MARIAN by Kate Smith

Music and Lyrics by Kate Smith, David DaCosta & Scottie Irving

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Robin Hood is dead. Maid Marian is compelled to pick up the mantle. But when the Merry Men won’t work for a woman, she must recruit a new bunch of thieves to keep the spirit of Robin Hood alive. Along with Sister Mary Nunchucks, the President of the Robin Hood Fan Club, and a cast of other colourful characters, these badass bitches steal from the rich and give to the poor like it ain’t no thang. Until they get caught. A new musical comedy that explores why powerful women make the rest of society so damn uncomfortable - and why they must keep doing it. 

Over the course of Theatre 4.669’s Summer Lab 2022 our creative team of talented local artists composed of Kate Smith (Project Leader/Director), David DaCosta, (Musician/Performer), Rebecca Russell (Performer), and Scottie Irving (Musician/Musical Consultant), worked to polish existing material and generate music and scenes for new musical Marian. With the time and funding offered by 4.669, our team was able to work towards subverting the classic tropes of the musical theatre genre to satirize the current political climate, specifically with regards to women’s rights, governance over their own bodies, equality, gender politics, and leadership styles. The Lab’s timeline allowed for more integration of ideas over a longer period of time. In the end, we were able to produce the first draft of what will become Act I of the show, plot out the remaining skeleton of the piece, generate new songs and material, and experiment with a range of instruments including guitar, harp, piano, recorder, and percussion. We explored the idea of “the troubadour” (as a narrative device, how it influences design); we grappled with who owns the narrative (as in, who gets to tell the story? When and how?); we explored the purpose of “revenge” and how it can be exacted; and we presented 20 minutes of new material to an invited audience on August 15 (we actually made closer to 50 minutes material and had to cut it down!). A huge thanks to the artists, Jennifer Cecil, Ludmylla Reiss, Kevin Orr, the University of Ottawa, and everyone at Theatre 4.669 for giving us the opportunity to dream big and the space and time to take a huge step forward on Marian!