Performing Arts – Page 38

David Mamet’s Oleanna still prompts debate

Susan Coodin as Carol and Anthony F. Ingram as John in Bleeding Heart’s Oleanna. (photo by Adam Blasberg)

David Mamet’s controversial play Oleanna set up home in Vancouver this spring. By coincidence, two small theatre companies programmed the two-actor drama for around the same time and the result is several weeks of heated conflict, on stage and off. For more than 20 years, audiences have argued about the play, about what really happened to Carol in John’s office. Possible answers continue to turn up as the play is produced over and over again around the world.

The Mamet on Main production ran from April 19-27 at Little Mountain Gallery. The second production, by Bleeding Heart Theatre, runs from May 6-18 at Havana Theatre on Commercial Drive.

Recently, Mamet is better known for his books of essays, polemics against antisemitism (The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Self-hatred and the Jews, 2006) and against the American left (The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture, 2011), but he remains one of America’s greatest 20th-century playwrights. Oleanna is among his most successful and frequently produced works, along with Glengarry Glen Ross (Pulitzer Prize 1984), American Buffalo and Speed-the-Plow. Oleanna remains current because actors and directors love to engage with the challenging piece and audiences can still be electrified by the emotional battle for power.

In the play, a young college student named Carol visits her professor, John, in his office looking for help. She’s failing his course and doesn’t know what to do. John offers to tutor her and puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder. In the next scene, we are back in John’s office but Carol is no longer looking for his help. She has filed a written complaint accusing John of sexually harassing her. He beseeches her to see reason and to withdraw the complaint. John’s job and entire future are at stake.

Was she harassed? We, the audience, were there when it happened, but nothing is clear.

According to theatre legend, back in the early 1990s when this play premièred, arguments broke out in theatre lobbies over what John had done and what he meant by it. Many saw the play as misogynistic, and an attack on feminism. The taint of that accusation remains, which may be one reason actors and directors today are eager to reconsider the play and see what is really there.

“Mamet obviously believes this is a balanced argument, a dialectic about the nature of power in our educational institutions,” said Evan Frayne, director of the Bleeding Heart production. Frayne’s other directing credits include The Verona Project and The Foreigner for Pacific Theatre. He said one big challenge with Oleanna is choreographing the moments of physical contact between the two characters.

… the only stage direction for one such moment is: “He puts his hand on her shoulder.”

“The nature of how he touches her,” said Frayne, “becomes the crux of the play.” He notes that the only stage direction for one such moment is: “He puts his hand on her shoulder.” So, the director must decide how chaste or sexual or ambiguous the touch is to be. “It’s how far and how long,” he says of the simple touch. “Can that be something more than just a hand on the shoulder, or someone comforting someone else?”

He said he regards the historic controversy around the play as specific to those earlier productions. “My interpretation of what the controversy is about is a lot of people think that the character of John is more fully realized than the character of Carol. People say she’s simply trying to take down this good professor, which I think is not true.”

To Frayne, language itself is the source of the trouble. “I see this as a language play about education,” he said. Both characters are “stuck” with English, which is full of traps, he suggested. Male dominance is built into the language, he said, especially in a university setting.

The Mamet on Main production, which has closed, made the characters equal combatants. Director Quelemia Stacey Sparrow gave us a powerfully intelligent Carol and an insecure, clueless John. Pandora Morgan played a young woman temporarily overwhelmed by the demands of first-year university. Her confidence shaken, she looks for advice and reassurance from her professor. David Bloom’s John was a nervous man more at home pontificating than speaking plainly. He wants to help his student, but is too self-absorbed to treat her with respect. Instead, he regards her as something damaged that he can fix. This insults her and gives him licence to treat her like his own child and so to inappropriately touch and console her.

Bloom, who played the professor, is a seasoned local actor who teaches on faculty at Capilano University and Langara College. He said by telephone he was initially reluctant to take the role because the production he had seen 20 years ago made the play seem pretty one-sided and he had no interest. Upon reading the script, however, “I found Carol’s arguments more compelling than I remember from when I saw the show,” he said.

He said both characters behave badly. “Both are deeply flawed human beings who do some pretty horrible things,” he said.

Mamet on Main would like to remount its production at some point, said Bloom. “We don’t feel like we’ve explored the whole thing and we’re interested in working on it further,” he said.

Susan Coodin, Carol in the current Bleeding Heart production, had never seen or read the play before embarking on the current production. The University of British Columbia graduate who has many theatre credits, including Bard on the Beach performances, said by phone she was drawn to the script by the character of Carol. She identified, she said, with Carol’s life as a young person in a university setting. She was aware that in past productions Carol has been portrayed as heartless and vindictive, but Coodin said she took a fresh look at the role.

“I knew that there was more to her than what was on the surface,” she said, “and I was really interested in finding her truth and what she believes to be true.”

Coodin sympathized with the character who needs John’s help and validation so much, but who never properly receives it. “It’s hard to come to terms with what she has to do to find herself. I wanted to find her sensitivity and her compassion and her desire to connect with John, with her professor, and she seems to be consistently denied that.”

In the end, she said, Carol finds security and a new maturity through the work she does with her “group,” an amorphous organization never fully defined for the audience. Carol is “a sensitive person, but she also comes to realize that there is a cause bigger than herself and her relationships, that gives her confidence and she comes to find herself through her cause,” said Coodin.

The artists involved with both productions agreed that Oleanna is a sophisticated, well-written drama that can support a variety of readings. This is the sign of great dramatic literature and Vancouver has been fortunate to see two different interpretations of this classic script by one of America’s greatest playwrights.

For tickets to the Bleeding Heart production, visit bleedinghearttheatre.com.

Michael Groberman is a Vancouver freelance writer.

Ben Ratner takes risks on and off stage

Ben Ratner (photo from Kindred Entertainment)

Ben Ratner is a man of many talents with an impressive resumé – boxer, musician, artist, stand-up comedian, actor, writer, producer and director – a Jewish Renaissance man, but more importantly, he’s down-to-earth mensch. On a rainy Saturday afternoon, Ratner sat down with the Independent in his shabby chic east side Haven Studio to talk about his current film and theatre projects.

Hot off his success with his award-winning film Down River, which he wrote, produced and directed, he is presently at the helm of the Canadian première of Tommy Smith’s White Hot, which opened May 8 and runs until May 17 at the Shop Theatre at 125 East 2nd Ave.

