Azimuth
There may be disclosures, they said. He had to go through certain workshops in case a young person was to disclose anything to him after a performance. He doubted that would happen. After his first show, a young girl, 13, approached him. He was shocked. She told him what she was feeling. He was overwhelmed and the 2 became quite emotional. They cried together and then he turned the girl onto a professional who could help her with her suicidal feelings.
Today, Murray Utas is co-artistic producer of Edmonton’s Azimuth Theatre, a company that performs “social-action theatre” - social dramas that explore issues like drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and suicide. Acting in his first Azimuth show in 1998, Utas was shocked by all the disclosures: there was at least one after every performance, and there were over 70 performances. “That justifies us going out,” he says. “We want to try and break the sounds of silence that surround some of these communities.”
Utas was raised in Calgary and decided to make Edmonton his home after a stroll through Gazebo Park near Whyte Avenue in the late 90s. He'd been acting around the country and came upon the guy who would become his co-artistic producer at Azimuth. Utas had always found the Edmonton community very welcoming, even if he’d been away for a long time. It was a short discussion: “He was just like, 'Where you been, what’re you doing, why aren’t you living here?' And I was like, 'That's funny dude, I was just making the decision that I should live here.' And he goes, 'Yeah, I think you should.'"
The workshops began soon after.
Where Next?
Murray Utas
Murray Utas is a performer/director who has been involved in professional theatre and film for over 15 years. For the past 5 years he has been co-artistic producer of Azimuth Theatre, including the facility management of The Living Room Playhouse (Azimuth's production house).
