THE KNITTING PILGRIM to be Presented In Austria And Germany, June-July 2023

THE KNITTING PILGRIM, a one-of-a-kind Canadian multidisciplinary play that helps knit audiences together will perform in Austria and Germany in June-July, 2023.

"It starts with a guy on a stool, inviting you to come up and take a ball of yarn and needles from his basket. It ends with you wondering how to nominate him as a United Nations Peace Ambassador." - Colin Noden, Apt613

Directed by Jennifer Tarver, and performed by actor, writer and knitter Kirk Dunn, The Knitting Pilgrim is a multidisciplinary one-person theatrical experience that uses storytelling, image projection and a one-of-a-kind textile installation called Stitched Glass. This summer, in a collaboration between Canadian theatre company Ergo Arts Theatre and Austria's Bridging Arts, the show will perform in Graz, Austria at Theater am Lend's Dramatiker Festival, June 21-25, and the Nuremberg Press Club in Germany, July 13.

The Knitting Pilgrim, which premiered at the Aga Khan Museum's Auditorium in May, 2019 and has toured Ontario and the Maritimes for 55+ shows, was given 6 out of 5 stars by CFMU Hamilton, 5 out of 5 stars by Mooney on Theatre, and was named a Critic's Fringe Pick in Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton, as well as One of Top Ten Shows to See by NOW Magazine. It recounts a journey you need to experience.

Created by actor, writer and knitter Kirk Dunn, Stitched Glass is a triptych of large hand-knitted panels, designed in the style of stained-glass windows, which looks at the commonalities and conflicts amongst the Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The fibre masterwork was supported by a Chalmers Foundation grant through the Ontario Arts Council in 2003, and took Kirk an incredible 15 years to complete. There is no other knitting project like it in the world.

Kirk and seasoned writer Claire Ross Dunn co-wrote The Knitting Pilgrim, which uses the Stitched Glass panels-collectively over 90 pounds of knitting-as its set. The play recounts Kirk's artistic and spiritual journey of hand-knitting the project, and his hope to contribute to the vital conversation about xenophobia, Antisemitism and Islamophobia, dealing with internal/external strife, and fear of the other.

"The hope has always been to create conversation," says Kirk, who sought out Christian, Muslim and Jewish consultants to help him research and design the artwork and, more personally, to learn about the feelings and experiences of others. "A conversation between all people-believers and non-believers-who find themselves in conflict. How can we better understand and empathize with each other? Everyone has a unique background, point of view, and experience, and at the same time, many experiences are universal. Focusing on what knits us together, rather than what pulls us apart, is a place to start."

Kirk Dunn's TV credits include playing 3 seasons as Dudley in Dudley the Dragon. His stage credits include Billy Bishop Goes to War (Ergo Arts Theatre, Carousel); Merlin and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (YPT); Dads! The Musical (Charlottetown, Stirling, Drayton); Romeo and Juliet (Ford Centre); More Munsch (The Grand); The War Show, A Flea in Her Ear, Don't Dress for Dinner, and The Affections of May (Drayton). Kirk has been knitting since 1988, and designing since 1995. In 1998, he apprenticed with Kaffe Fassett in England and has since been covered in The Toronto Star, Vogue Knitting, Family Circle Knitting, Knitting Magazine (UK), Maclean's Magazine, the National Post and on CBC Radio. Filmmakers Ian Daffern and Omar Majeed have made an award-winning documentary, "Stitched Glass: The Documentary," about Kirk and this project.

Director Jennifer Tarver was Artistic Director of Necessary Angel Theatre Company between 2013 and 2019, and has directed for Soulpepper Theatre, The Tarragon Theatre, Canadian Stage Company, Nightwood Theatre, and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. During five seasons at Stratford, her work included Waiting For Godot, The Homecoming, Krapp's Last Tape, Zastrozzi and King of Thieves. Jennifer's recent work in the US includes Krapp's Last Tape in Chicago, and Hedda Gabler in Connecticut. Jennifer was also Associate Director at The Theatre Centre in Toronto from 2004-2012.

The show will use surtitles on projection screens, translated into German by dramaturg, director and translator Birgit Schreyer Duarte. Birgit holds a Master's degree in Dramaturgy from Munich University and the Bavarian Theatre Academy, and a PhD in Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Toronto. For six years, Birgit was the Company Dramaturg and Artistic Associate at Canadian Stage, one of Canada's largest non-profit performance companies. In Bregenz, Austria, she was the guest dramaturg for W.A. Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, and the director of Else (ohne Fraülein), and Nora (A Doll's House) at Vorarlberger Landestheater. She directed E.G. Lessing's Nathan the Wise at the Stratford Festival, the North American premiere of German writer Maria Milisavljevic's Noise, Hamlet for Toronto's Shakespeare in High Park and Dennis Kelly's Taking Care of Baby (Storefront Theatre), among many other German plays she has introduced to Canadian audiences.

The Knitting Pilgrim is travelling to Austria and Germany, thanks to a partnership between Toronto's Ergo Arts Theatre and Salzburg-based Bridging Arts, a German and Austrian arts and culture initiative that aims to connect diverse social groups with professional artists in various artistic disciplines.

The show will appear in Theater am Lend's Dramatiker Playwrights Festival in Graz, Austria, running June 21-25, 2023, and then perform at the Press Club in Nuremberg, Germany on July 13, 2023.

Knitting is encouraged during the show if audience members are so inclined-Kirk has yarn and needles to give out onstage. People can also Bring Their Own Knitting (#BYOK). Kirk is using the audience's knitting to assemble a giant Moebius Strip, a curiously paradoxical object that has significance in the play.

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