Closing Nov 10: Georgie Straight on DRIVING MISS DAISY

The show's been selling out, so with two weekends left...

Georgia Straight review by Kathleen Oliver
Publish Date: October 25, 2007

Driving Miss Daisy
By Alfred Uhry.
Directed by Sarah Rodgers. A Pacific Theatre production. At Pacific Theatre until November 10
731-5518 / www.pacifictheatre.org

Driving Miss Daisy is the perfect escape from our miserable weather: it's as warm and sweet as a ray of southern sunshine.

Sarah Rodgers has assembled a superb cast for Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize–winning play about an unlikely friendship that spans decades of dramatic social change in the American South. Erla Faye Forsyth gives a deliciously textured performance as the fiercely independent Miss Daisy, a southern Jewish widow whose hardscrabble upbringing keeps her in denial of her current affluence. At 72, she refuses to let her son, Boolie (played with a perfect mix of concern and exasperation by Paul Moniz de Sá), hire a chauffeur for her. He goes ahead and hires Hoke, a black man, but Daisy initially refuses to let Hoke drive her anywhere. When she finally relents, Hoke marvels, "Only took six days–same time it take the Lord to make the world."

Tom Pickett's Hoke is an endearing blend of pride, humility, sincerity, and mischief, and he and Forsyth play off each other beautifully in Rodgers's crisply paced production. Kevin McAllister meets the challenge of staging so many driving scenes with an elegantly minimalist set; for example, a chair and a low bench become the car. Sound designer Steven Bulat provides naturalistic effects for the doors, engine, and trunk.

The script touches–gently–on some milestones of the civil-rights movement, but the play is primarily about an abiding relationship. This intimate production finds its warm, beating heart.

Nov 20: Kitchen Aid

Kitchen Aid
November 20th, Reception at 6:30. Performance 7:30

Kitchen Aid will be an evening of music and spoken word (fiction, theatre, poetry) presented in two acts with some of Vancouver's top performers. Starting at 6:30pm patrons will be welcomed at the door and invited into a reception of desserts and beverages. There, they can mingle and view the items at our Silent Auction which will be held before the show and during the intermission. The show will start at 7:30 pm and we aim to have guests on their way home by 9:45 pm.

More at the Grandview church website

SOUL FOOD: Daisy, Stage & Screen, Chamber Music, etc.

Hey, Soul Foodies!

Quick notes about today's menu: click on the links to find out more on the Soul Food blogs. (Strangely enough, a number of blog posts disappeared in the past few days. I may be able to get around to reposting in the next few days, but if not, and you want more details... Well, I guess we'll just have to put your Google skills to the test!)

First up of course is the marvelous DRIVING MISS DAISY at Pacific Theatre. I've posted some of my thoughts as well as some swell photos and all the details on the blog. Exquisite, affecting work by Tom Pickett, Erla Faye Forsyth and Paul Moniz da Sa in a show perfectly suited to our intimate space. Closes Nov 10.

And don't forget the first of my Stage & Screen nights, Nov 6, when I'll be joined by noted cinematographer Jan Kiesser and DAISY director Sarah Turner to take a close look at how this Pulitzer-winning story gets told in two very different media. Join in the conversation as we take a close look at clips from the film, and peek behind the scenes to find out how live theatre artists bring the same story to life in three dimensions.

And of course we're launching another brand new aspect of Pacific Theatre's season! Join us November 4 at 3pm for the first of our Music At Pacific chamber music series with the Pacific Rim Quartet, under the artistic direction of acclaimed cellist Brian Mix. The program consists of American composer Samuel Barber’s String Quartet (including the famous and beautiful “Adagio for strings”), UBC composition professor Dorothy Chang’s quartet “Beautiful Things” (with the composer in attendance), and Schubert’s string quartet masterpiece “Death and the Maiden.”

Speaking of music, there's another free Bach Canatata at St Johns, Oct 21. A cantata in church - just like it was always meant to be!

This coming week the Trinity Western theatre department opens THE LADY'S NOT FOR BURNING by Christopher Fry, directed by Aaron Caleb who was responsible for that crazy-fun version of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW this spring. "Just a gigolo..."

Of course Pacific Theatre actors are busy in shows all over the place. Julia Mackey takes JAKE'S GIFT to Bellingham this week and next, Kyle Rideout plays Buster Keaton in THE STONE FACE, and Anthony Ingram and Todd Thomson are onstage at Chemainus in A DOLL'S HOUSE. And I'm a happy little playwright this year: TENT MEETING closes this weekend at Rosebud Theatre in Alberta, with Steven Waldschmidt, David Snider and Jonathan Bruce in the cast; I'll be heading to St. Louis in a few weeks to see my play REMNANT open the brand new Mustard Seed Theatre; and A BRIGHT PARTICULAR STAR plays at a college in Tennessee in February. (Heck, might as well mention as well, I've just signed my Soul Food Movies book project with an agent in Los Angeles – very exciting, after four years working on my own!)

