New Calgary presentation ‘extremely important’ effort to highlight historical racism – Calgary | 24CA News
Calgary’s Heritage Park is now exploring some severe social problems with life within the metropolis greater than a century in the past.
The historic village is bringing guests a brand new tackle historical past on the Chinese laundry constructing.
The roving actors who painting characters from 1910 have simply begun performing a scene that includes a brand new immigrant making an attempt to get a job on the laundry.
“My character is Kwong, a recent immigrant from China,” actor Richelle Ho stated.
Ho’s castmate Trevor Matheson, who additionally produces the varied streets scenes round Heritage Park, says the brand new phase explores the discrimination that Asian immigrants usually confronted round 1910.
“(Kwong) has disguised herself as a boy, to fit into society,” Matheson stated. “however sadly at the moment the Chinese weren’t welcome.’
After listening to Kwong speaking in Cantonese, a personality calls out, “Don’t we speak English in this country?’
Ho feels it’s an important part of the scene.
“Because it’s a story that’s not often talked about, but it’s part of our Canadian history,” Ho stated. “It’s important for Chinese-Canadians to see themselves being represented in a truthful way.”
The scene on the laundry represents fairly a change from the historic performances seen at Heritage Park in previous years.
“Oftentimes our stories are very Eurocentric, so we’re really trying to challenge ourselves to tell the story of everybody and really show the true colours of history,” Matheson stated.
The Calgary playwright who created the scene says she hopes it helps to interrupt down limitations.
“The Chinese were discriminated against, so they are learning what happened in Canada,” playwright Dale Lee Kwong stated. “All this anti-Asian hate that’s current today, it’s actually just a repetition of it happening throughout the years, and so it’s extremely important that people are aware of this history.”
The scene on the Chinese laundry runs Monday, Friday and Saturday afternoons at Heritage Park in southwest Calgary.
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