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July 19 - 29: The Neanderthal Arts Festival presents:
Neanderthal Arts Festival Summer's Independent Theatre, Remarkable People, Unorthodox New Performance, Bar and BBQ, Live!  It's July again, and that means time for Up in the Air Theatre's Neanderthal Arts Festival at The Cultch. With its most dynamic programming yet, at Neanderthal you'll see everything from burlesque theatre to searing political drama to absurdist word-games to a site-specific play in a dressing room kitchen!
With critical and audience hits like My Pregnant Brother, Highway 63, and Countries Shaped Like Stars, Neanderthal has established a reputation for bringing some of the most exciting young theatre companies from the rest of Canada to Vancouver stages. This year is no exception, with Groundwater Productions Tyumen Then set to grace the Culture Lab Stage. Featuring a stellar cast of award-winning artists, this dark comedy promises to continue the tradition of excellence of Neanderthal's National Touring productions. Which is not to say there are any slouches in the local programming this year. Jessie award-winner Conrad Alexdrowicz (Beggars Would Ride, The Wines of Tuscany) makes his first appearance at the Festival with his newest work, House of X. Hardline Productions bring a piece of hard-hitting physical theatre with Coercion. And Delinquent Theatre brings the smash hit of last year's Bridge Mix back with a full-length version of their recession-era musical, Stationary. The Festival has also switched up its model for 2012, with a number of short runs of performances happening only on weekends. So, if you want to see the always mind-boggling Brief Encounters or discover why The Sunday Service was nominated for a slew of Canadian Comedy Awards -- then make sure you check out the schedule and book tickets for these limited runs well in advance!  Neanderthal continues its tradition of bringing the best emerging and experimental theatre at a price that cannot be beat. Tickets start at $9 with a Festival pass and are still affordable at $14 (plus s/c) for single tickets. Tickets are available online at tickets.thecultch.com, by phone at 604.251.1363, or in person at 1895 Venables St.
The Cultch's Summer Camp 2012  Attention high school-aged youth! Are you looking for something fun and rewarding to do during the summer? For two weeks in August, you are invited to join us at The Cultch for a summer camp experience unlike any other!
From August 13th - 24th, you will explore the fundamentals of contemporary theatre creation, working from the text of Lord of the Flies.
The Cultch Summer Camp brings together the artistic directors of one of Vancouver's most respected independent performing arts companies (The Only Animal) to support you as you put together your own multidisciplinary performance project. We sat down with Artistic Director Eric Miller of The Only Animal to find out more for you:
The Cultch (TC): Tell us about the history of The Only Animal's involvement in The Cultch's Summer Camp 2012.
Eric Miller (EM): This is our third year in residence. In 2010 Kendra Fanconi worked with Marcus Youssef of Neworld Theatre and Tara Cheyenne Freidenberg to create an original one act play written by the participants. In the second, 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 group of youth?
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. Lord of the Flies 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 youth. Read more
For more information about the Summer Camp, please check out The Cultch's web site!
Online: Click here to register online Phone: 604-251-1363
Download and mail/fax in the registration form: Fax: 604-251-1730
Mail: Attn: Robert Leveroos
Youth Program Manager
The Cultch
1895 Venables Street
Vancouver, BC V5L 2H6
The Cultch's Volunteer BBQ!
 The annual Volunteer Appreciation BBQ is a highly anticipated event in the life of The Cultch. It's the day at the end of the season when Cultch staff get to hone their chopping skills on salad fixings and burger toppings. It's the day that no one comes between our Marketing Manager and her role as 'Queen of the Grill'. It's the day when the Weather Network is the only channel worth watching. Most importantly, it's the day we get to say thank you to everyone who has graciously given of their time and energy to make The Cultch such a vibrant community venue.
On June 2nd, we honoured the 120+ volunteers who gave their time to usher at performances throughout the past year 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!
Read more about our Volunteer BBQ here! Due to popular demand, currently our volunteer ushering positions are full. If gaining transferable administrative office and people skills sound good to you, contact Cindy Reid, Managing Director, at 604.251.1766 x 112, or email your resume to cindy@thecultch.com.
