Dec 16: Christmas Presence in the Valley Credits

ACT ONE
Ron - Robert Farrar Capon: Advent
Lance - Go Tell It On The Mountain
Ron - Sufjan Stevens: Tube Socks
Jonathan - The Lowly Shepherd Boy
Ron - Frederick Buechner" Emmanuel
Sheree - O Emmanuel
Rebecca - Mike Mason: Christmas In July
Leora - Love Came Gently
Lance - Maybe This Christmas
Ron - Howison: Reverie
Michael - Huron Carol
Ron - Annie Dillard: Feast Days
Jeremy & Sheree - Cloakroom

ACT TWO
Michael - The Little Drummer Boy
Lance - Disturber
Ron - Mike Royko: Pretty Well Picked Over
Leora - It Don't Cost Very Much
Jonathan, Jer, Lance - Once In Royal David's City
Rebecca - Jellema: Four-Square
Mike, Ron, Rebecca Karl Petersen: Night Watch
Lance - You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (Joseph's song)
Mike, Ron - Rainer Maria Rilke: Joseph's Suspicion
Michael - What Child Is This (instr)
Rebecca - Madeleine L'Engle: O Sapientia
Sheree - Silent Night
Leora - Jesus What A Wonderful Child

Requested readings are posted at Oblations

Dec 12: Christmas Presence credits

ACT ONE
Nelson - Christmas Time Is Here
Michael - All Hail And Welcome
Ron - William Nicholson: "Christmas Drinks Party"
Sheree - O Emmanuel
Ron - Frederick Buechner: Emmanuel
Carolyn - Is Bethlehem Too Far Away?
Ron - David Sedaris: Santa's Little Helper (the Ryan edit)
Nelson - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Trish - Annie Dillard: God In The Doorway
Carolyn - Do Not Be Afraid
Ron - David Kossoff: Seth
Ruth - O Holy Night
Ron - Frederick Buechner: Gabriel
Sheree - Silent Night
Leora - It Don't Cost Very Much

ACT TWO
Nelson - I Saw Three Ships
Carolyn - What Kind Of King Is This?
Ron - Mike Royko: Pretty Well Picked Over
Michael - Good King Wenceslas
Trish - Mike Mason: Christmas In July
Leora - Love Came Gently
Ron - Dina Donohue: No Room At The Inn
Carolyn - Christmas Must Be Tonight
Ron - John Henry Faulk: A Child's Christmas in Texas
Leora - What A Wonderful Child
Ron - Ron Klug: Joseph's Lullabye
Sheree - What Child Is This?
Ron - Robert Louis Stevenson: Christmas Prayer
Michael, Ruth, All - Silent Night

THE PLAYERS
Carolyn Arends joined us tonight, and - a long-standing tradition - debuted a brand new Christmas song, "What Kind Of King Is This?" Beautiful. Also first CHRISTMAS PRESENCE this year for CP veteran Leora Cashe, who rocked the house with "Jesus, What A Wonderful Child!" (the one that's on the "Christmas Presence" CD), husband Jaye Krebs on the grand piano. First ever PT appearance for Ruth Gill, who sings with the Vancouver Bach Choir, and regaled us with a glorious "O Holy Night" and played the HT pipe organ for our closer, "Silent Night." Returning from previous nights were Michael Hart, Sheree Plett, Nelson Boschman, Spencer Capier, Becca Robertson, Rick Colhoun and Brett Ziegler. And joining me reading tonight was Trish Pattenden, who you've seen in THE FARNDALE CHRISTMAS as well as her Jessie-nominated turn in LETTICE & LOVAGE - a high point was her take on Mike Mason's brand new "Christmas In July."

Requested readings are posted at Oblations

Dec 11: Christmas Presence credits

ACT ONE
Garth - Go Tell It On The Mountain
Ron - Robert Farrar Capon: Advent
Sheree - O Emmanuel
Rebecca & Ron - William Gibson: Butterfingers Angel
Paul - I Heard The Bells
Ron - John Lekich: A Keen Sense of Occasion
Jeremy - Cloak Room
Ron - David Kossoff: Seth
Sheree - Silent Night
Ron - Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Christ Climbed Down
Garth - Christmas Song (Alleluia)

ACT TWO
Ron - George Carlin: Holiday Message
Nelson - Santa Claus is Coming To Town
Ron - David Sedaris: Macy's Christmas Elf
Garth - Glory To The Earth Is Comin' Down
Sheree - No Snow
Garth & Rick - What Child Is This (instrumental)
Ron - Loren Wilkinson: Simeon
Rebecca - Mike Mason: Christmas In July
Paul In The Bleak Midwinter
Garth - It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
Ron - Ron Klug: Joseph's Prayer
Sheree - What Child Is This

THE PLAYERS

Garth Bowen is working on a Christmas album, so we were eager to have a listen to some of those tunes, both old and brand new. In addition to the two re-conceptions of traditional tunes she played us last year, Sheree Plett brought in two Christmas tunes she's penned in the past couple weeks, and at the last minute we added her husband Jeremy Eisenhauer to the roster when we found out he had a brand new tune in his back pocket as well! And Paul Hiller (you may remember him from that hot little country swing band we had onstage for CHICKENS) brought us a gorgeous, Vince Guaraldi-inspired "I Heard The Bells" and a heartbreaking, delicate "In The Bleak Midwinter" beautifully in keeping with the gentle tone of the evening's home stretch. All ably aided and abetted by our Christmas Presence House Band - Nelson Boschman, Becca Robertson, Brett Ziegler, Kenton Wiens, Rick Colhoun and the just-barely-back-from-touring Spencer Capier.

Requested readings are posted at Oblations

Dec 10: Christmas Presence credits

ACT ONE
Nelson Boschman & the band - Christmas jazz
Ron Reed - Nicholson: "Christmas Drinks Party"
Michael Hart - Huron Carol
Jim Byrnes & The Sojourners - Be Ready When He Comes
Ron Reed - "Clay"
Jim Byrnes & The Sojourners - Of Whom Shall I Be Afraid
Michael Hart - Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
Ron Reed - Tom Carson: "Snow Angel"
Richard Osler - The Gift
Jim Byrnes & The Sojourners - Fortify Me
Ron Reed - Ferlinghetti: "Christ Climbed Down"
Michael Hart - Light Of The Stable

ACT TWO
Nelson Boschman & The Band - Christmas jazz tune
Jim Byrnes & The Sojourners - You Better Run
Ron Reed - Rudi Krause: one way
Michael Hart - Mary's Boy Child
Ron Reed - Buechner: "The Annunciation"
Michael Hart - What Child Is This / O Little Town of Bethlehem
Richard Oslter - Advent poems
Michael Hart - Polish Carol
Jim Byrnes & The Sojourners - Please Come Home For Christmas
Ron Reed - Lekich: "A Keen Sense Of Occasion"
Michael Hart - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Ron Reed - Falke: "Child's Christmas In Texas"
Jim Byrnes & The Sojourners - Today
Ron Reed - Dillard: "Feast Days"
Michael Hart - Candle

*

THE PLAYERS

Michael Hart has been a Christmas Presence essential since the whole thing got started in the atrium at Regent College, thirteen or fourteen years ago. His gorgeous Christmas album, "Dulcimer Light," is in constant rotation at the Reed house every December: check it out at his website, as well as other albums such as Desire, Lord of the Mountain, The Heart of the Matter, Soulkeeper, and True.

Steve Dawson has joined us several times over the years, first drawn into the PT orbit by his brother-in-law Wyndham Thiessen. One of the workingest musicians in Canada (and half of "Zubot & Dawson" - the latter half, in fact), you can read about his newest release (and listen to some of the tunes!) at Black Hen Music. Where you'll also find Jim Byrnes - including streaming audio of three of the tunes he and The Sojourners sang for us last night: "Fortify Me," "Today" and "Of Whom Shall I Be Afraid," the latter "a nod to the 27th Psalm" and a glorious answer to "Clay." (Also check out Jim's Myspace page.) This summer somebody pointed me to Jim's latest CD, "House Of Refuge," and it instantly became the record of the year for yours truly. I sent Steve a fan email (he produced and plays on the record), one thing led to another, and last night all five of the boys joined us onstage. And didn't it rain!

Marcus Mosely, Ron Small and Will Sanders became The Sojourners when they joined JB for the "House Of Refuge" sessions, but they've sung together in all sorts of contexts over the years. I first heard the three of them as featured vocalists with the amazing Good Noise Gospel Choir, which Marcus co-Artistic Directos with Gail Suderman. A recent Christmas concert at my home church, Fraserview MB, is still being talked about, and I'd tell you to make sure and go to their upcoming gigs at the Cathedral - except they're already sold out! Watch the blog (or sign up for my Soul Food email) for word of their future performances.

And then there was our amazing house band; Nelson Boschman on piano (Keeping Time, Vol. 1), Brett Ziegler on keyboards, Kenton Wiens and Rick Colhoun on drums and percussion, and Becca Robertson on bass.

I've known Richard Osler for years, but it was reading his recent book "Again, No More: Poems Of Africa" that prompted me to invite him to join us for Christmas Presence. Carolyn Arends has posted several of Richard's Africa poems and stories in her online journal. For copies of his book (which includes a cd of the poet reading his own work), contact Richard directly at osler@shaw.ca. Thanks, Richard!

For other Christmas readings, check out Oblations

Dec 10: Songs In The Night Christmas

Songs In The Night Christmas Service
West Point Grey Baptist
Sun Dec 10, 7pm

Most years I take part in a swell Christmas evening at West Point Grey Baptist. This year's Sunday performance of Christmas Presence precludes that for me at least, but any of you who aren't required on the PT stage tomorrow night may want to check out this marvelous line-up: Allen DesNoyers, Tammy Enockson, Al McKay, Autmn Stevick, Ryan McAllister, Dan McAllister and the Songs in the Night Band.

Dec 12: Extra CHRISTMAS PRESENCE Performance!

