Welcome back to the Belfry and our new production of Mieko Ouchi’s touching comedy, Burning Mom.
This is the story of Mieko Ouchi’s mother, Dorothy, and the pilgrimage she makes after the unexpected death of her husband. To the surprise—and distress—of her children, she announces that she wants to take the 26-foot-long RV that she and her husband purchased for a retirement tour and drive to the Burning Man Festival in the middle of the desert. It turns out to be an odyssey of self-discovery.
This is the Belfry debut for acclaimed playwright and director Mieko Ouchi.
We are thrilled to welcome back Susinn McFarlen, who is playing Dorothy. Susinn has starred in several Belfry productions including Harbour House, A Perfect Ganesh, Sexy Laundry, Urinetown: The Musical, and on the edge
As always, we look forward to seeing you at the theatre.
Land Acknowledgement
The Belfry Theatre is on the land of the People, known today as the Songhees and Kosapsum Nations. The people have been keepers of this land for millennia and we offer them our respect and gratitude for our presence on this territory.
B4 Play
(In-person + Online)
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 AT 11 AM
BMO Studio Theatre, 1291 Gladstone Avenue
Our live talk show hosted by CBC Radio’s Gregor Craigie and featuring artists from the upcoming show, along with experts from the community, has been designed to provide insight into each Mainstage production.
Each event is held the Saturday before Opening, is free to attend, live-streamed on Facebook, and is available as a podcast on our website.
To reserve free tickets, please call our Box Office at 250385-6815.
WWW.BELFRY.BC.CA 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.
Join Us instagram.com/belfrytheatre facebook.com/belfrytheatre vimeo.com/belfrytheatre twitter.com/belfrytheatre
Burning Mom is generously supported by
Tickets 250-385-6815 / tix.belfry.bc.ca
BELFRY THEATRE 1291 GLADSTONE AVENUE
VICTORIA, BC
V8T 1G5
Upstage is supported by
Michael Shamata and Gregor Craigie
Photo by Don Craig
Burning For You
How our journey to Burning Man helped fuel Fernwood’s artistic transformation
By John Threlfall
Look around Fernwood today and you’ll see a neighbourhood enlivened by community-engaged art: the wishing tree, little free libraries, so many murals and, of course, all those painted telephone poles. But while Fernwood has always been funky, it took a trip to Burning Man to bring one of the neighbourhood’s most defining creative features into being.
In early 1999, I was sharing one of Fernwood’s then-dilapidated/ now-gentrified Victorian houses with my then-girlfriend/now-wife Beth and a rotating crew of friends and roommates; back in those carefree raver days, this eclectic mix of workers and students always seemed up for a bit of mind-expanding partying. I had read an article in Wired about a relatively new festival called Burning Man that was quite literally lighting up Nevada’s Black Rock Desert with music, art and fire; around the same time, I also started hearing murmurs about it through the electronica community, this thing that was like a rave but based on a core principle of radical self-reliance.
Teetering on the cusp of the millennium, we were intrigued enough to take Prince’s advice and party like it was 1999 (because it was), so Beth and I each plunked down $65 USD and joined 23,000 other seekers making the trek to “the playa” that summer. (By way of comparison, 87,000 people paid $900 USD to attend Burning Man in 2025.) Now that Burning Man’s 30-year public history has been so heavily documented by mainstream and social media, it’s hard
to imagine a time when it was ever mysterious; but cell phones and the internet had yet to dominate in 1999, so we didn’t really know what to expect. But when we received our tickets and official “Survival Guide” in the mail — which came with the warning “YOU VOLUNTARILY ASSUME THE RISK OF SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH BY ATTENDING” — we knew we were in for more than just a desert rave.
With our accommodation arranged (1979 Dodge camper van), we readied ourselves to make the 2,600-kilometre round trip and survive a week in a 16-square-kilometre slice of the high-altitude Black Rock Desert, where temperatures range from 0 to 42 C. This meant being prepared for sun (SPF 50), cold (overcoat), dust (masks, goggles), wind (rebar, sledgehammer), dehydration (hydration backpacks, six 20-litre water jugs), distance (bikes) and dancing (a wide range of PVC, fun-fur and glittery spandex). But that was all just gear: the experience was something else again.
