TAXI Events have taken place and will continue to happen in diverse communities across Ontario in high schools, libraries, theatres, halls, universities, and festivals. In these spaces TAXI provides a venue for the exchange of diasporic stories, ideas and experiences. We are committed to profiling the voices of writers in exile in new and exciting ways. We are committed to raising the issues and inspiring the call to action.
Here is what students have said in response. Testimonials
Download the Taxi Project Study Guide
ABOUT THE TAXI PROJECT
The project began in 2006 with funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Arts Foundation, and the Toronto Arts.
In its first year the project worked with the writers in exile program to develop a series of public events including a staged reading of 11 short theatre pieces by members of the network at Theatre Passe Muraille and The TAXI Stand Jam which paired 7 writers with 7 local artists who were given 7 hours to develop a 7 minute presentation to a packed house at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
In the second year the TAXI Project team engaged in series of writing workshops with the playwrights to develop the TAXI Project script. In October of 2007, a workshop reading of the script was toured to high schools and communities across the GTA accompanied by an interactive popular education workshop exploring the themes of the play.
The writers went back to the drawing board to develop the final version of the play which was performed for a sold out two-week run at the Alchemy Theatre in Toronto.
Now in its third year of development, The TAXI Project recently finished a spring tour that brought the play to 30 high schools and community centres in southern Ontario. The play is scheduled for publication in the fall of 2010.
To book a performance of TAXI or for more information please contact: Kasey Coholan at 416-703-8448 x23 or kcoholan@pencanada.ca
Script Excerpt
SCENE 1: PROLOGUE- Airport
(We are at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.)
Exyou: Please do not leave your bags unattended.
(The travelers whisper: boarding, flight, delayed, report, passenger, cancelled)
E: Open the Door, the guests are coming.
(Drumbeat is heard.)
E: Some of them burned by sun, some of them pale
Every one with suitcases made of human skin.
all: Paging passenger Santamaria please report to Gate 6 .
E: If you look carefully at the handles, fragile as birds' spines,
you will find your own fingerprints, your mother's tears,
your grandpa's sweat.
all: Flight 142 now boarding at Gate C
E: The rain just started. The world is grey.
all: Due to new security measures all bags left unattended will immediately be removed from the premises.
E: The guests are coming.
(Dance Passage)
E: Some of them happy, some of them strange
with stomachs already full of strange words
they have just learned, like river and wheat.
Instead of food they still eat their own memories.
(The travelers whisper: boarding, flight, delayed, report, passenger, cancelled)
E: And they are not ringing. They just gently knock on your door
not to disturb your dog still hot for a fight
with a strange cat that dropped by in the backyard
from who knows where.
1: Flight 1989 from The Tiananmen Square Massacre, China, arrived.
2: Flight 1978 from The Red Terror, Ethiopia, arrived.
3: Flight 1999 from The National University student strikes, Mexico, arrived.
E. Flight 1994 from The Bosnian War, Yugoslavia arrived.
(a cacophony of countries is heard. the momentum builds.)
Flight 1 from Burma arrived
Flight 2 from Sudan arrived
Flight 3 from Vietnam arrived
Flight 4 from South Africa arrived
Flight 5 from El Salvador arrived
Flight 6 from Lebanon arrived
Flight 7 East Timor arrived
Flight 8 Uganda arrived
Flight 9 North Korea arrived
Flight 10 Palestine arrived
Flight 11 Argentina arrived
Flight 12 Afghanistan arrived
Flight 13 Iraq arrived
1. Many more left behind
E: The rain just started. It looks like snow.
The guests are in the house.
All: Name and Country of Origin
3. Alejandra Pineda, Mexico.
1. Zhang Xiao Hong, China
4. Exyou Peric, Bosnia
2. Seeyyee Seera, Ethiopia
E: Some of them smooth as silk, some shy as a breeze.
Alejandra: I only brought my journals.
Seeyyee: I have a Masters in Sociology from the University of Adis Ababa.
Xiao Hong: Sorry, can you reapeat the question?
E.Their fingers are as heavy as jail bars while turning the leaves of your family tree.
Alejandra: I never completed school, we were on strike, I ran an independent radio station.
Seeyyee: I was imprisoned. I gave birth to my daughter when I was there.
Xiao: We wanted democracy but we got bullets.
E: And don't be surprised at hearing your ancestors speak to them in some language you forgot a long time ago. Even the dust on their shoes strangely recalls the dust in your attic.
All: I am traveling alone.
E: Welcome to Canada. Bienvenue au Canada
1,2,3: It's cold outside. Cold. Cold.
