apr 4-14 | stationary: a recession-era musical | delinquent theatre

If you missed STATIONARY in its hugely popular run last summer at the Neanderthal Festival, here's your chance to check it out. Witty, fun - kind of a musical version of "The Office" when it was still good. PT connection? Well, Laura McLean, the director, has stage managed a ton of our shows, and designers Jess Howell and Lauchlin Johnston are PT regulars. In fact, our Artistic Director Ron Reed is such a fan of Delinquent Theatre, he's on their board of directors. So… Go!
 


Under the fluorescent lights of real life, obligations and social niceties loom large. But in the world of day-dreams, all things are possible. STATIONARY: A RECESSION-ERA MUSICAL explores the lives of 9 young people at a moment when big dreams meet reality checks. “The baby boom is just an echo now,” and STATIONARY gives voice to the generation left behind. Just trying to get by in a “yoga and sushi-swilling succubus of a city,” they’ve stepped out, bachelors degree in hand, to find out not everyone can be a winner. In STATIONARY the actors are the orchestra, pulling a wide and whimsical array of instruments from their desks to orchestrate their own emotional life. Real life is disappointing. Singing about it definitely takes the edge off.

April 4 to 14, 2013 at Presentation House Theatre (333 Chesterfield Ave, North Vancouver). Tuesday through Saturday at 8PM, Saturday and Sunday at 2PM. Tickets $14-28, available at www.phtheatre.org or at 604-990-3474.

happy world theatre day!

Happy World Theatre Day everybody!

There are lots of ways you can celebrate! Here in Vancouver the GVPTA has a list of theatres offering specials to celebrate, just look for their pink decal on shows with a deal!

We celebrated by rehearsing for FUNNY STUFF, scheduling some auditions, presenting our theatre to tourism industry members, breaking into our own lighting booth by crawling through the window from the theatre, and getting a brand new sponsor!

Pretty great day if you ask us.

april 5-6 | wave after wave | samc at twu

For many of us, there are few things more beautiful than the enchanting sounds of a harp. Now, for the first time ever, WAVE AFTER WAVE, an original composition by the Dean of Trinity Western's School of Arts, Media, and Culture for harp and orchestra is shared with the public. 

Last year, Music majors in the School of Arts, Media and Culture at Trinity Western University competed to have a composition written especially for them by David Squires, Ph.D., their Dean. Fourth-year harpist Esther Cannon was the lucky winner, and the result is WAVE AFTER WAVE, a concerto for harp and orchestra premiering April 5 and 6 as part of TWU’s Festival of the Arts, Media and Culture

Squires, who lives in Abbotsford, wrote the piece during a sabbatical leave in 2012. It is his seventh collaboration with university student performers, and the second concerto to feature a student. “When musicians work with a living composer who’s right in front of them, they can ask you why you wrote the piece a certain way, and you can make changes as you go,” said Squires. “That’s what music is—a living thing that exists between a composer, performer, and audience.” This co-creation suits Squires well, as his passion lies in not only teaching music to students but also experiencing it with them.

WAVE AFTER WAVE, will be featured in two orchestral performances next week: Friday, April 5 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Langley, and Saturday, April 6 at Peace Lutheran Church in Abbotsford. The full program, shared between the university’s Orchestra and Concert Band, features music ranging from Vaughan Williams and Copland to Gershwin and Tchaikovsky. Both performances begin at 7:30.

Admission is by donation ($10 suggested). More information is available at twu.ca/samc.

march 27 | world theatre day

Tomorrow is World Theatre Day!  Unfortunately, we've got nothing on our stage to celebrate the occasion this year (although the staff and apprentices are hard at work bringing together FUNNY STUFF for you all).  To gear up for tomorrow, here is the World Theatre Day message, this year written by Italian theatre artist Dario Fo.

A long time ago, Power resolved the intolerance against Commedia dell’Arte actors by chasing them out of the country.

Today, actors and theatre companies have difficulties finding public stages, theatres and spectators, all because of the crisis.  Rulers are, therefore, no longer concerned with problems of control over those who express themselves with irony and sarcasm, since there is no place for actors, nor is there a public to address.  On the contrary, during the Renaissance, in Italy those in power had to make a significant effort in order to hold the Commedianti at bay, since these enjoyed a large audience.