The two Vancouver performances of CHRISTMAS PRESENCE listed in our season brochure are sold out, but fear not! We've added a special performance in the Holy Trinity sanctuary (right above the theatre) on Tuesday December 12! Carolyn Arends, Spencer Capier, Leora Cashe, Michael Hart and Sheree Plett and Ron Reed will be joined by Ruth Gill (from the Vancouver Bach Choir) and Trish Pattenden (LETTICE & LOVAGE, THE FARNDALE CHRISTMAS CAROL) for a "Raise The Roof" benefit performance for Holy Trinity Anglican Church, a small congregation facing a whopping huge bill for urgent repairs to the leaky roof, ill-fitting windows and ageing guts of the handsome (but elderly) heritage building that is their (and Pacific Theatre's) home.

There's lots of room in the sanctuary - I figure we can crowd ten or fifteen thousand people in there easy - but you'd be smart to book your tickets now at the Pacific Theatre box office: 604 731-5518.

There are still tickets left for CHRISTMAS PRESENCE IN THE VALLEY, PT's seasonal shindig slated for Clearbrook on Saturday December 16. Call the PT box office for those tickets as well!

Dec 12: Extra CHRISTMAS PRESENCE Performance!

The two Vancouver performances of CHRISTMAS PRESENCE listed in our season brochure are sold out, but fear not! We've added a special performance in the Holy Trinity sanctuary (right above the theatre) on Tuesday December 12! Carolyn Arends, Spencer Capier, Leora Cashe, Michael Hart and Sheree Plett and Ron Reed will be joined by Ruth Gill (from the Vancouver Bach Choir) and Trish Pattenden (LETTICE & LOVAGE, THE FARNDALE CHRISTMAS CAROL) for a "Raise The Roof" benefit performance for Holy Trinity Anglican Church, a small congregation facing a whopping huge bill for urgent repairs to the leaky roof, ill-fitting windows and ageing guts of the handsome (but elderly) heritage building that is their (and Pacific Theatre's) home.

There's lots of room in the sanctuary - I figure we can crowd ten or fifteen thousand people in there easy - but you'd be smart to book your tickets now at the Pacific Theatre box office: 604 731-5518.

There are still tickets left for CHRISTMAS PRESENCE IN THE VALLEY, PT's seasonal shindig slated for Clearbrook on Saturday December 16. Call the PT box office for those tickets as well!

Hunter S. Thompson & Ron Reed, "Work and Art"

When you work with your hands, you're a labourer,
When you work with your hands and head, you're a technician,
When you work with your hands, head, and heart, you're a craftsperson,
When you work with your hands, head, heart and soul, you're an artist.
- Adapted from a speech given by Hunter S. Thompson

When you're out of work, you're a theatre artist.
- Ron Reed

Tarry G's new coffee bar!

Okay, this ain't exactly about art. Unless great coffee is art. A position which Tarry Giannakos would no doubt advocate.

Tarry and his wife Kristine are hardcore Pacific Theatre fans, known to many of you. Well, they've started a new venture, and I want everybody to know about it.

Here's another pal of mine and Pacific Theatre's to tell you all about it. Mister Rory Holland...

Hey all, sorry for the Spam, but I did want to draw the attention of those that live in the Vancouver area, especially the North Shore, that a new coffee bar is opening in West Van that promises the best coffee, best atmosphere, and the highest speed wireless connection. CAFE CREMA is owned by Tarry and Kristine Giannakos - veterans of the coffee trade, but more importantly the most relational people you will ever meet. They have taken over and transformed the old "Bojangles" location at the bottom 15th Ave. and Bellevue.

"Does the North Shore really need another coffee bar?" Well, the answer for coffee snobs is - yes. Tarry is a fanatic about coffee so if you know your macchiatos from your mistos this is the place for you. And the North Shore DEFINITELY needs Tarry and Kristine. This place is bound to become the club house for many - great food, great people, comfy chairs.

They open Monday morning December 4th. Tons of parking, and easy stop on the way into the office, a perfect location for the mid-morning dog walking, running, workout crowd. My office is the table on the far left. See you there.

Dec 7: Gallery 7 auditions, STEEL MAGNOLIAS

Gallery 7 is a more or less a community theatre counterpart to Pacific Theatre, operating in Abbotsford.

info@gallery7theatre.com
www.gallery7theatre.com

Gallery 7 Theatre & Performing Arts will be holding open auditions on Thursday December 7, 2006 at 6:30 PM for its upcoming production of Robert Harling’s delightful comedy/drama, Steel Magnolias. The production, directed by Sarah Hu, will run March 9 & 10, 15 – 17, 22 – 24, 2007 with additional matinees on March 10 & 17 at 2:00 PM. Rehearsals will commence in January.

Truvy’s hair salon, nestled in the heart of a small town deep in the American south, forms the backdrop to this heart-warming and endearing tale of friendship where life’s hard-fought victories are celebrated and tragedies are made more bearable. Audiences will laugh, cry and ruminate along with six colorful characters as they share each other’s joys, challenges and ambitions.

All female performers ages 16 to 70 are invited to attend the auditions, which will be held at the MEI Secondary School Auditorium, 4081 Clearbrook Road in Abbotsford. Interested individuals are asked to sign up ahead of time by calling Gallery 7 Theatre at 604-504-5940 or by email at info@gallery7theatre.com. For more information about Gallery 7 and the rest of the 2006/2007 theatre season, please visit our website at www.gallery7theatre.com.

Cast of Characters:

TRUVY JONES: Early 40’s. Owner of Truvy’s beauty shop
ANNELLE DUPUY-DESOTO: Nineteen. Beauty shop assistant.
CLAIREE BELCHER: Mid-60’s. Widow of former mayor and a grande dame.
SHELBY EATENTON-LATCHERIE Mid-20’s. Prettiest girl in town.
M’LYNN EATENTON: Early 50’s. Shelby’s mother and socially prominent career woman.
OUISER BOUDREAUX: Mid 60’s. Wealthy curmudgeon, acerbic but loveable.

Dec 1: Carolyn Arends "Something 2 Give" Concert

THE SOMETHING 2 GIVE TOUR
featuring Carolyn Arends and Greg Sczebel
December 1, 7:30 pm
Bell Performing Arts Centre, 6250 144th Street, Surrey
www.carolynarends.com / 1-866-953-1833

Carolyn Arends brings a new project (Pollyanna’s Attic), an exciting support act (soulful Juno-award winner Greg Sczebel) and a Big Cause (sponsorship for impoverished children in El Salvador) to Surrey's Bell Centre as the final date of their national Something to Give Tour. Not to mention the niftiest sideman this side of... Wherever the niftiest sidemen reside. Spencer Capier.

www.myspace.com/carolynarends

Nov 22: Viper Central (Kathleen Nisbet)

Kathleen Nisbet played fiddle at CONFESSIONS. She's in a bluegrass band called Viper Central. They've got a gig this week at...

The Cafe Montmartre
Wed Nov 22
4362 Main St.

"We are going to try to start the music at 9pm. There will be two sets." KN

Nov 24,25: Graham Ord Returns!

Soul Food regular Graham Ord moved away to Kelowna last year, but he'll be in the lower mainland this coming weekend. So if you've been feeling Ordless...

Graham Ord Acoustic concert
Fri Nov 24, 7:30
Sutherland Church, 630 East 19th Street, North Vancouver (19th and Grand Blvd)
985 8906

Offering of Hope
building project fundraiser for children in Watoto, Uganda.
Sat Nov 25
South Delta Baptist Church, 1988 – 56th Street, Tsawwassen, B.C
943-8244
Doors open at 5:30 pm (Live and Silent Auction). Gourmet Coffee and Bistro Bar.

Nov 19: Jim Byrnes & The Sojourners on CBC

Sunday Nov 19, noon
"Westcoast Performance," CBC Radio 2

My favourite new record this year is "House Of Refuge" by Jim Byrnes. Produced by Steve Dawson (who several times has played his many stringed instruments at Pacific Theatre gigs), the gospel-soaked disk features The Sojourners, a very fine trio of singers from the Good Noise Vancouver Gospel Choir. You'd swear you stepped into a storefront church someplace in New Orleans.

Early this fall, the Rogue Folk Club hosted a CD release concert ("I was there. It was fabulous." reports Soul Foodie Rudi). CBC recorded it, and is broadcasting it tomorrow at noon on Radio 2.

*

Advance word about related matters. Good Noise will be performing a series of three Christmas concerts, the first at my home church, Fraserview MB in Richmond. When time gets closer I'll post more details, but here's the heads up for now (and just in case...)

FRIDAY, DEC 1, 2006 7:30 pm
Fraserview Church
11295 Mellis Drive, Richmond, BC

FRIDAY, DEC 15, 2006 7:30 pm
Christ Church Cathedral,
Georgia & Burrard Vancouver BC

SATURDAY, DEC 16, 2006 7:30 pm
Christ Church Cathedral,
Georgia & Burrard Vancouver, BC

Details at their website, linked above

Libby Appel, "It is required you do awake your faith"

I started my actor training in the BFA program at the University of Alberta, but only began. Long story. When it came time to return to theatre, I did an MFA in Acting at the California Institute of the Arts. Several of my teachers, working professionals all, made a huge impact; Robert Benedetti, Lew Palter, Jules Aaron, and others. But especially Libby Appel, who was Dean of the theatre school at CalArts, and also my acting teacher.

We're talking 20 years ago, but I still hear her words come out of my mouth every time I teach an acting class, every time I direct a show. Acting, I might as well wear a little WWLS bracelet: "What would Libby say?"

Soon after I left CalArts, so did Libby (I'm sure it was hard to carry on without me). I started Pacific Theatre, she ended up Artistic Directing my favourite theatre anywhere (even before she was in the captain's chair), the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Huge thrill for me a couple summers back to see an "I'm glad I saw that, never need to see it again" production of RICHARD II (a difficult play to make interesting, I thought) at Shakespeare's Globe in London, then to travel to Ashland Oregon the next month to experience an utterly transcendent production of the same play - directed by Libby.