On the Soul Food Movies front, PT pal and filmmaker Jason Goode just got word about a $20K Kick Start grant for his short film project with Lucia Frangione and Michael entitled POP SWITCH. Congrats! And – thank goodness! – the silly cinematic season of summer has passed, and the good stuff starts falling from the sky like so many autumnal leaves. At the Soul Food Movies blog there's a cornucopia of news about what's Now Playing on Vancouver screens big and small, as well as what's Coming Soon.

And there's an ever-so-brief opportunity to see Robyn Lynne Williams' thesis project show, a ceramics exhibition at Trinity United Church Nov 8/9. I met Robyn on the Regent Summer School course I co-taught with Loren Wilkinson at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival a couple summers ago: I've seen her dance, but have yet to experience this side of her work.

By the way, you don't wait for the emails. I keep posting things as they come up at the Soul Food blog, Pacific Theatre blog and at Soul Food Movies, as well as general things I read or write over on the Oblations blog. (I'm thinking of combining the lot of them: what do you think, better to keep them specialized, or would you like the one-stop-shopping idea?)

Oct 12 - Nov 10: DRIVING MISS DAISY opens PT mainstage!

The critics love DAISY!

"If you've thought of skipping this particular production because you've seen it before, you're making a mistake. Director Sarah Rodgers and her remarkable cast offer up a fun and easy night of theatre with performances that are subtle, funny, touching, and supremely charming. Scenery designer Kevin McAllister’s ultra-simple set deserves special mention for taking a matronly chair, a bench and a table and creating an entire universe of possibility. Despite my attempts to find fault with something, there wasn’t one wrong note in this one-act.
"Driving Miss Daisy is what it is and nothing more: an honest play by a talented playwright with a talented cast and crew. Sitting in Pacific Theatre, you can almost imagine yourself in the little box theatre where it got its start two decades ago. You may also come to realize that a decent script can transcend the petty skirmishes between film and theatre. Or you could just sit back and enjoy the ride. "
Steven Schelling, The Westender

"Daisy (Erla Faye Forsyth) and her driver Hoke (Tom Pickett) have a sharp dynamism from the get-go."
Michael Harris, The Globe and Mail

"For those of us who must drive across the hell that is Cambie Street to get to Pacific Theatre, who knew that a play about driving could be so heavenly?"
Jo Ledingham, The Vancouver Courier
Complete review

"Erla Faye Forsyth completely inhibits the cantankerous Miss Daisy. Tom Pickett is virtually flawless as the trustworthy Hoke."
John Jane, reviewvancouver.org

And so do I...

Opening night of this one, the show wasn't halfway through before I knew I had to see it again, maybe even a couple more times. It's perfectly calibrated for our intimate little theatre, as warm and friendly and moving a show as you could want to see. Director Sarah Rodgers has paid such close attention to the details of this finely drawn little character study, with intricate, carefully rendered design details from Kevin McAllister (set) and Stephen Bulat (sound) working together to create a beautifully, quietly theatrical world without ever drawing focus from the actor's performances.


And what fine performances these are! Every opening night is something of a "dream come true" for me as artistic director. A script was read long ago, actors imagined in the roles, a match of design and directing sensibilities envisioned, and then - when I'm not involved in rehearsing the show - opening night comes, and the imaginings move into three dimensional reality. But seeing these actors inhabit these characters, something I'd imagined for so long, was truly a memorable experience.


Well, when I first met Tom Pickett (around the time of his stunning performance in MASTER HAROLD... AND THE BOYS at Pacific Theatre), I knew I'd found the ideal Hoke for a production of DRIVING MISS DAISY. Jeremy Tow obviously had the same thought, and staged the show with Tom in the lead role that fall at Chemainus. I didn't manage to see that production, and the years have passed until the time was right to have Tom play the part on the Pacific Theatre stage - opposite PT's resident chameleon, Erla Faye Forsyth. Has ever a forty-ish actress been more astonishingly convincing in a role that starts at seventy-something, then moves through another couple decades?


I was absolutely certain those two would be utterly ideal for the two central roles of this show: I picked the show for them, I could see them in my mind's eye. Paul Moniz da Sa I cast simply on the premise that he's such a strong actor, a terrifically warm presence on stage - and something of a chameleon himself, as we saw in his transformations in our production of THE LION, THE WITCH & THE WARDROBE. But I had no idea just how brilliantly he would fill the role of Boolie in this particular show. Oh my gosh! From the moment he starts munching on pecans (or are those almonds) in the opening scene of DAISY, he had me - matching those other two PT veterans step for step in a trio of truly memorable performances.