It is known that the great exodus of Commedia dell’Arte players happened in the century of the counter-Reformation, which decreed the dismantling of all theatre spaces, especially in Rome, where they were accused of offending the holy city. In 1697, Pope Innocent XII, under the pressure of insistent requests from the more conservative side of the bourgeoisie and of the major exponents of the clergy, ordered the demolition of Tordinona Theatre which, according to the moralists, had staged the greatest number of obscene displays.

At the time of the counter-Reformation, cardinal Carlo Borromeo, who was active in the North of Italy, had committed himself to the redemption of the “children of Milan”, establishing a clear distinction between art, as the highest form of spiritual education, and theatre, the manifestation of profanity and of vanity. In a letter addressed to his collaborators, which I quote off the cuff, he expresses himself more or less as follows: “Concerned with eradicating the evil weed, we have done our utmost to burn texts containing infamous speeches, to eradicate them from the memory of men, and at the same time to prosecute also those who divulged such texts in print. Evidently, however, while we were asleep, the devil labored with renewed cunning. How far more penetrating to the soul is what the eyes can see, than what can be read off such books! How far more devastating to the minds of adolescents and young girls is the spoken word and the appropriate gesture, than a dead word printed in books. It is therefore urgent to rid our cities of theatre makers, as we do with unwanted souls”.

Thus the only solution to the crisis lies in the hope that a great expulsion is organized against us and especially against young people who wish to learn the art of theatre: a new diaspora of Commedianti, of theatre makers, who would, from such an imposition, doubtlessly draw unimaginable benefits for the sake of a new representation.

mother teresa is dead | rudi krause

A response from long-time PT member Rudi Krause on MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD. The show is over, but it was too good to pass up on sharing this one.

The tension which is at the heart of the story concerns looking after one's own (loyalty to family) and engaged openness to the needs of others, be it through charitable activities or involvement in social justice concerns. A big part of the creative resolution to this tension must lie with radical hospitality, finding ways to bring others and their needs into our space, perhaps through adopting or fostering children, or, on a larger scale, opening our society's doors to refugees. This needs to move in the reverse direction as well, finding genuine ways of making oneself dependent on the hospitality of others. This may never be enough must is a good starting place.

The final scene with its invitation to "sit and think" made me think. For one, it's a reminder that active engagement needs to be balanced with and supported by contemplation. Then, "thinking" in our Germanic languages at least, is related to "thanking." Earlier in the play there was mention of the importance of gratitude. Then there is something about the final scene which makes us think of communion, of table-fellowship, albeit without food, yet highlighting and underscoring the communal nature of communion, something which is often ignored or forgotten. This last scene is a wonderfully understated yet profound enactment of what lies at the heart of our humanity - both the need and the ability to reach out our hands to one another.

listening to madeleine

In the summer, between my years studying acting at CalArts, I worked in the desert. Extremely hot, dry work. Isolation. But the real enemy was boredom. Tedium. Brain-aridity. Madeleine L'Engle kept me alive: I believe I read through 23 of her books that summer, sitting beside a little stream in our condo complex at the parched ends of my work days, or in stretched lunch and coffee breaks in the more-or-less air conditioned trailer on the job site. 

I'll admit, that binge pretty much saturated me with L'Engle. I've read little since. It all seems overly familiar, even the books I didn't already read, back then in the California heat. It's not that the ideas are commonplace - it's that they became so much a part of me that summer, spiritual and imaginative water in a dry and weary land. They say we're, what, 98% water? Well, there was a time when that water was Madeleine L'Engle, and the whole way I think about life and art grew out of her words and stories.

Thinking back on that, I think I just might pick up this new book, which I learned about from IMAGE Update (below). Time for me to pay another visit to an old friend.  

In Listening for Madeleine: A Portrait of Madeleine L’Engle in Many Voices, literary historian Leonard Marcus explores the complexity of public persona and personal history in the life of a writer beloved by generations of readers.

In the early 1960s, Madeleine L’Engle was rejected by dozens of publishers when shopping her now-famous novel A Wrinkle in Time; it was deemed too religious, or, in L’Engle’s words, “too different,” wrapping up quantum physics, time travel, and guardian angels dressed as witches into a coming-of-age story.