Down River is a tribute to his late friend and mentor Babz Chula, a local actor who succumbed to cancer in 2010 at the age of 64. “Babz was ageless, she could bridge the gap between a kid in a sandbox and a wise old lady wrapped up in her shawl. She was this petite little thing, but so full of life and energy. In 2003, she played my mother in the first feature film I wrote and directed, Moving Malcolm. We were very close,” said Ratner.

The film is a poignant mix of humor and drama and locally shot. It tells the story of four women, who all live in the same West End apartment building, three 20-/30-somethings (Gabrielle Miller, Colleen Rennison and Jennifer Spence, Ratner’s real-life wife) and a middle-aged divorcée (Helen Shaver), each struggling with a personal crisis; the younger ones searching for their identities and life purpose and Pearl, the older character, providing guidance in the midst of battling with pancreatic cancer. The film has been described as “eschewing cliché in a thoughtful, well-acted look at several generations of women at a crossroads in their lives.”

As to the Jewish aspect of the film, Ratner pointed out, “We never actually say that Pearl is Jewish in the film, but the hints are there, the menorah in the window in her apartment and the memorial service, which we shot inside the Or Shalom Synagogue.”

Chula’s presence is felt more than just as inspiration for the subject matter of the film. Pearl wears some of Chula’s clothes in various scenes, items from her apartment are used as props, the three young women each wear one of her signature bracelets, and Spence wears her “Coke-bottle glasses.” The letter read at Pearl’s memorial service is an abridged version of what Ratner shared with attendees at Chula’s celebration of life. Ratner’s own large-scale abstract canvases are used as the art gallery props. The addition of these personal touches makes the film intimate and engaging.

Down River has garnered more accolades than Ratner imagined it would. “We had 99-percent positive reviews and a warm response from audiences, and I saw how my film could affect people. They come out of the theatre smiling but blowing their noses. This story is not about dying, it is about living without fear.” Audiences voted Down River Most Popular Canadian Film at the 2013 Vancouver International Film Festival and critics named it the Best B.C. Film of 2013. It has been nominated for 13 Leos and is presently making the rounds of the North American film festival circuit.

photo - White Hot is on stage at Shop Theatre until May 17. — *White Hot* is on stage at Shop Theatre until May 17. *(photo from Kindred Entertainment)*

While Ratner is basking in the glow of the success of his cinematic opus, he is focusing his directing talents on the intimate world of black-box theatre with White Hot. The press release describes it as “a darkly comedic psycho-drama crammed into a love triangle between a troubled woman, her opportunistic husband and her trashed sister.” Ratner explained, “I am doing this play with my colleague, Loretta Walsh, who teaches with me in my acting studio. Her character is a great part for her terrific acting skills and brings the message that one should remain hopeful and strong and dignified no matter how brutal the circumstances. It is a dark play, unapologetically harsh, violent and sexually explicit. It is a risk for us to do the play. Not everyone is going to like it. But that is not going to stop us from going there.”

Ratner quoted playwright John Patrick Shandley (Doubt) in making his point: “Theatre is a safe place to do unsafe things that need to be done.” He continued, “ We could have done a crowd pleaser, but that is not what we are all about; this play will offend. However, I do not do theatre in order to aim for the middle. I need to do something to wake up this town and challenge the actors on a level that is not just about playing a part but finding some real humanity to it. There is no resolution at the end of this play, no answer, just an acceptance by the characters of the way things are.”

Not content with only personal success, Ratner is teaching future generations of actors in his studio. “Being a teacher is the most satisfying thing I have ever done. It enables me to have a purpose beyond my own gain. It allows me to give and not just take.”

And, there are plans for the future. “Long term, I will be teaching for the rest of my life. Short term, I want to make another film and reach bigger audiences. Down River was all about women. I am now working on another film that will be about men working through their mid-life crises.” In response to whether that topic is autobiographical (Ratner is 49), he laughed, “There’s always a bit of you in everything you write.”

For information and tickets to White Hot, visit kindredentertainment.com.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Ignite! festival is youth driven, skill building

For one week each spring, the Cultch comes alive with hundreds of local artists between the ages of 13-24 for the Ignite! Youth Festival. This is the 15th year of the event.

“The festival is a great place to discover new and emerging artists across Metro Vancouver and beyond. There’s food, laughter, dancing, dressing up, exciting acts and good times,” said Ellie O’Day of O’Day Productions, which handles publicity for the annual event. The festival “was created and run by a youth panel, working countless hours to put on an amazing festival every year, showing how important it is to have an opportunity like Ignite!,” she explained.

photo - Ellie O'Day — Ellie O’Day *(photo from Ellie O’Day)*

Hundreds of youth are involved in what is now Vancouver’s largest youth-driven arts festival, which includes showcases of music, dance and spoken word, the world première of three one-act plays, a visual arts exhibit and a variety of other acts. Events will be held in the Historic Theatre, Vancity Culture Lab, the Cultch lobby and the café galleries from May 2-10.

Though the festival is put on by youth, it is supported by a vast network of arts professionals to mentor the youth and help build their skills. Last year, a publicity mentorship was added to the list of mentorship opportunities. Publicity mentees get the opportunity to work with O’Day, the festival’s publicist five years running.

O’Day was brought up in a Reform Jewish family in the eastern United States and launched her career on radio in the late 1970s in Vancouver. From broadcasting, she expanded into writing, arts administration and arts advocacy, teaching music business for 21 years, and then – via her work as a publicist – helping to promote some of her favorite things: media and performing artists.

“I may have been thousands of kilometres away from my family and the customs that were part of our Jewish family life for many decades, but one of the principles that has stuck with me – particularly as I did not have children myself – is that we live on in the wisdom and knowledge we share with the coming generations,” she said. “That principle is so important to me that I would feel unfulfilled without it.”

O’Day does publicity for many shows at the Cultch, which is a complex of (now) three theatre spaces. “They have invested in this youth program,” said O’Day. “On staff, there is one youth program coordinator, currently Robert Leveroos,” who serves as guide, and also oversees a group of about 20 youth panel members who serve as the organizers of the festival.

During the weekend prior to the main festival, there is a showcase for mentored songwriters, spoken word artists and dancers. During the festival itself – which begins today – three short plays are presented in repertory. The young playwrights have been mentored by professional local playwrights; the young directors have been mentored by professional local directors.

