From the Fresh Meat Archives:
RAVE MOMS
A The Precariat Production
Created and Performed By Kel MacDonald and Hilary Peck
RAVE MOMS is a clown-inspired educational performance on how to rave safely delivered by co-DJs Karen (Peck) and Sharon (MacDonald), also known as RAVE MOMS. Think Sunday school ministry meets Adidas tracksuits and glitter.
instagram: @the.precariat
website: https://kel-macdonald.ca/
Genesis of the Show:
We began developing RAVE MOMS in tandem with our previous clown project (@SadClown420xx) in late 2019/early 2020 (you may have caught the rare debut performance of MC Karen in Feburary 2020 at undercurrents' late night programming). Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, @SadClown420xx was delayed which resulted in the domino-effect of pushing back the development of RAVE MOMS. However, upon revisiting the work two years later, we found that not only was the heart of the work still alive and beating, but it felt more prescient than ever.
Our previous works (Get Yourself Home Skyler James / @SadClown420xx) have dealt with trauma, grief, loneliness, and isolation through both drama and comedy. Now, we are turning our attention to how to gather, celebrate, and connect after a time apart. RAVE MOMS asks: “How can we take better care of each other? How can the spaces we build support us to do so?” RAVE MOMS says: “Our joy is just as political as our sadness is.”
With every significant paradigm shift, there is opportunity to change entrenched practices. Rave music was intended to be an experience that brings people together to all be part of the same crowd. However, it is in danger of being co-opted, of becoming increasingly hyper-commodified and exclusive, so that only the wealthiest can participate. RAVE MOMS seeks to celebrate rave culture’s independent and avant-garde artistic lineage, in order to reject this co-opting and remind audiences that raving is for everyone and a place where everyone can be themselves.
Kel MacDonald
… is a performance and media artist residing on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg. Kel’s research-performance practice (LIVE BED SHOW) focuses on vinyl turntablism and autobiographical performance in relation to traumatic memory loss, asking “How do you tell a story of something you can’t remember?” (University of Ottawa, 2022). Previous artistic credits include work with The Precariat (co-founded in 2018 with Hilary Peck), Digital Arts Resource Centre (DARC), Skeleton Key Theatre, Fresh Meat Festival, Strata Inc., the Great Canadian Theatre Company, and the National Arts Centre. Kel’s artistic work is supported by the City of Ottawa, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, University of Ottawa, the Theatre and Performance Research Association (TAPRA, UK), and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA).
Hilary Peck
… is a local performing artist currently working and living on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg. As a theatre creator she is interested in exploring the relationship between audience and liminal space especially through physicality, movement, and clown. She is an avid enthusiast of electronic dance music, particularly house, techno, and nu-disco, having recently taken up learning how to mix and DJ music.