Oyster Productions

The Trial of Jeremy Hinzman

The Trial Of Jeremy Hinzman is a verbatim theatre project centred around former American soldier-turned-pacifist Jeremy Hinzman's desertion of the US army and struggle to gain refugee status in Canada. Jeremy Hinzman was a United States Army private from the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In January of 2004, following a tour of duty in Afghanistan and facing imminent deployment to Iraq, Hinzman fled the United States with his wife and child seeking refugee status in Canada. The Trial of Jeremy Hinzman is derived entirely from primary source material: the transcripts from Hinzman's dramatic Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) hearing and interviews with other war resisters, politicians and the public. The play hopes to raise important and difficult questions around the War on Terror, Canada 's direct and indirect involvement in the war, the competing obligations of soldiers to follow orders and act morally, and our collective responsibility and complicity in global political conflicts.

Talk Sixty To Me

“I'm not your average sixty-year-old”

Oyster Productions Presents
Talk Sixty To Me

Talk Sixty To Me is a shocking and hilarious play based on over 100 hours of recorded interviews with Toronto-area sixty-year-olds. From CEOs to refugees, cougars and ladies who lunch, the boomers reveal the truth about sex, suicide, cyber dating, the circle of life, and the surprise of suddenly being…sixty. Every word in Talk Sixty To Me is verbatim, proving that the truth is stranger-and funnier-than fiction.

A part of the 2008 Summerworks Festival, Talk Sixty To Me is a much anticipated follow-up to the cult hit Talk Thirty To Me , and was created by Oonagh Duncan (featured by THIS magazine as a leader in Canada 's verbatim theatre movement), with dramaturgy by Jordan Hall. Three-time Aurora-award winner Philip Adams directs an exceptional cast with Cayle Chernin (Little Mosque on the Prairie), Allan Price (Queer as Folk), Andrew Scorer (Due South ) and Bonnie McDougall (CBC's ‘A Christmas Carol')

Why 60?

In presenting Talk Thirty to Me , I was surprised by the disproportionate amount of audience members in their late fifties who approached me after the show to encourage me to “do a show about us. Do one about turning 60 ”. This is apparently a subject that people want to talk about…and given that one of my artistic aims is to be reflective and responsive to my community, I started interviewing.

“How is it that I'm thirty and all I own is like, a laptop and a tent?”

talk thirty to me
An original verbatim play by Oonagh Duncan

Oyster's inaugural production premiered at the Toronto Fringe Festival on July 4 th 2007. After a sold out Toronto run, the show went to Hamilton and will have it's New York premiere at the Bridge Theatre Company on December 8 th 2007.

Over fifty Toronto-area 29 year olds, from fashionistas to refugees, were interviewed for this unique project. They discussed cellulite, sex on the web, boomers, babies, debt and death. Every word in Talk Thirty to Me is verbatim , proving that the truth is stranger-and funnier-than fiction.

Talk Thirty to Me was created by Oonagh Duncan, and includes multi media design by Joshua Hind (CanStage's HAIR ). Matt Murray (performer: Mamma Mia, The Full Monty ) directs an exceptional cast with Rishma Malik (Deepa Mehta's Water ), Magdalena Alexander (Ron Howard's Cinderella Man ), David Schokking (winner of the 2006 ‘On The Rise' Acting competition) and introducing Matt Drappel.

For the reaction to Talk Thirty To Me, please check Press & Reviews.

In 2007 approximately 556,525 Canadians will turn thirty.

Kendra, Vanessa, Damien, Jake, Tim, Ben, Mira and Sam are eight of them and are being interviewed about it.

In general, they feel great about turning thirty. As Vanessa points out, "Anyone stressing about age is silly, it's the most inevitable thing in the world". And besides—they are all way too busy to worry about age and status quo.

Except that:

Damien was supposed to be a movie star by now
Mira escaped the war in Yugoslavia but can't stop thinking about the Drake Hotel
Ben has $.71 in his bank account
Kendra just left her husband for a woman
Sam doesn't want to stop partying
Vanessa forgot to date in her twenties
Tim wishes someone would punch him in the face until he gets some sense knocked into him.
Jake is just going to move to Indonesia

In Talk Thirty to Me , the characters feel their clock ticking as they examine how they measure up at the age of unquestionable adulthood. They discuss the legacy of the boomers, looking for love on the internet, the biological clock, student debt, cellulite…and death.

Every word in Talk Thirty to Me is verbatim, based on over 100 hours of recorded interviews with 29 year olds, proving that the truth is stranger-and funnier-than fiction.

What is Verbatim Theatre?

Verbatim theatre is a relatively new theatrical sub genre, in keeping with current trends towards reality and documentary style entertainment. As an emerging Toronto artist, verbatim demands engagement with the community and an explorative approach to the work. It is this idea of exploration that makes this project is particularly suited to Oyster's mandate of "telling stories to explore our community and expand our world.”

All interviews are recorded and transcribed verbatim, transferring the speaker's original speech patterns, non sequiters and stutters to a text, which is then edited to illuminate recurring patterns and themes. The text is shaped into monologues, dialogues and short scenes and juxtaposed in a way that comments on the material and tells the story of the interviewer‘s experience.

Click here to read a transcript of Oyster's Artistic Director Oonagh Duncan discussing verbatim theatre

Oyster would very much like to thank all interviewees for their part in creating this kind of work .

Email to express interest in supporting or getting involved in any of these projects.