Assistant directing
The two young spa:th bearing their claws!
TH’OWXIYA
BY JOSEPH A. DANDURAND | ASSISTING CHRIS MCGREGOR
AXIS THEATRE COMPANY | JUNE 2017
Six storytellers spin a tale from the Kwantlen First Nations Village of Squa’lets, about Th’owxiya: the Hungry Feast Dish. The mouth of Th'owxiya holds the most wonderful foods from around the world. But if you steal from her, you will pay a terrible price, for she has developed a taste for children! When Th'owxiya catches a hungry mouse stealing a piece of cheese from her mouth she is furious. To appease the goddess, Kw'at'el (the mouse) must find two young spirits as an offering before the second moon rises or she will eat Kw'at'el's whole family! With the help of two Spa:th (bears), Sqeweqs (raven) and Sasq'ets (sasquatch), Kw'at'el sets forth on a journey for knowledge and forgiveness.
“With shades of the Grimm fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, Th’owxiya is at first a little dark and malevolent. Director Chris McGregor and his cast of six keep things light though, ensuring even the smallest of audience members will not be frightened. While definitely helped by a gorgeous summer day in equally gorgeous surroundings, what makes Th’owxiya: The Hungry Feast Dish truly unforgettable is in its engaging story steeped in tradition.”
David Frost interviews Richard Nixon live on TV.
FROST/NIXON
BY PETER MORGAN | ASSISTING IAN FARTHING
ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY | SUMMER 2015
In 1977, three years after the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency, Richard Nixon selects British TV personality David Frost to conduct a one-on-one, exclusive interview. Though Nixon believes it will be easy to mislead Frost, and the latter's own team doubts that he can stand up to the former president, what actually unfolds is an unexpectedly candid and revealing interview before the court of public opinion.
“Director Ian Farthing’s production of Frost/Nixon is as stylin’ as David Frost’s coloured, white-collared dress shirts were in 1977. It’s a tribute to the subtlety of this play and production that Ensemble Theatre Company’s Frost/Nixon is compelling—even though we know how the story turns out.”
“Frost/Nixon is a terrific play, this is an excellent production and — although summer is the only season that can be forgiven for being silly — it’s a welcome, serious addition to the local offerings.”
The ovaries sing and dance.
SMALL PARTS
BY DAVID HUDGINS | ASSISTING MARISA SMITH
SOLO COLLECTIVE | November 2014
Small Parts is inspired by Hudgins’ real life experience directing his mother’s first play about her talking and singing body parts, while learning that she was dying of ovarian cancer and dealing with his mentally ill sister. Funny, heartfelt and musical, Hudgins has taken this very personal story and created a theatrical memory play rich in little truths and big questions. At its heart, Small Parts is about the courage to face our mortality by living through our most basic of human connections.
“Director Marisa Smith treads Hudgins’ memory with finesse and comes up with a nice balance that includes some quick transitions between the playwright’s stronger memories, the murky waters of those memories he’d rather forget, and the stuff he simply makes up.”
The ensemble company of the Farnsworth Invention looking at… the invention!
THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION
BY AARON SORKIN | ASSISTING MATTHEW BISSETT
ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY | SUMMER 2013
In the early 1920’s, brilliant young inventor Philo T. Farnsworth comes up with the idea that will make television possible, and finds himself in an inadvertent but devastating conflict with David Sarnoff, head of the powerful RCA Corporation. Award-winning screenwriter, producer and playwright Aaron Sorkin shines his brilliant, fast-talking style on this epic true story of the genius underdog who goes up against a corporate giant in the race to change the way we view the world.
“Overall, there’s a lovely sense of rhythm in the piece as its tensions expand, contract, and hit their comic marks. Under Bissett, the cast in this Ensemble Theatre Company production does impressive work.”
76 Trombones led the big parade! And here’s Harold Hill front and centre.
THE MUSIC MAN
BY MEREDITH WILSON | ASSISTING SARAH RODGERS
THEATRE UNDER THE STARS | SUMMER 2012
The creative team that delivered last summer's hit Anything Goes takes on another beloved Broadway classic: the story of charming con man Harold Hill, who sets out to scam the townspeople of River City, Iowa by posing as a marching band organizer who will keep their kids out of trouble if they give him money for instruments and uniforms. Unexpectedly, Harold meets his match in prim Marion the librarian...but the course of true love (and deception) never did run smooth, and hilarity ensues.
“The Music Man is a delightful comedic romp. The ebulliently complex rhythms of Meredith Willson’s score are tricky, and under Sarah Rodgers’s superbly detailed direction (with help from musical director Christopher King and choreographer Dayna Tekatch), this production nails them right off the top.”
Hamlet is on trial in this cut&paste version of the classic Shakespearean tragedy.
THE MAROWITZ HAMLET
BY CHARLES MAROWITZ & WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE | ASSISTING CHARLES MAROWITZ
PHOENIX THEATRES UVIC | 2012
What if one were to cut Shakespeare's masterpiece up into individual lines and piece it back together to tell the story anew? This would be a Marowitz play. Using the same poetic language, Charles Marowitz reinvents Shakespeare's classic play, revealing the layers of insanity in a young prince's vengeance.
“Charles Marowitz – an acclaimed stage director, theatre critic, columnist, author, and playwright – has famously cut up a number Shakespearean plays to create 10 new ones. He takes the plays apart at the seams, rearranging the lines and dealing them out to new characters in order to create what Marowitz calls, collages.”