Through the Looking Glass by the Summer Theatre Troupe

Director’s Notes

It is such a joy and a privilege to be creating theatre with the inspiring young souls of the Summer Theatre Troupe at Place des Arts! Through the LookingGlass is a journey of the imagination, as Alice declares at the beginning of the story: “Let’s pretend!” And thus she invites us to follow alongside on her dreamlike journey as she enters the world of the looking-glass, where the absurdities and challenges of growing up in the real world are reflected through the mind’s eye of a child. Upon discovering that this new adventure is much like a chess game, Alice sets off on her journey to become a queen. Our audiences will move right along with her, encountering talking flowers and animals, stern queens and silly knights, and familiar characters such as Tweedledum, Tweedledee and Humpty Dumpty!

Lindsay Price’s adaptation of this playful and surreal story highlights the poetry of Lewis Carroll, providing a wonderful opportunity to explore choral work and movement, and this young troupe has thrown themselves into these ridiculous roles and sometimes nonsensical language with playful abandon. And that truly opens the door to creativity – play is as the heart of all we do. Let’s pretend, indeed!

The Creative Team

Director – Mike Stack

Production Designer – Midori O’Connor

Stage Manager – Amy Bell

Assistant Stage Manager and Props – Janavi Chawla

Sound Designer – Shona Struthers

Mural Designer – Jocelyn Sanchez

The Company

Gus Setala-Gay.....Larkspur / Tweedledum / Humpty Dumpty / Red Knight

Hana Lowey..........................................Daisies / Sheep / Haigha

Indah Del Bianco..................................Alice

Ioana Lazar...........................................Tiger-lily / White King

Luke Ablett...........Violet / Train Guard / Tweedledee / Hatta / White Knight

Onyx Schwengler................................Red Queen / Lion

Rosemary Diab.....................................Rose / White Queen / Unicorn

Map of your journey with Alice!

Mike Stack – Director

Mike is extremely grateful to have the opportunity to create and play with the STT at Place des Arts. A theatre educator, performer and director, his extensive experience with young people includes leading programs for Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, Mortal Coil Performance, Carousel Theatre, Templeton Secondary and throughout the Lower Mainland home learning community. As a performer, he has worked with Bard on the Beach, Arts Club, Axis Theatre, Carousel, Gateway, Touchstone Theatre, Ruby Slippers, Pi Theatre and the Vancouver Playhouse, among others, and has been fortunate enough to tour throughout North America as well as overseas. He also serves as an adjudicator of Speech Arts at festivals throughout British Columbia and Alberta. Mike is a multiple Jessie Award nominee and recipient and a Studio 58 Professional Theatre training program graduate.

Midori O’Connor – Production Designer

Midori is in her final year at UBC studying Theatre: Design and Production and this will be her first show as the Lead Designer. She has years of experience building sets, props and costumes for a variety of UBC main stage shows as well as smaller productions and has been a Stage Manager and Assistant Stage Manager on many performances both at and outside of UBC. Some of her more recent credits include Stage Manager – The How and the Why (Aenigma Theatre), Assistant Costume Designer – The Birds (UBC), Stage Manager – Parliament of the Birds (UBC), Assistant Stage Manager – Something Rotten (Theatre Under The Stars), & Assistant Stage Manager – Coriolanus (UBC).

Amy Bell – Stage Manager

Amy (she/her) is an emerging Stage Manager in the Lower Mainland living and working on the unceded territory of the Kwikwetlem First Nations land for this year’s Summer Theatre Troupe (STT) production. She is very excited to be stage managing this year’s production. Amy is a graduate of Douglas Colleges’ Stagecraft program. Previous Stage Management credits include Mad Forest (Douglas College Fall 2022), Nosegate (Vancouver Fringe Festival 2022), From Now to Nowhere (STT 2022), Light Rapid Transit (Coffeehouse Theatre presented at rEvolver Fest) and an upcoming production for Vancouver Fringe Festival!

Janavi Chawla

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Assistant Stage Manager and Props

Janavi (she/they) is a theatre artist living and working on the stolen, traditional and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəyəm (Musqueam), Sḵwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. She is grateful to have the opportunity to be the Assistant Stage Manager for the Summer Theatre Troupe’s 2023 production. This will be her first time working at Place des Arts and is excited to be collaborating with an incredible cast and crew. Past production credits include crew for Polar Opposites (Burnaby Arts Council), Sound Board Op. for Six of One: New Play Festival (Studio 58), and Stage Manager for CATS: Creating a Transformative Space (Studio 58). Janavi is an acting student at Studio 58 and will be starting her final term in fall.

Shona Struthers – Sound Designer

Honour company member, an actor, Intermediate FDC Actor Combatant, Advanced BADC Actor Combatant and sound designer. They have sound designed for Alley Theatre, Pacific Theatre, Presentation House Theatre, Arts Umbrella, Western Gold, Affair of Honor, Stone’s Throw Productions, The Show Must Go Online.

Gus Setala-Gay

Gus is very excited to be a part of Through the Looking Glass. Most recently, they played the lead role of Phil in DNA by Dennis Kelly as a student at Theatre Temp. Gus has been involved in Carousel Theatre’s Teen Shakespeare Program and Arts Umbrella’s Pre-professional theatre programs and Young Directors program. They have had the privilege of working with the director previously and know that this year’s production will be exciting and fun for the actors and audience alike. Gus would like to thank their high school theatre & film teachers from Templeton for their support over the years. Gus is looking forward to starting the Theatre Arts program at Langara’s Studio 58 in September.

