TRU Writer-in-Residence David Bateman will explore the complex intersection between race and gender in his presentation Lotus Blossom Special at Arnica Gallery next week.

Comic and at times poignant, Bateman’s 45-minute monologue explores gender and racial issues through the use of autobiographical storytelling, country music, and poetic drama.

A 45-minute comical monologue broken into three 15-minute sections, Lotus Blossom Special focuses upon a particular south-central Ontarian experience of growing up in the 1950s in a culture marked by racist assumptions around the identity of Asian Canadians; in order to draw attention to aspects of gender, Bateman parodies and critiques the original text of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly using different forms of drag.

A one-time production, the show runs Saturday November 26th at 8:00 pm at the Arnica Gallery located at 232 Victoria Street. Admission is by donation.

David Bateman, who has written and performed many solo performance works, received his PhD in English Literature with a specialization in Creative writing from the University of Calgary. His teaching and research interests are in gender theory (feminist, gay, queer theory), gender in performance and contemporary women playwrights. He will be writer-in-residence at TRU until August 2006.

For more information, please contact David Bateman at 250- 371-5975 or by email. or call Elaine Sedgman of Arnica Gallery at 250-372-0717.