The AMY Project is an arts education and mentorship project that pairs young women across the GTA with professionals in theatre and performance arts. For this year’s SummerWorks Festival, the young ladies have worked tirelessly to bring Transfusions to the festival’s audiences.

Working in the framework of white and red blood cells in their endless task of keeping a body healthy by battling infections, the ladies play out stylized scenarios where a body’s internal functions work for or against the individual. The stories that inspired these vignettes came from the performers’ personal lives and, considering the general age of the cast, stories of a teen’s first menstrual cycle, body-shaming and family strife become a recurring theme.

I have to hand it to these ladies, it’s not easy performing in front of a paying audience — let alone going in-depth into stories about leaving blood stains on a white chair that belongs to your boyfriend’s mother or what it’s like being called ‘slut’ for the first time. There were a few hiccups with lines and some of the pacing was rather rushed, but bear in mind these girls are teens still in training and what they’ve put forth is a commendable effort.

Overall, what you see with these ladies is raw talent (and a few first performance nerves), it’s unrefined and requires fine-tuning and polishing but that’s the beautiful thing about raw-talent, being able to do just that. I’m curious to see what these gals can come up with a few years down the road.

Details:

• Transfusions is playing at the Scotiabank Studio Theatre (6 Noble Street)
• Performance times:
  Sunday August 10, 3:00pm
  Monday August 11, 7:30pm
  Tuesday August 12, 6:00pm
• All individual SummerWorks tickets are $10 at the door (cash only). Tickets are available online, By phone by calling the Ticketwise Call Centre at 416-907-0468, in person at the SummerWorks Info Booth – located at The Theatre Centre (1115 Queen Street West) August 5th-17th from 10AM – 7PM (Advance tickets are $15 + service fee)
• Several money-saving passes are available if you plan to see at least 3 shows

Photo by Paul Beauchamp