“Last year, as a nearing-retirement publicist, I suggested we ‘mentorize’ the publicity, too,” said O’Day. “Young people may be savvy about social media, but don’t really understand how traditional media works.”

The publicity mentee helps with festival publicity. “Landon Krentz’s application indicated he was already doing some arts administration work, which meant he’d have a familiarity with the general infrastructure of arts organizations, which would add to his skill set,” said O’Day about this year’s publicity mentee.

photo - Landon Krentz — Landon Krentz *(photo from Ellie O’Day)*

Krentz and O’Day met a few times and split up the work, contacting artists for information, sending out media releases and following up on them.

Calling O’Day “my amazing mentor,” Krentz said he decided to join the mentorship program to improve his media relations skills and to become more involved in the industry. As the president of British Columbia Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf, Krentz has been involved with accessibility coordination, as well as with serving the deaf queer communities. A fundraiser and event coordinator for the contemporary dance community by day, Krentz is one of very few bilateral profoundly deaf people working in the arts community. “I hope to become a stronger advocate for deaf members and challenge audism in every day life,” said Krentz.

Some backstage roles, like stage management, lighting design, etc., have also been included in the mentorship program more recently. This year, promotional photography is being mentored by the Cultch’s house photographer.

“We’re not mentoring people to take over our positions next year,” O’Day explained. “The idea is to disseminate our skill sets and help mentor the next generation – who will eventually take our place(s).” The festival is all about empowerment, sharing knowledge and collaboration, she added.

There is an open application process in the fall/winter, when mentorship spots become available. In total this year, there are 18 mentorships, including three each in dance, songwriting and directing, two each in spoken word, playwriting and collaborative creation, and one each in publicity, photography, lighting design and stage management. The mentors hail from various disciplines and are all practising their art/craft in their professional lives.

Jane Heyman, a veteran director and theatre educator, is among the director mentors, as is Stephen Drover, artistic director of Rumble Theatre. A new category, collaborative creation, is mentored by Barbara Adler, who worked with spoken word mentees in the past. Among the dance mentors are Amber Funk Barton and Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg.

photo - Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg — Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg *(photo by Wendy D Photography)*

“This program is very unique,” Friedenberg, who is a dancer, choreographer and artistic director of Tara Cheyenne Performance, told the Independent. “It’s not a training program, but more of a lab with the amazing goal of a big performance in the fabulous Cultch. It’s an opportunity to mix with other youth committed to making art and to get guidance and support from some movers and shakers in Vancouver’s vibrant arts scene.”

O’Day added, “Each mentor’s role is going to be unique. Hopefully, they will be generous to share their knowledge and to let the mentee do a lot of the work, so they get hands-on experience.”

The Ignite! Youth Festival (igniteyouthfest.ca) runs until May 10. Tickets ($2 for youths 12-19, $6 for students/seniors, $10 for adults) are available online at tickets.thecultch.com or by calling 604-251-1363.

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Moments shine in Seminar

Brian Cummins, standing, with, left to right, Michael Germant, Christine Wallace, Gina Leon and Brendan Riggs. (photo by Gregory Wills Photography)

Seminar, by American playwright Theresa Rebeck, is a sex comedy with occasional insights into the life of a professional artist. However, the play feels a bit thrown together and uncertain of how seriously it wants to be taken. As a drama, it is pretty weak. As a sex comedy, it is second rate. And, as a meditation on the life of an artist, it is half-baked. Still, it has moments that work.

The recent community theatre collaboration by Island Productions with Frolicking Divas and Bar S Entertainment marked the play’s Vancouver première. The show ran for five performances at PAL Studio Theatre and closed April 20. The cast comprised local film and television actors, including a couple of Jewish community members, Gina Leon and Michael Germant.

Rebeck is a successful television writer with credits like L.A. Law, Third Watch, NYPD Blue and Smash. In 2003, she was nominated (with a co-writer) for a Pulitzer Prize. In addition, she is a noted scholar who holds a doctorate in theatre from Brandeis University. Seminar ran on Broadway for 191 performances before it closed May 6, 2012. Allan Rickman played the lead character, Leonard, a washed-up novelist who teaches young writers. It’s a huge role, a character that dominates the play and all the characters in it.

Martin Cummins played that role in the local production. Four young writers have chosen to pay $5,000 each to study with this literary giant. As the group’s teacher, Leonard is a pontificating jerk and a destructive force. He is also the source of the play’s energy. Cummins’ characterization started with over-the-top bluster and pomposity, a level that gave the character no room to become increasingly arrogant and obnoxious as the play goes on. This weakened his performance and the production.

Four students and Leonard meet weekly in Kate’s apartment for a workshop with the “Great Man.” Kate (played by Leon) is a privileged young woman who lives in a huge apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. She reveals her insecurity by constantly dropping the name of the exclusive college she once attended, as if this establishes her credibility as a short story writer. She’s in love with Martin (Germant), who eventually sleeps with Izzy (Christine Wallace).

Lots of low-comedy bed-hopping occurs in a play that aspires to be about the creation of art. The sex-comedy element may indicate that the playwright was too lazy to develop more sophisticated subplots, or maybe it just shows the playwright’s conviction that stock characters in age-old situations are essential to commercial Broadway success. She is likely right in the latter.

Douglas (Brendan Riggs) is eager to receive approval from his teacher, and Izzy enjoys Leonard’s accolades for what is clearly an inferior work. She succeeds on her looks alone, and ends up in a couple of beds.

And then there is Martin, the best writer in the group and the least secure. He is afraid to show his writing to anyone. When he finally shares his work, Leonard is deeply affected and moved to make the play’s best, and best-performed, speech. He warns Martin of the miserable life that lies before him should he pursue the writing career of which he is clearly capable.

In this speech, Rebeck (through Leonard) offers a cautionary tale about how a talented writer may produce a successful novel or two, but can then expect to see his or her excellent work ignored, suffer envy of less successful writers, and end up teaching creative writing to bored students at some insignificant college. Leonard is clearly describing his own rise and fall, and Cummins rose to the occasion with this speech and we saw Leonard’s bluster combined with personal pain and disappointments. A good moment for Cummins.

For the play’s final scene, Rebeck takes a more romantic view of artists, those individuals who are compelled to create. This final dialogue, between Leonard and Martin, allowed both actors to shine. Germant provided a layered version of Martin. He shifted from an angry victim who demands his money back to an artist in search of a mentor; and Leonard challenges the young writer to work hard. The play ends on a hopeful note.

