Friday, October 10, 2014

the rainmaker | preview coverage

Tonight we open THE RAINMAKER, so we thought we'd share some of the great preview coverage that's come out for the show.


An excerpt from Ron Reed's interview in The Vancouver Sun:

Most theatre people remember their first true love. Maybe they can’t recall their first date, or the first person they kissed, but they know which play or performance they saw that made them realize they weren’t just in a theatre, they were home.

Ron Reed was in high school in Calgary when he was smitten by The Rainmaker. And the artistic director of Pacific Theatre is kicking off his season with a production of the American classic.
“When I was in it I was younger than Jimmy, the youngest brother in the story. Now I’m a dad, I’ve seen my daughters grow.”

As Reed tells The Sun about directing the show he fell for in Grade 12 it’s clear that the passion is still there as he talks about “the thrill” of directing the show and how he was relieved and delighted to discover he still finds it as “potent” as he had as a kid.

Read the whole thing here.

An excerpt from John Voth's interview with The Province:

He’s thrilled to be appearing in Pacific Theatre productions because he thinks the company puts on shows that are consistently challenging and honest. Over the years, it’s become one of the top-tier companies, with some excellent talent.

“The Rainmaker is very personal and down to Earth,” says Voth. “I expected it to be more action-packed going in, but it turns out that the characters are really believable and really refreshing. It’s unusual to find a play that has got everything in it to the point that you can just act naturally.”

It’s a different skill set than what is usually required; act minimally. But Voth says that the stage directions for the play keep stressing minimalism over and over again. The whole cast has found that in readings this rings true, too. He thinks that it should make for the kind of show where you really almost feel like you are eavesdropping on a discussion rather than watching a play.

Read the whole thing here.

An excerpt from Emily Cooper's interview about her artwork with us (with a focus on THE RAINMAKER) in Vancouver Presents:

For Pacific Theatre’s season opener, The Rainmaker, Cooper came up with 17 versions that she felt were contenders, with four ultimately making the final cut to be put in front of Reed and his team.

“When I first read The Rainmaker I felt the heat of the sun, of the really strong sun and the sexiness of the sun on your skin and sweating,” she recalls. “I was really inspired by the sun and I wanted that to be in the image.”

For the background images representing the men in the play, Cooper pulled from her collection of negative glass plates from the Portland photo historian. “They are all black and white Sunday portraits from the early 1900s, that I colored,” she says.

Read the entire thing here.

An excerpt from Pippa Johnstone's interview with Biz Books:

First and foremost, I just love the story. I am always drawn to stories about family, heartbreak and hope, and this story has a l all three. The story really hits home for me, it’s a real lesson in learning to love and believe in yourself, and about how beauty comes from how you see yourself. I think most people I know can relate to that on some level. Not to mention the creative team we have assembled is an absolute dream! I feel so lucky getting to work with some of my favourite artists in Vancouver on this beautiful play

Read the entire thing here.

No comments: