March 17, 2025

#014: Berend McKenzie Finds His Voice: Art, Addiction, and the Power of Community

Join us for a powerful conversation with Berend McKenzie, who candidly shares his journey through creativity, resilience, and the vital importance of community. In this episode, we explore how Berend's early challenges, including struggles with ADHD and past traumas, propelled him toward the arts and shaped his identity as a creative.

Berend opens up about mentors who guided him on his path, demonstrating how crucial these connections were in helping him transform adversity into artistic expression. As he reflects on his vulnerabilities, he emphasizes how embracing these aspects has not only enriched his work but inspired authenticity in others.

We dive into the role of community in Berend's life, especially how being actively involved with various groups has provided support and motivation during dark times. As a resilient creative, Berend reminds us that isolation is one of the most significant threats to an artist’s journey, encouraging listeners to seek and engage in supportive environments.

Throughout the episode, we are reminded of the power of vulnerability, mentorship, and connection. Berend's final words challenge us to "just say yes." Reflecting on the opportunities that arise from this simple act, he illustrates how life can transform when we open ourselves up to new experiences. Don’t miss this inspiring episode that invites you to embrace your creative journey!

Berend's Profile

This is Maddox & Dwight! More than anything, we want to connect and communicate with you. We don't want to think of you as listeners. We want to think of you as community. So, scroll to the bottom of the show notes and click the SUBSCRIBE link. Thank you!

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Chapters

00:00 - Introduction of Hosts and Guest

06:08 - Barron's Early Creative Journey

20:53 - The Role of Mentorship in Creativity

35:38 - Navigating Community and Isolation

49:23 - Crafting Vulnerability into Art

01:05:53 - A Year of Transformation and Opportunity

01:20:23 - Closing Thoughts and Final Words of Wisdom

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:10.630 --> 00:00:14.474
room full of other alcoholics to go.

00:00:14.474 --> 00:00:20.242
Oh, my god, I'm not the worst person in the room because she's far worse than I am, you know.

00:00:20.242 --> 00:00:26.806
You know I'm not the best person in the room, because you know I'm not the best person in the room because he has nicer shoes than I do.

00:00:26.806 --> 00:00:29.307
Right, like it keeps you right.

00:00:29.307 --> 00:00:31.609
Community keeps me right-sized.

00:00:31.609 --> 00:00:41.256
Community keeps me engaged, right-sized and feeling like I have a place and that's my job.

00:00:41.256 --> 00:00:47.920
I can't.

00:00:47.920 --> 00:01:02.414
None of the things that have happened for me since I moved to Toronto the only reason why they've happened is because I took the step to go out to these things to make myself seen and heard, and when I wasn't doing that, I found disillusionment, I found victimhood and I found isolation and loneliness.

00:01:02.414 --> 00:01:04.618
Victimhood and I found isolation and loneliness.

00:01:08.221 --> 00:01:11.843
Wow, man, you could not have summed it up better or more clearly.

00:01:11.843 --> 00:01:18.987
I mean, this is the theme of everything we're about at For the Love of Creatives and you just wow.

00:01:18.987 --> 00:01:35.016
Hello and welcome to For the Love of Creatives podcast.

00:01:35.016 --> 00:01:36.158
I'm Maddox.

00:01:44.120 --> 00:01:44.683
And I'm Dwight.

00:01:44.683 --> 00:01:44.882
We're the.

00:01:44.903 --> 00:01:47.274
Connections and Community Guys, and today we are joined by our featured guest, barron McKenzie.

00:01:47.274 --> 00:01:48.500
Hello, welcome, barron.

00:01:48.500 --> 00:01:49.802
So glad to see you.

00:01:49.802 --> 00:01:59.549
Just so the audience knows, I know Barron because he was a guest on my previous podcast a little over two years ago, so it's a reunion.

00:01:59.549 --> 00:02:01.013
We haven't seen each other since then.

00:02:01.739 --> 00:02:04.709
I know, and it's so good to see you Feels like a whole lifetime.

00:02:12.860 --> 00:02:13.382
We've had a lifetime.

00:02:13.382 --> 00:02:14.467
Since we've seen each other, lots have changed.

00:02:14.467 --> 00:02:17.038
Yes, well, I'm going to turn it over to you and let you tell the audience a little bit about yourself.

00:02:17.078 --> 00:02:19.122
Well, all right then, my name is Barry McKenzie.

00:02:19.122 --> 00:02:28.538
I am an actor, writer, producer living in Toronto, canada, and yeah, I'm a playwright.

00:02:28.538 --> 00:02:36.171
I write short stories, artists anything artistic I love to sink my hands into.

00:02:36.171 --> 00:02:38.902
And, yeah, I'm really happy to be here.

00:02:40.506 --> 00:02:41.187
Good to have you.

00:02:41.187 --> 00:02:43.233
Yeah, glad you've joined us.

00:02:43.233 --> 00:02:49.131
Could you tell us a little bit about how you got started on the creative path?

00:02:50.432 --> 00:02:53.787
Sure, I've been a creative.

00:02:53.787 --> 00:02:56.543
I was a creative kid, like you know.

00:02:56.543 --> 00:02:59.891
I think my first skill was learning how to lie.

00:02:59.891 --> 00:03:06.919
You know, I wasn't always the best actor when it came to lying.

00:03:06.919 --> 00:03:15.360
I always got those big, wide eyes and turned kind of pale and my family could always tell when I was lying.

00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:20.048
But it sure gave me a goal to work towards to see if I could get away with the lie.

00:03:20.048 --> 00:03:21.723
But I've always been creative.

00:03:21.723 --> 00:03:22.686
I've always been.

00:03:22.686 --> 00:03:24.371
I've always been creative.

00:03:24.371 --> 00:03:34.793
I've always been drawn to anything I I movies, tv shows.

00:03:35.715 --> 00:03:48.875
Uh, my first love was listening and I was just thinking about this the other day, listening to um, the grim, all those really dark fairy tales, like I was.

00:03:48.875 --> 00:04:06.147
I was so young and I was a toddler and we had these and I just remember the, the mood of them and the way, the vocalization of these stories and the darkness of them and the light of them.

00:04:06.147 --> 00:04:19.165
And I think even at that point in my life I was sort of synapsing off of those two things, the dark and the light and it just followed.

00:04:19.165 --> 00:04:20.706
I just followed through.

00:04:20.706 --> 00:04:22.910
I kind of stumbled into things.

