Upstage Magazine - The Best Brothers & How to Disappear Completely Issue

upstage the Belfry Theatre – an insider’s guide

January / March 2015 books / my life with a dog theatre / why these plays? spark / first look

www.belfry.bc.ca

DOUBLE BILL

Belfry Theatre

volume 1 / issue 3

The Best Brothers is a touching

hello Welcome to the Belfry, the new year and our productions of The Best Brothers and How To Disappear Completely.

Contemporary, topical, charming and funny, these two very different plays share a common theme of mother-son relationships.

How To Disappear Completely comes to us from Vancouver’s Chop Theatre. This talented group of artists collaborated with Itai, using his film footage and incredible gift of the gab, to create a beautiful and brave homage to his mother that has toured internationally.

Daniel MacIvor’s The Best Brothers has been called his best play yet.

new comedy by Daniel MacIvor. A freak accident at Toronto’s Gay Days Parade leaves Bunny Best’s sons to mourn her, to celebrate her and to ponder the big questions like “who did she like best?” and “who gets the dog?”

How To Disappear Completely is a remarkable play from

Vancouver’s Itai Erdal. Blending his love for lighting design and the true story of his mother in her final days, Itai and his collaborators have created one of the most loving and compelling stories you will ever see.

We’d love you to join us for a Double Bill evening at the Belfry.

Tickets are on sale now at 250-385-6815 or at www.belfry.bc.ca Thanks.

B4Play Saturday, january 24 at 11am Belfry Theatre Studio A 1291 Gladstone Avenue Join CBC Radio’s Gregor Craigie for a live talk show featuring the Best Brothers – actors Ron Pederson and John Ullyatt – Anita Rochon from Chop Theatre and some very special community guests.

Free event.

our thanks to production sponsors for the best brothers and how to disappear completely –

who we are – Upstage is the Belfry Theatre’s new magazine. Our goal is to give you a leisurely, deeper look into our productions. With your tablet or computer you can view our expanded digital version of Upstage on our website or at issuu.com/belfry-theatre.

upstage the Belfry Theatre – an insider’s guide

January / March 2015 books / my life with a dog theatre / why these plays? spark / first look

www.belfry.bc.ca

DOUBLE BILL

Belfry Theatre

volume 1 / issue 3

UPSTAGE is supported by –

‘‘

Collage is pieces of things.

Their edges don’t meet.

itai erdal in how to disappear completely / photo by emily cooper

Co-creator and director James Long takes us on a journey through the creation of How To Disappear Completely.

Nina Michelson wrote the above quote and I am a big fan of the thought. It reminds me that any attempt to separate fiction and non-fiction in art is becoming increasingly difficult; that the massive amounts of information available to us is for the taking and reordering as we see fit; that it’s not always about the stuff that is said, but also the stuff that doesn’t exist – the stuff in the pauses, the stutters, the breaths.

The quote also confirms for me that every piece of theatre is an act of collaborative storytelling shared equally between its creators and its audience, an act of sharing that happens in the gaps as much as the material. This is especially true when telling true stories – and I do italicize true, as truth is in constant and delightful flux in this realm of edges not quite meeting.

This is not to suggest How to Disappear Completely is not true.

It happened to Itai and his family, he lived through the events, he made the choices. We as creators met for many weeks in the

box office / information 250-385-6815 www.belfry.bc.ca/tickets

studio, we sifted through these events as they were told to us, we built a script and meticulously fleshed out details to help with clarity. Still, any ultimate truth remains in motion for the simple reason that everything changes the moment an audience hears it.

The audience member fills in the gaps. Every word an actor offers an audience member should be offered under the contract that there is nothing passive to sitting out there in the dark. The act of watching is an act of translation – of a person taking the thoughts and movements of the actor and measuring them against and within the context of their own life experiences.

This translation is a great liberator in creating these objects we call documentary-theatre, since it allows us to tell as many stories as there are people to hear them. And in the case of Itai – there are already endless amounts of stories. For well over half of the process of making How to Disappear Completely we spent the first hour of every day writing outlines for new shows, complete

jan / mar 2015

why I chose these plays

(collage is pieces of things... continued )

with stage directions, design elements, titles and characters. Not only did we have enough material for a 10 hour mini-series, it felt essential that in the case of a show that dealt with such specific issues and weighty emotional baggage, we find a way to include as many narrative angles and textures as possible. As a director (working with a great dramaturge in The Chop’s Anita Rochon), my primary tasks became first to organize the material to allow for as complete and complex a story as possible, and then to insert the correct amount of gaps or breathing spaces in the story to allow for individual audience experience.