*

Don't miss the Opening Mainstage show of Pacific Theatre's Blockbuster Season, "PT Goes to the Movies"!

DRIVING MISS DAISY
October 11 - November 10

Pacific Theatre Gears up For its “PT Goes to the Movies” Season with the
Pulitzer-Prize Winning Play, Driving Miss Daisy

March on Washington. Flower Power. Martin Luther King, Jr. Against a backdrop of triumph and pain is set a story of stubbornness, independence, and the gentle evolution of a most unlikely friendship.

It is 1948 in Atlanta, and an independent, aging Jewish widow – disagreeable as the dull thud of a toothache – reluctantly surrenders the driver’s seat to Hoke Coburn, a proud, soft-spoken black man and a Southern Baptist who, over the course of 25 years, becomes not only her chauffeur, but against all odds, her best friend.

Winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Driving Miss Daisy was adapted for the silver screen in 1989, but has remained vibrant on stages across England and North America for nearly two decades. Pacific Theatre is proud to open its 24th main stage season with this award-winning masterpiece.

Pacific Theatre / 1440 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver

Tickets: 604 731-5518 / ptbox@pacifictheatre.org / or book online

And don't forget, I'll be hosting the first of our Stage & Screen nights November 6, with special guests Jan Keisser (cinematographer) and the director of our production, Sarah Rodgers!

Artistic Director,

Ron Reed

Oct 24 - Nov 3: THE LADY'S NOT FOR BURNING, Trinity Western

The Lady's Not for Burning
by Christopher Fry
Directed by Aaron Caleb (director of last year's TWU hits The Taming of the Shrew and Fixing Christmas
October 24 - November 3, Wednesday - Saturday 8pm with Saturday matinees at 2 pm
Tix and info: twu.ca/theatre

The Trinity Western University Theatre season kicks off with Christopher Fry’s acclaimed verse drama The Lady’s Not For Burning which runs October 24 – November 3. A witty examination of prejudice, superstition and the value of life, this lyrical masterpiece is ultimately a charming romantic comedy.

Thomas Mendip is a disillusioned soldier who demands to be hanged for murder. Jennet Jourdemayne faces execution as a witch despite proclaiming her innocence. The social order is completely upended as science and religion, hope and despair, gravity and absurdity all face off when Thomas and Jennet meet.

“I think we can all relate to Thomas, because we’ve all wanted to change the world,” says TWU theatre professor and director Aaron Caleb. “And I think we can all relate to Jennet because we’ve likely been accused of something we didn’t do.”

A Christian humanist who began his playwriting career on a commission from the church, Christopher Fry’s works frequently explore Biblical themes and characters. Often compared to T.S. Elliot, Fry also wrote a number of screenplays for epic films including Barrabas and Ben Hur. The Lady’s Not for Burning is his most popular play and the role of Thomas has attracted some of the stage’s most accomplished actors including John Gielgud, Richard Chamberlain and Kenneth Branagh.

Nice interview piece with director Aaron Caleb at the TWU website.

Oct 21: Bach Cantata 51, St John's Shaughnessy

"Bach's cantatas were written for church services; tus each related to the theme of a given day within the liturgical year. The German church cantata was placed between the Gospel reading and the Sermon of the Lutheran liturgy and culminated a long tradition of sermon music text that sought to teach and persuade the listener." - from Handbook to Bach's Sacred Cantata Texts

Cantata 51 "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!" is one of Bach's most popular solo cantatas, written for the fifteenth Sunday after Trinity. Soprano Charlene Pauls will perform this cantata to the accompaniment of trumpet, violins, viola, and organ.

Charlene Pauls is establishing herself at the forefront of Canadian oratorio with her engaging and sensitive performances. She has been invited to sing across the country working with conductors such as Bramwell Tovey, Robert Cooper, Jean-François Rivest, Frieder Bernius, and the late Robert Shaw, as well as in Germany with Helmut Rilling and Martin Lutz. Recent studies include work with Early Music specialist Emma Kirkby and internationally acclaimed soprano Edith Wiens. Pauls teaches at the Canadian Mennonite University and University of Manitoba and holds a Master's degree in vocal performance from McGill University.

Comments from the last Canata:

"Excellent! First time I've heard a cantata in a church-- where it should be!"

"Wonderful idea! Very well presented!"

"Fantastic -- very moving"

"marvelous, breath-taking, inspiring"

"Loved it! Hope this is a regular event."

