Marita is a library worker, former caregiver, textile artist and illustrator. She is studying theatre and performance at SFU’s school for contemporary arts.
Marita was born and raised on the territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples, in so-called “Vancouver.”
July 2 2024
Hi! My name is Marita! This is the beginning of my online Hammock time! Here is a photo of me hugging a bag of Cheeser Pleesers while looking like a bag of hot cheetos. I appear to be super peaceful but tbh I remember having a tough time – those cheesies really helped me out that day.
If you don’t know me, I’m an “elusive vancouver legend” and allegedly “kind of intimidating.” If you do know me, you know that to be 100% true obviously of course.
I’m terrified to be oversharing on the internet and grateful to have you all along for the ride. Welcome to my takeover.
July 3 2024
Here are the posters for my first thesis show How To Survive In The Wild. These were printed by my friends at @burn_all_books . BAB is a small press risograph arts space in San Diego and they are the best! I miss them every day. If you’re ever in San Diego, please go visit them. If you live in San Diego, you’re so lucky.
July 4 2024
Throughout my time here on the Hammock IG I’ll mostly be sharing images from my show HOW TO SURVIVE IN THE WILD. This show was a kind of cartoon performance and it was my first time directing a piece of devised theatre. Here are some of my collaborators’ feet poking out from backstage. They’re shy! And another photo that gives a snapshot of our beautiful world.
July 5 2024
HOW TO SURVIVE IN THE WILD is live public access television segment dipping its toes in the everyday hell-scapes. Here’s me playing a tyrant children’s TV show star, a la Pee Wee Herman or Lunette the Clown. Or myself when I run Family Storytime at the library.
An arts-and-craftsy metaphysical exploration of looney toon symbology: bringing the wonky world of the mind into lo-fi fruition. HOW TO SURVIVE IN THE WILD investigates the public sphere through acts of intimacy and care that might occur on the street corner, at the karaoke bar, or inside the collective imaginary. This show troubles assumptions of morality, addressing the fact that we collectively build the world we are in, strange and ugly as it may sometimes be.
July 6 2024
HOW TO SURVIVE IN THE WILD combines my theatre practice with my textile practice. While developing this piece, I was taking a textile class and I started to see textiles as a metaphor for everything all the time: the joining of fibres to form a blanket, of letters to make a word, something greater than the sum of its parts. Got me thinking about time and process and the handmade. The arts and crafts aesthetic is a through line in a lot of my work, and lends itself super well to this piece, an unearthing of memories from old children’s TV shows.
July 7 2024
Maggot?
Sometimes a beginning looks like rolling around on the ground. That’s how most things start.
July 8 2024
These three became a terrifying spider. It took work to become so scary. I remember directing Zoë and playing Eartha Kitt’s “I Want To Be Evil”, which is one of my most favourite karaoke tracks (shout out @algae_slut ) and one of my guiding lights. As a kid I saw Eartha Kitt perform as Catwoman, the perfect sexy super villain and I was totally enamoured.
This spider is kind of like the one in James and the Giant Peach. This spider is the experienced wise woman who warns you of what’s to come, of the dangers of the world. It’s all out of love and care and also it scares the shit out of you.
July 9 2024
I watched a lot of Sesame Street as a kid. I feel like I should say something about public space. I grew up on the number 20 bus and in grandview park and in the courtyard of housing co-ops. I remember all the real life characters, the archetypes I perceived in the every day. Stories that take place in the public sphere were part of my inspiration for this piece.
July 10 2024
Liam as a modern dance flower. This is an example of some of the characters you are lucky to meet along the way: beautiful, whimsical, freethinking sweethearts. Kind of like Liam in real life. A dancing flower is a really corny idea and I love it. I did ballet as a kid and I was on the way to stardom. I still have nightmares of missing the exams or like.. showing up late and not knowing the moves.
I remember old video zines by Mee Soo Lee which I bought from Cosmopolis on the Drive and watched on the couch with my whole family. These VHS tapes are some of my most cherished belongings now. I remember hating the ones that featured cats in slow motion, paired with an oldies song or maybe classical music. If you know what I’m talking about let’s chat about them. Anyway, there was one that featured a woman talking about how she hates modern dance. I think she is partly the inspiration for this Flower Guy.
