a christmas carol: on the air | advance photos

We've got the advance photos for A CHRISTMAS CAROL: ON THE AIR!  We tried to mix the 1940s radio feeling with recognizable images from Dickens' tale.  What do you think?  All photos by Emily Cooper.

match girl | free christmas carol: on the air preshow

Apprentice Julia Siedlanowska has a special project she's bringing to audiences of A CHRISTMAS CAROL: ON THE AIR.  A 20-minute free preshow of MATCH GIRL, a site-specific play based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale.

MATCH GIRL
Dec 5, 11, and 18 at 7:25pm

Stone’s Throw Producitons is partnering with Rebel Haunt Theatre to explore Hans Christian Anderson’s classic and heart wrenching children’s classic “The Little Match Girl” in a site-specific, outdoor performance.

This 20 minute performance begins in Pacific Theatre’s lobby and tours around the building. Please dress for the weather.

We will be accepting donations of warm clothes for Covenant House at these performances and throughout the run of A Christmas Carol: On the Air. The greatest needs include underwear, men’s shoes (size 10-13 or larger), and men’s jeans. Also needed: warm scarves, sweaters, rain gear, “teen” style clothing, and toiletries.

Artistic Team: Directed by Sarah Dixon.

Featuring Julia Siedlanowska, Sarah Roa, Carolyn Nakagawa, Andrea Ashton, Mistaya Kryder-Wu, Kaitlyn Pederson, Kimmie Kidd.

Live Music by Andrew Hartline, Richard Dixon. Original Song by Sarah Dixon. Produced by Julia Siedlanowska

No ticket reservation needed, just show up at 7:20pm.

christmas presence | the line ups

The line ups are announced early for this year's CHRISTMAS PRESENCE!  Everything is, of course, subject to change, but here is the plan for our favourite Christmas tradition.

December 13
- Garth Bowen
- Jon Ochsendorf
- Matthew Simmons
- Nelson Boschman
- Becca Birkner
- Taylor Swindells
- Jordan Klassen
- Spencer Capier
- Lydia Collin

December 14
- Garth Bowen
- Jon Ochsendorf
- Matthew Simmons
- Nelson Boschman
- Becca Birkner
- Brett Ziegler
- Allen Desnoyer
- Corey Janz
- Jeff Hawker

December 15
- Matthew Simmons
- Nelson Boschman
- Becca Birkner
- Corey Janz
- Michael Hart
- Zaac Pick
- Steve Klassen
- James Danderfer

December 19 (Abbotsford)
- Jon Ochsendorf
- Nelson Boschman
- Becca Birkner
- Spencer Capier
- Corey Janz
- Steve Klassen
- Brian Doerksen

December 20 (mat)
- Garth Bowen
- Matthew Simmons
- Nelson Boschman
- Becca Birkner
- Spencer Capier
- Allen Desnoyer
- Anna Vandas
- Laura Koch
- Kathleen Nisbet

December 20 (eve)
- Garth Bowen
- Jon Ochsendorf
- Matthew Simmons
- Nelson Boschman
- Becca Birkner
- Spencer Capier
- Zaac Pick
- Kathleen Nisbet

December 21
- Jon Ochsendorf
- Matthew Simmons
- Nelson Boschman
- Becca Birkner
- Brett Ziegler
- Spencer Capier
- Michael Hart
- Zaac Pick
- Kathleen Nisbet

lost words, the religion edition | jeff gladstone

PT's Artistic Director Ron Reed spent some time speaking with Lost Words producer Jeff Gladstone (last seen on our stage in MEASURE FOR MEASURE) about faith and art, controversy and censorship. Perhaps some of that conversation will permeate this event!

LOST WORDS: RELIGION EDITION

Pi Theatre

DEC 1st 

Doors 7:30pm show 8:30pm

Tickets Available at the door, online, or call 604 872 1861

Lost Words is an event series focusing on banned, censored and controversial plays. Conceived by Pi Artistic Associates, Pippa Mackie and Jeff Gladstone, each Lost Words evening will feature the exploration of scripts that were vilified for their content. 

