Storyweaving

Weaving First Nation Memories from the Past into the Future

A multi-disciplinary journey staged in the round.
Honouring First Nations ancestral and urban presence in Greater Vancouver.

Twining together stories, poems and personal memories
With oral histories woven from cultural teachings,
West Coast dances and the ancient bone game of Slahal.

Slahal is as old as time.
It can take everything from you
Or give you what you need….
But do we always know what we need?
The Old One steps upon his medicine wheel. Let the Slahal game begin.

A cast of aboriginal artists, elders, dancers and Downtown Eastside community members help an old man – The Old One – open up to his life’s journey, his regrets and hopes, through the teachings of the medicine wheel. His journey home gives voice to experiences of the urban aboriginal community, to voices not heard, to lives left behind.

Over the course of the Old One’s journey, ancestral memories emerge of the history of the Coast Salish area shared by many peoples.  Songs, dances and stories are shared about traditional roles, protocols and ways of seeing and doing.  We hear echoes of the salmon fishing industry’s decline, of families broken up by the residential school system and family members who have disappeared. And we hear stories of resilience:  Aboriginal men and women who arrived in Vancouver looking for work; the founding of the Coqualeetza Fellowship and Aboriginal Friendship Centre; and what it means to be Aboriginal today, meeting the challenges of walking in the world of the ancestors and the world of today.

Storyweaving is about giving voice to those that have lived within and around the Canadian legislation of the Indian Act.  And so many of us moved to the city of Vancouver and found a home here.  Our social justice and educational efforts from the 1950s through to today continue to reflect our passion for life, love, and harmony. Storyweaving is about our hopes for a good future, guided by the principles of our cultural past. - Renae Morriseau, Director

Featuring Bob Baker, Sam Bob, Wes Nahanee, Loni Williams, Mike & Mique’l Dangeli, Marge C. White, Jenifer Brousseau, Quelemia Sparrow, Sue Blue, Brenda Prince, Stephen Lytton, Priscillia Tait and Muriel “X” Williams.

Storyweaving is co-written by Renae Morriseau with Rosemary Georgeson and Savannah Walling, with contributions by Downtown Eastside urban Aboriginal artists and from the 2003 Downtown Eastside Community Play (James Fagan Tait and Adrienne Wong).

May 11-13 & 18-20, 2012
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm (Doors open 7pm)
Sunday Matinees at 2 pm (Doors open  1:30pm)
By donation $0-$20. Limited seating.

Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre
Chief Simon Baker Room, 1607 East Hastings Street

Event Information: 604-628-5672
www.vafcs.org

Storyweaving has been made possible with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, Government of BC through Gaming, City of Vancouver Cultural Services, TELUS, BC Government Service and Employees Union (BCGEU), and media sponsor The Georgia Straight.

(l-r) Marge C. White, Muriel Williams, Priscillia Tait, Kat Norris Photo: David Cooper

Monday, January 9, 2012

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE IDIOT CREATORS DIRECTOR JAMES FAGAN TAIT AND COMPOSER JOELYSA PANKANEA

Both “Crime and Punishment” and now “The Idiot” mark a certain production style in your body of work. How did it start?

JAMES FAGAN TAIT: I had just finished working in the Downtown East Side with over 80 actors in a play, and I had done a few Ann Jellicoe-type community plays – one on Toronto Island, one in the Downtown East Side [In the Heart of a City] and six in Enderby with the Splatsin First Nations band and the City of Enderby – and I started believing in the power of large community and music and many people on stage of different variety. I realized that large shows with just a group of white professional actors didn’t have the same same resonance for me anymore. Camyar [Chai at Neworld] said that their mandate was diversity and I said “Can we have another field of diversity on stage: community artists, students, professional artists and artists who are not Equity?” So we did Crime and Punishment and the result was significant. We’re pursuing the same mandate with The Idiot: to create a culture in the cast.

Where did the idea for adapting “The Idiot” come from?