Now, I was a bit confounded. No, I was stunned. During my CalArts years, Libby made no secret of the fact that she had no time for religion, especially Christianity: it was testimony to her gracious nature that she made as much time for me as she did. A self-described "atheist Jew," her church was the stage, her god the art of theatre. But her RICHARD II took every last one of the play's deeply spiritual themes and incarnated them onstage: rather than avoid a single gospel reference or undercut even one of the story's Christian elements, Libby foregrounded them all in an exquisitely theatrical, movingly human and profoundly theological production.

Well, I thought, testimony to the power of theatre, imagination, craftsmanship, professionalism: that a brilliant artist like Libby can achieve onstage what she mightn't even believe.

Then this past summer I saw her austere, essential, sublime WINTER'S TALE. And I - to use some hardcore religous language - felt myself to be in the heart of the Kingdom of God. Again, the Biblical notes resonated, resounded; the Christian references, metaphors, paradigms were extraordinarily vivid; I quite literally wept. And only after the show did I read - astonished - Libby's program notes on the show, and then her Artistic Director notes for the overall season.

Obviously I don't know the least bit about what's transpired for Libby in the past 22 years, and wouldn't presume to suggest it's got anything to do with believing what I believe about Jesus. It could even be that she's changed not a whit, that I was a different person way back then, and heard her words about her own spirituality through different ears. Whatever the case, though, I can't help but feel a remarkable kinship with this woman by whom I've now been twice blest; first, by the artistry she taught me; now, by the art she makes.

Here's what she wrote...

From The Director
Sixteen Years Later

In The Winter’s Tale, the central character, Leontes, King of Sicilia, undergoes a 16-year penitential journey from the moment he commits a disastrous sin to his ultimate redemption and salvation. Shakespeare, who can be very carefree and careless about measuring time in his plays (he will often have events tumble and gallop with no attention to a precise time frame), has been very exact about the passage of time in this play. Indeed, he has name a character Time, who introduces the “16 years later” concept to tell us specifically what has happened.

In 1990, I directed The Winter’s Tale for OSF on the Elizabethan Stage. It was the last artistic journey for the incomparable Rex Rabold, who played Leontes, as he died four weeks after we opened the play. Rex was ill throughout the whole rehearsal period, but his mind was sharp and his spirit was thoroughly engaged as we wrestled with the devil inside Leontes. Perhaps you can imagine what it was like to watch this extraordinary actor build the terribly sick (mentally) character who must go through extreme purgatory before he is forgiven and reborn--- this was a once in a lifetime experience for me.

Why then do I feel ready, indeed compelled, to take this journey again? Well, in truth, I found that I had not wanted to think about the play until recently. When I decided to put it up in the 2006 season, it was only at that point that I realized it will have been 16 years from my first venture. A coincidence? A surprise? Or was Shakespeare, somewhere situated in the heavens, looking down (perhaps laughing) and urging me to have another go at his spiritual, most mysterious play?

I only know that I felt ready again. I have worked with the memory of Rex tucked securely in my heart and have tried to find what the wisdom and experience of 16 years has brought to me. I am working with a new team of actors and designers, which has brought fresh perspective to the ideas of the play and has given me vitality and creative energy. But the true secret of this journey retaken is that I have discovered that The Winter’s Tale, like all great works of art, does not reveal all of its secrets on the first encounter. The heart of the play is briefly glimpsed and barely understood with each experience. I have reveled in this new investigation, but I will bet anything that 16 years from now, I will want to rediscover this masterpiece anew.

It’s a mystery, and as Paulina exhorts us,

“It is required you do awake
Your faith.”

---Libby Appel

*

From the Artistic Director

After every new season is announced each year, I am frequently asked, “Did you have a unifying theme you wanted to express through these choices?” Invariably I answer no. For, in fact, I choose plays for their diversity of theme and style and I do not make an effort to tie them together. Of course, our extraordinarily perceptive audience, who more often than not sees four or five plays in one week, tells me about similar motifs and messages that they find running through many of the plays, even without any conscious effort on my part to make that happen.

When I hear this, I realize that this is not really a surprise. All good plays deal with the deep conflicts within the human soul and within human relationships. Buried below the surface of a play is often a cry for the answers to how we negotiate the relationship between the private self and the outer world---Who am I? Why am I here? What does my life mean? Our former artistic director, Jerry Turner, was fond of saying that if a play wasn’t about a fight with God, he didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

So it was with a mixture of understanding and acceptance that I realized that the 2006 season does indeed have a major theme--- the struggle with one’s spirituality and the quest for reconciliation, redemption and salvation. The play that deals most specifically with these urgent human needs is, of course, Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. A late play, placed firmly by scholars in the group of plays categorized as Romances, the structure of the play is literally a journey of atonement with a rebirth, or a resurrection if you will, as its masterful and deeply moving conclusion.

The Diary of Anne Frank, with its struggle to remain human and loving against the insuperable odds of inevitable destruction, is a profoundly spiritual play. Indelibly etched in all of our hearts are Anne’s words, “I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.” ...

So yes, in these perilous times we live in, we are seeking answers to the troubling dilemmas which plague our society and our personal lives. In the theater, we seem to need to explore ideas and experiences that ask our most profound questions in a spiritual and soulful way. I no longer hesitate to say there are interweaving themes in the 2006 season. These are the ties that bind us all together in the human condition.

---Libby Appel

This was Libby's last year as Artistic Director at the OSF. But she'll be back. In the 2007 season, she will be directing THE TEMPEST. Think maybe I ought to go?

To Nov 22: Carmen Tomé & Shannon Ravenhall

Carmen Tome is a photographer who's often been mentioned over the years in Soul Food emails, with a tremendous number of awards for her innovative approaches to photography and several shows at the Regent Lookout Gallery. Carmen sent me word back in October about an art show, but I didn't know how to post the graphics she provided and notice of the show got missed. I've been in touch with her recently, the show runs until Wednesday Nov 22, so there's still a chance to see it if you're in Langley. And now that I know how to post images (thanks Paul!)...

Light & Life
A new art show entitled "Light & Life" featuring exciting new works by Carmen Tomé & Shannon Ravenhall at the Langley based Westwind Art Gallery

What do you get when two very spiritual women each explore light in their own medium and then get together? You get one very interesting show, full of passion, spirituality, and sensuality.

Shannon's sculptures are developed with a view allowing photos to pass through them in certain area and to hold back the photons in other areas. The alabaster is worked with a passion to create varying densities. The photons pass through the stone more freely in certain areas creating halo effects. He subject matter is inspired by her love of quantum theory and her passion for exploring the human psyche.


Carmen captures photos on paper and canvas and displays them in a way that is at once spiritual and sensual. Her romantic images of beautiful longing women and her misty images of castles and mountain sides have been described by some as renaissance, gothic, even impressionistic in style.

*

Westwind Art Gallery is one of western Canada's largest and oldest galleries. The gallery offers a wide range of contemporary sculptures, paintings, prints and framing. Westwind Art Gallery is a 20 minute drive East of Vancouver on Highway 1, to 200th street then 7 minutes south to Fraser Highway, and 4 blocks East.

Westwind Art Gallery & Framing,
20460 Fraser Highway,
Langley, British Columbia
www.westwindartgallery.ca

Open:

Monday to Saturday
We usually open at 9:30 am or earlier . . .
We close at 5:30 pm or later

Most Sundays
We are open most from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Evenings by Appointment

OVER THE RHINE Interview, Christmas album

Concert at Regent was swell. These kids could go far.

John Cody did a swell interview with Karin at BCCN.

They mentioned a Christmas album. It comes out December 2. Don't you think the cover looks swell?


You can order it at their website.

Which is pretty swell.

Nov 24 - Dec 30: CARIBOO MAGI at Pacific Theatre

Click to enlarge

CARIBOO MAGI by Lucia Frangione
Pacific Theatre
Nov 24 - Dec 30
www.pacifictheatre.org / 731-5518

Here we go again! Tons o' Christmas craziness - and more heart and substance than you might think - as we bring Lucia's hilarious Christmas romp back to our stage. Lucia, Dirk Van Stralen and Donna-Lea Ford all return from the original cast, plus Parnelli Parnes, who tore up the Bard stage this summer - much funniness. And this time, under the direction of Kerry Vander Griend, whose track record with CHICKENS and THE FARNDALE CHRISTMAS CAROL establishes him as one of the best comedy directors in town. (I know, I know, you're reading this, aren't you, Kerry? And going, "Hey, I don't just do comedy!" Fine. We'll find you something depressing some other year.)

Great story behind the development of this one. Cia came to Pacific Theatre back in 1990, our first ever apprentice. Acted in shows, before long we started putting her plays on our stage. Sponsored her to attend the Lamb's Players Writers Week, to work on a script about Arctic exploration. Which didn't go any further than that. But LP loved Looch, commissioned her to write them a one-act for Christmas. We read that script, loved it, asked Ms Frangione to develop it into a full-length piece. It was a mammoth success (well, as mammoth as our little 120-seat theatre can hold. Mini-mammoth). Last Christmas, perhaps stimulated to nostalgia by the hilarity of THE FARNDALE CHRISTMAS CAROL, our audience started asking "When are you bringing CARIBOO MAGI back again?" So we scheduled the darn thing into our 2006-2007 season. Then this spring Talonbooks announced that they would be publishing the script, as they had ESPRESSO a couple years before - and the official book launch will be at Pacific Theatre, opening Saturday (Nov 25). Come that night, meet the playwright and the rest of the cast, and get yourself a signed copy!

The show's got lots of appeal for all ages, so we've added a batch of matinee performances, especially during the week following Christmas. (Hey, it never occurred to me before, but do you know what? Christmas Week tickets for this show would make fabulous Christmas presents, wouldn't they? Gee, what a great idea, Ron....)

CONFESSIONS photos

Green Room
(See, it really is green...)

House Band
Kenton Wiens, Ben Appenheimer, Brett Ziegler, Nelson Boschman

Lance Odegard

Sheree Plett

blurry Kathleen Nisbet & focused Michael Hart


* Several other musicians, actors and poets not pictured. One of whom is Jonathan Anderson. Mostly because he was mostly behind the camera. When he wasn't playing. *

"The Reverend: Photographs by James Perry Walker"

The Reverend
Photographs by James Perry Walker

Photographer James Perry Walker spent six years snapping photographs on the Mississippi Delta preaching circuit. That’s six years of weathered old men and their cigarettes, children in their Sunday best, and shining white chapels; four congregations of poverty, pain, and faith; and one rousing black Baptist preacher, the Reverend Louis Cole. In The Reverend, Walker pays tribute to these four communities and the man that led them by fusing his black and white photographs with earthy advice, humorous anecdotes, and a sermon from the now deceased Reverend Cole.

