Friday, July 28, 2017

2017-2017 season | staff picks | cara norrish

Every year, our staff share the three shows they are most excited about for the coming season, and it's that time again! Here are Operations Coordinator Cara Norrish's top three shows for the 2017-2018 season.


THE CHRISTIANS
This script has completely inhabited my mind since I read it several months ago. The cast and crew are going to be fantastic. I cannot wait to see this!

ALMOST, MAINE
I’m so excited to see PT do a romantic comedy for the first time ever. It’s a really charming script and I cannot wait to see what the wonderful and talented Kaitlin Williams will do with it.

TOLKIEN
I’m a big big fan of The Lord of the Rings series. I think I saw the second movie 10 times in Theatres. It is so excited to hear about the life of Tolkien and how this book came to be.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

audition for gallery 7 | abbotsford

Gallery 7 is our sister company out in Abbotsford and they are having auditions for their 2017-2018 season.


Peter and the Starcatcher

General Audition: Wednesday, September 6, 2017 @ 6:30 PM
Call Backs: Thursday, September 7, 2017 @ 7:00 PM

Doubt, A Parable

General Audition: Tuesday, October 24, 2017 @ 6:30 PM
Call Backs: Saturday, October 28, 2017 @ 10:00 AM

The Miracle Worker
Call Backs: Saturday, January 13, 2018 @ 10:00 AM
General Audition: Tuesday, January 9, 2018 @ 6:30 PM

The Mousetrap

General Audition: Tuesday, March 6, 2018 @ 6:30 PM
Call Backs: Saturday, March 10, 2018 @ 10:00 AM
Check out their audition page for details!
Read their Actor's Orientation Package for even more details!!

meet the apprentice | jalen saip

We've got three new apprentices coming our way this season! This team of emerging artists have completed their training in theatre and are ready to bridge into the professional world of theatre. While they are with us, they will run our box office and front of house, as well as create and produce their own work and get involved in our mainstage season. Before that, though, we want you to get to know them. First up is Jalen Saip.


About Jalen:

Jalen is an avid whistler. Her other passions include theatre, music, photography, improv comedy, softball and lounging. Jalen is married to a most wonderful gent who just happens to be a celebrated performer and sound designer in Vancouver… he can also whistle.

Although she hails from the sunny shores of Tsawwassen, BC, Jalen has lived in many different places and worked in many different roles. From Hope to Calgary, Estevan to Annecy (France), Jalen has worked in Assisted Living, Human Resources, Camp Programming/Leading, and, most enjoyably, as a Kindergarten TA.

It is with great joy that Jalen is able to turn her attention and efforts toward performance as an acting apprentice this coming year with Pacific Theatre.

What were you doing before the apprenticeship?

I worked for three years as a Kindergarten Teaching Assistant before deciding to go back to school, build my photography business and make a true effort to pursue theatre.


What are your favourite shows that you’ve worked on so far?

This past April I was privileged to be a part of THE WOLVES with Stone’s Throw Productions right here at Pacific Theatre. That was an incredible experience with an amazing production team and I can honestly say that it was the most complex scripts I’ve ever worked on.

I also have a soft spot in my heart for musical theatre and still reminisce about playing Adelaide in GUYS AND DOLLS and Eponine in LES MISERABLES back in high school (over a decade ago… eek).

What is your non-theatrical specialty?

Although theatrical in their own way, my non-theatrical specialties would be music and photography.


What is the number one thing you are excited about doing during your apprenticeship?

I’ve never been “behind-the-scenes” at a theatre. I don’t know if it’s the thing I’m most excited about or most apprehensive about, but I think that learning how to work a box office, run Front of House, hang lights, etc, will be a really great experience. (Although I’m pretty excited to be producing my own shows as well!)

What is your favourite thing about theatre?

I’m very interested in the human experience. Theatre is a way to look at different human experiences that I would potentially never know about or hear about. I love the stories that are told through theatre and that I have the opportunity to tell because of being involved in it. I believe that good stories force people to ask themselves big, and sometimes difficult, questions, and that’s important.

What would your top three categories in Trivial Pursuit be? (invented or real)

- Song lyrics
- Disney movie plot lines
- How to pick a perfect Watermelon…


If you received $1 million dollars that you couldn’t keep for yourself, what would you do with it?

I have a very large, very wonderful, slightly wacky, family. I would take all 19 of us on an adventure somewhere wonderful! Look out, world!

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

the cake | bekah brunstetter

Pacific Theatre lives in a building that also houses an Anglican congregation - our landlords and friends at Holy Trinity Church. For a while there - in the midst of the civil wars that did so much damage to the Anglican community around Vancouver - PT staged a series of plays that sought to humanize people on all sides of the controversy. Mass Appeal, Prodigal Son, eventually Leave Of Absence. None of them propaganda for one viewpoint or the other; "you want to send a message, use Western Union." Just stories that live in the middle of Big Questions. It's been a while now, but we've kept our eyes open for more, including conversations with ZeeZee Theatre about a hoped-for someday co-production. Haven't yet read "The Cake," but it looks promising...


excerpted from
'This is Us’ to ‘The Cake,’ Bekah Brunstetter Has a Full Plate
by Robert Ito
New York Times, July 11, 2017
link to full article

LOS ANGELES — In “The Cake,” a baker, congenial and accommodating in just about every other respect, refuses to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Sound familiar? The play was inspired in part by a run of similar rebuffs across the country, by vendors who felt that it would compromise their religious beliefs to help commemorate such a union. In most cases, the bakers and spouses-to-be are strangers. But what if they weren’t? What if the baker were the best friend of the bride’s mom, a lifelong friend, practically kin?...

