About the project

Papa Records Everything is a new Canadian play written by Chantal Dobles Gering and directed by Sarvin Esmaeili. Papa Records Everything follows the story of Giselle on their 18th birthday, trapped in a zoom call and must re-discover how to connect with family. Through music and nightmares, this story explores communication, ownership and healing.

Excerpt:

Memory of a Birth

Blurry fantasy

Movement Sequence / Pantomime – Contemporary

Song: Bajo la Luna by Holly Collis Handford

Birds chirping. Silhouette lighting.

Nannies sing in Spanish offstage.

Mother enters SL. Shadowed Figure enters SR. Both carry briefcases.

They shake hands.

Nanny enters with a baby. Followed by Grandma, Papa, and Sister.

Family portrait centre stage.

Nannies in flowing white robes dance around the family portrait.

Circular Patterns. Ceremony.

Black out.

Lights up.

Family Portrait is missing Shadowed Figure.

Shadowed Figure lurks at a distance with a briefcase.

The world distorts into a nightmare. Nannies sing a creepy lullaby.

Nannies pull around Giselle. Echoes of fragments of news report about Shadowed Figure. Nannies move like disjointed puppets. Lights flash.

Nannies are dragged away.

Stage goes black.

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artist

Chantal (she/they) is a queer artist in the University of British Columbia (UBC) BFA Acting Program working on the Coast Salish Territories. Chantal is a choreographer, actor, singer, dancer, writer, theatre artist, poet, feminist, and healer. Chantal’s previous training: Arts Umbrella, Musical Theatre Intensive at Arts Club, Acting and Shakespeare at the Drama Centre London, and Riotous Youth at Bard on the Beach. Chantal’s previous acting credits include Concord Floral 2017 Push Festival, One of a Kind International Children’s Festival, Centurions by Sally Stubbs, Isle Dell’arte and The Changeling at UBC. In 2018, they founded the 24-hour playwriting competition Play4Change to bridge the social gap between academic, business and theatre communities to address societal issues such as environmentalism, destructive capitalism, mental health. Chantal’s art is about sharing truth and healing.

About the project

Does our living space restrict us beyond its structural limits? apartment twenty one is a reflection on loneliness and its relationship to the space we live in. Through the use of costume and landscape this project explores the home as an extension of the self and looks at how we carry our private life with us as we move through the world. apartment twenty one is an ode to tiny studio living during a time of global isolation.

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artist

Joline Rath is a costume designer, seamstress, and multidisciplinary artist currently residing on Vancouver Island. Her training and work experience covers a wide range of areas including pattern drafting and draping, gymnastics apparel design, furniture upholstery, and constructing costumes for companies such as Disney and the Metropolitan Opera House. A recent graduate of The National Theatre School of Canada’s Set & Costume Design Program, Joline studied under Christine Neuss and worked as a cutting intern for costume designer Mérédith Caron on a production of Les 3 Sœurs at Théâtre du Nouveau Monde. She plans to continue her training by apprenticing as a costume cutter and aspires to learn more specialized techniques such as millinery, shoe making, and textile dying. Always interested in combining the technical with the creative, Joline’s hands-on skills and understanding of how things are made inspires and refines her artistic work.

About the project

My Grandfather’s True Stories is a radio play, or recorded story, by Katerina Bakolias. Running 30 minutes in length.

Its purpose is as a tribute to her grandfather, Alexander ”Alec” Gillis, a fantastic storyteller and constant source of artistic support. Katerina hopes that these stories will fascinate listeners, both young and old, and evoke pleasant memories of bedtime stories.

”My grandfather paints a perfect picture with his words and from the time I was able to understand him he told me stories. Funny stories, ghost stories, and stories that he promised were true. I’ve selected three of my favourites and retold them in my own words with some added theatrical flare, but I’ll leave it to you to decide if they’re true.” – Katerina

Story Synopsis

The Girl and the Bear (13:49 minutes) – Ada, a 5-year-old girl who often feels ignored by her parents and pushed around by her older brothers, sets out on an adventure to answer the age-old question: Do bears dream? With so many ideas bouncing around in her head and no one except for her stuffed bear to talk to Ada finds an unlikely listener in the woods.

Veronica’s Room (11:38 Minutes) – In his grandmother’s creaky old house, Alec is determined to see the ghost of the long dead Veronica, who haunts the bedroom off the living room. As the house fills with visitors one summer’s evening, someone gets a surprise visit from the ghost.