Lost Words: Religion Edition will feature an exploration of banned and controversial plays, as well as a raffle in honour of Pi Theatre's Giving Tuesday. 

THE ARTISTIC TEAM:

Produced by Pippa Mackie and Jeff Gladstone

WHEN

Dec 1st 

Doors at 7:30pm, performances start 8:30pm

WHERE

The Emerald Supper Club 

555 Gore Ave. Vancouver 

TICKETS

By donation (suggested donation $10)

At the door, online at http://www.pitheatre.com/lost-words

or call 604 872 1861

the amish project | playwright jessica dickey on fact and fiction

THE AMISH PROJECT is a fictional story based on factual events.  On the show's official website, playwright Jessica Dickey explains what this means and why she made this creative choice.  Below are her words, check them out in context here.

The Amish Project is a fictional exploration of the Nickel Mines schoolhouse shooting in an Amish community, and the path of forgiveness and compassion forged in its wake.

The Amish Project made its original debut at the New York International Fringe Festival in the summer of 2008 and instantly generated buzz in the theatre community. The Amish Project went on to a workshop production at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City, and on June 10th, 2009, officially opened Off-Broadway at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater to rave reviews — "extraordinary... remarkable...compelling" (The New York Times). Due to its success, the run was extended.

Since then, The Amish Project has been invited to perform in venues around the tri-state area, and interest continues to grow. We are now looking to move into the great regional theatres of the country and would love for you to consider The Amish Project for your upcoming season.

The Writing of The Amish Project

Through the making of The Amish Project, I learned that the boundary between fact and fiction is a fraught one; it feels appropriate to open a window into my negotiation with that boundary.

The Facts: I absorbed a great deal about the Nickel Mines shooting just from watching the news when it occurred, and so in preparation for writing the play, I focused my attention on researching the Amish themselves. I am indebted to Donald Kraybill for the many books he has written on the Amish; they were the backbone of my research. Once the play was written and the characters firmly established, I included more details of the shooting that I felt would strengthen the texture of the play.

The Fiction: I was highly aware through the entire process that somewhere out there are the real people who went through this event—the widow of the Nickel Mines gunman and her children, the Amish families of the girls who were targeted in the shooting... In an effort to balance the conflicting desires to remain sensitive to the real people who were affected by the shooting, while giving myself creative license to write an unflinching play, I purposefully did not research the gunman or his widow, nor did I conduct any interviews of any kind. The characters in The Amish Project are fictional, and should not be misconstrued as the real people.

The Play: July 28th, 2008, my director and I traveled to Nickel Mines to find the location of the shooting. We had read that without an informed guide, it was nearly impossible to find, as shortly after the event, the Amish tore down the school and replanted the area; it is now a simple field where animals graze. The only indications of where the shooting occurred are three maple trees.

As we drove through the small intersection of farmland that is Nickel Mines, I realized that every person we saw, gardening or hanging clothes on the line, had likely grieved the loss of a child, or the children of friends... As the sun was setting and we stood quietly looking at the three maple trees and the vacant space where they used to shade the one room schoolhouse, I could feel the tragedy that had occurred here, but even more I could feel the presence of those we had passed en route, the people who carry the memory of that day with them... It is my private prayer that this play, should they ever know about it, would not hurt them further, but somehow honor the goodness they forged in the face of such tragedy. In my mind, that is the legacy of the Nickel Mines shooting.

--Jessica Dickey

the drowning girls | this week

Our apprentices' production of THE DROWNING GIRLS goes up tonight!  Three late-night performances following THE AMISH PROJECT tonight until Friday.  Tickets are Pay-What-You-Think-It's-Worth after the fact!

The Drowning Girls
Nov 18-20 at 9:30pm

Bessie, Alice and Margaret have two things in common: they are married to George Joseph Smith, and they are dead. Surfacing from the bathtubs they were drowned in, the three breathless brides gather evidence against their womanizing, murderous husband by reliving the shocking events leading up to their deaths. Reflecting on the misconceptions of love, married life, and the not-so-happily ever after, The Drowning Girls is both a breathtaking fantasia and a social critique, full of rich images, a myriad of characters, and lyrical language.

