The Cultch E-Zine: June 2012

As a social profit organisation we depend on word-of-mouth to help promote our programs. If you are able, please forward this email to those who you think might be interested in our programming. Thanks for your support!

June 7: Warriors Against Violence Society presents Making WAVS

June 10: Louis J. Bongiovanni presents Tangissimo Plus - A Tango Event

June 14 -15: SHIFT Theatre, PCT and 100.5 The PEAK present SHIFT 1-Act Festival 5

June 20 - 30: Sandbox Productions presents The Tempest

June 23: Their There proudly presents Familiar Skin - CD Release Party

Click here for our full calendar of events! To purchase tickets to any of these events, visit tickets.thecultch.com.

The Cultch's Summer Camp 2012

For two weeks in August 2012, you are invited to join us at The Cultch for a summer camp experience unlike any other.

Here at The Cultch's Youth Program headquarters, we are hard at work putting together one of the most ambitious programs we've ever created: The Cultch Summer Camp for high school-aged youth. The program, which runs August 13 - 24, brings together the artistic directors of one of Vancouver's most respected independent performing arts companies (The Only Animal) to work as mentors for groups of youth putting together their own multi-disciplinary performance project. We sat down with Artistic Director Eric Miller of The Only Animal to find out more.

The Cultch (TC): Tell us about the history of The Only Animal's involvement in The Cultch's Summer Camp.

Eric Miller: This is our third year in residence. In 2010 Kendra Fanconi worked with Marcus Youssef of Neworld Theatre and choreographer Tara Cheyenne Freidenberg to create an original one act play written by the participants. For the second summer camp, as the sole company in residence, we explored the theme of growing up and growing older for a multimedia storytelling project in development called Out On A Limb. This year, we are again inviting youth to work with us developing a project we plan to fully produce. Always, we emphasize the creation of original work: we are interested in collaborative explorations that give our young artists a set of tools and a chance to try them out.

TC: This year's summer camp is a bit different than years past in that you're working with a script (Lord of the Flies). How will this year's summer camp be different because of this and why the change?

EM: Since last year's exploration of a work in progress was fun and fruitful, we decided to try again. It gets us even more excited about doing it, and it gets the participants involved in a real world project. Every project has its givens. This year's focus on Lord of the Flies will be a chance to use a given text as a starting point. We'll teach movement, voice, ensemble creation skills...and this year add a site-specific component where we go and see what its like to create outside the black box of the conventional playhouse.

TC: Why Lord of the Flies? What's the advantage of telling this story with a bunch of teenagers?

EM: We are interested in why people fall into violence, and why they choose to be good human beings. Does that learning to be good come from outside or from within? The story is about young people dealing with catastrophe, what choices they make when they don't have adults looking over their shoulders. We think this is something teenagers can really understand. LOTF was a forerunner of the post-apocalyptic fiction that is so big right now (like "The Hunger Games") and we think it could speak again in today's world, with today's kids.

TC: Your company, The Only Animal, has always been known for its inventive site-specific theatre work. For those of us that don't know, can you explain what site-specific theatre is and what is it about this type of creation that excites you?

Matt Palmer and Billy Marchenski in The Only Animal's Sea of Sand photo by Michael Sider.

EM: Site-specific theatre is theatre of place. There's a wide variety of work that gets called site-specific, but generally it comes out of a deep exploration of a place that is interesting to the artist. To us it means looking at the physical and natural world as a source of inspiration. We look at the materials at hand, like water and sand, and imagine what metaphors they suggest, like snow and ice suggest a thaw, both physical and psychological, and that was the seed of NiX. The story then emerges from that central metaphor and the characters that might inhabit the site. We love the adventure of working outside the black box. It sometimes requires a magnified and very physical performance style, which I personally enjoy. It stretches our artistic teams to invent and solve big creative challenges!

TC: We've heard that this year you will be taking the summer camp participants to the water park on Granville Island. What do you hope to achieve from a day at the water park?

EM: In using a water park as the site we enter a special place with special rules, where the role of 'play' in forming our identities, relationships, and moral choices is right there: it's a part of the place itself. The day at the water park will be a chance to touch on the possibilities and challenges of taking theatre work outdoors. We'll get to experiment with staging using the existing structures, how it feels to perform outside, and of course, how much fun it is to use water!

TC: You'll be bringing in an all-star team of guest instructors to lead specific training workshops. Can you give us a sneak peek of who might be joining you?

EM: Top Secret: Access Denied. Well, maybe one. David Jordan brought us the idea of doing Lord of the Flies in a water park, and he's my co-director on the project. He's going to take time off from running the Vancouver International Fringe Festival to do scene work with us.

TC: Past summer campers have said it's an experience like none other. What do you think makes this camp so unique?