Ordained in 1919, Cole tended Sabbath flocks for more than sixty years, but it was his hands that conducted the real art of ministry. As he toils over crops, hassles with doctor bills, and builds his own $100 house, Cole demonstrates that faith is erected from the planks and nails of daily life. The Reverend suggests that there is no divide between body and soul, the physical and divine, or our Sundays and Saturdays. Cole plants his corn and conducts his revivals by the same almanac—a full moon can make a difference in both harvests, he explains. Walker’s gritty, stark photographs of the Reverend and his community reveal the bridge between spirituality and everyday life. We see Cole and his congregants going about the business of living at home, at work, and at church. And this active integration of life is also our calling.

“It don't take all that much to be saved,” says Cole, and “It don't take nothing for you to be lost. You want to be lost, don't do nothing.” Together, Walker’s photographs and Cole's frank narration create a portrait of a man and a memoir of a community that illustrate the connection between the pulpit, the pew, and the hard work of living.

To view photographs from "The Reverend," visit James Perry Walker’s website.
Click here to buy the book.

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I lifted this directly from the latest IMAGE Update, a regular email from - without question the best periodical on the arts from a Christian perspective. Consider subscribing - to the IMAGE Update emails, which are free, and to the journal, which ain't - via the IMAGE website.

Nov 23: Ron Reed on "Oblation" at TWU

"I take my children to the beach. On the north shore of Long Island it is a pretty stony proposition. The mills of the gods grind coarsely here; but, in exchange for busied feet and a sore coccyx, they provide gravel for the foundation of the arts… the oblation of things." Robert Farrar Capon

OBLATION:
The Artist's Holy Calling

A man gathers stones on a beach…

Another snaps pictures of his Brooklyn cigar store
with the camera he stole from a blind woman…

A third trains his camera on a plastic bag in an alleyway…

Hobbyists? Artists? Priests? "Ingatherers of being"?
People with too much time on their hands?

Wanna learn some Latin? We'll be talking lectio divina, we'll be talking liber mundi, we might even toss in some good old imago dei or et vidit Deus quod esset bonum. Ron Reed (founding artistic director of Pacific Theatre) uses clips from favourite films to explore the role of the artist in the world, and the artistic way of every living person on this planet – whether they think they're artists or not!

*

An open lecture
Trinity Western University, Freedom Hall
Thursday November 23 @ 1:10-2:25

(If you don't know where Freedom Hall is, just ask at the information booth as you drive onto campus. If you don't know where the campus is, phone 888-7511)

Nov 3-18: THE HOBBIT, Gallery 7

click to enlarge

And here's what Gallery 7 has to say about their current show...

The Hobbit, which opened on our new stage at the MEI Secondary School Auditorium this past weekend, is a great opportunity for you to introduce your kids to the magic and power of theatre and to experience an epic adventure story based on one of the great books of English literature. Recommended for kids ages 6 and up (some scenes may frighten very young children), The Hobbit is about an amazing journey filled with thrills and chills the entire family can enjoy. More importantly, there are some great universal themes that you can talk over with your kids after the show including the value of courage & loyalty, the effects of greed on the individual and a society and the importance of pursuing our goals despite the many obstacles that stand in our way.

The story of The Hobbit goes like this: Compelled to leave the comfortable surroundings of the Shire, Bilbo Baggins embarks on an epic adventure through Middle Earth in search of a golden treasure guarded by an evil dragon. Audiences will meet all sorts of colorful and sometimes treacherous characters in this retelling of a classic tale of courage and discovery.

The production features many colorful costumes, an original music score, a compelling lighting design and a simple yet effective set that transforms into the many locales of Middle Earth. Eleven energetic cast members play over twenty characters making this a production a unique and imaginative theatrical experience.

Nov 11: "From Despair To Hope," organ recital / photography

Here's a fine way to remember. I'm told the pipe organ at St. Mary's is one of the finest in the city.

November 11, Remembrance Day
11:30 am
St. Mary's Kerrisdale Anglican Church, 37th Ave.and Larch St., Vancouver

Susan Ohannesian presents an organ recital "From Despair to Hope". Music of Buxtehude, JS Bach, Mendelssohn, William Renwick and Denis Bedard based on the hymn tunes Aus Tiefer Not, Ich Ruf Zu Dir, Ein Feste Burg, St. Anne and Old Hundredth. The recital follows the 10:30 am Remembrance Day Eucharist and all are welcome to attend the service and recital or just the service or just the recital.

To accompany the recital, photographs by Rudi Krause are displayed in the narthex, "Where There Are Shadows There Is Light."

Nov 3-11: The Diviners, Douglas College

This is a show I've repeatedly considered for Pacific Theatre. Would be a perfect Stones Throw / Emerging Artists show. Morris Ertman staged it at Rosebud, I've seen several memorable productions including a leap-to-your-feet staging by the Playhouse Acting School, back in the day. (Wonder what 2007 theatre luminaries might have been in that 1982(?) crop of student actors?)

Anyhow, here's the co-ordinates...

*

The Diviners: Finding redemption in the dirt

In the parched earth of a mythical 1930s southern farming community
one ex-minister and one teen-age boy seek to quench their spiritual
thirst.

The town has lost its church, the preacher has lost his pulpit and
the boy has lost his mother. The basics elements life - hope, faith
and water - are everyone’s concern.

“This play focuses on one town were everyone is struggling with
fear and faith,” says "The Diviners" guest director, Stephen
Drover.

"The Diviners", written by American playwright Jim Leonard Jr.,
sees the residents of Zion facing a shortage of water. Buddy, a
misunderstood youth, with a gift for water-witching, is also
tormented by the fear of water. C.C. Showers, a back-sliding
preacher confronts his own haziness as he rejects the demands of a
life he once lived. Around them are the townsfolk who are all
seeking simple hope and something to believe in.

Drover decided that the best presentation of "The Diviners" was to
take a decidedly down-to-earth approach.

“In the past, I’ve directed students in finding unconventional
approaches to their characters [ensemble casting "Oedipus the
King"; cross-gender cast "Taming of the Shrew"]. This play is so
poignant and human that there are no such conventions required.
It’s the student’s ability to connect to their character that will
make the play,” says Drover.

“The Stagecraft students who are working on the set are also
learning about the period. They are working hard to create a 1930s
Great Depression town,” says Drover.

This is the fourth play Drover has directed at Douglas College. He
is co-founder and Artistic Director of Pound of Flesh Theatre in
Vancouver whose mandate is to produce alternative productions of
classical plays. Productions include "Macbeth" and "The Bond", an
adaptation of "The Merchant of Venice", to be remounted in
association with the Gateway Theatre in March 2007. He is also
co-writing a new play with actor Todd Thomson.

Presented by the Douglas College Theatre and Stagecraft
Departments, "The Diviners" runs from November 3-11 in the Studio
Theatre. For ticket information and times, please call 604-527-5488
or visit our Web site at www.douglas.bc.ca/st/.


"Can't remember when I last enjoyed a student production so
much....Wow!!!!.....and these are students????......this far out
weighs what are often labeled the heavy weights here in the lower
mainland. We could not have been in a better place last evening."
- Susanna Uchatius, Artistic Director, Theatre Terrific

Nov 11: Sheree Plett, RED CIRCLED HEART release concert

Love this girl!

Sheree first showed up at pt last december, CHRISTMAS PRESENCE, stole several shows. She was back for TESTIMONY, kept up her larceny. Then CONFESSIONS, the thievery continued.

Check out her website to hear some of the tunes.

Nov 15: OVER THE RHINE, Regent College

...and late-breaking news, Peter La Grand will perform a solo opening act.

*

If you know OTR, you'll need no persuading.
If you don't, here's their website.

To purchase advance tickets, contact Dana Telep:
administrator@cityinfocus.ca or 604 687-7292

Nov 24/25: David Robinson, Eastside Culture Crawl

David Robinson
Various and recent works on view during the Eastside Culture Crawl

Nov 24: 5-10pm
Nov 25: 11am-6pm

Robinson Studios
#360 - 1000 Parker Street
Vancouver, BC

Nov 8: Gallery 7 Auditions, LOST IN YONKERS

Open Auditions - Lost in Yonkers
November 8, 2006 at 6:30 PM.

Gallery 7 Theatre & Performing Arts will be holding open auditions on November 8, 2006 at 7:30 PM for its upcoming production of Neil Simon's Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy, Lost in Yonkers. The production will run January 19 & 20, 25 - 27, Feb 1 - 3, 2007 at 7:30 PM with additional matinees on Jan 20 & 27 at 2:00 PM. Rehearsals are scheduled for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM. and will begin soon after auditions. There will be a one week break for Christmas and New Years.

The Story:

It’s the summer of 1942 in Yonkers, New York. Eddie and Arty are left in the care of their stern and bristly grandmother while their father attempts to earn fast money to pay off debts. While there, the boys experience family in an entirely new and bizarre way as they relate with their love-starved aunt and their obscure and mysterious uncle who appears to have ties to the mob. As the summer goes on, the boys’ presence becomes a catalyst for emotional healing in a home where affection is nearly absent and people are prepared for the hard life through hard-nosed discipline and correction.

Boys ages 12 - 18 as well as male and female performers ages 25 to 70 are welcome to attend the auditions. Here's an approximate age break down of the characters:
· Arty - 13 years old
· Jay - 16 years old
· Eddie - 41 years old
· Bella - mid thirties
· Grandma Kurnitz - mid-seventies
· Gert - mid to late thirties
· Louie - mid thirties

Those wanting to sign up for the audition or who want more information, should call Gallery 7 at 604-504-5940 or email them at info@gallery7theatre.com.


