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Play about life with vision disability coming to Nelson’s Oxygen Art Centre

The play can be experienced with blindfolds on
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Artist prOphecy sun will join Ruth Bieber for a pair of plays later this month at Oxygen Arts Centre. Photo submitted

Submitted

To See or Not to See is a unique one-woman performance by writer and theatre artist Ruth Bieber. This play is a powerful story of wounding, overcoming, courage, and healing.

Employing the circular motif of a shamanic quest as frame, Ruth Bieber’s first play is full of insight about what it’s like to have a vision disability as a child, a woman, a mother and a professional — and about the more hidden disabilities of those around her.

Interdisciplinary artist prOphecy sun will accompany Bieber with an opening performance called Floating in the in-between, composed in response to Bieber’s story. To See or Not to See is co-hosted by Oxygen Art Centre and the Capitol Theatre, and will take place at Oxygen Art Centre on Saturday, March 30 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, March 31 at 2 p.m.

Bieber’s multimedia, solo show takes us into the story of one woman’s courageous and soul-searching journey of adventure, discovery, and ultimate forgiveness. For the 1.5-hour duration of the piece, audience members can choose to either watch the play, or be immersed in their other senses with the help of a blindfold.

Nicholas Jones of Calgary writes, “Thrown into Ruth’s world, into a string of narratives that tied key pieces of her life together, delicately woven but powerfully expressed, To See or Not To See: Homecoming left a lasting impression and I never even saw it. Instead, I found myself fully immersed and along for a journey, that felt exposed and dangerous at times, delicate and intimate at other moments, and overall, deeply moving. Truly, we cannot know how another fully experiences life if we rely so heavily on what we see.”

This event is part of Capitol Theatre’s offsite programming, and is co-hosted by Oxygen Art Centre. Buy tickets online at capitoltheatre.ca or at the box office Tuesday to Friday, noon to 4:30 p.m. in person or by phone 250-352-6363