The actors, for the most part, were too dependent on the script for the establishment of their characters. They should have displayed more anxiety in anticipation of Leonard’s judgment and more distress when he destroys their dreams. The actors needed also to demonstrate why their characters stick with the loathsome Leonard, why they don’t just leave the room and quit his class. Finally, the comedy would have worked better if director Mel Tuck had guided his actors into a faster pace and a greater focus on proper timing. Snappy dialogue needs to snap.

Michael Groberman is a Vancouver freelance writer.

A busy year for In the House

In the House Festival organizer Myriam Steinberg. (photo from Myriam Steinberg)

“I fell into this career by accident,” In the House Festival organizer Myriam Steinberg told the Jewish Independent in an interview about the festival, which starts its 2014 season with a production at Vancouver FanClub on weekends to the end of April, a May 8 fundraiser and the festival itself June 6-8.

Before her lucky “accident,” Steinberg tried a few professional directions. After high school, she did photography, she studied English and humanities at university, and also worked in the functional arts, but nothing clicked.

“In 2003, my friend Daniel Maté came up with the idea of putting up shows in people’s living rooms,” said Steinberg. “He called it ‘In the House Festival’ and asked me to help. I did, and loved it. I had to learn a lot. At that time, I didn’t know anything about cultural life in Vancouver. Next year, he did something else, and the festival didn’t happen, and later he moved to New York. I wanted to continue with the festival so, in 2005, I took over. Since then, I’ve organized this annual event by myself.”

This year marks the 10th festival Steinberg has created as a solo entrepreneur. According to the website, since its inception, In the House has produced more than 300 shows in 70 genres and hired about 600 different acts. All the festival performances showcase local actors and musicians.

Steinberg also produces other shows for corporate and private clients, like dinner theatre or the Haunted House in October. “But we don’t do skulls, vampires and witches,” she said. Instead, they employ original themes: Greek mythology, fairies or Atlantis. Every year is dedicated to a different theme.

“Our signature event remains In the House Festival on the first weekend of June,” she explained. “The shows all take place in people’s living rooms or backyards. People donate their spaces for the shows.”

Some of the space donors/ house owners are Steinberg’s personal friends, while others she has found while walking her neighborhood around Commercial Drive. “I would see a large house during a garage sale and introduce myself to the owners, ask them if they would want to participate. Many said yes, and they liked it. We have a 90 percent repeat rate for our host houses.”

The free performance venues enable Steinberg to keep ticket prices low and pay the actors from the ticket sales, although she didn’t say anything about getting paid herself. For her, In the House is much more about community than profit, and it is registered under the umbrella of the nonprofit society Arts in Action.

“I create connections,” she said. “Everyone needs a little ‘Wow!’ in their lives, and performing arts are the key. Whether you’re in the audience, a performer or a host, you walk away from the show with a feeling of magic.”

Steinberg conceives that magic, nurtures it and enhances it. “Over the years, many performers became my friends. I invite them to my personal gatherings, introduce them to each other. New and exciting projects are often born this way…. Actors love the festival. For them, it is a good platform to try new material. I always mix new and known names in every performance. This year, we’ll have 19 different shows in 13 houses with over 80 performers.”

Shows in 2014 will include jazz and classical music, burlesque and puppets, stand-up comedy, circus and much, much more. To organize such complex and versatile events with so many participants, Steinberg needs not only lots of imagination but also the ability to multitask and a deep well of flexibility. “Things always go wrong,” she admitted with a smile. “You have to be able to roll with the punches, to always have a Plan B and come up with solutions quickly. People skills are a must, and being pig-headed helps. You have to be stubborn, never give up. Vancouver is a slow city, arts-wise.”

Despite the challenges, Steinberg believes that the rewards far outweigh any difficulties. “I’m surrounded by amazing, innovative people, both performers and audiences,” she said. “During the shows, I like to watch the public. I see people smile, see memories created. I love having kids in the public, and almost all the shows are children-friendly. This year, only one show – burlesque – is adults-only.”

Steinberg herself never performs in her shows, with one exception – one year, she danced Cuban salsa. “It’s too much for me,” she said, laughing. “But I do everything else. I come up with themes for the shows, find performers and venues, organize equipment and décor, sometimes make props. I update our website, engage in social media, write the newsletter, do the accounting and stage managing. I set up the shows and tear them down afterwards. And, of course, fundraising. It’s always a challenge to find sponsors. I must be a little bit crazy to keep doing all that but I can’t think of anything else I want to do.”

Not that there’s time for her to think of anything else. Until the end of April at Vancouver FanClub (Friday through Sunday, 8:30 p.m.), In the House’s Space Cruise explores existential questions like, “Where is the Final Frontier? What happened to Elvis?” with interactive games, “circus, burlesque, comedy and music.” And, at Fox Cabaret on May 8, 7 p.m., is Carnival for the Festival, an In the House fundraiser.

“People should expect to dance lots, hear some fabulous music and be entertained by roving stiltwalkers,” said Steinberg about the New Orleans-themed event. “There will also be chocolate fountains and a silent auction. The fundraiser is raising money to help pay for performer fees and equipment for the 11th Annual In the House Festival.”

The breadth of the festival – the aforementioned 80-plus performers this year – “allows us to provide a perfect avenue for a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary experience that audiences wouldn’t get anywhere else,” she added. “Coming to the fundraiser and/or donating to the In the House Festival allows us to maintain a high calibre of performance and enables us to keep building audiences for deserving performers. A city that is vibrant, with solid community and a strong cultural foundation, is crucial to living in a happy, interesting and inspiring place.”

Tickets for Carnival for the Festival are $40 (includes a cocktail) and are available at inthehousefestival.com, 604-874-9325 or [email protected]. Information about In the House Festival, June 6-8, can also be found on the website.

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].

Killer Joe depicts unhappy family’s destruction

Killer Joe tells the story of a greedy, vindictive famly. (photo by Andrew Klaver)

A crazy, violent, Texas family plots a murder in the play Killer Joe. Playwright Tracy Letts has a way with lousy families and their dangerous disputes. Letts also wrote August: Osage County, about another angry family, the recent film version of which had an all-star cast. A 2011 film version of Killer Joe starred Matthew McConaughey. With this production of the play, director Chelsea Haberlin creates a compelling portrait of an unhappy family’s destruction after it invites a devil into its midst.

