This One Goes to Eleven: Emma Luna Davis

Emma is the true picture of Arts Administrator as Rock Star. With a MA in Arts and Media Management in a European Context from the Utrecht School of the Arts and a Theatre BFA from UBC, together with years of Stage Management and Logistics Coordination under her belt, she exemplifies the passion required on the other side of the stage.

She is currently the General Manager of the quarter-century-old pi theatre. Their current production, After the Quake, is up until December 5, and it is very hard to get a ticket for.

1. In one word, describe your present condition.

Cautiously optimistic. (Sometimes, the right answer just doesn’t fit the word limit. As someone who writes grants for a living, cut me some slack?)

2. With no directives on word count, describe the present condition of the Vancouver theatre scene.

Poised. (Sometimes, one word is enough.)

I feel Vancouver’s theatre scene is like an tiger ready to pounce. We’re organized, united, and  our message is clear: the proposed cuts to cultural funding in this province are not the answer.  Our community has been threatened and we’re on the defense. There is fear, for sure, but I also think we’re ready and able to defend our cause.  We know what we’re fighting for is worthwhile, and we believe the average British Columbian does too.

3. How and why did you end up on the administrative end of the arts?

I grew up in the arts — My dad’s a filmmaker, my mum a painter, my sister a graphic designer, my cousins musicians…I don’t know if it was because they saw something in my personality or simply boredom with the lack of variety in the family vocations, but ever since I was little, the message was clear that I should not be an artist. ‘Perhaps a lawyer?’

The problem with this message is that the only way you can truly define yourself as ‘not an artist’ is if you are constantly surrounded by artists, and that’s where I felt at home. But performing was clearly not my calling.  When at university someone asked me to ASM for a project, I discovered UBC’s theatre program and the idea that I could get paid to work behind the scenes was an incredible epiphany for me. I trained as an SM and although I really miss stage management these days, I also found myself dissatisfied with project-based work — there seemed to me to be so many interesting things going on in organizations themselves that I wanted to participate in.  I did an MA in Arts Management and have been slogging away behind a desk ever since.

4. What do you see as the single greatest issue challenging the growth of independent theatre?

The role of the artist in society. To me, almost all of our issues boil down to how we prioritize, and therefore fund, arts and culture and the people who create.

5. Please expand on the ideals inherent in Pi’s wonderful motto “global thinking, local acting”.

Pi’s plays share voices from around the world.  This means that we’re producing work, often in translation, from playwrights near and far.  But we see ourselves as an inherent part of the local community — Vancouver’s talent base, our audiences here, and our colleagues in See Seven and Progress Lab are integral to the work we do.  After the Quake is a great example of this — the script is based on stories by well-known Japanese author Haruki Murakami, but our production team is Vancouver through and through, and so is the impact the show has in this community. It would be a completely different show in somewhere else.

6. How has the Social Media aspect of your marketing program impacted your position in the community?

I see our social marketing as one slice of our communications pi (cough. sorry…).  With all of our communications tools (our shows, print, online and social media, and the relationships we have with our supporters, artists and audiences), we are trying to tell people about the work we’re doing and why they might want to be part of it. Social media gives us a great tool to make that message a 2-way conversation, so that we can hear the response to our work loud and clear. That’s important to me.

7. What type of theatre should we as an industry be pushing for towards bringing in a new, uninitiated audience?

I’ve been really inspired by how much of the response to After the Quake has been people saying that this show makes them want to see more theatre in this town. I strongly encourage them to do so — there is so much incredible work happening and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.

I’ve been thinking lately that one of the biggest challenges we face is that the most powerful thing we have to offer — a potentially-transformative, definitely-live experience — is something that people rave about when they’ve had it, but are actually apprehensive of beforehand.  No one thinks they want to be transformed, but they are usually glad they were. I think communicating the value of live theatre is a communications debacle and cracking that nut is definitely something I think about a lot.

8. What’s your number one, all-time theatre pet peeve?

Not being allowed to take my drink and munchies into the theatre.

9. Any words of advice for someone considering the leap into arts administration here?

Sigh. Marry rich? But remember, if and when you get a full-time job, no matter how badly it pays, it’s endlessly more stable than the tenuous existence of the artists you work with. That should make you humble, and grateful. I know I am.