When Wrinkle, finally published, won the 1963 Newbery Award, Madeleine L’Engle embraced the public speaking circuit as a literary celebrity. Disparate listeners were either charmed or appalled by her Christian belief, her commitment to the Episcopal church, her theatrical flair, and her connection to readers. Some dismissed her as a person living in a fantasy, while she published 44 titles in 35 years, including novels, memoirs, volumes of poetry, musings on faith and the arts, and children’s titles. The chasm of differing perceptions widened when The New Yorker posted an unflattering profile of L’Engle a few years before her 2007 death.

In Listening for Madeleine, Leonard Marcus traces perceptions of L’Engle through a collection of interviews with those who knew her; through the voices of publishers, family members, and fellow writers, he explores his subject as matriarch, mentor, friend, and icon. Often, one interview contradicts the last; but rather than feeling like one of L’Engle’s formidable ping-pong matches, the back-and-forth forms its own story. Cousins who speak of family “L’Englearities” suggest an inheritance of eccentricity. Luci Shaw speaks of her lifelong closeness with L’Engle in the chapter simply titled “Friend.”

Instead of trying to sum L’Engle up, the book breathes mystery into the life of a writer who loved living in the public eye. In his closing interview, Marcus—who has remained mostly in the background until this point—discusses how biographers suffer a little when initial heroic impressions must accommodate new insights and shadows. Marcus’s work and the remembrances of friends shed an intimate light on Madeleine L’Engle the human being, who resists simple categorization.

mother teresa is dead | responses

CLOSES SATURDAY!

"This is the best piece of theatre I've seen in Vancouver in a long time. Wonderful script with universal themes and an ensemble cast who are superb. I cannot say enough good things about this production. You will be moved and, more importantly, will be thinking about the issues raised or discussing them with your friends long after you have left the theatre. The last time I remember doing that in earnest was after seeing the original Broadway production of 'Doubt' many years ago. It is a crying shame that the theatre was not sold out on a Saturday night. You would have a hard time finding a piece of professional theatre as good as this anywhere else in Vancouver.  It would be sold out if it was playing Off-Broadway in NYC. Go see it!!
"And please pass on my joyous thanks to your cast. Their brilliantly nuanced performances left me smiling and exhilarated. I could've hugged them all as they were taking their well-deserved bows. They gave me (and my friends) an evening of wonderful entertainment which is, after all, why we go in the first place; a simple objective that seems to be lost on some theatre projects. Kudos to the Director for that. Thank you."  audience email

"Wow, and I thought I wasn't a big fan of live theatre. I/we were riveted to our seats the whole time, spellbounding plot and amazing acting. Thanks muchly for choosing the play and putting it on, will have to revisit our attendance." audience member

"With gripping performances, big questions, and no easy answers, Mother Teresa is Dead is a powerful play, written by Helen Edmundson, that makes you reconsider right and wrong." | Emme Rogers, Being Emme

"Frayne’s direction crafts moments of laughter, redemption, and understanding, which punctuate and balance the dense and challenging themes of Edmundson’s script. ... Our best efforts to be good, though imperfect in nature, are still acts of redemption in a broken world, Edmundson implies. Above all, her play reminds us of the necessity of grace for others as we all try to answer these questions as best we can in the life set before us." | Robin Lawrence, The MB Herald

"Mother Teresa Is Dead makes you think, and God and all of his saints know that most entertainments these days don’t do that." | Colin Thomas, The Georgia Straight

"Something Pacific Theatre does exceedingly well is address big philosophical issues through stories about relatable events and individuals. ... Mother Teresa is Dead is a play that will challenge beliefs, provoke thoughts, and make most people feel guilty. While the last may sound unappealing, it is anything but, as Edmundson’s play quickly spins guilt into a great and surprising catalyst for personal introspection." | Brian Paterson, Laura Murray PR

"Ms McIsaac offers a sublime performance as a confused idealist meandering in a neo-comatose state, pulled by equal and opposite demands on her fragile psyche. Ms Venour is solid as the narrative anchor. ... Mother Teresa is Dead is another thought-provoking presentation by Pacific Theatre that will leave audiences with much to ponder about until the next production." | John Jane, Review Vancouver