Killer Joe was first produced for the stage in 1993 but it is set in the 1970s in a mobile home somewhere in Texas. This is only the second site-specific production by Vancouver’s Itsazoo Productions, and it is a great success. The site for this piece is a small, portable building in the parking lot of the Italian Cultural Centre. The interior is dressed to look like a mobile home.

The story follows a family in which Ansel (Ted Cole) and his adult son, Chris (Sebastien Archibald), conspire to kill Ansel’s former wife (Chris’ mother) to collect the insurance money. Chris’ sister, Dottie (Meaghan Chenosky), they know, is beneficiary of the $50,000 policy. They hire a hit man, Joe (Colby Wilson), who agrees to the hit but, as a retainer against full payment, demands Dottie as his sex slave. Ansel and Chris agree, and Chris’ mild-mannered, innocent sister is served up to this vile character. The balance of the play chronicles the family’s destruction at the hands of Joe. For almost the whole play, the family awaits word that the murder has occurred. Although the primary story is about a planned hit, the real story is about Dottie: how the young woman is degraded and betrayed by her own terrible family and how she survives.

The 35-member audience (a full house) is crowded into a small, temporary building decorated inside to feel like a real mobile home. The audience lines two walls, putting us only a foot or less from the action. We are the invisible inhabitants of a tiny battleground.

The real star of this show is the artistic collaboration between set, lighting and sound designers who create the home of a poverty-stricken Texas family. Set and lighting designer Lauchlin Johnston dresses the scene with ugly period furniture. Above the sink is a large Confederate flag. He cleverly turns night into day by shining “sunlight” through the mobile home’s real windows. He also manages lightning, gloom and total blackouts with dramatic effect. Sound by Mishelle Cuttler gives us thunder and rain from outside, the frequent barking of a neighbor’s dog, and poor sound quality for the country music broadcast from a cheap transistor radio that sits on the set. The effect of all this work is a perfect illusion. We are inside a mobile home in 1970s Texas.

Chenosky is excellent as the shy and innocent Dottie. In an early scene, she and Joe are alone in the kitchen as he tries to seduce her but ends up demanding her sexual obedience. We watch Chenosky operate a character who moves from shyness to fear and then to emotionless acquiescence. Her performance is devastating as she becomes emotionally numb in preparation for the inevitable (offstage) assaults. Chenosky’s Dottie captures the character’s poor self-esteem and an apparent history of mistreatment. It’s a heart-breaking portrait. The destruction of women by cruel and stupid men is a core theme of this play.

The other power in the show belongs to Joe, the hit man. Wilson is an imposing figure. He is physically large and carries himself with an air of authority. He is a cop, after all. Colby’s performance allows us to see the quiet cruelty of which humans are capable. Through movement and voice he establishes the play’s underlying tone of menace.

This production goes off the rails about 20 minutes before it ends. Once the main action of the play is resolved, the story shifts to Joe and Dottie in a way that is not supported by the direction. It becomes apparent the play is really about what will happen to Dottie, but that has been unclear to this point. That leaves the end of the play a drawn-out affair with no story left to tell.

Overall, however, this second site-specific production by Itsazoo is excellent. We can look forward to the next surprising and compelling work that takes us out of the comfort zone of a standard theatre.

Killer Joe runs until May 4 in the parking lot of the Italian Cultural Centre, 3075 Slocan St. Tickets, $20/$25, can be purchased at itsazoo.org or Brown Paper Tickets.

Michael Groberman is a Vancouver freelance writer.

Pipedream’s Cabaret holds back from tackling its true gravitas

Jamie James as the Emcee, centre, with the ensemble of Cabaret. (photo by Kristian Guilfoyle)

Many know the title song from the musical Cabaret. You can hum it. “Life is a cabaret,” it tells us, but it is not a celebration of life. Rather, for those who know the play or have seen the film, it is a desperate plea for delusion. Sally Bowles denies the obvious, that Berlin is changing under Nazi influence. Weimar Germany is dying, but she refuses to see it. What will happen to her, we can only guess.

The new stage production by Pipedream Theatre Project, a community musical theatre company, is an opportunity to see John Kander’s and Fred Ebb’s (Chicago, Kiss of the Spider Woman) first Broadway hit, back in 1966. The stage version is quite different from the film, which is interesting in itself. Many songs and plot elements were cut or altered for the 1972 film starring Liza Minnelli.

The main story follows Cliff (Victor Hunter), a young American would-be writer who comes to Berlin to experience life and write a novel. He meets the British Sally Bowles (Rebecca Friesen), a performer at the notorious Kit Kat Club, and an affair ensues. She is pregnant. What will they do? A subplot involves the middle-aged Jewish shopkeeper, Herr Schultz (David Wallace), who falls in love with his landlady. Though he’s the victim of humiliations by Nazi supporters, he refuses to believe life will ever get too difficult for the Jews. After all, he tells friends, he too is a German. We can only anticipate his future with fear.

photo - Rebecca Friesen as Sally Bowles. — Rebecca Friesen as Sally Bowles.
*(photo by Kristian Guilfoyle)*

In a sense, though, the story is secondary to the cabaret performances that fill and frame the drama. The Emcee (Jamie James), played in the film by Joel Grey, welcomes us with the well-known “Wilkomen.” Here he establishes his relationship with the audience: we are part of the audience of the licentious Kit Kat Club. The Emcee’s performances throughout the play will draw our attention away from the main story just as the characters’ love of illusion keeps them from seeing reality. The use of cabaret performances, interspersed with dramatic scenes, is the show’s greatest strength.

But the audience sees everything because we know what the characters cannot: the future. We are entranced by the cabaret performances, including the songs, “Two Ladies,” “Don’t Tell Mama” and “Mein Herr.” In fact, the women’s chorus, the Kit Kat Girls, is the strongest musical element of this production. Their group performances are alive, their combined voices loud, clear and melodic. As an audience, we also know how life will turn out for these naïve characters: the homosexuals especially. Weimar freedom will be countered with a brutal backlash.

The good men’s chorus performs the frightening song “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” well. The singers provide the appropriate tone shift mid-song that changes an upbeat ode to a bright future into an angry group anthem that dreams of cruelty and destruction.

The show’s best voice belongs to Stephanie Liatopoulosas, as the prostitute Fraulein Kost, when she leads the reprise of “Tomorrow Belongs to Me.”

