Petrichor | Kitchen Band Productions

Visit the rural areas of Southern Ontario, and you may notice some conservatively dressed men and women working in the fields with their families. The women wear long dresses made from brightly printed fabric with straw hats or scarves on their heads. The men dress in dark blue jean overalls and buttoned up shirts with cowboy or baseball caps standing high on their heads. These are the Mennonites from Mexico, a group of conservative religious people that live on the fringes of the rural community in Southern Ontario. They speak a dialect of German called Plaut Deutch (Low German) and travel with their families from Mexico to the farms of Southern Ontario for work. 

Petrichor, meaning the smell of rain on dry ground, is a new project by Erin Brandenburg, one of the minds behind the multidisciplinary shows Reesor (Next Stage) and Pelee (Summerworks). Petrichor combines text, movement, images agriculture, and live music to examine the relationship of the migrant workers of Southern Ontario to the farmers and Canadian communities who need their labour. Music created and performed by Andrew Penner (Sunparlour Players) and Henry Adam Svec (The Boy From E.T, Peter Mansbridge and the CBC’s). Images and projection by Howie Shia. Design and instrument by Iner Souster.