Upstage - Gracie

A GREAT PLACE TO READ ABOUT GREAT THEATRE · JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017

How far will you go for faith and family?

VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 3

Hello!

Welcome to the Belfry and the Victoria’s Joan MacLeod.

Special Offer

Our long history with one of Canada’s

See Gracie twice.

premiere production of Gracie by

finest playwrights goes back to Toronto,

Every play matures over the

Mississippi 28 years ago. Last season we

course of a run - this can be

presented Joan’s play The Valley and now

especially true with a new play

we are premiering her latest work, a play

like Gracie. Subtle changes

commissioned by the Belfry.

in emphasis in a scene or how the actor responds to a

Michael’s piece, Why I Chose This Play (page 5), will give you considerable insight into the play and why it is important we tell this

B4Play

circumstance happen as the actor grows more into the skin of the character.

story now.

Gregor Craigie · Photo by Don Craig

We are pleased to welcome director Vanessa Porteous and actor Lili Beaudoin, who are both making their Belfry debuts with Gracie.

Vanessa is the Artistic Director at Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary (with whom we are co-producing the show) and Lili is the daughter of Colin Heath and Manon Beaudoin, who starred in and co-created the Belfry’s production of Flying Blind in 2001.

Thanks for being part of the Belfry and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Some of you do see our SATURDAY, JANUARY 21 AT 11 AM

Belfry Theatre, Studio A, 1291 Gladstone Avenue Free Event. Join us in Studio A for a live talk show hosted by CBC Radio’s Gregor Craigie, featuring Joan MacLeod, Vanessa Porteous, and Marita Dachsel.

If you can’t make it to B4Play in person, don’t worry: you can listen to these always entertaining interviews on our website or listen to our podcasts at soundcloud.com/ belfrytheatre.

productions a second, and even a third time. With this production of Gracie we’d like to encourage each of you to have that experience, and to see how a piece changes.

If you’d like to book tickets to see Gracie a second time we are happy to offer you 40% off the regular single ticket price – please call or visit our Box Office to make your booking.

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UPSTAGE is produced four times per year and can be found at branches of the Greater Victoria Public Library, the Belfry and online at issuu.com/belfrytheatre. If you would like a digital copy please drop us a line at hello@belfry.bc.ca.

Tickets 250-385-6815

Gracie is generously supported by

Upstage is supported by

BY MARITA

Keepi n g Sweet:

DACHSEL

F U N D A M E N TA L M O R M O N P O LYG A M Y

Photo by Ian Smith / Vancouver Sun

I MAG E S O F YO UN G WO M EN IN PASTE L -COLOURE D,

multiple communities in the United States that

PI O N E E R - S T YL E DR E S S E S, THE IR HAIR POUF F E D

differ from that of the general public, but it’s their

A N D B R AI DE D, C A RRYI N G BABIE S AND WITH

devotion to the practice of polygamy that attracts

YO U N G C H I L DR E N AT T H E IR SIDE S WE RE M Y F IRST

outsider attention.

I N T R O DUC T I O N TO T H E WORL D OF M ORM ON FU N DAM EN TA L I S M.

I was incredibly curious about

the girls—who they were, what they believed, how they lived. Delving into Mormon history and culture was the gateway to what eventually became Glossolalia, my collection of poetry told from the points of view of the polygamous wives of Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).

There are many aspects of the lives of the Mormon fundamentalists who live in Bountiful, BC and

While the mainstream Mormon Church distances itself from Mormon fundamentalism largely thanks to polygamy, they share the same historical

Story Highlights Joan won the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre in 2011 and the Governor General’s Award for Drama in 1991.

foundation in which polygamous marriage, also

Her play, The Hope Slide,

known as plural or celestial marriage, was an

inspired in part by the

important tenet of their faith.

Doukhobors, a sect of

Joseph Smith founded the church in 1830. It claims to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus, and reinstated various doctrines that they believed to be practiced during the

Russian dissenters who settled in the Kootenay region of BC, opened the Belfry’s Studio space in 1992.

The Belfry has produced seven of Joan’s 11 plays.

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“golden age” when God communed directly with humans. Among

because Canada prides itself on religious freedom and upholding

the many revelations Smith received from God, he was told in the

Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s assertion that “there’s no place for the state in

mid-1830s to restore plural marriage. He tentatively attempted

the bedrooms of the nation” that the community of Bountiful has

this secretly a few times in the late 1830s, but in the early 1840s he

mostly been ignored by authorities, and allowed these marriages to

introduced it to some of his closest friends. While we may never know

happen. This changed in the mid-2000s when some of the horrors of

the true number, it is believed that by 1844 Smith had married at

Warren Jeffs, the FLDS leader based in America, were discovered. (He is

least 33 women—some still married to other men, some sisters, some

now in jail for life plus 20 years, and continues to lead a faction of the

as young as 14, and none of them living with him publicly as wives.

church.)