EM: I'm not sure exactly. Maybe it's the combination of really rigorous theatre training with the freedom to collaborate with each other. I won't be sitting behind a table moving actors around like chess pieces. We insist that our participants bring everything they've got, no matter what age or experience, and we trust that the collaborative work will generate surprising, powerful, and personal expression. So far, that has been true. And the success so far has been in large part due to The Cultch and the trust they have invested in the process. We are grateful and stoked for August!

So what will happen this summer when groups of youth are given full access to our theatres, are paired with some of the most creative minds in the country, and told that the sky is limit? We are expecting that it will result in a one-of-a-kind, life changing, and inspirational experience for the youth involved. Other than that... we'll have to wait and see!

Register before June 30 for The Cultch's 2012 Summer Camp and save $100. Register now through The Cultch Box Office by phone at 604.251.1363, in person at 1895 Venables Street or online at tickets.thecultch.com.

The Cultch's Volunteer Appreciation Party: Food, Friends, Fun and Prizes!

Karen Shimokura volunteered over 121 hours as an usher this past season!

So much of what we do here at The Cultch depends on the participation and support of our dedicated volunteers who, in donating their time and energy, help make The Cultch a vibrant community venue.

At the close of each season, we celebrate our volunteers with our annual Volunteer Appreciation BBQ. On June 2nd, we honored the more than 120 volunteers who gave of their time to usher at performances and provided valuable administrative support in our office, as well as the numerous volunteer interns who worked in our marketing, youth and development departments. More than 3700 volunteer hours were contributed in total for the 2011/2012 season! Special recognition was given to Karen Shimokura who volunteered over 121 hours as an usher!

Many partners and local businesses kindly contributed door prizes which were used to express our gratitude for the continued support and enthusiasm of our wonderful volunteers. The Cultch volunteers wish to thank the following for their generosity:

The Georgia Straight, Grandview Lanes, Dutch Girl Chocolates, Mogiana Coffee, Fets Bar & Grill, Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Vancouver Aquarium, Capilano Suspension Bridge, Science World at Telus World of Science & Safeway on East Broadway.

And a very special thank you to Choices Markets in Yaletown for once again providing a wonderful spread of BBQ goodies!

See 4 shows for the price of 3 (it's like seeing Mump & Smoot for FREE!) with a Cultch subscription

Programmed by Executive Director Heather Redfern, The Cultch's 12/13 season boasts a dynamic group of contemporary performers, playwrights, directors, choreographers, musicians, and theatre collectives from Vancouver, across the country, and around the world.

With eighteen provocative productions, this chock-full season will keep The Cultch's two venues - the Historic Theatre and the Vancity Culture Lab - buzzing with live performance year round. The Cultch's 12/13 season is sponsored by West Coast Reduction Ltd.

The Cultch's 12/13 season brings you the best of contemporary theatre, dance and music. Won't you join us? Watch an overview of the season here.

Extraction - News from our Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award Winner

Extraction at Richmond Int'l Film & New Media Festival

Extraction by Theatre Conspiracy

An international cast meets for the first time in Theatre Conspiracy's creation sessions for Extraction during a residency at The Cultch in July, followed by a one-night presentation of the work-in-progress on July 21, 2012 as part of the annual Your Kontinent: Richmond International Film & New Media Festival.

Through the biographies of four performers, the bilingual, documentary-style play looks at lives transformed by the rapid growth of Beijing and Fort McMurray, Chinese investment in Alberta's tar sands and the evolution of Canada/China relations.

Extraction, directed by Amiel Gladstone, will premiere March 5-9, 2013, as part of The Cultch's 12/13 season. Theatre Conspiracy was presented with the annual Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award - a $60,000 prize - that will support the development and production of Extraction.

Want to be in Extraction?
Theatre Conspiracy are still looking to cast a Mandarin-speaking person who has experience working in Fort McMurray, Alberta and/or working in the oil industry or conservation. A paid position with opportunity to travel.

For an interview, send an email in English detailing your experience with an attached resume to: info@conspiracy.ca. For more information on Theatre Conspiracy and Extraction go to: www.conspiracy.ca.

Extraction shows from Mar 5 - 9, 2013 at The Cultch. For the best seats at the best prices pick up a subscription today!

Rentals at The Cultch

Did you know that The Cultch is a supportive rental facility for dozens of local theatre, dance and music presenters including The Coastal Jazz and Blues Society, musica intima, Vancouver New Music, Touchstone Theatre and numerous other professional dance and theatre companies? After extensive renovations in 2008, The Cultch is one of the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified arts centres in Canada.

If you are interested in renting The Cultch for your event, please contact our rentals co-ordinator Jennifer Spry at 604.251.1766 ext. 107 for availability and additional information.

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