Saturday, August 30, 2014

14-15 staff picks | andrea loewen

The next in our series of staff picks for the 2014-2015 season is our Communications Manager Andrea Loewen.



CULTIVATION

There is an immediacy and excitement that comes from our staged readings, I can't wait to see this story given that treatment.  Plus, it's the first play our of our Working With playwriting group to make it into our season!

THE WHIPPING MAN

This play is brutal and captivating.  Parts of it will be difficult to watch, but the depth of character and story that it takes you through is going to be amazing.  Plus I am in love with the artists on this one!

FREUD'S LAST SESSION

I love a good intellectual conversation, and this play takes two titans of thought and pits them against each other.  Plus, we get John Emmet Tracy and Ron on stage together again!

Thursday, August 28, 2014

your pt guide to the vancouver fringe festival

As usual, the Vancouver Fringe Festival's calendar is full of PT artists doing their thing!  Here is your PT-friendly guide.


PETER 'N CHRIS AND THE KINDA OKAY CORRAL

Canadian Comedy Award Winning Sketch troupe Peter n' Chris are back with a brand new, hilarious, wild-west adventure! These festival favs have earned several Best of Fest awards nationally and internationally, gaining a following for their hysterical, inventive and physical sketch comedy style. Peter n' Chris also write for CBC's The Irrelevant Show.

Co-written and performed by Peter Carlone (THE FOREIGNER).


JESUS MADE ME FUNNY by Craig Erickson

An insurance salesman, fearful of slipping into a mid-life crisis, becomes increasingly convinced and inspired that God wants him to be a stand-up comedian, and perhaps even the next big reality TV superstar.

Written and performed by Craig Erickson (LEAVE OF ABSENCE).


MY BEAUTIFUL MONSTER by Stephanie Elgersma

Annie was raised to be sexually pure until she was married. But when she still hasn't met anyone by the age of 30, she starts to question what she believes, and if stifling her sexual instincts actually may have done more harm than good. Adapting Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Stephanie weaves a story of delight, shame, curiosity, and grace.

Written and performed by Stephanie Elgersma (THE GREAT DIVORCE).


THE CHARIOT CITIES by Harrison Mooney (music by Bryan Binnema)

Johnny Cash. Janis Joplin. Jim Morrison. A life on the road takes its toll on people-watch what it does to an entire family. The Chariot Cities follows the drug addled, lovelorn lives of the Stackhouse family; folk icon and father Jack, his legendary sweetheart Wendy, and their kids: up-and-comer Julian and his indy-rock sister Beata, in a desperate quest to heal their past, define their present, and find harmony in the midst of a pivotal family disaster.

Featuring Jeff Gladstone (MEASURE FOR MEASURE), Steven Greenfield (THE SPITFIRE GRILL), and stage managed by Lois Dawson (ESPRESSO).


LITTLE ONE by Hannah Misovitch

Joanna Maratta Award and Cultchivating the Fringe Award winners, Alley Theatre (Tape, Wicked Shorts, Mrs. Warren's Profession), return with a suburban horror. Aaron's a good kid. His adopted sister Claire's a monster. After years in an asylum-she's back. "Is she saying she's going to kill me, out of love?" An utterly frightening tale of life with a sociopath. Part of the brand-new Fringe Dramatic Works Series.

Featuring Daniel Arnold (HOW TO WRITE A NEW BOOK FOR THE BIBLE).


...DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING by Beverley Elliott

Thanked by Clint Eastwood, snubbed by Tony Danza, now plays Granny on ABC's cult hit Once Upon a Time, over 100 film/tv/theatre credits, Vancouver's beloved Beverley Elliott takes us on an irreverent autobiographical jaunt from small town Ontario to gay bars and red carpets. A show for anyone trying to stumble through life with humour and a little grace.

Directed by Kerry Sandomirsky (COMMUNION).


DIRTY OLD WOMAN by Loretta Seto

Is finding true love impossible for a divorced woman in her 50s? After trying to date older men in their 60s, Nina meets Gerry, an exciting man 20 years her junior. When they begin a relationship, the sparks fly in more ways than one. Unexpected judgments, surprising turns, and double standards are exposed in this funny and revealing play.

Featuring Robert Salvador (ESPRESSO), Emmelia Gordon (MEASURE FOR MEASURE), and Alison Kelly (MEASURE FOR MEASURE).