With “The Cake,” Bekah Brunstetter drew a lot from her own experiences growing up in Winston-Salem, N.C., alongside three brothers, all who served or are serving in the Marines, and attending a Southern Baptist church, which she said was all about love, “not the fire and brimstone kind.”

In the play, Jen (Shannon Lucio) returns to her hometown in North Carolina to marry Macy (Carolyn Ratteray), an African-American New Yorker who doesn’t eat gluten (and, hence, cakes) and doesn’t particularly care for the South. When Jen enlists Della (Debra Jo Rupp), who loves baking and Jen almost as much as she loves Jesus, to create her wedding cake, it nearly kills Della to say no.

“The Dellas of the world are wonderful, loving people,” Ms. Brunstetter said. “I want Jen and Macy to be full human beings, and I want us to root for their love. But there are lots of plays and movies about Jen and Macy. There really aren’t very many about Della.”

Ms. Ratteray agreed. “I’m queer and I’m black, so of course I side with Macy,” she said. “But you definitely feel for Della, and I think it’s because Bekah wrote her with such incredible humanity and heart.”...

“I’m fascinated by stories where somebody said this stupid thing, and then all of a sudden, we all hate them, they’re horrible people,” she said. “I always have sympathy for them, because I say stupid things all the time. I’m probably saying something stupid right now.”

The play was a way for Ms. Brunstetter to have a conversation with her parents about gay marriage without actually doing so. “I’ve tried to talk to them about why I support gay marriage and why I support my gay friends, and those conversations never really go anywhere,” she said. “I’m horrible at arguments. But when I’m writing a scene, I get to say what I wish I had said.”...

Jennifer Chambers, the director, who worked with Ms. Brunstetter on the play from its earliest days at the Playwrights Lab, knew that she had a strong drama from the start. “But I can’t tell you how many times we went, I wonder if this is still relevant?” she said. “Because it really did feel like, culturally, we were moving away from this. And then Trump became president, and the show has taken on a whole other tone.”

She’s also working on three new musicals. One is a piece with Karen O, the lead singer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, called “Hearts Beat So Loud”; another is an R&B musical co-written by Cinco Paul (a writer of the “Despicable Me” series), about a young Mary Magdalene falling in love with a teenage Jesus. “I’ve actually already written a few plays about Jesus as a teenager,” she said, “so I had some material all ready to go.”...

Oh! So maybe Ms Brunstetter has more than one script we should take a look at...

Tuesday, July 04, 2017

july 12-15 | still the kettle sings

Our friends at Plan Z Theatre present, THE KETTLE SINGS, running on the PT stage from July 12th-15th! Come support the all female dream team in this brand new devised piece created and performed by many PT artists.



You’re sitting in your Mom’s kitchen, listening to her casually tell you over a cup of tea about something jaw dropping she once did. You are floored - you almost don’t believe her. You're still reeling from the first when you suddenly realise there could be more...

“Mom, tell me another story,”

In her words you are suddenly whisked away into a world that is somehow recognisable and somehow a dream, the lightness of childhood and the gravity of age juxtaposed. She transforms the ordinary to the extraordinary within each sentence. Then it hits you, you realise she herself is the adventure and her life the magnificent tapestry she weaves with her stories.

This is a brand new Canadian play devised from actual interviews with these extraordinary ordinary women. Featuring childbirth, corn chips, verbatim text, joy, fear, original music, and a whole lot of perseverance. Devised theatre at its finest and boldest.

Direction • Eleanor Felton
Assistant Direction • Shelby Bushell
Set Design • Sarah Mabberley
Lighting Design • Sophie Yufei Tang
Stage Management • Linnea Antos
Original Music • Mikaela Fuqua

Featuring • Jenna Gru, Jill Raymond, Shona Struthers, and Shelby Wyminga

Tickets $20 at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3015407
It runs July 12-15 at 8pm, no matinees
General Seating

"Storytelling is vital to the human experience! Stories allow us to see into another person's reality, entertain what it might be like to be in their shoes. I would venture to say that without stories, the world would be incredibly devoid of compassion and empathy. Story telling helps us understand where we may have come from, who we are, and who we aren't. It gives us the opportunity to consider how we may improve society/the world by inviting others in."| Jenna Grubaugh | Actor

"I think [the storytelling] comes in two parts, the sense that someone wants to listen, and the bravery to share. This show will provide a space for both: We will ask for stories, and we will become the voice to share it widely. I also hope it will inspire daughters and sons to actively ask their Mom or Grandma about their lives." | Eleanor Felton | Director

Monday, July 03, 2017

july 5-8 | problem child | lindsay curl

PROBLEM CHILD, by George F. Walker opens Wednesday, July 5th! Come out and support emerging artist and current apprentice Lindsay Curl on the PT stage. For tickets visit pacifictheatre.org.



R.J. and Denise, two dysfunctional parents from the wrong side of the tracks, are trying to get their baby out of the system and back in their arms. But… they have to get around Helen, the by-the-book social worker who isn’t budging. With the help of Phillie, the drunken motel employee, how far will Denise and R.J. go to reunite their family?

Determination, delusion, and dark comedy. Stone's Throw Productions launches full speed ahead into the absurdist Problem Child, by one of Canada's most prolific playwrights, George F. Walker.

ADVISORY: Strong language

Directed by Alex Kirkpatrick
Featuring Lindsay Curl, Tim Howe, Jalen Saip and Conor Stinson O’Gorman
Stage Management by Charissa Hurt
Sound and Lighting Design by Theo Bell
Costume Design by Lindsay Curl
Set Design by Alex Kirkpatrick
Marketing and Communications by Amanda Millar