ST PEON OF PARKDALE blesses her tickets before posting

Theatre making it work this summer - Summer Works Festival runs till Sunday

By Stephen Weir Caribbean Camera
Twenty-nine years on, and the annual Summer Works Festival is still presenting cutting edge theatre in downtown Toronto.  The environment, class discrimination, sexual orientation and yes even the social impact of parking tickets are some of the themes of the 30 dances, plays and music that will be performed on the boards for the next week.

The Caribbean Camera has been attending the plays since the launch of the festival ten days ago.  Two that are recommended by the paper are ST PEON OF PARKDALE and ROCHDALE.

Below is a review about the St Peon of Parkdale.  Next blog posting looks at my published review of the play rochdale.

PARKING TICKET PHILOSOPHER – St. PEON OF PARKDALE

People who drive Mercedes, Audis and Jaguars hold 80% of the parking permits in Toronto. Don’t argue with the Meter Maid. If she said it, it must be true!

The Beatles sang about Lovely Rita Meter Maid on their album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. 50 years later, lovely Rita Mae Nelson is the new lady on the block. She is a Jamaican Canadian Parking Enforcement Officer  (PEO) played by Second City comedian Jamillah Ross.

The outdoor 50-minute walking play begins in a park near Queen Street West and Dovercourt in a district whose streets are lined with badly parked cars.

Ticket holders are told that we are new PEOs and that Rita Mae Nelson is going to take us on a training tour of the on street swamp.  She has the help of Moses a female safety officer who like the Biblical Moses parts the sea of moving cars to make sure the audience makes it across the busy streets safely while the play unfolds.

Abell. Lisgar. Sudbury Street. Rita marches us along the very roads I had just been driving along, trying to find a free parking spot, legal or not.

Rita shares secrets about her job, the people who park here and the neighbourhood which has to put up with the cars 24 seven.

It is noisy on the street so she speaks through a loud squeaky megaphone when needed.  Volunteers carry chairs for older people in the audience join in the parade – people come out onto their apartments, drop money in a hand held donation pail and also tag along. There were 30 of us Monday night weaving are way past parked cars all the while protected by Moses from fast-pedalled bikes and crazy drivers.

St. Peon of Parkdale tackles the isms, poorly parked cars, and the intersectionality of privilege.  It is a fun experience but there is an underlying message about life in a big city. Rule number one? “Walk Like Da Boss!”

Rita Mae Nelson is a street philosopher who hands out her views on the world faster than she dishes out her indestructible yellow tickets.  She loves the new tickets, by the way – “No one can tear them up and throw them in your face!”

“Getting a ticket is like getting a paint ball in the face in the first seconds of the game. It ruins your whole day (unless of course you are rich and don’t care)”.

Most of the audience got to the gig on foot or by TTC, so there was no sympathy for cars that were sporting real $30 tickets on their windshields. We were into her take on tickets and her disdain for rich car drivers.

She doesn’t think that people should be able to park free for 3-hours on the side streets.  No, people should park for an hour and lime with other car owners. After 60 minutes they should have to move, by law, to another spot and lime for just 50 minutes  (“They will be all talked out anyway?).

Actress Jamillah Ross strikes an imposing pose as she stops to crack jokes and dispense with Caribbean wisdom.  She is 6ft tall and is decked out a PEO uniform completed with dark cop sunglasses.  At first meeting I thought American Leslie Jones (Saturday Night Live) had escaped North for the Festival.

Jamillah Ross is a Canadian comedian, actress, and singer-songwriter. She trained through Toronto's The Second City and has performed in improvisation troupes and on stage, television and film. She is best known for her appearances in the movies Pay the Ghost, Picture Day and You Might As Well Live.

Toronto’s meter maid will be giving two more walking performances both on Friday (7pm and 9pm) Tickets are $15.00 The tour starting point is located at Toronto Media Arts Centre – 32 Lisgar St.Best if you walk to the theatre for this one!