10. What are your top 3 theatre reads?

Architecture critic Peter Reyner Banham ‘learned to drive so that he could read Los Angeles in the original.’  Taking a page from his book, the most important way to “read” theatre for me is to watch it. I’d say my 3 favourite productions have been:
- Oerol (2005) (I know, it’s more than one production. But the whole experience was pure magic.)
- Far Side of the Moon
- Quidam

11. What’s next?

Actually, I’ll be on maternity leave as of April, so that’s definitely a new chapter for me. Pi on the other hand is looking very forward to building on the success of After the Quake. Stay tuned!

One Night Stand returns! Killer stand-up back at Lyric this Saturday

The BC government has declared war on the Arts. Choose your weapons

Just to be clear, this is what we’re talking about:

…in late August and early September of 2009, Gordon Campbell’s government announced massive cuts. First, they announced that the share of casino revenues that traditionally went to support the activities of charities, including non-profit arts organizations, was going to be used for other, unspecified purposes. Then, in the September budget, they announced that the legislative appropriation for the B.C. Arts Council would be reduced by 81% for 2009-10, reduced by 85% for 2010-11, and then further reduced by 92% for 2011-12.

92%. It just sounds ridiculous coming out of my mouth when I tell people about it. It doesn’t even sound real. It’s the kind of thing you would do to punish someone. Like the arts sector in BC is having its allowance docked for something it didn’t even know it was doing. Or not doing. Is that it? We had a time limit to make ourselves an essential part of the fabric of society and the Liberals have decided we didn’t quite make it? That the work we do and the love we put into it is all well and good, but of no use to our cities, towns and neighbourhoods? That we’re non-essential? That art is by nature an avocation?

There was a piece in Monday night’s Wrecking Ball Cabaret by Mark Leiren–Young wherein “Minister of Tourism, Culture and Arts” “Kevin Krueger” told us that the reason he yanked our funding is because if he took it from ferry workers, mailmen etc, they’d just quit, and we’re just going to keep on doing what we do anyway. Could that really be it? Is that the crux of the whole affair, that because we’re artists we’re just going to lie down?

This fight isn’t about a debate over funding models. It’s not a moral issue about profiting off of gaming money. Those are questions for another day. Our “representatives” in government just said “get a job”. They said that because we work on the thing we’re passionate about, we’re merely hobbyists. This is not our government, so we’re going to have to make some noise.

The Alliance for Arts and Culture is doing a splendid job of helping us get noisy. There’s a new button on the sidebar that will take you to a new site they’ve set up to provide us with a tool kit – or should I say arsenal – to point our advocacy in the right direction. (For those of you who are good enough to subscribe to the RSS feed, the button is below…)

It’s a very simple and well laid-out site that offers viable options for taking the fight to the steps of the people that need to hear us. No one’s advocating pitchforks and torches just yet, but silence sure isn’t the answer.

Consider adding the button to your site and social networks, you can email Kevin Dale McKeown at communications@allianceforarts.com and he will provide you with the button’s html code and some accompanying text.

And speaking of making noise, there’s a flash mob planned for 4:30 today at the Waterfront Station to raise some public awareness, here’s the info from Adrienne Wong:

At 4:30pm on Thursday November 26th please come to Waterfront Station.
Sing “Standy by Me” in solidarity with members of Vancouver’s music community.
Have your voice heard.

Please come and disseminate invitation widely.
*We are inviting the MEDIA and the more the merrier – and more impressive*

Here are the details:
A WHAT? : some might call it a flash mob…
TIME: singing begins at 4:30 sharp, arrive a couple minutes early, blend in, then just go with the flow when the singing starts
LOCATION: Waterfront Station, find the crowd
WHAT: Stand by Me – sing along or bring an instrument!
SHOW YOUR COLOURS: write “music” or “theatre” or “film” or “dance” or “sculpture” on your shirt, or hold a sign
LOOK FOR: a banner that says “Stand by us and stop arts cuts“
AT THE END: disperse back into the city

WE NEED YOU THERE. EVERY VOICE COUNTS.