"Kroon has the toughest job among the cast as he must convincingly sell his unlikeable character. At first glance the playwright forces him into the role of villain as he comes to selfishly bring his wife home, but gradually Kroon peels back his character’s layers to reveal an emotional neediness that ultimately makes him one of the most sympathetic. Similarly, as the young Indian, Kelly effectively walks a fine line between his idealism and what may be more sinister motives for trying to convince Jane to remain in India." | Mark Robins, GayVancouver.Net

rule of thirds

We've got The Rule of Thirds campaign running right now!  The whole idea behind this campaign is that ticket sales only account for one third of our revenue - so if you are willing to donate a second "third" by matching your ticket price, we've got a generous donor who will match that donation, rounding out the thirds to one whole!

Check out the snazzy Rule of Thirds website to learn more!

mother teresa is dead | from the artists

MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD is a collective guest production, so the artists on stage are the ones who have put their all into making the show happen. Some members of the collective shared a little bit more about why they wanted to contribute to this project.

Julie McIsaac (Jane): My attraction to the script was immediate. My heart, my mind, my spirit; all were immediately captured, and all were immediately stimulated and rejoicing. I LOVE this piece; in no other work have I previously felt such potential for my professional and personal selves to be so perfectly aligned.

Kayvon Kelly (Srinivas): The world we are living in requires attention, and help. Yet we question the responsibility of the individual-this play brings that subject forward, without giving the answer. Leaving the viewer left with the task of answering it for themselves.

Evan Frayne (Director): It's a play that asks big questions, questions that, I think, many of us have struggled with. Questions like, "How do I reconcile private comfort with public virtue? If I concentrate solely on my family unit am I blinding myself to the horrors and injustice of the world beyond? How do I live a thinking, sensitive life when everywhere around me is poverty, injustice and catastrophe?"

PS: You can find Julie, Kayvon, and Evan on twitter to follow them personally! @juliehijinks, @kayvonkelly, and @evanfrayne.

mother teresa is dead | bruce horak statement

An artist statement from Bruce Horak on his series THE WAY I SEE IT, on display in our lobby throughout the run of MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD. Bruce also provided the paintings in the show.

I am often asked how it is that I see, and this series of portraits is an attempt to answer that question.

As a result of a childhood cancer (bi-lateral retinoblastoma) I am Legally Blind. Technically, this means that I have less than %10 of "normal" vision; Imagine looking at the world through one eye, through a drinking-straw, through a glass of dust-filled water which is stirred up whenever your gaze shifts.

My right eye was removed when I was a year old and the retina of my remaining eye is covered in scar-tissue which accounts for my tunnel-vision. I had cataract surgery to remove the lens in my left eye. In addition to this, I have extreme light sensitivity and diminished acuity, an astigmatism, and a vast array of floaters in my visual field. I will never (legally) drive a car, but I can juggle, read large-print, have ridden a bicycle and a unicycle, bowled a strike, beaten my father at pool, and have made a career as a stage actor. I have heard the phrase, "you'd never guess" so many times that I have considered putting it on my business card.

The colors used in these portraits are inspired by the halo or aura that I see around people and objects, which is perhaps a result of my extreme light-sensitivity or astigmatism. I use the color of the aura as a base-tone for the painting and then work from the darkest point to the lightest. My tunnel-vision forces me to work in very small sections, and it will often be well into the work before I sit far enough back to see the entire canvass at once.

I prefer to work from a live model as the colors are much more vivid and dynamic and I have noticed that they will change depending on background, mood, location and will often shift during a sitting which is a wonderful challenge to try and capture.

Each portrait is meant to be viewed through high-prescription lenses at close range and with one eye closed in order to force the viewer to experience a form of tunnel-vision. As the viewer moves slowly away from the portrait, the image will distort like an old photograph, and there will be a 3-D effect, or so I am told, though I don’t personally see in 3-dimensions.