Director April Green has chosen to make her emcee clearly heterosexual and more goofy than sinister. The style does not work for this character. The Emcee at the Kit Kat Club needs to be somehow creepy and transgressive in order to represent the kind of “decadent” behavior the Nazis wanted to destroy, so this characterization is too light for the role. The Kit Kat Girls’ dancing could have come from Guys and Dolls or West Side Story. It just isn’t very dirty.

One song that was problematic in the play’s first production back in the ’60s is problematic here. “If You Could See Her” is performed by the Emcee and a person dressed as a gorilla. This production has no gorilla costume, just a hairy man wearing a dress and some black makeup. The joke is that “if you could see her through my eyes” you would also love her. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But the final line of the song, almost whispered, goes: “If you could see her through my eyes, she wouldn’t look Jewish at all.” The point of this lyric is to disgust the audience with the Emcee’s antisemitism. During the musical’s first production, many audience members believed the whole song antisemitic and called for its cut. The word “Jewish” was removed from the original production and replaced with “meeskite,” or ugly. Subsequent productions have occasionally used the word “Jewish” instead. In the case of this production, the problematic word “Jewish” does not work. Because the Emcee is played as fresh and friendly, and the other performer is not in a gorilla costume, the song’s intention disappears. Rather than suggesting Jews are animals, and hoping the audience cringes, this version suggests Jews look like ugly women.

I suspect the production could not get a gorilla suit and figured the audience would know the character was an animal by the blackened face (not blackface, I hasten to add), and the fact that she likes eating a banana. The choice fails the taste test. This production should have used the word “meeskite,” as in the film and in many productions. In the absence of a gorilla costume, the song should have been cut entirely.

Pipedreams is now 10 years old and is dedicated to presenting infrequently produced musicals and providing opportunities to young musical talent. Last year’s production, Assassins, was nominated for an Ovations Award, a Vancouver version of the Tony Awards for musical theatre. Previous productions have included Nine (2010) and little-known works like Elegies: A Song Cycle (2011) and Adding Machine (2011). Cabaret is at Performance Works on Granville Island until April 19. Tickets vancouvertix.com.

Michael Groberman is a Vancouver freelance writer.

John Lazarus’ The Grandkid plays at Gateway

Richard Newman and Pippa Mackie in The Grandkid. (photo by David Cooper)

Former community member John Lazarus is a very interesting man. Dubbed by the media as one of Canada’s best-known playwrights,” his fertile mind has spawned the likes of Babel Rap, The Late Blumer and his award-winning Village of Idiots, which evolved from a play through a CBC Radio mini-series to a National Film Board animated short. His latest work, The Grandkid, the intergenerational story of Julius Rothstein and his granddaughter, Abby, opened at Richmond’s Gateway Theatre this week.

Montreal-born Lazarus graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1969. The call of the West lured him to Vancouver, where he worked for 30 years as an actor, director, critic, broadcaster, playwright, screenwriter and teacher – including a stint at Studio 58, one of Canada’s leading theatre schools. For the past 14 years, he has been an associate professor of drama at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. Now, his newest creation brings him back to the West Coast.

The two-character play tells the story of an aging film professor, Rothstein, grieving over the recent loss of his wife, when his 19-year-old freshman granddaughter decides to move in with him to attend university. This leads to an intriguing social experiment and a new twist on BFF (best friends forever), as Julius and Abby become roommates and grapple with the timeless issues of youth and aging.

In a telephone interview with the Independent, Lazarus talked about his inspiration for the show. “I had friends where that living arrangement came up, their daughter moved in with Grandpa, and I listened with interest to their conversations about what was going on in the relationship. I was intrigued by the concepts of old age and youth and the stereotypes surrounding these two groups. I look around and see both people my age and young adults behaving very differently than depicted in the media and I wanted to write something to show how we can transcend the age differences and get along as a family.”

Developing strong characters is always essential, but especially so in a “two-hander,” as they have to hold the attention of the audience for the entire show. Lazarus believes that he has created two very likeable ones: “Julius is a hip old guy, easy-going, artistic, who is generally happy, but we see him when he is saddened after the death of his wife. He is an observant Jew and a liberal thinker, except when it comes to Israel, who he staunchly supports. He is tired of his career and he hopes that, with his granddaughter coming to live with him, she will inject a ray of sunshine into his life – and she does.” As to Abby, said Lazarus, “She is very idealistic, smart and wants to make a difference in the world. While the two love each other very much, they do clash over generational-gap kind of things.”

“My father, an insurance salesman, was a great storyteller and had a great sense of humor and irony. I remember thinking after listening to one of his stories, what a wonderful thing to do – to make people laugh.”

Lazarus often uses Jewish themes and characters in his repertoire. “I was brought up in a Jewish home and, while not observant, I feel culturally Jewish,” he explained. “My father, an insurance salesman, was a great storyteller and had a great sense of humor and irony. I remember thinking after listening to one of his stories, what a wonderful thing to do – to make people laugh. While I started off as an actor, writing became my passion. Although I don’t think of myself as strictly a writer of comedies, even in my serious plays humor sneaks in. To me, that is the Jewish essence of it, putting humor into every situation.”

Family and friends often provide ideas for his work and the needed conflict for the narrative. “When I was writing The Grandkid, I asked my wife what I could put into the story that would drive Julius crazy. She told me to give Abby a Palestinian boyfriend. I did not want to go there because I thought some might label the story racist so, instead, I gave her an Israeli boyfriend who has views on Israel that are diametrically opposed to those of Julius – that leads to some interesting dialogue.”

Some have suggested that the play is autobiographical. Lazarus laughed, “Definitely not. Yes, there are similarities between Julius and himself. Both of us are Ontario university professors, he film, me drama, but we differ in our views of politics and religion. I think, if we could sit down and have coffee together, we would have a very heated, but respectful, conversation.”

When asked why people should see the play, Lazarus reflected, “It makes you feel good about family and relationships. I guess you could call it a love story of sorts. It highlights the best parts of being young and being old, and how different generations can learn from one another. It will appeal to all age groups. Also, you could not ask for a better cast – Richard Newman, who I first worked with in the seventies, and Pippa Mackie, who I met in 2013 and encouraged to audition for the play because I thought she would be perfect for the part – and a terrific director, Natasha Nadir. It is good for a few laughs and you don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy it.”

