Puente Theatre Scholarship

What does it mean to be a performer in a multicultural society?

Essay by Roya Yazdanmehr
Submitted on November 19, 2009 as Puente Theatre Scholarship Application for
Canadian College of Performing Arts

The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. This is one of my favourite quotes from the Writings of the Bahá'í Faith. I believe its message rings true in today’s world; a world where many different cultures are spreading out and beginning to coexist together, learning to embrace and celebrate each other’s cultural uniqueness. My name is Roya Yazdanmehr. I am a Ukrainian Iranian Canadian citizen born and raised in the Canadian Arctic. My father, Shahram Yazdanmehr, was born and raised in Iran and moved to Canada in 1983 as a religious refugee. He was forced to leave his home country because of the religious persecutionof the Bahá'ís. The Bahá'í Faith is a religious minority in Iran, and its followers have been persecuted and killed by the religious leaders and government since it’s inception in 1863. Duringthe 1979 Iranian Revolution all universities andeducational institutions were shut down and Bahá'ís were being arrested, put in jail and killed because of their faith. My grandparents asked my father to leave the country for his own safety, so he fled to India at the age of 21 in order to get a postsecondary education. Upon completing his college degree he was unable to return home because of the continual persecution of the Bahá'ís and the probability of being drafted to fight in the Iran-Iraq war. As a result, he was fortunate enough to immigrate to Canada as a religious refugee, where he met and married my mother, Susan Poloway, a Ukrainian born woman from Alberta. They moved to Yellowknife, where both my sister and I were born and raised. Because of my father’s heritage I have a deep appreciation and respect for the multicultural society in which we live. I believe that as a performer it is my responsibility to share my understanding of the struggles and tribulations that we experience in order to be a part of this beautiful cultural mosaic that we call our home.

As performers, we have the ability to not only touch and move people with our work, but also to make them ask questions about themselves and the world we live in. There is still racism and prejudices alive today that can be challenged in our work and brought to awareness, if even in a subtle and humorous way. A great example of this is the musical South Pacific, which challenges the issue of racism when Nelly, the leading lady, breaks off her engagement to Emile upon discovering he was once married to a dark-skinned woman, and has two dark-skinned children. The song “You’ve got to be carefully taught” talks about how one is not born racist, it is something that you must be taught by your parents and community. This is a powerful example of how one can teach moral lessons through musical theatre and make people think about issues prevalent in society.

While challenging our audience with intense subject matter, we also must be aware of their needs and what subject matter is important to them. Today’s audience is full of so many different cultural backgrounds and upbringings; racial and religious differences that define and shape our identity. The performing arts have such a power to move people of all different backgrounds. It is crucial for a performer to be aware of his audience, their needs, wants and barriers. Living in a multicultural society today provides the performer with the opportunity to learn from these different cultures in order to help them expand their repertoire and grow in their understanding of human nature. Growing up in Yellowknife I was so privileged to encounter such diversity, where people from all over the world come for jobs and freedoms that they are denied in their home countries. I met some amazing musicians whose stories and abilities inspired me. I learnt how to play the embira, a traditional African instrument, by a musician from Zimbabwe. I have had the pleasure of performing this music at many different events and have experienced first hand the positive effect of sharing such a unique musical instrument with people who have never heard it before. It has shown me how we can all fall in love with the beauty of each other’s cultures. I believe it is only through sharing the music, the drama and the art of each culture that we are able to eliminate our prejudices because the arts touch the hearts and minds of people in a way that words and lectures cannot.

When we hear or see a thing of beauty we are reminded of the beauty in this world and of the beauty that is within us. It is aperformer’s responsibility to infuse into their work the joy and love they feel for their art so that in return, they give that gift of love to their audience. We are living in such a special time in the world where we are able to experience first hand African music we’ve never heard before, a foreign film in a different language, or a play dealing with the issues of gender and acceptance in society. The possibilities are endless and as a performer living in a multicultural society it is my duty to remember this and try to share with others my understanding and appreciation of our cultural diversity.