Check out the leaky guest-blog on Best Health Magazine:
http://www.besthealthmag.ca/blog/post/guest-post-how-to-make-your-doctor-listen
And join us at Gilda’s Club in Toronto on Wednesday June 16th for a performance of My Leaky Body.
Before the show participants from the Leaky Writing Group at Gilda’s Club will read poetry and prose from their personal experiences with cancer.
Doors: 6:45
Readings: 7:15
Show: 7:30
110 Lombard St. Southwest of Richmond/Jarvis – the old Second City Building
Gilda’s is fully accessible, with open seating.
Admission is free, donations to Gilda’s Club are always welcome: http://www.gildasclubtoronto.org/
After a hard winter of writing hibernation My Leaky Body the book is well on it’s way to hitting the shelves in Spring 2011!
Performance and workshop plans for the summer and fall will be posted soon, please send requests to bookings@myleakybody.com
We are in the early stages of planning some US events in the Fall, so if you have ideas/requests for My Leaky Body stops please let us know!
Exciting spring news:
My Leaky Body is returning to the UK for a forum with Folk.Us, an amazing user-driven disability and research organization based out of the Peninsula Medical School and Royal Devon Hospital in Exeter.
In Toronto, you can see a full performance My Leaky Body at Gilda’s Club, 110 Lombard St. on Wednesday June 16th at 7 pm. This event is open to the public and will feature readings from participants of the Leaky Writing Group.
I’m hibernating with my leaky body to finish the book manuscript. Feel free to send some writing love on the blog, email, Twitter or Facebook!
Writing workshops continue monthly at Gilda’s Club and performance announcements for the spring are coming soon…
http://www.cbc.ca/whitecoat/index.html?copy-podcast
Leaky clip is about halfway through, between great interviews on patient advocacy and lots of phone-in advice to healthcare professionals from the public! Thanks CBC.
Welcome new visitors, feel free to drop me a line: julie@myleakybody.com
10 am, Saturday December 26th – Boxing Day
My Leaky Body will be on CBC Radio’s White Coat, Black Art, in an episode called “Talking Back”
It will air again on Monday December 28th at 11:30 am and will also be available by podcast after Saturday’s airing:
http://www.cbc.ca/whitecoat
After performing and facilitating 12 events this fall My Leaky Body is hibernating and writing for the winter months.
The prairies were amazing with two events in Saskatchewan and three in Manitoba. The highlight was a patient safety conference in Tommy Douglas’ hometown of Weyburn, where 250 healthcare workers gave My Leaky Body a standing ovation!
We also had our Quebec premiere at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, as well as a performance on the main stage of Mississauga’s Living Arts Centre for Trillium’s Back to School Conference.
Check out the Media Coverage from Winnipeg and Saskatoon:
http://www.uptownmag.com/2009–10-29/page4774.aspx
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/patients+first+conference+hears/2011442/story.html
*the prairies are leaky hot: fall schedule
*new promo video online
*news on forthcoming book!
*leaky writing workshops
*upcoming:
September 18th – Saskatoon, Town Hall, open to the public
InterD3 Conference: http://interd.stsoloevents.com/html/session_info/index.cfm
September 24th – Mississauga, Trillium Health Centre “Back to School” Conference
October 5th – Montreal, Jewish General Hospital, open to the public
October 6th – Montreal, Jewish General Hospital, health professional workshop
October 8th – Weyburn Saskatchewan, “Patient Safety Conference”
October 28–29 – Brandon, Manitoba, Manitoba Congress of Medical Laboratory Sciences
*new online video including scenes from the show and interviews with healthcare professionals:
http://myleakybody.blip.tv/file/2441635/
*book announcement:
My Leaky Body the book will be published in 2011 by Key Porter Books:
“Part memoir, part love story, part revolutionary pamphlet, this book is politically astute, personally leaky, gooey like cake batter and raw like ulcerated bowels. Devaney writes the book that will heal her aching heart and relax her strictured rectum as she weaves stories from professional and public interactions with tales from her gurney.”
*writing workshops
new blog from monthly leaky writing workshops:
http://leakywritinggroup.wordpress.com/
Julie will be facilitating monthly workshops at Gilda’s Club in Toronto.
In these sessions we write our own stories of our bodies, our health, our pain and our healing.
The next workshop will take place Tuesday May 19th from 1–3 pm.