In anticipation of being at the theatre on opening night, as the interview took place before the play opened, Lazarus said, “It is a culmination of a dream, to come to Vancouver and say, ‘Hello, here I am, I am back and here is my new play. I hope you enjoy it.’”

The Grandkid runs at the Gateway until April 26. For more information, visit gatewaytheatre.com or call the box office at 604-270-1812.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Actors’ journey to catharsis in This Stays in the Room

The cast of This Stays in the Room. (photo from horseshoesandhandgrenades.ca)

Baring one’s soul is always difficult. Imagine how it would be to share your angst and pain with a room full of strangers. This is exactly what four brave actors undertake in the world première of This Stays in the Room.

Horseshoes and Hand Grenades Theatre has partnered with PTC and Radix Theatre to bring this innovative mix of text, song, photography, video projections and choreography to the Downtown Eastside’s Gallery Gachet.

The company, as its press material states, “is a provocative and political group who are not content with holding a mirror up to society – they would rather conduct an autopsy on it.” This is the company’s first site-specific production and, by using a gallery venue, the audience is invited into a non-theatre space, removing the main barrier between the audience and the performers. To allow this intersection of theatre and visual art, the production set will remain as an installation during the run of the play for the general public to explore. The gallery is a collectively run space whose mandate is to encourage dialogue and promote social and economic justice.

The setting is intimate, rows of chairs on either side of a corridor with four decorated ones within the audience for the cast. The actors appear, two men, two women, each carrying a basket full of props. They sit among the viewers – you can reach out and touch them – and, one at a time, tell all. Four stories, four people, all very different and yet, in some strange way, hauntingly similar. An intense one hour takes you through the actors’ personal journeys, from trauma to the triumph of acceptance and forgiveness.

Part of the experience is the actors’ self-description as they draw themselves on a blackboard. Something visceral happens watching these four draw images of themselves on the board. They start off with simple stick people and then add layer upon layer of shape, form and color as they pictorially lay out their self-perceptions. The sound of the chalk scratching against the board picks up speed as they reach their finished images.

We meet Allan Morgan, 59 years old, gay, grappling with his sexuality and society’s homophobia, who puts a pink triangle over his face – he tells of his shame as a “chubby little boy” and his first homosexual experience. Then there is 30ish Robert Salvador, alcoholic, full of guilt over cheating on his wife and small daughter: he shares the story about a sex-free summer game he and his pals played in his teens, where falling off the wagon brought the punishment of being pelted with raw eggs. Next up, petite Manami Hara watching her elderly father deteriorate mentally and physically, feeling she abandoned him in his time of need, and, finally, pregnant Alexa Devine, harried mother of two, abused as a child.

Added to the mix are three stories of members of the creative team, whose talking heads are projected onto white lanterns hanging from the ceiling and the blackboards on either side of the audience. The poignancy and emotion of the disclosures are almost overwhelming at times. This is raw, in your face, reality theatre. It resonates with the audience because we have all been there, done that, and understand the feelings so openly expressed by this talented cast. At the end of the show, the faces of all of the audience members are projected onto the walls of the tiny room, each in a little circle – a reminder that we are all one.

With sound design by Noah Drew (whose Tiny Music was part of this year’s Chutzpah! Festival), lighting design by Andreas Kahre, video projection design by Cande Andrade and choreography by Amber Funk Barton, this multi-media mix comes together under the steady hand of director Mindy Parfitt.

This show is not for all: it is not a feel good, laugh-out-loud production but, as Parfitt notes, “It’s really about how we as individuals face the challenges in our lives, how we move forward and find some kind of forgiveness with ourselves and others.”

This Stays in the Room runs to March 30. Due to the adult content and language, it is not suitable for anyone under 18.

Gallery Gachet is located at 88 East Cordova St. Seating is limited. More information can be found at 604-729-5395 and horseshoesandhandgrenades.ca.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Sidra Bell Dance New York presents two works at Chutzpah! PLUS

Sidra Bell (photo by David Flores)

Back in Vancouver for the third time, Sidra Bell Dance New York presents a double bill of STELLA and garment March 27-29. The performances are co-presented by the Chutzpah! Festival as part of its PLUS series and the Dance Centre. Artistic director Sidra Bell spoke with the Jewish Independent via email about her background, what inspires her, the power of dance theatre and what makes her company unique.

JI: Could you share a bit about your background?

SB: I was born in New York City to mixed heritage and grew up in the northernmost part of Manhattan in a neighborhood called Inwood. My father’s background is Italian, Irish and Bohemian (on my grandmother’s side) and my mom is African-American. Both of my parents were raised in New York City, in the Bronx and Brooklyn respectively. My paternal grandparents came in through Ellis Island.

I identify with my mixed heritage and was always exposed to the various components that make me who I am although we didn’t specifically practise religion in our household. My parents are both pianists and met through music. They went to New York College of Music and went on to direct together, as well as teach. I am the youngest of four siblings who are all involved in the arts…. In some way or another, most of my family and extended family are artists or use art as an entry point into what they are doing now, and we are all largely entrepreneurs….

JI: How and when did you first discover dance? When did you discover choreography?

SB: I participated in preschool in an after-school dance program, Ms. Patti Ann’s Dance, in my kindergarten years. A couple of years later, my mom took me to an audition at the Dance Theatre of Harlem. I resisted mainly because I was extremely shy and very nervous. I started taking classes in ballet there at age 7 and fell in love with the language of dance and its rigor. I was a very serious child and loved delving into the form that was being taught. I excelled very quickly and was asked to join the weekday program on scholarship, which increased my level and the number of classes a week. By 13, I was taking classes with the professional division, particularly in my summers when I could participate in the intensives.

At age 14, I realized I needed to stretch away from just a classical training and that is when I was accepted into the Ailey School, where I spent two-and-a-half years on scholarship. It was during that time, as I became more exposed to modern techniques, that I became interested in generating my own movement vocabulary. I was able to create a few solos for myself that were showcased at Ailey’s student showcases and also at my high school, the Spence School, where they had a dance program. Because both were New York City based, these showcases were taken very seriously and showcased in well-attended venues such as Symphony Space.

From an early age, I knew that I had to be very rigorous in my craft. In college at Yale, I was part of a student dance company called Yaledancers that produced its own shows in the New Haven, Conn., community. I became more active in my choreographic process and there started truly investigating and making work. This was outside of a conservatory environment and it allowed me to work with my own movement invention. My college years were formative exploration years.