July 11 2024
The Devil herself was one of my muses for this show. I was inspired by old surrealist artists and I made this copycat mask. She gave me the following mantra: you do not have to be good, which helped carry me through this whole process. I watched a documentary about an old amusement park, I dreamt of animatronic loops, and that kickstarted the motion of this piece. A world of archetypes, on their little loops, interacting and clashing and animating the world.
July 12 2024
This is one of my most cherished characters. He’s kind of an asshole, but mostly a butthead. He’s sort of an incel and he hates his dad. I don’t know where he came from but it’s nice to have an outlet for the wretched monologue in my head. And this guy wears it really well. Proof that studio practice works: you get so bored you stick eyes on your butt and then you have to bend to the form and surrender to its will.
My friend Avery brought this character to life. You should hire Avery. He’s really good at delivering horrible miserable monologues.
July 13 2024
This is one of my most cherished characters. He’s kind of an asshole, but mostly a butthead. He’s sort of an incel and he hates his dad. I don’t know where he came from but it’s nice to have an outlet for the wretched monologue in my head. And this guy wears it really well. Proof that studio practice works: you get so bored you stick eyes on your butt and then you have to bend to the form and surrender to its will.
My friend Avery brought this character to life. You should hire Avery. He’s really good at delivering horrible miserable monologues.
July 14 2024
I am not a dog person. I like dogs, okay?? I guess sometimes the way people interact with them gives me the creeps. Like, the relationship puzzles me. Nothing against the dogs themselves, just sometimes the owners. . Anyway, I’m growing and changing everyday, just so you know.
Here is sweet Clare walking her pooch through the neighbourhood. Clare is a master of suburban dread and slasher horror and she reminds me of campy 90s movies: the one freak on the street where all the houses look the same. So, naturally, she would be walking her dog, grinning, and breaking the fourth wall. She also gives a shout out to Dave, my real life dad.
I made this collar and it is one of my finer accomplishments in life.
July 15 2024
I knew that I wanted to do two kids in a trench coat. It seemed imperative, to have that saturday morning cartoon trope, a nod to little rascals. We were running out of time, and I didn’t have anyone to help with costuming. My colleague gave me this large green fabric and got to work on the Fancy Lady’s beautiful coat. Here she is, walking her dog (a super model) and listing off fine cheeses. She is wealth and decadence. She is a “fag hag”. She’s really tall! She is played by the inimitable Aisha, who can do anything.
July 16 2024
The kiss! This moment was stolen from Lady and the Tramp. My generation would deem the spaghetti kiss between two cartoon dogs as the most romantic moment in cinematic history, and I think that says a lot about Millennials (we’re fucked up). These two are really hungry and beautiful.
July 17 2024
Grumpy old man reads the news. He’s unphased by acid rain, genocide, corrupt politicians, evil billionaires, poisoned drug crisis, ritual sacrifice, celebrity gossip, but outraged to learn that IKEA stopped serving breakfast.
At home I listen to a lot of CBC radio one. It feels like a necessary poison. The headlines play in my head, everyday horrors. My friend pointed out how we have new lingo, phrases that have now entered common vernacular. Things like “atmospheric river.”
July 18 2024
Sometimes it’s fun to relish in the gross. Zoë is amazing and can do everything and she is so good at embracing the nasty and grotesque. Adn the silly. I really admire everything she brings to the table.
In terms of my artistic practice: when in doubt, regurgitation always works!
July 19 2024
Here we built a machine. This is like in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure or in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It’s like a Rube Goldberg thing? When I was a kid we had this computer game called The Incredible Machine (or TIM, like my uncle, or my boss). My family and I played this game non-stop it was like a free forming build-your-own machine thing. This bit in the show is an exercise in doing that but with real live human bodies – my friends! So here is a breakfast machine: each part has its unique, mechanized role.
My friend @gossip.plural shared a story about building machines like this at theatre camp, and watching the natural decay: things breaking down over time, the charm of mechanical failures.
If you know me, you may know that I am very passionate about breakfast and I fucking love eggs.
July 20 2024
Crack an egg in your mouth and give it to your friend! An intimate moment shared between me and dear Zoë.