In this kind of work, I like to leave the mechanics of the theatre as visible as possible. As we approach Opening I spend as much time roughing up moments as I do polishing, in the belief that the broken bits or rough edges are essential in reminding the audience of their job as active listener, that they are sitting in a shared space and they too get to create the story. It is this collaboration that keeps me working and watching the theatre. The rough edges and broken bits. I want to activate and engage and I want to play with others. For me, this is what keeps the art alive and breathing.

James Long is a Vancouver based actor, director and playwright.

When programming for the Belfry Theatre, I look for plays that are entertaining and smart and that help us to see the world from different perspectives. Both of the plays in our Double Bill exemplify these qualities.

Daniel MacIvor wrote The Best Brothers as a commission for the Stratford Festival, and they produced it in their Studio Theatre during the 2012 Season.

I saw that production and immediately felt that this was a play for the Belfry. It is one

story highlights Emelia Symington Fedy, one of the co-creators of How To Disappear Completely, will perform her live performance yoga piece, Through The Gaze of a Navel, at this year’s SPARK Festival in March.

Buddy, Daniel MacIvor’s Italian Greyhound, is the inspiration for Enzo in The Best Brothers.

The Stratford Festival’s premiere production of The Best Brothers was remounted at the Tarragon Theatre.

of the funniest plays I have ever seen, while at the same time possessing a simple, sweet-natured charm, and delivering surprisingly moving lessons for life.

Long an observer of contemporary relationships, with all their attendant neurotic behaviour, bad manners and defensiveness, Daniel has, with this play, added a gentleness and wisdom that makes his writing even more accessible and affecting. It even makes his humour – always in abundant evidence – that much more hilarious; we know and understand these characters, and are embarrassed and anxious for them both.

Daniel MacIvor has long been one of this country’s most prolific and respected playwrights. Winner of the Siminovitch Prize for Theatre and the Governor General’s Award for English Language Theatre, he is equally successful as an actor, director and screenwriter. Itai Erdal, on the other hand, the writer and performer at the centre of

cast & creatives THE BEST BROTHERS

Ron Pederson Kyle Best

John Ullyatt Hamilton Best

Daniel MacIvor playwright

Glynis Leyshon director

Peter Hartwell set & costume designer

Guy Simard lighting designer

Brian Linds sound designer

Itai Erdal performer / co-creator / lighting designer

James Long co-creator / director

Anita Rochon co-creator / dramaturge

Emelia Symington Fedy co-creator / sound designer

Jamie Nesbitt projection designer

Caryn Fehr stage manager

Erin Crowley assistant stage manager

HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY

jan / mar 2015

box office / information 250-385-6815 www.belfry.bc.ca/tickets

How To Disappear Completely, is a first-time writer and first-time performer.

Throughout his theatrical career, Itai has primarily been occupied as a lighting designer – and very successfully.

An award-winning designer, he has worked here at the Belfry and right across the country, including the Stratford Festival, where he lit the original production of The Best Brothers. With his collaborators at The Chop Theatre – Jamie, Anita and Emelia – he has turned this very personal story into an examination of relationships, life and death, art, and lighting design.

What is most astounding and engaging about How To Disappear Completely is Itai’s performance – or lack thereof!

I cannot figure out how he manages to be so real onstage – so totally himself. He has performed How To Disappear Completely innumerable times (including a run at the Stratford Festival – this is a very Stratford Double Bill!), and yet he has not created

a “version” of himself that he presents to audiences. He presents himself – exactly the way he is when you meet him in a bar or when working with him on a show. His immediacy and truthfulness are the source of this production’s charm, and one of the reasons we are so willing to take this journey with him.

I could have programmed How To Disappear Completely as part of the SPARK Festival – it is new and unique enough to fit that mandate. However, I was convinced that our Mainstage audiences would love this piece as much as I do, and I wanted to ensure that as many as possible would see it. And so we have this unique evening of two plays, connected by their theme of mother-son relationships, by their charm and intelligence, and by creative artists who have been part of seasons past, returning with new gifts to share with us.

belfry librarian We’ve unleashed the GVPL Librarians on our season scripts.

For this Double Bill our Librarian has compiled a list of books to help you get even more out of our production.