JOELYSA PANKANEA: I think Jimmy always felt it made sense after Crime and Punishment. He used to tell me back then, “We have to do The Idiot! That’s the next one!” So something about it was right for him.

JFT: I first read it in 1982 for Ryerson Theatre School. I read Crime and Punishment and it changed my life. Then I laughed my way through The Idiot. And, after that, I always looked for people in my life who were those characters and I thought “I’m going to do this onstage”. I always knew I was going to do “Crime” – that was a for sure. After we did, I thought “Well, we did that. Why can’t a group like this do The Idiot? Dostoyevsky really had a different way of observing than anyone I had ever read.

What has been the life of this process?

JP: I can take you through the timeline of creating the music. I have been writing the score over the last year, we’ve done two workshops during that time. Each workshop consisted of four days in which we learned a TONNE of music. After our last workshop, Jimmy and I made final decisions about what pieces would stay in or be cut. For the last few months, I have been editing the score and the finished product finally got to Neworld a week before rehearsals started!

JFT: After “Crime” I said to Joelysa “We should do The Idiot with the same group. We then got a writing grant with no strings to any company. Camyar Chai said that Neworld might be interested in the next few years. (It ended up being seven years later). Peter Hinton at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Albert Schultz at Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto were negotiating Crime and Punishment. It was just too big but we were looking for a way to get that work to the NAC and to Soulpepper. So Peter wanted to then go into development on The Idiot. So I went on a “Translation and Adaptation” residency where I finished Part One of the play (there were going to be two plays). That was four years ago. Once that was finished Marcus Youssef at Neworld then expressed interest in having a reading of Part One, sponsored by the Belfry Theatre with 15 actors. That was three years ago. Albert at Soulpepper wanted to hear it so I went to Toronto and had a reading with the Soulpepper Academy. When I came back Marcus said that Neworld was going to go forward with the production in three years. We then got grants to finish the writing – which meant the second part of the play. It was supposed to be two plays over two evenings but it was decided that I could do it in one evening as one play. Part One was compressed into our Act One. Last January and February I wrote Act Two, which was books two, three and four of the novel. We had our first workshop this past August, another in September and now here we are.

What has been the biggest challenge in creating this adaptation?

JFT: Turning Books Two, Three and Four into a play, compressing that much information. It’s so different than “Crime and Punishment”, which is basically in one man’s head for three quarters of it until it goes into another man’s head for the last quarter (which I eliminated).
For “The Idiot” it was hard to take what is a polyphonic novel and turn it into something that has many fewer voices and to maintain its interest and beauty.

JP: Musically, the biggest challenge (other than the sheer size of the score) has been the musical arc of the story. I always found Dostoyevsky’s writing ‘not as smooth’ in this particular novel. It wasn’t until much later that Jimmy had told me that back then, this book would’ve come out as a weekly edition, piece by piece the story would be done, not all at once. I’m no Dostoyevsky expert, but I believe that he may have had a harder time writing this one than some of his others, and that might have been the ‘fragmentation’ I experienced and had such a hard time following. Also, it’s usually trickier when dealing with books that are in large sectioned parts such as The Idiot.

What similarities and differences are there between “The Idiot” and “Crime”?

JFT: The Idiot moves from a redemptive place to one of despair, to bleakness. “Crime” is the opposite: it moves towards redemption where the criminal mind recognizes that, in order to live as a human being, he has to kneel down at the crossroads and beg forgiveness of the community. Then he can find redemption. In “The Idiot”, it moves in an opposite direction where a person coming out of an institution with his mind back intact after suffering severe mental illness is out in the community and he continually fails without his support group. He eventually loses his mind because he has not been programmed.

One is a descent and the other is an ascent. People who have seen “Crime” may have some recognition this time in Dostoyevsky and think “That reminds me of that time in Crime and Punishment”. But they’re very different novels, very different adaptations and the music is very different.

How do you find and create the “sound” for “The Idiot”?