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

14-15 staff picks | frank nickel

Continuing our series of staff picks for next season, here are the top three shows our Business and Production Manager Frank Nickel is looking forward to next season!


IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE RADIO PLAY

For me, its a classic tale with a twist and its been a while since we've had a proper PT produced Christmas show!

THE RAINMAKER

The design team and acting company are both amazing - powerhouse team for this one.

FREUD'S LAST SESSION

The script, the director, the actors... can't get more pacific theatre than that.

Monday, August 25, 2014

ice bucket challenge

Our friends at Off Key Improv (performing in SIDESHOW this year) challenged our Communications Manager Andrea Loewen to represent us in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.  She donated, got dunked, and then got dunked again due to technical difficulties.  Here's the video.


The challenge has been passed along to our friends at the Vancouver Fringe Festival - specifically, David Jordan, Shantini Klassen, and Cara Norrish!

Friday, August 22, 2014

14-15 staff picks | alison chisholm

We're starting a new series featuring staff picks for the coming season, with everyone giving the top three shows they are most excited for next season, and a sentence or two about why.  We'll start with our Operations Manager and Producer Alison Chisholm!



THE WHIPPING MAN

It is such a poignant story about freedom and what it means to be free, and the cast … oh, the cast. I cannot begin to express how excited I am to have Tom Pickett back on our stage alongside Carl Kennedy and Giovanni Mocibob.

UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL

I saw this production at Rosebud Theatre just over a year ago now, and walked out with only one thought in mind: “We have to put this on at Pacific Theatre.” Nathan’s portrayal of The Librarian who decides to embark on this unexpected journey was so honest and visceral that I felt like I was leaning in over coffee to hear all the secrets my friend was sharing. Truly one of the most engaging solo shows I have ever seen.

FREUD'S LAST SESSION

This production should have been in our season three years ago. As far as I am concerned, there is no better venue for this intimate dialogue between Freud and C.S. Lewis than the PT stage. After dealing with struggles of getting rights to this show, I am so thrilled to finally share this show with the Pacific Theatre audience.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

13-14 donor report

The donor report from the 2013-2014 season is ready!  Donors will be receiving this directly, but of course everyone is welcome to see the incredible impact our donors had on our 30th anniversary season.


Click the preview image, or HERE to get the full PDF of the report.

aug 15 & 16 | socrates 2nd wife | the playground series

This week's Playground Series show is a staged reading of local actor Simon Webb's new script (you saw him in MEASURE FOR MEASURE last January), SOCRATES' 2ND WIFE.  Produced by and featuring past apprentice Kirsty Provan!


A May/September marriage, the death of the world's greatest philosopher, and a rehearsal gone horribly wrong, all fall into play in a newly penned, wickedly delightful one-act comedy by local theatre veteran Simon Webb.

Featuring Simon Webb, Kirsty Provan, Richard Newman, Ryan McDonald, Rene Bucciarelli, Paul Kloegman, and Philip Miguel.

August 15th and 16th at 8PM.

Tickets can be purchased at-door (PWYC), or online ($10) at www.brownpapertickets.com.

Monday, August 11, 2014

gallery 7 audition schedule

Our friends at Gallery 7 Theatre in Abbotsford have announced their audition schedule for the coming season. Some great shows coming up, including one of our favourites, SHADOWLANDS.


LORD OF THE FLIES
General Audition: September 3, 2014
Call Backs: September 4, 2014

SHADOWLANDS
General Audition: Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Call Backs: Saturday, October 18, 2014

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
General Audition: Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Call Backs: Saturday, November 22, 2014

110 STORIES
General Audition: Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Call Backs: Saturday, February 21, 2015

Auditions and call-backs will be held at our new office & rehearsal hall at Huntington Station, #100 - 34595 3rd Ave, Abbotsford.

For details on what's involved, including rehearsal schedules, character break-downs, responsibilities and more, please check out our Actor's Orientation Package.

To register please email us at info@gallery7theatre.com or give us a call at 604-504-5940. When you register, please include your full name, gender, age range (child, youth, adult) and phone number.

the tolkien-lewis new play project | progress | WE MADE IT!

This summer we are running and Indiegogo campaign to support Ron in writing a new play about the friendship between JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis.  Here's our progress so far!


5+100+50+100+75+50+15+40+5+100+75+100+500+500+40+40+75+15+500+100+100+40+100+40+40+ 100+100+75+40+40+25+100+15+40+45+2 anonymous donations = $3,455

WE DID IT!!!  Thank you so much to everyone who has given.  The campaign will stay live until Friday, so feel free to check it out.  We have some fantastic perks, and every dollar helps!

Check out the campaign page, there are some pretty cool perks up there, perfect for the Tolkien or Lewis nerd among us, as well as anyone who wants to get in on the playwriting process.

WE HAVE ANNOUNCED OUR STRETCH GOALS!  Seeing as we are a stone's throw away from our initial goal and there is a lot more to do, we came up with some stretch goals AND new perks to reflect the second stage of writing and workshopping, up to production.

Then friend or follow Ron's playwriting persona on Facebook here.

Friday, August 08, 2014

tolkien-lewis new play project | interview with TheTolkienist

Seven days left on the Indiegogo campaign (consider kicking in a few bob?), which helps cover costs involved in writing and developing my new play about the friendship between J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. When I was first gearing up to get back to researching and writing, a German "Tolkienist" discovered the Facebook page I've created to keep people up to date on the project, contacted me and asked for an interview. Here's what I sent him.


So, what is this all about?

Late in 2011 I was talking to my wife about a New Yorker article about JRR Tolkien that amused me. "He was friends with CS Lewis, wasn't he?"  So I filled in some things about the Inklings, all that. "But toward the end, things cooled off, I'm afraid." So she asked me about that, and mentioned Joy Davidman, and the fact that marrying a divorcee didn't sit well with Tolkien's Catholic faith, which led to Tolkien's role in Lewis coming to faith years earlier, and perhaps Tolkien's disappointment that Lewis only got part way to where he needed to be (Rome), a mistrust of Lewis's Irish Protestant roots ("Ulsterior motives") and the Irish troubles that lay behind that, and the differening response of Tolkien and Lewis to each other's fantasy writing, and Charles Williams, and…  By the time one thing led to another to another, my wife said "That would make a great play!"  And she was right.  I hope.

I am, just to let you know, a Tolkien afficionado who does know a bit about Lewis as well (founded the German Tolkien Society, co-founder of RingCon and a Tolkienist blogger).

Indeed!  Since you contacted me, I've enjoyed your Tolkienist tweets, and poking around your online posts and links to other items. Well met, good sir!  Sincere thanks for your interest in this project.

And I think that much of both writers' material is much better suited for a stage/ theatre adaptation than anything else.

I'm thrilled to hear you say that!  I do love film, but the stage is my first love, and I think there are things that happen in live theatre that the movies just can't do. The living, breathing actors are right there in the same room as the audience, and if the performances are radically truthful, the overwhelming sense of reality, of witnessing actual human encounters, is so powerful.  Especially with so human (and nuanced) as story as this one.  Also, the movies hand us everything, but the stage requires so much more active engagement by the audience. We have to imagine what special effects can't provide, and - provided we play along - we become co-creators of the experience in our own mind, and the story works in us so much more powerfully, and memorably.


I have read through your indiegogo campaign which sounds perfectly wonderful - that is why I am contacting you.

The Indiegogo campaign is coming along nicely. I believe we're something like 80% of the way toward our initial goal, which will see me through creation of a couple drafts of the script this summer.  I'm pleased that the campaign has gotten as far as it has, given that I've not been able to do any real work on promoting it yet.  But I'll be digging in on that over the next few days, because there's real hope to raise further funds to support the ongoing development of the script over the next year or two. It is wisely said, "Plays are not written, they're re-written," and while this summer's work will take the script a long way - maybe even far enough to know whether it can be produced in 2015/2016 - there will be plenty more development to follow in order to get the play ready for production. To make it the best script it can be, prior to actually seeing it in rehearsals and in front of an audience.

Given the success of the Indiegogo campaign to date, we'll soon be adding stretch goals, to help underwrite the further development of the script, taking it from a solid second or third draft this summer to a production draft, ready to go into full scale rehearsals in the fall of 2015.


A little bit about this first phase, how far I expect it will take me, and the writing process involved.

After immersing myself in the world of the play - research, imagining possible scenes, sketching out structure - I like to write a quick first draft, holding that inner critic completely at bay.  I make myself think of it, in Anne Lamott's words, as a "shitty first draft" - to keep myself from bogging down in the desire to polish, to get things perfect on the first time through.  Whenever that uninvited critic chimes in "That's pretty shitty," during the initial writing, I just say to him "I know - it's supposed to be!"  That shuts him up.

