A WALK ALONG THE WALTER BEAN TRAIL WITH BEN GORODETSKY
The rain that greeted us at the Walter Bean Trail in Kitchener did not deter actor/producer/teacher/writer Ben Gorodetsky (he/they) from enjoying our walk.
“I feel most at home when it’s lightly raining and we’re near a body of water,” Gorodetsky said. “It feels very nourishing.”
Gorodetsky was born in Edmonton, Alberta, just ten days after his parents immigrated from Donetsk, Ukraine. His mother was not the only pregnant member of their party—they also transported a pet spaniel who gave birth to a litter of puppies two weeks after Gorodetsky was born.
After a stint in Saskatoon where their father trained as a vet, Gorodetsky grew up in Burnaby, British Columbia, and they developed a connection to large bodies of water and nature to tap into an unbound and energetic sense of self. That connection is one they continue to draw on in their artistic work.
While living in the Vancouver suburbs, Gorodetsky’s parents enrolled him in a Russian youth theatre to preserve his mother tongue.
“That was very important to them, cultural…linguistic preservation,” Gorodetsky said. “This theatre [became] a slippery slope…not just to multilinguality but also to a career in the arts.”
The arts were ever-present in Gorodetsky’s upbringing. In addition to language preservation, their parents provided access to art both inside and outside the home.
“They took us to see shitloads of theatre and shitloads of music,” Gorodetsky said. “They organized…Soviet alternative folk music festivals all through my childhood. [My dad] was not doing it for the career, was losing money on it every single time, but was doing it because it made life worth living.”
Our path on the trail took us past the Humane Society, where the barking of dogs enjoying a romp in the rain mixed with the sounds from the Grand River to provide a soundtrack for the conversation.
Gorodetsky left British Columbia to pursue acting training in the conservatory program at the University of Alberta. He also developed improv skills by performing regularly with Rapid Fire Theatre. After graduation, Gorodetsky began creating his own work.
“I got really into documentary theatre, working with interviews…artifacts…documents, and making something current and vital,” Gorodetsky said. “For me…[docu-based is] just the only way that I know how to do anything, and it seems to be another pathway into the truth. [I] love oversharing, love TMI.”
They continued their exploration of truth and art at Brooklyn College in the Performance and Interactive Media Arts Master’s program, moving to New York with their partner. After graduation, and now with a young child, a teaching opportunity brought Gorodetsky and their family back to Canada on what was to be a temporary basis, but the pandemic changed their plans.
Gorodetsky’s sister-in-law offered her home in Waterloo, and what was meant to be a short-term solution lasted over a year and included the birth of their second child. The pandemic was a challenging time for Gorodetsky’s mental health, but the decision to make roots in this community helped them recover.
“Without any grand foresight, but with some desire to live rather than not, I started making changes,” Gorodetsky said. “Let’s try and make a go of here…so Fall 2021 I launched Pinch Cabaret to try and meet every cool artist in town.”
Inspired by the model of production they witnessed at home as a child; Gorodetsky began hosting the monthly variety show which platforms artists from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds. Pinch Arts grew to include improv classes and workshops, as well as the monthly Together We’re Boisterous comedy show.
Humour and getting a laugh is one artistic fuel for Gorodetsky. As a project for a gifted program in elementary school, they decided to take a performative approach and dance with their dog, eschewing the expectations of a more traditional report.
From there, Gorodetsky developed a love of the absurd and the audience. He used improv to finely tune his humour and sought ways to layer in drama and catharsis to achieve a surprise tonal shift in his work.
“I’m interested in dark humour and playful tragedy,” he said. “I think the one is boring without the other, like a chocolate chip cookie without a little bit of sea salt on top.”
The intersection of family, art, and animals led Gorodetsky to create My Pet Ate What?, a documentary television series for CTV Wild and Crave that follows their veterinarian father as he performs endoscopy on pets to retrieve ingested items.
Through his work performing, creating, teaching and producing, Gorodetsky has discovered that connection is key for his artistic and emotional well-being. He continues to look for opportunities to create art and foster community in Kitchener-Waterloo.
“I thought greatness was the only goal,” they said. “I’ve learned that meaning can be derived from joy and happiness and groundedness and community, and it’s about a lateral reach. [I’ve arrived] at the greatest life; I literally never could have imagined,” Gorodetsky said.
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