VANCOUVER, Wash. – A new episode of the web series “How I Learned to Breathe Thru the Apocalypse,” written and performed by Desiree Hellegers, WSU professor of English and director of the Collective for Social and Environmental Justice, will have its debut screening 6 p.m. Nov. 3 at Open Signal Portland Community Media Center, 2766 NE MLK Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR. The event is free and open to the public. Space is limited, but tickets can be reserved on Event Brite.
The new episode is titled “How I Accidentally Killed My Father.” It features Hellegers grappling with the intergenerational effects of war and fascism, and the role they may have played as a surly teenager in the sudden death of their father, a child refugee of the Nazis.
The episode is available on request for advance screening. After the debut, it will begin airing on Open Signal Cable TV.
The surreal, hallucinatory black comedy, set entirely inside the playwright’s mind, is based on detailed notes from a 30-day silent Shambhala Buddhist meditation retreat in December 2005 in the woods of British Columbia. The play whipsaws between tragedy and comedy, as it takes on narcissism and white privilege, Catholic and Buddhist white saviorism, spiritual consumerism, U.S. military violence, climate collapse and sexual abuse. Ultimately, it makes a compelling case for the power of meditation and art—and specifically comedy—as indispensable tools of anti-fascist resistance and planetary survival.
The screening will be followed by a talkback with Hellegers and collaborator Melissa Salazar.
About WSU Vancouver
As one of six campuses of the WSU system, WSU Vancouver offers big-school resources in a small-school environment. The university provides affordable, high-quality baccalaureate- and graduate-level education to benefit the people and communities it serves. As the only four-year research university in Southwest Washington, WSU Vancouver helps drive economic growth through relationships with local businesses and industries, schools and nonprofit organizations.
WSU Vancouver is located on the homelands of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and Peoples of the Lower Columbia Valley. We acknowledge their presence here. WSU Vancouver expresses its respect towards these original and current caretakers of the region. We pledge that these relationships will be built on mutual trust and respect.
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MEDIA CONTACT(S)
Brenda Alling, Office of Marketing and Communication, 360-546-9601, brenda_alling@wsu.edu