Citation de la semaine
« Si l’amour embellit les femmes, les femmes, elles, embellissent l’amour. » (Anne Bernard)
QUESTIONS TO ROSEMARY ROWE
1/ Why did you choose to write a text about your gay wedding for the ULTEC project ?
I thought it would be fun to write about our gay wedding for the ULTEC project because I wanted to share something that covered the intersection of my life and my work. I'm primarily a theatre artist and my work is primarily about lesbians. And of course, I am a lesbian myself and most of my work ends up being about some aspect of my life. Our gay wedding - planning it, blogging about it and participating in it - was one of the most successful shows I've ever done!
2/ You co-created the webseries Seeking Simone, in which homosexuality is playing a large part. Why did you choose to talk about lesbians ?
I don't know about you guys, but I am ALWAYS looking for lesbian content that's entertaining and fun. There are lesbian characters on t.v. and movies, of course, but not nearly as many as I'd like. Plus, a lot of the time, lesbians are side characters, not main characters - or they're briefly bisexual for ratings and then go back to men. Grrr! With Simone, my co-creator Renee and I wanted to make a show by lesbians and for lesbians, where lesbians were the main characters and the stories were just about them.
3/ At first, what made you want to write about female homosexuality ?
I think we all crave stories about ourselves and with history skewed in favour of a) men and b) straight people, finding stories about lesbians can be a challenge. I think the first time I wrote about lesbians was in university, where I discovered the story of Benedetta Carlini - she was a nun in Renaissance Italy whose career as a mystic ended after she was accused of lesbian acts with her nurse, Bartolomea. I discovered their story around the same time I was discovering my own sexual orientation and it was through writing about them that I really came out to myself. I ended up writing a play about them and my love of lesbian historical fiction was born !
4/ What are your projects now ? What are you working on ? Can you tell us about it ?
Aside from Simone, I have a couple of other plays on the go - both with a lesbian theme. One is a lesbian love story/Victorian-era melodrama set in Toronto in 1863 called "Kiss With Your Teeth" and the other is based on a true story about two field nurses and a lady journalist who went to the Klondyke in 1899. But for my next project, it's top secret! I can tell you that I'll be rocketing into the future - it'll be set in the 1920s.
5/ In what manner do you think you are contributing to some lesbian visibility ?
Well, I think with Seeking Simone we have a great opportunity to share some lesbian entertainment that's funny and sexy and where no one dies (except maybe of embarrassment). And when stories are funny and sexy, more people want to watch them, even if they are not lesbians themselves and that definitely improves lesbian visibility !
And I think with my other work, having the chance to discover or imagine lesbian lives in history helps to shift peoples' perceptions of that history; excavating these lesbian stories encourages people to think about history different and inspires them to seek out and tell other stories that are relevant to them.
Quote of the week :
"For a long time I thought I wanted to be a nun. Then I realized that what I really wanted to be was a lesbian." Mabel Maney
Lesbian picture of the week
I've attached a photo of Lady Amy Redpath Roddick and her maid, Rose, in 1908. Amy was a sugar heiress and playwright with a tragic past; Rose was her beloved companion for several decades. I love their hats.