"Most enjoyable and appreciated."

Free admission!

Nov 8/9: Robyn Williams ceramics show

Nov 6: DRIVING MISS DAISY Stage & Screen Evening with Jan Kiesser

I've invited cinematographer Jan Kiesser to join me for the first of our Stage & Screen Evenings at Pacific Theatre, on Tuesday November 6. We'll take a close look at scenes from the Academy Award-winning film version of DRIVING MISS DAISY, and find out how stage artists interpret the same material in three dimensions in the intimate setting of Pacific Theatre. (There's more about our production here.

Jan Keisser has lensed over 70 films in an extraordinary range of visual styles, including the mythic scope of BEOWULF & GRENDEL, the tongue-in-cheek retro horror look of FIDO, the high camp of REEFER MADNESS, urban gloss and high-speed street car racing in THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT (kind of a souped-up DRIVING MISS DAISY?), Twenties urbanity in MRS PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE, and so many more.

Together, we'll take a close look at how the same story is told in two very different media. We'll talk about the elegant script and the gorgeous performances (how could we not!), but mostly we'll focus on what's in front of our eyes: how do visual artists help tell the story? How do they show us what to look at, and shape our perception of the events unfolding on the stage or screen?

We'll also talk about whatever else you want to talk about in the show - as well as what Jan and I have in mind, it'll just be an open conversation about DRIVING MISS DAISY, stage and screen.

It should be a marvelous night - the first of many this season! I can't wait.

Ron Reed

Call our box office for tickets - 731-5518 - or order online. And thanks to Pacific Theatre's friends at Rhema Industries, sponsors for this event!

Nov 6: DRIVING MISS DAISY Stage & Screen Evening with Jan Kiesser

I've invited cinematographer Jan Kiesser to join me for the first of our Stage & Screen Evenings at Pacific Theatre, on Tuesday November 6. We'll take a close look at scenes from the Academy Award-winning film version of DRIVING MISS DAISY, and find out how stage artists interpret the same material in three dimensions in the intimate setting of Pacific Theatre. (There's more about our production here.

Jan Keisser has lensed over 70 films in an extraordinary range of visual styles, including the mythic scope of BEOWULF & GRENDEL, the tongue-in-cheek retro horror look of FIDO, the high camp of REEFER MADNESS, urban gloss and high-speed street car racing in THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT (kind of a souped-up DRIVING MISS DAISY?), Twenties urbanity in MRS PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE, and so many more.

Together, we'll take a close look at how the same story is told in two very different media. We'll talk about the elegant script and the gorgeous performances (how could we not!), but mostly we'll focus on what's in front of our eyes: how do visual artists help tell the story? How do they show us what to look at, and shape our perception of the events unfolding on the stage or screen?

We'll also talk about whatever else you want to talk about in the show - as well as what Jan and I have in mind, it'll just be an open conversation about DRIVING MISS DAISY, stage and screen.

It should be a marvelous night - the first of many this season! I can't wait.

Ron Reed

Call our box office for tickets - 731-5518 - or order online. And thanks to Pacific Theatre's friends at Rhema Industries, sponsors for this event!

Nov 4: Pacific Rim Quartet, "Music At Pacific"

I'm very proud to be launching a new project at Pacific Theatre, a chamber music series under the artistic direction of noted cellist Brian Mix. It's going to be splendid: top quality playing in the most intimate of settings. I'll let Brian tell you more...

Hello friends,

I want to tell you about an exciting new concert series at Pacific Theatre, of which I am the Artistic Director. The series features the Pacific Rim String Quartet (www.pacificrimstringquartet.com) along with guest artists.

The first concert is coming up on Sunday, November 4, at 3:00 pm. The program consists of American composer Samuel Barber’s String Quartet (including the famous and beautiful “Adagio for strings”), UBC composition professor Dorothy Chang’s quartet “Beautiful Things” (with the composer in attendance), and Schubert’s string quartet masterpiece “Death and the Maiden.” We will be performing on the sets of Pacific Theatre’s current production of “Driving Miss Daisy.”

I’ve also attached information about the complete “Music at Pacific” series below. Concert 2 (February 17, 2008) features Haydn, Pärt, and Shostakovich, while Concert 3 (May 25, 2008) includes guest musicians Paolo Bortolussi, flute, and Eric Wilson, UBC cello professor.

Tickets are available through the Pacific Theatre box office. The theatre is located at Hemlock and W. 12th in the ‘Granville Rise” district. The intimate space of the 124-seat theatre is perfect for chamber music - the furthest seat from the stage is only 9 rows away. Go to www.pacifictheatre.org for more details.

Hope to see you at the concert!

Brian.