Tickets: Pay-What-You-Think-Deserves (cash after viewing)

Directed by Ulla Laidlaw
Featuring Kim Larson, Jess Amy Shead, and Julia Siedlanowska

ADVISORY: Contains descriptions of domestic violence.

you will remember me | craig erickson

Craig works all over Vancouver (and western Canada), doing shows with all kinds of theatres.  But when we can have Craig in a PT show, he always feels like family; from THE FURNITURE OF HEAVEN in 1990 before he headed of to get his MFA, through GOD'S MAN IN TEXAS when he moved back to Vancouver in 2003, to LEAVE OF ABSENCE a couple seasons ago.  Here's what he has up next...

YOU WILL REMEMBER ME

Ruby Slippers Theatre (Vancouver) 

Nov 17 – 28   
Tickets available at https://tickets.thecultch.com/peo/show_events_list.asp?shcode=500 

From the company that brought you The Duchess a.k.a. Wallis Simpson. A deeply personal and moving new play about family and memory from Francois Archambault, one of Quיbec’s most compelling writers. When the aging patriarch of a modern family suffers from dementia, the people who love him struggle to care for him.Age 12+ (some swearing)

THE ARTISTIC TEAM:

Directed by: Diane Brown*
Stage Managed by: Lois Dawson*
Set and Props Design by: Heidi Wilkinson
Lighting Design by: John Webber
Composer and Sound Design by: Joelysa Pankanea
Costume Design by: Jessica Oostergo
Projection Design by: Corwin Ferguson
Assistant Stage Manager: Melissa McCowell
Assistant to the Director: Julian Legere

CAST:
Kevin McNulty, Patti Allan, Marci T House, Craig Erickson, Sereana Malani

WHERE:
The Cultch Historic Theatre - 1895 Venables 

WHEN:
Nov 17, 8 PM: PreviewNov 18, 8 PM: Opening
Nov 19 – 21, Nov 24 – 28: 8 PM
Matinees: Nov 22, 28: 2 PM
Post-show talkbacks: Nov 19, 22, 24

TICKETS:
https://tickets.thecultch.com/peo/show_events_list.asp?shcode=500 

the drowning girls | photoshoot

Matt Rezenek came in to our dress rehearsal last night to take some photos of THE DROWNING GIRLS- opening tomorrow!!! It runs Wednesday November 18, Thursday 19, and Friday 20 at 9:30pm (following The Amish Project.) The Pacific Theatre apprentices have been hard at work on this show for the past few months after falling in love with the script. They hope you will too. Tickets are Pay-What-You-Think-It's-Worth, cash only after viewing. 

Starring Kim Larson, Jess Amy Shead and Julia Siedlanowska

the amish project | more photos

This is the last week of THE AMISH PROJECT!  There are still seats left, but don't wait too long to book, last week was a full one.

drowning girls | interview with director Ulla Laidlaw

Pacific Theatre apprentices Jess Amy Shead, Kim Larson, and Julia Siedlanowska have been hard at work producing, acting in, and being part-time professional movers for THE DROWNING GIRLS. Written by Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson, and Daniela Vlaskalic, the play is based on the historic case of late twentieth century killer George Joseph Smith and the wives he murdered. THE DROWNING GIRLS is a social critique on the misconceptions of love, married life, the "not-so-happily ever after," and features three bathtubs on stage! 

Drowning Girls Director Ulla Laidlaw

What is a past production or project of yours that sticks out as a favourite?

Oh my gosh, this is really about me - I thought it would just be about the play! …. I think the last piece I directed. Which is Sasha Singer-Wilson’s My Ocean. It's a one man show featuring Nadeem Phillip as an impassioned 12-year old environmentalist . It was a favourite because it was an opportunity to work with two people I admired and trusted.  I found that the work that we were able to do was really deep because of that.  And, we three are all also impassioned environmentalists so our bond to the material was inherent.

