march 4-13 | divine monster | shona struthers

Last season we had Shona Struthers working with us as a Season Intern (you may have caught her year-end project AGNES OF GOD).  She's off doing the BFA at UBC this year, and will be performing in The Player's Club's new play DIVINE MONSTER.

Divine Monster by Elena Kaufman
March 4-13 at Studio 1398
Preview March 3

The ghost of Sarah Bernhardt has a secret. The greatest actress in the French-speaking world has the chance to make a come-back. It is 2015 and a Canadian backpacker and musician finds respite in the Père Lachaise cemetery when, after trying to commit suicide, she is rescued by this golden lady, this magician of emotions. Is it a trick of the light or has Sarah manipulated her young visitor to switch places with her so that she can get another chance at stardom?

Regular ticket price: $15
Student/Senior ticket price: $10

Tickets at Brown Paper Tickets.  For information email tickets@ubcplayersclub.com.

ask/tell the boler project | apprentice project

You may have seen already, but our apprentice Julia Siedlanowska has put together a performance piece different than anything we've ever done at PT before: ASK/TELL: THE BOLER PROJECT.

ASK/TELL: The Boler Project
February 19- March 5 on Hemlock off 12th

Julia Siedlanowska explores proximity and closeness in a one on one, site-specific performance as part of her apprenticeship at Pacific Theatre.

To book email julia@pacifictheatre.org or call 604-616-7381

February
Friday 19th- 6pm-7:30
Saturday 20th- 6pm-7:30
Friday 26th- 6pm-7:15
Saturday 27th- 6pm-7:30

March
Friday 4th- 6:10pm-late
Saturday 5th- 6pm-late

(Directly before Hardline Productions' Bright Blue Future)

Artistic Team: Created and Performed by Julia Siedlanowska.

Tickets: Pay-What-You-Think-Its-Worth (cash after viewing) on the corner of Hemlock and 12th.

More info at: http://pacifictheatre.org/involvement/stonesthrow or 604 616 7381.

ADDITIONAL INFO:

The experience takes place in a small Boler (tow-behind) trailer that is parked next to Pacific Theatre at Hemlock and 12th Street. It is a 10-minute one on one performance between performer and audience member exploring proximity and closeness between strangers.

The audience member will come into the Boler and have the opportunity to choose from two options:

1. They can ask a question
2. They can tell something

The only parameters being: it has to be the truth, and it stays in the room.

Tickets will be sold in an accessible pay-what-you-think-it’s-worth model, after the show.

michael yang on the last days of judas iscariot

Yesterday I was a guest in The Christian Imagination, a course on faith and the arts offered by Regent College. I talked about my story as a theatre artist who's also a Christian, about my aesthetic and values within the art form, the theological significance of various aspects of acting and playwriting, and what it's been like to run a professional theatre. Before I started speaking, one of the students presented a very moving reflection on the impact of seeing The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot four years ago. There couldn't have been a better or more moving introduction to what I had to say - and the remarkable thing is, when he signed up to do his presentation, he didn't know who the guest speaker was going to be.

I've posted Michael's remarks on my Oblations blog.

Ron Reed

mar 2 + 4-10 | numb | jason goode, aleks paunovic

Pacific Theatre audiences will remember Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, and Aleks Paunovic's frightening, vulnerable performance - directed by Jason Goode, a friend of PT for a long time. A year ago Jason shot a feature film here in BC, with Aleks in the lead. It premiered at the Whistler Film Festival, and now the show gets a Lower Mainland run! 

Numb
Landmark Cinemas 10, New Westminster | tickets
Sneak Preview: Mar 2
Regular screenings: Mar 4-10

When a couple in financial distress discover GPS coordinates that promise to lead to stolen gold they must partner with a pair of mysterious hitchhikers to enter the remote winter wilderness to recover the coins.