Artless

With Alex Ferris (RV, The Time Traveller’s Wife). Directed By Kryshan Randel, written by Kryshan Randel and Cara Yeates

This BC Arts cuts PSA is titled “Movie”

With Peter New and Kathryn Dobbs, directed by Mike Jackson

After the Quake: Our best defence is exceptional art

Indie theatre is a tough little mistress. My investment in her, my drive to make her popular, to share her potential with just a few more people takes its toll on me. And I know it. Hackneyed theatre makes me, well, it makes me angry, if truth be told. I’m not saying that feeling is justified, but if its done really poorly it makes me want to run away from it as far and as fast as I can, and just get my storytelling fix from novels and the occasional movie.  It can make me clueless as to why I would ever want to toil in its short-reaching, revenue-free depths.

And then, suddenly and quietly, I’ll find myself witness to a stage work that bursts the clouds and reminds me exactly why I love theatre so deeply. And it makes me want to stay in it forever, no matter what the price.

You should see After the Quake.

A co-pro by pi theatre and Rumble Productions, local indies that have been around for 25 and 20 years respectively, it is testament to where you can get to in the work with enough time and talent invested in it. It’s not politically charged or form-punishing or experimental, it is simply a vehicle to serve the medium: the sharing of stories. Constructed in script and direction in a way that could only be presented on an intimate stage, After the Quake understands its function from top to bottom. pi and Rumble have clearly taken all the necessary time and consideration to each of the production’s components, after-show cocktail conversation could be taken up entirely by the set design, lighting, sound design, acting, costuming, direction…this is a perfectly balanced play. And I think that’s where the inspiration I felt walking out of the theatre is borne from; the affirmation that so many forms of art must combine in harmony to make the whole truly transcendent. A play can be successful with one component out of tune, but when all are compelling it can truly take flight.

I’m very grateful when a theatrical experience moves me to gush. The hard work that went into this piece is evident, as is what I can only assume to be a rather hefty production price tag (which is the kind of thing you think about when you’re in the business of making theatre, I suppose), and it’s a powerful argument for raging against a government who would dare deem work like this unimportant. This is the frame of mind I’m going into the Wrecking Ball in tonight. This is a worthy fight.

One of the best ways to fight it is to tell everyone you can to see the work that affects you.

Check out the short promo below, they didn’t even scrimp on the poster art, which is original for this production. And there’s a little taste of the sound design as well…

This One Goes to Eleven: Bill MacDonald

Meet a true vet of the Vancouver stage (and screen) scene. Bill’s been wielding and teaching his craft for over two decades, and he’s still going strong. His work in the recent Fringe production Matters Domestic with Nancy Sivak was universally praised. Bill can swing between gravitas and hilarious in a single beat, he’s got one of the widest ranges of actors I know. You can catch him in the premiere of Shawn Macdonald’s Demon Voice at the PTC until November 28.

1. In one word, describe your present condition.

Inspired.

2. In as many words as you deem necessary, describe the present condition of the Vancouver theatre scene.

Brave. Facing budget cuts, the art will go on. Nothing will stop it.

3. What was it about the script for Demon Voice that grabbed you?

The honesty. The poetry. You know when a writer is writing the truth, because you respond to it. You say, “Yeah, I know that. I want to express that, explore that, share that with others, with an audience.” The research I’ve done for the role has affected me in a personal way. That turns me on. That’s why I do theatre. That’s why I live.

4. What is the number one thing you need from a director when working on a new play?

A strong vision, awareness of everyone’s journey, enjoyment of actor’s playing. It’s by playing that the text comes alive, physicalizing the story. You need a director who’s not afraid to take risks. Find the individuality of this playwright, rather than making him/her fit an already existing model.

5. What’s the best piece of acting advice you’ve ever received?

Breathe. Listen. Receive. Give.

6. What’s the most common stumbling block you help your neophyte students climb over?

Confidence. Overcoming self doubt. Learning to express themselves fully and completely.

7. What’s your favourite theatrical memory?

I have many; I’ve been doing this for 20 years. The first one that comes to mind, I was doing “The Slab Boys” by John Byrne in Edmonton. The scene required me to pose next to a James Dean poster and imitate him. I had a hard time getting the James Dean squint. Back then you could smoke on stage. Opening night I took my pose and lit the cigarette with wooden matches and melted my eyelashes together. I got the squint.