What drew you to this piece?

I value the challenge of directing something that I don’t select. It’s a different skill-set than when I direct something that’s of my initiation - it's a different side of creativity. 

And, The Drowning Girls had its own unique draws for me:  It's Canadian work, and it features three women - hard to find. 

And finally, when I first read it, I didn't feel I understood it.  I felt it had something to teach me.

What in your life do you feel has equipped you best for directing this particular production?

I actually keep drawing a lot on my university education, and I graduated 10 years ago.  I keep thinking of one of my professors, Kim Renders, who directed me in several pieces of physical or movement theatre.  Some days in rehearsing The Drowning Girls, directing is more like choreographing.  The physical pictures we create play such an important role, and I haven't worked on a piece like this in years.  So I draw a lot on my experiences with how Kim beautifully navigated work like this.  Kim is also one of the founders of Nightwood Theatre, so it's interesting because what I learnt from Kim's feminist politics have informed my approach to this material as well.   

I went to school at the University of Guelph in Ontario, graduating with a degree in Drama and Psychology.

Why do you feel it’s important to present this piece today?

Because we still live in patriarchy and it's important to understand how that shapes us. 

Come join us on one of three nights of The Drowning Girls.

WHEN:

November 18-20 – Following The Amish Project (approx. 9:30pm)

TICKETS: 
Pay-What-You-Think-Deserves (cash after viewing)

WHERE:
Pacific Theatre 1440 W 12^th Ave. Vancouver

THE TEAM:

Directed by Ulla Laidlaw
Featuring Kim Larson, Jess Amy Shead, and Julia Siedlanowska
Set, Props and Lighting Design by CJ McGillivray
Lighting Design by Milly Mumford
Costume Design by Rebecca Burks
Stage Management by Monique Fillon
Assistant Stage Management by Diana Bartosh

ADVISORY: Contains descriptions of domestic violence.

the amish project | photos

Here are some of the production shots for THE AMISH PROJECT.  All photos by Ron Reed.

christmas campaign | a christmas carol quiz

This year for our annual Christmas campaign, we've dressed up as a series of our favourite Christmas carols!  Can you tell who is dressed up as which carol?  Underneath is a little story with a few hints built in.  First and foremost, of course, please give to our campaign!  You can give online HERE or you can call in and talk to Alison (604.731.5483).

A Christmas (Campaign) Carol

The First Christmas campaign for Pacific Theatre brought great Joy to our World. Some staff thought “What idea is this? Is our December not busy enough?” But I saw three apprenticeships come through and offer support in accepting and counting all the gifts. And so they did for several weeks! On the last evening of the campaign it was a fairly silent night as we all huddled around the Christmas Tree counting the final total. As the last few dollars were counted we had a little drum roll as we waited to see the final tally. Suddenly the silence ended, for we had made our goal! Filled with the riches supplied by countless supporters, we felt like good kings, once at last! It truly was A Holy Night. Because God blessed us … through everyone!

Thank you for the ongoing support!

the amish project | remembrance day hours

Please note that we do still have a performance of THE AMISH PROJECT today, Remembrance Day, but our box office will not open until 4:30pm.  Thank you for your understanding.

the amish project | responses

"The bulk of the show rests with actor Susie Coodin who must jump back and forth at breakneck speed between characters. Adopting a different posture and tone for each, she clearly delineates whether she is a young lady or the killer. It is an impressive feat." | Vancouver Presents

"Coodin steals your heart in this heart-wrenching but uplifting tale of forgiveness... The Amish Project... does what we have come to expect at Pacific Theatre. Highly polished. Thought provoking. Spiritual. Theatre that stays with you." | Jo Ledingham

"Coodin embodies seven vastly different characters with exuberance and joy. She deftly exchanges one character’s set of gestures and postures for another. Her characterizations are usually consistent and convincing and always entirely enjoyable to watch. Her unearthly radiance as the innocent child Velda is most striking in her performance... Dickey weaves these threads from different character’s perspectives to show that forgiveness is not cheap mercy, nor religious pretension." | MB Herald