00:04:22.910 --> 00:04:25.112
I'm a stumbler into life.

00:04:25.112 --> 00:04:38.209
I don't realize I can do something or I'm attracted to something, unless I stumble into it, and then it becomes a passion, and so, yeah, I've been creating pretty much all my life.

00:04:39.771 --> 00:04:40.454
That's wonderful.

00:04:41.341 --> 00:04:44.831
I'm curious so, as this began to show up in your life.

00:04:44.831 --> 00:04:52.447
Wonderful, I'm curious, so, as this began to show up in your life, what kind of messages did you get from those around you?

00:04:52.447 --> 00:04:56.153
You know the, the people, that their words have great influence on us.

00:04:58.201 --> 00:05:01.389
Um, with my family.

00:05:01.389 --> 00:05:12.853
I I sucked at school Like I was terrible, I had ADHD, dyslexic, and I had a learning disability.

00:05:12.853 --> 00:05:21.514
So I think my parents, my adoptive parents I was adopted at the age of one grew up in a white family.

00:05:21.514 --> 00:05:27.814
We grew up all over northern Alberta, which is, uh, very conservative.

00:05:27.814 --> 00:05:48.035
Not no people of color, black and indigenous, but other than that, um, and so I think my family, my parents, were just glad that I found something that I was half decent at, like I, at one point I could really sing and I didn't know I could sing.

00:05:48.055 --> 00:05:51.706
It was grade four or five and a teacher came up.

00:05:51.706 --> 00:06:00.485
His name was Mr Gilchrist and we had just moved to this very small town and and life for me at home was not very good.

00:06:00.485 --> 00:06:21.187
And in my first class we had a choral, a choir class, and he came and stood beside each of us and he spent a lot of time beside me and when the class was over he called me to the side and said oh, my God, I'm in trouble.

00:06:21.187 --> 00:06:25.615
It's like barely two hours into school, my, you know my, my fifth year and I'm I'm already in trouble.

00:06:25.615 --> 00:06:27.221
It's like, barely two hours into school, my, you know my, my fifth year and I'm I'm already in trouble.

00:06:27.221 --> 00:06:31.581
And he said you have a really good voice, would you like to join the choir?

00:06:31.581 --> 00:06:35.831
And I was like sure, but up until that point, like I like to sing.

00:06:35.831 --> 00:06:48.119
But I didn't know I could sing and that then turned into being featured in these school assemblies where you know Joseph.

00:06:48.119 --> 00:06:58.043
I played Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and got Noah and his floating zoo and all these sort of.

00:06:58.483 --> 00:07:42.120
I was always featured in these things and it really at that age, at that time in my life, meant so much because I come from a childhood where abuse is a part of my story and school and choir was a real escape for me and in a world and a time when I didn't feel special, this one teacher really did allow me to discover that I had something to offer the world besides, uh, problems and lying and stealing and acting out and and abuse and and and being beat up by my father.

00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:44.005
So you know it was.

00:07:44.005 --> 00:07:45.891
That's where it started.

00:07:45.891 --> 00:07:49.887
I've had, I'd had, and ever since then I've had mentors all my life.

00:07:50.288 --> 00:08:07.601
None of my work, none of my, none of what I've done in my life would be possible without the um, the beautiful help in hand I've gotten from people who know way more about what I'm trying to achieve than I do.

00:08:07.601 --> 00:08:20.548
So I've really, since that time, I've kept my eye out for the people that are my champions and I hold on to them like life rafts.

00:08:20.548 --> 00:08:39.332
I think that that's part of my job is to find the people who I know are my champions and who believe in what I do, aren't jealous of what I do or bring to the table, and only are there to inspire me and to support me.

00:08:41.100 --> 00:08:44.792
And does this show up as collaborations or true mentorships?

00:08:56.988 --> 00:08:59.909
And does this show up as collaborations or true mentorships?

00:08:59.909 --> 00:09:07.195
This I was so screwed up coming into college I was 19.

00:09:07.195 --> 00:09:09.496
It was the.

00:09:09.496 --> 00:09:11.018
I'd lived through the.

00:09:11.018 --> 00:09:12.303
I came out when I was.

00:09:12.303 --> 00:09:15.014
I ran away from home when I was 15.

00:09:15.014 --> 00:09:18.842
I lived on the streets of Edmonton as a queer gender.

00:09:18.842 --> 00:09:35.351
I thought I was very confused about my gender, found a community of drag queens at this bar in Edmonton, alberta, and became a drag queen and learned how to perform with them.

00:09:35.351 --> 00:09:38.442
So they were kind of my initial mentors.

00:09:38.442 --> 00:09:53.592
You know, don't steal, show up, rehearse, you know all those like street smart things that drag queens are really good at teaching you and how to do my makeup, take pride in my work, all that stuff.

00:09:54.159 --> 00:10:10.476
And then the AIDS pandemic hit and suddenly at a very young age I was going to three or four funerals a month and drinking alcoholically and really lost in my life.

00:10:10.476 --> 00:10:15.230
And I was at about an age of 19,.

00:10:15.230 --> 00:10:24.753
A friend of mine could see that my alcoholism was getting worse and told me if you don't, you're just going to be a drunken loser all your life.

00:10:24.753 --> 00:10:26.086
And I was like, yeah, well, fuck you.

00:10:26.086 --> 00:10:37.330
And so I showed up, hung over to this audition for a musical theater program and how I made it through that audition I have no idea.

00:10:37.330 --> 00:10:42.868
Like I was literally in between the dance and ballet, which I can't do either, and ballet, which I can't do either.

00:10:42.868 --> 00:10:57.602
But during those audition times I was sleeping in a on a on a mat underneath a stairwell, just trying to get some energy up for the next phase.

00:10:57.602 --> 00:11:06.835
But I fluked into this, into this, I stumbled into this program and that's where I met Tim Ryan and a lot of the other professors.

00:11:07.054 --> 00:11:23.024
What I got, especially in the early 80s, you had to fit into a category right Well, in Alberta and Edmonton at that point I was the only Black kid in that program and they didn't know what to do with me because I had a high voice.

00:11:23.024 --> 00:11:33.039
I wasn't like gangster black, I was more I don't know Bob, the Drag Queen black.

00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:47.808
You know, I was more Faye than Hood and I literally was told by the main acting professor that there was no space for me in this career at all.

00:11:47.808 --> 00:11:53.673
And Tim was the one that championed me and said no, absolutely, there is space.