8. What style of content or subject matter would you like to see more of on our stages?

As long as it is honest and revelatory, I’m into it. Canadian content would be a bonus. I’d even like to see more plays about Vancouver. Shawn’s made Vancouver sexy and interesting. I feel there are a lot of stories in this city that can be told.

9. Given a time machine, what would you tell a young Bill MacDonald just starting out on his career?

I’d tell him to do whatever the fuck he wants. He’ll learn sooner or later, one way or another.

10. What are your top 3 theatre reads?

The Empty Space by Peter Brook

Theatre and its Double by Antonin Artaud

Any Biography of Laurence Olivier

11. What’s next?

“The Edward Curtis Project” written by Marie Clements and directed by Brenda Leadlay for the PuSh Festival in January at Presentation House.

Photo of Bill MacDonald and Patrick Keating in Demon Voice courtesy of Touchstone Theatre

The Wrecking Ball rolls again

If you were unfortunate enough to miss last year’s inaugural Vancouver Wrecking Ball at the Stanley, ask anyone who was there how awesome it was and then stand back and watch them explode with volcanic enthusiasm. It was a clear and resounding proclamation that a group of impassioned artists joined together can generate serious shock waves. I walked out onto Granville Street feeling a part of something important, part of a movement, and I am thrilled that we’re hosting another one again this year.

Titled “Wrecking Ball to Tackle Draconian Cuts to the Arts: Canada’s Leading Theatre Artists Take On the BC government from Coast to Coast”, our Ball is the fourth this November after Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa (which drops tomorrow, November 16). Here’s some copy from the Facebook Page:

Vancouver’s Wrecking Ball features some of Canada’s most nationally and internationally recognized actors and directors, including multiple award-winning actor/playwrights Daniel MacIvor (House, Twitch City) and Linda Griffiths (Maggie and Pierre), Leacock-winning writer Mark Leiren Young, and Alcan Award winner Carmen Aguirre. Original member of the Nylons and BC Walk of Fame member Denis Simpson will host.

Margaret Atwood asks, “What is it that power-hungry politicians want from BC artists? Control over the story through the annihilation of the former story-tellers? Is this the agenda behind the decapitation of arts funding in British Columbia, while mega-millions are poured into the Olympics? The BC arts community will retaliate, of course. Over the past 50 years they’ve put BC on the map.”

“It won’t just be a protest,” adds Wrecking Ball Spokesperson Adrienne Wong. “It’ll be a night to laugh and celebrate what we know – that British Columbians care about culture.

Power to the people. Hope to see you there.

NOW! youth sustainability announces National playwriting competition

The NOW! Organization was founded in 2006, and it “…bridges people from diverse backgrounds to sculpt innovative, holistic solutions toward social, environmental, and economic sustainability”. And further: “We implement interdisciplinary grassroots programs to creatively inspire, engage, and empower youth, pique ideas and discussions, promote interdisciplinary, holistic thinking and problem solving, and spark action.”

So essentially it’s a youth organization on sustainability run entirely by youth volunteers, who last year established a playwriting competition for aspiring theatreists between the ages of 14 – 26 (split into 2 categories: 14 – 18 and 19 – 26). The winning playwrights receive:

• $500
• their plays performed across Canada to an estimated audience of 10,000 people
• their plays broadcast on Sustainability Television

This is the second annual competition, information on the two winners from last year’s inaugural competition is available here.

On-line submissions will begin in December, giving aspiring writers lots of time to prepare.

Best of luck to all entrants, I sincerely hope the craft sticks with you, and we’ll be hearing much more from you in the future.

 

PuSh 2010 line-up announced

The Edward Curtis Project

Vancouver’s very own PuSh International Performing Arts Festival drops next year on January 20, running to February 6. The official site has just released the shows that will be on display for your consideration and discussion.

Here’s a grab bag of copy from the listings section:

An enormous scale model of Auschwitz fills the stage, with thousands of tiny handmade puppets representing the prisoners and their executioners.

Kamp

Clark and I Somewhere in Connecticut is one of the most notorious theatre pieces to come out of Vancouver in recent memory.

Clark and I Somewhere in Connecticut

Filled with absurd, inspired, bizarre and often touching “events,” it is part dream, part chaos and part variety show…

White Cabin

Intimate one moment and operatic the next, these seemingly mundane gestures build to a surprising conclusion that is delightfully unhampered by its performers’ complete lack of formal dance training.