"A play of profound emotion and heft that speak to very deep parts of human nature in a very honest way." | The Ubyssey

"Under Evan Frayne’s direction, Coodin ably takes on the task of playing these characters with a common truthfulness." | Review Vancouver

"My wife and I were overwhelmed by how well the actress, Susie Coodin, performed for the entire time on her own. When she switched characters by voice and posture she was able to convince us of the different people she portrayed. The theme of the play had us talking on the way home." | Audience Response

"Thank you to all who made this such a wonderful experience." | Audience Response

the amish project | theatre club

This Saturday is Theatre Club day for THE AMISH PROJECT!  Stick around after the matinee performance to enjoy a guided group discussion about the play, or come on down, even if you already saw the show earlier.  All are welcome.

the amish project | forgiveness

We want to bring the theme of forgiveness in THE AMISH PROJECT into our lives. To do this, we are asking our community to share examples of forgiveness. You can email it in to info@pacifictheatre.org or share it online tagging @pacifictheatre and #tapforgive. We will compile everyone's contributions into a Forgiveness Wall, to be displayed in the lobby as a visual story of forgiveness in our lives.

the amish project | opening night

We had a great opening of THE AMISH PROJECT on Friday!  Here are some shots from the opening night reception.

trinity western | advent plays offer something fresh & meaningful for christmas

As Christmas approaches, some adults wonder if that age-old story has any surprises left.

Lloyd Arnett, a playwright, director, and TWU professor, says yes. Forget your visions of shepherds in bathrobes or department store elves throwing tantrums…Arnett and his actors bring the Lower Mainland a show about real life. They are going back to basics with this theatrical exploration of what the Christmas story means to people today. Running November 24-28 at Trinity Western University.

Arnett’s original script, Trinity Advent Plays, is a series of three short dramas performed by six actors who each tackle multiple roles. This triple-bill plays at Trinity Western University for one week only, November 24 – 28, and tours to Lower Mainland churches over the following month.  

The first play, Angels, begins with a SkyTrain crash and reported angel sighting. The main character is an Anglican deacon who is counselling survivors and police officers alike...only to find herself wrestling with her own faith. One question haunts the entire community:  Do miracles still happen in the 21^st Century?

The Odyssey is a mystical journey where multiple storylines intersect—a blind woman searching for truth, a flustered bride with a case of cold feet, and a handsome young atheist who falls for a Christian in spite of himself. As their stories intertwine, questions emerge about faith, love, and the relevance of Christ’s birth story in a world where God can seem curiously absent.

The third drama is aptly named The Trinity Advent Play, where a young woman named Peg searches for meaning in a difficult Christmas. A painful secret threatens Peg’s relationship with both her husband and God, yet she finds herself drawn again and again to the Advent wreath at church. As the candles light up one by one, Peg starts to realize that God may be capable of surprising her after all.

A pair of multi-talented SAMC Theatre majors stepped up to the plate for costume design (Mikayla Wust) and set design (Shelby Wyminga). Lloyd Arnett directs local actors Graham Boldt, Elizabeth Drummond, Emily Herbison, Jordan Klassen, Madeleine Osborne, and Teagan Plett.

WHERE: 

TWU’s School of the Arts, Media + Culture (SAMC)

7600 Glover Rd. Langley

WHEN:

November 24 – 28, 7:30PM

Running Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30pm with a matinee Saturday at 2pm 

*The performance on Tuesday November 24 will be followed by a special talkback with the cast and director.

the amish project | pay-what-you-can preview

Tonight is the pay-what-you-can preview for THE AMISH PROJECT.  Join us and be the first to see this meaningful, relevant show.

THE AMISH PROJECT
pay-what-you-can preview
Thursday, Nov 5 at 8pm

nov 18-20 | the drowning girls | apprentice project

Our apprentices are already at it, and they aren't easing into things!  For their first production of the year, they'll be performing THE DROWNING GIRLS as a late-night show following performances of THE AMISH PROJECT Nov. 18-20.  If you don't know the play, this is no small feat - among other things, they have sourced three bathtubs to use in performing this piece.  Telling the story of three women who were married to, and murdered by, the same man, as they piece together the details of their stories, the play is an interesting pairing with THE AMISH PROJECT.

