7TH COUSINS (2018)

In July 2015, we walked 700 km to Waterloo Ontario... 

When theatre creators Erin Brubacher and Christine Brubaker met, they decided to make something together, based on no more or less than a shared name.

After discovering the story of a common ancestor, who arrived in Ontario on foot in the early 1800s, these two secular women began plotting an adventure to walk the same 700 kms, through what's now the Bible Belt of Pennsylvania, tracing the migration of their Mennonite ancestors to Brubacher House, here in Waterloo Region.

The journey quickly became an active exploration of how to be together. In the evenings, Erin and Christine were welcomed into homes and treated with the care of family, despite the fact that they shared no obvious common ground with their hosts along the way. During the days, while the pair walked, they navigated their own relationship: Facing the challenges of being with another person for 32 days, all day and night.

7th Cousins is the theatrical creation that was born out of the stories, people, and experiences they encountered on their journey. Informal and interactive, the performance encourages audiences to contemplate what 'community' is and ask themselves: “How do you encounter another person? How do you encounter yourself?