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.

jan 30 | eagle rock gospel singers | media club

Eagle Rock Gospel Singers
Media Club
Sat Jan 30 | doors 8pm

"Will Wadsworth formed The Eagle Rock Gospel Singers in the winter of 2010 following a failed relationship, a band dissolution and a scary airplane ride. In order to respark his interest in music, he and his roommate, Jeremy Horton, gathered friends together to sing old Gospel songs. They sang songs inspired by their love of Washington Phillips, The Staples Singers, Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe – you know, the real classics – and held house parties just so they could perform. Soon enough, a large, shifting group of people came each week to join in on the weekly jams. There could be anything from 8 to 18 participants, depending upon the night. Wadsworth and Horton, realizing this might work in a club setting, pared down the group to core members, and they began performing around Los Angeles. In 2014, they recorded their first album with Matt Wignall (Cold War Kids, J. Roddy Walston and the Business). Heavenly Fire is an explosive barn-burner, taught with electricity and highlighting Kim Garcia's remarkable singing. It provides an articulation of their sound, honed over those many group parties, into a band that has become a rousing celebration of traditional Gospel sounds with rock foundations." Media Club website

L.A. Weekly interview…

“We were covering stuff by artists who were doing it in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s,” says drummer-singer Will Wadsworth. “The stuff that resonated with us was coming from people who were singing out of a place of desperation, sometimes heartache, sometimes complete joy. . . .

The band’s debut album, Heavenly Fire . . . is a rip-roaring, soaring batch of rootsy-flavored originals written by the band’s individual members, who took their songwriting cues from the greatest and most venerable of American trad musical genres. . . .

“Gospel music for a lot of people is defined by the content,” Wadsworth says, “and that’s usually traditional stories that are based in what we have known as the Bible of Judeo-Christian beliefs. These orations wove themselves into music that was very white bluegrass music, very white folk and country music and very African-American blues gospel.”

common grace | soundtrack

Rick Colhoun's selections for the soundtrack of Common Grace add up to a pretty great jazz playlist. Here's a rundown of the tunes, with links to online sources.

"I'd like to play something from Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis.

It's one of Dad's favourite albums. It's perfect."

Bewitched | Paul Desmond, "Cool Imagination" / "Easy Living"

Almost Blue | Chet Baker

Autumn Leaves | Cannonball Adderly & Miles Davis, "Somethin' Else"

Song For My Father | Horace Silver, "Song For My Father"

So What | Miles Davis, "Kind of Blue"

Blue Train | John Coltrane, "Blue Train"

I Want Jesus To Walk With Me | Nelson Boschman, "Keeping Time Vol. 2"

Blue In Green | Miles Davis "Kind of Blue"

Some Other Time | Bill Evans, "Everybody Digs Bill Evans" 

Marionette | Marvin Stamm, "Mystery Man"

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered | Brad Mehldau, "The Art Of The Trio, Vol. 3"

Blackbird | Brad Mehldau, "The Art of the Trio, Vol. 1"

common grace | meet the creative team

Here are the fine artists who are helping COMMON GRACE come together behind the scenes.

Ron Reed - Director
Kim Larson - Assistant Director
Tanya Schwaerzle - Stage Manager
Carolyn Rapanos - Set Designer
Matt Frankish - Lighting Designer
Amy McDougall - Costume Designer
Frances Henry - Properties Manager
Rick Colhoun - Sound Designer (not pictured)

common grace | rehearsal photos

We popped into COMMON GRACE rehearsal the other day and took a few shots of the team working a scene.  Here's your peek inside the process!

common grace | subscriber appreciation saturday

It's time for another Subscriber Appreciation Saturday!  For COMMON GRACE we'll jump into the world of playwriting and our Working With play development group!

Subscriber Appreciation Saturday: COMMON GRACE
Saturday, January 30th at 3:30 (approximately - following matinee performance)

Get a window into playwriting and the plays that Pacific Theatre's Working With writers are developing!  Join Ron Reed, Shauna Johannesen, and other playwrights in the Working With play development group as they discuss the process of writing and developing plays.  Hear portions of brand new scripts and learn more about how they discuss, critique, and encourage one another.  Refreshments available.