Then I bring together a bunch of actors to sit around a big table and read the play aloud.  I may ask them for their primary responses - "My mind drifted here," "I didn't like CS Lewis very much - especially his relationship to Mrs Moore," "I was confused about why Tolkien got so upset with Jack about blah blah blah" - that sort of thing.  But not suggestions, or critiques: that's for later in the process.  But mostly I'm calling the actors together just to hear the play, rather than just read it on the page: a script is, after all, a score for performance rather than a self-contained literary document, and I need to hear how it's coming alive in the room, whether the interactions between characters seem true and energized, all that.  Then I spend a few hours with my dramaturg - meaning, essentially, a playwriting coach, I suppose? - who gives me much more detailed observations about what she hears, particularly with regard to structure.  What is leading to what, is there a continuous sense of choice / action / consequence, are various events set up effectively and do the events bring changes, and in turn cause further actions to be taken?  All that kind of stuff.

All that usually primes the pump for immediate revisions, which I tear into within a day or two - from simple grammar and voicing adjustments and straightforward edits, to ideas of different ways certain scenes can play out. Often I'll have seen new scenes that are possible, often as "connective tissue" between a couple existing events.  Sometimes a scene needs to be rewritten from scratch, or reworked to emphasize something different, or precipitate different consequences.

And then there are often Bigger Questions / issues that take some pondering before I can tackle them in rewrites.  So after an initial flurry of revisions to that first draft, I may take a few days or a week or two to rearrange my brain and find a new way through.  A bit more writing, then I'll call in actors and my dramaturg for another reading of whatever I've got at that point. Conversation, meeting with dramaturg, and whatever revisions are readily at hand - and that's how far we'll likely take it this summer.  At which point I'll likely have Even Bigger Questions, that can't be solved quickly and need weeks and months for my unconscious to solve, or further research, or various stabs at different possible solutions.  Other characters that need to be added.  Existing characters who need to be significantly changed. Structural changes.  All that.


What about yourself?

Though I'm a Canadian, and did some theatre training here, I took my Masters of Fine Arts (Acting) at the California Institute Of The Arts. When I graduated in 1984, I came back to Vancouver to start a theatre company to create work I was really interested in (Pacific Theatre). Because we couldn't find just the right script for our first production, I was pressed into service as a playwright, and found I liked it. I've written about a dozen full length plays and adaptations, which have had over fifty productions around North America. One that might interest your readers is A Bright Particular Star, the story of George MacDonald's daughter, Lilia, who was an actress: GMD was, of course, a tremendous influence on Lewis. Another I'm most proud of is Refuge Of Lies, a surreal piece which played in New York about a Vancouver man accused of having been a war collaborator in Holland. I think the Tolkien play will sit somewhere between the biographical narrative of Bright Particular Star and the more adventurous theatricality of Refuge.

There's a long-time fascination with all things Inkling.  I played C.S. Lewis in Pacific Theatre's production of Shadowlands, and will play Sigmund Freud next spring in Freud's Last Session, an imagined meeting betweeen Lewis and Freud at the dawning of WW2.  I wrote a two-actor adaptation of The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (which can only be performed in Canada, for copyright reasons), and Pacific Theatre staged The Great Divorce a few years ago. But my interest goes back to my childhood, when I found the Narnia stories in various Calgary libraries and bookmobiles, one volume at a time - not even realizing there was a series, if you can imagine!  I didn't know anyone else had ever discovered them. I was pretty young.  And then in high school, when Lord Of The Rings first became a cultural tidal wave in North America (I'm really old), I remember absolutely losing myself in that world. Particularly one summer afternoon, visiting cousins at the lake, when I headed out away from shore in a canoe to escape distractions, lay down in the bottom of the boat and started to read - only to find my way back to "reality" when it became too dark to read, and I sat up and realized the canoe had drifted for hours and I had no idea where I was! 

At any rate, I'm a professional actor, playwright, director, artistic director. I live in Richmond, British Columbia - part of Greater Vancouver, an extraordinarily beautiful place to live. Two daughters, one a surfer and teacher in Pichilemu, Chile, the other about to take the bar exam to become a public defence lawyer in California.


Why this project, why now?

