Jan 3: Wyndham Thiessen & Steve Dawson, Pacific Theatre!

Very excited about this one! Wyndham Thiessen moved away a bunch of years ago - philosophy at U of T, then l'Arche work in Alberta and now, hmm, Saskatoon? Before that he was a fixture at Pacific Theatre: a couple versions of COTTON PATCH GOSPEL at Pacific Theatre and on tour, and regular CHRISTMAS PRESENCE appearances, occasional concerts. (If you've got the CHRISTMAS PRESENCE cd, you'll remember "Talking Home Invasion Blues.")

Well, he's back for Christmas with his family (you also know his brother Matthew from YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU and prior Stones Throw shows, and his bro-in-law Steve Dawson from various PT musical events) and he comes bearing gifts, a sackful of tunes old and new. It was going to be a living room concert, but there's only so many people you can fit into a living room, so we at Pacific Theatre invited him over to our place (where we've got a few more chairs).

Want to join us? Steve will also be playing - of Zubot & Dawson fame, who produced Jim Byrnes' amazing "House Of Refuge" cd, and "The Sojourners" follow-up recording. It'll be fab.

Wyndham Thiessen in concert with Steve Dawson — a fundraiser for PT
Saturday, Jan 3 @ 8pm
Pacific Theatre
Tickets $12 at the door, or call 604 266-1019 (instead of the PT box office) to reserve in advance

Dec 29: MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL in the Cathedral

MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL
by T.S. Eliot
Monday Dec 29, 7pm
Christ Church Cathedral

This compelling examination of political power, individual integrity and transcendent faith is being presented on the 838th anniversary of the martyrdom of Thomas a Becket, featuring Russell Roberts as Thomas Becket and an original musical score by George Ryan.

This compelling examination of political power, individual integrity, and transcendant faith is performed by a diverse cast of professional artists and includes Damon Calderwood, David Adams, Paul Moniz de Sa, Parnelli Parnes, Colleen Winton, Stephen Aberle, Sean Allan, Vanessa Richards, Valerie Sing Turner, Judith Berlin, Quelemia Sparrow, George Ryan, and Sharon Heath, and is directed by Renee Bucciarelli. Visit the City Stage New West website to see the video teaser.

Dec 21: North Shore Christmas Presence STILL HAPPENING

I know it's snowing, but we're going to do our best to put on the show! (I'm an Alberta boy. I never let a little snow deter me.)

See you there!

Ron

JESUS MY BOY Audience reaction

Hey, I've been slow to get these up! Christmas gets busy around PT, with JESUS MY BOY followed by FIRST CHRISTMAS followed by CHRISTMAS PRESENCE in the Valley and on the North Shore (8pm tonight, Sutherland Church, 630 East 19th St, North Vancouver), on top of our Christmas Matching Campaign (still a few thou needed before I can settle in for a long winter's nap). But as I find more kudos in the old email backlog (it's so much nicer to think of it as a yulelog), I'll pop 'em up here. Tons of audience, really strong word of mouth - "a sweet, gentle Christmas show you can bring your Mum to!" But with terrifically alt.folk tunes by Sheree Plett & Jeremy Eisenhauer. Closes this coming Saturday!

"A triumph. Personally, it is the most affecting 'Christmas play' I've seen in recent memory. If this was risky, it was well worthwhile." Paul Thiessen

"I have been sadly lacking in Christmas spirit lately, and the show turned out to be a wonderful gift to me. David Adams was so engaging and believable. I really believed he was Joseph, and will not think of the manger scene in the same way again! The story was marvelous and his delivery and timing were impecable. The layering of the music with the play's action was lovely, and so well done. Kudos to Sheree and Jeremy for committing to something new and bringing a freshness to the play." JL

JESUS MY BOY "Ninety minutes of bliss" - Vancouver Sun

Joseph builds a charming holiday story

Jesus' stepfather walks a fine holiday line between Hannukah and Christmas

Peter Birnie, Vancouver Sun theatre critic

It's a Judeo-Christian Christmas at Pacific Theatre, where the Jewish stepfather of Christianity's Son of God holds forth on what it was like to raise Jesus Christ -- not from the dead, but from birth. Mary's husband Joseph is a middling carpenter, a great guy and an outstanding surrogate dad in John Dowie's charming Jesus, My Boy, a one-man show for an actor attuned to walking the fine holiday line between Hanukkah and Christmas.

