‘PIE Day’ aims to serve up a slice of laughs

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This article was published 07/03/2024 (822 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No matter how you slice it, said Winnipeg comedian Lara Rae, Brandon’s PIE Day will be filling enough for all audiences.

Rae is scheduled to perform this Saturday at 2 p.m. at Knox United Church during “PIE Day,” which runs from 1 to 3 p.m. in the church’s auditorium.

“I had not heard of PIE Day. But the first part is exciting for me as a standup, as in ‘pie.’ The second part, not so exciting: ‘day.’ Right? We’re a nocturnal art form. But I’ll do my best. And I’m coming early, so I’ll take an Adderall, and then I should be good to go,” Rae said as she laughed.

PIE Day is being presented by Knox and Trinity United Church, which are both part of the Affirm United initiative within the United Church of Canada. It means they have policies that support same-gender marriage, are welcoming to all, and have a mission statement that follows those beliefs.

And true to the event name, there will be pie, said Laura Crookshanks, chair of the Knox Untied Church affirm committee.

“It’s called pie in the public square, so we’ll have lots of pie as well as coffee, tea and cold drinks,” said Crookshanks.

The name of the event — “PIE” — is an acronym for public, intentional and explicit, and it’s the churches’ intent to represent all three of those words, she said.

“In lots of places, LGBT folks have been excluded — explicitly excluded. So, you have to be explicit in the welcome that you provide. You can’t just say we welcome everybody, because that’s not explicit, and it’s very intentional that we’re doing this.”

The day is meant to celebrate, educate and create awareness about 2SLGTBQIA+, an acronym for two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning, intersex and asexual. The plus reflects the countless affirmative ways in which people choose to self-identify, added Crookshanks.

“I think we recognize with everything that’s been happening in the world and in our own community that we do need to have ways for people to come together to support members of the community and their family and friends in a positive way,” she said.

“Some individuals are not as accepting, and I think we need to continue to build understanding and acceptance.”

The local event is not to be confused with another event called Pi Day, which is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14. They eat pie and talk about the value of pi, which means if you divide the total distance around the circle by the diameter, you will get the same number: 3.14159.

Rae had a joke about that, too.

“I believe they said that it would end at three. So, from one to three. But it should be one to 3.14. There you go. There’s my pi joke,” Rae said.

Rae began her standup career in the 1980s when she was in her late teens, with Yuk Yuk’s in Toronto. She came to Winnipeg to perform in 1994 and decided to stay.

Since then, she co-founded the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, has written for well-known broadcast shows like “The Debaters” on radio and television’s “Little Mosque on the Prairie.”

In 2015, Rae made the decision to transition from male to female. And since she already had the stage presence, she said she decided to continue with her “successful hobby.”

“I love standup. And all of it, since I began, has always had a little bit of a personal dynamic to it, talking about my daughter or talking about back in the day when I was married, and then obviously talking about transition and post-transition,” Rae said.

“And so my act, to some degree, is a combination of personal stories, rejigged old street jokes, and things leftover from a comedy team I was involved in years ago.”

Included in the local event will be booths set up by six local organizations that also promote equality: PFLAG (which stands for parents, family and friends of lesbians and gays), the Sexuality Education Resource Centre (SERC), the adult boutique Smitten, the Western Manitoba Regional Library, Brandon Pride and Westman Empowerment Fund.

Leila Praznik, a transgender woman and director of the Westman Empowerment Fund, said Rae will be a great addition to their PIE Day event, to encourage more open discussion and create an atmosphere of inclusion.

The goal of Praznik’s non-profit is to break down barriers to transition for trans and gender-diverse people in Westman. Volunteers are currently raising funds and developing programs and grants to provide people with basic needs and supplies like chest binders, compression underwear and other gender-affirming apparel.

“Basically, they’re for anyone who is in need of those items but can’t afford them out of pocket or can’t safely obtain them,” said Praznik.

“Being able to live authentically as yourself has a major impact on quality of life. Even being able to use one’s own chosen name and pronouns has shown a decrease in suicidal ideation in transgender and gender-diverse youth.

“Once you figure out exactly how much better things could be, and once you get rid of that self-loathing about your body, no matter what you do to try to change it within the framework of your assigned gender at birth, that has such a big impact on you. And I’m not sure I would trade it for anything else,” Praznik said.

Rae said she hopes she’s an inspiration to everyone who attends Saturday’s event.

“We should never be hopeless. Ever. Despair is paralyzing,” Rae said. “So, the work we are doing now may be planting the seeds that are going to sprout long after we’re gone. We’re building a cathedral of diversity, and we’re just laying the foundational stones right now.”

Those attending PIE Day are asked to enter Knox United Church from the doors on 17th Street. There is no cost for admission or for a piece of pie, but donations will be accepted, with money raised going to Westman Empowerment Fund.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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