Face Your Fears, an Immersive Virtual Play featured at North Fringe Virtual Festival

Face Your Fears is an immersive play where Kyla and Divan share and encourage the – use – of art as a coping mechanism for mental health issues and invisible disabilities, sharing their personal experiences in the form of spoken poetry, accompanied by abstract art and imagery. In hopes to open the continuous necessary discussion on mental health and invisible disabilities.

Kyla Yager is an Abstract Artist who is based both in Toronto and New Orleans. She met Divan Meyer, a Stage Actor based in Toronto, during the Start the Riot Theatre Company’s Virtual Art’s Crawl. It is there where Face Your Fears was created, through an exercise where they made art reacting from each other’s pieces. Inspired by a given word.

The chain reaction of art lead to a series of smaller creative pieces, providing the space for Divan and Kyla to share their personal experiences with mental health and invisible disabilities. Along with how their continuous isolated environment during this worldwide pandemic has impacted their mental health even more. Through those discussions, Face Your Fears was created. In hopes to inspire those who watch, to get out there and create. Using art – whether it be dancing, writing, singing, moving, poetry, whatever it is – as a positive environment to cope with mental health and invisible disabilities.

“I can certainly say that both Kyla and I were starving to create again. Creating Face Your Fears created that outlet for us, to get it out. I can’t tell you how many times we kept telling each other how unbelievably grateful we were just to have the opportunity to create again.” – Divan Meyer (Stage Actor, Co-Creator of Face Your Fears)

“We hope that it will be as therapeutic for the audience to come and watch this show as it was for us to create it. To be able to look at this show and go, I know how that feels and not to feel so alone.” – Kyla Yager (Abstract Artist, Co – Creator of Face Your Fears)

Face Your Fears will be playing at the North Fringe Virtual Festival from August 19-22. Tickets are $10 per person (applicable Taxes will be applied during checkout). Tickets for the North Fringe Virtual Festival, including additional performances, will be available on their website soon. You can also follow Face Your Fears on Instagram @faceyourfearstheplay for continuous updates and announcements.