{"id":30606,"date":"2018-10-26T03:56:09","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T10:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=30606"},"modified":"2018-10-25T20:50:27","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T03:50:27","slug":"women-at-centre-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/10\/26\/women-at-centre-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"Women at centre stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gili Roskies co-stars in Red Birds<\/em>, which opens Nov. 2. (photo from Gili Roskies)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Jewish community member Gili Roskies co-stars in the world premi\u00e8re of Red Birds<\/em>, written by Aaron Bushkowsky. Presented by Solo Collective Theatre and Western Gold Theatre, the play opens Nov. 2.<\/p>\n

Described as a \u201cbittersweet comedy,\u201d Red Birds<\/em> centres around \u201cthree generations of dirt-poor women whose lives are thrown into chaos when a birth mother is revealed. She is both incredibly wealthy and ready to marry a charming gold-digger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI play Ashley in Red Birds<\/em>,\u201d Roskies told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cShe is Carol\u2019s daughter and helps her mother navigate through difficult decisions and new relationships. Despite being the youngest character in the play and dealing with her own hardships (that most 30-year-old women experience), she is the voice of reason in the play.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the female relationships in this story,\u201d Roskies said, \u201cand, also, I\u2019m more and more appreciative of seeing and starring in shows that have more women on stage than men. It\u2019s rare and shouldn\u2019t be. This show deals with a woman diving into some sort of unknown and the support the other women in her life provide her with. That is timeless.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the production\u2019s promotional material, Red Birds<\/em> is a sister piece to Bushkowsky\u2019s The Big Blue Bird<\/em>, which had \u201ca workshop reading by Western Gold more than 12 years ago. The Big Blue Bird<\/em> looked at the sad but poignant relationship between three generations of men: a grandfather, father and son. It was subsequently nominated for a Jessie Richardson Award for outstanding original script.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red Birds<\/em> will be Roskies\u2019 first show with Western Gold Theatre, but her third with Solo Collective Theatre.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been fortunate enough to work with Solo Collective on two other occasions. I was in a really fun musical called Cool Beans<\/em> that was written by Anton Lipovetsky and directed by Rachel Peake in 2013. That show, I think, will always remain high on my favourites list. It was so hip and new. The music was catchy and fun, the story was relatable and relevant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also was in Dressing for a Wedding<\/em>, written by Aaron Bushkowsky and directed by Sarah Rodgers, in 2015. In both cases, I had the chance to assist in the creation of a new show, which is always an exciting process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find Solo Collective really supports its playwrights, giving them time and space to better their pieces,\u201d she said about what keeps her coming back to the troupe. \u201cIt\u2019s an ensemble environment, which I consider myself lucky to get to be a part of. Aaron was my writing teacher at Studio 58 and has (thankfully) continued to allow me opportunities to learn about theatre-making.\u201d<\/p>\n

This summer, Roskies starred as Girl in Arts Club Theatre\u2019s Once<\/em>, which \u201cwas a blast,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Roskies was also in what she called \u201can incredible new show this past year called Glory<\/em>. Tracey Power masterfully wrote and choreographed an important show about the Preston Rivulettes, a women\u2019s hockey team from the 1930s. Steve Charles created the most intricate music for our insane hockey games\/dances. James MacDonald directed a real winning show. It\u2019s a must-see and will be on next year at the Richmond Gateway Theatre April 4-13. We were welcomed and loved debuting the show in Kamloops and performing in Calgary. We have a tour in the summer through B.C. and Ontario. Though I sadly won\u2019t be able to be a part of this remount, I highly suggest going.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for future roles, she said she doesn\u2019t have anything big coming up. \u201cAt least not to my knowledge!\u201d she qualified. \u201c\u2018I audition all the time,\u2019 as my character Ashley states so aptly. I\u2019ve been happy tinkering around with some music-making lately, that might take up some of my focus this year. Hard to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Directed by Scott Bellis, Red Birds<\/em> also stars Anna Hagan, Christina Jastrzembska, Gerry Mackay and France Perras. The set is by Stephanie Wong, lighting by John Webber, sound design by Ben Elliott, and costumes and props by Alaia Hamer.<\/p>\n

Red Birds<\/em> is at PAL Studio Theatre, 581 Cardero St., Nov. 2-18, with shows Tuesday to Saturday. Tickets ($27\/$32) are available from redbirds.brownpapertickets.com<\/a> or 604-363-5734.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gili Roskies co-stars in Red Birds, which opens Nov. 2. (photo from Gili Roskies) Jewish community member Gili Roskies co-stars in the world premi\u00e8re of Red Birds, written by Aaron Bushkowsky. Presented by Solo Collective Theatre and Western Gold Theatre, the play opens Nov. 2. Described as a \u201cbittersweet comedy,\u201d Red Birds centres around \u201cthree […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[8451,1567,8449,6208,8450],"class_list":["post-30606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-bushkowsky","tag-gili-roskies","tag-solo-collective","tag-theatre","tag-western-gold"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}