MAINSTAGE PRESENTATIONS:

The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets
November Theatre (Edmonton)

Tom Waits, Robert Wilson and William S. Burroughs created this expressionist operetta in 1990. Based on the German folktale Der Freischütz, which also inspired Carl Maria Von Weber’s opera, The Black Rider is a dark fable of doom and bliss — a Faustian tale of addiction, loss and how love at any cost can be fatal. Staged with sensuously dark precision, this breathtaking interpretation by director Ron Jenkins and his collaborators has won the praise of audiences and critics across Canada and in New York.

Director Ron Jenkins | Musical Director Corinne Kessel | Choreographer/Assistant Director Marie Nychka | Set and Costume Designer Marissa Kochanski | Lighting Designer Michael Kruse | Performers Michele Brown, Clinton Carew, Kevin Corey, Rachael Johnston, George Szilagyi and Michael Scholar, Jr. | Musicians Liz Han, Corinne Kessel, Dale Ladouceur

Say Nothing
Ridiculusmus (London)

Written and performed by David Woods and Jon Hough
Produced by Your Imagination

January 18 – 22 8pm
Performance Works, Granville Island

Say Nothing is an irreverent slice of Northern Irish reticence, where the general rule is “whatever you say, say nothing.” Kevin, an English-Ulsterman armed with a PhD in Peace & Conflict Studies, is welcomed back to his native Ulster by a militant Orange caretaker and an Anglomaniac B&B landlady who offers breakfast, but no bed. Frustrated and appalled, his attempts to confront the truth are greeted with plastic smiles, oppressive hospitality and feel-good workshops.

FRANK
Nigel Charnock + Company (London)

Created and performed by Nigel Charnock
The Dance Centre / PuSh co-presentation

January 27 – 29 8pm
Scotiabank Dance Centre

Legendary British choreographer and performer Nigel Charnock brings the latest of his internationally renowned solos to Vancouver. Originally commissioned by the Venice Biennale, FRANK is a freewheeling blend of monologue, song and movement. FRANK is about men relating to women — or it’s not. It’s called Frank after his father and because it is nothing less than “frank” about love, death, sex and the family. Charnock skillfully mixes a wildly effervescent dance-cocktail that is outspoken, daringly physical, poignant, raw and morbidly funny.

Crime and Punishment
NeWorld Theatre (Vancouver)

Adapted by James Fagan Tait
from the novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

NeWorld Theatre / PuSh co-production
in association with Vancouver Moving Theatre

January 27 – February 6
Roundhouse Community Centre

The perfect murder is planned by Raskalnikov, an intelligent yet destitute student who compares himself to a country at war. But from the first moment of its orchestration, the crime takes on a life of its own. Who will get Raskalnikov first — the police or his conscience? James Fagan Tait’s bold vision brings to life a whimsical yet haunting musical adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s epic moral journey.

Director James Fagan Tait | Composer and Musical Director Joelysa Pankanea | Designers Itai Erdal, Bryan Pollock, Mara Gottler | Producer Camyar Chai | Performers Patti Allan, Lois Anderson, Grant Chancey, Kerry Davidson, Alex Ferguson, Maryam Ghaeni, Klisala Harrison, David Hurwitz, Gemma Issac, Kuei-Ming Lin, Steve Lytton, Andrew McNee, Kevin MacDonald, Richard Newman, Michael Paterson, Tom Pickett, Laara Sadiq, Donna Soares, Andy Toth, Savannah Walling, Elwin Xie, Alan Zinyk

The Trigger
By Carmen Aguirre

Touchstone Theatre (Vancouver)

February 2 – 12 8pm
Vancouver East Cultural Centre

This portrait of a violation and its ripples through time breaks new aesthetic ground between hard-hitting social commentary and inventive image theatre. Written by internationally acclaimed theatre artist Carmen Aguirre,The Trigger combines live music, trapeze work and stunning visuals to tell a daring story.

