“I’m an ancient recipe that has lost its origin.”

Welcome to the Studio Series: experiments in audio storytelling from some of the most exciting theatre artists from our TransAmerican community in Canada. First you’ll hear a work in process, then a short talk by the artist on their creative process. This presentation is also available in Spanish. 

Sharing a meal is an intimate and immediate gesture of love. Reina is a performance ritual that strives to create this same atmosphere. It invokes and celebrates personal femininity and Indigeneity through a collection of memories, stories, recipes, and physical scores in conversation with live afro-venezuelan percussion and vocals by musician Y Josephine. And arepas.

Augusto Bitter is a Dora Award-winning performer, writer, facilitator, and artistic producer based in Toronto. He is a Resident Artist at Aluna Theatre and has been in-residence at Canadian Stage, Theatre Passe Muraille, and hub14. He has trained with Teatro delle Radici (Switzerland), Manifesto Poetico (Paris), Canada's National Voice Intensive, Aluna Theatre's Interpretation Lab, and the University of Toronto. Augusto is also a youth educator with Soulpepper and Story Planet. He is developing a new piece—Reina—with musician Y Josephine, and his short film cannibal will be a part of Toronto Queer Film Festival 2021. www.augustobitter.com

Y Josephine is a Venezuelan-Canadian, and a citizen of the world, whose contagious passion for percussion has propelled her to travel far and wide sharing her epic fusion sounds of the South. Driven by the potent, soothing, and vibrant music she’s helped to create, she is one of the founders of Baobá, a trio formed by Toronto’s top female percussionists taking traditional beats to the next level. Empowered by the natural musicality that flows from South American bodies, that trio-and-sometimes-quartet, featuring fellow Jamphitheatre-er Anita Graciano alongside Mari Palhares and Carla Dias, represents an ideal balance of voice, melody, and instrumentation bringing new life to, and transcending, Venezuelan, Colombian, and Brazilian traditions. She also is part of the Amao Kuda Et les Bois crue, described by Now Magazine as a "tantalizing afro soul combo of folk, roots, desert blues and African continental music". Y is working with Victoria Mata on Cacao: A Venezuelan Lament and with Augusto Bitter on Reina (both dance-theatre hybrids). 

Reina’s development has been supported by Cristina Castrillo and Bruna Gusberti at Teatro delle Radici, Claren Grosz, b current performing arts, Canadian Stage, and Aluna Theatre. 

This recording was produced by Aluna Theatre at our studio in Toronto.  

Written, performed, and directed by Augusto Bitter

Music written and performed by Y Josephine 

Sound Engineer, Steph Raposo 

Editing and sound design by Miquelon Rodriguez, assisted by Lucia Linares 

Head of Production, Monica Garrido 

Script co-ordination, Camila Diaz-Varela 

All Radio Aluna Theatre episodes are in Spanglish, English, or Spanish. New episodes of Radio Aluna Theatre are released on Wednesdays. Follow and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, 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, the Metcalf Foundation, and TD Bank.  

Aluna Theatre is Beatriz Pizano & Trevor Schwellnus, with Sue Balint.

For more about Aluna Theatre, visit us at alunatheatre.ca, follow @alunatheatre on twitter or instagram, or ‘like’ us on facebook.