A MAI / Kama La Mackerel Production Dec. 8-12
ZOM-FAM is an intimate solo performance by Kama La Mackerel that combines poetry, storytelling and dance. At once personal and political, ZOM-FAM (meaning “man-woman” in Mauritian Kreol) narrates the story of a gender-creative child growing up in the 80s and 90s on the plantation island of Mauritius. Multiply-voiced and imbued with complex storytelling, ZOM-FAM interweaves narratives that bring together ancestral voices, femme tongues, broken colonial languages and a tender queer subjectivity, all of which are grappling with the legacy of plantation servitude. ⠀
Solo intimiste de Kama La Mackerel, ZOM-FAM, combine poésie, conte et danse. À la fois personnel et politique, ZOM-FAM (qui signifie « homme-femme » en kreol mauricien) est le récit d’un·e enfant transgenre vivant sur une plantation de canne à sucre à l’île Maurice pendant les années 1980-90. Maniant une multitude de voix et imprégnée d’une narration complexe, ZOM-FAM mêle invocations ancestrales, langues maternelles, débris de langages coloniaux et une subjectivité queer et délicate, dans un contexte d’esclavage et d’engagisme.
Shots from the workroom:
Shots from the tech residency:
Credits in Kama's beautiful words:
"Mathieu Leroux- dramaturge extraordinaire, attentive reader of languages beyond words • Jon Cleveland- magic maker, multi-dimensional creator, technical genius • Nalo Soyini- visionary with fingers of a fairy that turns everything into gold • Evan Stepanian- talented composer, creator of worlds with the ears of sorcerer • Rhodenie Desir- tu m'as permis de trouver & d'exprimer le corps spirituel dans mon œuvre. tu as complètement transformé ma vie • Andrew Tay- divine mover & shaker, dedicated community-worker & remarkable choreographer who breathed life back into my dancing body • Michael Fanfan- gifted visionary with a heart of gold • Sophie Gee- mentor with eyes that wash away illusions • Josh Marchesini- superstar assistant, stage manager, production manager who is always willing to take a risk to learn, to grow, to become."