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If you were to create a Venn diagram where one circle was labeled "cheap" and the other labeled "awesome", the middle point where they cross over could be labeled "Vancouver on the Cheap". In other words, this is a weekly series on things to do and places to go in Vancouver that fall into that magical category of being both cheap and awesome. |
This weekend is packed with activities for Mother's Day (I already mentioned one last week - Global Mother's Day tomorrow afternoon at Regent College), but it's also packed with cheap theatre!
Every year The Firehall Arts Centre hosts BC Buds Spring Arts Fair, a fair celebrating new and experimental theatre works. It's all by donation to get in, so the price tag is whatever you want it to be, and the weekend is full of theatre, dance, film, and music taking in unusual locations around the Firehall - think the courtyard, bar, lobby, stairwell, rehearsal hall, and yes, even the occasional piece set in the actual theatre.
I have a confession about BC Buds: every year I have intended to go check it out, talked about checking it out, and then not actually gone to check it out. This year, however, I am committed to going. Not just because I want to check out some cheap entertainment, but because this festival provides awesome opportunities to emerging artists. It's not very often these folks get an opportunity to just plain create something and have it presented at a major venue. Exciting!
Stacy Sherlock and Emily Griffiths in At First I Thought it Was...
There are performances happening all weekend, below is the entire lineup, and you can view the schedule with helpful info like performance times here.
If this list is way too daunting for you, I recommend just going by schedule: pick a time you're free, see what's starting around then, and show up. It's by donation, so your risk factor is pretty darn low. In fact, this could be your chance to live your secret dream of experiencing the thrill of Russian Roulette minus any unfortunate death-like side effects.
Michael Unger in The Johnny Tomorrow Chronicles
Let’s Play Make Believe (music/performance)
Brad Muirhead, Carmen Rosen, Soressa Garner, Hugh Fraser & Katie Rice
Beginnings One
Signal to Noise (dance/media)
Craig Alfredson, Kelly McInnis and Arash Khakpour
The Wolf in the Mirror (theatre/dance)
Andrew Barrett (Impulse Theatre)
Caught (dance)
Lara Barclay, Cai Glover & Crystal Wills - Lamondance
Beginnings Two
JSK - a mini musical (musical)
Brad L'Écuyer & Clayton Baraniuk (Gotta Getta Gimmick)
At First I Thought It Was… (theatre)
Stacy Sherlock & Emily Griffiths (New Colour Productions)
The Tim Sars Band featuring Ross Barrett (music)
Unrelated (dance)
Daina Ashbee, Laura Avery, Maxine Chadburn
Cutting Room Dance Floor (dance)
David Yates & Diane Garceau (Night & Day Dance)
throwing coin squeezing soy (dance theatre)
Ziyian Kwan & Anne Cooper
Goodnight Dollface (video installation/dance)
Lina Fitzner & Caroline Liffman (Light Box)
Georges Aperghis’ Recitations (music)
Dorothea Hayley
4 places and a set of circumstances (dance)
Karissa Barry & Alex Tam
Film Screenings
companion (dance film)
Julianne Chapple & Ed Spence
Twixt (dance film)
Anna Kraulis & Majid Bagheri
(Dancers: Philippa Myler & Lindsey Ridgway)
Daniel (dance film)
Brett Owen
4 places and a set of circumstances (dance film)
Karissa Barry & Leon Feizo-Gas
Studio Age of Anxiety (music/sound)
Wendy Atkinson & David Lester
Tee-Pee Theatre (kids/theatre)
Terri-Lyn Storey & Grandview Elementary students
KidStuff
Downtown Animal (theatre)
Tara Travis, Amy Clausen & Joel De Stefano (Sticky Fingers Productions)
The Johnny Tomorrow Chronicles (theatre)
Michael Unger
Rainbow Star (family storytelling)
Tim Sars & Lisa Sars (Dixiestar Storytelling)
The Toilet Paper Caper (theatrical reading)
Michelle Deines, Kathryn Kirkpatrick, Frances Perras, Sebastian Kroon, Alex Willows, Jeff Gladstone (Working Spark Theatre)
Superhero Boy Band: Seads of Change (music/theatre)
Aaron Malkin, Alistair Knowles & Islando Bocock
Kid Gloves (theatrical reading)
Sally Stubbs, Patrick Keating, Colleen Wheeler, James Macdonald, Andrew McNee & Marlene Ginader
Medicine (theatrical reading)
TJ Dawe
Daina Ashbee in Unrelated
For the record, I'm most excited about Beginnings One with its combo of dance and media pieces, Downtown Animal featuring the always hilarious Tara Travis, and Super Hero Boy Band: Seeds of Change because it will either be the funniest, awesomest show of all time or a total flop, and either way, that's something I want to see.