The Coal Miner and the Rats (5:56 Minutes) – Let me introduce you to my grandfather, and tell you a few stories about the crazy rats that lived in the mines.

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artist

Katerina Bakolias is a Halifax-based performer, playwright, and screenwriter. She graduated from Dalhousie University’s Fountain School of Performing Arts with an Honours in Theatre and has been working in the Halifax film and theatre community ever since. Most recently Katerina has appeared as Eric (Lost Kid) in Neptune Theatre’s Holiday Pantomime, Peter Pan. Katerina is the recipient of the ‘Best Performer Award’ in the 2017 Halifax Fringe Festival for her portrayal of Callie in Whale Song Theatre’s production of Stop Kiss.

The first play that Katerina wrote, a one-woman show titled Re-Taled, was performed in the 2016 Halifax Fringe Festival. Her second project, Til Death Do Us Part had a staged reading in the 2018 Eastern Front Theatre Stages Festival, a workshop in the PARC New Play Readings in January 2020, and was scheduled to be produced in May 2020 as part of the Open Spaces program at Neptune Theatre. It will now be rescheduled due to COVID-19.

VO Credits

The Girl and the Bear
Narrator – Katerina Bakolias
Ada – Ava & Athena Posteraro
Mother – Melody Bakolias
Father – Ben Hayes

Veronicas’s Room
Narrator & Alec – Katerina Bakolias
Hugh – John Bakolias
Aunties – Eleni Bakolias

The Coal Miner and the Rats
Narrator – Katerina Bakolias

Read the Script

About the project

When our dad passed away in 2017, we were tasked with the job of sorting through his home. In the garage, covered in dust, we discovered the beautiful past of our great-grandmother, Catherine Buckaway. These boxes contained the story of a woman who was diagnosed with polio when she was 18. In an old, unorganized garage, laid the history of a strong woman whose poetry is published in over fifty countries.

Today, it feels more relevant than ever to find the love in times of uncertainty and fear. We acknowledge that science keeps us alive, but love is what makes life worth living. Throughout this project, we want to help others find the love, the light, and the grace in trying times. We spent the past two months reading through boxes of poems, short stories, scripts, and journal entries to collect the pieces of our great-grandmother’s past, bringing to life a story of resilience.

We would like to share the first draft of our writing. Jackie and I are grateful for anyone that takes the time to read our script. We would appreciate any feedback, which can be submitted through the Google Form below. Thank you for being a part of the process. Enjoy!

Give your feedback

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artists

Jacqueline Block is a Saskatoon based performer from Saskatoon. She graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a BFA: Acting and from the Globe Theatre Conservatory. She is a recipient of the 2015 SATA for Outstanding Emerging Artist. Performance credits include: The Penelopiad (Ferre Play Theatre); Elf: The Musical, Jane in Pride and Prejudice, Mary Poppins, Olive in The 25th…Spelling Bee, Mary’s Wedding (Persephone Theatre); Mamma Mia, The Little Mermaid, Much Ado About Nothing (Globe Theatre); Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, Hamlet, Merry Wives of Windsor, J. Caesar, Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan); Displaced (Ground Cover Theatre); The Frenzy of Queen Maeve (Bzzt! Trap Door Theatre). Choreography credits include: Cabaret (Greystone Theatre); As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing (SOS). Jackie is a proud co-producer with Ferre Play Theatre (@ferreplaytheatre). This is her first time writing a play and is so proud to collaborate with her sister on this special story!

Rachelle is an actor, singer, and dancer based in Saskatoon. A graduate from the University of Saskatchewan, Rachelle holds her Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours (Drama) and Bachelor of Education. She was also a recent SATA nominee for Outstanding Emerging Artist. Credits include: Elf the Musical, Pride and Prejudice (Persephone Theatre), With Glowing Hearts (Dancing Sky Theatre), The Dream Catchers (Charlottetown Festival), Sally Bowles in Cabaret, The Illusion, and Les Belles-Soeurs (Greystone Theatre). Rachelle sends all her love to her friends and family. She can’t wait until the day she embraces them again.

This was performed live on May 20, 2020. You can watch a recording below.

About the project

culturecapital is a live art project that takes the form of a collectible card game and living archive. The project is constructed from two sets of data: (1) hundreds of interviews with artists about their experiences making performance in Canada and (2) five years worth of municipal, provincial, and federal public funding data on performing arts companies. Using this information, the game strives to create a context in which players can question, understand, and celebrate how value is determined, shifted, and produced within theatre, dance, and live arts in Canada. No prior knowledge of art or games is required.