This project began as an homage to my father who not only stepped in to save what eyesight I have left, but also taught me to draw and paint. He encouraged me to celebrate and enjoy what I have rather than to mourn what I had lost. This project was sparked by his very positive outlook. It has afforded me the opportunity to spend time with some truly remarkable people, and for that I am grateful.

-Bruce Horak,
Vancouver, 2013
The on-going project can be seen at www.brucehorak.com

mother teresa is dead | theatre club success

Last weekend we hosted another theatre club in our lobby - this time focusing our discussion around MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD. We had a lovely time engaging with the many complex questions the play raises. If you'd like to have a peek at the MOTHER TERESA discussion guide, you can find it here. 

If theatre club sounds like something you'd like to try, please join us for our last one of the season on Saturday May 4th for HOW TO WRITE A NEW BOOK FOR THE BIBLE. More info on theatre club and how to start your own, can be found here.

mother teresa is dead | philanthropy in canada

Since MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD deals so closely with issues of giving, we thought it might be interesting to share some statistics on giving in Canada. All data is found in this fun interactive infographic from The Globe and Mail.

• In Canada, charities get about 43% of their funding from government sources.
• Most recent data on giving says that 23.4% of Canadians gave to charities in 2010, compared to an all-time high of just over 25%.
• BC's Abbotsford-Mission is the most generous region of Canada
• Religion-affiliated charities get the bulk of giving from Canadians
• The countries that receive the most aid in the world are Afghanistan and Ethiopia

mother teresa is dead | director's notes

A note from director Evan Frayne on MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD.



So, the name of the play is MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD. It’s a statement of fact, a point of view of one of the characters has at the beginning of the play, as well as an introduction to the discourse of the play- a play that asks big questions, questions that, I think, many of us have struggled with. Questions like, “How do I reconcile private comfort with public virtue? If I concentrate solely on my family unit am I blinding myself to the horrors and injustice of the world beyond? How do I live a thinking, sensitive life when everywhere around me is poverty, injustice and catastrophe?”

I was introduced to the play a year ago. I loved it; big questions, no clear answers, no telling the audience how to live their lives. I connected instantly with Mark. Who I didn’t like. I thought he was the least interesting character in the play. After some time, I started to relate to Mark. Although set a world away, Mark reminded me of attitudes I faced growing up in a small town, full of straight forward people who worked hard for what they had, people who had been handed nothing and didn’t think they were owed anything. But there was also a fear involved, a fear of the outside world and a fear of losing that which they had worked so hard to achieve. A fear I had experienced myself, working my way through college at a sawmill, watching as trees were transported past the mill to be shipped to mills overseas. Shortly after I finished college, that mill was dismantled. Luckily for me I had supportive parents, and eyes on a different career so the mill closure didn’t hurt me in the way that it did so many other families.

It’s been a year since the first time I read the play, and now I face it as a director. I’ve looked at the play from the point of view of the other characters and there are no easy answers. I hope that the play provides a jumping off point for an active discussion about all of our responsibilities as citizens of this community as well as the global community. And hey- if you see me at the theatre after you’ve see the show, let’s talk about these things. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Pacific Theatre’s audience, it’s that they like to engage with the issues of what’s up on stage.

Pacific Theatre is my favourite theatre company in Vancouver. I must admit, I’m biased; I spent a season there as an apprentice. I’ve also worked there as an actor. And you know what? I don’t care if I’m biased. Pound for pound they produce the most engaging, thought provoking plays in the city and they are a perfect partner for us to produce MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD. The space, the folks in the office, the production team and most importantly, the audience. Pacific Theatre’s audience is primed for MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD, they look for plays like this, they demand them. I’m excited to be a part of the team that is making this happen. This play is for you.

may 24-25 | write! vancouver | ron reed & diane tucker

WRITE! VANCOUVER has come to town. Artistic Director Ron Reed and PT Board Member Diane Tucker are 2 of the many great speakers featured at this years event. Read below for details...

WRITE! VANCOUVER is an annual conference featuring accomplished, passionate writers of every make and mold. On May 24th and May 25th join us on UBC's beautiful campus for workshops, lectures, and discussion groups centered on the craft of writing.  Our very own Ron Reed is leading a session titled "Words Becoming Flesh: Writing for the Stage" and Diane Tucker, one of the Artist Advisors on the PT board, will be drawing on her poetic expertise in a session titled "Unlocking the Poet Within". This is an event that is sure to inspire writers seasoned and new. Don't miss out. 

