Delta Stageworks, a new theatre arts organization that brings together professional actors and community members under the banner 'Local Theatre That Tells Local Stories', is set to open their first presentation, Then & Now, Pandemic Life Stories at Genesis Theatre in Ladner.
Performances are Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 14 at 2 p.m.
Then & Now, Pandemic Life Stories, is a multi-media staged reading about a group of people in a Delta living through the highs and lows of a world upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Directed by Cory Haas, artist director of no comment. th(é)âtre, Haas has facilitated the play's development over the course of 2020/21 through a group theatre-making process called devised-theatre.
“It has been an amazing, sometimes challenging journey,” says Delta Stageworks co-founder Peg Keenleyside about the year-long series of workshops the company held not knowing when or if PHOs would allow the company to work together. “We interviewed people in our community, adapted news stories, created hybrid scenes with both in-person and online participants, talked to friends, family and reflected on our own lived experiences.”
Community members were encouraged to be part of the creative process that involved up to 12 people at a time interacting with each other.
“One of the great things about this creative journey has been how cathartic it has proven to be, in dealing with the impact the pandemic has had on our lives, family and community since March 2020,” said Cameron Bancroft, a well-known local actor, co-writer and member of the company. “We hope the audience will connect with us and share in that cathartic experience from watching the show.”
The project includes the involvement of local filmmaker Cliff Caprani who previously worked with Delta Stageworks creative team on a 2018 devised-theatre project about stories of young men and women from Delta who served in The First World War.
“It's been fascinating to weave Zoom recordings and the visual bits and pieces of life as we've come to experience it into to the spoken scenes,” adds Caprani.
The company includes artist associates Marilyn Norry, Renee Iaci, Sam Bob, Eric Keenleyside and community members Sandra and Lorne Patterson, Vera Mayor and Nick Keenleyside. Norry's extensive background in playwriting helped the company shape the play.
“The truth of it,” she says about the play that embraces the humorous side of pandemic life, “is that it's creatively challenging to write a play about something as big as this and while you're still in middle of it.”
Tickets are now available online at: deltastageworks.ca, and at the door for $21 plus fees.
Genesis Theatre is located at 5005 45 Ave. in Ladner. Current public health orders will be in effect for audiences attending live theatre.