00:11:53.673 --> 00:12:00.096
And that really gave me courage and gave me the inspiration to work harder and to.

00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:08.845
At that time in my life I liked being underestimated, because that gave me the drive to prove you wrong.

00:12:08.845 --> 00:12:09.807
Now I've changed that.

00:12:09.807 --> 00:12:13.014
I've changed that idea of being underestimated.

00:12:13.014 --> 00:12:16.345
Now I demand when I meet people.

00:12:16.345 --> 00:12:21.111
Now I don't underestimate you.

00:12:21.111 --> 00:12:26.581
If you tell me you can do something, I believe you and I expect the same thing back.

00:12:26.581 --> 00:12:38.582
And I think that that's one of the things that Timothy taught me was you know, you have to have respect for yourself and you have to demand to be seen and heard and you have to work hard.

00:12:38.582 --> 00:12:44.986
And so he was my first, and then it just went from there to a bunch of mentors and everything else.

00:12:45.561 --> 00:12:49.001
So those are amazing life lessons, are they not what?

00:12:49.001 --> 00:12:49.785
An amazing gift.

00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:56.854
Amazing, amazing, especially at that time, because you know there were no angels in America.

00:12:56.854 --> 00:12:57.919
There was all that stuff.

00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:13.561
But even then those plays did not have people like me in them, unless somebody like Tim thought outside like I hate the fact that he would have to think outside of the box to put me into a show, but that's that's what I got all the time.

00:13:13.561 --> 00:13:20.621
And then, at the age of 21, I was diagnosed HIV positive and that's when sort of I just thought I was going to die.

00:13:20.621 --> 00:13:35.427
And so I lived my life for many years addicted and very sick and almost died, until I got sober in 20.

00:13:35.427 --> 00:13:39.613
Oh, it's been 22 years, 20.

00:13:39.613 --> 00:13:45.645
It'll be 23 years this year that I got sober Congratulations.

00:13:46.086 --> 00:13:49.711
That is an enormous accomplishment.

00:13:50.010 --> 00:13:51.192
Thank you, thank you.

00:13:51.472 --> 00:13:52.073
Bravo.

00:13:52.815 --> 00:13:53.216
Thank you.

00:13:53.216 --> 00:13:55.500
I appreciate it.

00:13:55.500 --> 00:14:14.592
But once that happened, because of those years of darkness where I wasn't taking part in life and not taking part in art and not seeking mentorship, I'd lost contact with everybody that supported me because I was just too awful to be around.

00:14:14.592 --> 00:14:28.642
I really, once I got sober, I thought, if I could do good stuff when I was high and drunk, what could I do sober?

00:14:28.642 --> 00:14:42.666
So once again, I started looking for those mentors and those people that believed in me, and those came in the form of agents who saw something in me, casting agents who saw something in me and cast me in my first couple of films and I really did dive into the acting film and TV acting.

00:14:43.467 --> 00:14:45.913
I worked with Halle Berry and Catwoman.

00:14:45.913 --> 00:14:54.464
I worked with Angelina Jolie in my very first film was with Angel Angelina Jolie right after she, uh, won the Oscar.

00:14:54.464 --> 00:14:57.750
Um, both terrible movies, but I was in them.

00:14:57.750 --> 00:15:14.596
So, hey, I got paid, um, and it really was a process of me looking for those people that believed in my talent, believed in what I brought to the table and who I could also enhance their lives.

00:15:14.596 --> 00:15:37.410
Right Like, it's not just about me taking, it's really about me also bringing value and value to what you do, bringing value and value to what you do, and that was a lesson that I had to learn that it's not just about taking, taking, taking, it's about giving back, and I think that's what you guys do with your, with your podcast, which is really exciting.

00:15:38.759 --> 00:15:41.865
Well, thank you, we're honored for that recognition.

00:15:41.865 --> 00:15:49.615
I am curious about how you mentioned that you have been inspired by your mentors.

00:15:49.615 --> 00:15:53.590
Yeah, you've had those people who've encouraged you.

00:15:53.590 --> 00:16:01.472
Have you had the opportunity to be a mentor for others, and what's that been like?

00:16:02.380 --> 00:16:03.524
Yeah, I have.

00:16:03.524 --> 00:16:11.250
I mean, I just learned, I just treated other people the way I was treated and it's been super rewarding.

00:16:11.250 --> 00:16:40.133
It's been as an alcoholic I don't know if anybody has alcoholics in their lives, but we tend to be very selfish and I'm an actor, so it's about me all the time, even and and sometimes my way of getting to connect with you is by delving into my own story in order, and that can sometimes seem self-serving and sort of making it about me when it's not.

00:16:40.133 --> 00:16:55.707
So being a mentor has really allowed me to give of myself without expectation of getting anything back and no ownership.

00:16:55.707 --> 00:17:04.869
I've had mentors that came in as mentors and left as dangerous, because what I found is that they wanted to own my work.

00:17:04.869 --> 00:17:06.771
They wanted to own what I do.

00:17:06.771 --> 00:17:20.003
They wanted to take credit for the things that I'd done and I would never say that I, none of my work and none of the plays or anything that I've done was ever done on my own steam alone.

00:17:20.003 --> 00:17:24.208
But for them to take credit for my work, that was a bridge too far.

00:17:24.208 --> 00:17:42.542
So for me as a mentor, I won't really get into mentorship with somebody if I feel that there's any sort of competition with them, If I feel a little bit of like, oh, jealousy, like, oh, I wish I had what they had, and that doesn't happen often.

00:17:42.542 --> 00:18:01.394
So I've really been able to work with some really exciting new filmmakers and writers and you're just there to listen, like there, to support, there, to be encouraging, giving notes to writers.

00:18:02.040 --> 00:18:03.548
A lot of people don't know how to do that.

00:18:03.548 --> 00:18:11.271
A lot of people are dream killers, especially in the film industry, which I've learned we were talking earlier.

00:18:11.271 --> 00:18:15.605
One of my favorite sayings is say yes before I say no.

00:18:15.605 --> 00:18:29.605
And what I've learned through even just giving notes to mentees, that my job is not to tell you no, this can't be done, or no, that's not a good idea, or no.

00:18:29.605 --> 00:18:31.027
Why would you even think that?

00:18:31.027 --> 00:18:49.566
My job, I feel, is to say yes to everything that you're doing, but also giving my own honesty about where I think you could maybe push the story into a new direction or do this with it or take it.