Call Maureen at Gilda’s for more information.
416–214-9898
A note from Julie:
I’d like to thank organizers and leaky show-goers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ryerson U in Toronto and Acadia U in Wolfville Nova Scotia for creating really wonderful and fun events in the month of February. It was great connecting with students and faculty on all 3 campuses.
The Public Health Ethics Network of Alberta sponsored shows and workshops of My Leaky Body in Calgary the first week of March which created significant opportunities for discussion and collaboration about creating a health care system that fully supports both patients and providers. I was inspired by the bravery of the healthcare professionals who attended these events and opened up about both the challenges and possibilities within their daily working lives.
I have one more performance and workshop in April for the Canadian Patient Safety Institute meeting in Toronto, then I’m taking a break from performing until the fall to write the forthcoming My Leaky Body book!
Bookings are already coming in for the fall so please send inquiries to bookings@myleakybody.com
Just in from Kerri Bennett, Quality Director, Grand River Hospital in Kitchener ON regarding Julie’s performance last fall:
“The iceberg that the healthcare system has been riding for many years is melting. The sad fact is our system is very unsafe and we have accepted that for far too long. Time after time we have put band aid solutions on problems, rather than truly reinventing how we perform healthcare. Julie courageously sheds light into the many complexities the system faces. My leaky body helps to provide some transparency into what goes on behind the hospital doors, and reminds those of us in the system how it ‘feels’ to be the one lying on the stretcher. Julie’s adaptable performances bring the issues to a wide variety of audiences, and hopefully, will result in new opportunities for us to all work together to build a safer system.”
Acadia University Faculty Association Women’s Committee presents
Julie Devaney
in
My Leaky Body
Thursday February 26th
7:30 pm
Al Whittle Theatre, Wolfville, NS
Admission is free
For
further
information,
contact:
Zelda
Abramson
585‐1273
or
email:
zelda.abramson@aadiau.ca
Sponsored
by:
Acadia
University
Alumni
Association;
AUFA‐W;
Faculty
of
Professional
Studies, Acadia
University
Monday, February 9, 2009
7:00pm – 8:00pm
Thomas Lounge, Oakham House, Ryerson University
55 Gould St., Toronto, ON
Phone: 416 979 5255×4504
Email: access@rsuonline.ca
Admission: $5 or $3 w/ non-perishable food item
Event is wheel-chair accessible with an accessible washroom.
“Julie Devaney’s piece is a must-see. Brave, honest, touching, and truly hilarious. My Leaky Body can help unite medical professionals and patients to make health-care the best it can be. Don’t miss it.”
—Diane Flacks, Toronto Star
“In My Leaky Body, Devaney’s writing talent turns emergency-room neglect into poetry…[She] is one of the few individuals brave enough to complain without blaming. Her courage is raw.”—Heather Mallick, Chatelaine
http://www.myleakybody.com
Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=62332181479&ref=ts
Sponsored by:
http://www.ryeaccess.ca/
http://www.ryewomenscentre.ca/
My Leaky Body wishes you and your leaky bodies a happy and healthy holiday season. We’d like to thank everyone who participated in making 2008 a fabulous year, with events in New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia… nurses, doctors, patients, med students and theatre audiences! See some recent comments below.
2009 is shaping up fast:
- February 2nd: McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario
- February 9th: Ryerson University in Toronto
- February 26th: Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia
- March 2nd-5th: Alberta’s Provincial Health Ethics Network is organizing a cross-province tour.
Julie will be in California the second half of March and looks forward to connecting with other health care advocates and educators on her travels.
Here’s some recent feedback from this fall:
“In her one woman play, Julie Devaney makes masterful use of her narrative of illness to explore how patients experience the medical system. It is a powerful teaching tool, as Devaney successfully hits the precise note where personal experience intersects with theory.”
—Pat Durish, PhD, University of Toronto Professor
“Julie Devaney’s captivating performance proved to be a catalyst for discussion with third year medical students. Thank you, Julie. We now know we have the power to make a difference.”
—Liz Parrott, Academic Coordinator, Northern Ontario School of Medicine
“Very thought provoking and courageous performance. Thank you and I would highly recommend this to other healthcare professionals.”