To learn more, check out the website: writevancouver.com

Registration opens March 11th. 

hit 'n strum | local indie film

HIT 'N STRUM, a local indie film, is picking up steam far and wide. A human and charming movie featuring actors who have graced PT's stage - look for Michael Kopsa and Glen Pinchin! - we're delighted to introduce it here on our blog. 

Worlds collide when Stephanie takes a wrong turn and runs down Mike, a scruffy homeless street busker in Vancouver’s gritty Downtown East Side. As Mike gets to his feet, Stephanie panics and peels away, leaving the scene and her conscience behind her.

The next day while walking to work she is shocked to see Mike playing guitar and busking in front of her office building. Stephanie soon realizes that Mike has been playing there every day, and she has never once taken the time to look down and notice him.

For the first time ever she is forced to stop and listen, and in his music she makes a beautiful discovery ― a discovery and a friendship that may forever change both of their lives.

Check out the trailer for HIT'N STRUM here.

For more details head over to their website at: http://hitnstrum.com

mother teresa is dead | artist talkback

Tonight is the post-show artist talkback for MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD!  A great opportunity to talk to the artists about their experience of this thought-provoking show.

MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD
Artist Talkback - Friday, March 8th (post show)
For tickets visit www.pacifictheatre.org or call 604.731.5518.

mother teresa is dead | photos

More shots from MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD! All photos by Ron Reed.

mother teresa is dead | artistic director notes

A few seasons ago I headed out for my friend's place on Bowen Island to catch up on my play reading.  Several bankers boxes of manuscripts, and probably a bunch more on my hard drive.  

A bit of a chore, I'll admit.  Smart artistic directors read scripts as they come in, keeping their eye open for the occasional play that really catches their eye, letting the others shift onto the "Not For Us" pile without a lot of fuss.  But I'm not smart that way.  I kind of find it off-putting to read scripts I'm not interested in - perhaps the legacy of a sometimes English major in my undergrad studies, and a force-fed diet of curriculum reading - an obligation rather than a perk of being an artistic director.  

So I started working my way through one of the piles.  Scripts playwrights had sent.  Scripts playwrights' publishers, or agents, or moms had sent. Scripts people had recommended because they saw the show in New York or Ashland or Saskatoon.  Scripts of plays I had read about somewhere. Scripts people had read about somewhere.  

First half a dozen or so, I thought, "Yeah, I could see that. Good role for so-and-so. Canadian - that's good. I wonder if he's open to rewrites?"  Or, "Well, maybe in a season where I really needed such-and-such a piece, to balance pieces that are this and that."  Or, "Well, if it's the only play on earth we haven't done aside from You're A Good Man Charlie Brown."  Lots of Possibles.  A few Hopefully It Never Comes To Thats.

And then Mother Teresa Is Dead.  I read one page, two pages, and I was exhilarated.  "Now this is a play!"  Suddenly all the Maybe Sorta plays just fell off the side of the desk.  This was a Definitely Have To. This was real writing.  

Which is precisely what I felt when I first read The Clearing by the same author, Helen Edmundson, who writes a lot for the Royal Shakespeare in England. Lots of adaptations, but now and then an original work, like these.  When I finished reading The Clearing I was struck with the breadth of the piece, its scope: it seemed as though I had just finished reading an entire novel.  

After Mother Teresa I realized I couldn't think of a single other play dealing with the concerns of this piece.  One or two films, but only one or two - Anders Thomas Jensen & Susanne Bier's After The Wedding, or Nicole Holofcener's Please Give, perhaps.  And yet these questions are on my mind constantly: these questions of western privilege and the vast need of the rest of the world, the soul-scraping awareness of poverty in my own city, my own neighbourhood. The plaguing thought that maybe we ought to treat other people the way we would want to be treated if we were in their place. The confounding reality that our practical attempts to live with some practical compassion can go so badly wrong, that the world - and our own hearts - are a baffling mess of simple generosity and complex guilt, of responsibility and recklessness, of love and self-serving, of high-minded intentions that are never acted on, muddle-headed actions with all kinds of wrong consequences - right alongside all the good and right that may be accomplished nonetheless. 