JI: Can you describe how a piece comes together, from inspiration to the stage?

SB: I simply start with movement. Movement has been a driving force behind all of my works. There is always a question around why movement is an important means of expression. This question leads to larger subtexts within a work and perhaps characterizations. What is important to me is to challenge my collaborators to investigate movement with various qualities, tones and entry points. This collaborative focus has led to wildly different worlds onstage. The dancers ingest the vocabulary and regurgitate it based on the tasks or objectives at hand. I find that the concept evolves as we dig deeper each day into the vocabulary. There is a lot of trying and playing in the studio. Sometimes we are at ease and just talking, which leads to insights into what the dancers are thinking about in relationship to the world around us. How does movement bring in larger overtones about the world around us? I love form and that is a huge emphasis. Inventing forms is my primary concern. As we continue, the lens and environment come into play, as well as how the dancers are interpreting each relationship. More recently, I have been working more closely with my lighting designer to create limits onstage that inform how the dancers will interact with the arena or environment set up for them.

JI: Is this Vancouver performance part of a larger tour? I see that STELLA is from 2012, but garment is a brand new piece. How did garment come about? How do the two pieces work together, if at all?

SB: This has been a wonderful year of touring for the company. We have already completed residencies and tours in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh … and Atlanta’s Tanz Farm. [Two weeks ago], we world premièred garment as part of the Kelly Strayhorn Theatre’s commissioning series KST Presents. STELLA was created in 2012 and world premièred at NYC’s Baruch Performing Arts Centre. Before arriving at Chutzpah!, we will be showcasing the same program of garment and STELLA in our San Francisco Season at Dance Mission Theatre.

Sidra Bell Dance New York performs garment in Vancouver March 27-29.
*(photo by Mark Simpson)*

garment is about living in the skin you are in. Like STELLA, it deals with voyeurism and culture, but I think it drives towards the idea that we can rid ourselves of cultural constructs to re-establish or reclaim our personal and unique identities. Both works deal with popular constructs and individualism in an episodic framework. STELLA has a more cultish feeling, where you really see the dancers playing games and you can’t guess who “Stella” actually is until the end. garment sees the dancers reproducing trends and systems, and also working with joyful abandon. I think the two pieces are in conversation with each other and inhabit many different worlds within these general themes.

JI: Critics have called your work powerful, atmospheric, surreal, sensual and ferocious. I would add that your work is also in many ways hyper-modern, with industrial or “futuristic” qualities, from the costumes to the electronic soundscape you work within. It’s also very theatrical. Is there an overarching aspect of contemporary life that you’re exploring through your choreography?

SB: The main thread of my work is the personal questions that I grapple with. I think they are universal questions about our condition in contemporary life. As the world changes more rapidly, I grapple with my individual questions around identity, legacy, the afterlife, politics, community. The list can go on. I think I deal with these questions in my work, and not in a politicized way. The dancers contribute to this probing research and we work with play to reach and deconstruct content around these themes. Personas get developed through movement research and worlds get built from our collective thinking. I like playing this out on stage. There is often no resolution, but I am happy that there are always more questions. There is no one way to view the work and I like that the audience can reach in and find their own personal story. I am always surprised and pleased at the level of analysis an audience can bring to a moment. They bring up aspects I didn’t see and I think that is the beautiful quality that dance has. Its ephemeral and abstract nature can really make you feel. You may not know why you feel a certain way because it is truly coming from a visceral space. I like the fact that dance doesn’t have to deal with realism in such a direct way.

JI: What are the lines between dance and theatre, and what elements of performance bring them together? As well, can you share something about your work on Test and what draws you to work in the medium of film?

SB: I actively aim to eliminate the lines between dance, theatre and visual art. They are mediums that create a mutual, shared experience for the performers and the audience. I use whatever elements help me create those experiences for the viewer. I think this is why I have explored so many different aspects of dance and theatre. I use whatever technique or model that I believe services the work in the moment. I was the lead choreographer on Test (testthefilm.com), which has now been seen and awarded prizes worldwide. The film was shot and created on location in San Francisco. It was an incredible process working with Chris Mason Johnson, who wrote the screenplay and directed. He was a former dancer with Frankfurt Ballet and White Oak Project. I learned so much about the process of film making that I believe has improved my skills as a dance maker. Everything that was created on set was to service the storyline about dancers in the 1980s during the AIDS epidemic. My material was tempered to that era and I found it refreshing to have such a guide. It made me much more clear in the process of creating a choreographic work, which I consider to be a directorial act as well.

JI: How does your academic orientation and background impact your dance work, if at all? Are you currently teaching?

SB: I guest teach internationally. Teaching is a passion and I truly love the exchange I get to have with dancers from all over the world. My mind expands each time I lead a workshop because of the collaborative nature of working with such diverse communities. My academic background gave me a strong sense of language and articulation. My analytical nature has kept me interested in the research of movement not just its results.

JI: Are there differences in how you approach choreography for your own company versus commissions from other companies?

SB: My process is highly collaborative and I always go into a studio with very little expectation. This has produced very different works in each environment I visit. I like going into a new community on commission and introducing my language, but also learning about what gets that particular company excited about movement. With my company, we have such a history together that each work seems to be a reflection or a response to the last. I have been working with my dancers for some years and there is rich history that they bring to the studio but also a curiosity in moving forward.

JI: Vancouverite Rebecca Margolick is one of your dancers. Is there anything you can tell me about Rebecca’s contributions to SBDNY for her hometown audience?

SB: I met Rebecca when she was 16 years old at Arts Umbrella, where I taught and staged work. She was so wise and left a great impression on me. She brings a beautiful physical quality to the work but is also highly theatrical. When she is on stage she inhabits another aura. I find that fascinating about her. She is very discrete offstage but onstage she is a bold performer. She is a chameleon.

JI: Is there is anything else you would like our readers to know?

SB: This is our third visit to the Chutzpah! Festival as a company and I am so excited to be returning with these two works. I’m also thrilled to be co-presented by Chutzpah! PLUS and the Dance Centre. We love the city and can’t wait to see our Vancouver friends.

Sidra Bell Dance New York presents STELLA and garment March 27-29, 8 p.m., and March 29, 2 p.m., at Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St. Tickets, $28/$24/$20, are available at chutzpahfestival.com or ticketstonight.ca.