JP: That’s a huge question. Every theme comes from a different place, but I’ll talk about the main theme only – creating a piece for a specific character. Nastasya is a character that is very complex. I’ll spend a lot of time with the script until I really feel that I understand ‘my version’ of this person and I’ll create the theme with my set of ‘Nastasya-isms’ in mind. I always know if I’ve come in at the right angle because the music comes cleanly, clearly and precisely.

JFT: The text is contemporary and the language is very current even though the play is set in another period. As I write, I write all the lyrics and where the music starts in the first draft. I’ll sit down with Joelysa and read through it and then I’ll sing through it for her (which is horrifying) so she can hear a little bit of the flavor of where it comes from in my brain. She can hear scanning and word stress and genre. I’ll also feed her lots of CDs for inspiration. She’ll then ask for adjectives to get a sense of the qualities of the music and we go from there.

(l-r) Marge C. White, Muriel Williams, Priscillia Tait, Kat Norris Photo: David Cooper

The Storyweaving Project

Vancouver Moving Theatre (VMT) and the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival are excited to announce the Storyweaving Project (working title), produced in partnership with the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Association.

Between now and early May 2012  VMT and our partners will undertake a series of community building and mentor workshops which will culminate in a full production/event early May 2012 at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre.

The Storyweaving Project is a community-event for here and now to help make sense of urban Aboriginal experience.  Storyweaving is about understanding how the past informs our present, and about learning from the past and the present to move into the future with hope.

This interdisciplinary theatrical presentation combines Aboriginal traditional symbolism of the medicine wheel woven with poems, dances, stories, song, testimonies, personal memories, and selections from the Downtown Eastside Community Play (2003). The script is co-written by Renae Morriseau with Rose Georgeson and Savannah Walling and with contributions from urban Aboriginal artists, James Fagan Tait, and Adrienne Wong.

The lead artists on the team are Renae Morriseau (Script Director), Rosemary Georgeson (Artistic Coordinator), Savannah Walling (Artistic Director), Terry Hunter (Producer) and Sherry Small of the Aboriginal Friendship Centre (Cultural Liaison).

The cast includes Aboriginal performers and elders from the Downtown Eastside community and lower mainland, and groups associated with the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre, including among others: elders Sam George and Marge C. White, Bob Baker, Wes Nahanee, Mike and Mique’l Dangeli and the Git Hayetsk Dancers, and DTES aboriginal community members Sue Blue, Stephen Lytton, Kat Norris, Brenda Prince, Priscillia Tait, Herb Varley, and Muriel Williams.

The Storyweaving Project has been made possible with the support the BC Arts Council Festival Enhancement Program and Theatre Project Program, Government of British Columbia through BC Gaming, City of Vancouver Cultural Services, and TELUS.

In a world obsessed with money, power, and sexual conquest, is a sanatorium the only place for a saint?

The award-winning team that brought you Crime and Punishment in 2005 returns with the world-premiere of a new adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s comic social critique, The Idiot.

The Idiot tells the story of the strange Prince Lyov Nikolayevich Myshkin – a person who is entirely and completely good. After four years convalescing in Switzerland, Myshkin returns almost cured of epilepsy and the “idiocy” it created in him. The moment his train crosses onto Russian soil, his adventure with love, truth and the whole rotten saga of human existence begins. He becomes enamored with Rogozhin, who himself is obsessed by Natasha Fillippovna, a beautiful woman with an unfortunate reputation. Scorned by the society of St. Petersburg for his generosity and innocence, Myshkin finds himself at the centre of a struggle fueled by love, jealousy and greed. In the end, it is Myshkin’s very goodness that leads to disaster.

Neworld Theatre (Peter Panties, PodPlays, Ali & Ali) teams up with Vancouver Moving Theatre to bring Dostoyevsky’s feverish comedy to the stage, in a musical adaptation that is both whimsical and haunting — a moral parable that questions the principles of the powerful.

Presented by PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and Theatre at UBC.

