{"id":42653,"date":"2023-11-10T01:39:09","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T09:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=42653"},"modified":"2023-11-09T15:16:50","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T23:16:50","slug":"a-spoof-on-true-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2023\/11\/10\/a-spoof-on-true-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"A spoof on true crime"},"content":{"rendered":"

Left to right: Sophia Paskalidis, David Underhill, Drew Ogle and Mai Stone (seated) co-star in Tragedy, Slander & Wine. <\/em>(photo by Sarah Cherin)<\/em><\/p>\n

When a community theatre production ends with an actor dying on stage, the media descends on the small B.C. town. Conspiracy theories flourish and no one is above suspicion.<\/p>\n

This is the plot of Tragedy, Slander & Wine<\/em> by Jewish community member David Volpov, which premi\u00e8res at the NEST on Granville Island Nov. 13-19. The mystery\/comedy explores, among other things, media literacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal in writing\u00a0Tragedy, Slander & Wine<\/em>\u00a0is to bring awareness about the issue and to invite audience members to think more critically about the media they consume. So, that\u2019s where the idea of true crime entered the play,\u201d said Volpov, executive director of Promethean Theatre, which is presenting the work. \u201cI see true crime lovers popularize a lot of sensationalistic interpretations of well-known deaths. I think people tend to want to believe wild hypotheses instead of the cut-and-dried truth simply because it\u2019s more entertaining. This conspiratorial thinking can become dangerous if it impedes on innocent people\u2019s\u00a0lives, which is what happened in real life to the town of Moscow, Idaho, after several infamous deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Nov. 13, 2022, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were stabbed to death in the young women\u2019s off-campus (University of Idaho) house. False accusations and other misinformation proliferated, causing much harm to the community. Eventually, suspect Bryan Kohberger was charged with their murders, and his trial continues.<\/p>\n

In Volpov\u2019s fictional story, the play\u2019s description notes, \u201cThe finger-pointing grows so rampant that the victim\u2019s sister, Shannon (Mai Stone), can\u2019t even have a healthy relationship with her own mother. Shannon\u2019s longtime friend Alec (Drew Ogle) promises to help Shannon replenish her image in the public eye and shed her status as a pariah. But they find out that manipulating the media is harder than they anticipated. They have to get past power-hungry reporter Penelope (Sophia Paskalidis) and gatekeeping publicist Colin (David Underhill). Soon, Shannon uncovers a secret plot that upends everything she thought she knew about the tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The play features four actors on stage and seven performers who act only on screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that I needed a multimedia film component in the production to spoof true crime,\u201d Volpov told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cWe filmed interviews with the townsfolk, who give the audience information about the circumstances of the mystery of the play. The film is played on TVs, which are onstage during the entire performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

This approach was new to many working on the production and Volpov said he appreciated the help of a few film artists who offered their guidance. In particular, he noted, \u201cOur videographer, Bruna Xavier, and our film editor, Ian Tan, are both godsends. I\u2019m really excited for audiences to see what this collaboration created because it\u2019s not something that Vancouver audiences have seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tragedy, Slander & Wine<\/em> is Promethean Theatre\u2019s sixth production. Formed in 2018, the company\u2019s mandate is \u201cto create work opportunities for emerging artists,\u201d said Volpov. \u201cThere are some apprenticeships open to emerging artists in Vancouver theatre companies, but I keep hearing from my peers that these positions only take them so far. They feel stuck in what they consider a trainee limbo\u00a0before they can get a shot at a role they want. That\u2019s why Promethean puts emerging artists directly in positions of creative leadership. In that sense, we act as a launchpad\u00a0for artists who want to continue expanding their practices.\u201d (For more information, visit prometheantheatre.ca.)<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
With Tragedy, Slander & Wine, playwright David Volpov invites audience members to think more critically about the media they consume. (photo from Promethean Theatre)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Volpov joined the producing team after having acted in Promethean\u2019s first production, Saint Joan<\/em>. He graduated from the bachelor of fine arts acting program at the University of British Columbia in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike many people who graduated then, my final play at UBC was cut short after just three performances due to COVID,\u201d he said. \u201cThis experience really opened my eyes\u2026. I always knew acting is a difficult profession, but to see virtually every theatre and movie set shut down spiked my existential worries a lot. There\u2019s a silver lining, though. I returned to playwriting during the lull period in 2020 because I realized that writing was a way I could create art while social distancing. I learned that I didn\u2019t have to wait for theatre work to come to me; I could generate work myself. In hindsight, I didn\u2019t actually know what art I wanted to make when I graduated UBC. It wasn\u2019t until I began writing plays that I found my voice and had something to say about the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tragedy, Slander & Wine<\/em> is one of the works Volpov began writing during the pandemic. \u201cI felt troubled by how quickly conspiracy theories spread,\u201d he says in the press release for the play. \u201cI saw this cycle repeat after each major world event. Our abilities to engage in meaningful discourse eroded while our reliance on bias-confirming news increased. With so much misinformation online nowadays, how is anyone supposed to parse through what\u2019s fact and what\u2019s fiction?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch shows that feelings of anxiety, disenfranchisement and isolation cause people to think more conspiratorially,\u201d Volpov told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cPeople\u00a0feel comforted by believing that their enemies cause their bad fortune (as opposed to random chance). One of the reasons conspiracy theories endure is because they have a backfire effect: when someone confronts a conspiracy theorist about their beliefs, it is interpreted as confirmation. Theorists think \u2018of course, the higher powers want to convince me I\u2019m wrong, that\u2019s part of their plan.\u2019 I don\u2019t think conspiracy theories will ever go away, unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Volpov is doing what he can to improve the situation, in addition to writing about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cPromethean Theatre partnered with a media literacy platform to provide education about the topic,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are called Ground News and are a Canadian company based out of Kingston, Ont.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that there are many ways that people can combat their confirmation biases and to have a well-rounded knowledge about current events,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe number one thing people can do is to read multiple sources about one story. I know it probably feels like a chore, but reading different perspectives can mitigate our political blindspots.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that, I recommend cutting your social media use when engaging with current events. Traditional media isn\u2019t perfect, and it\u2019s rightfully facing scrutiny from the public, but social media can be especially pernicious because the algorithm can steer people to engage with content that already supports their beliefs. Also, the algorithm boosts sensationalistic content while ignoring\u00a0nuance,\u00a0which I think is necessary for every discussion.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy next piece of advice is, be diligent about claims you read. If information can\u2019t be traced back to a source,\u201d he said, \u201cit can\u2019t be verified as true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tragedy, Slander & Wine<\/em> is recommended for audience members age 16+ because of its \u201cmature content, including references to substance abuse, murder and suicide.\u201d Among the performances is a matin\u00e9e for high school students Nov. 15, and artist talkbacks after the Nov. 18 and 19 matin\u00e9es. For tickets, visit\u00a0plainstage.com\/events\/tragedy-slander-and-wine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Left to right: Sophia Paskalidis, David Underhill, Drew Ogle and Mai Stone (seated) co-star in Tragedy, Slander & Wine. (photo by Sarah Cherin) When a community theatre production ends with an actor dying on stage, the media descends on the small B.C. town. Conspiracy theories flourish and no one is above suspicion. This is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[5278,9419,6116,22742,8795,22740,6208,21722,22741],"class_list":["post-42653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-comedy","tag-david-volpov","tag-media-literacy","tag-promethean-theatre","tag-satire","tag-slander-wine","tag-theatre","tag-tragedy","tag-true-crime"],"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\/42653","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=42653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}