David Adams does so with élan. The veteran actor steps outside his own religious roots to give his Joseph the reverberating nature of a Jew who understands his religion's place in the rapidly changing world of old Judea; Joe is not unaware that the followers of the young man he raised point to a whole new era. ...

Dowie writes Joseph as a joker who loves to tell a story, and Sarah Rodgers directs the one-act show with an eye to delivering a complete Christmas package. As Joseph tinkers in his basement workshop, frequent serenades of sweet seasonal music come courtesy two musicians performing live. From a clarinet lick of klezmer to the use of half a dozen different guitars, Jeremy Eisenhauer and Sheree Plett accompany themselves as they sing, in pretty harmony.

The story is a simple chronology of Joseph's emergence as a pretty crummy carpenter, especially compared to his father, before hitting the road. When he met and married Mary, life seemed pretty darn good for Joe -- until his good lady wife announced she was pregnant. By no less a Father than God Himself.

Joseph shrugs. What are you going to do? I love her, we'll raise him as ours and have some more -- the old-fashioned way -- along the way.

Such sweet sentiment flavours this show like sugar on a Christmas cookie. It's also spiced like cinnamon by the sharp observations Joseph makes about the horrors of Roman occupation (his detailed description of crucifixion is particularly horrifying) and has just enough Hanukkah oil in its lamp to enlighten us on many of the events that have become archetypal at this time of year. Lauchlin Johnston has hammered together a set that's the spitting image of any basement workroom, my father's included, where the patriarch can retire to saw and nail and enjoy coffee from a thermos. Jesus, My Boy is about 90 minutes of bliss for anyone who loves the smell of wood shavings and the telling of not just any Christmas story, but the Christmas story.

Rehearsal Photos: FIRST CHRISTMAS 2008

Spencer Capier, Roy Salmond, Becca Robertson,

Nelson Boschman, Elaine Adamian Myers, Allen Desnoyers

Byron Linsey

Allen, Elaine

Elaine, Nelson

Roy, Becca

Allen, Elaine, Spencer

Byron, Allen

half of Spencer, Elaine, Allen

Ron Reed, Allen Desnoyers, Roy Salmond

Elaine Adamian Myers, Byron Linsey

...and Becca Robertson, Nelson Boschman and Spencer Capier

December 21: Nine Lessons and Carols, St John's

Hi friends

This is a reminder and an invitation to join us this coming Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. for the Nine Lessons and Carols service at St. John’s, where I’m in the choir.

It’s a very traditional Anglican service that features exactly what it says it will: nine scripture readings telling the story of Christmas, and nine carols, sung both by the choir and by the congregation. We’re singing some really gorgeous music by, among others, Lauridsen and Rutter. The highlight for me will be Lauridsen’s haunting “O Magnum Mysterium”.

The church is all decorated now and the candles will be burning. Hope to see some of you there!

St. John’s is the big church at Granville and Nanton (about 28th avenue) in Vancouver. Can’t miss it.

Plan to arrive early to get decent seats; a similar Advent service was quite packed this year!

Blessings
Diane Tucker

Dec 12: WINTERGARTEN CABARET, benefit show for PT and Genus

Wintergarten Cabaret
Dec. 12, 2008, doors at 8 pm, show around 9
Tix $15 in advance, $20 at the door
Anza Club (On the corner of West 8th and Ontario, two blocks west of Main St)

Doktor Luke Productions and Genus Theatre present a cabaret fundraiser for the Vancouver theatre commununity, featuring burlesque acts from the Starlet Harlots, comedy from Genus Theatre, flapper dancing by Glitter and Gold Showgirls, and ventriloquism from Kellie Haines.

This will be a 1920s themed cabaret, replete with a smoky atmosphere (tobacco free, of course). Drinks will be cheap and plenty, the extraordinary acts are coming along incredibly (we’ve got all sorts of talented surprises up our flapper dresses for you), including our headliner act THE STARLET HARLOTS!

Hosted by Doktor Luke Productions and Genus Theatre. All proceeds will go to Pacific Theatre and Genus Theatre, so buy your tickets early and drink plenty!

You’ll see our poster, pasted below, designed by Kolke (see wearekolke.com) - that little jewel is just a small sample of the talent we’ve got lined up for this show. So come one, come all, and support the Vancouver Theatre Community!

See you there!
Julie & Frank

Dec 12: TWELVE NIGHTS TIL CHRISTMAS at St James Hall

Some of my compadres from those Sunday night gigs at West Point Grey Baptist, plus Allen Desnoyers. Should be swell!

