Warren Sulatycky has a lot of tools in his storytelling shed, but in his new solo show, Walking Home, he’s added a new one: perogy chef. Sulatycky, whose shot-in-Calgary and Longview film Jasmine Road was showcased at CIFF in 2020, is back with a new multi-media solo show that employs video, live music -- and live cooking -- to tell the story of Sulatycky’s own journey of care-giving for his mom as she progresses through the various stages of Alzheimer’s/dementia. It’s a deeply personal and autobiographical show that also explores a universal theme: the emotional journey of caring for an aging parent. “Memory plays a a highly personal and selective role in building our personal mythologies,” Sulatycky says in a media release, “but what happens when after creating our mythologies, they begin to disappear, to be replaced by only the living present (no past, no future), as is the case with advanced Alzheimer’s? And how do loved ones respond to and assist with keeping those loved one’s mythologies alive, archived for the future?” Well, one way is through food--in this case, Ukrainian food that Edmonton-raised Sulatycky enjoyed growing up. “Walking Home” is firmly rooted in my Ukrainian heritage and I do indeed prepare perogies right on stage," Sulatycky said, in an email reply to a question from CTV News. “And yes, holupchi and borscht are part of the story-telling, though I don’t have the activity band-width to prepare them in the one hour duration of the play - just perogies!” Edmonton theatre kid Sulatycky says he loved theatre growing up in Edmonton and had an Actor’s Equity card and was onstage at the Citadel Theatre by the age of 13. By the age of 17, he was cast in a little-seen TV series called Macpherson’s Herd before evolving into writing, producing and directing in his 20s, as he straddled both the worlds of film and television as well as theatre. And even if the paycheques and audiences are bigger for filmed entertainment, theatre does offer a few superpowers of its own for a performing artist. “Both mediums offer wonderful beauty and benefits,” Sulatycky said. “I love the passion, commitment, community, and collaboration of live theatre, its immediacy, and its direct dialogue with an audience.” “On the other hand I also love the longer gestation period of filmmaking, which often takes years to complete, from the germ of an idea to final editing and distribution,” he says. “Film is a captured moment of life that remains there to witness over and over again. As a writer, my films are like children that grow into something new for audiences over the years, yet they remain forever that young darling you gave birth to once on paper.” They’re both a grind to bring to life, but Sulatycky has managed to bring Walking Home to its world premiere in Calgary, after developing it with the help of the University of Calgary’s School for Performing and Creative Arts, and The Toronto Theatre Centre, where it was workshopped prior to coming to Calgary. “Theatre is in my blood,” he says. “It is always there. Film inspires me to come back to it and try new things, to reach and touch people’s hearts in parts of the world (mainly through festivals) that I may not be able to reach with my theatre.” And the one thing television or film audiences can’t do is share some Ukrainian cooking after the show--but they can at Walking Home. “We serve perogies after the play,” he says, “inviting the audience onstage to stay, eat, and chat/talk about their own families.” Walking Home at the West Village Theatre through Sunday. Tickets $20. For more information, go here.
