Upstage - Forget About Tomorrow

A GREAT PLACE TO READ ABOUT GREAT THEATRE · JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2018

Jill Daum Belfry premieres her latest play, Forget About Tomorrow

VOLUME 4 / ISSUE 3

Hello!

Welcome to the Belfry and our production of Forget About Tomorrow

by Jill Daum.

Jill is one of the co-creators of Mom’s the Word - the multi-award-winning hit comedy that has played around the world and thrilled audiences here with its deep honesty and delightful fun.

Collective, and was secretly writing scenes about the difficult aspects of my life. Constructing a story about a struggling, reluctant caregiver became a pain-relieving release for me. Then John got caught up in the idea of creating a piece of theatre while we were processing his diagnosis. It was the first time in our relationship that we collaborated on a script.

Working on the music was as

“I began writing this play before my husband John publicly announced he had Alzheimer’s. I was attending a workshop, led by the Wet Ink

cathartic for him as the words in the play were for me.” Jill Daum We hope you’ll come on this incredible journey with us.

B4Play

Gregor Craigie Photo by Don Craig

SATURDAY, JANUARY 20 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 BELFRY THEATRE

Craigie, featuring Michael Shamata

four times per year

1291 GLADSTONE AVENUE

(director), Jill Daum (playwright), Dr.

and can be found at

VICTORIA, BC

Marjorie Moulton (Executive Director

V8T 1G5

of We Rage, We Weep Alzheimer

UPSTAGE is produced

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.

WWW.BELFRY.BC.CA

Foundation), and Dr. Stuart MacDonald (Associate Professor, UVic Department of Psychology).

If you can’t make it to B4Play in person,

Join Us

don’t worry: you can listen to our podcasts

facebook.com/belfrytheatre

youtube.com/belfrytheatre

twitter.com/belfrytheatre

issuu.com/belfrytheatre

vimeo.com/belfrytheatre

soundcloud.com/belfrytheatre

Cover Photo of Jill Daum by Emily Cooper

Forget About Tomorrow is generously supported by

Tickets 250-385-6815

at belfry.bc.ca/podcasts.

Upstage is supported by

Jill & John

BY PETER & MELODY ANDERSON W E HAVE A B LURRE D P H OTO OF A C HARISMATIC YOUNG COUPLE AT

The most loyal of friends, they are the kind of people who, in the

T H E I R WEDDI N G A L M O S T 30 YE ARS AGO. They are in a lush green

midst of their own painful personal crisis, will drop everything to

backyard in West Vancouver, standing beneath an arch from which

commiserate with you because you have a head cold, or be the first

hangs a painting of two hands clasping. They’re holding hands as

to delight in some small piece of good fortune that’s come your way.

they kiss. Though the photo is blurred, their love is in sharp focus.

Their door is always open and they always have time for others.

And though you can’t see it in the photo, they are surrounded by friends who love them fiercely, and share in their laughter when the

It’s no surprise that life’s not fair, but the existential unfairness Jill

celebrant bungles their vows.

and John have had to deal with is almost beyond comprehension.

These are our friends — John Mann with his electrifying stage

early-onset Alzheimer’s (on the heels of his recovery from rectal

presence, soul-stirring singing, and achingly beautiful songwriting;

cancer), they responded as any of us would: with grief, shock, disbelief

and Jill Daum with her wicked sense of humour, boundless curiosity

and anger. Many fine and strong relationships wouldn’t survive the

and eternal youthfulness. If you were to ask us to describe their

gut-wrenching effects of such an illness, yet Jill and John’s — against

relationship, the first thing that would spring to mind would be

all odds — has. The courage and

laughter; their unwavering ability to laugh at themselves and at life’s

humour with which they’ve faced the

many curveballs.

many challenges of John’s disease

The dictionary defines relationship as: “the way in which two or more concepts or people are connected, or the state of being connected.”

When they first received the devastating diagnosis that John had

gives fresh meaning to the phrase “grace under pressure”.

Jill and John are about nothing if not connection, to each other, to

The compassion, consideration,

life, to their community of friends and to the world at large.

concern and kindness they’ve always

Jill Daum and John Mann / Photo by Lisa MacIntosh

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shown each other is the same compassion, consideration, concern and kindness they show the world, expanding ever outward like ripples in a pond, through their performances, their many charitable works (the Bulembu Foundation in Swaziland, the Gold Metal Plates program supporting Canadian athletes, and the Alzheimer’s Society among

Cast & Creatives

others), and through the example of their love, a love that always leaves you feeling better for having been in their presence.