00:18:49.566 --> 00:18:52.051
Maybe this character might be able to do this.

00:18:52.051 --> 00:18:54.182
So it's about it's about nuance.

00:18:54.182 --> 00:18:56.487
Mentorship for me is about nuance.

00:18:56.487 --> 00:19:07.726
How I speak to the mentee really can be the difference between failure and and success for them, and I don't want to be in the failure category ever.

00:19:09.590 --> 00:19:10.073
Beautiful.

00:19:10.073 --> 00:19:11.605
I love that.

00:19:11.605 --> 00:19:33.631
Maren, you have been blessed to have, throughout your life, guardian angels have shown up, these people that have believed in you and mentored you, and even though there was a few in there that tried to take advantage of you, you've still been really, really blessed with all that has shown up.

00:19:34.251 --> 00:19:34.432
Yeah.

00:19:35.520 --> 00:19:36.542
What did you?

00:19:36.542 --> 00:19:45.651
What do you believe that you did or that you were that attracted those people to you?

00:19:45.651 --> 00:19:52.990
Because you know we live, I'm a firm believer in the law of attraction.

00:19:52.990 --> 00:19:55.019
Nothing's coincidental.

00:19:55.019 --> 00:20:00.373
You showed up in life in a manner that drew those people to you.

00:20:00.373 --> 00:20:03.710
Can you identify what that was?

00:20:10.700 --> 00:20:10.759
you.

00:20:10.759 --> 00:20:11.561
Can you identify what that was?

00:20:11.561 --> 00:20:18.381
Well, I think it has to do with uh, for me it had to do with the skill set that I brought, like when I met that, that, that that teacher in grade five, about the singing.

00:20:18.381 --> 00:20:20.085
I had the tool.

00:20:20.085 --> 00:20:22.810
I was raw and didn't know how to use it.

00:20:22.810 --> 00:20:24.315
His job was to teach me.

00:20:24.315 --> 00:20:27.744
But once I think I brought, I bring passion.

00:20:27.744 --> 00:20:34.460
I bring, I bring a sort of still, even at the age of 56.

00:20:34.460 --> 00:20:41.384
I bring like a childlike naivete to things.

00:20:41.384 --> 00:20:44.720
I bring a curiosity.

00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:48.266
I ask a stupid amount of questions.

00:20:48.266 --> 00:20:56.844
I take risks with my work as a writer.

00:20:57.124 --> 00:21:00.931
I knew right away that I had a very distinctive voice.

00:21:00.931 --> 00:21:14.260
I'm teachable, distinctive voice, I'm teachable.

00:21:14.260 --> 00:21:14.582
I'm accountable.

00:21:14.582 --> 00:21:15.063
I show up for deadlines.

00:21:15.063 --> 00:21:17.207
I push through when it's really, really difficult.

00:21:17.207 --> 00:21:20.554
Those are all things that I just got from life.

00:21:20.554 --> 00:21:22.527
I think I had to do that in my life.

00:21:22.527 --> 00:21:26.340
I had to push myself to show up even when I didn't want to.

00:21:26.340 --> 00:21:34.163
So I think a lot of these mentors that I have gotten, we see in each other what we see in ourselves, or vice versa.

00:21:34.163 --> 00:21:46.902
Um, I see what I see in you, I see in me, and I think they just saw that I had that, that drive to to move forward can we go a little deeper?

00:21:46.922 --> 00:21:51.304
Mm-hmm, I think you're right onto something there.

00:21:51.304 --> 00:22:04.694
You know, we've all known people that showed up with the talent and the skill and accountability and the drive and all those things that you mentioned and still didn't get any breaks Right?

00:22:04.694 --> 00:22:07.964
I think that you're teetering right on the edge of it.

00:22:07.964 --> 00:22:11.877
I think that you're teetering right on the edge of it.

00:22:11.877 --> 00:22:12.538
Maybe it was.

00:22:12.538 --> 00:22:24.368
You know, you said people show up and reflect back to what was it that you must have been, the way you were showing up, that you were reflecting to them.

00:22:24.368 --> 00:22:28.112
You know, it's something inside here.

00:22:28.112 --> 00:22:31.936
It's not what you were doing, it's.

00:22:31.936 --> 00:22:36.867
I just have to believe it was something inside that drew all of those people to you.

00:22:39.256 --> 00:22:54.540
I mean, it's a really good question and it's funny that that, like I have been working with two amazing mentors I've discovered through some writing programs since I moved to Toronto, specifically last year.

00:22:54.602 --> 00:23:10.240
I found a really amazing film mentor and on the other hand, I found an amazing TV writing mentor and the other day I was like one of them.

00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:11.955
His name is Anthony Q Farrell.

00:23:11.955 --> 00:23:37.336
He wrote on the Office, he's an award-winning showrunner, he's the TV guy and he is just one of the most amazingly supportive, beautiful, encouraging humans that you could ever have in your life and, for whatever reason, he has chosen to really take me under his wing.

00:23:37.336 --> 00:23:56.357
Same with Mitch LeBlanc he is one of Canada's up and coming film writers Smart, dedicated, funny, all those things and he too is somebody that I met this last year and has taken me under his wing.

00:23:56.357 --> 00:24:01.449
And just the other day I was thinking like how did I get so blessed?

00:24:01.449 --> 00:24:09.202
What did I do to deserve and to attract these people into my life?

00:24:09.202 --> 00:24:14.290
And to not answer your question.

00:24:14.290 --> 00:24:16.057
I don't know.

00:24:16.057 --> 00:24:19.262
I really don't know what that is.

00:24:19.763 --> 00:24:27.583
I think I know, as you continue to talk, it is becoming kind of it's coming into focus Everything that you're saying.

00:24:27.583 --> 00:24:44.119
It's coming into focus Everything that you're saying and then, built in with my own intuition, which is really strong, I get that it's because you hold a certain belief system.

00:24:44.119 --> 00:24:45.280
What is that belief system?

00:24:45.280 --> 00:24:57.699
You hold a certain belief system that makes this all possible Not just possible, but probable.

00:24:57.720 --> 00:25:01.095
You've attracted these people to you, but you've done it with a belief system.

00:25:04.375 --> 00:25:12.532
Oh my God, these are questions that I get asked and then I need to like spend a year contemplating, oh and I think that's valid for me.

00:25:12.532 --> 00:25:12.953
I think that's valid.

