“In Sundry Languages” Pleasure and Disorientation through Multilingual Melange

Abstract

Now in the development phase of its third iteration, “In Sundry Languages” by Toronto Laboratory Theatre presents the language struggles of both new and established Toronto residents in eight different languages. Following rehearsals on and off throughout its year-long evolution, I have found it fascinating to see the progression from its initial workshop phase to its current period of refinement. The piece is based on the actual immigration or international experiences of its performing members. Each of their stories has contributed to the dramaturgical content of a series of twelve vignettes, which play with linguistic quirks, difficulties, and stereotypes. I initially participated as an actor-dramaturg in the earliest rehearsals (in April 2015) and had the opportunity to dabble in Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Persian, Korean, and Portuguese. Due to a scheduling conflict I was only part of the project for the first three weeks of a six-week development stage, which resulted in a public performance on May 15, 16 2015. I later caught up with director Art Babayants for an interview in February 2016 to learn about the second iteration of “In Sundry Languages” scheduled to run in early March, 2017 at the Luella Massey Studio Theatre (Toronto).