—Carolyn Trumper, Coordinator, Quality Improvement/Accreditation Health Services Quality Improvement,
David Thompson Health Region, Alberta
Patient Safety Week was a powerful time, with My Leaky Body (MLB) connecting with hundreds of healthcare professionals and patients across the country. In the tele-class organized by the Quality Health Network, Julie connected with 180 healthcare professionals from coast to coast. From patients at Mount Sinai in Toronto, to medical students at the University of Alberta, Julie received wonderful reviews and loved the opportunity to collaborate and strategize about the future of healthcare.
November begins with an event for the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, as MLB performs at Rounds at the Huntsville Memorial Hospital on November 5th. On November 12th, Julie is invited to present a guest lecture/performance at the University of Toronto. Finally, on November 25th MLB will appear at the Women’s College Hospital Auditorium in Toronto for an Interprofessional Education presentation.
It’s Patient Safety Week in Canada and My Leaky Body is connecting with patients and healthcare professionals from Toronto to Edmonton and beyond to stimulate discussion and collaborate on strategies for change.
Monday Sept 29—Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Patient Support Group, 7 pm
Tuesday Sept 30—Grand River Hospital, Kitchener Ontario, 2 pm
Wednesday Oct 1st—Quality Health Network, Cross-Canada Tele-Class, 12 pm
Thursday Oct 2nd—Quality Day, Red Deer, Alberta, 1 pm
Saturday Oct 4th—Health Sciences Students’ Association, Edmonton, Alberta, 1:45 pm
Julie just finished her run at the SummerWorks Theatre Festival on the mainstage of Theatre Passe Muraille. Coming up in September, My Leaky Body performs at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Grand River in Kitchener, and onto the David Thompson Health Region in Red Deer, Alberta and finally a medical student conference in Edmonton in early October.
Here’s what NOW magazine’s Jon Kaplan said about MLB at SummerWorks:
“Activist Julie Devaney uses her own experiences with colitis to criticize the health care system and the insensitivity of medical professionals as she’s dragged through what she dubs ‘hospital purgatory’. The conversational material rings scarily true and blends ironic humour with chilling realities.
Moments of fantasy—she’s visited by health care saint Tommy Douglas and opens her heart to Shania Twain—mix with concerns about having sex and the trials she suffers at the hands of caregivers and insurance companies.
There is no question that Devaney is brave not only to tell her story but also to put herself onstage, and her final note is one of empowerment…”
Halfway through MY LEAKY BODY‘s run at Toronto’s SummerWorks festival, here’s what people are saying:
NOW Magazine Review:
“Activist Julie Devaney uses her own experiences with colitis to criticize the health care system… The material rings scarily true and blends ironic humour with its chilling realities…”
Diane Flacks, Toronto Star:
“My Leaky Body can help unite medical professionals and patients to make health-care the best it can be. Don’t miss it… Julie Devaney’s piece is a must-see. Brave, honest, touching, and truly hilarious.”
Audience Member (comment on NOW website):
“I saw the show on Saturday and I thought it was great – very courageous and truthful. .. I was so impressed (with) ... the power (and]) poignancy of her work.”
THREE SHOWS LEFT:
Monday Aug 11 8:30pm
Friday Aug 15 6:30pm
Sunday Aug 17 2:30pm
VENUE:
Theatre Passe Muraille – Mainspace
16 Ryerson Ave (NE of Bathurst and Queen), Toronto
Venue is Wheelchair Accessible with an accessible washroom
NO LATECOMERS PERMITTED
TICKETS:
Tickets available at the Venue for $10 (CASH ONLY)
Or online for $12 at TOTix.ca
DETAILS:
Directed by Margot Massie and Suzanne Roberts Smith Julie Devaney wears her gown from a Toronto hospital as she delivers this spirited tale of emergencies, surgeries, healing and making trouble. My Leaky Body takes audiences into some of the darkest scenes in Julie’s life and illuminates critical issues in our healthcare system and culture with humour and wit. Warning: Partial Nudity, Mature Themes
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
SPONSORED BY DAWN:
My Leaky Body would like to thank the DisAbled Women’s Network—DAWN Canada for their amazing support and for all the fabulous work they do! Check them out online: http://www.dawncanada.net
TORONTO
On FRIDAY August 1st @ 11 AM in the heart of the hospital district at the northwest corner of UNIVERSITY and ELM, former patient, 29-year-old Julie Devaney will be inviting medical professionals to her upcoming show about the Canadian Healthcare System. She will perform a scene from the show in her hospital gown on the corner.