Directed by Katrina Dunn | Composer Dewi Minden | Set and Lighting Design Daniele Guevara | Costume Design Farnaz Khaki-Sadigh | Stage Manager David Kerr | Performers Carmen Aguirre, Courtenay Dobbie, Dewi Minden, Ajineen Sagal and Janna-Jo Scheunhage

Under The Kilt
Contemporary Scottish Playwriting Exposed

Playwrights Theatre Centre / PuSh co-presentation
(Edinburgh/Glasgow/Vancouver)

January 21 – 23
PTC Studio in Festival House, Granville Island

San Diego by David Greig – January 22 4pm

Shimmer by Linda McLean – January 23 1pm

The People Next Door by David Adam – January 23 4pm

Join local performers and directors for a weekend series of public readings featuring some of the shining examples of current trends in Scottish writing. Panel discussions and forums for exchange explore what underlies the successes of the Scottish scene and what might be learned from its example.

Under The Kilt is part of UK Today – A New View, a year-long celebration of contemporary creativity from the United Kingdom. Participants include Julie Ellen (Creative Director, Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland), Katherine Mendelsohn (Literary Manager, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh), Neil Murray (Director, Tron Theatre, Glasgow), and playwright Linda McLean.

A New Ecology for Performance
Performance Creation Canada Conference

February 4 – 6
Roundhouse Community Centre

Performance Creation Canada is a new Canada-wide network dedicated to all aspects of the creation, presentation, dissemination and documentation of original theatre, dance, music and performance art. PuSh is hosting Vancouver’s PCC conference, A New Ecology for Performance, February 4 – 6 at the Roundhouse Community Centre, in collaboration with Roundhouse staff. The conference will focus on the creation and dissemination of interdisciplinary work, building bridges between the performance art community and the city’s traditional performing artists. Join local, national and international delegates and dignitaries in a lively atmosphere of information sharing, networking, problem solving, and forward thinking about the future of our respective artistic media.

The conference includes a workshop, offered in partnership with the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance, on Saturday February 5: How to Do the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This is a unique opportunity to get a handle on what it takes to tour to the legendary original Fringe Festival, led by a seasoned group of presenters and producers who’ve done it.

SATELLITE SHOWS

Dances for a Small Stage IX
MovEnt

January 18 – 19 8pm
Crush Champagne Lounge, 1180 Granville (at Davie)

Mix fabulous contemporary dance, a downtown Vancouver cocktail lounge, and a ridiculously small stage, and find yourself at the hottest new dance series in town. Dances for a Small Stage opens the doors on a fresh, inventive approach to live dance theatre. With drinks in hand, sit back, relax and enjoy contemporary dance in an exhilarating, hip and creatively contained environment. This is new dance, made to measure.

The Empty Orchestra
Theatre Replacement

February 4 – 12 8pm
Scotiabank Dance Centre

Love can break your heart. Can the cold pull it back together again? It’s 40 below and almost everyone has left for warmer climates. Trapped in the middle of a cold snap, two broken souls huddle around opposite ends of a heating vent searching for a little warmth. A love story powered by karaoke.

Built and performed by James Long and Maiko Bae Yamamoto | Musical Direction by Veda Hille | Super Vision by Darren O’Donnell

Final Viewing
Radix Theatre

January 25 – February 5
Venue TBA

Final Viewing is a voyeuristic tour of possible cities right outside your window. One last look before the lights go out. You like to watch, don’t you? A new work from the company that brought you Box, Bewildered, SexMachine, The Sniffy the Rat Bus Tour and Half a Tank.

Created by Andrew Laurenson, Paul Ternes and Heidi Taylor | Sound design by Stefan Smulovitz

The Bacchae – an electronic opera
Screaming Weenie Productions

January 18 – 29
Open Studio (252 East 1st Ave.)

