C.W : This audio fiction contains elements of sexual and physical abuse, suicide, and abrupt, aggressive sounds. Please, take care.

‘Love Tape’ is an audio fiction created by myself and Jonathan Brown, that follows an unknown listener playing a cassette tape that was recorded by a young girl with a dark obsession. Turn off the lights, jump under your blanket, and snuggle in for a little spoop! Thank you to Start the Riot Theatre, for providing an incredible, collaborative platform for emerging artists to incubate new works.

We were privileged in having access to high-speed wifi to record our project, which is not the case for many indigenous communities. Data suggests that only 24% of Indigenous communities across Turtle Island have access to high speed internet. We recommend in checking out The Kuhkenah Network, which provides telecommunication infrastructure and application support in First Nation communities across a vast region of north-western Ontario :

https://knet.ca/about_us

We recorded our project on the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, Haudenosaunee and the Mississaugas of the Credit River. This territory is the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas, and Haudenosaunee that bound them to share the territory and protect the land.

Love Tape

'Just Across the Causeway' is a radio play, written and directed by Natalia Bushnik, featuring music composed by Kathleen Welch. The story follows four sisters growing up on Cape Breton Island, and explores how life sends them in different directions, and how a tragic loss brings them back together. The play examines themes of cyclical trauma, small-town living, and the complicated bonds of sisterhood. Featuring performances by Natalia Bushnik, Kathleen Welch, Andrea Meister, and Holly DeJoseph. Sound Design by Jonathan Brown. Cover Art by Terrah Nitkin.

This project received financial support from the Canada Council for the Arts, via the Digital Strategy Fund, and the Toronto Arts Council. A previous draft of the radio play received funds from the National Theatre School of Canada, via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus.

Nat Bushnik