July 21 2024
I was dealing with the joy and discomfort of bossing people around and having actors do my bidding. It’s like going back to being a bossy kid (*ahem* LEO *ahem*), and its super gauche. But theatre projects allow us to play around in that space. It’s a strange experience of invented power dynamics. I was wrestling with the icky feelings around that and I think Justine gave me permission to build my own throne. Call it like it is: I’m the tyrant. So here I have the cast grooming me. It’s kind of like the woodland creatures helping Cinderella get ready. It’s kind of like the scene in Wizard of Oz (“can you even dye my eyes to match my gown? Jolly good to town!”) and it’s also like I’m an Empress, or a child. In this moment I digest everything I’ve learned from the alley-pissers, the asshats, the flowers, the trashcan, the dog, the evil fancy lady, the devil herself. I’m almost ready to survive in the wild.
July 22 2024
I am also an emerging choreographer. And costume designer!
Every rehearsal we would warm up by doing this dance to an egg punk playlist. We turned it into a game, stealing moves from each other and adding freaky faces. I like dance pieces that remind me of old NFB animations, bodies moving nonsensically, in a way that isn’t productive or functional or even comfortable.
July 23 2024
This entire show was just an excuse to be a front woman. What a joy! I have to combat the shame of being front and centre but in fact I really like it. I started to make a list of all the front people I admire but it was too long and I knew I was forgetting someone important so I deleted it!
Big shout out to the live band in this show: @beersinthetypingpool and @justin_andres and also to songwriting collaborator @algae_slut
And of course I have to thank the one and only @shizenjambor for the beautiful outfit she made for me. We were inspired by Sex Girl Patrol (Kids in the Hall) and Barbarella and 90s retro-futurist camp.
Please invite me to perform at your next gig or birthday party.
July 24 2024
The meaning of life. I have so much immense gratitude for all these freaks. They really showed up and helped bring the wild world of my mind into fruition. It’s amazing what people can do when they come together and commit to something. For me, theatre is an experiment in crafting worlds. It’s a reminder of the artifice of everything: we are all responsible for how we collectively live on this planet. I think Brecht came up with that too but I swear I figured it out on my own. Well, never alone. Everything is thanks to these bundles of joy!
July 25 2024
Here are the posters for my second thesis show, Hot and Normal. This is a one woman show! There are also some men in it, playing household objects and performing as a punk band. But I’m the only woman and also I do all the talking so it’s still a one woman show.
July 26 2024
A real live girl works on herself in this side-eyed, vocal-fried, self help punk show.
A lo-fi performance by Marita Michaelis, HOT AND NORMAL peers into the material world of a real live girl’s troubled interior. As a radio transmits the mundane horrors of the present moment, she sits alone with her thoughts, a pile of clothes, a remote-control rodent, and a collection of anthropomorphic household objects. The girl’s anti-monologue includes musical interludes and costume changes. A performance of self-care, self-obsession and phony vulnerability, this show explores what it really means to “work” on oneself. HOT AND NORMAL is a tongue in cheek journey of vapid self-discovery, replete with vocal fry, fake nudity, and a live punk rock band.
July 27 2024
Whisper to yourself: “I am strong.”
It’s tough to have a body and performing live can feel so vulnerable. It really helps to wear armour. The strong suit made me feel powerful. The red pleather pants too!!
July 28 2024
Hi friends. Thanks for having me, it’s been a slice. 🍉
After all this I’m still bad at the internet! It creeps me out! I get that it’s an important tool, but that does not mean I have to like it. What a time suck! An infinitely regenerating endless book that we all get to collectively write together and spend our lives reading.
Sounds cool, except it’s littered with sneaky algorithms that wanna take our attention and tell us to buy stuff. I’m too susceptible! I gotta go touch some grass. I’d rather play with different magic.
I’d rather be IRL, AFK. That’s something I kinda like about performance: you gotta be there. And even if it’s bad, at least it’s an experience. Worst case scenario it allows you to seep into boredom? Okay, enough is enough I’ll TTYL.
If you wanna reach out, you can email me: maritavmw@gmail.com
https://maritamarita.ca
Artist Quick Links
Marita Michaelis
Marita is a library worker, former caregiver, textile artist and illustrator. She is studying theatre and performance at SFU’s school for contemporary arts.
Marita was born and raised on the territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples, in so-called “Vancouver.”https://maritamarita.ca/
