Piecework: When We Were French
Photo By Barbara Leslie
History comes in pieces. We stitch them together.
Written & Performed by Abby Paige
Directed & Dramaturged by Koby Rogers Hall
Conceived through the generous support of
Burlington City Arts & Kingdom Country Productions
ABOUT THE SHOW
“Poetic and powerful. Paige has assembled a patchwork of stories into a cohesive, beautiful whole.”
- Seven Days
“A consummate performer [and] a fine writer…Paige has stitched together a fascinating, engaging and gripping quilt made out of French-Canadian memories and history.”
- Burlington Free Press
“Fun, funny…fascinatingly entertaining and authentic!”
- Barre-Montpelier Times Argus
“This is great entertainment.”
- Rutland Herald
“‘Piecework’ delves into the good, bad and ugly of the Franco-American experience.”
- Press Republican
Originally commissioned for the 2009 Champlain Quadricentennial Celebration in Burlington, Vermont, Piecework: When We Were French is a one-person performance piece that explores the legacy of French-Canadian immigration to New England and how our stories, memories, and secrets make us who we are.
Between 1850 and 1950, hundreds of thousands of French-Canadians immigrated to the United States. Often traveling by railroad, they flocked to the industrial centers of New England in search of jobs, prosperity, and brighter futures for their children. Many returned home with the fruits of their labor, but many stayed, building churches, schools, and communities, and influencing local culture in ways that can still be felt today.
Bilodeau family picnic, St. Lazare-de-Bellechasse, Quebec
While Franco-American identity was once defined by a strong connection to Quebec, dedicated involvement in the Catholic Church, and of course, use of the French language, that identity evolved as our francophone ancestors adapted to their new home. What connections do their descendants feel to their heritage today? Why do many Americans who don’t speak French, attend church, or maintain ties to Canada still consider themselves Franco-American? How has their family history influenced them? Is it possible to belong to a culture that exists only as a memory?
The show’s creation began with a series of exploratory interviews with Franco-Americans, who generously shared their family histories and cherished memories. From their contributions, historical research, and her own experiences, playwright and performer Abby Paige created dramatic portraits of ten characters with unique feelings, questions, and secrets about their heritage. Through their monologues, Piecework: When We Were French explores how we remember, what we choose to forget, and how we piece together the present from the scraps that are handed down to us by preceding generations.
Photo by Barbara Leslie
“The preservation of heritage, like translation, is the process through which objects and memories are selected, salvaged, preserved, and recontextualized for new viewers.”
- Sherry Simon
“I actually think that the idea of an individual writer is bullshit. All writers are collaborating. They are all talking to other people. They might go home and write by themselves, but they didn’t create their text alone. All writers are part of a bigger fabric.”
- Catriona Strang
PAST PERFORMANCES
WORLD PREMIERE
July 11-13, 2009 – Flynnspace – Burlington, Vermont
In conjunction with the Champlain Quadricentennial Celebration
VERMONT TOUR, SPRING 2010
February 11-14 – Lost Nation Theater, Montpelier
March 5 – Whittemore Theater, Marlboro College
March 6 – Town Hall Theater, Middlebury
March 12 & 13 – Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington
VERMONT HISTORY EXPO
June 26, 2010 – Tunbridge Fairgrounds, Tunbridge, Vermont
SOLO TOUR 2010-2011
November 9 – IBM (Private Performance), Essex Jct., Vermont
November 10 – Southern Vermont College, Bennington, VT
December 10 – École secondaire de Saint-Anselme, QC
January 29 – St. Johnsbury School, St. Johnsbury, VT
January 30 – The Shea Theater, Turners Falls, MA
May 6 – Clinton Community College, Plattsburgh, NY
May 22 – University of Maine, Orono, ME
ABBY PAIGE is a poet, playwright, and performer who was born and raised in South Burlington, Vermont. She began her career as a stand-up and sketch comedian in San Francisco, and in 2003 moved home to Vermont to work on The Voices Project, a documentary theater project about the lives of Vermont teens that she co-wrote, co-directed, and co-produced. Abby has appeared in several productions at Montpelier’s Lost Nation Theater (Judevine, Tartuffe), in Jay Craven’s TV comedy series, Windy Acres, and recently in Craven’s radio variety show, Queen City Radio Hour. Abby received her BA from Vassar College and her MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars, and she is a former Fulbright Scholar. She now lives in Ottawa.