Dec 9/10/12/14: CONFESSIONS OF A PAPERBOY

Georgia Straight:

GOD ON YOUR DOORSTEP
in Doug Curtis's CONFESSIONS OF A PAPER BOY. God speaks directly to 10-year-old newspaper carrier Christopher Columbus. Soon, Christopher is delivering miracles. Talk about a subscription drive. But assuming God isn't in this to up circulation, what exactly is the Almighty doing and why has S/He chosen this kid to do it with? Apparently this show from Calgary's Ghost River Theatre, which runs next Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday in the Cultch's spiffy new VanCity Culture Lab, is all about faith and loss. It's also about the possibility that Satan lives in the brown bungalow down the block.

"Feed The Lake" - Thoughts from our Stage Manager

Lois Dawson is Pacific Theatre's resident stage manager. This is from her blog, Lois In La La Land.

Back in early September, my friend Angela wrote a blog post following her attendance at Bard's production of The Tempest. In it she talks about learning that there is no point in jealousy because when one artist succeeds we all end up winning. She said:. She said: "The problem is, I have a degree in directing and I've been doing it for a long time but I don't know that I could create a work this accomplished. So for part of the performance I was torn between admiration and dejection - 'wow this is really good/wow that's really depressing' -something like that.... But when a truly gifted artist creates a work for others to share, we get the present. My life was enriched by the production I saw tonight and as a result, my work will be enriched." It was a sentiment she echoed after she and I attended Unity: 1918 a couple of weeks back.

But further in the post she talks about an image that appears in Madeline L'Engle's Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith & Art (which is, by the way, one of my top arts reads, regardless of faith orientation. L'Engle was the talented writer behind A Wrinkle in Time.). She discusses an analogy drawn by Jean Rhys in which art is a lake and the artists of the world are various sizes of rivers, streams, & trickles.

She quotes Rhys as saying "I don't matter. The lake matters. You must keep feeding the lake."
I love that image. The idea that all of art is this giant lake (actually I'd like to jump in and bathe in it - let it soak into my soul!), and that regardless of the size of our contribute we must continue to feed the lake.

Often, as a Stage Manager, I forget that I am also responsible for feeding the lake. I want to leave that role to the directors, actors & designers whose work is so clearly art. But creating a space in which it is possible for those artists to produce (and even better: to thrive!) is an art all its own, and I need to remember that when I get down about my role in the process.

Feed. The. Lake.

JESUS MY BOY: "All it takes..."

A snapshot of our first read-through of JESUS MY BOY. This is all it takes to produce a simple one-man-show...

Not pictured: Julie Sutherland (publicist), Ron Reed (music director),
John Sutherland (general manager),

technical director, lighting technicians, carpenters (except Joseph. Er, David.)...

JESUS MY BOY featured in The Province

JESUS MY BOY

by John Dowie

Pacific Theatre

Nov 28 - Dec 27

Tickets: PT website / 731-5518 / tickets@pacifictheatre.org

Directed by Sarah Rodgers. With David Adams, Sheree Plett, Jeremy Eisenhauer.

Famous dad opens up about his family
Joseph delivers insight into what it was really like to raise a kid named Jesus
Lynn Mitges, The Province
Thursday, November 27, 2008

Joseph just doesn't get much attention. In fact, just about everyone is focused on his wife, Mary, and his newborn son, a baby named Jesus.

Maybe gold, frankincense and myrrh are not the wisest choice of gifts for a young family just starting out. And maybe Joseph has a few more astute observations about the monumental event that people are, frankly, still talking about.

Jesus, My Boy is refreshing look at the Christmas story but from the eyes of the man who had parenthood thrust upon him, a play that is described as both "enchanting" and as "an unexpected Christmas gift."

Local actor David Adams plays Joseph, a gentle yet funny carpenter who shares his insight in a production that premieres in Vancouver with an original score, performed by Sheree Plett and Jeremy Eisenhauer.


"It's more about the man," says Adams. "Joseph's sort of explaining to the audience and the two musicians about his experience, being a father for the very first time, and what it was like to meet Mary, and how they dealt with it when she first came to him and said, 'Look, I'm pregnant.'"

Adams' Joseph takes the audience through the formative years when Jesus was a boy, and the ensuing challenges of being a father who has a child who was obviously different but has the same emotional needs as other kids....