Bessie, Alice and Margaret have two things in common: they are married to George Joseph Smith, and they are dead. Surfacing from the bathtubs they were drowned in, the three breathless brides gather evidence against their womanizing, murderous husband by reliving the shocking events leading up to their deaths. Reflecting on the misconceptions of love, married life, and the not-so-happily ever after, The Drowning Girls is both a breathtaking fantasia and a social critique, full of rich images, a myriad of characters, and lyrical language.

November 18-20 – Following The Amish Project (approx. 9:30pm)
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Think-It's-Worth(cash after viewing)

Directed by Ulla Laidlaw
Featuring Kim Larson, Jess Amy Shead, and Julia Siedlanowska

ADVISORY: Contains descriptions of domestic violence.

the amish project | meet the creative team

Meet the artistic team behind THE AMISH PROJECT, opening on Friday!

Susie Coodin is the sole performer.  Previously you saw her on the PT stage in Evan's apprentice project where he adapted Romeo and Juliet.

Evan Frayne directs.  He has been a part of the PT family since his apprenticeship in the 2010-2011 season, since performing in FREUD'S LAST SESSION and RE:UNION and directing THE FOREIGNER.

Susan Miyagishima is the stage manager.  New to PT, she has been busy around town working with Bardon the Beach, Green Thumb Theatre, and Theatre la Seizieme.

Carolyn Rapanos is the set designer.  This season she has become something of a mainstay with us, designing for our guest production of SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN, and later this season for GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES.

Jonathan Kim is designing lights.  He has worked regularly around Vancouver, and at PT designed for the 2010 apprentice production of THE LAST FIVE YEARS.

James Coomber is designing sound.  Last time James Coomber was here was to design the award-nominated sound for THE FOREIGNER.  He's also worked with Bleeding Heart at Pacific Theatre on MOTHER TERESA IS DEAD.

Wendy Gorling stepped in as movement consultant.  Wendy has been working in Vancouver theatre for over 40 years, creating work with Axis Theatre and teaching at Studio 58, among countless other honours.

Jacqueline Firkins designs the costume (unpictured).  An instructor at UBC, this is Jacqueline's first time working at Pacific Theatre, and we are happy to represent on more company in her long career working worldwide.

the amish project | subscriber appreciation saturday

We can't wait for our next Subscriber Appreciation Saturday of the season!  The plan apprentice Jess Amy Shead has come up with for THE AMISH PROJECT is going to be awesome - get to know Amish culture, how it impacted the show, all while eating a traditional Amish Sunday Church meal!

Subscriber Appreciation Saturday - The Amish Project
Saturday, Nov 7 following the matinee performance - approx 3:15pm

Enjoy a light Amish Sunday Church meal (bread, cheese, apple butter, pickles, saurkraut, coffee, and cinnamon lemonade) and an informal chat with director Evan Frayne about his research on the Amish culture, pacifism, his role as a Quaker pacifist activist in RE:UNION, and how it connected him to the material.  Plus, AD Ron Reed will share a slideshow of rare and intimate photographs of a Hutterite community.

RSVP to Jess: apprentices@pacifictheatre.org

the amish project | promo photos

Check out the promo photos for THE AMISH PROJECT, opening Friday.

the amish project | artistic director's notes

I chose the name "Pacific" for this theatre mostly because I was homesick.

I was driving south from Los Angeles to San Diego with my wife, escaping the round-the-clock demands of theatre school to see a show at Lamb's Players, which looked a lot like the sort of company I planned to start up back in Vancouver just as soon as my degree was in hand. We were kicking around names for this enterprise we'd be starting in a half a year or so, but nothing was right. The names we came up with that somehow suggested the faith mandate of the company sounded way too religious – more "church drama group" than "professional theatre company to be taken seriously." But the others we came up with just seemed generic, unrelated to the essence of the theatre I wanted to create.