According to Heather Mallick in Chatelaine:
“In My Leaky Body, Devaney’s writing talent turns emergency-room neglect into poetry… [She] is one of the few individuals brave enough to complain without blaming. Her courage is raw.”
Toronto writer and performer Julie Devaney will perform the critically acclaimed show My Leaky Body at the SummerWorks Theatre Festival in Toronto, AUGUST 7–17TH. According to Julie, “We’re at a critical moment in healthcare in this country. We need to collaborate as patients and professionals to decide what we value and how we can make it happen in a way that supports all of us. And what better way to open up that conversation then with a funny and tragic performance of my leaky body?”
Diane Flacks of the Toronto Star writes,
“My Leaky Body can help unite medical professionals and patients to make health-care the best it can be. Don’t miss it… Julie Devaney’s piece is a must-see. Brave, honest, touching, and truly hilarious.”
Jesse McLaren MD, Emergency Room Physician in Montreal reacted to Devaney’s performance this way:
”…it is refreshing and insightful to see a performance about the reality of life as a patient…For those who think we have already achieved patient-centered care, this is a wake-up call.”
Julie Devaney spent 5 years in and out of hospitals with Ulcerative Colitis (a severe bowel disease). After 3 major operations she went on to earn her Master’s Degree in Critical Disability Studies from York University in Toronto. She currently performs and provides workshops for healthcare professionals, medical students and patient support groups from coast to coast in Canada and internationally.
This month, she received a “thumbs up” from Abilities magazine for her contributions to disability awareness across the country.For more information go to www.myleakybody.com.
Contact Julie Devaney at: julie@myleakybody.com
For more information about SummerWorks see www.summerworks.ca
MEDIA INQUIRIES:
contact Avery Swartz at publicity@summerworks.ca or 416 557 3547
Saturday July 26th, 8 pm
Centre of Gravity Theatre, 1300 Gerrard St. E (@ Greenwood)
- Circus Performers Lindsay Stephens and Suzanne Roberts Smith
- A sneak preview from My Leaky Body, the Summerworks Edition
- A Blow-out Dance Party $10–20 door (sliding scale)
All proceeds to the Summerworks production of My Leaky Body venue is wheelchair accessible with an accessible washroom
My Leaky Body has literally travelled coast to coast in the last month, from the Women’s Health Research Network in Victoria, to Canadian Medical Radiation Technologists in Moncton. In between, Julie performed for a nurses’ dinner in North Bay and is preparing to give a session at the Peri-Operative Nurses’ conference in Toronto next week.We’re already working hard on the Summerworks show, which will be showing in Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace from August 7–17 in Toronto. Stay tuned for details on our fundraising event for late July—we promise large fun and great entertainment!
Join by clicking here.As always, to speak to Julie or to sign up for email updates, email: julie@myleakybody.com
Julie is traveling across the country performing and giving workshops for professionals. Here’s what Dr. Elana Brief, the Research Director of the Women’s Health Research Network said of Julie’s show and workshop in Victoria BC:
“You gave us such a gift. Your honest and beautiful story of illness, institutions and identity gave me and other participants at the conference a chance to more deeply consider health care and health research. The workshop that you facilitated the following day “Where does your body go when you do research” brought us into our bodies. It was meaningful to consider what it would mean to bring both our minds and our bodies to the work we do. In the weeks since the conference, I have received many comments on how important your performance was for participants. Thank you for enriching our conference with your performance and your questions for later reflection.”
”‘My Leaky Body’ is amazing and cutting edge. Julie is courageous to engage in this type of work which is testing the boundaries of traditional scientific approaches to health care research. Julie’s performance work is vulnerable, touching, deep and real. It is reflective of how our current health care system can at times be. I think it is a unique approach and creates a gut impact. If you are a practitioner, policy maker or a patient, you must see her performance.”
J.Lapum, RN, PhD©
“As medical professionals, we forget the impact that our rituals have on patients. We feel so safe that we can chart things and we believe that we’ve captured the experience… but do we truly know what that feels like to the individual? This performance is provocative because it destabilizes you at the same time it offers opportunities for better ways of communicating with patients. I think on some level you have to feel a bit uncomfortable in order to stimulate change and make an impact. It’s also humorous to me because we all do the same things, but are patients’ needs really being met? My Leaky Body teaches professionals what good practice looks like and how patients’ own narratives can truly support us in meeting their needs.”