00:25:12.973 --> 00:25:22.795
That's definitely something that taps far beneath the surface yeah, and I I think it's a really great question.

00:25:22.795 --> 00:25:33.563
I think my belief system, uh, the core of it is you know what?

00:25:33.563 --> 00:25:41.430
I really do not know what I sit down.

00:25:41.430 --> 00:25:48.424
I think, for me, it's about I've never enjoyed life.

00:25:48.424 --> 00:25:50.297
I think, for me, it's about I've never enjoyed life.

00:25:50.297 --> 00:26:01.851
I've never been somebody that woke up in the morning and went oh my goodness, I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings or today brings.

00:26:01.851 --> 00:26:26.726
I've never been that person and I think what has pushed me forward is almost that determination to find the joy of life before my life is over, to find that morning where I wake up and go.

00:26:26.726 --> 00:26:28.388
I can't wait to see what today brings.

00:26:28.388 --> 00:26:34.807
Morning where I wake up and go.

00:26:34.807 --> 00:26:36.493
I can't wait to see what today brings.

00:26:36.513 --> 00:26:46.056
Last year, in 2022, was probably the hardest year I ever had, because I'd moved across the country.

00:26:46.056 --> 00:26:48.797
I'd lost my partner of 28 years in 2019.

00:26:48.797 --> 00:26:51.617
And that's when Maddox and I first met.

00:26:51.617 --> 00:26:54.259
I had just moved to Edmonton, I was broken.

00:26:54.259 --> 00:27:11.324
The grief was so heavy and deep that I just needed a shift and change, moved across the country when I started writing film and television and wanting to take this risk while I could, with my age, with the money that I had.

00:27:11.324 --> 00:27:24.449
But and it landed here in Toronto thinking that everything would just be laid at my feet and I, I spent like a year of no's.

00:27:24.449 --> 00:27:31.510
Every door I tried to open was a no, every single thing that I attempted and tried to push through was a no.

00:27:31.510 --> 00:28:17.505
And this time last year, at Christmas time, on Christmas day, I wrote out a suicide note and, and you know, I, I sought help, I got help and I think, like I want to learn how to, I really would love to learn how to love life and I think that's what keeps me going, and I think that's what keeps me going, and oftentimes I need people to see what I bring to the table before I see it in myself.

00:28:17.505 --> 00:28:42.808
And sort of as soon as I got help with the suicide stuff, the ideation and the planning last year, all of a sudden this last year just blew up for me Like all these opportunities, all these mentorship opportunities, these money-making doors and gates open, these connections with people in the industry that I could only have dreamed of.

00:28:42.808 --> 00:28:52.508
So, to be completely honest, with that very sort of deep question, I don't know what my driving force is.

00:28:52.508 --> 00:29:07.380
All I know is that art has saved my life on every level, at every time, in every way imaginable, art has been the thing that has saved me from myself.

00:29:07.380 --> 00:29:09.884
It's saved me from others.

00:29:09.884 --> 00:29:26.080
It's saved me from the world, specifically now with what's happening in the United States and in Canada as well the rise of the right and the transphobia, and the hatred and the fear.

00:29:27.742 --> 00:29:32.788
The day after the election and I was I spent three weeks just.

00:29:32.788 --> 00:29:39.946
I had so much hope and I hadn't allowed myself to have hope about an election for many, many years.

00:29:39.946 --> 00:29:58.146
And the dread and the anxiety and the sadness and the fear that overtook me at the night of the election when I saw where it was going, the complete devastation and the disbelief that people could be this stupid.

00:29:58.146 --> 00:30:19.304
I woke up that next morning and the only thing I knew to do was to sit down at my computer, open up my script that I've been working on that's about AIDS and hockey and addiction and dive headfirst into that.

00:30:19.304 --> 00:30:25.417
And by, I think, I opened that document at eight o'clock in the morning.

00:30:25.417 --> 00:30:30.131
By seven o'clock at night, I ate dinner Like it, literally.

00:30:30.131 --> 00:30:43.480
And I knew then that the only thing that's going to save me right now save my mental health, save my spirit, which is just starting to sort of heal from the suicide.

00:30:43.480 --> 00:30:46.782
Stuff is my art, is my art.

00:30:46.782 --> 00:30:50.365
That's the driving force.

00:30:51.106 --> 00:31:20.548
You know, barron, I just have to say this is so unbelievably rich because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are going to be so many people when they listen to this that can identify so completely, people who are either in it right now or have gone through it or are on their way into it.

00:31:20.548 --> 00:31:37.128
You know, you had a whole year where nothing, no breakthroughs, a whole year after you moved where you just couldn't win for losing, and then all of a sudden something shifted and the next year has just been like, wow, right, am I understanding correctly?

00:31:37.875 --> 00:31:38.155
Yeah.

00:31:38.917 --> 00:31:41.424
Something shifted inside of you.

00:31:41.424 --> 00:31:44.453
Yeah, that's the only way that can happen.

00:31:44.453 --> 00:32:01.820
Something shifted inside of you and I kind of keep kind of tipping back to it because this is so powerful If you can identify what shifted in you, others will hear this and be able to identify what needs to shift in them, even your mentees that you work with.

00:32:02.323 --> 00:32:45.971
This is so rich no-transcript or sorry, there's somebody at my door.

00:32:45.971 --> 00:32:47.494
Sorry that's okay.

00:32:47.494 --> 00:32:56.904
Sorry, god sorry, I haven't had anybody show up at my door.

00:32:56.904 --> 00:33:01.106
That means a gentleman caller, nothing.

00:33:01.106 --> 00:33:04.825
He's been trying to get in my door for the last 15 minutes.

00:33:04.825 --> 00:33:14.606
Anyways, sorry, there was something about that moment and that time that I um.

00:33:14.606 --> 00:33:33.650
I think what happened when I finally came out of the fog is that I realized that there was more to live for, and I don't know if that's answering your question, dude, I really don't.

00:33:33.650 --> 00:33:34.411
I don't know.

00:33:36.798 --> 00:33:37.359
You're doing great.

00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:38.483
Just keep going.

00:33:38.483 --> 00:33:39.326
You're doing great.

00:33:39.815 --> 00:33:41.202
So this is the thing for me.

00:33:41.202 --> 00:33:42.721
This is the thing for me.

00:33:42.721 --> 00:33:51.510
I don't spend a lot of time analyzing why and I notice that about myself even in these questions.

