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Elena Belyea

"Anything can happen, which means everything is possible."

Courtesy of the artist

Joe Szekeres

Elena Belyea is the Artistic Director of Tiny Bear Jaws, an agile, femme and queer-run cross-Canadian theatre company.

Founded in 2015, Tiny Bear Jaws produces innovative, provocative, and engaging new works. It is committed to exploring the creative possibilities that exist exclusively in live performance. Tiny Bear Jaws creates theatre that’s transgressive in content and form. Past shows: Miss Katelyn’s Grade Threes Prepare for the Inevitable; Everyone We Know Will Be There: A House Party in One Act; Cleave; The Worst Thing I Could Be (Is Happy); I Don’t Even Miss You; and This Won’t Hurt, I Promise.

Recently, I had the opportunity to email performer Elena Belyer questions about their artistic work and background.

Belyea opens at Toronto’s Factory Theatre this week in ‘I Don’t Even Miss You.’ The show runs at Factory Theatre from October 31 to November 10 in the Studio Theatre. It then travels to One Yellow Rabbit’s High-Performance Rodeo in Calgary (co-presented by Verb Theatre as part of their 2024/2025 season).

According to the Factory Theatre website, the story centres around non-binary computer programmer Basil who wakes to a new world and devastating loss. Using live music, dance, and video, I Don’t Even Miss You is a bold exploration of grief, love, artificial intelligence, and legacy that asks how gender, identity, and family can exist without anyone to perceive them.

Belyea completed undergraduate work in Drama and Creative Writing at the University of Alberta before attending the Playwriting program at the National Theatre School of Canada.

What is it about the performing arts that continues to keep Elena focused and interested?

Whenever Elena watches or performs a play, one of their favourite parts is the knowledge that a particular moment or scene may or will never happen quite the same ever again, even if it’s a recording or coming back to watch something the night after.

For Elena:

“Something happens.... we’ll experience it together, then it’s gone forever. I find this really exciting. Before I step onstage, no one, not me, not the audience, knows for sure what will happen. We have an idea, but nothing is guaranteed. Anything could happen, which means everything is possible.”

In profiling the artist, I also like to ask who in their own lives has either influenced or mentored them up to this point.

Belyea was pleased to share the names of some mentors: Michael Kennard, Christine Stewart, Derek Walcott, Tedi Tafel, Haley McGee, Karen Hines, and Adam Lazarus. They also named artists whose work and writing they are inspired by right now: Makambe Simamba, Young Jean Lee, Anne Carson, Kae Tempest, Sophie, and Nick Cave.

I’ll review the Sunday matinee performance. on November 3. The press release for the show calls the production ‘dystopian pop.’ I was intrigued by this label and wanted to know more from Elena about it.
They shared the concept of the show. Protagonist Basil exists in a fictitious world where everyone else on Earth has disappeared – hence the word ‘dystopian.’ Basil creates and is now performing an autobiographical play about their life. After a thwarted attempt to star in a musical during their teen years, Basil decides the only way to summarize accurately their chronology is through narration, self-recorded videos, dance, and (pop) songs.

Audiences can expect synthesizers galore, boy band motifs, choreographed melodrama, and an electric ukulele from the performance.

Whenever Elena starts writing a play, a series of questions comes to mind rather than messages. I find this interesting myself—questions instead of comments.

What are some of the questions Elena asks of audiences in ‘I Don’t Even Miss You?’:

“What is a legacy? Can love, identity, and family exist with no one to perceive them? Is it possible to develop technology that could replace human connection? What are the physical, psychological, and spiritual impacts of loneliness? How does Basil’s transness inform the play’s content and form? “
Some heady questions, indeed. I’m always a fan of audience talkbacks about these kinds of questions.

There is a talkback with the audience on November 3. I like to stay for these as I learn more about the show and the artist.

Elena clarified that ‘I Don’t Even Miss You’ had a run of a very different nature in 2022. It ran again in Ottawa in 2024. But it’s hard for Belyea to know how the audiences will react. Their favourite part of the show is “Listening to the audience’s reactions and trying to identify what is landing when.” Once again, Elena clarified there were moments in Ottawa where an audience member would make an unexpected sound in reaction to something happening. Elena finds that impactful as the show's writer, the performer and the character at the moment.

The life of a travelling performing artist can be tiring and exhausting. To be honest, I don’t know how these young people do it.

What’s next for this ambitious young artist once ‘I Don’t Even Miss You’ concludes its run:

“First and foremost— rest. I’m fantasizing about wrapping myself in a thousand blankets for a week at least, napping, reading, and playing non-stop video games with my partner and dog. After that, I will begin prep for “I Don’t Even Miss You” in Calgary and re-learn how to knit.”

To learn more about Tiny Bear Jaws Theatre: www.tinybearjaws.com.

To purchase tickets for ‘I Don’t Even Miss You’ and to learn more about Factory Theatre, visit www.factorytheatre.ca.

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