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Contributing Writer Tiva Quinn Reviews Black Boys On Now Until January 20th

18 Jan

BlackBoysThe Cultch, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Saga Collectif and Zee Zee Theatre bring you an inspiring production, Black Boys. Tiva Quinn checked out opening night of this stand out show.  Here is what she had to say:

Black Boys is right up there at the pinnacle of what alternative theatre can do. It includes complex ideas, raw emotion, music, dance and poetry, and it feels like a story that could only be so excellently told using a non-linear, multi-media approach.

It’s about what it means to be a black gay man in Canada and what it means to make theatre about that experience in a world where you’re already painfully aware of how the straight white majorities see you.

It’s about the furthest our words can go to wound or heal one another, and the ways we use screaming or dance or sex to express ourselves when words are not enough. It’s about how we define ourselves both through stories about our past and in acts of judgment and opposition towards the people in our own communities.

It’s just really, really good. I laughed, I cried, I yelled, “Stellaaaa” with a  bunch of strangers. You should go see it if it’s not sold out yet. To get your tickets, visit The Cultch.

By Contributing Writer Tiva Quinn

 

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Contributing Writer Nicole Alivojvodic Reviews Hot Brown Honey

16 Jan

HotHoneyBrownHiveUnapologetically provocative, Hot Brown Honey shatters preconceptions in an explosion of colour, culture, and controversy. From Australian theatre company Briefs Factory comes this loud wake up call featuring six fierce and talented women communicating important messages through song, dance and, most of all, humour. The 75-minute show has you itching to get out of your seat and join the party on stage – and some get plucked out of the audience to do just that!

Check your privilege at the door and get ready to make noise because “fighting the power never tasted so sweet”. Throughout the show the women tackle several culturally relevant issues such as colonization, white privilege and namely, feminism. Tangled up in colour and acrobatics the show itself smashes the preconception that women are to be silent subjects by the sheer volume of the performance, both literally and figuratively. Their open defiance of stereotypes and the patriarchal expectations of the world we live in is not only hilarious, but incredibly powerful.

For tickets to this wild and fantastic show, on now until January 27th at The York Theatre, visit The Cultch.

By Contributing Writer: Nicole Alivojvodic

Photo Credit: Dylan Evans

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The Pipeline Project At The Firehall Arts Centre January 10 – 20, 2018

1 Jan

PipelineProject-photo-credit-David-Cooper

We can’t say we have any answers on this issue, but we do think this production is an important conversation. Writers Sebastien Archibald, Kevin Loring and Quelemia Sparrow bring The Pipeline Project to the Firehall Arts Centre this January. This production brings together three actors that have created a play about the political conflicts within Canada’s oil industry. Each actor is sent on a journey of discovery and self-reflection. Along the way they confront prejudices while wrestling with their own fossil fuel dependency, cultural heritage and first world privilege. No matter where you stand on this issue, it’s a conversation worth having. The Pipeline Project runs January 10th to 20th, 2018. Tickets are available online at Firehall Arts Centre.

Photo Credit: David Cooper

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Hot Honey Brown At The York Theatre January 9 – 27, 2018

18 Dec

HotHoneyBrown4This January, The Cultch presents a production that promises to turn up the heat with Hot Brown Honey. This smash hit from Australia took the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by storm with a group of six sassy women who know how to make some noise and defiantly smash stereotypes.  We see this as part of the evolution of our changing cultural landscape as it relates to women.    The #metoo campaign shook the tree, we think Hot Honey Brown lends voice to some of the empowerment that comes from stepping out of the shadows and speaking up. See a production that speaks with sass along with hip hop, dance, poetry, comedy, circus, song and striptease to push boundaries and defy labels.  We’ve learnt an extra week has been added due to popular demand for tickets. So if you wish to see this production, we recommend grabbing your tickets sooner vs. later. Tickets start at $22 and are available online at The Cultch.

What people are saying about Hot Honey Brown:

★★★★★
Gleefully challenges stereotypes of sex and race with a full grin, bared
chest and raised middle finger.” 
Edinburgh 49

★★★★★
It’s gobsmacking the talent and message this show has to offer: how it challenges
everyone to review their views, and inspires everyone to rock the boat”
Theatre Press

★★★★★
A powerhouse performance of passion and poignancy” 
Broadway World

★★★★★
Unapologetic, almost aggressively graceful and fabulously fierce…”
Theatre People

 

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Review Of How Star Wars Saved My Life

12 Dec

StarWarsContributing writer, Tiva Quinn, steps outside of East Van to review an important production that just completed a short run at Performance Works on Granville Island. Although it’s completed, we wish to feature it as it provides valuable information and insight for survivors of sexual abuse.