Much of the play is irreverent, but not disrespectful, says Adams... "What I like about the writing of this is it's almost from a Jewish perspective rather than a Christian perspective," he says. "Joseph talks about being Jewish quite a bit and he talks about being a descendant of the House of David, and the Jewish life at that time."

The play is a one-man show, a soliloquy for Joseph, a role that allows Adams to personalize. The role of Joseph was originally written for actor Tom Conti, and immediately Adams was drawn to it. "Tom Conti has the kind of things I'd equate with myself. There's a soulfulness about him and a gentleness but at the same time he's a pretty imposing man.. I guess that's what I'm going to be bringing to Joseph."

Jesus, My Boy is sure to entertain, says Adams, but it also has a remarkable richness. "What I also love about doing this show is that it's just me and the text and it's lovely to be able to discover what there is in there," he says.

Adams, who has two teenage daughters, says he brings along his parenting experience, plus a fondness for carpentry. "My father is an old-world carpenter so it was really easy to relate to the carpentry end of it. I was the oldest son [of four] and if there was any helping to be done, I was the guy," he says.

It was frustrating for both father and son, Adams says, as he was "klutzy" and never had a penchant for remembering what tool he was supposed to retrieve when his father asked for it. But it's a skill that Adams picked up nonetheless. "Years later, there were a lot of things I knew just by osmosis, so now I'm very grateful. I can put in a door by myself. I can do some basic carpentry and that comes in handy when you're a homeowner," he laughs.

Rehearsal photos by Gillian Wolpert

Nov 25: Pacific Rim String Quartet, Jazz Cellar

Music on Main presents
PACIFIC RIM STRING QUARTET
Tuesday, November 25, 2008

A MONTH OF TUESDAYS
AT THE CELLAR RESTAURANT AND JAZZ CLUB
"the highly popular series that's as musically adventurous as it is socially gregarious"
(The Georgia Straight)

Music on Main presents A Month of Tuesdays at the Cellar Restaurant & Jazz Club (3611 West Broadway @ Dunbar). What makes a Music on Main event at the Cellar so much fun? Top flight musicians, great music and a casual yet engaging atmosphere. Audience members order dinner and drinks before the concert or at intermission, then when the bar service stops for the performance, everyone listens with a renewed intensity. Full bar service and à la carte menu available before and after the concert, and during intermission. (There will be no service during the performance.)

Pacific Rim String Quartet

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The Pacific Rim String Quartet is a compelling new addition to Vancouver's chamber music scene - a passionate quartet who embraces wide-ranging repertoire, from newly composed music to string quartet classics. Their return engagement for Music on Main brings together a rarely heard quartet by the Czech Romantic Smetana alongside Shostakovich's tragic String Quartet No.8.

Featuring: Li-Ling Liao (violin), Ruth Huang (violin), Robin Streb (viola) and Brian Mix (cello).

Doors open at 6:30 PM
Come for a drink, or a meal!

Music starts around 8:00 PM
Cover Charge: just $15

Cellar Restaurant & Jazz Club (3611 West Broadway @ Dunbar)

Note: The Cellar is licensed as a restaurant and is therefore open to all ages.

Order your tickets today for reserved seating! Call Tickets Tonight at 604.684.2787 or visit www.ticketstonight.ca

Link to ticket sales:

More Info: www.musiconmain.ca | 604.879.9888 | info@musiconmain.ca

Dec 2: The Joy Of Christmas with City In Focus

click to enlarge

You can register online

Nov 23: Jacob Moon, Point Grey

Nov 23
7:30pm
Solo Concert
at Point Grey Church in Vancouver , BC
3512 7th Avenue West, Vancouver, BC V6R 1W3
freewill offering

myspace page

PERELANDRA in Oxford

This just in from IMAGE Update - though I think they used "eponymous" wrong...

The Oxford University C.S. Lewis Society and the Donald Swann Estate have recently announced that they will be producing the second premiere of Perelandra, an opera by Donald Swann (music) and David Marsh (libretto) based on the eponymous novel by C.S. Lewis. 

The piece was written between 1960 and 1964, with the enthusiastic support of C.S. Lewis. In a 1962 letter to Marsh, Lewis wrote: “I think [the libretto] just stunningly good. It brought tears to my eyes in places.” Done right, “it will be terrific. I very heartily congratulate you.” The opera was also very dear to Swann’s heart, and contains some of his most lyrical music. 

