My Story @ Tarragon
Ravi Jain
In August of 2009, Tarragon had the bright idea of taking me and my mother into the Playwrights Unit. While I can’t say she is the first “mom” to be part of the unit, she most certainly is the least “artsy” ever. My mom is a mom. A normal person who brought up two boys in Canada after immigrating from India. The food she makes, happens to be amazing.
One day, we decided to get my mom to cook food for everyone at Tarragon. Everyone! The likes of Richard Rose, Daniel MacIvor, Tara Rosling and her baby, Camilla Holland, Andrea Romaldi, Louis and all the staff … It had the beautiful wonderful energy of family and home. That building really invites that energy, as you cross so many people’s paths in that little green room on the second floor. The best part, is that there was an encore and a month later by special request, she did it again!
What I love about that story, is, often, theatre or art can be very intimidating and exclusive … but the fact that people took the care to make my mom feel welcome, says a lot about the people in that place. Tarragon has been around for 40 years, and I propose it has remained because of the people that fill the building.
Ravi Jain was Tarragon’s Urjo Kareda Artist-in-Residence during the 2009–10 season. He and his mother, Asha Jain, are members of our 2010 Playwrights Unit where they are working on their play, A Brimful of Asha.
Tell us all about it at tarragontheatre.com/mystory.