KOBY ROGERS HALL is a creator, performer, and director of new works. Born in Burlington, Vermont, she is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Mischief Theatre, a performance collective based in Montreal. Her recent projects include Nothing Like the Sun, Lady J, and Bordering, a documentary theatre piece about immigration policy in Canada. Koby has collaborated with companies across Canada, the U.S., and Eastern Europe, most recently with bluemouth inc. for the interdisciplinary Dance Marathon and with Arden2 for the Year of Grotowski 2009. Koby is a recipient of the Government of Canada Millenium Award for innovation in her field and the Zonta Club of Ottawa Emerging Artist Award. She holds a BFA Honours specialized in collective and new play creation from York University in Toronto and is currently an MA Candidate at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
January 22, 2010 at 12:06
hello, I am an author, Wednesday’s Child, is the title of my book and I also teach at the University of Maine at Orono about Franco-American women. I will be using this material, info about your play, as a link, in my Fall course. Also, I will be blogging about your upcoming shows on my FA news/events blog…which has over 2,000 hits per week, which tells me there is interest in this particular subject matter. Link:
http://fanset8.blogspot.com/
Good luck! and good work! Rhea
February 5, 2010 at 17:37
Dear Abby (I always wanted to write that!),
My name is Craig Billado. I live near Boulder, CO, but was born and raised in the Greater Burlington area of Vermont. I really appreciate the photo above. I’m not entirely familiar with my family history, but I do know we came down from Canada at some point. To think that I might be related to the folks in that picture is fascinating.
Unfortunately, I don’t have plans to be in Vermont any time soon. Is ‘Piecework’ available in video format? I’d love to see it!
Sincerely,
Craig
February 7, 2010 at 13:09
Abby,
My wife and I saw your show at the Qudricentenial last summer and we’d like you to know it touched us both very much. I was born and brought up catholic in New Bedford, MA in a very french parish and eventually moved to Vermont after my father’s passing. My mother also died at a young age and I soon felt the need for some familial connections.
After a first cousin reuion, the first I had seen some of them in 30+ years, I did some genealogy research. I discovered that I am a direct decendent of one of the founding families of Quebec in the early 1600′s. Before that, I had no idea who my great-grandfathers name was! So now I feel some very deep connections with my heritage.
My wife was born in Hardwick, VT and has a completely British background. She remembers growing up in Hardwick with it’s strong French community that she “felt somehow superior to the French folks in town. No one ever said anything derogatory that I can remember” she said. “It was just something that was there.”
Your show and it’s quilt theme reminded me of all of the little activities that happened in parochial school, at church, at Meme’s house, at cousins gatheirngs. My wife got to see all of these in your show and came away with a better understanding of ‘the other side’.
I wanted to thank you for all the efforts you put into creating your excellent show and reminding me that life is made up of all those moments that make us who we are and that we need to decide what our heritage means to us.
I, like Craig above, would very much like to be able to have your show on video and share it with family.
So thank you again and to anyone reading this with any interest at all in French Canadian culture, this is a show not to be missed.
David Boucher
February 11, 2010 at 02:06
Great picture do you know the date? I wish i was back in vermont to see it. if you tape the show please pass it along
Eben
January 30, 2011 at 13:19
I had the privilege of seeing this show at the St. Johnsbury School last evening. Abby is a talented performer who adroitly captures the experiences of French-Canadian immigrants and their descendents. I grew up in St. Johnsbury when it had a close-knit French Catholic community with a church, schools, and a hospital. Though French was not spoken in my home, it was spoken in the homes of some of my friends. My mother was non-French speaking, so the language was lost in my generation. Still I remember hearing my father speaking French to people throughout his life, and I heard many stories of both my memere’s life and my fathers. All that we have left–as Abby said–is the meat pie and a French name. Her show made me homesick for a time and a people who have almost completely died out. Thank you, Abby, for doing this show.
February 2, 2011 at 03:11
My husband and I very much enjoyed the presentation in Turners Falls, MA on January 30, 2010. We hope that Abby will perform it also in Manchester and Rochester, NH, Woonsocket, RI and Lowell, MA as all of these communities have strong French-Canadian roots and a history of mills which attracted them.
The play reminded us of growing up in Manchester where there were many French-speaking parishes, with bi-lingual schools, and where French was spoken in most of the stores our mothers frequented.
I think there are many connections that might be interested in this play. I’d like to suggest the Association Canado Americaine and the Ste. Marie’s Credit Union Museum as starting points in Manchester.
Abby might also enjoy Fred Pellerin’s CD “Silence” and, especially, the single “Mommy”, by Marc Gelinas and Gilles Richer. This song is about a child asking his mother why his name changed from the French to English and his confusion and sense of loss over it.
This play expressed that loss well. I hope many people will see it. Thank you, Abby. Very nice work.
February 12, 2011 at 14:49
Dear Abby,
I am diappointed to realize that I have missed the chance to see your performance of this amazing piece for a second time. I saw you perform Piecework: When We Were French last year at Lost Nation Theater and I was so amazed and delighted by the array of characters/personalities that you were able to help your audience envision. I don’t know of any French-Canadian heritage in my own family, but I found these charaacters and their stories deeply moving. I would like to encourage you to continue to offer this piece to audiences, and I would love to be on an e-mail list, if you have one, to be informed of future perfomances.