DIRECTOR: Jason R. Goode

CAST:
Aleks Paunovic (iZombie, This Means War)
Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Gallactica, Law & Order UK)
Marie Avgeropoulos (Tracers, The 100)
Stefanie von Pfetten (Cracked)

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trailer

mar 5-13 | tom pickett in a very narrow bridge | chutzpah festival

A Very Narrow Bridge
by Itai Erdal, Anita Rochon and Maiko Yamamoto
7pm Mar 5-13 (no show Fri Mar 11)
Chutzpah Festival

Enter into the JCC’s Dayson Boardroom for this special up-close premiere that reveals the complexity of living between cultures. In this humorous and moving chamber-sized play, award-winning performer and playwright, Israeli-Canadian Itai Erdal, re-lives a trial in order to obtain a gett – a divorce document in Jewish religious law – where everything he knows is at stake.

With a breathtaking score created and performed by Talia Erdal, A Very Narrow Bridge takes a personal look at leaving love, and Israel behind.

Directed by Maiko Yamamoto and Anita Rochon and joining Erdal onstage are local favourites Patti Allan, Anton Lipovetsky and Tom Pickett.

common grace | closing performance

COMMON GRACE closes with a 2pm matinee performance today!  Thanks so much to this team for their wonderful work.

common grace | design

The set for COMMON GRACE is a working kitchen!  It lends so much to the story seeing the cast make real coffee, wipe up real spills, and actually wash dishes.  Here are some photos of designer Carolyn Rapanos' presentation of the set maquette at the first reading.

"This set is designed to help pull us into very real, familiar lives while referencing the larger community they're grounded in. We're creating a comfortable, naturalistic modern-day kitchen. However, theatrical tiles integrated into the space set these lives within the context of the Dutch Reformed Church community's traditions, history, and world views - in the background, yet strongly informing these lives."
- Carolyn Rapanos

upcoming rental | bright blue future

Next month we are hosting Hardline Productions as they rent our space for their production of BRIGHT BLUE FUTURE.  There's a discount in it for our patrons, too!

Bright Blue Future
by Sean Oliver Harris
Feb 19-Mar 5

Finalist for the 2013 Theatre BC Playwriting Competition

Bright Blue Future explores one pivotal night in the lives of four twentysomethings and the decisions they make that will affect their futures forever. This glimmering new play by Vancouver playwright Sean Harris Oliver speaks to the unique struggles faced by the young millennial generation.

Directed by Shawn Macdonald

Featuring Genevieve Fleming (Bug, A Doll’s House), Dmitry Chepovetsky, Rachel Cairns (Cymbeline, Twelfth Night), and Curtis Tweedie (Wired, James and The Giant Peach).

Set Design by Jenn Stewart, Sound Design by Matthew MacDonald-Bain, Costume Design by Christopher David Gauthier, Lighting Design by Jill White, Stage Managed by Sarah Mabberley
Get tickets here.

PT PATRON DISCOUNT: The team at Hardline has been kind enough to offer a discount to our patrons! Call in to our box office to book your tickets (604.731.5518) and get them for $24. Otherwise you can book online (no discount) here.

AUDIENCE ADVISORY: CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE AND ADULT CONTENT.

common grace | why the artists chose it

Here are a few words from the creative team behind COMMON GRACE on why they chose to work on this show.

"I am excited to be working on a new play by a local playwright, especially one that is set in a contemporary, local community."
-Carolyn Rapanos, Set Designer

"I've been lucky enough to see this play grow from a first draft to the beautiful story it is now and I cannot wait to watch as it really come to life."
-Cara Cunningham, Alanna

"I am excited to once again share the stage with the immensely talented Kerri Norris and to work hand in hand with playwright Shauna Johannesen on this beautiful slice of life."
-Carl Kennedy, Pastor Dan

"It's great to be working on a brand new show! I'm excited to help create an authentic-feeling kitchen on stage."
-Frances Henry, Properties Manager

“I’m thrilled to be in a play delving so deep into the hearts and souls of 5 (count ‘em 5!) distinct, real, and powerful-in-their-own-way women.”
-Julie Lynn Mortensen, Miriam