During our inaugural week, we lay on a bed of nails, got spray-dyed head-to-foot, checked out a sex-swing camp, watched a symphony of fire cannons, danced on the hull of a surfacing submarine, witnessed a man catch lightning from a truck-size tesla coil, came face-to-face with a 10-foot praying mantis, narrowly escaped being trapped in a wind-toppled bank of porta potties, rode our bikes with eyes closed across a desert so vast and flat that it showed the curvature of the earth and shed tears of cathartic joy as a 20-foot wooden effigy burned to glowing embers.
PHOTO: MIKE NELSON / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)
It’s a ridiculous understatement to say we were both changed by our first year at Black Rock City: while the dust, glitter and exhaustion we brought back with us came as no surprise, we never anticipated how our sense of art and community would be utterly transformed as well. (“Art” being the best term to apply to the innumerable hands-on installations and happenings we encountered, day and night.) Before going to Burning Man, art was something we generally saw in a gallery; now, we knew it could also be a creative experience that exponentially engaged a community.
Like many converted Burners, our one-time trip turned into a multiyear commitment which only stopped so we could start our family (our home-birthed kids were quite literally born and raised less than two blocks from the Belfry). And although we haven’t been back to Black Rock City since our playa marriage in 2001, our spirits have never stopped burning: we still strive to bring Burning Man’s creative lessons into our lives — and community — on a daily basis.
Having swapped roommates and raves for children and playdates, we started looking at our own post-burn community through the rose-coloured dust of our playa goggles and saw it shine with creative potential. Back in the early 2000s, Fernwood was suffering from a blight of unsightly graffiti, particularly on the telephone poles lining the main drag. Brandishing her artistic licence, Beth painted the pole outside our rental home, which intrigued our neighbours and led to another, then another, then . . . ka-boom! Having experienced first-hand how creativity could make a desert bloom with art, we realized we could apply those same skills: so it was that the Pole Painting Project was born and Fernwood (indeed, Victoria) would never look the same again.
From hands-on pole painting and community mural projects to cardboard castles, little free libraries, extravagant Halloween driveway installations, collaborations with both neighbourhood associations and the simple but still radical act of having conversations with strangers, the three years we spent at Burning Man have now fueled over 20 years of creative contributions to Fernwood. Ideas born in that crucible of dust and self-reliance have given us both the initiative and confidence to engage others in bringing our creative concepts to life. Some call it community building; to us, it’s just magic.
While Beth and I are intimately familiar with how Burning Man changed our own lives (we’re still finding traces of playa dust nearly 25 years later!), people are often surprised to discover how our time in Black Rock City also transformed Fernwood itself. And as long as our own creativity keeps burning bright, that’s a fire that will never die.
John Threlfall is a local writer and community builder who’d be a DJ if he was 30 years younger.
Cast & Creatives
Kirsten McGhie COSTUME DESIGNER
Why I Chose This Play
I have been a fan of Mieko Ouchi’s writing for a long time— in particular her plays The Blue Light and The Red Priest.
I love this play. I love that it’s a true story.
I love Dorothy, Mieko’s mother, her bravery and selfdetermination, on suddenly finding herself a widow.
And I loved having my preconceptions of the Burning Man Festival shattered—and replaced with a vision of genuine connection and friendship.
I love the love that Dorothy receives—and gives—in the middle of the Nevada desert.
–Michael Shamata.
Patrick Rizzotti SET DESIGNER
Susinn McFarlen DOROTHY Mieko Ouchi DIRECTOR & PLAYWRIGHT
Hina Nishioka LIGHTING DESIGNER
Ana Camacho ASSOCIATE SET DESIGNER
Kim Clegg PROJECTION DESIGNER
Ronaye Haynes STAGE MANAGER
Jessica Bournival ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
Ashley Au SOUND DESIGNER
LIVE & VIRTUAL EVENTS
Our round-up of events happening at the theatre over the next four weeks.
B4PLAY (IN-PERSON + ONLINE)
BMO Studio, 1291 Gladstone Avenue
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 AT 11 AM
Our live talk show hosted by CBC Radio’s Gregor Craigie and featuring artists from the upcoming show, along with experts from the community, has been designed to provide insight into each Mainstage production.
Each event is held the Saturday before Opening, is free to attend, live-streamed on Facebook, and is available as a podcast on our website.
