Do You Understand Me Now? is a solo theatrical performance exploring the intersections of language, gender, and generational distance. Using recordings and projections alongside live performance, the piece is presented in three languages: French, Japanese, and English.

In the work, Karter attempts to hold conversations with their two grandmothers — one Japanese and one French-Canadian — by speaking in their mother tongues despite not being fluent in either. Through these imagined dialogues, the performer tries to explain their identity as a trans/non-binary person.

This piece was made in collaboration with Amélia Simmard, Davey Samuel Calderon and June Fukumura.

Amélia Simmard is a French-Canadian filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist based in so-called Vancouver. They have written and directed short films, amongst other visual art (traditional and digital) and short-form theatre projects. Their work has been featured in Vancouver Island Short Film Festival and Local Sightings Film Festival. As an emerging theatre-maker, they have co-written, directed and performed in Cracking The Nonbinary Code as part of Ignite! Festival 2023 and are developing their piece Cornouillère through labs and residencies. In their practice, Amélia explores themes of queerness, linguistic identity and interpersonal conflict through metaphors based in memory, nostalgia and the fantastical.

Davey Samuel Calderon (he/they/siya) is a director, performer, writer, producer, drag artist, dramaturg and settler on the ancestral, traditional and stolen lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. He is the Co-Founder of New(to)Town Collective, a theatre collective centered on continuous performance practice, exploration, and creating experimental devised works (2014 – 2024). His work has been on various stages (Big Queer Filipino Karaoke Night! [Vancouver Fringe 2018, Evergreen Cultural Centre 2022] & BQFKN! ONLINE [rEvolver Festival 2023]) and is a leader in the Canadian dramaturgy sector (on the publishing committee for Playwrights Canada Press). Currently, he is Playwrights Theatre Centre’s Artistic Producer and Dramaturg, select dramaturgy credits include: God’s A Drag by Jessica Lemes Da Silva, The Frontliners by Zahida Rahemtulla, Before They Cut Down Our Tree by Karter Masuhara, and It Lives in my Bedroom by Mily Mumford.

June Fukumura is a multidisciplinary, nisei (second-generation) Japanese-Canadian theatre artist based on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (Vancouver). She is the Co-Artistic Director of Popcorn Galaxies, an experimental company creating site-responsive and site-specific works that re-enchant the everyday. Since 2013, the company has produced over twelve works presented across Canada.

Her practice spans acting (theatre/film/TV/voice), clown and bouffon, puppetry, directing, dramaturgy, devising, and writing. She works as a Japanese language coach and cultural consultant. She has collaborated with companies including Stratford Festival, Theatre Calgary, Arts Club Theatre, Theatre Replacement, and Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre.

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We acknowledge that very young children can be disruptive to other patrons. We do not recommend bringing children under six years. Children under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult.

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Thank you to our beverage sponsors Callister Craft Soda and Parallel 49.