How Star Wars Saved My Life is intended first and foremost as a cathartic experience for sexual abuse survivors and an awareness-raising piece, but it also succeeds brilliantly as an entertaining one man show. Writer/Performer Nicholas Harrison is a theatre instructor at Capilano College with a lengthy and distinguished history as an actor, writer, director, fight director and stunt performer, so it’s hardly surprising that he knows how to take deeply emotional material and make a good story from it.

The most noticeable thing about all this talent is that when Nick chooses to perform as his younger self, he sells it completely – he takes us through highs and lows of his young life with the full level of joy, fascination, shock and terror that children experience. And when he becomes more withdrawn as he gets older, he makes us feel the reality of being withdrawn and keeping secrets, as well – no small task.

The set was also a very effective piece of this performance, with a minimalist design that works brilliantly for a story where the past and the present are the two most important locations.

The play is often funny, but it’s also quite serious about the work it’s here to do. Each performance is followed by a 15-minute talkback with Don Wright, of the Vancouver Society for Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse and Noa Rabin of Jericho Counseling, Nick’s therapist. Nick has given Noa permission to share information about their therapy sessions in response to audience questions so that people can learn more about what types of issues come up in therapy for sexual abuse.

In keeping with the spirit of the production to share information and resources with anyone who might need them, I would encourage any survivors who might be interested in this topic to check out Nick’s blog, which covers a lot of the same material. Another organization that provides assistance is the local chapter of Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse who also provide services to trans survivors.

By Contributing Writer Tiva Quinn

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Premiere of Web Series – The Dangers Of Online Dating

6 Dec

DOODContributing writer, Nicole Alivojvodic recently checked out the premiere of the new web series The Dangers of Online Dating.  No matter where you live, East Side or West Side, this applies to us all and this show is funny! Here’s what Nicole has to say about this new series:

Five years in the making, award-winning filmmaker Brianne Nord-Stewart launches her web series The Dangers of Online Dating, which follows a young sexual health nurse stumbling through the world of online dating in a hilarious and relatable way. The launch party, held at Vancouver’s historic Penthouse Nightclub, screened the first two seasons in full, had a question and answer period with the cast and creator and a contest for prizes like no other.

The first season began filming in 2012, shortly before the online dating game made the transition from taboo to “everybody’s doing it”. However, while the technology and the stigma have changed, the actual experience of dating online has evidently not. The web series covers all the common online dating fails and more: everything from crazy tattoos to misleading profiles to getting ghosted. It also showcases Nurse Paula’s relatable blunders as she searches for love online, whether she’s sending 1 (or 10) texts too many, licking her hot yoga teacher or trying to steal her French lover’s pee, this series will have you cracking up and covering your eyes in horror at the oh so relatable struggle.

To watch the first episode and subscribe visit The Dangers of Online Dating You Tube Channel. The Dangers of Online Dating launched on YouTube on November 23. A new  episode will be released each week.

By Contributing Writer Nicole Alivojovdic

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Oh Man! At Havana Theatre December 8 & 9, 2017

4 Dec

OhManOh Man! is coming to Havana Theatre this Friday and Saturday.  Jo Dworschak, creator and producer of Story Story Lie, has put together a multimedia monologue about a mom trying to overcome her fear of men before having one.  With some assistance from TJ Dawe, a respected playwright, actor and director, Jo Dworschak has put together this autobiographical production which features some problematic relationships with men in her family life, to learn she’s pregnant and having a boy.  The production won Best Solo Show at the Montana Fringe Festival and this week’s show will be the first showing in Vancouver and possibly the last.  Jo bills this show as “humorous, heart warming and the perfect night out for the parent”.  You can catch her show Friday, December 8th and Saturday, December 9th at Havana Theatre. Tickets are $10 and available through Eventbrite or at the door. Show kicks off at 8:00 pm. Partial proceeds will be given to “Together We Can”, a support group to help me in need.

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The Society for the Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius On Now At The Cultch

27 Nov

TheSocietyThe Society for the Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius might give you a lot to talk about the next day, but from chatting to a few audience members afterwards, I’d say we were all pretty much speechless as our initial reaction.

Colleen Murphy’s version is very much faithful to the plot of Shakespeare’s first tragedy, though, which includes parents murdering their children, rape, mutilation, crucifixion, and cannibalism. Oh, and some jokes about race, while Murphy adds in a few jokes of her own about class to make sure the play touches every third rail.

