Kevin Loring’s Where the Blood Mixes, winner of the 2009 Governor General’s Literary Award, has an intriguing simplicity in its outlook. Although the Teesri Duniya Theatre production foregrounds a realism with its sharp humour, Lib Spry’s direction helps the performance segue into the poetic.

The sombre play about the haunting legacy of Canadian First Nations residential schools is gradually infused with poignancy, as it depicts the reality of what the first peoples have gone through—and continue to experience—as a community.

The story is set in a First Nations community “where the two rivers meet, where the wind sings songs of the dead,” and where in the local bar, Floyd (Jeremy Proulx) and Mooch (Charles Bender) also meet as old drinking partners. From what seems like an elegantly simple scene, the play proceeds to unveil a layered depth. We soon discover that both characters are residential school survivors—an experience which neither has outlived as they continue to lead troubled lives. Mooch regularly steals money from his girlfriend, June (Emilee Veluz), to fund his drinking habits, while Floyd’s bitter disposition manifests itself in his refusal to reminisce with Mooch, even about the few good memories that they once shared.

Although the play frequently moves backwards in time, the characters’ wounded past is never directly addressed. Paradoxically, a play driven by series of anecdotes is characterized by a reluctance to speak­—or perhaps even a deliberate evasion of speaking—at least initially. This apparent stasis is finally broken when Floyd’s daughter Christine (Alarey Alsip), whom the state placed in the care of foster parents when she was still an infant, manages to get in touch with her father and decides to visit him. What follows is an outpouring of soul-wrenching confessions, a detailing of losses and reconciliations that are set off—with great surprise­—by a deluge of tears from Floyd, who, prior to his daughter’s arrival, remained callously stoic.

This act of storytelling provides the platform for healing and connecting. If Floyd and Mooch were to stay silent, their stories would die with them, and so would history. Throughout the play, numerous instances of comic dialogue ease the audience into emotionally-wraught situations, while several heartfelt scenes provide the piece with a beauty that saves it from being all too distressing. Though the content of the play may seem like a melancholic endeavour to watch, it ultimately ends in hope as the community discovers the voice of common humanity.

Artistic Director Rahul Varma described it as a “message that needs to be heard over and over again.” The message is one that is both touching and valuable, highlighting Canada’s First Nations cultural heritage, one which should never be forgetten.

Teesri Duniya’s production of Where the Blood Mixes runs Wed-Sat at 8pm, with weekend matinees at 2pm, until Sept. 30th, Centre Culturel Calixa-Lavaleé (3819 Calixa-Lavaleé). Student tickets are $12.

This past Saturday, Opéra de Montréal opened its 2012-2013 season with Verdi’s La Traviata. The opera tells the story of two lovers, Violetta and Alfredo, whose public love affair brings great shame to Alfredo’s family. After an unexpected visit from Alfredo’s father, Violetta realizes the detrimental consequences of her love affair on his family’s honour, and she leaves Alfredo. Alfredo mistakes her sudden departure for infidelity, and humiliates her in front of many close friends and family, including Alfredo’s own father. Some time later, Alfredo finally learns the truth about Violetta’s sacrifice, and rushes back to her side to apologize. Violetta, however, is dying from a serious illness, and Alfredo finds himself in a race against time.

“It’s really the story of a great love affair,” says Opéra de Montréal’s artistic director Michel Beaulac, “[It’s about] people who weren’t really meant to socially blend … to live together, to fall in love with one another, but they do, and … before she dies, all of the characters—the father, the son who is in love with Violetta—they all realize that finally, all of those social differences have no importance, and that this separation should have never taken place.”

La Traviata was written in 1853, during a phase in which Verdi wrote an opera approximately every nine months. This creative spree resulted in what is now known as his ‘popular trilogy’ of opera works—Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and La Traviata. In the past two years, Opéra de Montréal has performed both Rigoletto (2010), and Il Trouvadore (2011), and concludes its presentation of Verdi’s trilogy with this week’s performances.

Few may grasp the amount of work required for such an elaborate production. “Before we go on stage, we start building the set; we mount the lighting equipment … and we start planning the sequence of when the set changes are going to take place, how they are going to take place, and how many members of the stage crew are going to be necessary to make this operation possible,” Beaulac said. “The most important roles are sung by artists who have done the roles several times, so they all know their parts.”