How about something about the place? That seemed more promising. I knew Vancouver was the place where I felt called to plant this thing and try to make it grow. And since it was the sea that had drawn me to British Columbia in the first place, years before, Carole eventually suggested "Pacific."

And that was that.

Because this is a theatre that's always meant to be woven into the lives of people in this specific place. Because it always mattered to me that we're situated on "the ragged green edge of the world," with the Unknown stretching off beyond sight to the west. Because, at that moment, I was yearning to be back here, and eager to get started with the rest of my life.

But – and this is the part I've rarely mentioned to anybody – we called this company Pacific not only because of geography, but because of the dictionary; "Peaceful in character or intent." The peaceable Kingdom. "Peace be with you." The peace that passes understanding. All that.

And beyond that, because of the thesaurus; "peace-loving, peaceable, pacifist, nonviolent, antiwar." Those were my most political days – Sojourers, Clarence Jordan, Central America, nuclear proliferation – and I hoped that creating something with peace at the centre would somehow stand against the violence of the culture.

All of which is to say... Welcome to The Amish Project. If it had been written in 1984, it might have been our first show. Thanks, Evan and Susie, for bringing it to us.

Ron Reed,
Artistic Director

thank you, smoke on the mountain, welcome, the amish project

Thanks to everyone involved in SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN for a fantastic run, we closed with a bang (and a downpour of rain) Sunday afternoon, and are now busy welcoming THE AMISH PROJECT into our space, ready to open this Friday!

mike mason | twenty-one candles | free e-book

If you are a Christmas Presence fan, you've probably heard Mike Mason's Christmas writing - about the three wise men encountering a two year old Jesus, or the story of the "button-holing" retired missionary whose daughter forbids him to see his grand-daughter, or plenty of others over the years.

Last year Mike published an anthology of all his Christmas writing, and from now through Thursday it's available for free as an e-book. Here's a link.  I wrote a Foreword, which I'll add below...

Reading through this book, after almost three decades of friendship with Mike and his stories, I am crowded with feelings, memories, insights.

Loren Wilkinson introduced us, and I felt a kind of awe in meeting a man who made his living doing nothing but writing. I was early down the road of living as a professional artist – in my case, the art form was theatre – but already it was clear that my road would be cluttered with every sort of distraction, all the variants on just plain making art that would be needed to undergird this core adventure. To the point where not much time gets spent actually creating the work.

Not Mike. Almost thirty years later, this is still what he does. Mike writes. He keeps the distractions of life, the machinery of "having a career," to a minimum – so that he can write. Think deeply, and feel vividly, and write.

If you know Mike's masterful book "The Mystery Of Marriage," you know that he has always been drawn to the monastic life. And while marriage and fatherhood and friendships and church and other enthusiasms have pulled and pushed, Mike has pursued his art with a simplicity and a singleness of purpose that is clearly vocational, in very nearly exactly the same sense as a monk or priest.

These stories grow out of simplicity, silence, solitude. Informed by enough everyday, in-the-world experiences, challenges, interactions, struggles to keep them "real." Yet nurtured in a life with enough space for thought, contemplation and fancy to let them go deep.

And, often, to lend them a peculiarity, a distinctiveness, that makes them arresting. Reading – or, even better, hearing – a new Mike Mason story will never feed me food I've already tasted. Mike straddles two worlds, the quotidian and the eternal. The same two worlds we all of us straddle, of course. It's just that Mike gives so much more time and attention to that latter world than most of us do, and it permeates his writing, marking it as as something that comes almost from another culture, or another era. And of course those two worlds aren't separate worlds at all – and the reality of that intermingling, that co-existence, that unity of the mundane and the mystical, evident to most of us from time to time, is perhaps the recurrent theme of Mason's writing.

And when is that elusive truth more at the centre of things than at Christmas? When Eternity puts on flesh, when "the Father of all mercies puts Himself at our mercy," the Emmanuel moment when God becomes human, "the high and lifted up becomes low and helpless," and the earthy realities of birth and death and taxes get all caught up in momentous heavenly events that defy understanding – or even belief, at times.

