Ep. 78: Merendiando with Claren Grosz
September 27, 2022
I think I feel a responsibility to complicate the conversation and again bring … what’s actually happening on the grounds. You know, if you don’t work in the oil and gas industry it’s easy to look at it and be like ‘yeah… what are we doing over there, that’s terrible, we should stop that’ but if you are someone who is working in it, it’s not that simple. We’re not gonna get anywhere if those two components of the world aren’t talking to each other. – Claren Grosz
In this episode, we chat with Claren Grosz. She is a queer Toronto based theatre and visual artist. Her theatre practice focuses on physical, visually compelling work and holistic, non-hierarchical theatre making processes. Also, she is the artistic director of Pencil Kit Productions. Claren is the creator and performer of “I Love The Smell of Gasoline”, opening at 2022 RUTAS Festival.
In “I Love The Smell of Gasoline”, Claren attempts to reconcile her Alberta oil-industry roots with the current environmental emergency. The project was born of a frustration with divisive Canadian politics, rampant hypocrisy, and a lack of team spirit when facing impending doom. It unpacks some of the forces that drive global warming and Western alienation in a personal account of what it is to live in a modern, capitalist environment, be a self-serving organism, and also care about the earth and fellow creature kind.
Our co-host for this episode is a Nehiyaw and Puerto Rican actor, writer, curator, storyteller, and emerging producer from Maskwacîs, Alberta located on Treaty 6 Territory and is a member of the Samson Cree Nation, Theresa Cutknife.
For more information about the RUTAS FESTIVAL.
All Radio Aluna Theatre episodes are in Spanglish, English, or Spanish. New episodes are released on Wednesdays. Follow and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and wherever else you get your podcasts.
Radio Aluna Teatro is produced by Aluna Theatre with support from the Toronto Arts Council, The Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and TD Bank.
Aluna Theatre is Beatriz Pizano & Trevor Schwellnus; Radio Aluna Theatre is produced by Monica Garrido and Lucia Linares.
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