Linda Muraca MN, Nurse Clinician, Toronto
My Leaky Body has been selected to perform in Summer Works theatre festival in Toronto—Ontario’s premier festival of cutting-edge, exciting, professional theatre. It is the breeding ground for the mainstage shows of the future and the hub for Toronto’s most dynamic, dedicated theatre professionals.The festival runs August 7th – 17th: http://www.summerworks.ca
- On Thursday April 10th at 8 pm Julie performs at the Gibson Centre in Alliston, ON
- On Wednesday April 23rd Julie performs at Gilda’s Club in Toronto:
- My Leaky Body will then be traveling coast to coast to perform and facilitate workshops for conferences of Medical Professionals—Check out our “Calendar” for details!
In an interview with York University Julie describes how she began writing and performing about her leaky body, as well as what she thinks needs to change in the healthcare system:
She cites a lack of funding as the main reason health care has deteriorated, but Devaney thinks patients aren’t the only ones who are unhappy; medical professionals are upset with the system as well. Devaney would like to see a collaborative approach between medical practitioners and patients that would translate into more effective care and less trauma for the patient.
“It would really be a more productive encounter if doctors could see it as a collaborative experience with patients, rather then seeing them as bodies that need to be managed. It’s not about bad doctors, but I do think there are things systematically wrong in the way doctors are trained,” she said. “We could actually create something better for everyone involved and I think storytelling is a way to really make that clear. It brings people to that realization in a much more powerful way.”
To read the whole article click here.
Three successful nights at Tallulah’s Cabaret were brought in by Toronto’s first snowfall. Julie then flew out to Vancouver for a performance for the BC Disabilities Health Network.
We’re taking a holiday break and enjoying the massive storm that has blanketed all of Southern Ontario in massive piles of snow… lots of plans for the new year with bookings coming in coast to coast! Julie plans to sleep and dream through the dark dark nights and get ready with even more never-seen-before material to come.
Thursday November 22nd
Friday November 23rd
Saturday November 24th in Toronto.
a story about healing, and making trouble…written and performed by Julie Devaney
directed by Myrna Lorraine Hussey
Tallulah’s Cabaret @ Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
12 Alexander St (s. of Wellesley, e. of Yonge)
Doors open at 7 pm, show starts at 7:30 pm.
Tickets: $12 regular—$8 student/senior/low-income
“In My Leaky Body, Devaney’s writing talent turns emergency-room neglect into poetry… [She] is one of the few individuals brave enough to complain without blaming. Her courage is raw.”
Heather Mallick, Chatelaine
Sponsored by: Come as You Are, Red Tent Sisters, WonderWorks
Check out the latest issue of Chatelaine magazine where Julie is interviewed by Heather Mallick! Our events section has been updated with performances over the next 3 months, including many local community and academic shows as well as a presentation at Performance Studies International in NYC. Julie is currently working on a full-length version of the play with brand new scenes to be debuted on November 23rd and 24th at a public venue in Toronto. Plans are also in the works for travel in the new year. If you’d like to stay up-to-date with show information and to find out when My Leaky Body might appear in a venue near you, email julie@myleakybody.com.
The summer has been going fabulously. After another successful show of "My Leaky Body" at Centre of Gravity Theatre in Toronto Julie performed in the cyber-piece "Please Stay Alert" for a live festival audience at UpStage in New Zealand.
Julie is currently preparing for her July events: a reading at an outdoor disability pride festival, and a previously un-performed piece for Loree Erickson's performance night at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto.
Bookings are still underway for the fall and our calendar will be updated when they are finalized.Tickets are now on for sale the June 18th presentation of “My Leaky Body” which will be playing at the Centre of Gravity Theatre, produced by Mayfire Productions.
Earlier today, and possibly yesterday, the following email addresses were temporarily out of service.julie@myleakybody.combookings@myleakybody.comWe are happy to say that they are back up again, and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We are also accessible by phone at Mayfire Productions: 416 778 4596
2007 has already been an eventful year. February 1st marked the first public performance of “the politics of my leaky body” at the Centre of Gravity Theatre in TorontoSince then, Julie has performed for undergraduate and graduate university classrooms, an International Women‘s Day fundraising cabaret, and “opened” for author Pat Capponi at the Critical Disability Studies Students‘ conference at York University.Julie is currently booking for the rest of 2007.