So it's no wonder that Mike is drawn to Christmas. For him, the best of times and the worst of times, with "sensitive souls caught in the machinery of a fraught festival," as he so perfectly puts it – his own sensibility as sensitive as you will find. It's almost as though he lays himself bare to both the terror and the comfort of the occasion, and these stories are the raw reports back from those front line encounters.

The range is marvelous. "Three Fools" reads so well aloud, is so terrifically funny in front of an audience, we use it year after year in Pacific Theatre's "Christmas Presence" show – an exquisite contrast to Eliot's "Journey Of The Magi," say, or Frederick Buechner's "The Magnificent Defeat." And the remarkable thing is, his brash and silly (from "selig," which means "holy") piece absolutely holds its own next to the work of those masters – and in the final analysis, brings wisdom and poetry of its own. "Sometimes I Tremble" matches it step for step with its vivid opening paragraph, the economical story-telling of a good Christmas-table anecdote, and a zinger of a last line.

The characters of that latter story remind me of what is undoubtedly my own personal favourite, "The Ghost Of Christmas," which achieves a truthfulness of characterization and a beauty of narrative arc that places it among my favourite literary short stories by any author. A.B. Cooper is the sort of character who is routinely caricatured in literature, or at least condescended to. Mike strikes an extraordinary balance between observation and empathy: he knows A.B. (or people like him), he loves A.B., perhaps in ways he identifies with A.B. (for how can we love without seeing at least something of ourselves in the other?), and yet when he weighs A.B. in the balance, he finds him wanting. And yet... Not only my favourite of Mike's Christmas stories, but one of my three favourite Christmas stories – right alongside Dickens and Capra (but not counting Matthew and Luke). And believe me, I read a lot of Christmas stories.

"Festival Of Lights" is an exemplar of the author's sensitivity to those inner realities that marks all his writing – with the sort of dramatic reversal, rooted in the mutability of the human heart, that somehow seems particularly apt at this season, and in this season's literature.

The darkness Christmas holds for many of us is evinced by "Crack," grounded in the actual experience of a mutual friend, but shaped by Mike's story-telling vision. "Miles" has a reckless inventiveness that suits a season that's all about whimsey and outrageous generosity, but which mostly gets at what it is to be a brother, or a friend, at this most relational Christian festival. One might celebrate a meaningful Easter in solitude, on a spiritual retreat: "Christmas alone" conjures mostly pity, or self-pity, and this crazy (and crazily touching) little story takes us to the centre of what it is to be family.

Comments on two last stories that further demonstrate the masterly stylistic range of Mason's Christmas writing, then I'll leave you to encounter the rest without a guide. (At the risk of being that annoying person in the movie theatre: "Oh, here comes a good part! You'll really like this bit...") "The Christmas Letter" has all the friendly, yarn-spinning cadence of Canada's national story-teller, Stuart McLean – indeed, it reads particularly well aloud, and I'd love to hear Mr CBC take a crack at it – before veering off in a whole different direction that's distinctly Mike Mason. And "Bound For Glory" is almost a vision out of Kafka, or Tolstoi, or any of the Eastern European writers who know the darkness of life in times of real oppression – a dreamlike dark fantasy that draws the reader in with an inescapable gravity. At a certain point one may sense where the story is headed – but one may also be wrong. And whether we guess right or whether we guess wrong, this is a vision conveyed with such force and artistry it achieves a kind of mythic power that stays with us for a very long time indeed. A fitting conclusion to a book of such invention and mystery: a fitting culmination of a season with such eternal resonance.

I've been present at the birth of many of these stories, and over the years several have seen several grow into dear, lifelong friends. I'm a little envious of many of you, who are about to encounter this trove of riches for the first time – and confident that you, too, will find stories here that will become part of your Christmas, and part of your own life story, for years to come.


Ron Reed,
Artistic Director, Pacific Theatre
Vancouver