Poetics: A ballet brut

Fascination, humour, madness and sheer terror are melded in his puppet show recreations of the gruesome, sexually charged murders.

Jerk

For eight continuous hours, 50+ performers use the compositions and improvisational languages developed by Braxton to create a living sound world.

Sonic Genome

A simulated city evolves as each of 200 spectators add their personal touch, game controller in hand.

Best Before (working title)

…a fantastical rendering of the Gothic dreamscape of Poe’s life.

Nevermore

Performed on an assortment of instruments, most of which the performers are required to build themselves using materials from giant pipes and tea cups to flower pots…

So Percussion

…Vancouver-based composer Stefan Smulovitz has written a luminous score to accompany Carl Dreyer’s 1928 silent film, The Passion of Joan of Arc.

The Passion of Joan of Arc

A transformative and dynamic sculpture takes form as the hanging canvases grab hold of the fleeting, flickering images.

The Passion Project

…a delightfully subversive game of anticipation and expectation that blurs the line between spectator and spectacle.

The Show Must Go On

In her journey to recover from post-traumatic stress disorder, she finds herself face-to-face with the controversial photographer who was obsessed with capturing the Indian way of life he thought was dying out.

The Edward Curtis Project

Australian-born photographer-storyteller William Yang shares a deeply beautiful account of his personal pilgrimage to China…

China

 

Switching baskets: growing a sustainable funding model?

copyright Jackie Connelly Photography

A comment just popped up from Jon Stancato, Co-Artistic Director of NYC’s The Stolen Chair Theatre Company, on this recent post about the Open Up and Let Them In concept of Indie Stage, that discusses a recent initiative towards a new funding model that bears examination. I think I love it.

There’s an essential point to be made about fixing the busted down model of theatre by looking to functioning models outside of the theatre industry; adapting methods and practices that are actually working instead of spinning the same old wheels. Stolen Chair is adapting a workable model of community-supported agriculture (similar to the Vancouver Farmers Markets here) to independent theatre. In Jon’s own words, from the comments section:

Glad to read this post and wanted to share something that my company, Stolen Chair, is doing in NYC.  We’ve been given a sizable grant from a program called Economic Revitalization for Performing Artists (from The Field) to adapt the business model of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to the theatre (our CST).  A small community of members will be following the development of our newest original work, QUANTUM POETICS, from its earliest zygotic stages until its first public presentation.  Along the way, we’ll be curating a variety of thematically related cultural and educational activities to bring the audience even further into the world of the play.  The community will also have its own private online social network, with exclusive rehearsal footage streamed right from the studio, podcasts, excerpts from the developing script, and, most importantly, a feedback forum where we can dialogue about the work-in-progress even when we can’t do so in person!

The reasons behind the initiative speak to a lot of what you say above about creating a community of informed, invested stakeholders.  We’ve just opened up signups over at http://communitysupportedtheatre.org (where the whole concept is explained in detail).  NYtheatre.com will be “embedding” a writer in the CST for the next 9 months and she’ll be chronicling the progress of the show and the community we’re trying to build.

Here’s to more models!

Jon, thank you so much for sharing. In the clip below you can check out Jon explaining the concept at an “Economic Revitalization for Performing Arts” presentation in New York…

The part that’s got me really excited?

The community will also have its own private online social network, with exclusive rehearsal footage streamed right from the studio, podcasts, excerpts from the developing script, and, most importantly, a feedback forum where we can dialogue about the work-in-progress even when we can’t do so in person!

Love. Love it. Theatre as community building. Isn’t that supposed to be the point? What do you guys think, does the CST model concept have eggs? Er…legs?

Photo courtesy of Jackie Connelly Photography

…and another Stop the Cuts PSA for your linking pleasure

Open up and let them in, continued…

I am an artist in process. We are an industry in process. I am of the opinion that our particular industry is in its entirety process, and nothing more. And I think I’m starting to get an inkling of what that word means.