RSVP to Jess: apprentices@pacifictheatre.org

in a blue moon | lucia frangione | touring until jan 30

There's still a chance to catch Lucia Frangione's new play in the Lower Mainland - with Anita Wittenberg (Mourning Dove, Holy Mo, The Furniture Of Heaven) and Emma Tow (Anita's daughter!).

In a Blue Moon
by Lucia Frangione.
An Arts Club Production
Produced in Association with Western Canada Theatre / Thousand Islands Playhouse

A visually beautiful tale about creating a new life in a new landscape. When Ava and her daughter, Frankie, move to an inherited cottage near Kamloops, they discover that Ava’s late husband’s brother is already living there. What starts as a tense relationship develops in unexpected ways as Frankie finds a role model in her uncle and Ava grows attached to the companionship of this other man. Through memories and photographs, a tender love story unfolds between the three as they begin to thread together a new understanding of family.

Tickets are available through participating tour venues. Check each venue for tickets and times.

Surrey Arts Centre | Surrey, BC – Until Jan. 23, 2016
Clark Theatre | Mission, BC – Jan. 25, 2016
Evergreen Cultural Centre | Coquitlam, BC – Jan. 26-30, 2016

throwback thursday | world premieres

Since we're premiering a brand-new play with COMMON GRACE, we thought it might be fun to look back at some other plays that we brought to the stage for the first time ever.  Did you see any of these?

ESPRESSO (1993)

RE:UNION (2011)

PRODIGAL SON (2006)

LEAVE OF ABSENCE (2013)

new generations | one-week festival at trinity western

Vegans, Spies, and Mounties Make for a Fun-Filled Play Festival 

New Generations, a popular one-week festival featuring new plays and emerging directors, returns to the TWU stage in the first week of February. This year’s lineup runs the gamut from quirky rom-com to hard-hitting human drama.

Chasing Tina, written and directed by graduating BFA students, is an offbeat romantic comedy poking fun at everything from trendy diets to the modern dating scene. It should be love-at-first-smoothie for an idealistic philosophy student and the cynical barista who’s his perfect opposite…and with any luck, the customer is always right.

In The Wooden Pear, by award-winning playwright Gillian Plowman, a troubled man fresh out of prison comes face-to-face with the victim of his crime. As they struggle to move on from the incident that changed the course of their lives, their emotionally charged encounter becomes a journey to redemption for them both.

The Longest Way Home, by BFA Acting graduate Audrey Herold, is an adventurous take on the will-they-won’t-they love story set in the far reaches of Saskatchewan. A group of hot-shot American spies get way more than they bargained for in the Great White North. While they try to ignore the unrequited love issues in the team, a mischievous alliance of Rogue Mounties gives them a run for their money. This is Canadian culture at its funniest.

Students from all corners of the campus, some making their stage debut, perform all three plays back-to-back in one fast-paced evening. 

WHERE

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

WHEN
February 2 – 6, 2016. Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30pm with a Saturday matinee at 2pm. 

TICKETS

www.twu.ca/theatre or call 604.513.2121 extension 3872.

jan 22 | artisan improv | john voth, nelson boschman, mike deboer, julia church

Local church Artisan Vancouver is pastored by CHRISTMAS PRESENCE regulars Nelson Boschman and Lance Odegard, and attended by a large number of PT artists.  They are sponsoring a Syrian refugee family, and as a part of their fundraising efforts, are putting on an improv night hosted by John Voth (THE FOREIGNER), and featuring Mike deBoer (SIDESHOW), and Julia Church (GODSPELL).  Check it out!

Artisan Church will host a benefit evening of clean improv comedy featuring John Voth, Cliff Prang, Mike deBoer, Julia Church, Steven Krajnyak and Troy Terpstra. These actors have worked in various improv comedy groups and settings, including The Panic Squad, Bust A Gut, Pacific Theatre, TWU's 11:07, and Vancouver's TheatreSports League.

For a twist, the actors will be joined by jazz musicians Nelson Boschman (piano), Ben Appenheimer (double bass) and Kenton Wiens (drums).

Friday, January 22
The Ironworks
235 Alexander St. [map]
Doors: 7:00pm
Show: 8:00pm

Suitable for ages 10 and up.

$10 in advance (plus service fees)
$15 at the door (while they last)

Tickets available from Brown Paper Tickets.