His first wife, Emma Hale Smith, never approved of the practice and once Smith was martyred in 1844, she falsely claimed he hadn’t been polygamous.

Bountiful is the face of polygamy in our country, but it’s important to remember that not all polygamy has Mormon roots, and not all polygamy relies on child brides. Plural marriage will continue

After Smith’s death, Brigham Young took control of the church and

regardless of legislation, but we can and must work harder to protect

took the Saints out west to settle what would become Utah. There

children like Gracie.

plural marriage was widely and openly practiced until 1890, when leader of the church Wilford Woodruff received his own revelation that plural marriages were no longer commanded by God. Church leaders continued to perform plural marriages in secret until 1904, after a second revelation to put a stop to it. The practice was forced

Marita Dachsel is the author of Glossolalia, Eliza Roxcy Snow, and All Things Said & Done. Her play Initiation Trilogy was produced by Electric Company Theatre, was featured at the 2012 Vancouver International Writers Fest, and was nominated for the Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding New Script.

underground.

In the 1920s, Mormon polygamists began to find each other. A group formed the “Council of Seven Friends” and claimed authority over the

Cast & Creatives

current leader of the Mormon Church. Most contemporary Mormon fundamentalist groups can trace their origin to these men, including the FLDS, the group in Bountiful, BC. Because polygamy is a crime in both Canada and the United States, it’s impossible to know precisely how many Mormon fundamentalists there are today. Estimates place between 15,000 – 22,000 polygamists within organized groups and with up to 15,000 independents. It’s easy to see them as a homogenous group, but their beliefs and

Lili Beaudoin

Joan MacLeod

Vanessa Porteous

GRACIE

PLAYWRIGHT

DIRECTOR

Catherine Hahn

Narda McCarroll

Tobin Stokes

DESIGNER

LIGHTING DESIGNER

COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGNER

cultures can be wildly different.

Mormon fundamentalists have a nasty habit of marrying young girls to older men. It started with Joseph Smith marrying his good friend’s 14 year-old daughter and continues today. While the most scandalous cases of 12 year-old girls being sealed (“married”) to church leaders are relatively rare, marriages between girls 14 – 18 to men two to three or four times their age have been commonplace.

In the sect that Gracie belongs to, they practice the Law of Placing, in which young women are told by church leadership whom they are to marry through divine authority. These “placements,” like so many things, reward the older men of the community. Girls are married off and impregnated as soon as possible, and the young men have to either leave the community or be overworked for little pay in hopes of gaining favour—and a wife—from church leadership. Perhaps it’s

Tickets 250-385-6815

Jennifer Swan STAGE MANAGER

Sadie Fox APPRENTICE STAGE MANAGER

Why I Chose This Play I commissioned Joan MacLeod to write a play for this theatre and this audience. Gracie is the beautiful play that she wrote for us. Like all of Joan’s writing, Gracie abounds with empathy for

LIVE EVENTS

—

every soul who struggles to live a good life. It is a gripping and

Throughout Gracie we’ll host a number of events that will deepen your theatre experience or just plain astound you.

moving story, and I am honoured to have it premiere on our

AFTERPLAY

stage.

Set in the polygamous community of Bountiful, BC, Gracie could easily have become a biased and ungenerous look at a way of life that many of us frown upon. In Joan MacLeod’s remarkable hands, it is a story of human beings struggling with family and faith and difficult decisions.

Despite Joan’s many years of living and working in this community, and the many productions of her plays that have been seen on the Belfry stage, Gracie is the first of her plays to premiere at the Belfry. It has been a great thrill to be a part of Joan’s process, and to witness the meticulous way in which she approaches her work. It is like watching a master baker roll out

Facilitated discussions – audience member to audience member – follow every evening Mainstage performance of Gracie (except Opening Night and Talkback Thursday).

These are a great opportunity to share your thoughts and hear how fellow patrons reacted to the show.

TALKBACK THURSDAY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2

Meet actor Lili Beaudoin post-performance when she returns to the stage to answer questions and provide insight into the play.

BOOKSMACK

a piece of dough; the play gradually grows, spreads, takes on

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6 AT 7:30 PM

a new – sometimes surprising – shape, but is always based on

Librarians go head-to-head as they race against the clock

that original kernel, that “lump of dough” that was the idea, the

to speed review their favourite books in these fun and

question that started the play.

competitive events, co-presented with the Greater Victoria

Joan is incredibly open about her process, unduly selfdeprecating, and always an intrepid and unrelenting explorer

Public Library.

VOCALEYE

of the world of the play and the hearts of the characters who

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12 AT 2 PM

live in it.

For our patrons with low or no vision, we’ll offer a VocalEye

I chose to program Gracie because it’s a story that has not been told before, and it is filled with love and humanity.

MICHAEL SHAMATA,

Artistic Director

performance during Gracie. Trained Audio Describers provide descriptions of the visual elements of the show, allowing people with low vision to enjoy the theatrical experience without missing any of the details.

