Performing Ethnicity: Italian Canadian Theatre

Abstract

In the course of a CTR planning meeting some time ago, one of the members of the editorial team turned to me and asked, “What about a future issue on Italian Canadian theatre?” That meeting, and the phone call I made to the Ontario Workers Arts and Heritage Centre later that afternoon, marked the beginning of a series of coincidences which have led to this issue of CTR. Raised on superstition, I know an omen when I see one. The call was an attempt to find a script. I had heard about a play dealing with growing up Sicilian in Hamilton which had been performed at the Centre, so I thought they could help me track down the playwright. To my delight, the telephone recording announced held-over performances, due to popular demand, of Cu’Fu?, and I managed, against the odds, to get some tickets. There is so much I would like to say about this rich and wonderful show, but I leave that to Catherine Graham, whose article kicks off the issue. What I will say is that the process of unravelling my own perceptions of the show and the overwhelming responses I witnessed on the part of the audience (including my English husband and Italian mother!) were crucial factors in shaping the concerns of this issue—the roles of social class, regional identity, language and gender in the production and reception of Italian Canadian theatre.