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Laurence Olivier once said that "in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, great theatre is the outward and visible sign of an inward and probable culture". |
Normally in my experience, this time of year is a little strange for theatre. You have some of the year's most beautiful weather, and a series of options to appeal to everyone's outdoorsman. This year, the beautiful weather may not be a factor, but has been replaced by a fourth round of hockey playoffs offering exciting drama for free. Definitely challenging for a producer trying to get a full audience inside a theatre. That said, with an early 5pm game time and some of the summer's best offerings gearing up for opening night, we can satisfy the hockey/theatrephile in all of us!
The offerings this week range in style, with a little something for everyone. Highlights of shows opening this week: Uncommon Women & Others at the PAL theatre until June 4th, Our Class at the Jericho Arts Centre until June 26th, Community Dinner at PL1422 (Feature Below), and several Comedy Waste shows featuring some of Vancouver's favourite comedians and sketch groups.
This week also marks the start of 34th annual Vancouver International Children's Festival in their new digs on Granville Island. This festival was a critically important part of the development of my imagination, and I have no doubt it inspired me to think creatively at an early age. That is why it is so important to me, and to the many others, to ensure that it has the chance to provide that same inspiration to kids in years to come. A series of government cuts has led the festival away from their long time Vanier Park location, and a petition is now circulating to help return funding to the beloved week of family programming. I look forward to bringing my little brother to one of the shows this week.
One of the most hotly anticipated pieces of the year runs this week for a sold out 4 day run. Community Dinner is described as "one part dinner party, one part biography, and one part cooking show". The show is a unique collaboration between some of Vancouver’s leading theatre artists, including playwrights Kevin Kerr, comedian Charles Demers, director James Fagan Tait, and a group of newcomers from Ecuador, Singapore, the Philippines, and Japan. This is dinner theatre in the true sense, with the performers sharing over a working stove, then sitting down with the audience for a communal dinner. Pretty amazing. I had the total pleasure of sitting down with the visionary behind the project, director Anita Rochon, and had a chance to talk about community inspiration and creation-based work like this one.
Where are we?
PL1422. Progress Lab 1422. This is a former garment factory in East Van that four different theatre companies now inhabit. Rumble, Neworld, Boca Del Lupo, and the Electric Company. This space, this studio, is generally rehearsal space or sometimes we rent it out to other organisations because it is so hard to find rehearsal space in Vancouver. This show will be the first time we open the space to an audience.
Where did the idea for community dinner come from?
I personally have an artistic interest in figuring out what the line between audience and performer is and how that can be blurred. How that can start conversations between the audience and the performers up on stage. So i began to think of some of the better conversations I've had in my life and it occured to me that those have generally taken place at a dinner table or while washing dishes. Then i began to observe some of the programs that take place at Mosaic Settlement Services [an organisation that helps new immigrants and refugees meet their settlement needs in Canada] and I thought that would be a really nice marriage to pair up artists with newcomers to Canada. I wanted to make their meetings about one of the things that everyone can connect to...food! Teaching and learning new dishes and then teaching those new dishes to an audience. So the initial conversation came about wanting to make an interactive piece and once it started to come together it was exceptional.
Was casting as unique as the inspiration for the project?
I actually didn’t cast. All four theatre companies involved put forth two of the artists that they wanted to be participating in the project. For instance from the Electric Company, Kevin Kerr who is one of the Artistic Directors and then they selected Juno Ruddell who is a frequent collaborator with them. I chose the two artists from Rumble with Neworld and Boca chosing theirs. So I didn’t do an interview process with anyone really, and it was definitely unique. It's actually worked out incredibly fortuitously! It’s a really nice meld.
What have the last couple of months working together been like?
We've been at it for 2 months but when i say 'we've been at it' it’s just been the individual artists meeting with their community participant once a week for a couple hours doing an activity like going out to a restaurant or in one group's case going to a salmon hatchery. I just went walking in Lynn Canyon with the person i'm working with. Our rehearsals have been a series of activities getting to know eachother really. This Monday [May 9th] was the beginning of our "proper" rehearsal process. "What are we going to do in this show actually?". Three weeks ago we had a big potluck where each person brought the dish they were going to share the story of during the show, and that’s when I selected the menu for the Community Dinner evenings. We handed the menu and recipes to a great nearby caterer called Liquids + Solids, who are going to recreate the dishes and prepare them nightly.
Do you hope Community Dinner has a life after the run?
I do! I would love for it to become an annual event, here. I suspect that in particular two to three of the people in the piece will continue to meet and be friends afterwards because the matchups have really been great. I have little doubt that those relationships will continue. I believe that there have been a lot of cross-artistic relationships built because a large number of us artists haven’t worked together before so a really nice dialogue started there as well. Also: who knows how it will affect the audience. I think it will, hopefully, be a great experience for the newcomers who are involved to find instant community and in the theatre community on top of that which is so closely knit here. Some have arrived in Canada as recently as 5 months ago. Could you imagine moving 5 months ago and then not just being in a play, but helping to create it!? Amazing.
Speaking of, why do you think there's a surge of creation-based works coming from Vancouver?
I think there's a strength within the Vancouver community of a lot cross-pollination and creation-based work that just springs up out of it. Not to mention, the training institutions that we have in town really put an emphasis on creation based work; So people have the skills to do it. I think the younger artists who are entering the field see that as an example as opposed to going to the library to find a script or adapt a book. Don't get me wrong, I love a good script and a well put together play, there are strengths to both. But I do think that just by virtue of there being a lot of creation-based work in town, people get better at it and love doing it.
Does this relate to the rise of the co-production here in Vancouver?
I think the "there is enough resources for all" mentality can only help, and a poverty mentality of "I need to grab as much as I can" breeds ill well and does nothing to help creativity. While I feel it's very important to have a very strong individual vision in creating theatre, you can do so while mentoring and taking collaboration from other people. For me it's one of the building blocks of this industry, working with other people. But I don’t know if you compared it to Toronto or somewhere else that it's different on purpose. I’ve never felt shitty vibes there between companies, i think it's just a question of resources. There’s less here, so we have to share more. There's also alot of companies that are the same size here so it makes sense that there’s a dialogue between them. And I think we also have the advantage of having really individual mandates for each so there's not alot of stepping on eachother’s toes.
Are we moving away from traditional theatre as a whole?
I think that the place where theatre is growing to inhabit, that it needs to inhabit is a theatre that promotes a very live experience. Because we have so many opportunities for excellent entertainment on screen and online for free, just incredible things that have millions of dollars attached, theatre has moved towards an fully integrated live experience because that’s the one thing that it can provide over any of that.
What inspires you?
I generally love dance, and literature and classical visual art. Crystal Pike is pretty incredible, and in terms of dance I try to catch whatever is coming into town. I've been lucky enough to be able to travel the last couple of years spending time in London, New York, and their proper galleries. Not to sound too much like a hippy it has been really...artistically nourishing.
Whats next for you?
The company that I Co-Artistic Direct, The Chop Theatre, is bringing a show called Kismet One to One Hundred to the Magnetic Noeth Fest in Ottawa the day after Community Dinner closes, so it’s a full June!
Thanks Anita! Community Dinner runs June 1-4 at PL1422. It is sold out but waitlist available.
Next week we have our weekly theatre happenings as well as an in depth interview with Bard on the Beach Artistic-Director and man about town Christopher Gaze. 'Til then you can follow me @viaplays for updates or get in touch at cuetocue@vancouverisawesome.com.
