Other Projects
Liars of Orpheus
I started out hosting this event and am excited to be returning as a performer. Liars of Orpheus is a literary/spoken word show where writers win points from bootlegging their truths past their opponents or having their lies mistaken for truths.
January 28, 2025 doors at 6:30, show 7pm at The Pleasant (2434 Main St Vancouver)
$12 in advance, or $15 at the door
Famous Last Words
Famous Last Words involves poets participating in six rounds of a faux competition where they create new work to 'compete' in a series of poetry related events that are in turn, 'judged' by our host (with input from our audience).
These games include poems written in unusual forms,silly themes,or with funny addendums.). There are 25 potential games that can occur during any episode of Famous Last Words thus no two shows are exactly the same.
January 22, 2025 doors at 6:30, show at 7pm at Centennial Lodge, New Westminster
Public Poetry Remix Project
Marie Metaphor Specht's 'Public Poetry Remix,' is an immersive art project produced with Monkey-C Interactive. Starting November 20, the Musical Railings art installation in the Yates Street Parkade will be animated by cut-up poems from seven poets, including the Poet Laureate and Youth Poet Laureate.
Musical Railings is installed on the five-story staircase on the south side of the Yates Street Parkade and transforms the staircase into a five-storey-tall musical instrument. Visitors can touch the sensors embedded in the railings to create sounds and play loops accompanied by sound-responsive LED lighting.
Running Nov 20-Feb 20, 2025 at the Yates St Parkade in Victoria (find me on the fifth floor)
Mashed Poetics
Mashed Poetics is a night of spoken word and music mash up that takes place on the Unceded Traditional Territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh People. We are grateful for the opportunity to rawk on the Lands they continue to caretake for the benefit of all.
This will be our Halloween show featuring one of the monsters of rock, Ozzy Osbourne and his debut solo album, Blizzard of Oz. We'll have music from the Headless Bats and 9 new poetic performances based on the songs from the album.
We are back at Lana Lou's on Powell Street. It's a wheelchair accessible venue with heritage building ventilation and air conditioning. Doors at 8 show starts around 8:30.
Since it's a couple weeks before Helloween we encourage you to dress up and come party with us. We'll have a raffle for some awesome Ozzy related prizes plus a Bat Biting Contest to see who's the best bat head biter offer in Vancouver.
Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. You can get your advance tickets at rcarcee2@gmail.com with no service charge.
Tri Cities Poetry Feature
A fun night of poetry and other performers sharing their voices on the open mic. Sign up at 6, show starts at 6:30.
Prizes for the "phrase of the night" phrase will be announced at 6pm
Free Entry!
Tuesday August 6th at 6 pm at Brave Brewing, 2617 Murray St, Port Moody
Liars of Orpheus
From the team that brought you The Vancouver Story Slam, Famous Last Words and Under the Rooftops of Vancouver comes a show made up of mostly lies and the tiniest bit of truth.
Hosted by SJ Valiquette, Liars of Orpheus revolves around writers attempting to lie their way through stories, poems and lectures.
Each of the five writers will produce work that are made entirely of lies with the exception of five pieces of truth each. They will win points from bootlegging their truths past their opponents or having their lies mistaken for truths. The winner of this month’s competition receives a tiara and points towards our end of the season finally in April.
Last Tuesday of every month at The Pleasant 2434 Main St
Doors at 6, show at 7, tickets $15 at the door.
Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield
A Reese Witherspoon Book Club LitUp Pick
In this debut YA speculative romance perfect for fans of Rachael Lippincott, two queer, disabled, Jewish teens find themselves stuck in a time loop—and falling love.
Phoebe Mendel's day is never ending—literally.
On August 6th, she woke up to find herself stuck in a time loop. And for nearly a month of August 6ths since, Phoebe has relived the same day: pancakes with Mom in the morning, Scrabble with Dad in the afternoon, and constant research into how to reach tomorrow and make it to her appointment with a doctor who may actually take her IBS seriously. Everything is exactly, agonizingly the same.
That is, until the most mundane car crash ever sends Phoebe's childhood crush Jess crashing into the time loop.
Now also stuck, Jess convinces Phoebe to break out of her routine and take advantage of their consequence-free days to have fun. From splurging on concert tickets, to enacting (mostly) harmless revenge, to all-night road trips, Jess pulls Phoebe further and further out of her comfort zone—and deeper in love with them. But the more Phoebe falls for Jess, the more she worries about what's on the other side of the time loop. What if Jess is only giving her the time of day because they're trapped with no other options? What if Phoebe's new doctor dismisses her chronic pain? And perhaps worst of all: What if she never gets the chance to find out?
And… I got to narrate the audiobook.
Ian Case and Rosemary Jeffrey as Benedick and Beatrice
Much Ado About Nothing at the Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival
For their 2024 production of Much Ado About Nothing I was invited back to work as Fight and Intimacy Director. The show runs June 24th to July 20th at Craigdarroch Castle and Lampson School.
Directed by Willis Taylor.
‘Beneath’ at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
‘What’s Left Behind’
Beneath at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
In the fall I was invited to go back to Edinburgh to work as an intimacy director, fight director, and co-director for Lighter Fluid Theatre alongside Karin Saari at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. After workshopping the piece in the spring I went back for rehearsals in July and we opened the show on August 4th. ‘Beneath’ runs until August 27th at the Raddison Blu on the Royal Mile.
Written by Dan Husson, Directed by Karin Saari, Design by Delaney Tesch, Stage Managed and Produced by Scott Renwick, Starring Winter Reid, Cameron Beatty, Phoebe Dunham, and Jorgie-Louise Buchan.
Sable Project Artist Residency
In September I spent three weeks in the woods of Vermont.working on an organic farm/ artist residency completely off the grid. The intention was to work on a piece I had the opportunity to workshop through PTC’s Block A playwright residency the previous spring called ‘This Show is a Funeral.’ For the piece I’ve been conducting and recording interviews on the subject of grief. My final project at the Sable Project was an installation called ‘What is Left Behind’ based on a quote from on of these interviews.
‘The funeral is not for the person who died, it’s for the people who were left behind.’
-Carolyn Moon
The final piece combined the interviews with imagery from Alison Bechdel’s ‘Fun Home;’ using remnants from dead bouquets and windfall to build a chandelier entirely out of plant material. The names of the interviewees were written on handmade paper (also made of plant material) and woven into the chandelier which was hung in the woods to be reclaimed over time.
Rhianne’s scars following a motorcycle accident in Thailand- green for surgical, gold for road rash.
(re)markable project
A photography project documenting peoples’ stories and scars on instagram- ongoing from 2018 to present though largely on hiatus over the pandemic. (re)markable has shot over a hundred subjects in both North America and Europe and received submissions from all over the world.
The Soliloquy Project
Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival’s Soliloquy Project is back for a second season and I was invited to read Orlando’s ‘And there begins my sadness’ speech from As You Like It. Link to the episode below.
Ariel Slack and Willis Taylor battle in ‘Cymbeline’
Cymbeline at the Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival
For their return season the Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival ran a socially distanced outdoor production of Cymbeline at The Horticultural Center.of the Pacific, and at Memorial Park in Esquimalt. I was invited to Assistant Direct, Intimacy Direct, Fight Direct, and act as Covid Safety Officer.