I was shocked to learn that ‘revenge tragedy’ bloodbaths were extremely popular with Elizabethan audiences for about 10 seconds, before I remembered that ‘torture porn’ is a popular category today. (Not to mention ‘woman in peril,’ which is wildly popular.)

Fans of Mump and Smoot might enjoy the similar style with people who act on every impulse and live-action cartoon violence, but this play digs into thornier issues. There are some big laughs, and the play is so funny in places that I found myself laughing again even after I thought they had gotten too offensive and lost me.

I respect what Murphy is trying to do here too much to go into detail and spoil the shock value of it, even if I don’t quite know what it is that she’s trying to do. Maybe gesturing towards some sort of point without quite having one is part of how she’s mocking us – but in any case I respect a play that’s worth still rolling around in your mind and trying to decide what to think of it for the next couple days.  The Society for the Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius is on now at The Cultch until December 3rd.

By Contributing Writer: Tiva Quinn

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The Shipment At The Cultch November 22 – December 2, 2017

22 Nov

TheShipmentTheCultch.jpgSpeakEasy Theatre presents the West Coast premiere of a provocative play written by Young Jean Lee called The Shipment. The Shipment is a subversive modern show about black identity meant to wake the world to the ridiculous narratives which are dominant in the media. The cast features five black actors who play a roster of characters that read a bit like a bad b-list of black iconography: the Video Ho, Crackhead John, Bad Cop, Standup Comedian, Drug Dealer Mama, Grandma from Heaven, and Record Company Executive, to name just a few. This mash-up of  stereotypes with clichés, distortions and we hear brilliant sleights of hand are all aimed to force us to go beyond the lampoon and shift the lens through which we perceive race in order to confront our own bias.  The New York Times says this show is “An insightful piece about black identity politics that is daring, provocative, and very, very funny.” The Shipment previews November 22nd and runs to December 2nd. Tickets are available online from The Cultch. 

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Eastside Culture Crawl November 16 – 19, 2017

13 Nov

ESC2017The Eastside Culture Crawl is back for 4 days starting Thursday, November 16th.  This 4 day arts extravaganza now in its 21st year features over 480 artists in and around East Vancouver. Artists with a variety of mediums open their studio doors so you can see first hand their working space, their creative process and of course meet and talk to the artisans about their work. On the Crawl, you will find painters, jewelers, sculptors, textile artists, furniture makers, weavers, potters, printmakers, wood carvers, photographers and much more. The event grows each year and now comprises over 80 buildings from Main Street to Victoria Drive and First Avenue to Powell Street.

If time is not on your side and you want to take in as many artists in one fell swoop, 1000 Parker Street and the Mergatroid is your spot and a hub of action which includes some food trucks for those that get hungry. The Mergatroid, 975 Vernon Drive has glass blowing demonstrations on view at the main level, but be sure to check out the other studio spaces within the building. This part of The Crawl is busy, so if crowds are not your thing, there are many other studios around East Vancouver. Some that we’ll be checking out include Octopus Studios, located in Railtown as well as The Wood Shop Worker’s Co-op which is opening its doors for the first time this year. The Wood Shop features many workshops where you can create something. They provide the space, the materials and the tools, you bring your creative ideas and away you go. The Eastside Culture Crawl has prepared a great map that sets out all the studios and how many artists are in each area.  We invite you to check it out.  If you are unsure where you wish to start, check out the Program Guide for more information.

Each year we pick a different area of The Crawl to tackle, last year we travelled from to studios on Clark Drive and then down to Vernon Drive towards the Downtown Eastside.  This year, Octopus Studios will be on our list, as Em’Say featuring concrete work is on our list, as is Mezulejo Furniture creating unique pieces of furniture some new, some restored.  We always make time for a stop in the MakerLabs which also features a coffee bar, as we all  need a bit of a refreshment during the Crawl, as well as the Kyubu Market which features a host of talented artisans all under one roof.

What we love about the Eastside Culture Crawl is that there is no set schedule. You go where you want on The Crawl for as long as you want. There are mny great spots to stop for a bite and drink along the way. Whether you are in Strathcona, off the Drive, Railtown, Hastings Sunrise, Downtown Eastside or off the growing stretch off Clark Drive, there are countless options for coffee, beer, food and wine. To help guide you through some of the art available, the Eastside Culture Crawl has a great rundown of all the artists on their website including a printable .PDF map to help you find your way. Don’t miss this opportunity to check out the amazing talent in this City. The Crawl runs November 16th and 17th from 5:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Saturday, November 18th  and Sunday, November 19th from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. See you on the Crawl.

 

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