00:33:51.510 --> 00:34:02.423
When I apply for these applicants would apply in writing for writing rooms or to get into these mentorships or to do these things Um, I the.

00:34:02.423 --> 00:34:14.996
The questions always come up like what is your, your process, your process?

00:34:14.996 --> 00:34:15.257
I don't know.

00:34:15.257 --> 00:34:33.030
I wake up, you know I have a tea, I doom scroll, I play Candy Crush, and then at 10 o'clock I sit down at my computer and I write for six hours and then I make dinner and then I go to bed, and so I don't spend a lot of time of asking why, because why for me has never been important.

00:34:33.030 --> 00:34:38.407
For me, it's always been the fact that it is.

00:34:39.757 --> 00:34:46.704
That's beautiful, and it strikes me that sometimes you're asked why in those applications?

00:34:46.704 --> 00:34:50.552
Because they want to know, they're trying to figure it out too.

00:34:50.572 --> 00:35:03.219
They're trying to figure it out too they're trying to figure it out, hell yes and so I like, I appreciate the the question, but I mean the fact that I was thinking about why am I like?

00:35:03.219 --> 00:35:08.186
I don't ask a question like why are these people attracted to me?

00:35:08.186 --> 00:35:10.389
To figure it out.

00:35:10.389 --> 00:35:24.827
For me it's, it's, it's, it's a gratitude piece, it's that humility piece that when you speak about being humble, you're not humble, you're talking about it but you're not really humble.

00:35:24.827 --> 00:35:38.949
But that's when the true humility of me comes out, is when I'm sitting there in my walks in the neighborhood or whatever, and I'm going why, why are these people so interested in my life?

00:35:38.949 --> 00:35:43.686
Or why do these people want to give so freely of themselves to me and my work?

00:35:43.686 --> 00:35:46.661
So it is a great question.

00:35:46.661 --> 00:35:59.730
I just don't know that I have the answer, and maybe, if we meet up in the next six months, I'll be able to, you know, give you a little more than what I have, because it ain't coming.

00:36:03.759 --> 00:36:04.681
Well, that's OK.

00:36:04.721 --> 00:36:08.947
Shared a great deal that a lot of people will be able to relate to.

00:36:08.947 --> 00:36:42.903
When it comes to looking at the incredible successes that you have, in some cases, stumbled into the bright lights, the large and small you know, just having that assurance that you you had a talent when you were a child that someone had, they appreciated it enough to turn you onto it and to help you to grow and nurture that talent.

00:36:42.903 --> 00:36:52.429
And then you contrast that with all of the things that you have had to endure, that others have as well.

00:36:52.429 --> 00:37:37.041
But we don't take a chance to look at the totality of all of the things that we carry the abuse from the time that you were a small child, having to grieve the loss of someone that you had loved for so long and had been such a part of your life, and having to figure out how to find your way on the street, and you know, as you shared, what it was to leave home at 15, I was thinking about some similarities in my own story and the pandemic we all went through that.

00:37:37.641 --> 00:37:37.943
Yeah.

00:37:38.903 --> 00:38:01.876
And I say that there's a lens that we can look at some of these things, some of these great losses, through, where, if we're lucky, we get a chance to earn those scars, because it means that we've lived long enough to have experienced what it is to love and to have that loss.

00:38:02.775 --> 00:38:06.117
Yeah, and I mean as you're speaking.

00:38:06.117 --> 00:38:25.791
As you're speaking, I, as a child, I was given up by my white mother, who was estranged from just it was an underage white mother in the middle of Alberta in 1968.

00:38:25.791 --> 00:38:29.112
I was given up by her, so I was abandoned by her.

00:38:29.112 --> 00:38:33.496
Father wasn't in the picture.

00:38:33.496 --> 00:39:12.867
Then I was adopted into this white family who my parents, as well-intentioned as they thought they were, were used their white supremacy within the family to keep the three brown kids that they adopted or fostered as the target and the problem and if it wasn't for you and then use their you use their white privilege to sort of put a mask of a veil of perfection around us so nobody would ever ask any questions At that time in my life.

00:39:12.867 --> 00:39:22.523
Um, when I was, I remember one day I was sitting in the backseat of the car and I don't know how old.

00:39:22.523 --> 00:39:42.123
I was very young and I had just been beaten up by my dad and I at that stage, when I was young, like I was four or five, five or six something I said to my mom, who was in the passenger seat.

00:39:42.123 --> 00:39:47.793
I said Ivor, my best friend at the time, his parents don't hit him.

00:39:47.793 --> 00:39:55.309
And it wasn't the response that mattered, what my mom said.

00:39:55.351 --> 00:40:00.199
But even at that age, I think all my life I have been striving.

00:40:00.199 --> 00:40:03.610
I know what I bring to the table and value.

00:40:03.610 --> 00:40:07.420
I know, as a black person, I am no different than anybody else.

00:40:07.420 --> 00:40:12.333
I do not think differently, I do not smell differently, I do not act differently.

00:40:12.333 --> 00:40:30.360
As a gay person, the same thing, I love the same, I bleed the same, I yearn for the same things, um, and I always knew that I was just as human and everybody else.

00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:53.961
And I think my creation, creative process has been about putting that somehow, um, putting that humanity, that somehow, putting that humanity, my humanity, out on the page, because if it's written down, if it's seen on film, somehow that proves in a way that I am real.

00:40:55.204 --> 00:41:03.791
And I think the lesson that I learned this year, this year, is like I don't have to prove anything to anybody anymore.

00:41:03.791 --> 00:41:19.059
I've lived through so much and I've survived so much and I've thrived through so much and I've taken advantage and been given these opportunities that are, yes, luck.

00:41:19.059 --> 00:41:20.141
But what is luck?

00:41:20.141 --> 00:41:23.666
It's when, uh, when, or what is you know?

00:41:23.666 --> 00:41:30.876
It's like when, preparation, and you know when you're prepared for something and opportunity me, like that's what luck is.

00:41:30.876 --> 00:42:00.467
I've been prepared and I've been given the opportunity and I worked really hard and I think for me the whole idea of creation has been about figuring out my own humanity, and getting up in the morning has been about me proving to the world in some way or shape or fashion that I exist and I deserve to exist and I'm just the same.

00:42:00.467 --> 00:42:04.052
Maybe that's a little bit closer to what my driving force is.

00:42:05.054 --> 00:42:09.581
Barron, you just answered the question Well there.

