staged reading

The Women of Papiyek - to Name and to Remember

The Women of Papiyek opens with Elizabeth, Martha and Taqood naming: the naming of those who are gone but who must be remembered. Transcending time and space, the women themselves are dead but are stuck in some kind of limbo looking for a way to the next level of existence.

The Women of Papiyek recounts the story of the three women, real women who once lived in what is now called Brockton Point in Stanley Park.

It turns out that the three women are of different ages and different eras but that was difficult to determine and...

September 17th, 2016 · By Melody Owen

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The Long Call — Gangsters, Showgirls, Primatology and Recovery

Leaving the life of the American demimonde for anthropology, survivor guilt and Asian primates is a wild ride for Holly, the ex-showgirl turned wannabe ape rescuer. This detailed reading of Jenn Griffin’s play, The Long Call, directed by Heidi Taylor, IS a wild ride. Funny at times, touching, a little bit menacing—who is Jack, what does he really want, and how is this going to end? I found it really fascinating to be witness to the process of developing this play, as reportedly the actors had only finished a cold-reading, and sound design was ongoing improvisation during this performance....

September 15th, 2016 · By Bruce M. Campbell

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Kitimat - Mostly Exposition

Kitimat – Mostly Exposition

I love staged readings, they're pure. Just the words and the actors and the audience. No distractions or fancy staging, no pomp and circumstance. Staged readings really let you see a play bare, stripped of all pretension.

Kitimat by Elaine Avila is about the aforementioned town's reaction to a proposed pipeline. It reads more like a dramatized debate than a story. An argument based on pathos without facts, or detailed anecdotes to support it.

There are some beautiful human moments in the flash backs where we...

September 20th, 2015 · By Danielle Benzon

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AFTER LOVE, LIFE: Lots of Plot, but Lack of Pacing

By Colleen Ann Fee
Directed by Tammy Bentz
After Love, Life is a play in progress by Advance Theatre: New Works by Women.

Birgit:
The title instantly attracted me. I am just starting to live after years of paralysis after the end of a 25-year marriage. But this play was not about this kind of loss at all. It addressed only the grief of losing a spouse to death. But that was covered thoroughly. How many ways can you lose the love of your life? Natural causes like heart attack or old age, natural disasters, accidents or suicide...

September 19th, 2015 · By Birgit and Mattias Martens

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27 Voices: A Jarring Chorus

27 Voices is a work in progress written by S.M. Hunter and directed by Quelemia Sparrow was read by :
Sam Bob, Jennifer Brousseau, Nyla Carpentier, Madeleine McCallum, Joel Montgrand, Melissa Oei, Shyama Priya, Varya Rubin, Donna Soares, Tsawaysia Spakwus.

There were ten readers, but no identity was given to any of them. I was looking for characters and 27 different distinct voices with their own stories. I heard out some voices speaking about a still birth in the bath tub, kneecaps in pig manure, pimps and pain, yearnings for love, rape, menstruation blood, and labour pain. But there was no...