SWIM is an immersive sensorial experience exploring the perilous 8-km journey from Turkey to the Greek island of Samos faced by by asylum seekers. Using cutting-edge audio and tactile technologies, much of the performance unfolds in darkness, and imagines the physical challenges as well as emotional toll of displacement. Inspired by the epic tale of Laila and Majnun, it delves into the sacrifices and transformations endured in the pursuit of a new beginning.
SWIM will be presented Jan 30 – Feb 2, 2025 at the Vancity Culture Lab. Info & tickets can be found here
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SWIM
A Pandemic Theatre/Conspiracy Theatre co-production
Presented by PuSh Festival, Touchstone Theatre, & The Cultch
About the co-creators
Tom Arthur Davis | Tom is a theatre artist, producer, and project manager. Originally from the unceded territory of the Algonquin nation (Ottawa) with colonial lineage from the ancestral homelands of the Beothuk and the Mi’kmaq peoples (Newfoundland), he has recently relocated to Lekwungen territory (Victoria), after spending most of his career in Mississauga-Anishinaabe-Haudenosaunee territory (Toronto).
In 2009, he co-founded Pandemic Theatre (then less distastefully named), for which he has acted as the Artistic Director since its inception. From 2018-2022, Tom worked with Why Not Theatre, acting as a Managing Producer where he led artist support programs such as RISER, Space Project, and ThisGen Fellowship. From 2014-2019, Tom worked with the Toronto Fringe in multiple capacities, including as the inaugural director and program designer of TENT, an educational program that teaches entrepreneurial skills to emerging theatre artists. From 2022-2023 Tom worked with PuSh International Performing Arts Festival as the Interim Director of Programming.
Currently, he is working with the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres, helping to organize their annual Indigenous youth conference, Gathering Our Voices.
Jiv Parasram | Jivesh is an award-winning multi-disciplinary artist, and facilitator of Indo-Caribbean descent. His work has toured Nationally and Internationally. Jiv is the founding Artistic Producer of Pandemic Theatre, and became the Artistic Director of Rumble Theatre following three years as the Associate Artistic Producer at Theatre Passe Muraille. He was a member of the Cultural Leader Lab with the Banff Centre and Toronto Arts Council. His public service work has included collaborations with the Ad Hoc Assembly, The Canadian Commission for UNESCO, and as an advisor to the National Arts Centre. His current cultural practice centres decolonization through aesthetics.