00:42:09.702 --> 00:42:12.733
Thank you, my God, it took me just answered the question.

00:42:13.152 --> 00:42:21.105
It's like, and I'm going to paraphrase just quite frankly, you, just you, are real, that's it.

00:42:21.105 --> 00:42:29.184
You show up in every situation as just real and you believe in yourself.

00:42:29.184 --> 00:42:32.800
You believe that you're equal to everybody else.

00:42:34.610 --> 00:42:39.034
Yes, I have, and I, I, I do and and I am.

00:42:39.034 --> 00:42:43.362
I for a kid that was always told I was a liar.

00:42:43.362 --> 00:42:53.724
I was the most honest kid in this in the house and that and I, I have spent my life being a lightning rod.

00:42:53.724 --> 00:42:58.081
I have been, and I was so exhausted from it for so long.

00:42:58.081 --> 00:43:23.445
I'm tired of people either love me or they hate me, but what you will always get from me is authenticity, because when I got sober being an addict and being a liar and scamming and stealing I knew the one thing the only way that I was going to stay sober was if I was as honest as I could possibly be within every moment.

00:43:24.351 --> 00:43:36.463
And the one thing that sobriety has given me and that I'm so grateful for is I can walk into any room right now, any room, and own my space.

00:43:36.463 --> 00:43:39.498
As a child, I could never.

00:43:39.498 --> 00:43:57.742
As a child, I would, but then it would be dimmed by somebody else, and so that is one of my superpowers I can sit down with you and be myself and be angry at whoever is knocking on my door and won't leave me alone To being joyful, to being sad.

00:43:57.742 --> 00:44:00.420
Don't ask me how I am if you, you want.

00:44:00.420 --> 00:44:01.969
Don't ask me what, how I am, if you don't want to know.

00:44:02.831 --> 00:44:09.639
You, you are describing a extreme sense of self-acceptance.

00:44:09.639 --> 00:44:30.101
Yeah, and when I know for a fact that when we can truly accept and embrace ourselves for everything that we are the good, the bad and the ugly then it opens up a whole universe of acceptance from those around us.

00:44:30.503 --> 00:44:32.070
I've experienced that in my own life.

00:44:34.414 --> 00:44:36.257
I want to call out and acknowledge you.

00:44:36.257 --> 00:44:53.056
You have been through an immense amount of really, really hard shit and in spite of all that, you are not just still standing, you're thriving.

00:44:53.056 --> 00:44:58.322
You, you, god.

00:44:58.322 --> 00:45:06.197
The amount of resilience that you are demonstrating, just just pure resilience.

00:45:06.197 --> 00:45:08.902
Yeah, I'm stubborn as fuck.

00:45:08.902 --> 00:45:12.454
You just keep getting up, doesn't matter what knocks you?

00:45:12.454 --> 00:45:12.655
Down.

00:45:12.655 --> 00:45:16.422
You just keep getting up and I have to believe.

00:45:16.422 --> 00:45:17.992
You can correct me if I'm wrong.

00:45:18.172 --> 00:45:26.259
I'm speculating here that this is the power of creativity oh, my god, it's like I have a story to tell.

00:45:26.259 --> 00:45:27.681
I mean, there's so many.

00:45:27.681 --> 00:45:40.983
I remember being in, in, in acting school and the, the, the, the teachers would the, the instructors or professors would say you know, go out and live a life, go get dumped, go get a venereal disease, go.

00:45:40.983 --> 00:45:42.869
You know, go out and live a life, go get dumped, go get a venereal disease, go.

00:45:42.869 --> 00:45:44.331
You know, lose somebody.

00:45:44.331 --> 00:45:47.557
You know, go, do, live life.

00:45:47.557 --> 00:46:01.123
Because that life is going, that your life, that those experiences are going to feed your characters, they're going to feed your work, they're going to give you something of depth to tap into.

00:46:01.869 --> 00:46:11.097
And by the time, I was hearing that I'd already just survived the freaking AIDS pandemic, right Like we'd gone to war.

00:46:11.097 --> 00:46:20.536
We were at war with governments and systems and homophobic, bigoted people and homophobic bigoted people.

00:46:20.536 --> 00:46:24.599
So I was like, oh, like that is.

00:46:24.599 --> 00:46:37.206
I think that that is also the thing is that attracts people to me is is like when I was doing my show nigger fag, you know, I had students that would come up to.

00:46:37.206 --> 00:46:39.128
I still, I still get texts.

00:46:39.128 --> 00:46:44.431
I get Instagram messages.

00:46:44.431 --> 00:47:07.335
I got an Instagram message not too long ago from this person who said to me because my nigger fag is about um, my experiences growing up uh, black, gay, um bullied um and struggling as a kid and it was a kid's show that I performed for five years, took it to Scotland.

00:47:07.335 --> 00:47:41.242
It changed my life In Edmonton during the pandemic I was thinking, god, I wonder if it really did touch anybody's heart, right, you never know when you put something out there and, sure enough, almost like you know an answer from above, I get an Instagram message that said you don't know me, but my name is and I was in grade nine when you came to my school and I was coming out of the closet and and I hated myself and I was terrified.

00:47:42.251 --> 00:47:53.614
And then I saw you perform and then I saw how Nelly you were and I thought, well, if you can be this Nelly, then I could be this Nelly.

00:47:53.614 --> 00:48:11.179
And right after your play I came out of the closet and I started a gay straight alliance in my school and now I'm a DJ and I thank you for what you've done.

00:48:11.179 --> 00:48:17.556
And really, for me, it's about vulnerability.

00:48:17.556 --> 00:48:40.945
Vulnerability attracts not victimhood, but vulnerable vulnerability, being completely honest, where I'm at in every moment of every day is is my currency and it's also it's a blessing there's the answer to the question as well Bingo.

00:48:41.590 --> 00:48:43.940
That's what has attracted all those mentors.

00:48:43.940 --> 00:48:47.079
That's what has attracted everything.

00:48:47.079 --> 00:48:50.115
Vulnerability is a polarizer.

00:48:51.099 --> 00:48:51.300
Yeah.

00:48:51.949 --> 00:48:55.818
People either scream and run in the opposite direction.

00:48:55.818 --> 00:49:05.416
When we get really, really real, they scream and run because it terrifies them, yeah, or they want to come and sit right next to us and there's not a lot of in between.

00:49:05.416 --> 00:49:07.110
It's a very polarized vulnerability.