Adapted & Directed by James Fagan Tait
Original Music by Joelysa Pankanea

Costume Designer: Mara Gottler • Set Designer: Bryan Pollock
Lighting Designer: Itai Erdal • Wardrobe Assistant: Sydney Cavanagh
Technical Director: John Reilly • Production Manager: Rachel Peake
Stage Manager: Dorothy Jenkins  • Assistant Stage Manager: Susan Miyagishima
Assistant Director: Chelsea Haberlin • Downtown Eastside Manager: Terry Hunter
Movement Consultant: Savannah Walling • Producer: Kirsty Munro 
Associate Producers: Terry Hunter, Savannah Walling

The Ensemble: David Adams, Patti Allan, Cherise Clarke, Kerry Davidson, Luke Day, Craig Erickson, Kevin MacDonald, Andrew McNee, Richard Newman, Kuei-Ming Lin, Stephen Lytton, Tom Pickett, Mike Richter, Savannah Walling, Adrienne Wong and introducing Theatre at UBC BFA-Acting students: Alen Dominguez, Alexander Keurvorst, Emma Middleton, Courtney Shields

Musicians: Joelysa Pankanea, Marimba | Mark Haney, Bass | Molly Mackinnon, Violin

The Idiot is commissioned by Arts Partners in Creative Development and the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.

Read an interview with director James Fagan Tait and Composer Joelysa Pankanea.

Bah! Humbug! A Spirited Benefit for the Downtown Eastside

Victorian England meets Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) this December with Bah! Humbug!, a theatrical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Reconceived as a staged reading and musical event, this imaginative all-ages production offers a bittersweet twist on a cherished seasonal classic that celebrates the transformative power of human redemption. Bah! Humbug! runs December 14 – 18, 2011 in the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts.

Commissioned and co-produced by SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs in partnership with Vancouver Moving Theatre, Bah! Humbug! is a benefit for community-engaged art practice in the Downtown Eastside and the Heart of the City Festival.

Now more than 150 years old, Dickens’ timeless story remains relevant today, especially in light of parallels between the economic disparities of Victorian London and Vancouver’s DTES.

Directed by Max Reimer, Artistic Managing Director of the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company, the 2011 Bah! Humbug! features award-winning actor Jay Brazeau as the irascible Ebenezer Scrooge, First Nations actor Margo Kane as the narrator, Juno-award winning musician and actor Jim Byrnes as Jacob Marley, and gospel and blues singer/actor Tom Pickett as Bob Cratchit. These Vancouver favourites are joined by a cast of professional and DTES community actors, multiple instrumentalist Joseph ‘Pepe’ Danza, and the Saint James Music Academy Youth Choir. Music direction is by Neil Weisensel, with music drawn from a modern songbook of pop songs, folk, blues, gospel and industrial rock along with seasonal favourites.

“Our adaptation attempts to capture the core of the story and reflect Dickens’ sharp social commentary, without losing its warmth,” says Michael Boucher, Director, Cultural Programs & Partnerships, SFU Woodward’s. “But, in the end, this story is about giving and the resilience of the human spirit. Taking inspiration from Dickens, we’re proud to work in partnership with Vancouver Moving Theatre to benefit the development of a dynamic cultural program in our own community.

“Each year, the adaptation has different creative twists and turns as we continue to highlight vital issues affecting the DTES.”

“Dicken’s vivid portrayal of the plight of community members displaced and driven into poverty during London’s boom years has never been out of print,” says Savannah Walling, Artistic Director of Vancouver Moving Theatre. “Not only is it a haunting ghost story with unforgettable characters and a comic touch, but Dicken’s advocacy for social justice, ethical transformation and generosity of spirit are just as urgently needed today. ‘Charity begins at home,’ Dickens said, ‘and justice begins next door.’”

Bah! Humbug! runs for six performances only December 14-17 (7:30 pm) and December 17-18 (2:00 pm) at the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 West Hastings. Tickets are $19 (students/seniors) and $29 (adults) and can be purchased at the Vancouver Playhouse Box Office by phone at 604-873-3311 or online at www.sfuwoodwards.ca

Announcement:

Dear Friends and Colleagues:
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Vancouver Moving Theatre Society I am pleased to extend congratulations to Vancouver Moving Theatre’s Executive Director Terry Hunter and Artistic Director Savannah Walling as recipients of the 2009 Mayor’s Award (Community Arts).

