A huge THANK YOU goes to everyone who supported our Act NOW! Winning Performances and Fringe Preview event on May 17, 2011 – from all the people who attended, all the volunteers, tech crew, and actors, to those who kindly provided us with food for the reception at the end of the event. We had close to 100 guests come and enjoy the show at the CBC Studio 700.
To those who were unable to join us, here is a brief summary of what happened!
When guests arrived at the studio, they had the opportunity to become part of our “Pixel Display”, which is a collection of many individual artistic expressions. Everyone received a small piece of cardboard, and could draw or write whatever they wished on it. The end result looked fabulous.
The Pixel Display in all its glory
The evening was kick-started by our MC, Tetsuro Shigematsu, who, besides having the ability to crack random jokes at just the right moment, also gave a pre-show performance of his own. The performance, “Rising Son”, was a hilarious re-telling of his childhood experience with karate, and definitely started off the night on the right note.
Tetsuro Shigematsu's "Rising Son" Performance
Afterwards was the performance of the Act NOW! Junior Category winning play of 2009-2010, “Fallen Heads”, which beautifully weaves the story of the doom of Easter Island society with modern-day over-consumption of resources.
Playwright: Deborah Vogt
Cast: Sigourney McAuley, Glenn Crossley, Hannah VanVarseveld, Ryan Scramstad
Directed by: Chalene Scott
"Fallen Heads" Performance
We then went immediately into the second performance of the night, the Act NOW! Senior Category winning of 2009-2010, “Lights Out”. In this play., the main character, Maria, learns and accepts that darkness is not always a bad thing, or something to be terrified of.
Playwright: Samantha Landa
Cast: Jennifer Hoar, Chris Coutts
Directed by: Alyssa Kostello
"Lights Out" Performance
After a short intermission, the third show of the night, the Fringe Tour Preview by In the Flesh Theatre, entitled “BOX: Or the Incredible Impact of the Totally Made Up” was performed. An over-stressed office worker re-discovers the power of the imagination and goes through several fantastical scenarios (and meets equally interesting characters along the way), before realizing that she is much more than just what her job dictates.
Cast: Tracy Varju, Jennifer Hoar, Chris Fader, Chalene Scott, Ryan Bolton, Alyssa Kostello
Stage Manager: Gen Bouchard
Performance of "BOX: Or the Incredible Impact of the Totally Made Up"
The last performance of the evening was given by Dr. Ray Hsu, who ended off the night with a high note by selecting volunteers from the audience and having them all take part in a recorded message to Prime Minister Harper! The video footage of this absolutely jaw-dropping and hilarious interactive performance is below- my words alone can’t justify the epic-ness of what happened;
Dr. Ray Hsu phones PM Harper!
The evening ended off with a short awards ceremony to recognize the winning playwrights of the 2009-2010 Act NOW! Competition, many words of thanks to all our supporters and guests, along with a lot of great food for the post-performance reception. This is the first event of its kind for NOW!, and it was awesome seeing how successful it turned out!
Many thanks also to the following people and organizations who made the event possible, and put in countless hours and effort to create the event as it was:
Event Organizers: Denise Chau, Alyssa Kostello, Janny Ke, Rebecca Gu & Ivan Liu
Technical Crew: Gen Bouchard & Tommy Osmond
MC: Tetsuro Shigematsu
Venue: CBC Studios
Filming: Sustainability TV
Food: Cupcakes on Broadway, Safeway on Davie & Safeway on Broadway/MacDonald
THANK YOU!
