A unique play that explores empathy and understanding – with knitting –and helps audiences find the common thread, happening at at Cole Harbour Woodside United Church on Sunday, October 22 @ 7:30pm, doors open at 7pm.
Tickets are $25 each.
For tickets – $25 each:
- Cash in person after Worship Service on Sunday mornings from 11:30am-12pm.
- Etransfer to chwuc@eastlink.ca with pw: pilgrim
- Online via credit card through Eventbrite. There is a small service fee charge for credit card payments.
Directed by Jennifer Tarver, and performed by actor, writer and knitter Kirk Dunn, The Knitting Pilgrim is a multidisciplinary one-person theatrical experience that uses storytelling, image projection and a one-of-a-kind textile installation called Stitched Glass.
The Knitting Pilgrim, which premiered at the Aga Khan Museum’s Auditorium in May, 2019 and has toured Ontario for 60+ shows, was given 6 out of 5 stars by CFMU Hamilton, 5 out of 5 stars by Mooney on Theatre, and was named a Critic’s Fringe Pick in Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton, as well as One of ‘Top Ten Shows to See’ by NOW Magazine. It tells the story of a journey that you need to experience.
Created by actor, writer and knitter Kirk Dunn, Stitched Glass is a triptych of large hand-knitted panels, designed in the style of stained-glass windows, which looks at the commonalities and conflicts amongst the Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The textile masterwork was supported by a Chalmers Foundation grant through the Ontario Arts Council in 2003, and took Kirk an incredible 15 years to complete. There is no other knitting project like it in the world.
Kirk and seasoned writer Claire Ross Dunn co-wrote The Knitting Pilgrim, which uses the Stitched Glass panels – collectively over 90 pounds of knitting – as its set. The play recounts Kirk’s artistic and spiritual journey of hand-knitting the project, and his hope to contribute to the vital conversation about xenophobia, Antisemitism and Islamophobia, dealing with internal/external strife, and fear of the other.
“The hope has always been to create conversation,” says Kirk, who sought out Christian, Muslim and Jewish consultants to help him research and design the artwork and, more personally, to learn about the feelings and experiences of others. “A conversation between all people—believers and non-believers—who find themselves in conflict. How can we better understand and empathize with each other? Everyone has a unique background, point of view, and experience, and at the same time, many experiences are universal. Focusing on what knits us together, rather than what pulls us apart, is a place to start.”
Kirk Dunn’s TV credits include playing 3 seasons as Dudley in Dudley the Dragon. His stage credits include Billy Bishop Goes to War (Ergo Arts Theatre, Carousel); Merlin and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (YPT); Dads! The Musical (Charlottetown, Stirling, Drayton); Romeo and Juliet (Ford Centre); More Munsch (The Grand); The War Show, A Flea in Her Ear, Don’t Dress for Dinner, and The Affections of May (Drayton). Kirk has been knitting since 1988, and designing since 1995. In 1998, he apprenticed with Kaffe Fassett in England and has since been covered in The Toronto Star, Vogue Knitting, Family Circle Knitting, Knitting Magazine (UK), Maclean’s Magazine, the National Post and on CBC Radio. Filmmakers Ian Daffern and Omar Majeed have made an award-winning documentary, “Stitched Glass: The Documentary,” about Kirk and the journey to realizing this project.
Director Jennifer Tarver was Artistic Director of Necessary Angel Theatre Company between 2013 and 2019, and has directed for Soulpepper Theatre, The Tarragon Theatre, Canadian Stage Company, Nightwood Theatre, and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. During five seasons at Stratford, her work included Waiting For Godot, The Homecoming, Krapp’s Last Tape, Zastrozzi and King of Thieves. Jennifer’s recent work in the US includes Krapp’s Last Tape in Chicago, and Hedda Gabler in Connecticut.Jennifer was also Associate Director at The Theatre Centre in Toronto from 2004-2012.
The Knitting Pilgrim premiered in 2019. It toured until early 2020, when COVID hit. It is now picking up where it left off. During 2023, it has resumed touring across Ontario, was in the Maritimes in May; and was in Austria and Germany in June and July. In 2024, it will be seen widely, and in 2025, will perform in BC.
Knitting is encouraged during the show if audience members are so inclined—Kirk has yarn and needles to give out onstage. People can also Bring Their Own Knitting (#BYOK). Kirk is using the audience’s knitting to assemble a giant Moebius Strip, a curiously paradoxical object that has significance in the play.
And for those audience members who want to find out more about the iconography of the knitted tapestries themselves, Kirk and Claire produced a digital interview and podcast series during COVID called The Knitting Pilgrim Talks. In each short episode, Kirk has a conversation with an expert about the theme of a particular section of each tapestry. The series, which airs on Youtube, and is also available as a podcast, is ideal for general audiences who are curious to know more, and for student audiences as a pre- or post-show activity.
Stitched Glass was supported by the Ontario Arts Council through the Chalmers Foundation. The Knitting Pilgrim was supported by the Toronto Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. The Knitting Pilgrim Talks was supported by the Ontario Arts Council.
For tickets – $25 each:
- Cash in person after Worship Service on Sunday mornings from 11:30am-12pm.
- Etransfer to chwuc@eastlink.ca with pw: pilgrim
- Online via credit card through Eventbrite. There is a small service fee charge for credit card payments.
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For further information about The Knitting Pilgrim: www.kirkdunn.com, The Knitting Pilgrim Facebook page. For media inquiries, contact theknittingpilgrim@gmail.com or 1.647.407.5475.
It’s Maple Syrup time! 
Cole Harbour Woodside United Church 