Ken Hildebrandt
Executive Artistic Director
Gallery 7 Theatre & Performing Arts Society
P.O. Box 825, Abbotsford, B.C. V2T 7A2

Tickets - House of James: 604-852-3701
Gallery 7 Administration: 604-504-5940
Email: info@gallery7theatre.com
Web: www.gallery7theatre.com

Colin Thomas interviews LIFE AFTER GOD playwright

Life After God born again
By colin thomas
Georgia Straight, Oct 26 2006

Michael Lewis MacLennan adapts Douglas Coupland’s tale to the stage.

Playwright Michael Lewis Mac Lennan is a Christian, although he finds it hard to admit. That, and his considerable skill, might make him the perfect guy to adapt the title story in Douglas Coup land’s Life After God for the stage.

Life After God is about overcoming irony and risking the embarrassment that can accompany spiritual and emotional need. Its characters are all privileged young adults who grew up in a state of narcissistic bliss on Vancouver’s North Shore. Fifteen years after they graduate from high school, Scout, the protagonist, goes off his antidepressants and starts to fall apart. His five friends are experiencing troubles of their own—with alcohol, drugs, sex, and boredom. Stacey, for example, drinks and says God is in the teeth of the man who fucked her the night before.

MacLennan, who also has a home in Toronto, speaks on the phone from his apartment in Los Angeles. His packed curriculum vitae features award-winning plays (Grace, The Shooting Stage, Last Romantics) and credits as a producer and writer on the television series Godiva’s and Queer As Folk. This new adaptation, which is being coproduced by Touchstone Theatre and Theatre at UBC, runs at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts from Wednesday (November 1) until November 11 before moving to the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, November 15 to 25.

“I have horrible memories of going to see plays that were adaptations of novels,” MacLennan begins. “So often, the bone structure was the bone structure of a novel and it just didn’t work.” MacLennan loved Coupland’s story when it was published in 1994. He says the tale isn’t inherently the stuff of drama, however: “One of the weaknesses, I suppose, is that Scout is so front-and-centre. Some of the other characters have maybe five or six lines of dialogue.” MacLennan has developed longer interactive scenes and organized them along a new backbone: all of the characters are moving toward a 15-year high-school reunion.

The climactic image has stayed the same, though: Scout wanders deep into the woods, where he immerses himself in a freezing mountain stream.

MacLennan has a clear idea of how Scout got there. The opening image of his play borrows heavily from Coupland. Scout and his friends float mindlessly in a blood-warm swimming pool: “Back then, we never talked about ideas or the meaning of life. We didn’t need to: we lived in paradise.”

MacLennan sees this golden youth as a handicap of sorts. “If we don’t have a relationship with ourselves that has developed through adversity, through suffering, through pain, then we don’t have the equipment to see ourselves through hard times.”

In Scout’s world, however, the forest is a place of healing. “I think there is something restorative about nature,” MacLennan offers. “It is sort of the temple that people go to in Vancouver. For a lot of people, certainly these guys, that’s the spiritual discipline they grew up with: they went camping.”

Of Scout’s chilly final dunking, MacLennan says: “I think he needs engagement in his own life and the lives of the people around him. He needs to be reborn. He kind of needs to be born because in a way he’s still floating around in that amniotic fluid. The end image is one of baptism, but it’s one of frigid water. It’s cold. That’s the thing that will wake him up.”

MacLennan’s own immersion in faith began six years ago when a friend invited him to a service at Toronto’s Metropolitan Community Church. Now he attends every week when he’s in town.

Although identifying himself as Christian raises fears of being labelled a fundamentalist, MacLennan reveals: “The tenets of Christianity are about transformation through love. The messages are so simple and yet so challenging — at least to me.” He goes on: “Things that happened in my life growing up didn’t make it feel very safe for me to feel loving to people. So my default is a kind of protective detachment. The things that attract me to spirituality have the benefit of encouraging me to be more generous, more open, more playful—things that my soul wants and things that I’ve almost had to relearn.”

Nov 17: New Orleans Benefit (Ng, Des Cotes, Reynolds)

Benefit Concert
To help rebuild churches in New Orleans

Nov. 17th, 7:30pm
(by donation)

Joycelin Ng, piano
Rob Des Cotes, flute
Rick & Daniel Reynolds, jazz piano & bass

Fairview Baptist Church, 1708 W. 16 th Ave.
(604) 731-3211

Oct 26-28: BROKEN, a PT Apprentice Showcase production

BROKEN
Two original one act plays about life after the fall
Oct 26–28

Pacific Theatre and Stone’s Throw Productions proudly present the world premiere of two original one act plays written by Tina Teeninga, with direction by Kerri Norris and Tina Teeninga, playing October 26 to 28th at Pacific Theatre.

BROKEN THINGS is a tale in which human brutality threatens to overwhelm Soeur Marie’s faith in God and hope in humanity. Set in France during World War Two, this thoughtful, visceral piece of theatre asks: in the face of suffering and trauma, do values truly guide a person? Caught between the tangible, human desire for justice and the religious plea for mercy, BROKEN THINGS illuminates one woman’s struggle with authentic belief. As a precursor to BROKEN THINGS, NORMAL is the fragile, poetic story of a young girl clinging to her last threads of sanity. Is she strong enough to maintain normalcy, or will it disintegrate before her eyes?

Boldly directed by Kerri Norris (A BRIGHT PARTICULAR STAR, Pacific Theatre) with stunning lighting design by Nigel Brooke, BROKEN THINGS is a compelling drama with a stellar cast: Elizabeth Pennington (DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, Oral Roberts University), Daniel Amos (HAMLET, HALO, A BRIGHT PARTICULAR STAR, THE QUARREL), Bill Amos (HAMLET, Stone’s Throw Productions/Pacific Theatre) and Lori Kokotailo (HUNGRY SEASON, A BRIGHT PARTICULAR STAR, LESS ADO ABOUT NOTHING).

NORMAL features the formidable young talent, Kirsty Provan (HAMLET, LESS ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Stones Throw Productions/Pacific Theatre) with direction from playwright Tina Teeninga (A NIGHT FOR WASABI-24 HR THEATRE, Stone’s Throw Productions/Pacific Theatre).

Written by playwriting apprentice Tina Teeninga, and featuring acting apprentices Elizabeth Pennington and Kirsty Provan, this two part evening, BROKEN, is part of the dynamic trio’s artistic work at Pacific Theatre. Not only does Pacific Theatre’s apprenticeship program afford actors the chance to perform on a professional stage, but it also provides artists the opportunity to produce original work from “the ground up”. Stay tuned for two more original plays by Tina Teeninga in March: Elizabeth Pennington will perform in the one woman show, RIVER BOTTOM BABY and Kirsty Provan will take the lead in EXPECTATIONS.

Details: BROKEN: Two original one act plays about life after the fall. Written by Tina Teeninga, Direction by Kerri Norris.
When: October 26-28. Thursday – Saturday, 8 pm.
Where: Pacific Theatre. 420 West 12th Ave at Hemlock St., Vancouver, BC.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can. No reservations necessary.

*

That's the official press release. Here's something less official, from one of Tina's emails to me; "I had a terrific time directing Kirsty yesterday, so much so that I woke up this morning at 3:30 am thinking of ideas for NORMAL and dreaming about future projects." I love our apprenti!

Oct 25 - Nov 4: The Importance Of Being Earnest, TWU

The Importance Of Being EarnestThe classic comedy of wit and romance

by Oscar Wilde

October 25-28 and November 1-4, 2006

Jack lives in the country. His imaginary brother Ernest lives in town. Algernon lives in town. His imaginary friend Bunbury lives in the country. Gwendolen falls in love with Jack, believing him to be Ernest. Cecily falls in love with Algernon, believing him to be Ernest.
Telling the truth would be simpler, but so much less fun.

For more details, check out the snazzy new TWU Theatre website

Nov 1-25: "Life After God," Touchstone Theatre / UBC

Yup, that's Bob Fraser floating (drowning?) in that there pool. The Gentleman Caller in Liffey's staging of THE GLASS MENAGERIE that Ian Farthing produced on our stage a couple years ago. The hockey-playing brother and lover-of-the-main-character in PRODIGAL SON this past spring, our co-production with Touchstone Theatre, who are producing this upcoming stage version of Douglas Coupland's amazing novel. This is the show I've been looking forward to more than anything else in this year's theatre season - the novel is a personal favourite (call that extreme favourite), and Touchstone's work is so fine, I can't wait. Katrina Dunn is directing, and ain't nobody better.

Here's more...

Touchstone and Theatre at UBC, with Playwrights Theatre Centre, have been developing Life After God over the past two years. Visit the LAG website and click "On the Subject" to read more about the process and inspiration for the play.

Showtimes at the TELUS
Monday to Saturday at 7:30pm

Showtimes at the Cultch
Tuesday to Saturday, 8pm
Matinees, Sun Nov 19 & Sat Nov 25, 2pm

Tickets at the TELUS
Adults $25; Seniors $18; Students $12
Call 604.822.2678

Tickets at the Cultch
Adults $25.50; Students/Seniors $21
Call 604 280 3311 or visit www.ticketmaster.ca

Special Performances
Wed 1 Nov - Preview - all tickets $6
Thur 2 Nov - Opening Night - SOLD OUT
Wed 15 Nov - Free Performance - tickets at the door only, from 7pm; first-come first-served; supported by RBC Foundation
Sun 19 Nov, 2pm - Bean Around the Play - join Director Katrina Dunn for a post-show coffee and chat in the lobby
Tue 21 Nov - Talkback & Two-for-One - all tickets $11, plus service charges

"This strange and wondrous event": A musician reflects on CONFESSIONS

Another email, this time from Nelson Boschman, who's pretty much become our de facto house pianist for gigs like CONFESSIONS and CHRISTMAS PRESENCE. (Not to be confused with our de facto house keyboardist, Brett, or our de facto house Hammond player, Chris, or... Anyhow.)

A nice companion piece to Kirsty's recent thoughts about the show.

For some reason I felt strongly compelled to stay home from church this morning and spend some alone time reading, journalling and reflecting. Among many other thoughts and feelings, I found myself thinking a lot about this strange and wondrous event of which we have all been a part. For what they're worth, I thought I'd share these thoughts with you...

