Tag Archives: Bah Humbug!

Upcoming for 2013

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Vancouver Moving Theatre is currently working on five community engaged projects:

THE BIG HOUSE is a theatrical performative feast that  celebrates  the neighbourhood’s founding cultures,  weaving together music, story sharing,  hands-on art-making and feasting traditions of Vancouver’s  Downtown Eastside. This spring April 2013 we will offer workshops on “The Art of Hospitality” and try out two work-in-progress prototypes of The Big House in partnerships with the folks at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden and the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House. Co-produced in association with Toronto’s Jumblies Theatre, the project brings together producer Terry Hunter, artistic director Savannah Walling, designer Ruth Howard, musician Beverly Dobrinsky and culinary artist Rosemary Georgeson.  The premiere of the production/event will be held in May 2014 at a yet to be determined location in the Downtown Eastside.

Theatrical-performative feast, Arts for All Institute: Oppen-Arts, Oppenheimer Park, November 2010. Photo courtesy Keith Martin.

BREAD AND SALT is a music, dance and oral history tribute to the historic and current Ukrainian Canadian community of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. A collaboration between Vancouver Moving Theatre, Beverly Dobrinsky (singer, composer and musical director) and the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, Bread and Salt will take place at the Ukrainian Hall (805 East Pender Street) during the 2013 Heart of the City Festival in an event commemorating the 85th anniversary of Vancouver’s Association of United Ukrainian Canadians.

TRAIN OF THOUGHT: Vancouver Moving Theatre is pleased to be joining the coast-to-coast creative multi-community journey: Train of Thought, produced by Jumblies Theatre and cross-country partners including Vancouver Moving Theatre.  Timed to coincide with The Big House, the innovative networking project will link and develop community arts initiatives through an evolving dialogic journey across Canada by train with at least eight stops along the way,  connecting with fellow Canadian community artists engaged on projects for, about and celebrating their communities. The train leaves in May 2014 right after the final presentation of The Big House!

THE V6A PROJECT is a community arts legacy project: a celebratory history and resource of community engaged theatre and music productions and projects created with, for about the Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside from 2002 to 2012 by Vancouver Moving Theatre, the Carnegie Community Centre, DGB Productions, Savage God, Theatre in the Raw and in partnerships with Enderby, B.C.’s Runaway Moon Theatre and Toronto’s Jumblies Theatre. The resource features a 180 page book, a slide show, a website and a visual display.  Please visit heartbook.vancouvermovingtheatre.com to view the nine productions featured in the resource package.  Our new book – From the Heart of a City: Community Engaged Theatre Productions from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside 2002-2012 – will be ready for distribution soon. As of the writing of this post, the visual display is on display at the Carnegie Community Centre gallery on the third floor. Call 604-665-2220 and ask for the Carnegie administration office to see if the display is still up.

BAH! HUMBUG!:  Victorian England meets Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in a bittersweet twist on the cherished classic that celebrates the transformative power of human redemption.  Commissioned and co-produced by SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs in partnership with Vancouver Moving Theatre, the East End adaptation of the Charles Dickens holiday favorite, “A Christmas Carol”, benefits the Downtown Eastside Heart of the Festival and community arts in the Downtown Eastside.  (December 2013, Fei & Milton Wong Theatre).

We hope to see you at one of these events and/or our anniversary celebrations.

As always,

Terry Hunter
Executive Director
11 February 2013

 

Bah! Humbug! returns December 14-18, 2011

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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