Belfry Librarian The wonderful librarians from the Greater Victoria Public Library

The Secret Lives of Saints: Child brides and lost boys

have compiled a list of books to help you get even more out of

in a polygamous Mormon sect by Daphne Bramham (2008)

our production of Gracie.

A Cruel Arithmetic: Inside the case against polygamy

by Craig E. Jones (2012) The Sound of Gravel: A memoir by Ruth Wariner (2016) The Witness Wore Red: The 19th wife, who brought polygamous

Becoming Sister Wives: The story of an unconventional marriage by Kody Brown (2012) Lost Boy by Brent W. Jeffs (2009) The 19th Wife: a novel by David Ebershoff (2008)

cult leaders to justice by Rebecca Musser (2013)

Leaving Bountiful. [DVD video] (2002)

Under the Banner of Heaven: A story of violent faith

Compiled by Hannah Mitchell, Greater Victoria Public Library

by Jon Krakauer (2003) 5

PROFILE

Barbara Housser Founding Supporter Barbara enjoying time with her grandchildren.

BA R BA R A H O US S E R’S S UPPOR T F OR THE BE L F RY GOE S BAC K TO 1976, T H E YE A R T H E B E L F RY WAS BORN.

When she speaks of the

Belfry, she likes to use the pronoun “We” because the Belfry has long been like family to her. Her husband Bruce served as our inaugural Chairman of the Board back when we were known as the Spring Ridge Cultural Centre. But it seems we have Barbara to thank for Bruce’s interest in the arts. She was born in Vancouver, where she started studying music when she was three, later taking private violin, voice, and dance lessons. Her mother, a native Victorian, was an amateur actress and singer, and so the arts have been a priority for extended generations of family.

Barbara met Bruce on a blind date in Vancouver, where she later became an elementary music teacher. When they moved to Victoria, the Houssers bought Sam’s Deli, and their support also involved catering many events at the theatre. Along with raising three young kids and serving 1,000 people a day at the deli for 20 years, Barbara volunteered at the Belfry by handing out programs, ushering, serving coffee to patrons, and even painting sets and

of her estate planning. Barbara also very generously increased the amount of the bequest when she updated her will last year.

Says Barbara: To me the arts scene is the soul of the community, so I love being part of that through volunteering, being a season’s ticket holder, and making donations. Live theatre is entertaining, educational and so important in our lives. It makes you think, sometimes even makes you uncomfortable. I have always felt very positive about the fact that the Belfry spends its money wisely. It has attracted good people, and has a good team, so that when you make your donation you feel that your money is wisely used.

Barbara’s community involvement in Victoria has also included serving as Chair of the former McPherson Foundation (civic theatres), on the Pacific Opera Board, and currently on the Salvation Army Board.

hammering nails when the need arose – something she recalls as

These days, Barbara enjoys time with Bruce at their Salt Spring Island

being a lot of fun.

home-away-from home, and visiting their children in faraway places

The productions that stand out most for Barbara from the earlier days include the inaugural production of Puttin’ on the Ritz, as well as Joe Egg and Spokesong. She describes Joe Egg actor Dennis Arndt as incredibly talented and unforgettable.

Barbara included the Belfry in her will 20 years ago because ”It meant a lot to my family and I believe in it. I’ve always wanted to give more than I could,” she comments, and it was that discussion that led her financial advisor to suggest making her support part

including Panama. Apart from attending Belfry shows, she can also be found enjoying behind-the-scenes Director’s Circle events including mini performances, play readings and panel discussion with artists. Donors like Barbara ensure the Belfry no longer needs to host those painting and set building parties anymore, but we do find other ways to have fun.

To talk about about planning a gift for the Belfry Theatre or possible recognition as a Belfry legacy gift planner, please contact Susan Stevenson, Development Manager at 250-385-6835 ext. 229 or development@belfry.bc.ca.

Tickets 250-385-6815

Calendar Gracie PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

January 20 – February 19, 2017 Tuesdays – Thursdays at 7:30 pm Wednesday Matinees at 1 pm (February 1, 8 and 15) Fridays + Saturdays at 8 pm Saturday Matinees at 4 pm Sunday Matinees at 2 pm Audience Engagement Schedule B4PLAY · Saturday, January 21 at 11 am TALKBACK THURSDAY · February 2 AFTERPLAY · Following most

evening performances VOCALEYE · Described performance Sunday, February 12 at 2 pm

Evalyn Parry in SPIN / Photo by Jeremy Mimnagh

March 12—26, 2017 SPIN · WHAT A YOUNG WIFE OUGHT TO KNOW · THIS IS NOT A

How to buy tickets By telephone

CONVERSATION · REVERBERATIONS · WHY WE ARE HERE! · JOAN

250 385 6815

Please have your credit card ready, as well as the date and time of the performance you wish to attend.

Season Ticket holders can purchase Spring Vouchers to save on SPARK Festival tickets.

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V8T 1G5