I think of Leo Tolstoi's book, "What then must we do?"  Prompted by the people's question to John the  Baptist, "How then shall we live?"  The question that drove one of the most intriguing characters in film, Billy Kwan, in The Year Of Living Dangerously.  

It's not the only question in Mother Teresa Is Dead.  The play is far too complex, nuanced, and human to be reduced to any single "theme statement."  But that sort of question is in the centre of this play, and drives its characters.  And I think it's a question that matters.

mar 12-23 | Emma | TWU's SAMC Theatre

Trinity Western's latest mainstage production is almost here! Come out and support young artists (who may even grace PT's stage one day...) in there production of EMMA. 

Long before eHarmony there was Emma....

The year is 1814 and Emma Woodhouse is eager to see her friends happily married. Giddy with the success of one match, Emma ignores the warnings of Mr. Knightley and turns her attention to young Harriet Smith, determined to ensure a suitable union. But Emma's efforts misfire, resulting in a flurry of comic complications that uncover the real effects of her meddling and reveal how little Emma knows about true love.  A timeless romance, EMMA plays March 12 - 23 at TWU's School of the Arts, Media and Culture.

Adapted for the stage by Michael Bloom, this production transports the audience to the English countryside as the action takes place against a backdrop of beautifully painted panels. The set is desired by the director Caleb, the chief force behind SAMC Theatre's runaway hit Fiddler on the Roof last season. Lighting design is by Jessica Wong and the beautiful regency costumes are designed by Sabrina Evertt, whos work was seen in this year's Go Back for Murder  and last season's Romeo + Juliet. Ariana Hurt provides live piano accompaniment, scoring the experience with the evocative music of the era. Stave management is by Charissa Hurt, Tiffany Choi, and Margaret Thorpe.

The cast features, Daniele Neve, Brandon Bate, Ben Buckingham, Julie Casselman, Mark Fleming, Cody Friesen, Sharra Ganzeveld, Andrew Gundy, Audrey Herold, Dave Shoffner, and Jane Townsend.

EMMA plays on the Trinity Western University campus, March 12-13 at 7:30pm Tues-Sat with 2:00pm Saturday matinees; Tickets from $8 - $16; Special discounts on Tuesdays. For tickets and information visit www.twu.ca/theatre, email theatre@twu.ca, or call 604-513-2121 x3872

EMMA opens next week!

mother teresa is dead | theatre club + study guide

As we do for each show, we've published a study guide for MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD which is available to download here off of our website. Feel free to peruse it before or after the show, use it for your own theatre club at home, or join us this Saturday March 9th for PT's own Theatre Club. 

PT Theatre Club - Everyone welcome!

You're invited to Theatre Club this Saturday March 9th at Pacific Theatre, immediately following the matinee performance of MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD. Join us for good conversation, community and, as always, snacks! We look forward to having you.

Download the MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD discussion guide here. (Please note, the study guide contains spoilers!)

If you have any questions about starting your own theatre club - please email our community engagement manager Kaitlin at kaitlin@pacifictheatre.org.

mother teresa is dead | more photos

Some more photos of MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD for opening night!  All photos by Ron Reed.

mar 26-apr 27 | In Wandering | TWU's SAMC theatre

Here's the latest event put on by Trinity Western University's talented senior art students. Details below... 

Art & Design and psychology major, Dan Hurst preps his work for the exhibition. Photo by Nancy Timmermans

IN WANDERING traces the artists’ journeys as they question meaning, inter-subjectivity, identity, depression, the Second Self (the digital social and psychological identity), and impact on the environment. The exhibition’s title explores the concept of art making as purposeful wandering—that the searching process allows for an encounter that transforms the artist, their art, and the viewer. In Wandering is the result of this process of creating connections, patterns, and possibilities.

TWU's School of the Arts, Media + Culture, together with the Langley Centennial Museum present the 2013 graduating students' art show,  IN WANDERING, from March 26 – April 27. This exhibition is a part of the fourth annual Festival of the Arts, Media + Culture. Find the full program of events online.