Patrice Balbina's Chance Encounter with the End of the World, until Feb. 14 at Presentation House Theatre, 333 Chesterfield Ave., North Vancouver. Tickets and info: phtheatre.org.
The cast and creative team behind Presentation House Theatre's current show travelled to Australia to fine-tune the play before presenting it to audiences here.
Patrice Balbina's Chance Encounter with the End of the World is the final chapter of a three-year international partnership and unique collaboration between six theatre companies including Presentation House and ones in Australia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Italy and Montreal.
At the outset of the Boomerang project participants took themes of immigration and poverty to create theatre pieces that would resonate with youth audiences.
Each theatre interviewed youth within their communities and developed a database of documentary-style interviews, packaging into a body of work called Documents of Poverty and Hope.
For Presentation House Theatre's contribution, artistic director Kim Selody said they started with a series of workshops in six different schools in the Lower Mainland, stretching from West Vancouver to Richmond and including some marginalized communities. "The common comment we got from the teachers was how important it was for the students to learn about each other, where they had come from, how they got here, and what their dreams were for the future," said Selody. "The act of expressing these ideas brought an amount of trust and respect into the room."
In return Selody and his team had an eyeopening experience while working with the countries and hearing their tales of immigration and poverty. It made him appreciate everything we have here.
"We have learned how lucky we are in Canada," says Selody. "And how privileged we are here. Those who make it to Canada are the lucky ones. The current European crisis is a world crisis."
It was so interesting, explains Selody, for them as Canadians working on the project to learn how others see Canada. Selody said our history of taking in immigrants has left a strong mark on the Europeans.
"It was also interesting to discover that not everyone wants to come to Canada," he adds. "We also realized that our history with our indigenous peoples needs to be told. Right here in our own back yard we have the poorest and richest postal codes in Canada."
In January all six Boomerang project countries met up in Australia to create children's play Patrice Balbina's Chance Encounter with the End of the World.
Vancouver-based actress Emilie Leclerc travelled to Australia on behalf of Presentation House Theatre to premiere the show before it was handed off to her to bring to North Vancouver this week. The play is about a family that has to leave their home suddenly, as told from the perspective of a 12 year old, Patrice Balbina.
Something unsettling has crept into her neighbourhood. Patrice has noticed that small things are starting to disappear. The butcher lost his laugh, the man on the radio is losing his patience and her dad says the government has lost its mind. Even the love of her life seems to be a little farther away each day. But you wouldn't think it was the end of the world. Then it was.
"The story is a compilation of common experiences from the interviews, so we have created a fictitious family and situation, but as the story is told visually, people can see their own experiences in it," says Selody. "The result is very moving."
One challenge is that the storytellers from the six countries all speak different languages, so they must find a way to tell the story so all can understand.
"We watch the artists do this right on stage," says Selody. "Movement becomes the common language. It is easy to follow and soon we are hooked into the drama of it all."
The Boomerang project, explains Selody, has been an important evolution for Presentation House Theatre, an arts organization that focuses on theatre that connect youth and adults.
"Like a boomerang, this project asks those who participate to throw out something to the world, watch it be explored by professional artists, then see it come back to them as form of theatre," says Selody.
One of the highlights of the collaboration for Selody was teaming up with Teatro Elsinor in Italy. Selody along with Linda Carson went to Forli, Italy, last summer to develop the script for the Italian production of I Wish. Then last fall, Teatro Elsinor artistic director Giuditta Mingucci came to North Vancouver to work with actors on the local production of I Wish, play that features interactions between an older homeless man and a young woman who collects wishes from the young audience for him.
"It has been an amazing cultural exchange as we all learn from each other, overcoming language and cultural barriers," says Selody. "We have found the common thread of humanity by focusing on creating theatre for children and youth. All of us have been changed by this."
As for whether Presentation House Theatre can recreate this international artistic effort in the future, Selody says Patrice Balbina is quite unique and a rare theatre experience.
"So, it really is a must see for our theatre, as it will be very difficult to bring these artists together again to play this show," he adds.
However, another theatre collaboration may be in the works for Presentation House. Selody said they are currently in discussion for an exciting new project with German-based PLATFORM shift, which looks at digital challenges in theatre for young audiences.
Called Body Works: The social construction of body image, the project brings together 12 different countries to create theatre works exploring how digital technology affects children and youth.
"Our project focuses on how social and mass media affect body image in youth," explains Selody.
The Presentation House team would again start with workshops in Lower Mainland schools, leading to the creation of a play by professional artists that would perform for students, teachers and the general public.
"If we are lucky, then this work will be part of a festival of similar work that will play in Europe," says Selody.