"I have had the privilege of watching this play evolve from some of its early drafts and am honoured to be a part of it coming to life. I am also very excited to be back together with so many artists that I respect and love working with."
-Kerri Norris, Carol

"I'm looking forward to being part of this show because I've gotten to be part of the workshopping process for this script from the beginning (inhabiting several of the roles). I love this story: the relationships between these sisters and their mother, the humour, and the honest wrestling with questions of love, death, faith and home. Also, what a fabulous group of people to get to spend the next 5 weeks with!"
-Rebecca de Boer, Abby

common grace | responses

"GO see Common Grace at Pacific Theatre. An intensely human story, lovingly realized and beautifully acted. Seeing such a polished new play and such transparent performances is a too-rare treat. Give yourself the gift of walking alongside people you have never met yet know better than your own image." Angela Konrad

"What a brilliant piece of theatre. The story, the characters, the performances, all stellar. The characters felt familiar to me, three dimensional and not dichotomous good/evil, they were real imperfect humans. The performances were true and nuanced and so well performed that the people I know disappeared very quickly leaving me happily surfing along in the story with the characters. I have now filed Shauna Johannesen in my "artists I love" organizer in the section with Lucia labelled "Awesome women writers who PT has had a hand in sharing with the world". Thanks for creating the theatre that has been able to do that for some many for so long." Maria Denholme

"Common Grace is well-written, well-acted, and well-directed. Congrats to all. Best theatre experience I've had in the city in some time." Lloyd Arnett

"We just arrived home from Common Grace and we were blown away by how fantastic it is!! Having been a doctor for 38 years and a palliative care physician for 27 of those years, this play is realistic to the core! It is true, in the deep sense of true. I have been in the middle of countless scenes like those in this play, all of them funny and scary and tragic (all at the same time) just like the interchanges in Common Grace. So good that it did not tidy up the loose ends - that seldom happens in real life - but the grace that was there so beautifully and subtly is one of the things that gives me the passion to continue to care for patients and families at the end of life. The resilience of the human spirit and the power of love in the midst of life's messes never cease to amaze and renew me. Thank you for supporting the young artists and believing in them. Thank you to all who worked to make Common Grace uncommonly wonderful." Margaret Cottle, MD, CCFP (Palliative Care)

"This play was a wonderful reflection on the nature of grief, thwarted desire, and what happens when you’re forced to confront just what you turned your back on." | Roxanne Kalenborn, Fun! Fun! Vancouver

"Directed by Ron Reed on Carolyn Rapanos’s realistic set, the performances are strong and committed... Mortensen takes Miriam through a huge transformation... Kerri Norris’s Carol is a salt-of-the-earth mother and Cunningham’s Alanna endears herself to us with her sweetness tinged with sardonic wit. Rebecca De Boer makes a furiously explosive Abby." | Jo Ledingham

"There’s wit in Common Grace. And heart." | Colin Thomas, The Georgia Straight

"There is an authentic connection between the trio [Shauna Johannesen, Julie Lynn Mortensen, and Cara Cunningham] when they are on stage together. In her professional stage debut, Cunningham is particularly good here as the youngest of the siblings. Carl Kennedy brings a wonderfully understated performance as Pastor Dan" | Mark Robins, Vancouver Presents

"Common Grace is filled with surprises, so be prepared for an emotional ride. Be ready to laugh more than you expected too." | Daniel Chai, VancityBuzz

"Loved Common Grace at @PacificTheatre! Great play with honest, real characters, and excellent performances all around." | @CaptiveThunder, Twitter

"Amid the dark realism, punctuations of humour break the tension. The production nicely marries Johannesen’s clever writing and the cast’s outstanding timing." | Robin Lawrence, The MB Herald

"This show was right up there on our list of best ever PT productions. So well cast, brilliant acting and one of THE BEST SETS. Well done, all. I've already started word of mouth advertising and might just have to come again." | longtime subscriber

common grace | costume design

The costume design for COMMON GRACE is deceptively simple.  Sure, they're wearing everyday, contemporary clothing, but finding clothes that feel comfortable and worn that support each character's story is a challenge.  We love what designer Amy McDougall came up with!  Here are some shots from when she presented her concepts to the cast.

apply for our 2016-2017 apprenticeship

We are accepting applications for our 2016-2017 Apprenticeship! The application deadline is March 1, so check it out quickly!

