Separated by a seven-year age gap, siblings Nick and Darby Steeves have led relatively separate lives. Very few of their interests or friends overlapped as they grew up. Then Nick left home in Maple Ridge to become a tech guy downtown and, after graduating high school, Darby pursued her dual talents of dancing and acting in New York and LA.
But when Nick wanted to do something to bring the two of them closer together, he didn’t just send his little sister an email or organize a family potluck; he wrote her a play.
“My sister is a professional actor, and I work in tech, so completely different,” says Nick, with a laugh. “But I wanted to have something that my sister and I could work on together. We’ve never had, like, a time in common […] and I thought this would be a great way for us to do something together.”
Enter Surreal, an immersive, experimental play he created based on a site-specific theatrical experience he had in the States.
“I had the idea for writing this after visiting my sister in New York,” Nick explains. “We saw a few plays on [and off] Broadway and one that we saw was called Sleep No More, which is a very interactive experience where you go into this old, abandoned warehouse that they converted into this 1930s-style hotel and the actors are all around you.
“I’ve never found stage theatre to be that engaging of an experience, but this I was really amazed by, and I thought it would be a really cool experience to create here in Vancouver.”
His subsequent homage centres around the lives of Tom and Charlie, two 20-something Vancouverites who were childhood friends, and who run into each other again in Gastown. The comedic storyline swirls around big decisions in their lives, based loosely on the Steeves’ own life twists, while offering a glimpse into the realities of present day Vancouver. The actors, played by a rotating local cast, have the framework of a 70-minute script as they move through the bustling streets and back alleys of Gastown, but the audience determines how the encounter ultimately unfolds. For example, Tom has just come from an important job interview in the tech industry and the audience gets to help him navigate a series of challenges and tests from his prospective employer, an Elon Musk-like demigod.
The whole experience walks the fine line between gritty reality and a carefully crafted work of fiction, hence the name Surreal.
And while writing and producing the concept offered a creative outlet for Nick, who works at an online marketing company and has never written a play before, Darby, who has primarily worked as a dancer on theatre sets to date, has seen her directing and theatrical chops grow.
“Doing this play, with my brother especially, has been such an educational experience,” says the actress, who is in town for the next 12 months filming a slew of made-for-TV movies (she just wrapped Murder of the Heart, starring The Good Wife’s Makenzie Vega). “It’s immersive theatre, and so, although we use techniques from our stage acting, the concept makes us as actors lean towards film because the audience is so close. It’s been quite the technical workout!"
• Surreal runs June 28 to Sept. 30 every Tuesday and Friday. Tickets $25 at SurrealTheatre.com.