The presentation ceremony, hosted by broadcaster and author Bill Richardson, was held Monday November 16th with Mayor Gregor Robertson paying tribute to the recipients at a reception at the Museum of Vancouver.

The honour follows two recent awards presented last to year (2008) to Vancouver Moving Theatre and its Executive and Artistic Directors:  the City of Vancouver Cultural Harmony Award (Vancouver Moving Theatre), and the British Columbia Community Achievement Award (Terry Hunter and Savannah Walling).

Each Mayor’s Arts Award honouree is invited to select an ‘emerging artist’ in their discipline who demonstrates the promise of the next generation, and the emerging artist shares the Award and the cash prize of $5,000.

Terry and Savannah were delighted to choose Rosemary Georgeson, the Aboriginal Community Director for Vancouver-based urban ink productions. Rosemary worked as a Community Outreach Worker on In the Heart of a City: The Downtown Eastside Community Play (Vancouver Moving Theatre/Carnegie Community Centre, 2003) and was co-writer of We’re All In This Together: The Shadows Project- Addiction and Recovery (Vancouver Moving Theatre with urban ink and the Carnegie and Roundhouse Community Centres 2007).

Ironically, this award comes at a time of major draconian cutbacks in provincial arts and community funding, an impact which will severely impact the innovative work of Vancouver Moving Theatre/Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, and other arts and non arts based community social profit organizations across British Columbia. To find out more about these cutbacks and what you can to lobby for the reinstatement of provincial funding to social profit organizations please visit www.stopbcartscuts.ca.

Sincerely,

Ann McDonell, President

Vancouver Moving Theatre Society

www.vancouvermovingtheatre.com

www.heartofthecityfestival.com

View Programme Guide

JAPANTOWN MULTICULTURAL NEIGHBOURHOOD CELEBRATION
Celebrate the history, diversity, and enduring promise of Vancouver’s Japantown
Saturday, March 28, 2009, 10:00am – 9:00pm
Various venues, including: Japanese Hall, Oppenheimer Park, Chapel Arts, Kalayaan Centre, and the streets of Japantown
INFO: 604-628-5672 or www.vjls-jh.com

Celebrate the history, diversity, and enduring promise of Vancouver’s Japantown in the first Japantown Multicultural Neighbourhood Celebration (10:00am-9:00pm, March 28). This full day of cultural events and public forums reflects upon the journeys of the past, the diversity of the present, and the promise of the future.

The Japantown Multicultural Neighbourhood Celebration features concurrent activity at the Japanese Hall, Oppenheimer Park, Chapel Arts, Kalayaan Centre, and in the streets of Japantown. Japantown lies on the traditional territory of the Coast Salish First Nations and is the site of Vancouver’s earliest beginnings. For Japanese Canadians, this neighbourhood is natsukashii, a place that is abundant with memories. The Japantown Multicultural Neighbourhood Celebration shines the spotlight on the diverse populations that continue to thrive in this historic area.

Share stories of growing up, working and participating in Japantown. View displays of the past, present and future of the neighbourhood. Enjoy music and spoken word performances. Participate in a street procession featuring local groups and an Okinawan children’s choir and attend an afternoon ceremony honouring the milestones and initiatives of the community. Cap off the day with a gala at the Japanese Hall featuring local artists such as Sawagi Taiko, and the First Nations a cappella trio M’Girl, as well as dancers from the Bandou-ryu School of Nihon Buyo from Tokyo.

The Japantown Multicultural Neighbourhood Celebration is produced by the Powell Street Festival Society, Tonari Gumi, Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall, and Vancouver Moving Theatre, in association with a host of community partners. With this day of celebration, the partners move forward on the City of Vancouver’s Historical and Cultural Review (2008); commemorate the 80th Anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and Japan (2009); explore Japantown’s multicultural past and present; and encourage the current community to voice its hopes for the neighbourhood’s future.