To be completely honest, the real answer is "Because I feel like it."  I only ever write to follow my own curiosity, explore something that fascinates me - never because something will have a market, or to say something to an audience.  Running a theatre company, enough of my life is taken up with the hard-core realities of keeping a business alive, so when I carve out opportunities to live as an artist, I make very certain to invest the time and heart into things I really care about, as free as possible from the constraints of making money or achieving anything in particular - except to create the best piece of work I can, for my own satisfaction.

That said, it does look like I happen to be tackling this at a cultural moment when there is a sudden surge of interest in Tolkien, and the Tolkien-Lewis friendship. There are two or three film projects in development which are suddenly all over the internet, one of which seems like it may be very interesting - the one about Tolkien's WW1 years. I don't think there'll be a lot of overlap between my play and the Lewis-Tolkien movie that's most been in the news lately; "Obsessive genius Tolkien is blocked, terrified of finishing The Fellowship Of The Ring, for fear of the strange, psychotic visions which torture him." And while they're onto something with the connection between Tolkien's WW1 experiences and the shadow they cast over him and his writing in the latter days of WW2, especially with his sons in active service, the tone of my play will be much more Shadowlands, much less Tomb Raider / Expendables 2.

Something else that 's interesting about the current historical moment is that playwriting feels a bit more communal, or social, or something.  Obviously the actual writing is an intensely private thing.  And, in my process at least, it's not new that the development of a script also has a strongly collaborative / relational aspect, with round table readings and workshops and all that.  But I'm finding it most enjoyable to have an ongoing conversation through the process with Tolkien-Lewis enthusiasts, and people interested in playwriting in general, on Facebook.  Indeed, the Indiegogo crowd-funding idea has pushed that even further: I'm really interested to see what it's like to be sharing progress, research notes, online conversations and even hot-off-the-presses scenes with people who become part of the campaign.



Who will be helping you, why are they perfectly suited to help you?

With the Indiegogo money I'll be able to hire Shauna Johannesen as my dramaturg. She's a playwright who's a core member of the "Working With" play development project at Pacific Theatre, and her dramatic instincts and understanding of play structure will be just what I need. A trusted outside eye to point me to things I can't see because I'm too close to the material.  And for our table readings, we'll draw on some of the really fine actors who are part of the loose-knit circle of artists who consider Pacific Theatre their artistic home. Aided and abetted by various other playwrights, Inklings enthusiasts and smart people I'll invite to various readings.

So, basically everything!

One last thought, then.  

What's great about this particular playwriting project is that, as long as I don't screw up and write a lousy script, this play will actually get produced.  I'm careful to keep my playwriting at arms length from my work for Pacific Theatre, so that I never get caught in the expectations that the work has to fulfill other agendas about ticket sales, marketability, mandate, etc - expectations that can really cripple my freedom to write what I need to write, as an independent artist.  Indeed, I'm reluctant to invest the company's money into commissioning me as a writer, since I am also the Artistic Director - not that it isn't done, and in fact it's perfectly legitimate. But Pacific Theatre has only so much play development money available, and I feel better about investing that into other playwrights. Hence the Indiegogo campaign to underwrite this one.  

But if the play turns out - as I strongly suspect it will, given the richness of the subject - I know it can see at least one fully mounted professional production, at Pacific Theatre.  And that's tremendously motivating for me as a writer - all this time will actually culminate in something real!  The story will get told to an audience.  And who knows? There's every chance it may go on to many more productions at other theatres.  

But for now, whatever comes after, it's enough that I have a stretch of time to lose myself in a story.  And such a great story it is!

Looking forward to staying in touch. Who knows - maybe the play will be onstage in Germany someday!  They'll fly me over, and you and I can share a beer.

Ron Reed,
Vancouver, Canada


Monday, August 04, 2014

aug 6-9 | maki ye | the complete suitcase stories

For every show this season at Pacific Theatre, Maki created a ten minute lobby play that not only recounted the events of her life in the theatre, but also picked up on the themes of the play on the main stage. They ran in the lobby each night around 7:30, and over the course of the year she accumulated a growing circle of enthusiastic fans, who often commented on her winsome vulnerability, plucky humour and fascinating story.

Now she's assembling the whole year's worth of "chapters" into a single story, and I sincerely hope that the people who've been touched and entertained by her work this season will hear about this opportunity to fill in the gaps with the stories they missed, revisit the stories that charmed and delighted them, and see them in the context of her whole fascinating story.

This week only: Wed-Sat 8pm + 2pm Sat matinee
Tickets online or at the door