Award-winning Toronto artist evalyn parry takes her audience on a unique theatrical and musical journey in SPIN, her tribute to the bicycle as muse, musical instrument and agent for social change.
Spinning a web of songs and stories that travel from 19th century women’s emancipation to 21st century consumer culture, parry was inspired by the incredible true tale of Annie Londonderry, the first woman to ride around the world on a bicycle in 1895. One part documentary and another part musical activism, SPIN cleverly peels back layers of history to reveal a very contemporary heart to parry’s theme of liberation. A vintage bicycle, suspended on a mechanic’s stand and amplified with simple electronics, is played — from fenders to spokes to seat, from flashing bike lights to whirring pedals to bells — by percussionist Brad Hart, conjuring an evocative sonic accompaniment to parry’s songs and monologues. Projections by award-winning designer Beth Kates add a stunning visual dimension to SPIN, which has delighted audiences across the continent.
Since 2011, SPIN has toured all over Canada, from Newfoundland to the North West Territories to Vancouver Island, as well as through the United States; the SPIN CD was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award.
evalyn parry is a multi-award-winning theatre artist, songwriter and spoken word poet. Steeped in the folk tradition but born to innovate, her genre-blurring work is inspired by intersections of history, autobiography and contemporary social activism.
Over the last decade she has created seven original performance works, released four CD’s and has performed her unique combination of music and spoken word at festivals, theatres and campuses internationally. Her work has been honoured with The Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award, The KM Hunter Award for Theatre, and a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Production, among others.
Education is also a vital part of parry’s artistic practice, and for the last decade she has been the director of the Young Creators Unit at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto. www.evalynparry.com
evalyn perry’s SPIN B.C. tour comes to Vernon Sept. 24, playing The Pottery Road Yoga Studio, 964 Pottery Rd., at 7 p.m., with opening act Acoustica. Tickets are $20, available in advance at the Bean Scene. For more information, see www.evalynparry.com
