New Winnipeg theatre experience celebrates queer community

A new theatre experience is coming to Winnipeg, celebrating the queer community and the joyous experiences within.

Tanner Manson is the playwright, co-director, and producer of ‘The Last Garden’. He says the show is a new theatre experience blended with music and dance.

“I always write from a queer lens because that’s just my life experience. To be able to share that life experience with all my other friends who share similar but also vastly different experiences is so nice,” explained Manson.

“It’s a little bit sad, but there’s a bunch of hope. We don’t sit in sadness too long because we do that all the time and we come to the theatre to have some fun and see joy and see people dancing around and singing songs.”

Manson says his inspiration came from an existentialism course in university, and how to navigate through a big, chaotic world.

“Find little pieces of joy, whether that be hanging out with friends or flirting with a cute boy or just talking about and thinking about love amidst all the chaos.”

All of the creative team and cast identify as queer, and Manson says it’s important for him to have that representation in Winnipeg’s theatre scene.

“I feel like more and more we’re seeing gay artists and queer artists telling stories that aren’t just about the struggle of coming out – which, those are such important stories to tell – but there’s also so many other stories to tell, too,” said Manson.

“What do you call a dream that never becomes a memory? Unlucky. Hopeful. Beautiful.”

Tanner Mason, playwright, co-director, and producer of ‘The Last Garden’.

Actor Duncan Cox says during rehearsals, many parts of the script were given to actors who connected with the lines as themselves and their characters.

“There is something about celebrating joy because trauma is oftentimes a part of the queer experience, but the queer experience is made up of so much more and one of those things is joy. And it’s great to have a little representation of that on stage, I would say… for a change,” explained Cox.

“It was more difficult to get off book, because it was like, oh yeah – we might change that. But also I found that it gave the actors a lot more autonomy over their own characters and their own decisions.”

Manson says he wants people to take hope with them when they leave. The play is at the Rachel Browne Theatre from November 3rd to the 5th.

“I just wanted to get my gay pals into a room together and tell this fun story celebrating queer joy and queer existentialism and just having fun and telling this story.”