Another photo thirty years later — this one taken at the Commodore Ballroom last November at the Spirit of Canada benefit concert for John. The stage is filled with a who’s-who of Canadian stars and the dance floor is packed with friends and fans. The picture is in focus, but what it doesn’t show is a moment earlier in the night, a moment blurred by tears: Sarah McLachlan singing “Angel” while Jill and John waltz in the wings, holding each other’s hands, a vision of enduring

Jennifer Lines

Craig Erickson

Colleen Wheeler

JANE

TOM

LORI

love.

Melody Anderson is a playwright and theatre designer specializing in masks - her play Me and You premieres at Vancouver’s Arts Club Theatre this year.

Peter Anderson is a playwright and actor who was last seen at the Belfry in A Tender Thing. They are both multi-Jessie-award-winners and are two of the co-creators of the celebrated play The Number 14.

Aren Okemaysim

Aleita Northey

AARON

WYNN

Why I Chose This Play Hrothgar Mathews

Jill Daum

WAYNE

PLAYWRIGHT

John Mann SONGS

It made me laugh. It made me cry. And it surprised me.

I first encountered this play two and a half years ago at the Vancouver Fringe Festival. Ruby Slippers Theatre – led by the indefatigable Diane Brown – was producing a series of readings of plays by women. Playwright Jill Daum invited me to attend the reading of Forget About Tomorrow. I attended, and I was

Michael Shamata DIRECTOR

profoundly moved.

Pam Johnson SET & COSTUME DESIGNER

Jill subsequently asked me to dramaturg her play for her.

(Dramaturgy is the process of determining what a playwright wants to say – and how best to help them say it.) I immediately accepted – feeling incredibly flattered and excited.

The journey since that time has been extremely intimate. And extremely impactful. Watching Jill with her husband, John, has

Bryan Kenney LIGHTING DESIGNER

Candelario Andrade

James Coomber

PROJECTION DESIGNER

SOUND DESIGNER

been beyond moving – beyond impressive – it has been aweinspiring.

And yet this play stands on its own two feet; it is an entity unto itself. It is a work of fiction that is filled with humanity and love.

It is as filled with love, and hope for the future, as the beautiful relationship between Jill and John.

Michael Shamata, Artistic Director Tickets 250-385-6815

Caryn Fehr STAGE MANAGER

Christopher Sibbald ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER

LIVE EVENTS

—

Throughout Forget About Tomorrow we’ll host a number of events that

Belfry Librarian

will deepen your theatre experience or just plain astound you.

The wonderful librarians from the Greater Victoria Public Library have compiled a list of books to help you get even

B4PLAY

more out of our production of Forget About Tomorrow

SATURDAY, JANUARY 20 AT 11 AM

Free Event. Join us in Studio A for a live talk show hosted by CBC Radio’s Gregor Craigie, featuring Michael Shamata, Jill Daum, Dr. Marjorie Moulton, and Dr. Stuart MacDonald.

AFTERPLAY Facilitated discussions – audience member to audience member – will follow every evening performance of Forget About Tomorrow (except Opening Night and Talkback Thursday). These are a great opportunity to share your thoughts and hear fellow patrons’ reactions to the production and the ideas it presents.

TALKBACK THURSDAY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1

Meet some of the actors post-performance when they return to the stage to answer questions and provide insight into the play.

BELFRY BOOKSMACK MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5 AT 7:30 PM

Get Booksmacked! Come out for an evening of great book, music, audiobook and film recommendations with GVPL’s finest. Bring your library card to sign out material on the spot. Free Event.

VOCALEYE SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11 AT 2 PM

For our patrons with low or no vision, we offer this VocalEye performance during Forget About Tomorrow. 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.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: WORLD MUSIC CONCERT

Away From Her [DVD] The Day We Met: A Novel

by Rowan Coleman Elizabeth is Missing

by Emma Healey Faithlift [CD]

by Spirit of the West Goodbye, Vitamin

by Rachel Khong Iris [DVD]

by Richard Eyre Memory’s Last Breath: Field Notes on my Dementia

by Gerda Saunders Mom’s the Word

by Linda A. Carson, Jill Daum, Alison Kelly, Robin Nichol, Barbara Pollard and Deborah Williams

My Bonnie: How Dementia Stole the Love of my Life

by John Suchet Still Alice by Lisa Genova The Story of Forgetting

by Stefen Merrill Block The Things We Keep

by Sally Hepworth Turn of Mind

by Alice LaPlante We Are Not Ourselves

by Matthew Thomas The Wilderness: A Novel

by Samantha Harvey Compiled by Melissa Ferguson, Library Assistant, Greater Victoria Public Library

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12 AT 7 PM

In celebration of Black History Month we invite you to join us for an evening of music at the Belfry Theatre featuring award winning musicians Cathy Essombe and Patrick Bermel of the band Ardent Tribe. Drop-in. Admission by donation. Doors open at 6:30 pm. Presented in partnership with the BC Black History Awareness Society and the Greater Victoria Public Library.