My process thus far has gone something like this: discovered theatre at 20, fell in love with theatre, ran away from theatre, theatre hunted me down and forced itself on me, discovered that I was, and always had been, a theatre artist, clumsily mounted a string of theatrical events and, most recently, disappeared into the stunted, confused and beaten-down hound that is the business side of the independent arts. That last one has encompassed the last 3 years of my life, and I have lived it; eaten, breathed, touched, tasted it every single day. This has made me joyful, and it has made me furious, it has made me want to bury theatre in a shallow grave in the backyard and never give it another thought.

It has turned me into a preacher, the guy at the cocktail party that just won’t shut up, and it’s utterly taken my tongue and hidden it from me.

This, I realize now, is the process that all pioneers have gone through. I have sought out and wrapped myself in the voices of independent theatre practitioners and audiences – like a junkie with a farmers market of narcotics at his disposal – both in person and out here on the blogosphere. It’s moved from the background of my personality to the foreground, it has become an essential part of my identity. And the pursuit of answers, of method and of financial viability has – like all good art – cost me, as I know it has cost so many of my peers: time, money, sleep, relationship stress, sanity…and that light at the end of the tunnel is still just a pin prick.

But. Taking a breather right now I realize there are some things that I have come to know as Truth. Ideas that became experiments that became facts, forged in the fire of doing the thing and solidified in the forensics. These are chunks of bedrock that I believe we need to be open and loud about, that we need to share with each other so that we can strengthen our bonds as an industry, and as a community.

The Open Up and Let Them In concept – propounded in a post from early June – is one of those big chunks. Simply stated, it’s a shift in the indie theatrical model from putting up little basement-theatre versions of what the big proscenium-arched houses present – with little card table box offices and little Fisher Price mini-bars and redundant ushers – and instead embracing the opportunities presented us by our size and form – namely accessibility to the artists so that we can celebrate and debate the work together. Doing away with the curtain, as it were, instead of merely lifting it at 8:00. Fearing not the judgment of the punters but rather welcoming them as one half of the equation that makes up the performance. Face to face. Creating an experience that is unique unto itself, as similar to civic theatre as it is to Opera or a hockey game.

This idea has traction. Ottawa theatreist Kris Joseph recently writes:

…I am now more convinced than ever that theatre can and must distinguish itself from film, TV, and new media by being completely porous to its audience.

We owe it to audiences to share what we have learned through our practice; this is not an ‘education’ function but a core function.  We owe it to audiences to provide them with art that they want to see and that is relevant to them; this is not a ’subscription renewal’ or ‘programming’ function, but a core function.

See, inside the heart of all the discussion about why theatre is dying lies a rhythmic beat of “it’s not relevant.  It’s not relevant. It’s not relevant.”  We can all hear it, but the response to the drum-beat is generally wrong-headed because it revolves around a revival through increased ticket sales.  No: we need to revolve it around the body that owns the hand that’s banging the drum.

If this integration of art and audience can be achieved, the life-blood of the theatrical form and, yes, even the ‘funding’, will follow.

We can do this. Easily. It’s already so close to what we do already that to avoid it seems quite silly, actually. The magic of small-house theatre is in its connectivity, not its separation. Allow the audiences the ownership they crave and you will never get rid of them.

New Leaf Theatre in Chicago is inviting audiences into some rehearsals. Cambiare Productions in Austin live-streamed their last show to the world for free. Here in Vancouver, Twenty-Something Theatre Artistic Producer Sabrina Evertt blogs about her process openly and fearlessly. Touchstone Theatre is inviting us into the process of their next production, Demon Voice, by posting behind-the-scenes video blogs hosted by multi-Jessie Award winning playwright Shawn Macdonald. Here’s the first two in the series…

Short. Sweet. Inclusive. Generous. Open. We must share to butterfly. But not all of it.  Just enough to let them take ownership of us, not so much that we deprive them of the surprises that they come for.

How much are our audiences going to care about us? Pretty much exactly as much as we show we care about them.

“This guy is going to be a star”

Checked out Zee Zee Theatre’s Nelly Boy at the PAL tonight in Coal Harbour. Local Playwright Dave Deveau’s new play discussing the marginalization of non-specific gender identity, it’s an intimate and language-driven work that spotlights the work of an actor about whom Colin Thomas writes in the opening line of his review:

Remember the name Amitai Marmorstein. This guy is going to be a star.