From the onset of the opera, the soloists were captivating in their roles. Grecian soprano Myrto Papatanasiu, playing Violetta, possesses vocal talent that not only allowed her to communicate the musical elements of the opera, but also to clearly express the complexities of her character, leaving audience members with a slight heartache after leaving the theatre.

In describing Opéra de Montréal’s process for choosing a soloist to play Violetta, Mr. Beaulac explains that “when you have something very specific in mind in terms of the characterization, the interpretation, the colour of voice, the stage presence … one must have the soloist in mind … and Myrto Papatanasiu is splendid in the role.”

Many of the choir members onstage are members of Opéra de Montréal’s apprenticeship program—a training program designed for graduate students wishing to pursue professional careers in opera. Beaulac describes the program as a “stepping stone and the final preparation for an operatic career,” in which the students “have coaching, language courses, movement courses, [and] acting classes.”

Italian tenor Roberto de Biasio flourished as Alfredo, and his humble stage presence allowed for a tasteful yet emotionally compelling performance. Luca Grassi’s performance as Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s father, was the highlight of the evening. In comparison to Violetta’s often dramatic persona, Grassi’s simple acting style quickly grasped the audience’s attention. His sonorous, colourful voice, paired with this tasteful acting technique, briefly drew the spotlight away from Violetta and forced the audience to listen—truly listen—to what he had to say.

La Traviata will be showing at Place des Arts, Wilfred-Pelletier hall, Sept. 18, 20, and 22. Opéra de Montréal offers heavily discounted ticket prices for students that range from $20-$25

World Press Photo, journalism’s most prestigious annual photography contest, is currently exhibiting 161 award-winning photos in nine categories at Marché Bonsecours in Old Montreal. The show is part of a travelling exhibition set to tour 100 cities around the globe, and can be visited in Montreal until Sept. 30.

“We exist to inspire understanding of the world through quality photojournalism,” reads a sign at the exhibit. This epigraph perfectly represents the overarching mission of World Press Photo—an ambitious undertaking that brings together an international set of contributing photographers, each with unique perspectives and stories to share.

A large part of the exhibition is devoted to photography depicting current affairs.  The year 2011 was marked by political turbulence, humanitarian crises, and natural disasters, including the Arab Spring, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, as well as the massacre at Utøya, Norway. Such emergencies reach us through daily news reports in the comfort of our homes, far from the chaos and devastation in which they originate. The award-winning pictures of World Press Photo are key to breaking down the barriers of distance and time that inevitably limit the urgency of these events, and bringing them to our immediate attention.  Even more than the written word, the universal language of imagery gives direct voice to people who lack the means to tell their stories themselves.

Central to World Press Photo is recognizing the importance of photojournalism in documenting major events in conflict hotspots around the world, and the courageous efforts of photographers who work to do so. Nonetheless, it is not only politics, suffering, and devastation that the photos seek to bring to our attention.

In other award-winning categories, photographers are praised for their ability to open viewers’ minds by documenting the daily life of societies discrepant to those of the Western audience. Stories like those told by Pietro Paolini’s stunning photographs documenting everyday life in Bolivia may not make international headlines, but are nevertheless hidden and pristine gems of culture, tradition, and natural beauty of which we are otherwise unaware.

Finally, World Press Photo emphasizes that photojournalism, in addition to enhancing an understanding of the world by presenting us with its actualities, also achieves this through an artistic form. The award-winning photographers were not merely in the right place at the right time, but have a genuine artistic talent and feel for aesthetics, enabling them to find beauty in the mundane and trivial instances of life we tend to take for granted. Common to all photographs is their capacity to touch us by capturing something beyond the mere visual: an emotion or a story that strikes a chord, inspiring us to see things differently or notice things to which we have been previously blind.

Montrealers rarely get opportunities to experience such evocative arrays of photography—make sure you don’t miss your shot.

World Press Photo is on display through Sept. 30, at Marché Bonsecours (350 St-Paul Street East). General admission is $12. $8 for individuals 25 and under.