| 11 PRIDE
MAY 27 – JUNE 5
Jim Carr, MP Winnipeg South Centre
Terry Duguid, MP Winnipeg South
Dan Vandal, MP Saint-Boniface - Saint-Vital
Kevin Lamoureux, MP Winnipeg North
Volare isn’t the only high-profile stage production Zarrillo is currently involved in. They’ve been cast as the lead in fellow Winnipeg playwright Daniel Thau-Eleff’s Narrow Bridge that will be staged by Winnipeg Jewish Theatre in early 2023. They play a character named Sholem who comes out as transgender and then as an Orthodox Jew and the story chronicles the parallel journeys they embark upon. Zarrillo first became involved in the production four years ago when they were asked by Thau-Eleff to serve as a story consultant to ensure the authenticity of the character Sholem. They subsequently began to read as an actor during the workshop development process before being cast in the role of Sholem. Zarrillo said they were honoured to be asked to bring their perspective to the production. “This process of cultural and experiential consultation really adds a richness and a robustness to characters so that all walks of life are present in the stories that we are seeing, but also that the telling of those characters and the creation of those characters is done correctly,” they added. While it might sound like Zarrillo’s plate is already pretty full, you don’t know the half of it. Zarrillo is a full-time Grade 7 teacher at Seven Oaks Middle School in the Seven Oaks School Division. In addition to assisting with the school’s musical theatre production, they are one of three teachers who help to co-ordinate the school’s student-led Gender Sexuality Alliance club where students can talk, learn about and educate others on sexual orientation and gender identity. Zarrillo also conducts workshops for the school’s population on topics such as pronouns and gender diversity. Zarrillo is also open with students about being transgender. They hope that by sharing their own experiences as a trans person, it will be easier for students who may be dealing with their own orientation or identity challenges.
BY JIM TIMLICK As an actor, Liam
Zarrillo enjoys stepping onto the stage but has always felt as though something was missing when the curtain rose. Zarrillo, who identifies as transgender, couldn’t help but notice a lack of trans representation in most theatre productions staged here in Winnipeg and other parts of the country. After talking with friends and colleagues, the actor soon realized that one of the few ways they could change that was to start developing their own stories. “The push to start developing my craft as a playwright came largely from a lack of trans representation in theatre in this city and elsewhere. I realized, and heard from a lot of other folks, that’s it’s going to take writing the plays to actually see that (change) happen on stage,” Zarrillo said. “I’m really passionate about the demystification of the queer experience. While it’s partly about writing stories that are going to touch on trans and gender-related issues to a point, it’s also just writing stories that have queer and trans characters but have nothing to do with being a trans issue-based play.” It was that desire to promote better representation of transgender people on stage that inspired Zarrillo to write Volare , which will make its world premiere at Prairie Theatre Exchange next spring. It tells the story of three characters who come together following the passing of the patriarch of their family to pack up his belongings while unpacking their own complicated shared history. “There is a character in the play who is trans. But the play does not explicitly grapple with his orientation and it’s not a coming out story. It’s basically just three folks packing up a family home and the inherent complexity that comes with that,” they said.
Happy Pride Winnipeg! Bonne Fierté Winnipeg!
HAPPY
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