SCA @ PuSh
There's great SCA representation in the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival most every year – perhaps even every year! – and the upcoming edition provides no exception. We've compiled a quick guide here of events that include SCA folks, both on stage and behind the scenes, but please forgive us and let us know if we've missed you. Read on ~
Anywhere But Here
Presented by the Electric Company Theatre, in association with Vancouver Civic Theatres and Playwrights Theatre Centre (PTC), Anywhere But Here, which "reverses the refugee’s path" in a "darkly humorous vision of exile" along the US and Mexico border, features SCA alumni Heidi Taylor (Dramaturg), Pedro Chamale (Assistant Director), and Manuela Sosa (Performer). And SCA student Montserrat Videla completed an internship with PTC while this show was being developed, too.
Anywhere But Here runs February 4 – 8 & 11 – 15, 2020, at the Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton St, Vancouver). Find out more and buy tickets HERE.
Flying white – 飞白
Presented by Turning Point Ensemble and Wen Wei Dance and including members of the Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra, this "dynamic, intercultural performance," which combines dancers and live music, takes it's name – Flying white – 飞白 – from Chinese calligraphy: it describes a technique "in which the brush touches the paper in long, light strokes, evoking grace and delicacy but also powerful velocity." The SCA's Owen Underhill is Conductor and Artistic Director of the Turning Point Ensemble and SCA student Eowynn Enquist is dancing for Wen Wei Dance.
Flying white – 飞白 runs January 31 – February 2, 2020, at the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre here at SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver). Find out more and buy tickets HERE.
Footnote Number 12
Presented by Norway's Spreafico Eckly and Theatre Replacement, Footnote Number 12 turns an "essay by the late David Foster Wallace" into a "series of seriocomic monologues," that take a "deep dive into the politics of language and the dynamics of privilege." A small scale show, James Long, who is co-Artistic Director (with SCA alumni Maiko Yamamoto) of Theatre Replacement, will deliver the monologues, which will be "playfully modulated" in real-time by sound artist and SCA alumni Nancy Tam.
Footnote Number 12 runs February 6 – 8, 2020, at Performance Works (1218 Cartwright St, Vancouver). Find out more and buy tickets HERE.
High Water
Presented by Macromatter with the Vancouver International Children’s Festival, High Water is a "comedic, suspenseful and beautifully executed" performance for a "solitary soul" using "consumer products" to create "entire worlds inside a fish tank," but seemingly doomed by a "steadily, inexorably ... rising horizon of water." Sound familiar? High Water is performed and co-created by SCA alumni Robert Leveroos and directed and co-created SCA alumni Elysse Cheadle, and features Sound Design by SCA alumni Nancy Tam, Lighting Design by SCA alumni Jonathan Kim, and Movement Consultation from SCA alumni Vanessa Goodman.
High Water runs February 1 – 5, 2020, at The Nest (1398 Cartwright St, Vancouver). Find out more and buy tickets HERE.
Idealverein
Created by Mike Bourscheid and Justine Chambers and presented with the Western Front, Idealverein "is a game of sorts" for two groups of three dancers, including SCA alumni Erika Mitsuhashi, engaging with "distinctive costumes and a set of unspoken rules."
Idealverein runs January 22 – 24, 2020, at the Western Front (303 East 8 Ave., Vancouver). Find out more and buy tickets HERE.
KISMET, things have changed
Presented by The Chop with The Cultch, KISMET, things have changed presents the results of a cross-country investigation of the question “How do you cope?,” following up with respondents to a similar work done 10 years earlier, that time asking “What do you believe in?,” by the same artists. Featuring "projection, audio recordings and a continually transforming set," SCA alumni Sammy Chien and his brother Shang Chien (Chimerik 似不像) provided Projection Technical Support.
KISMET, things have changed runs February 4 – 8, 2020, at the The Cultch (1895 Venables St, Vancouver). Find out more and buy tickets HERE.
Little Volcano
Created by Veda Hille and Theatre Replacement and presented with Music On Main, Little Volcano is a "a musical memoir, a testament to maternal love" in whille Hille recounts her life "using stories, Bach preludes, a selection of her own music and some unique and surprising recordings." SCA alumni Maiko Yamamoto and James Long, co-Artistic Directors of Theatre Replacement, Direct the performance, and Long also co-wrote the script with Hille.
Little Volcano runs January 21 – 23, 2020, at the ANNEX (823 Seymour St, Vancouver). Find out more and buy tickets HERE.
She, Mami Wata & The Pussy WitchHunt
Presented by The Frank Theatre and directed by SCA MFA alumni Fay Nass, who's also Artistic Director for The Frank Theatre, She, Mami Wata & The Pussy WitchHunt is a music-driven solo show by the multi talented artist and poet d’bi young anitafrika that explores "gender, sexuality, divinity and more."
She, Mami Wata & The Pussy WitchHunt runs January 29 – February 1, 2020, at Performance Works (1218 Cartwright Street, Granville Island, Vancouver). Find out more and buy tickets HERE.
PuSh Assembly: Critical Ideas
Presented as part of the PuSh Assembly – an opportunity to "gather to share ideas and perspectives around the performing arts" – the Critical Ideas series of events is a partnership between PuSh and the SFU Institute for Performance Studies, which is directed by the SCA's Peter Dickinson. Coordinated by Dickinson and PuSh Associate Artistic Director Joyce Rosario, the series "brings together artists, critics, scholars, and audiences to discuss formal, social, and ideological issues affecting performance practice and reception today."
Now on its fifth year, the 2020 edition of Critical Ideas is guest-curated by PuSh Scholars-in-Residence Dylan Robinson and Keren Zaiontz.
All Critical Ideas talks are free and open to the public and held at the Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema at SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 W. hastings St., Vancouver).
On Commitment
February 7, 2020 | 10:30 PM – 12:00 PM
On Commitment will provide space for a range of artists involved in PuSh 2020 to reflect on the implications of aesthetic, bodily, and durational commitment across different productions. Find out more HERE.
On Democracy
January 24, 2020 | 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM
On Democracy features award-winning artist Alex Bulmer and scholar Keren Zaiontz in conversation about Back to Back Theatre’s The Democratic Set. Find out more HERE.
On Gathering
January 31, 2020 | 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM
On Gathering brings together choreographer/director Emily Johnson (Yup’ik), writer/artist Camille Georgeson-Usher (Coast Salish/Sahtu Dene/Scottish), choreographer/curator Satu Herrla, and Dylan Robinson (Stó:lō) to discuss artistic forms and gathering and assembly in public space. Find out more HERE.
Morning Welcome + Keynote Manifesto
We're also hosting the Morning Welcome + Keynote Manifesto for PuSh Delegates on February 5, 2020, from 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM in the Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema at SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 W. hastings St., Vancouver). Remember: a PuSh Industry Pass or Industry Series Access is required to attend as a delegate.