{"id":8953,"date":"2014-11-07T00:14:33","date_gmt":"2014-11-07T08:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=8953"},"modified":"2014-11-05T16:54:17","modified_gmt":"2014-11-06T00:54:17","slug":"bigger-better-broken-sex-doll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2014\/11\/07\/bigger-better-broken-sex-doll\/","title":{"rendered":"Bigger, better Broken Sex Doll"},"content":{"rendered":"

Co-creator Andy Thompson directs the sci-fi musical that is being remounted at the Cultch\u2019s York Theatre Nov. 12-22.\u00a0(photo from the Virutal Stage)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Broken Sex Doll<\/em> is back. A hit at the Cultch in 2013, it ventured out to Halifax for the 2014 Magnetic North Festival, and returns to Vancouver Nov. 12-22, where it will play at the Cultch\u2019s York Theatre as part of a national tour. The production will then head to the Yukon for four shows, returning to the Lower Mainland for a run at Coquitlam\u2019s Evergreen Cultural Centre (Dec. 16-20).<\/p>\n

Produced by the Virtual Stage, the sci-fi musical is the creation of Jewish community members Andy Thompson (director, book, lyrics) and Anton Lipovetsky (composer). The new production is being billed as \u201cbigger and better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a new set. A new lighting design. New costumes. Re-tooled songs. Some new performers. And the script has been tinkered with a little bit,\u201d the award-winning director and writer Thompson told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cRefining a show is not something you always get to do, so the process feels somewhat luxurious. Rolling up our sleeves together and chiseling out details on a show like this is a lot of fun. Just today we were refining choreography and songs to a level of detail rarely explored in the rehearsal process. Often in the past I have found myself relieved just to get a show on its feet, but where we are currently at with Broken Sex Doll<\/em> is altogether different. And installing it at the gorgeous York Theatre has been such an honor and delight.\u201d<\/p>\n

About the challenges and benefits of remounting a production, Thompson said, \u201cThis has been a wonderful opportunity to take another look at the show and make refinements, with the experience and knowledge gleaned from previous incarnations of what worked and what could be improved upon. The challenges vary from the artistic to the technical. My aim with this production is to raise the bar as high as I possibly can and produce as close to a Broadway-calibre musical as possible. Making the show tourable has also been a significant challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Broken Sex Doll<\/em> comes with a content warning, and the evening performances are for audiences 19 and older. But is it as risqu\u00e9 as the title makes it sound?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that depends on your perspective,\u201d said Thompson. \u201cIt could be \u2018too much\u2019 for some and \u2018not enough\u2019 for others. For example, I chose not to include any nudity in excess of a male bum or two. Female nudity was off the table. I knew anything more than what we\u2019re doing could cause discomfort within some audience members, \u2018taking them out\u2019 of the experience of the story. It\u2019s a fine line that I\u2019m walking. In the world of the show, social morality as we know it has more or less collapsed. And, while that\u2019s been freeing to me a playwright to explore, I know that there are certain lines that, when crossed, are counterproductive. Pushing the boundaries in the rehearsal process was a hoot, to say the least. There\u2019s a lot of simulated sex in the show. And, if done \u2018tastefully\u2019 on stage, sex can be entertaining. And even hilarious.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2013 incarnation of Broken Sex Doll<\/em> garnered seven Jessie Richardson Theatre Award nominations, including outstanding production and outstanding direction for Thompson, who is also an award-winning actor, filmmaker and teacher.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Chillwack, the Studio 58 graduate is founder of the Virtual Stage. Another of his sci-fi (and Jessie-nominated) creations is The Zombie Syndrome<\/em>, \u201cin which audience members with smartphones are endowed as elite agents on a mission to save the world from a deadly zombie plague.\u201d The Virtual Stage-produced annual event, which began in 2012, generated a 2013 sequel called The Zombie Syndrome: On Death Island<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Broken Sex Doll<\/em> opens at York Theatre, 639 Commercial Dr., on Nov. 12, 8 p.m. It runs Nov. 13-16, 18-22, 8 p.m.; and Nov. 15, 16, 22, 2 p.m. All 8 p.m. performances are 19+ only. There are Q&A sessions after the Nov. 13, 16 (2 p.m.) and 18 shows. Tickets (starting at $19) are available from 604-251-1363 or tickets.thecultch.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Co-creator Andy Thompson directs the sci-fi musical that is being remounted at the Cultch\u2019s York Theatre Nov. 12-22.\u00a0(photo from the Virutal Stage) Broken Sex Doll is back. A hit at the Cultch in 2013, it ventured out to Halifax for the 2014 Magnetic North Festival, and returns to Vancouver Nov. 12-22, where it will play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[2432,2431,880,2433],"class_list":["post-8953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-andy-thompson","tag-broken-sex-doll","tag-cultch","tag-virtual-stage"],"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\/8953","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=8953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}