From time to time I'm asked to describe CONFESSIONS/CHRISTMAS PRESENCE / TESTIMONY. No doubt you've all faced this challenge at various points. I told a colleague this past Friday morning (after Thursday's show), that CONFESSIONS was like church at its best, or, what I wish church was more like.

It reminds me of a family gathering; a potluck meal where everyone brings something, the head chef puts it all together, and the Guest of Honor graces us with His Presence in the midst of it all. It's loose and improvisatory, but far from carelessly thrown-together. There is attention to pairing food with drink (as with song or story to theme), but not in an obsessive or, worse, restrictive way. There is not too much preparation on the day of the meal itself, but rather the preparedness happens through the years of practice, trial and error which have taken place long before we gather together to feed our senses.

There is a certain order to things, but the predominant feeling is not that of confinement, but spaciousness. It's like a story, in which, as Henri Nouwen puts it, there is "room to walk around and find our place". There is excellence, but not elitism. And there are no show-offy, one-uppy attitudes. It's about contributing something as individuals which will only nourish and speak to people when combined and offered as a collective whole.

There is profound meaning, but not intellectual imperialism. There is beauty, but it is a beauty characterized by simplicity and grace, not outlandishness and superficiality. And perhaps above all, there is trust. We trust one another to bring our absolute best to the table. We trust that in the times we feel we're offering less than our best -- for whatever reason -- we will be accepted and welcomed anyway. We trust that the stories and songs we bring will help others pay attention to the Presence in the same way they have helped us do likewise. And we trust that when it is all over, God will have done far more than we can prepare for, ask or imagine.

Looking forward to the next potluck...

Soli deo Gloria,
Nelson

Oct 14: CONFESSIONS Credits

Confession
noun [F. confession, L. confessio.]
1. An admission of misdeeds or faults; words spoken about your sins, asking God for forgiveness
2. A statement made by the accused admitting guilt; or, a written document acknowledging an offense and signed by the guilty party
3. The act of a penitent disclosing his sinfulness before a priest in the hope of absolution; a sacrament
4. An album by metal band Ill Niño. It features How Can I Live, which was also released on the soundtrack to Freddy vs. Jason
5. Autobiography regarded as a form of prose fiction, or prose fiction cast in the form of autobiography
6. An open profession of faith

Tonight's Artists

Michael Hart - guitar and voice
Albums; Desire, Lord of the Mountain, Dulcimer Light, The Heart of the Matter, Soulkeeper, True
Michael's website

Sheree Plett - guitar and voice
Albums; Hold Still, Red Circled Heart
Sheree's website

Lance Odegard - guitar and voice
Albums; Renovation, With the Chance to Feel
Lance's website

Kenton Wiens- drums
Album; Badgentina’s “Brittle the Bed”
Kenton's website

Brett Ziegler - piano
Official website

Becca Robertson - upright bass

Karl Petersen - poet
Book; Bellowing In The Common

Diane Tucker - poet
Book; God On His Haunches

Kirsty Provan, Ron Reed - actors

*

ACT ONE
Ron: A Confession
Lance: Crooked Deep Down (Caedmon's Call, "She Must And Shall Go Free")
Ron: Definitions
Michael: I'm Headed For (Michael Hart, "Desire")
Ron: Pilgrimage Pilgrimage (from The Life You Save May Be Your Own by Paul Elie)
Sheree: Orphan Girl (Gillian Welch, "Revival")
Karl: Poems (Karl Petersen)
Michael: Surely Goodness And Mercy (Michael Hart, "Desire")
Lance: It Ain't Me, Babe (Bob Dylan, "Another Side Of Bob Dylan")
Kirsty: JFK & Jesus (from "The Good Enough News" by Lisa Shea, in Joyful Noise)
Michael: In My Life (The Beatles, "Rubber Soul")
Ron: Why We Lie (by Stuart McLean, broadcast on CBC radio's Vinyl Cafe, Sep 30 / Oct 1)
Sheree: Yellow Dress (Sheree Plett, "Hold Still")

ACT TWO
Ron: General-All-Purpose Apology (fom "A Thousand Clowns" by Herb Gardner)
Michael: One Day (Michael Hart, "Lord Of The Mountain")
Ron: Confession Booth (from Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller)
Lance: Orbit (Lance Odegard, "Renovation")
Diane: Poems (Diane Tucker)
Sheree: Flood (Sheree Plett, "Red Circled Heart")
Ron: As The Ruin Falls (C.S. Lewis)
Lance: Pacing The Cage (Bruce Cockburn, "The Charity Of Night")
Ron: The Elder Son (from The Return Of The Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen)
Michael: There Is Forgiveness (Michael Hart, "Lord Of The Mountain")
Ron: Life After God (from Life After God by Douglas Coupland – Touchstone Theatre production coming Nov 1-25!)
Sheree: A Living Prayer (Alison Krauss, "Lonely Runs Both Ways")
Ron: Pilgrimage reprise (Paul Elie)
Michael: Pilgrim (Steve Earle, "Mountain")

Oct 26: Lee Aaron benefit for Semiahmoo Family Place

You don't have the idea that cultural icons will be... well, people. That rock stars carry on conversations, rent videos, marry your friends, raise kids, go to church. Are nice people, in fact.

Well, they are. At least, one is.

Several years back, I made friends with BCCN music critic John Cody in order to pillage his record collection for obscure Beatles covers. An eventual friendship with his eventual wife, Karen, was an unexpected bonus: not because she's Lee Aaron, but because she's... well, like I said, nice.

Anyhow, in recent years she's moved from metal rock glam queen to jazz singer, and in a couple weeks there's a chance to hear her new music and benefit a cause that's close to her heart in the bargain. Not bad.

click image to enlarge

Oct 18 - Nov 18: Father Dunstan, Lookout Gallery

This just in from Loren Wilkinson at Regent College...

"There will be an opening of a show on Fr. Dunstan's work this week at Regent--4:30--followed by the premier of a film the knowledge network will shortly be releasing in the US, "In the Footsteps of Michelangelo", mainly about this last fresco. He will be present (I spent most of yesterday retreiving some stuff from the abbey, especially the full-sized cartoon of the fresco, most of which will be hung at Regent for the next month.)"

Heavenly Banquet
Paintings, frescos and sculptures of artist-priest Father Dunstan Massey

October 18–November 18, 2006

Opening reception 4:30 - 7:30pm, Wednesday, October 18
In the Footsteps of Michelangelo, 7:30pm, Regent College Chapel

Exhibition of the life work of Father Dunstan of Westminster Abbey, Mission,
and the debut of a documentary on his life shown in the Regent Chapel.

In The Footsteps of Michelangelo, produced by Woodfilms for the Knowledge Network, documents the life of Father Dunstan Massey, an artist-priest who, while living in the 21st century, practices the art form of fresco painting perfected by Michelangelo in the 16th century. It is an intimate portrait of a man who has devoted his life to his God and his art, and the Benedictine Monastery where he has lived for more than fifty years has become his gallery - a showcase for his paintings, frescos and sculptures. The Film will be shown at 7:30pm.

From IMAGE Update...

Father Dunstan Massey, an artist and Benedictine monk living in Mission, British Columbia, recently completed what many consider his crowning artistic achievement. Thirty years in the works, Father Dunstan’s four-story fresco, “The Heavenly Banquet,” features a different take on the Last Supper. “I searched and searched for a painting of this heavenly banquet,” Dunstan said, “but I couldn’t find one. So, the Eucharist features in the new fresco, but it’s in heaven.” Combining simplicity of style with a modern interpretation, the luminous work hangs at one end of the refectory at the Westminster Abbey in Mission. Born William Harold Massey in Vancouver, B.C., Father Dunstan’s artistic gifts were noticed early. In 1940, at age 16, he was offered a one-man art show at the Vancouver Art Gallery. As a young man, however, a different sense of vocation was forming, and in 1942 he entered seminary. Eight years later, he made his monastic vows and received the name Dunstan. After earning degrees in both theology and art, Dunstan was ordained to the priesthood in 1955, and has lived at Westminster Abbey ever since. Though the cloistered life is quiet, Father Dunstan has remained busy with artistic endeavors, including such projects as the series of twenty-two bas-reliefs in the abbey church. His other large fresco, “The Temptation of St. Benedict,” led to a Time Magazine profile in 1971. In addition to painting, Father Dunstan is a poet, filmmaker, and musician. His film on the temptation of St. Benedict, “Crown of Fire,“ won the Golden Eagle at the Cine Awards in Washington, D.C. in 2001. Piquant Editions has recently published his “Mystic Mountain,” a book length poem dramatizing the Christian hope of resurrection. Having completed “The Heavenly Banquet” in December 2005, Father Dunstan has now made available the series of drawings he used to plan the project. As he is one of only a handful of North American artists creating large scale religious frescoes, Father Dunstan’s drawings provide the viewer with a unique behind-the-scenes look at one of history’s most important artistic traditions. Hosted by Regent College in Vancouver, B.C., Heavenly Banquet: Paintings, Frescoes and Sculptures of Artist-Priest Father Dunstan Massey will continue through November. A documentary, In the Footsteps of Michelangelo, produced by Woodfilms for the Knowledge Network will be shown opening night, October 18, 2006.

"I Was Meant For The Stage": An apprentice responds to CONFESSIONS

Email from Kirsty Provan, an apprentice at PT. I talked her into letting me post it: it's very personal, not written for public consumption, but I asked her if I could - it's such a moving glimpse into what apprenticeship at Pacific Theatre is meant to be about.
You can see Kirsty in the upcoming apprentice showcase production, BROKEN, Oct 26-28

So i have a confession to make.

I came incredibly close to weeping last night. And i couldn't really understand why.

I think there's just something so beautiful about the arts...they way in which we can be so moved by the way someone sings, or the vulnerability of a person as they share their whole heart. It's this whole new form of worship....it's like you're being baptized out there on stage. Does that make sense?

Download "I was meant for the stage," by The Decemberists...maybe that'll help explain (once again, the simplicity of music seems to speak wonders).