The Best Brothers book list This is Where I Leave You

by Jonathan Tropper (2009) Bad Dogs Have More Fun

by John Grogan (2007)

B4Play Podcasts If you can’t make B4Play in person you can hear the full interviews on our website (the respective show page) and our SoundCloud page – soundcloud.com/belfrytheatre.

Select segments from B4Play will air (usually during our opening week) on CBC Radio’s On The Island.

FREE CHILDCARE PERFORMANCE Sunday, feb 8 During select Sunday matinee performances, we offer free, professional childcare (ages 3 –10) at the Springridge Early Childhood Centre at 1222 Gladstone Avenue, just a block from the Belfry (free parking is available right across the street in the Victoria High School Parking lot).

We only have a limited number of spots available. To book your tickets and a spot for your kids, please call our Box Office at 250-385-6815.

AFTERPLAY WEEKS feb 3 – 7 / feb 17 – 21 Following selected performances of The Best Brothers / How To Disappear Completely, we’ll host Afterplay – a facilitated discussion where patrons can share their thoughts with fellow audience members. It’s a chance to “debrief” after the show and hear how other audience members experienced the play.

TALKBACK THURSDAY Thursday, feb 5 Following the 8 pm performance of The Best Brothers / How To Disappear Completely, join the actors from the show and your fellow audience members for a 20-minute Q & A session.

Michael Shamata Artistic Director

The Art of Racing in the Rain

by Garth Stein (2008) books

get engaged

Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog

by John Grogan (2005) Dogs Make us Human: A Global Family Album

by J. Moussaief Masson (2011) How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through Puppyhood and Beyond

by Cesar Millan (2009) Why Does My Dog Act That Way?

by Stanley Coren (2006)

How to Disappear Completely book list Extraordinary

by David Gilmour (2013) The Last Lecture

by Randy Pausch (2008) Manatees and Dugongs of the World

by Jeff Ripple (1999)

Get Social Follow us on facebook or twitter to learn more during the run of The Best Brothers and How To Disappear Completely.

Stage Lighting Explained

by Neil Fraser (2002) Mothers and Sons

by Colm Toibin (2007) List Compiled by Librarian Hannah Mitchell, GVPL.

www.belfry.bc.ca

SPARK festival news Our annual SPARK Festival starts March 9 and we want to let you know about some of the things we have planned so far.

Check our website for more details as they become available.

Free Play Readings Billy Nothin’ by Sean Dixon Monday, March 9, 7 pm Play reading TBA Monday, March 16, 7 pm Free Miniplays This year’s crop of miniplays are inspired by the work of Theatre SKAM, and the miniplayers are: Charles Ross Impulse Theatre Rebecca Hass Barbara Poggemiller Youth from Kate Rubin’s Theatre and Drama School Zopyra Theatre Professional Development Workshops Introduction to Sound Design with Brian Linds Mask Making with Laura Farn Physical Approaches to Character with Jo Leslie Midway Toga Party! Saturday, March 14 Come as your favourite God, Goddess or plebe.

“

MEET Joan peggs, volunteer and Belfry supporter extraordinaire

Joan Peggs started volunteering for the Belfry in 1976, the year after the theatre opened!

In those days the concession booth was located at the back of the seating area; Joan watched the performances perched on a stool behind the concession counter.

A play that stands out for Joan is the one-woman show Maggie & Pierre, written by Linda Griffiths and Paul Thompson. Patricia Oatman, who performed in the Belfry production, was absolutely outstanding, says Joan,

The Belfry supports a huge infrastructure, job-wise, in Victoria.

playing both Pierre and Margaret Trudeau.

As someone who has been coming to the theatre for almost four decades, it always surprises Joan when she meets long-time Victorians who are visiting the Belfry for their first time. One reason she believes in the value of the theatre? “The Belfry supports a huge infrastructure, job-wise, in Victoria.”

Joan commends the Belfry for its generosity to its volunteers.

But let’s take a moment to appreciate how generous

jan / mar 2015

Joan has been to the Belfry!

In addition to her volunteer work, she makes a substantial annual donation and faithfully attends every AGM as a voting member. This season, she’s joining our fundraising committee so she can help with event-planning.

We are fortunate to have Joan supporting the Belfry on all these levels. Joan is one of our 250 volunteers who welcome you to the theatre and pour you a drink at intermission. Our volunteers help us provide a welcoming

atmosphere at the Belfry, and keep our ticket prices affordable for everyone in the community.