Celebrate the god of wine, theatre, and club culture with The Bacchae – an electronic opera. This original adaptation of Euripides’ tragedy is backed by driving tribal house beats, featuring performances by some of Vancouver’s best underground MC’s, R&B and spoken word performers. One part theatre, one part party – it’s a story of the battle between suffocating restraint and destructive debauchery, and the need for balance realized too late.

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San Diego is a lyrical and emotionally charged look at modern society and our universal longing for a sense of home, comfort and belonging. Scottish playwright David Greig weaves together a series of connecting and diverging stories that stretch around the globe into a single compelling narrative of tremendous scope: stories of illegal immigrants, of pilots, film stars and escort women, of the making of ‘Band on the Run’, and of Greig himself.

“Co-ordinated universal time – aeroplane time – is the only time we experience which never changes. The cabin of the aircraft is the only space where we can be certain that we belong. We have a ticket with our name on it. On the seat in front of us there is a map which shows us clearly where we are going. And we are going forwards.” – San Diego

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THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES (1987)

Screening: Friday, September 2

Winner of the Academy Award for “Best Short Film, Animated”, this cinematic gem is a true homage to nature—telling the story of one man who turns a desert into a forest. Featuring live accompaniment by Stefan Smulovitz (viola/laptop), Viviane Houle (voice), Pepe Danza (winds/percussion), and Peggy Lee (cello).

A SOLDIER’S TALE (1918)

Screening: Friday, September 2

Igor Stravinsky’s translation of the Faustian tale into a mundane context, where a soldier’s experiences as he struggles with temptation are more like our own. This is a Faust we can feel sorry for! Featuring live accompaniment by Stefan Smulovitz (viola/laptop), Viviane Houle (voice), Pepe Danza (winds/percussion), Peggy Lee (cello), with naration by Andrew Laurensen.

KOYAANISQATSI (1983)

Screening: Saturday, September 3

Sweeping shots of nature clash with images of city grids, factories and cars flying down busy streets: modern life is out of balance. Godfrey Reggio collaborates with cinematographer Ron Frike (Baraka) to create a defining cinematic tale of life inside modern technology, our “beautiful beast.” Featuring live accompaniment by Chris Kelly (sax/laptop), Randall Schmid (guitar), Pete Schmitt (bass), Skye Brooks (drums)

BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925)

Screening: Sunday, September 4

Based on the 1905 failed uprising against tsarism in Russia, this landmark film dramatises the historical mutiny of Battleship Potemkin’s malnourished crew. Director Sergei Eisenstein, master of metaphor and montage, captures the strength and the spirit of humanity in a symphony of images. Featuring live accompaniment by the SSN Monster Orchestra with conductor Coat Cooke and assistant conductors Giorgio Magnanensi and Stefan Smulovitz.

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“Bushkowsky’s finest, most moving work.” – Jo Ledingham, Vancouver Courier

Bob is a downtown developer with a lot on his mind. Darren is the lawyer Bob so desperately needs. Gerald has a personal interest in photography; he works for Bob, or so Bob thinks. Rachael works at a gallery and no longer finds Darren so amusing. And Claire? Well, she’s a whole other story.

Soulless is a moving and often humourous tale of redemption at the crossroads of money, longing and contested ground.

The original production earned six Jessie Richardson Theatre Award nominations, including the Sydney Risk Prize for Outstanding Original Script, and won in the category of Outstanding Lighting Design for John Webber.

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Broiler is a one-person show about a little chicken. A demonstration of how an individual sidesteps the truth in every situation. In fact, the only thing that seems honest about this fellow was the broiler chicken he was preparing for the audience to eat. There is a reality underlying the facade, however a very difficult one. As bits of it emerge things become more intimate, perhaps even uncomfortable. Kind of like the truth.

Broiler received three Jessie Richardson Theatre Award nominations, including:

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for James Long
Outstanding Sound Design for Noah Drew
Outstanding Lighting Design for Itai Erdal

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