I just really wanted to say thank you. Thank you so much that i can be here...i am overjoyed just to witness. But to be able to participate....words won't work for me at the moment, it seems.

A lot of people really love their Sunday morning church service.
I love the fact that i get off work every day and feel as if i've just had one of the most intimate sessions with my Jesus.

Thank You for that.

Kirsty

*

I Was Meant For the Stage
The Decemberists

I was meant for the stage,
I was meant for the curtain.
I was meant to tread these boards,
Of this much I am certain.

I was meant for the crowd,
I was meant for the shouting.
I was meant to raise these hands
With quiet all about me.
Oh, Oh.

Mother, please be proud.
Father, be forgiving.
Even though you told me
'Son, you'll never make a living.'
Oh, oh.

From the floorboards to the flys,
Here I was fated to reside.
And as I take my final bow,
Was there ever any doubt?

Oct 13: CONFESSIONS Credits

I must confess I never knew before, "The Long and Winding Road" is a gospel tune...

Tonight's Artists

Sheree Plett - guitar and voice
Albums; Hold Still, Red Circled Heart
Sheree's website

Michael Hart - guitar and voice
Albums; Desire, Lord of the Mountain, Dulcimer Light, The Heart of the Matter, Soulkeeper, True
Michael's website

Lance Odegard - guitar and voice
Albums; Renovation, With the Chance to Feel
Lance's website

Jonathan Anderson - banjo, guitar, and various other interesting instruments
Albums; Halfway to a Better Place, Things Done and Left Undone
Jonathan's website

Nelson Boschman - piano and voice
Albums; Keeping Time, Vol. 1
Available here

Kenton Wiens- drums
Album; Badgentina’s “Brittle the Bed”
Kenton's website

Brett Ziegler - piano
Official website

Ben Appenheimer - upright bass

Karl Petersen - poet
Book; Bellowing In The Common

Rebecca deBoer, Ron Reed - actors

*

ACT ONE
Ron: A Confession
Lance: Crooked Deep Down (Caedmon's Call, "She Must And Shall Go Free")
Ron: Definitions
Sheree: Oh Dear (Sheree Plett, "Red Circled Heart")
Ron: Eggs (from "Talley's Folly" by Lanford Wilson)
Michael: Surely Goodness and Mercy (Michael Hart, "Desire")
Rebecca: Ashes (from Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott)
Jonathan: Compressed Heart (Jonathan Anderson, "Halfway To A Better Place")
Ron: Skipping Stones (Tim Anderson)
Sheree: Flood (Sheree Plett, "Red Circled Heart")
Rebecca: JFK & Jesus (from "The Good Enough News" by Lisa Shea, in Joyful Noise)
Jonathan: The Long and Winding Road (The Beatles, "Let It Be")
Ron: Why We Lie (by Stuart McLean, broadcast on CBC radio's Vinyl Cafe, Sep 30 / Oct 1)
Sheree: Yellow Dress (Sheree Plett, "Hold Still")

ACT TWO
Nelson: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (U2, "Rattle And Hum")
Ron: General-All-Purpose Apology (fom "A Thousand Clowns" by Herb Gardner)
Sheree: Orphan Girl (Gillian Welch, "Revival")
Karl: Six Poems (Karl Petersen)
Sheree: Salem (Sheree Plett, unreleased)
Ron: Church (from Holy The Firm and Teaching A Stone To Talk by Annie Dillard)
Jonathan: All The Diamonds (Bruce Cockburn, "Salt, Sun and Time")
Ron: Confession Booth (from Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller)
Lance: Grace Hymn (Lance Odegard, unreleased)
Sheree: A Living Prayer (Alison Krauss, "Lonely Runs Both Ways")
Ron: Pilgrimage (from The Life You Save May Be Your Own by Paul Elie)
Michael: Pilgrim (Steve Earle, "Mountain")

Oct 12: CONFESSIONS credits

Splendid night. As Bono might say, "God walked through the room."

Tonight's Artists

Lance Odegard - guitar and voice
Albums; Renovation, With the Chance to Feel
Lance's website

Sheree Plett - guitar and voice
Albums; Hold Still, Red Circled Heart
Sheree's website

Jonathan Anderson - banjo, guitar, and various other interesting instruments
Albums; Halfway to a Better Place, Things Done and Left Undone
Website for Jonathan Inc.

Nelson Boschman - piano and voice
Albums; Keeping Time, Vol. 1
Available here

Kenton Wiens- drums
Album; Badgentina’s “Brittle the Bed”
Badgetina website

Brett Ziegler - piano
Official website

Becca Robertson - upright bass

Rebecca deBoer, Ron Reed - actors

*

ACT ONE
Ron: Confession
Lance: Crooked Deep Down (Caedmon's Call, "She Must And Shall Go Free")
Ron: My Dream
Lance: It Ain't Me Babe (Bob Dylan, "Another Side Of Bob Dylan")
Ron: Eggs (from "Talley's Folly" by Lanford Wilson)
Jonathan: Bitter Seed (Jonathan Inc., "Things Done And Left Undone")
Rebecca: Ashes (from Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott)
Lance: The Incomplete (Lance Odegard, "Renovation")
Ron: This Is Just To Say (William Carlos Williams)
Sheree: Flood (Sheree Plett, "Red Circled Heart")
Ron: Jesus Was A Convict (by Kim Wozencraft, from Joyful Noise, edited by Rick Moody and Darcy Steinke)
Nelson: Vegas Story (The Lost Dogs, "Gift Horse")
Ron: Confession Booth (from Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller)
Lance: Grace Hymn (Lance Odegard, unreleased)

ACT TWO
Nelson: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (U2, "Rattle and Hum")
Ron: General-All-Purpose Apology (fom "A Thousand Clowns" by Herb Gardner)
Lance: Hurt (Johnny Cash, "American IV - The Man Comes Around")
Ron: As The Ruin Falls (C.S. Lewis)
Lance: Pacing The Cage (Bruce Cockburn, "The Charity Of Night")
Rebecca: JFK & Jesus (from "The Good Enough News" by Lisa Shea, in Joyful Noise)
Jonathan: The Long and Winding Road (The Beatles, "Let It Be")
Ron: Why We Lie (by Stuart McLean, broadcast on CBC radio's Vinyl Cafe, Sep 30 / Oct 1)
Sheree: Orphan Girl (Gillian Welch, "Revival")
Lance: Pilot Me (Lance Odegard, "Renovation")

Oct 22: Bach "Joy" Cantata at St. John's

Bob Dylan's "Theme Time Radio Hour"

"Take a trip to the land of magic radio.
With music hand-selected from his personal collection,
Bob Dylan takes you to places only he can.
Listen as Bob Dylan weaves his own brand of radio
with themes, dreams and schemes."

If you've seen my one-man-show THE TOP TEN THOUSAND OF ALL TIME, you know how much I love radio - not commercial radio, which drives me nuts, but the best of radio, what radio could be. The platonic ideal of radio. That show was basically written as an act of total self-indulgence: I never thought it would be performed, but for a few days I indulged the fantasy of having my own late-night radio show where I could play exactly what I wanted, and T10 is what came out.

Well, Bob Dylan is doing what I dreamt of doing, with his "Theme Time Radio Hour." My pal Nick pointed me to these marvelous hour-long shows that mix music (not Bob's) with scraps of poetry, clips from movies, and Bob's own idiosyncratic musings. It's broadcast on something called XM radio (I don't know what that is, but I'm thinking I oughta find out), but there's also a site where you can download the programs as mp3 files.

I started with "Bible," "Radio" and "Baseball," but you'll have your own faves. Here's a rundown of the episodes to date;
Episode 1: Weather
Episode 2: Mothers
Episode 3: Drinking
Episode 4: Baseball
Episode 5: Coffee
Episode 6: Jail
Episode 7: Fathers
Episode 8: Weddings
Episode 9: Divorce
Episode 10: Summer
Episode 11: Flowers
Episode 12: Cars
Episode 13: Rich Man, Poor Man
Episode 14: The Devil
Episode 15: Eyes
Episode 16: Dogs
Episode 17: Friends & Neighbours
Episode 18: Radio
Episode 19: Bible
Episode 20: Map
Episode 21: School
Episode 22: Telephone
Episode 23: Water

CONFESSIONS: Submissions? Ideas?

Three weeks hence (Oct 12-14), I'll be doing CONFESSIONS at Pacific Theatre. (No, I'm not a priest...) (Or a Catholic...) Three evenings of readings interspersed with songs, very loose. Like CHRISTMAS PRESENCE, but without the Christmas. Like PASSION, a couple years ago, or TESTIMONY this spring.

This year's theme, any sort of connotation to CONFESSIONS that comes to mind. Confessions of sin, weakness, embarassment, secrets, failure, flaw, humanity or any other sort of crime. Or confessions of faith. Or about the confessional. Or whatever. God stuff's good. Doesn't necessarily have to be. A few years ago, I wrote my (per)version of the "Paul Is Dead" hoax, something along the lines of "John Is Born Again" - documents his conversion through the lyrics of various Beatles songs, how he evangelized other members of the band: I want to sandwich it in between a gospel-tinged "Let It Be" (a la Aretha Franklin), follow it up with "The Word," something like that. So you can see, the theme ain't all that narrow.

Anybody got anything I could read? Essay, story, novel excerpt, play scene, poetry, joke, you name it. Something you've written, or are going to write? Or something you've read that somebody else wrote? Or seen in a movie or play? Even just a short, memorable quote to do with confession. Anything jazzy in St Augustine? Email me your ideas: surfer@ronreed.org

I'm thinking some Anne Lamott, though I haven't thought about what specific piece yet. Frederick Buechner's sure to have stuff. I've got a couple pieces marked in Joyful Noise, Rick Moody and Darcey Steinke's fabulous collection of essays. Oh, there's a great monologue in "A Thousand Clowns" about this guy going down the street apologizing to total strangers - that would fit! Wouldn't Woody Allen have something self-deprecating in one of his books or films? That ring a bell with anybody?

Let me know if anything comes to mind. And don't be shy about offering your own pieces.