For information on the many ways to support the Belfry Theatre, contact Development Manager Susan Stevenson at 250-385-6835, ext. 229 or development@belfry.bc.ca.

Susan Stevenson, Development Manager For the full story please see our digital version of Upstage at issuu.com/belfry-theatre

box office / information 250-385-6815 www.belfry.bc.ca/tickets

Sun

Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat

tickets on sale now at 250-385-6815 or www.belfry.bc.ca

THE BEST BROTHERS HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY

2015 B/D

JAN 18 19 20 24 11am B4Play 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 4 pm B/D

8 pm B/D P 8 pm B/D P 8 pm B/D O 8 pm B/D 8 pm B/D FEB 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2 pm B/D 1pm B/D 4 pm B/D

8 pm B/D A 8 pm B/D A 8 pm B/D T 8 pm B/D A 8 pm B/D A 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 2 pm B/D CM 1pm B/D 4 pm B/D

8 pm B/D 8 pm B/D 8 pm B/D 8 pm B/D 8 pm B/D

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.

15 16 17 18 2 pm B/D

Booksmack

7 pm 8 pm B/D A 8 pm B/D A

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 pm B/D 4 pm B/D

8 pm B/D 8 pm B/D 8 pm B/D 8 pm B/D 8 pm B/D MAR 1 2 3 4 5 2 pm B/D C

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

2014/2015 season photos by jo-ann richards / works photography • portrait of hawksley workman by TRUDIE LEE • portrait of anita majumdar BY MAX TELZEROW • design by jane francis

In Person Drop by our Box Office.

19 20 21 1pm B/D SM

4 pm B/D 8 pm B/D A 8 pm B/D A 8 pm B/D A

BOYS WITH CARS & LET ME BORROW THAT TOP Through the Gaze of a Navel THE GOD THAT COMES

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

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 7 pm

Play 8 pm Boys 8 pm Boys 8 pm Boys 8 pm Boys 8 pm Boys

Reading 8 pm Gaze 8 pm Gaze 8 pm Gaze 8 pm Gaze 8 pm Gaze 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 2 pm Boys 7 pm 2 pm Gaze Play

Reading 8 pm God 8 pm God 8 pm God 8 pm God 8 pm God

balcony

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

APR 5 6 7 8 11 11am B4Play

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 4 pm Vanya

8 pm Vanya P 8 pm Vanya P 8 pm Vanya O 8 pm Vanya 8 pm Vanya

stage

main floor

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2 pm Vanya 1pm Vanya 4 pm Vanya

8 pm Vanya A 8 pm Vanya A 8 pm Vanya T 8 pm Vanya A 8 pm Vanya A 26 27 28 29 30 MAY 1 2 2 pm Vanya CM 1pm Vanya 4 pm Vanya

8 pm Vanya 8 pm Vanya 8 pm Vanya 8 pm Vanya 8 pm Vanya 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 2 pm Vanya

1pm Vanya SM

4 pm Vanya

8 pm Vanya A 8 pm Vanya A 8 pm Vanya A 8 pm Vanya A 8 pm Vanya A 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 2 pm Vanya

4 pm Vanya

8 pm Vanya 8 pm Vanya 8 pm Vanya 8 pm Vanya 8 pm Vanya

stage

17 2 pm Vanya C P Preview O Opening C Closing A Afterplay T Talkback SM Special Student Matinee CM Childcare Matinee

coming up next – 2015

Festival

SPARK MARch 10 – 22, 2015

single tickets on sale now!

Festival Pass –

Three vouchers valid for any show during SPARK $69

THE GOD THAT COMES

BOYS WITH Through CARS & the Gaze LET ME BORROW of a Navel created by Anita Rochon THAT TOP & Emelia Symington Fedy

“““ “ created by Hawksley Workman and Christian Barry live music and performance by Hawksley Workman A tour de force...

Calgary Sun

created and performed by Anita Majumdar ... ease, elegance and intelligence.

Deepa Mehta

Danielle LaPorte,

author of The Desire Map

Belfry Theatre

250-385-6815 or www.belfry.bc.ca

APRil 14 – MAY 17, 2015

Yoga Satire. Brilliant, brash, and wickedly wise.

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

by Christopher Durang

Brainy and witty and clever and cute...

Variety

our thanks to season sponsors and government funders –

Belfry Theatre 1291 Gladstone AvEnue Victoria, BC V8T 1G5