The opera opened to enthusiastic reviews in Oxford, Cambridge, London, and later New York. The sale of the film rights shortly after Lewis’s death, however, placed a long-term embargo on its performance.

The opera is now receiving a long-awaited second premiere in its original, three-act form. It will be performed in Oxford, UK, on June 25, 26 and 28, 2009, and recorded by Oxford Records. The performance run will be accompanied by a two-day international colloquium on C.S. Lewis’s Perelandra in all its aspects: literary, theological, philosophical, and musical. A keynote address will be given by Walter Hooper. 

A Call for Papers is now available on the website. A competition for subject-related artwork for display at the performance and on its products has also been announced, and Alan Lee, best known for his Tolkien illustrations and conceptual artwork for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is to judge the competition. The closing date is February 15, 2009. The full announcement is available on the website.

Please click here for more details, or contact the production team at admin@perelandraproject.org

JESUS MY BOY Artistic Director's Notes

this is the irrational season,
when love bloomed, bright and wild.
had mary been filled with reason
there'd have been no room for the child.

When we talk about experimental theatre, when we think of theatre that takes risks, it's not something as sweet and unassuming as JESUS MY BOY that we have in mind. But the fact is, this production feels to me like the riskiest in our season.

We start with a downright funny monologue, written by a comedy writer, about a dad who mostly doesn't understand his son. A son who happens to be The Son. Of God, no less.

Then we throw in the evocative, sometimes haunting, sometimes delicate music of Sheree Plett and Jeremy Eisenhauer.

Oil. Water.

Earthy. Transcendent.

Sublime. Ridiculous.

Well, we'll see.

It's risky, like any marriage is risky. It's uncertain, an experiment – which, more or less by definition, may or may not work. (If you're absolutely certain how it's going to turn out, or even that it's going to turn out at all, it's hardly an experiment, is it?)

But we thought we'd try. Frankly, this seems like the right time of year for such improbabilities, this midwinter time Madeleine L'Engle called "The irrational season." The perfect time for this awkward coming together of unlike things, a union that has everything to do with the risk of marriage, the death-defying miracle of birth, and especially the divine improbability of the infinite and mighty God becoming human, finite, vulnerable.

Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Ron Reed,
Matchmaker

Merry Christmas! From Pacific Theatre

MOURNING DOVE: Audience response

from a physician friend: "Mourning Dove. She has been hovering above me all week. You have gifted us with an astonishing production of one of the most difficult ethical issues of our time.
I’m just recovering from surgery and am less coherent than usual which isn’t saying much. Nevertheless I want to send off a few thoughts but primarily gratitude for what you have put into this play as you approach closing night. I have recommended the show to many others as an “uplifting” experience. No matter what you thought when you arrived you had to leave with a deeper appreciation for the other side if not your own stance. Keith(you), the brilliantly acted idiot savant spoke for those of difference who cannot speak for themselves and in the end he was incapable of understanding and/or forgiving the act. On the other hand Sandra’s redemptive embrace closed the wounded circle. It was 40 days and 40 nights of torrential compassion! “Because we are going to outlive her we must out love her.” ...With my most sincere gratitude for the moral courage of your ongoing work..."

from Sarah: "Thank you again for such a beautiful, moving evening at the theatre. I haven't stopped talking about MOURNING DOVE all day."

from John Jennings: "I had to just sit in my seat for about 5 minutes after the play ended. Mind you, most everyone else did too. Thanks for taking the risk to present this play. It challenged us, as parents, to ask those tough "what if" questions. We talked through those questions on the way home, and then thanked God we didn't have to live with the answers."

from Dan: "I wanted to hug you after the show, but knew that I would start crying if I did. The show struck all kinds of resonances with me and I was in a very deep.... place for the rest of the evening and all of Saturday. I think the show brilliantly held its tension at all the right places and delivered a nuanced, thought-provoking journey. Bravo to all involved!"

From Michelle Lieffertz:
Oh WOW. It's only now, nearly a week later, that I feel even REMOTELY able to articulate anything.
What a piece of theatre.
What a piece of life.
It was quite the ride. What phenomenal work - THANK YOU for the gift of this. I was unable to leave the theatre space during intermission: I didn't want to stay and face the questions... but I was so caught up in it that I couldn't go. I feel like this is what Aristotle was talking about when he discussed theatre as catharsis.
so much pain.
so much TRUTH.
so few answers.
still reeling...
Glad I'm not God.