In April 2020, the project was awarded funding from the National Theatre School of Canada’s #ArtApart program to create an online performance. In the spirit of the game, it only seems right that the funding should be allocated through competition. Therefore, on Wednesday, May 20th, the game’s creators, Milton Lim and Patrick Blenkarn, have invited recent tournament champions, Beth Dart (Edmonton, AB) and Dave Mott (Vancouver, BC), to compete for $500 CAD of sweet art money.

How to Play: Adopting the role of stewards of the arts, players summon Companies, roll a die for government Grants, use those Grants to realize Projects, and then use those Projects to compete for Communities. Strategy cards are played to change the tide of the competition and whoever has the most Communities at the end, wins. Depending on how the cards are played, satire can be front and centre. But at other times, the cards dealt can offer a genuine window into the complexities of the relationship that artists have with public funding, being socially relevant, and navigating a rapidly changing landscape of ethics, politics, and economics within the arts.

For watch the livestream, go to: howlround.com/happenings/livestreaming-culturecapitalonline

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artists

Patrick Blenkarn is an interdisciplinary artist and director based in Vancouver, BC. His recent works includes sustained investigations into the subjects of language, labour, and the art economy. His projects have recently been featured in film festivals, galleries, and performance festivals, including SummerWorks, rEvolver, RISER Project, Festival of Recorded Movement. He is also the lead archivist of videocan, an online video archive of Canadian performance. patrickblenkarn.com

Milton Lim is a Vancouver-based artist whose output spans performance, new media, dance, installation, and video art. His work is engaged with global politics, the cataloguing/archiving/indexing of public data, and resource allocation. These thematic interests are bolstered by a continued interest in game mechanics, typography architecture, and high-frequency content. He is Co-Artistic Director of Hong Kong Exile, an Artistic Associate with Theatre Conspiracy, the recipient of the 2016 Ray Michal Prize for Outstanding Body of Work, and the recent Artist-in-Residence with PuSh International Performing Arts Festival (2016 – 2018). miltonlim.com

About the project

I’m Right Here is a radio drama inspired by the real-life disappearance of a young girl from the artist’s hometown. Sierra Haynes started this project aiming to unpack and come to terms with her own questions regarding unfinished stories, lives, grief, acceptance, and disappearance when that is the only answer we get to move on with. The artist and the young girl were the same age when she disappeared, five. Her mother drove past the house she disappeared from soon after she went missing, and it left an impact. She was a little kid. Now, she could be alive. She could be dead. She could be leading a life. She is Schrodinger’s Cat—both alive and dead simultaneously.

This project has been percolating for quite some time, and now Sierra wants to put it out there and wrestle with the flashbulb memory that experience left her with. The best way to explore these questions is through writing and drama.

This project was recorded on iPhones across the country, and the actors were self-directed. For the full experience, please listen with headphones, earbuds, or a nice pair of speakers!

This project received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the Art Apart program, an emergency fund for emerging artists who are affected by physical distancing due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

About the artists

Sierra is a second-year acting student studying at Studio 58’s Professional Theatre Training Program in Vancouver, B.C. In her work, she values collaboration, curiosity, and storytelling. She is an emerging multidisciplinary artist from Saskatchewan who is thrilled to be studying theatre in her favourite city in the country. Beyond the theatre, she has worked in radio, commercial, voice-over, print, and film. Her new play, The Radium Girls, co-written with Katie Abramovic, was meant to premiere in March 2020 as part of FourPlay: New Works by Excited Writers, and was previously honoured to be selected as a TED Talks New York City Residency Finalist in 2018. Sierra also has an extensive background in music, especially traditional Canadian fiddle music. She has been mentored by Juno award-winning musicians and played on stage with Grammy award winning artist Natalie McMaster. In 2016, Sierra was music director for Paper through the Globe Theatre Sandbox Series where she co-wrote an original score for the show. When she’s not in rehearsals for a show, Sierra can be found behind the camera script supervising, composing on her fiddle or piano, instigating a new project, or passing on her passions by instructing students in music and drama.

CAST

• Sierra Haynes – Herself/ Goblin
• Mikenzie Page — Miranda
• Malina Fluckiger – Mother
• Sabrina Banks – Voice 1
• Katie Abramovic – Voice 2

SPECIAL THANKS

• Chris Haynes – Sound Engineer
• Anton Lipovetsky – Dramaturgical Mentor