In a Word... Playwright/Performer Jennifer Ansell-Clark on Speak Truth of the Dead

Speaking for the Unknown

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Jennifer Ansell-Clark was born in Quebec City and grew up living by the docks with her mum, aunt, uncle and her dog Lady. From her first time on stage as a stick in The Three Little Pigs in kindergarten she kept performing right through elementary, high school and on into CEGEP. Once she moved to Montreal she continued her theatre studies with the Phoenix Theatre Workshop. A published author she also worked in independent cinema behind the scenes and has recently been a stalwart volunteer for both Mainline and The Fringe Festival. After a very long hiatus from acting she decided to dip her toes into the theatre waters again and has appeared many times at the Confabulation Storytelling events. One of those performances has led her back to the stage to create her first multidisciplinary performance piece.

CHARPO:  I know about your ongoing battle with cancer. Would you mind sharing it with our readers? Clearly, this battle marks the elegiac themes of the play - what drove you to actually write a play, and more, gave you the energy to rehearse and perform it?

ANSELL-CLARK: What drove me to write the play is a series of events directly related to my conquering cancer. From the second week of December 2012 when I found the lump (and if your readers don't know how to do a self-exam I strongly insist that they learn) until October 2, 2013 when I had my operation, my life was torn apart. I had promised Matt Goldberg that I would perform a story at the Confabulation show on October 6 and intended to do so no matter what but...  On October 4 we had tickets to a Steve Hackett show at Place des Arts. I went, a corpse in all but name and the music resurrected me, redeemed me and re-animated me. So, for the Confab story, I told of this death and resurrection. Al Lafrance saw the show and got in touch and asked me if I'd be interested in doing a show based on that story. I said yes faster than I have ever said yes to anything other than marrying my life partner. And the story has written itself almost. (cont'd)