We talk a lot about what the next generation of Vancouver theatre is going to look like, and Nelly Boy indeed offers a chance to watch the work of a burgeoning professional. The kind you hope is going to sink his teeth into the industry here and not let go. Just listen to the way seasoned co-star Allan Zynik talks about him in their Video Listing…

Nelly Boy runs until this Sunday. Click here for full details on this production.

This One Goes to Eleven: Marci T House

Please meet the unstoppable force that is Actor Marci T House. Marci relentlessly works on her craft all over Vancouver stage, TV and film, seemingly popping up in something everywhere I turn. And she finances her habit by doing a little architecture on the side. She is onstage right now as Viney in the Playhouse production of The Miracle Worker.

You can tell her country of origin by her spelling of theatre and colour in the following conversation…

1. In one word, describe your present condition.

Hungry!!!!

2. In as many words as you damn well choose, describe the present condition of the Vancouver theatre scene.

Hmmm…tired but trying for a rebirth? I love theater. It is my favorite medium as an actor. However, as an actor of color, it’s very tiring to stay optimistic, encouraged to audition for, or even attend theater in Vancouver. I’m not going to apologize for my desire to see people that look like me on the stage, especially when I always see the words, “color blind casting”. Rarely is this evident once I’ve paid my money to see the show, unless the role is specifically written for a character of color. This city claims to be very liberal when it is the most conservative place that I’ve ever lived…and this is number seven for me; so I’ve been around. I travel every opportunity that I get in order to see as much theater as I can, (i.e. New York, LA, Ashland, Oregon, Chicago, and soon Toronto) but when I come home to Vancouver I’m usually disappointed. Though, I do believe that the changing of the guard is coming to pass. You can’t hold the talented, stop-at-nothing, resilient people down for long.

3. What are the great strengths of the theatre scene here? Its weaknesses?

I like the ambition of the independent theater companies and small houses. I find that quite a few of them are trying new things, so that is a positive, for sure. I had the pleasure of working with Secretly Women Productions earlier this year at the Havana Theater on Commercial Drive. We did a short run of the play, Stop Kiss. It was a good show and a great cast. Our two leads were also the producers, I reiterate, talented, stop-at-nothing, resilient people. They are the ones who are getting things done and not waiting for permission to work. Currently, I’m working under the direction of the wonderful Meg Roe with The Miracle Worker at the Vancouver Playhouse. What an opportunity for a person so young and to be so damn good at what she does. I feel very honored to be working with her and the Playhouse Theater. They understand that in order to stay fresh and current you must revitalize, which means keeping new ideas, people, and artists in the mix.

I find its greatest weakness is that the theater scene is quite closed to newcomers.  I often see the same actors on the stage. I’ve also spoken to many local actors who have tried to audition for various companies in town and have not been given the opportunity. Last, but definitely not least, is the lack of diversification in both the plays chosen and actors cast. This is quite a contradiction considering how diverse this beautiful city of Vancouver is. It is simply not apparent in its theater production. However, that’s just my opinion.

4. What do you consider the great triumph of your career thus far?

Wow! I’ve been blessed, to be very honest with you. I think I’ve had quite a few triumphs. Before I moved to Vancouver, I was living in LA and I decided to produce my own original play. It was a two-hander with the ridiculously talented Victoria Platt Tilford. We created the stories, hired the writers and directors, as well as raised the monies all on our own. Sixteen shows later… three NAACP Theater nominations for best ensemble, best original playwright(s), and best set design. We didn’t win, but as the cliché goes, it really is great just to be nominated.

My move to Vancouver has also been a great triumph to my career as well. After seven very hard years in LA, I almost left the business all together. So, I prayed on it and then Vancouver opened up for me. As an American you’re socialized to believe that the US is the center of the world, and that there is never any reason to leave it. Meanwhile, three years later in Vancouver, I’m simply living a life that enforces what I knew to be wrong about the so-called land of opportunity. I’ve found so much beauty and peace here in this gorgeous place. Not to mention…I’m a working actor. I booked more work in my first year here in Vancouver, than in the entire seven years that I lived in LA. Yeah, Vancouver was the best move I could’ve made.