Do my work for me.

Ron

Sep 29: "Theatre & Sin," Peg Peters, TWU

This year at TWU the theatre department (or is it all the arts-related departments? I oughta know this stuff...) is (or are...) presenting a series of pretty groovy public lectures and discussions. Okay, the title - "Integration Forum" - sounds more like a university course than a wild and crazy way to spend your lunch hour, but... Don't judge a book by its... title. (And hey, some of us like university courses, okay!!!?)

Here's the bumf...

Integration Forum
Theatre & Sin
with Peg Peters
Fri Sep 29, noon to 1pm
Freedom Hall, TWU Campus

Angela Konrad writes; Friday, September 29 we have a guest speaker – Peg Peters – on the topic Theatre and Sin. Part of the reason I asked Peg to do this is that he has a really effective way of helping students understand that the usual view of “sinful art” is a gnostic, not Christian, idea. He also has a fabulous exegesis of the verse most often thrown in our faces when the work we do is provocative – “whatever is good, whatever is pure, whatever is holy...”
It is open to the whole campus. Freedom Hall, noon Friday.

Word is, the first IF was quite full, so don't worry, if you're not a budding thesp or art student, you won't stand out like a sore... non-student.

Yours cliche-free,

Ron

P.S. "Theatre & Sin with Peg Peters." Hm... Wonder if a title change would get more people out? "Sin With Peg Peters." I oughta suggest that to Angela, maybe it's not too late...

P.P.S. "Hm" is a recognized spelling of the word "Hmm", and is playable in the game SCRABBLE. "Hmmm," however, is not.

P.P.S."Krazy", neither.

PT SECOND STAGE: Confessions, Oct 12-14

CONFESSIONS
Oct 12-14
731-5518 / www.pacifictheatre.org

Almost Sold Out!

A cornucopia of stories and songs from some of Pacific Theatre's most beloved artists. In the tradition of PASSION and TESTIMONY. Think CHRISTMAS PRESENCE, without the Christmas...

PT EMERGING ARTIST SHOWCASE: Broken, Oct 26-28

BROKEN
Two original one act plays about life after the fall
“all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again”
Oct 26–28

Pacific Theatre and Stone’s Throw Productions proudly present the world premiere of two original one act plays written by Tina Teeninga, with direction by Kerri Norris and Tina Teeninga, playing October 26 to 28th at Pacific Theatre.

BROKEN THINGS is a tale in which human brutality threatens to overwhelm Soeur Marie’s faith in God and hope in humanity. Set in France during World War Two, this thoughtful, visceral piece of theatre asks: in the face of suffering and trauma, do values truly guide a person? Caught between the tangible, human desire for justice and the religious plea for mercy, BROKEN THINGS illuminates one woman’s struggle with authentic belief. As a precursor to BROKEN THINGS, NORMAL is the fragile, poetic story of a young girl clinging to her last threads of sanity. Is she strong enough to maintain normalcy, or will it disintegrate before her eyes?

Boldly directed by Kerri Norris (A BRIGHT PARTICULAR STAR, Pacific Theatre) with stunning lighting design by Nigel Brooke, BROKEN THINGS is a compelling drama with a stellar cast: Elizabeth Pennington (DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, Oral Roberts University), Daniel Amos (HAMLET, HALO, A BRIGHT PARTICULAR STAR, THE QUARREL), Bill Amos (HAMLET, Stone’s Throw Productions/Pacific Theatre) and Lori Kokotailo (HUNGRY SEASON, A BRIGHT PARTICULAR STAR, LESS ADO ABOUT NOTHING).

NORMAL features the formidable young talent, Kirsty Provan (HAMLET, LESS ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Stones Throw Productions/Pacific Theatre) with direction from playwright Tina Teeninga (A NIGHT FOR WASABI-24 HR THEATRE, Stone’s Throw Productions/Pacific Theatre).

Written by playwriting apprentice Tina Teeninga, and featuring acting apprentices Elizabeth Pennington and Kirsty Provan, this two part evening, BROKEN, is part of the dynamic trio’s artistic work at Pacific Theatre. Not only does Pacific Theatre’s apprenticeship program afford actors the chance to perform on a professional stage, but it also provides artists the opportunity to produce original work from “the ground up”. Stay tuned for two more original plays by Tina Teeninga in March: Elizabeth Pennington will perform in the one woman show, RIVER BOTTOM BABY and Kirsty Provan will take the lead in EXPECTATIONS.

Details: BROKEN: Two original one act plays about life after the fall. Written by Tina Teeninga, Direction by Kerri Norris.
When: October 26-28. Thursday – Saturday, 8 pm.
Where: Pacific Theatre. 420 West 12th Ave at Hemlock St., Vancouver, BC.
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can. No reservations necessary.

*

That's the official press release. Here's something less official, from Tina's email to me this morning; "I had a terrific time directing Kirsty yesterday, so much so that I woke up this morning at 3:30 am thinking of ideas for NORMAL and dreaming about future projects." I love our apprenti!

BC Arts Council

At lunch today Julie Sutherland and I sat in on the Alliance For Arts and Culture presentation to the provincial government's Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. (A superb presentation - clear, professional, positive, convincing - from Heather Redfern of the Alliance for Arts and Culture, Adrienne Wong of neworld theatre, and Richard Prokopanko of Alcan, whose substantial annual arts grants have made a tremendous impact in our province). The arts community is advocating for a significant increase to the current government's support of the arts in the 2007-2009 provincial budgets.

Some rather striking facts and figures came forward today, particularly in the context of all I've been hearing and reading in the news about British Columbia's booming economy. BC ranks seventh or eight among all Canadian provinces in its funding of the arts, and dead last in its support for the performing arts.

More specifically, Quebec performing companies receive an average of 26% of their annual budget from provincial government sources, the national average is 13%, and BC companies receive an average of only 7% of their annual budget from provincial government sources. (Provincial funding for Pacific Theatre's current season amounts to 4.6% of our budget.)

PT SEASON OPENER: LILIA! Sep 20 - Oct 7

Pacific Theatre presents
LILIA!
a one-woman-show by Libby Skala
Sep 22 – Oct 7
previews Sep 18 & 19
731-5518 / www.pacifictheatre.org

The story of Lilia Skala, star of the Austrian stage forced to flee the rise of Nazism because of her Jewish heritage – told by her grand-daughter, New York actress Libby Skala.

Ian Farthing recommended this piece to me after working with Libby at a Shakespeare Festival in Ontario. He loved the show, thought it would be perfect for Pacific Theatre, and raved the actress's performance. I read the script and had to agree that it would be wonderful on our stage, a love-letter to the world of theatre and a quiet testimony to the power of faith in the face of trial and tragedy. But it was the reviews that clinched it – raves from Robert Enright at the CBC, Bruce Weber at the New York Times, Jonathan Wilson at The Scotsman, and so on, and so on.

I'll say no more, but let the reviews speak for themselves.

*

CBC RADIO
Robert Enright, Arts and Entertainment Critic

"The real winner for me was this play called LILIA! by Libby Skala about her grandmother, the woman who [was nominated for] the Academy Award for Lilies of the Field. This is probably one of the best performances I've seen at the Fringe. Absolutely dazzling acting. Her ability to transform herself from her ninety-year-old grandmother into herself as a child, and as a young child moving right through being a mature woman is absolutely magical and alchemical. I really can't believe that she does it with no props. She simply does it by shifting her weight and her face almost changes from being that old woman to a young girl.

"It is a riveting performance and she's only got one left. You've got to go and see that. If you have any other play that you're seeing today, don't bother seeing it. Go and see this one. It's an opportunity that you won't get often. Brilliant play!"

*

New York Times
Enter One Actor, Cloaked in Magic
By BRUCE WEBER

Ms. Skala (Libby, that is) does a marvelous rendition, in an
evocative Middle European patois, of her grandmother's velveteen,
old world charm that sheaths a steel will. … because they are true to life, they ring especially true tribute to her grandmother
and poignant. Over all an adoring portrait is created here: Lilia Skala comes across as a singular and interesting woman. Libby Skala is a composed actress who handles the tiny stage floor at the Abingdon with great comfort, and she is magnetic in a part that clearly means the world to her.

*

NEWYORKBLADE
Summer Productions Shine
Libby Skala channels her grandmother in 'Lilia'

by DAVID NOH

…The high bar of performing excellence is more than met by Libby Skala, who, in "Lilia!," enacts her own grandmother, Viennese actress Lilia Skala, with an uncanny blend of transformative force and ravishing charm that is nothing less than uncanny.

On a bare stage, the actress creates her grandmother's entire world through the chimerical power of her voice and facial expressions. The audience, mere inches away from her in the tiny space, is enthralled.

She delightfully evokes the rich mannerisms and irresistible coquettishness of other Viennese legends like Elisabeth Bergner and Luise Rainer;. When I mentioned this to her, Skala confessed she had never seen either of these actresses, both of whom knew her grandmother. Talk about acting as pure channeling!

*

THE SCOTSMAN
Jonathan Wilson

Lilia! by Libby Skala
Rating: 4 stars (out of 4)

This is a unique and often spellbinding production. Even, if you have never heard of Lilia Skala, you need not worry, you'll know her well at the end of this riveting play. The story sweeps across the dramatic events which shaped Lilia Skala's life, and uses the intimate conversations between grandmother and granddaughter to reveal how experience forges the mind. Lilia Skala, an accomplished actress, was forced to flee Austria under Nazi rule. She arrived in the US with no spoken English and re-established her career, culminating in Oscar recognition, despite years as an impoverished factory worker.

The play is remarkable because it is unthinkable that any other actor could play the role. The happy coincidence of an uncannily accurate impersonation, and the unsentimental eyewitness accuracy of the playwright/actress, have created a play of tremendous candour which is at once appealing and a privilege to view. Libby Skala flits between a range of characters with rock-solid technique and we are somehow better off for the intense focus of this single player, rather than an ensemble cast. The interplay of characters is often painful and intimate. Somehow, I feel grateful for the experience and not a little inclined to marvel at the diminutive lead's exhausting concentration.

*

And the full text of 25 more rave reviews over here…