans Productions and The Solitudes, produced by Aluna theatre. She completed artistic residencies at the Banff Centre, Aluna Theatre and the Emerging Creators Unit with Buddies in BadTimes theatre. 

She began training with Superior Description in 2022, most recent projects have been audio describing for the Indigenous Curatorial Collective short film festival, Thompson Highways’s “The Cave” and Yolanda Bonnell’s “My Sister’s Rage”. She has also produced a short documentary “A Pile of Dirt” that premiered at the Regent Park Film Festival.