5. What is your best advice to our new actors just starting out on their careers?

STUDY!!! Fall in love with this thing that we do. Truly get hungry enough to better understand what the hell it is that we do. Be inquisitive. No one should know more about what you do than you. You should be able to hold your own in any room with your vast knowledge of this business and its craft. You should know the what’s, when’s, who’s, and even the why’s. For instance, you need to know what’s being shot here, what’s coming to the stage and when, who’s being cast, who’s casting, directing, producing, and the list goes on. I find that people who obtain success without having any knowledge of how they got there…are really fucking miserable and insecure people. They are some of the worst “artists” that I’ve ever met. Develop other aspects of yourself …REALLY find out who you are. In the end, no matter who you are, this business will break your heart. It doesn’t love you, so you had better have beautiful people in your life that would still love you, even if you were delivering the mail.

I don’t have a theater degree, and in some ways it makes me feel a bit inadequate and/or insecure when I approach the work. I always feel like I don’t what the hell I’m doing. I decided to major in Architecture instead of Theater. Thus, I have a BA in Architecture and a MA in Urban Planning Policy and Design. Growing up in Chicago and doing theater, I was fortunate enough to work with some amazing actors, but they were all broke and struggling to pay their bills. I grew up poor, and didn’t want that for myself.  So, I decided to get my degree in something else that I enjoyed.  It was the best move I could’ve made. I continued to do plays and take acting classes as well. My architecture gives me financial freedom to study, travel, have a full life, and not go crazy when I’m not working. It even allowed me to finance more than 50% of the play that I produced while still in LA. Though it creates a lot of long hours of work for me, I’m still thankful for it.

6. How should we as a community be responding to the BC Liberals recent treatment of us?

Here’s a question, I must admit, that I’m not very knowledgeable of. I’ve kept a distance with the political arena, since my arrival, due to the fact that I am unable to vote. Also, since I’m still trying to understand all of the parties, majorities, minorities, additional elections, and the like, of the Canadian government system, I am not an authority to comment. Again, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a bit confusing to me. I’m also a borderline conspiracy theorist. I find it very hard to trust politicians and/or government. I don’t find them to be very honest. After all, I’m an American who is still suffering from the 9/11 propaganda that my own government is still pushing down the world’s throat, as well as the financial crisis …oh, and did I mention the bogus war that we are fighting too? I’m sorry, I digress.

I guess the only thing that I can say is that maybe this will encourage more funding from the private sectors. I also think it’ll make people work harder for their art. I think that maybe more freedom to create art that is not mandated, shaped, or controlled by the government would allow for a truer freedom of expression from this country’s artists. Why should American art(ists) be crammed down Canadian throats? Maybe it’s time to see what Canadians really think, instead of being dictated to by the government with the monies being funneled into the arts. Just my opinion, but I’m always for less government.

7. Who are your great influences, and why?

Honestly, anytime that I see great work, I’m influenced. It’s why I do this. When I was a kid, I lived in front of the TV. No matter how I felt, there was always a film, TV show, or something that could change how I felt about myself, the reality of my life, or whatever. When I was in kindergarten I said “I want to be a movie star”. I’ve been chasing that dream ever since. So, when I see actors like Meryl Streep, Jeffery Wright, Harry Lennix, or Shanesia Davis, I am in awe. I want to be that escape for my audience. So I am influenced by all of the great work that I see.

8. What type of theatre should Vancouver be producing more of, with an eye to future audience growth?

I hate to beat a dead horse, but MORE, MORE, MORE! We need more theater of color, new works, and shows that also cater to a younger audience. Let’s face it, we love the classics, but there are some really great new works out there too! (i.e. Intimate Apparel, RUINED, August: Osage County, Equivocation, Passing Strange, In the Heights…I could go on) I understand that you have to please those season ticket holders, but you’ve got to entice the new audiences too.

9. Fantasize your ideal career trajectory.

Broadway, followed by some great independent film roles… in between time. I wouldn’t be mad at a TV series (or 2) that lasted anywhere between 3-5 years…or longer.  I wouldn’t turn down a few Tonys, Emmys, Golden Globes, Grammys, nor Oscar Awards (yeah, I like awards.)

10. What are your top 3 theatre reads?

I seem to be gravitating toward Lynn Nottage at the present. Her works Intimate Apparel and Ruined are at the top of my list, respectively. I am also partial to August: Osage County by Tracey Letts.

11. What’s next?

EVERYTHING!!!