Myths and Mirrors

Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Myths and Mirrors is a feminist community arts organisation based n Sudbury, Ontario that was founded in 1996. The goals of Myths and Mirrors is to engage residents in the collective creation of art works that explored modern myths and reflected their own stories and experience. The vision was to engender a sense of community identity, to challenge the manufacturing of consent, and to provide a public forum for the voices of the marginalised.

Created by a group of female telemarketers (and one male), "Get a Real Job" is a popular theatre piece about the working conditions in call centres, one of the fastest growing employment sectors in many parts of Canada and particularly, Sudbury. The process began with the formation of a core group of women who engaged in numerous conversations with other telemarketers - unionised and non-unionised. The purpose of this consultation process was to share experiences, and to analyse their work from the personal to the larger corporate capital point of views. The group developed songs, monologues and scenes that focus on what call centre workers feel is most important to represent and communicate about their jobs. This play has been performed for the general public in Sudbury, as well as at community and labour conferences.