Pacific Theatre offers a full-time professional apprenticeship program for emerging artists who are looking to build a bridge between academia and the professional marketplace. The Company Apprenticeship is composed of three primary, intersecting categories of activity:

Administrative:

A significant portion of the apprentice’s time will be spent working on assigned administrative tasks, mostly in the capacity of Box Office and Front-of-House staff, as well as potential mentorships with specific administrative roles (community engagement, marketing, development). These hours will ebb and flow as the production cycle progresses, often culminating in weeks of long administrative hours followed by open weeks to work on artistic endeavours.

Production:

Apprentices will be periodically required by the Production Manager to participate in crew calls for lighting, construction and strike. Such calls will take place outside of scheduled administrative time.

Artistic: 

Depending on the specific needs of the season, apprentices are invited to participate artistically in mainstage productions both in areas they are interested in pursuing, and areas which will round out the apprentice’s experience in professional theatre. This work may include: acting or understudying in a mainstage production, training and mentorship sessions with company artists, providing hands-on assistance to costume, lighting and/or set designers, designing lights or sound, assistant stage managing, shadowing a director, props construction, etc.

Apprentices will also be charged with collectively producing several ‘second-stage’ projects of their choosing throughout the year. Past examples include one-act plays, 24 Hour theatre festivals, actor showcases, etc. Such projects provide excellent opportunities for aspiring directors, producers and playwrights, as well as actors.

How to Apply:

Apprenticeships generally span eleven months from August to June. A modest living stipend is available.

Successful applicants will have read our “About Us” section, as well as looked at our past productions, to comment on what draws them to Pacific Theatre as a company.

Please note that due to Canadian Immigration Laws, we are only able to accept Canadian applicants.

Submissions should be made to Cara Cunningham at cara@pacifictheatre.org, or by mail to:

Cara Cunningham – Operations Coordinator
Pacific Theatre
1440 West 12th Avenue
Vancouver, BC
V6H 1M8

PLEASE INCLUDE:

-A headshot
-All relevant resumes (acting, production, general work experience, etc.)
-A letter of intent detailing reason for applying, why you want to work with Pacific Theatre, and what you hope to get out of an apprenticeship

Applications due by March 1, 2016.

common grace | sunday matinees

This weekend and next we're breaking tradition with some Sunday matinees for COMMON GRACE!

throwback thursday | shauna johannesen in wittenberg

We've known Shauna Johannesen for a long time, and our long-term audiences may remember her from WITTENBERG.  Here's a little Throwback Thursday fun looking at the various characters she played in that show.

to feb 14 | francis boyle in company | united player

When PT set up shop here on West 12th, Francis Boyle was a regular - Navy Wife, Dreams of Kings & Carpenters, lots more. After time away from the boards, Frank returned to the stage a couple years ago with a lovely Henry Higgins (Theatre In The Country), and his show in the 2015 Fringe (Blackbird) was maybe my outstanding theatre experience of the year! (not counting PT shows - I'm biased.)  He now takes an "elegant" (Review Vancouver) turn in the United Players' production of Company.

sep 28-30 | arts + the inklings conference | twu

Argh! I'll be in Boston. How I would have loved to do a reading of the Tolkien play, presented this "paper" I have in mind, "The Inklings Go To The Movies," and generally soaked up the next-best-thing-to-Oxford air. Well, you'll just have to step into the breach...

common grace | show photos

Here's a batch of photos from COMMON GRACE.  

common grace | opening night photos

We had a great opening of COMMON GRACE on Friday!  Thanks to all who came out, below are some shots from the post-show reception.