To reserve free tickets, please call our Box Office at 250-385-6815.
TALKBACK THURSDAY
NOVEMBER 13, FOLLOWING THE PERFORMANCE
Following the third Thursday performance of each show, actors return to the stage to answer your questions and provide insight into the play you have just experienced. These Q & A sessions last approximately 20 minutes.
VOCALEYE
NOVEMBER 16 AT 2 PM (IN-PERSON EVENT WITH TOUCH TOUR & SOCIAL AFTER)
For patrons with low or no vision, we offer one VocalEye performance during most Mainstage productions. 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. For more information, call the Box Office at 250-385-6815
Belfry Librarian
A selection of books inspired by the Belfry Theatre’s Fall 2025 production of Meiko Ouchi’s play about her mother Dorothy’s trip to Burning Man after the unexpected death of her husband.
The Vanlife Companion by Ed Bartlett
This is Burning Man : The Rise of a New American Underground by Brian Doherty
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
Subculture Vulture: A Memoir in Six Scenes by Moshe Kasher
Vanlife Diaries: Finding Freedom on the Open Road by Kathleen Morton
Burning Mom by Meiko Ouchi
Wonder Seeker: 52 Ways to Wake up Your Creativity + Find Your Joy by Andrea Scher
Radical Ritual: How Burning Man Changed the World by Neil Shister
Desert to Dream: A Decade of Burning Man Photography by Barbara Traub
This booklist has been created especially for you by Tracy Kendrick, a GVPL Librarian working in the Readers’, Writers & Storytellers Pillar, October 2025
SPOTLIGHT ON SUPPORTERS: Jeanette McRae & Joan Cotie
When Jeanette and Joan first crossed paths 30 years ago at a union meeting in Ottawa, they knew right away they were destined to be together. Many years, compromises, and pets later, Joan continues her work as a family, human rights, and workplace arbitrator and mediator, while Jeanette takes care of their gardens and their animals, including dogs, cats and two horses.
The couple came to attend the Belfry when their theatre-loving friend Alan Geoffrey White invited them to join him to see some shows. Mary’s Wedding brought them to tears, while Two Pianos Four Hands left them laughing hard and hoping to see that play again in the future.
Their friend Alan obtained legal advice to create a legacy for the Belfry, and that bequest was gratefully received after Alan passed away a decade ago.
After almost three decades of attendance at the Belfry, Jeanette and Joan let me know that they too have long had the Belfry in their estate plans. More recently, they even added the contents of their wine room to the bequest!
They chose the Belfry because they enjoy the productions so much. And, as Jeanette puts it, “theatre is such a broadening experience. It opens your mind to other ways of thinking and living.” They also like that the Belfry is
developing opportunities for Canadian artists. They praise our Pay What You Want program as a wonderful way to make the arts viable to all members of the community, regardless of economic capacity.
Jeanette credits their late friend Alan with first inspiring her to support the Belfry: “He opened my eyes to theatre and showed us how wonderful it could be.”
Their story illustrates the “friend raising” that people quietly do for the Belfry, making it possible for the theatre to survive and thrive for half a century.
For information on joining the Belfry Legacy Circle or supporting the Belfry, contact Susan Stevenson, Director of Development at 250-385-6835 ext. 229 or susan.stevenson@belfry.bc.ca
Burning Mom
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
October 28 – November 23, 2025
Tuesdays – Thursdays at 7:30 pm
Friday & Saturdays at 8 pm
Wednesday Matinees at 1 pm (November 5, 12 and 19)
Saturday Matinees at 4 pm
Sunday Matinees at 2 pm
Audience Engagement Schedule
B4PLAY (In-person + Online)
Saturday, October 25 at 11 am
TALKBACK THURSDAY (In Person) Thursday, November 13 following the performance.
VOCALEYE
Sunday, November 16 at 2 pm (in-person event with Touch Tour & Social after)
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.
and buy your tickets online, anytime.
DECEMBER 2— 21, 2025
“Burkett is a legend of Canadian Theatre… a total force”
—Intermission Magazine
Rated R: 16+
Created and Performed by RONNIE BURKETT
Musical Arrangements by JOHN ALCORN Stage Managed by CRYSTAL SALVERDA