A "Little" Piece of Vancouver's Theatre History revealed at the York Theatre In 2008 Wall Financial Corporation and The Cultch formed a partnership, with the support of the City of Vancouver, to save the York Theatre and restore the heritage building on Commercial Drive for live theatre. Development has been underway since early 2011 and as the workers start stripping away the South wall a 'little' piece of history was revealed.
John Streit from News1130 writes: "A long-lost piece of Vancouver history has been uncovered by construction crews on Commercial Drive at East Georgia. The renovation of the 1913 York Theatre has revealed another "ghost sign."
When workers started stripping stucco off the bricks of the south wall, a faded but legible black and white sign emerged reading "Little Theatre." Tom Durrie headed up the task force that helped saved the York, and says the Vancouver Little Theatre Society bought the building in 1923.
"The Little Theatre movement was pretty big all over North America at the time, sort of semi-professional and amateur. They ran it very successfully right up until 1977 when they wound down and sold it," he says. He says it has an amazing history, with almost every famous actor and actress coming out of Vancouver walking across that stage at one time or another. "This actually was the local theatre that was running all year long. Most of the other theatres were showing touring shows," explains Durrie. He says when the York was built back in 1913 there were twelve legitimate theatres in Vancouver, big and small."The last one that we lost, sadly, was the wonderful Pantages on Hastings built in 1908. It was a tragedy to lose that beautiful theatre, seating 850. It would have been a fabulous addition to the cultural scene in Vancouver, " he says. Durrie figures the "Little Theatre" sign won't be kept given the condition of the bricks.
However, the name "Little Theatre" will be incorporated into the new York Theatre, once it's renovated in about a year. Other recently uncovered ghost signs in Vancouver include Shelley's Bakery on Victoria Drive - which was saved - and 1922's Grandma's Boy on Granville near Robson, which was torn down.  Coming to a Theatre Near You... 18 Productions Live Across Two Stages! Ladies & Gentleman, Welcome to The Brand Spanking New Season at The Cultch!  Well, June-uary has come and gone folks and as we bid farewell to the rain, we also say goodbye to our 2011/2012 season of shows and look ahead to our fast approaching sunny 2012/2013 season - and what a season it is! Performers from across Canada and the globe will grace the stages of our Historic Theatre and the Vancity Culture Lab proving once again the diverse and dynamic programming that The Cultch consistently aims to present. Contemporary performers, dancers, playwrights, directors, choreographers, musicians, and theatre collectives from Berlin to London, Montreal to Vancouver and Glasgow to Portland will bring their unique approaches to live performance to our cozy corner of Venables and Victoria.Opening the season, we're thrilled to bring back the utterly dysfunctional and hilarious siblings Astrid and Otto - Die Roten Punkte - Eurosmash! Fans of Spinal Tap and Flight of The Conchords say 'HALLO!' to your new favourite band. Also returning are the hilariously macabre Mump & Smoot with their fantastic new show as well as the festive favourite The Christmas Carol Project. Our friends from Blackbird Theatre also return with the sensually seductive Don Juan following their sellout run of Waiting for Godot.Other highlights include award-winning actress Miriam Margolyes' Dickens' Women, a tour-de-force portrayal of over 23 of Dickens' best-loved characters revealing the life and character of Dickens himself. Hot off the heels of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot Rumble Productions bring us another gem - Cozy Catastrophe - asking us "What would you do with what could be your final hours?". We're thrilled also to be presenting from Berlin, LEO, an enchanting, mind-boggling piece of physical and multimedia theatre that will leave you rubbing your eyes in disbelief. And this is just a taste! If you're looking for full face masks (Grim & Fischer), musical cycling journeys (Spin), Reimagined Shakespeare (I, Malvolio), Glaswegian karaoke (The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart) or a Blind Date, then The Cultch has got you covered! Check out the complete show list and video of our exciting new 2012/2013 Season, choose your shows and snag a subscription today!  |