The Japantown Multicultural Neighbourhood Celebration takes place between 10:00am and 9:00pm on Saturday, March 28, 2009, at locations throughout Japantown. All events are free. For more information, call 604-628-5672 or visit www.vjls-jh.com.

Vancouver Moving Theatre (VMT) has been awarded the City of Vancouver’s 2008 Cultural Harmony Award.

The award, which recognizes Vancouver Moving Theatre contribution to building cultural harmony in Vancouver and the Downtown Eastside, was presented by Mayor Sam Sullivan to Vancouver Moving Theatre’s co-founders- Executive Director Terry Hunter and Artistic Director Savannah Walling -in a ceremony at City Council Chambers on Tuesday October 28.

Two days later on Thursday October 30, Vancouver Moving Theatre was honoured with the planting of a tree and a plaque bearing the company’s name in the Vancouver Park Board Cultural Harmony Grove, located east of the Burrard Marina at the south foot of the Burrard Street Bridge.

The City of Vancouver established the Cultural Harmony Awards in 1996 to recognize individuals and organizations that display a significant and sustained commitment to the promotion of cultural harmony in the City of Vancouver.

Selection was made by an independent jury panel, on the basis of the following criteria- achievement: the significance of the achievement itself; scope: the range of activities; impact: the potential for fundamental and lasting change; and method: the manner in which the activities were performed.

A summary of the jury’s comments state they were impressed by the fact that VMT’s cultural and theatre productions involve diverse communities in the DTES, Strathcona and Gastown areas; create and build bridges between communities which see themselves reflected in the process and the work; and give voice to marginalized groups and cultures thereby enhancing understanding of their distinct characters and issues.

As Vancouver Moving Theatre celebrates 25 years of compelling productions and creative partnerships it is wonderful to be honoured with the 2008 Harmony Award, which follows the recent presentation of the 2008 British Columbia Community Achievement Award to Terry and Savannah.

On behalf of Vancouver Moving Theatre Society I would like to thank all the individuals and organizations throughout the Downtown Eastside and beyond with whom we have had, and continue to have the honour and pleasure to partner with. This recognition would not have been possible without you. Together we are building community.
In particular I would like to give big thanks to two colleagues and friends: Charles Barber (City Opera) for his nomination of Vancouver Moving Theatre, and Ethel Whitty (Carnegie Community Centre) for her letter of support. Thank you!

Yours truly,

Ann McDonell, President

Vancouver Moving Theatre Society

Terry Hunter and Savannah Walling were among forty-five outstanding British Columbians named the recipients of the fifth annual BC Community Achievement Awards by Premier Gordon Campbell and Keith Mitchell, chair of the British Columbia Achievement Foundation.

“As British Columbia celebrates its 150 anniversary this year, we recognize the strength of our province is founded in the spirit, ideas and passion of our people,” said Campbell. “It is a privilege to acknowledge the efforts of these individuals who work for the betterment of our communities and our entire province.”

“These individuals have shared the most valuable of today’s commodities, their time and compassion and, in doing so, have positively contributed to their communities.” added Mitchell. “We’re honoured to celebrate the contributions of these exceptional British Columbians.”

An independent advisory council selects the recipients of the British Columbia Community Achievement Awards. The 2008 advisory council members are Kurt Alberts, Mayor of Langley; Terry Lake, Mayor of Kamloops; Marcia Smith, Managing Partner of National Public Relations and past Community Achievement Awards recipients Sandra Heydon of Chemainus and Grace Wong of Vancouver.The British Columbia Achievement Foundation is an independent foundation established by an initial endowment of $6 million from the Province to recognize and celebrate B.C.’s spirit of excellence in the arts, humanities and community service. The Community Achievement Awards, launched in 2003, were the first initiative of the foundation, followed by BC Creative Achievement Awards, the BC Award for Canadian Non-Fiction and the Time to Read award for early literacy

Looking forward to seeing you at the festival!

Terry Hunter
Artistic Producer, DTES Heart of the City Festival