00:49:07.110 --> 00:49:14.759
It really is kind of extreme, yeah, and it's very powerful.

00:49:14.759 --> 00:49:26.860
I believe, personally, that it sends all of the people away that I wouldn't want to be with anyway, yeah, and it attracts the people that I most would want to be close to.

00:49:26.860 --> 00:49:28.023
It's magical.

00:49:29.630 --> 00:49:32.420
It is, it is and it you know it can.

00:49:32.420 --> 00:49:43.023
It can sometimes make me feel like douching with acid afterwards, you know, after I open my spirit up and kind of blah it out in my art, in my work.

00:49:43.023 --> 00:50:18.583
I mean, right now I'm writing my feature film is called the Last Night of Hockey in Canada and it's about it's autobiographical and it's about one night during the in the 90s when the Rangers were playing the Vancouver Canucks and I was summoned to the bedside of a friend and it's really all about my behavior during that really difficult time.

00:50:18.583 --> 00:50:36.373
And when I first wrote the short story that was published during COVID on it I was running to the bathroom dry, heaving, because I'd talked about this story before but I'd never gone into the story and written it.

00:50:36.373 --> 00:50:48.356
From that perspective and the amount of shame and remorse and guilt I felt about my behavior at that time was just so deep and heavy.

00:50:49.059 --> 00:51:05.695
And I think that is when you are an artist and it doesn't matter how you do, what art you do, what your discipline is, when you put what art you do, what your discipline is, when you put people respond to that vulnerability within the work.

00:51:05.695 --> 00:51:13.585
And I'm I'm learning that right now, like people are reading this, this piece, and going, oh my God, this is like crazy, but there, there's and it.

00:51:13.585 --> 00:51:18.597
What it does is it also encourages other people to be as brave with their things.

00:51:18.597 --> 00:51:20.983
It's pretty magical.

00:51:21.650 --> 00:51:24.519
Erin, did that allow you to let go of all that shame?

00:51:26.251 --> 00:51:27.914
It has, it has.

00:51:27.914 --> 00:51:32.211
I mean, I don't know if it's just because I've been looking at the script for so long now.

00:51:32.211 --> 00:51:40.175
I think when I first picked it up at the beginning of the year, I was feeling that shame again and that heaviness of oh God, oh my God.

00:51:40.175 --> 00:51:47.813
I don't know if I have the armor to go back into this, because I wrote it in during COVID and then didn't go back for a couple of years.

00:51:47.813 --> 00:51:50.257
But yeah, it is what it is.

00:51:50.257 --> 00:51:53.724
It's my story and it is what's made me who I am.

00:51:53.724 --> 00:51:54.992
It's a part of it, right?

00:51:55.853 --> 00:52:00.760
I think the vomiting that you described, running to the bathroom, was symbolic of letting go.

00:52:01.460 --> 00:52:04.144
Yeah, it was coming out of you, Literally.

00:52:04.144 --> 00:52:10.501
I think it's a a touch point back to what you said before about how art has saved you.

00:52:10.501 --> 00:52:14.760
This project has helped you to fully metabolize.

00:52:15.802 --> 00:52:17.956
Yeah, like there's another story.

00:52:17.956 --> 00:52:23.503
There's something else that I'll talk to you about, cause we're close friends now.

00:52:23.503 --> 00:52:26.550
Yeah, and like there's another story, there's something else that I'll talk to you about, because we're close friends now.

00:52:26.550 --> 00:52:36.840
What this process with this piece has done for me and opening me up has allowed other things to drop.

00:52:36.840 --> 00:52:49.597
And we were talking earlier about the thing of inspiration, the thought of the download of something else that drops into your head.

00:52:49.597 --> 00:53:03.456
And I think, because I was so open this summer, because I was so vulnerable on the page with my work, with, you know, my mentor reading it, but nobody else, but I knew that I was like my heart was.

00:53:03.655 --> 00:53:07.472
I was really going there with, with, with the work that I've been writing.

00:53:07.472 --> 00:53:24.672
I was walking I go for a walk in high park, which is a couple blocks away, every cause I'm, you know I got a spare tire around my waist and I got to walk and I was listening to, I know, a murder podcast, because that's just so relaxing.

00:53:24.672 --> 00:53:53.039
And a download came in and the download was and it was a voice that was louder than the sound in my ears, just booming, all-encompassing, but not a screaming voice, it was just a sensible voice that said just face it, you were raped.

00:53:53.039 --> 00:54:15.478
And I stopped on the path and I looked down at my feet and I stopped on the path and I looked down at my feet and I just went yeah, you were.

00:54:15.478 --> 00:54:24.199
And this happened right after I got sober and I blame myself for it and how this ties into the work.

00:54:24.199 --> 00:54:27.373
It's, I think I was because I was.

00:54:29.536 --> 00:54:36.972
I kind of split my innards open to get this, this AIDS hockey story out, and was living in that.

00:54:36.972 --> 00:54:46.735

Berend McKenzie

Writer

Berend McKenzie (he/she/they interchangeably) Treaty 13 Toronto Ontario based, award-winning playwright, screenwriter, producer, actor, and published author of Nigerian and Norwegian descent. Berend is known for their unflinching, first-person writing style, drawing from their own lived experiences as a black, mixed-race, queer Canadian. Berend is unafraid to tackle complicated and sensitive topics like homophobia and racism while imbuing his characters with heart-wrenching honesty and humor.
Berend began writing short plays in 2004 for the Loud & Queer Festival in Edmonton, Alberta, including Fashion Police, Meet the Munts, Bloodbath at St. Paul's, and Tassels. These pieces led to their first full-length play, the outrageous, award-winning queer puppet show for adults, Get Off the Cross Mary! In 2009, Berend embarked on their most ambitious and personal work to date and premiered the groundbreaking one-person show for young people, NGGRFG (Would you say the name of this play?) Performing in schools, festivals, and theatres across Canada, including the Vancouver and Edmonton International Fringe Festivals, the Young People's Theatre in Toronto, the Neptune and Bus Stop Theatres in Halifax, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.
Berend’s published works include NGGRFG (Signature Editions), Tassels (Brindle & Glass), Hockey Night in Canada (Arsenal Pulp Press).
They are a 2021 inductee into the prestigious Writer's Guild of Alberta's 2021 Mentorship Program and began writing their first auto-fiction novel, OUT/LIAR.
Berend i… Read More