Hana Lowey

Hana is 16 years old and in his first year of STT. He’s been a part of Into the Woods tech and as Ensemble in The Prom (at Gleneagle Secondary) as well as a few short shows like Cheque Please. Since they were 10 they’ve had an interest in theatre and performing arts and are eager to pursue it as a future career as it’s given him so much joy. They’re extremely grateful for the opportunity to perform with an amazing cast and crew this summer at PdA and they hope you enjoy the show!

Indah Del Bianco

Indah is 18 years old and in her fifth and final year of the Summer Theatre Troupe. Indah has been acting and creating with Place des Arts for the past 8 years and is about to enter into her first year of the Theatre Performance program at Simon Fraser University. Some of her previous performances include The Prom, From Now to Nowhere, Into the Woods, Youthless: It’s a bit Grimm, Rent, Second Star to the Right, Legally Blond, The Windsinger, Dear Edwina Jr, The Chrysalids, The Little Mermaid Jr, and James and the Giant Peach Jr. Indah is honoured to be a part of this wonderful program again and to work alongside the talented cast & crew!

Ioana Lazar

Ioana is 16 and attending Port Moody Secondary. She has loved acting ever since primary school, and recently played the part of Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Girl in Check Please and Carrie in The Audition. In middle school, she was part of the school choir, and has been taking the Theatre Acting Course for two years. Ioana feels making meaningful connections is one of her favourite parts about theatre, and taking theatre as a class is how she have met some of her best friends! In her free time, she likes to hike, go to the movies and play volleyball. She is excited to join STT and meet new people who share the love for theatre.

Luke Ablett

Luke fell in love with the theatrical arts and performing at the age of four. Favourite credits include: Peter Pan (The Act Theatre, Maple Ridge, 2016), Newsies (The Act Theatre, Maple Ridge, 2017), The Greatest Showman (The Act Theatre, Maple Ridge, 2018), James and the Giant Peach (Archbishop Carney Theatre, 2020), That’s Not How I Remember It (METfest, 2021), Little Shop Of Horrors (Archbishop Carney Theatre, 2022), Appropriate Audience Behavior (METfest, 2022) and Arsenic And Old Lace (Archbishop Carney Theatre, 2023). Luke has been enjoying working hard and appreciates the blessing to be working with both old, new and very talented friends. Luke would like to thank his family, Deb Solberg, Charles Harris and the Place des Arts’ STT for helping him on his journey to this moment.

Onyx (they/them) is a 16-year-old actor, singer, dancer, technician and director based in Langley. They received voice instruction from Peter Jorgensen and dance training through Lindbjerg Academy. Over the years, Onyx has appeared in over 15 productions; some of their favorite credits include The Lion King (Delta Youth Theatre), Matilda (Delta Youth Theatre), Moana (Delta Youth Theatre), Newsies (Delta Youth Theatre), Cinderella (CTORA), Little Mermaid (CTORA) and Peter Pan (CTORA). They have won numerous awards, and scholarships as well as numerous gold and silver standings from music festivals all throughout the lower mainland. Most recently, they directed a play that was performed at the Provincial Drama Festival in New Westminster. Many thanks to everyone who has helped them reach where they are today, including their instructors, mentors, friends & family.

Rosemary Diab

Rosemary is delighted to be joining the Summer Theatre Troupe for her first summer here at Place des Arts. Her favourite roles include Dill Grover in Align Entertainment’s A Christmas Story, Gomez Addams in the Addams Family, Michael Banks in Mary Poppins and Molly in Annie. She has studied musical theatre and dance at Lindbjerg Academy for the past nine years as well as trained for film and TV acting at the Tri-Cities Film Studio for multiple years. Rosemary has been in a few recent short films, including Invidious and Sestra. She also studies singing with Elaine Lindbjerg and Kimberly Markarian, and recently competed in the Performing Arts Provincials in Penticton, BC where she received an Honourable Mention. She would like to thank her family and friends for their support, as well as Michael Fera and Mike Stack for this opportunity.

THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS!

Thank you to Jessica Anne Nelson for her work as Intimacy & Consent Consultant and the wonderful crew at Place des Arts that helped make this show happen. Another huge thank you to all the amazing volunteers including Nathan Lu, Michelle Guo, Emma Nakendish, Miukee Yip, Alicia Zhou, Ethan Tam, Irene Lim and Amanda Lan Ting Zhang that helped with set building and more. Also thanks to Jocelyn Sanchez, Jessica Stanley and Artin Gill for their work on the mural.

Supported by Hamber Foundation, Port Coquitlam Community Foundation and Trans Mountain

Produced by special arrangement with Theatrefolk (theatrefolk.com)

INTERESTED IN STUDYING THEATRE?

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Classes in our 2023/2024 season include:

• Coquitlam Youth Musical Theatre, Coquitlam Youth Theatre

• Acting 101

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Visit placedesarts.ca to register today and explore our other programs for all ages in the visual, literary and performing arts.