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SPOTLIGHT ON SUPPORTERS

Dr. Perry & Annamaria Bamji Annamaria and Perry Bamji are an international couple who met in Banbury, Oxfordshire. He hails from Bombay and she from Milan.

They have also lived in Shizooka, Japan and Kingston, Ontario while Perry worked for Alcan International’s three Research Centers for 28 years as a research scientist. They stayed on in Kingston while Perry taught at the Queens University Smith School of Business before moving to Victoria in 2006.

Annamaria received an early exposure to philanthropy from her mother who supported orphans during wartime, and encouraged visual artists. The Bamjis are Major Donors and Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation and have been honoured as multiple Paul Harris Fellows. They created seven scholarships and bursaries at Queens University in several faculties and have become dedicated patrons of the arts in Victoria.

Annamaria has a Masters in Arts History and has written 10 plays.

Perry, who has a PhD in Electrical Engineering, has a fascination with ingenious and incongruous inventions and has taken up painting in recent years.

Dr. Perry & Annamaria Bamji / Photo by Jo-Ann Richards, Works Photography

involvement. The Bamjis made a generous multi-year pledge to

Annamaria has a broad appreciation for the performing arts, citing

support the Capital Campaign because: “The future of the company

two very different Belfry productions - Glorious (2007) and The Rez

depends on what we do today.” They are very pleased with the

Sisters (2014) - as highly memorable for her. For Perry, who enjoys

renovations, including the backlit stained-glass windows, and the

the visual elements of plays as well as fast-paced choreography,

addition of a new play library in the lobby, commenting that: “The

Onegin was a stand-out.

foyer is where people meet and talk and if the ambience is great,

When asked why they support the Belfry, Annamaria jokes: “Well

people will enjoy spending time there.”

we are in a church: I’m Catholic!” They cite Michael Shamata and

Thank you Annamaria and Perry for your outstanding support to the

the very friendly people of the Belfry as motivation for their

Belfry and our community!

For more information on the Belfry Theatre’s $1 Million Capital Campaign, including multi-year pledges and seat name plate dedications, contact Susan Stevenson, Director of Development, at development@belfry.bc.ca or 250-385-6835 ext. 229.

Tickets 250-385-6815

Calendar Forget About Tomorrow PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

January 23 – February 18, 2018 Tuesdays – Thursdays at 7:30 pm Wednesday Matinees at 1 pm (January 31, February 7, 14) Fridays + Saturdays at 8 pm Saturday Matinees at 4 pm Sunday Matinees at 2 pm Free Childcare – Saturday, January 27 at 4pm / Sunday, February 4 at 2 pm Audience Engagement Schedule B4PLAY · Saturday, January 20 at 11 am TALKBACK THURSDAY · February 1 AFTERPLAY · Following all

evening performances* VOCALEYE · Described performance

Sunday, February 11 at 2 pm * Except opening night and Talkback Thursday

How to buy tickets By telephone 250 385 6815

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

Online

Visit belfry.bc.ca/tickets and buy your tickets online, anytime.

In person

PENDULUM February 23 & 24 · Belfry Theatre

Pendulum: An Indigenous Showcase is a multidisciplinary showcase that will present both traditional and contemporary Indigenous performances from across Canada.

Produced by Lindsay Delaronde, the Indigenous Artist in Residence for the City of Victoria, in partnership with the Belfry Theatre.

Tickets available at our Box Office - 250-385-6815.

Drop by our Box Office.

We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, debit card, cheques, and, of course, cash.

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Up Next

TORQUIL CAMPBELL (TRUE CRIME), DANIEL MACIVOR (WHO KILLED SPALDING GRAY?), NORAH SADAVA AND AMY NOSTBAKKEN (MOUTHPIECE) AND ERIC ROSE, MATTHEW WADDELL AND DAVID VAN BELLE (TOMORROW'S CHILD) HEADLINE THE BELFRY'S 2018 SPARK FESTIVAL.

PRODUCTION SPONSOR

PUBLIC FUNDERS

Belfry Theatre 1291 GLADSTONE AVENUE VICTORIA, BC

V8T 1G5

WWW.BELFRY.BC.CA/SPARK

250-385-6815

SEASON SPONSORS