A GREAT PLACE TO READ ABOUT GREAT THEATRE · APRIL / MAY 2017
“All you need to win the Nobel Prize in literature is to write brilliantly for a lifetime.” T O R O N T O S TA R
VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 4
Hello! Welcome to the Belfry and the premiere production of Alice Munro Stories. We’re about to go on a new theatrical journey together - merging theatre and short stories into a whole new creation. Take some time to read Michael’s piece Why I Chose This Play - in this edition of Upstage to really get a sense of this exciting new work. Alice Munro’s longtime editor and publisher, Douglas Gibson, has contributed to this edition too - his article (on page 3) will give
B4Play
you some new insight into Alice’s work. Thanks for being part of the Belfry and we look forward to seeing you soon.
SATURDAY, APRIL 15 AT 11 AM
Gregor Craigie · Photo by Don Craig
Belfry Theatre, Studio A, 1291 Gladstone Avenue Free Event. Join us in Studio A for a live talk show hosted by CBC Radio’s Gregor Craigie, featuring director Anita Rochon, actor Jennifer WaskoPatterson, Dr Jamie Dopp (Associate Professor of Canadian Literature at UVic)
BELFRY THEATRE 1291 GLADSTONE AVENUE VICTORIA, BC V8T 1G5
and Sheila Munro (yes, Alice’s daughter). If you can’t make it to B4Play in person, don’t worry: you can listen to these always-entertaining interviews on our website or listen to our podcasts at soundcloud.com/belfrytheatre.
WWW.BELFRY.BC.CA
Join Us UPSTAGE is produced four times per year and can be found at branches of the Greater Victoria Public Library, the Belfry and online at issuu.com/belfrytheatre. If you would like a digital copy please drop us a line at hello@belfry.bc.ca.
Alice Munro Stories is generously supported by
Tickets 250-385-6815
facebook.com/belfrytheatre
youtube.com/belfrytheatre
twitter.com/belfrytheatre
issuu.com/belfrytheatre
vimeo.com/belfrytheatre
soundcloud.com/belfrytheatre
Upstage is supported by
Alice Munro — Word for Word BY DOUGLAS GIBSON
Photo: Kim Stallknecht
W H E N M I C H A E L S H AMATA F IRST CONTAC TE D M E
this. Everyone in the book world – other writers,
A BO U T H I S H O P E S F O R AN AL IC E M UNRO SHOW AT
booksellers, reviewers, and even publishers –
T H E B EL F RY, I WA S DEL IGHTE D, AND V E RY KE E N TO
was telling her that if she was ever going to get
H E L P. T H E RE W E RE T WO RE ASONS F OR THIS.
anywhere, she had to stop wasting time on short
Anita Rochon is one of
stories, and become a novelist. So she was trying.
the creators of How to
And she was finding that novels didn’t come easily
Disappear Completely, and
First, my editorial career with Alice Munro goes back a very long way. So far back, in fact, it was 1974 that we met in London, Ontario, when Alice
to her. So she was “blocked”, unable to write at all.
Story Highlights
the director of Through the Gaze of a Navel, and
had left Victoria and her marriage. I was a young,
I stepped in and told her, “Alice, if they’re all telling
beardless boy, an editor who sat in trembling awe
you to stop writing short stories….they’re all
across the lunch table from the pleasant author
wrong. You’re a great short story writer. You must
of three superb books of short stories. I knew that
keep on writing them. I’m a publisher, and I’d be
Actor Jenny Wasko-
her career was bound for great success. To my
very pleased if you came with me, and went on
Paterson opened the
astonishment, I learned that Alice did not know
writing short stories for the rest of your career. And
Belfry’s season in Mom’s
you’d never, ever, find me asking you for a novel.”
the Word and she returns
KISMET one to one hundred at the Belfry.
to close the season in Alice Munro Stories.
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Well, since our first book together, Who Do You Think You Are?, in 1978, there have been 12 collections of short stories, and the results have been, as Alice might put it, “not bad.” That, I recall, was the low-key joke Alice and I shared when I phoned her in Victoria about her Nobel Prize. “Not bad at all,” she agreed, laughing. “Really quite good.”
Why I Chose This Play
The second reason for my support for Michael Shamata’s idea was that I had seen the fascinating version of two Munro stories put on in Toronto by the Word For Word group from San Francisco. This imaginative group, under the artistic direction of Susan Harloe, had invented a new form of drama, and Michael wanted to use it to create an Alice Munro production in Victoria.
I was approached almost two years ago by Susan Harloe,
I say that I had “seen” the show in Toronto. In fact, I was more actively
Artistic Director of Word For Word Theatre in San Francisco.
involved. At the end of each performance, there was a break, when
Since 1993, this company has specialized in putting short
many people in the audience chose to leave. Many others chose to
stories onstage, word-for-word. They had an Alice Munro show
stay, to follow the after-show discussion, which I chaired, which I
that they wanted the Belfry to bring to Victoria. This show had
found exciting and new every single night.
the endorsement of Douglas Gibson, Alice Munro’s editor and
What members of the Belfry’s audience are going to find – no doubt
publisher, who had seen it performed in Toronto.
to their surprise – is that they are watching an entirely new art form.
After numerous phone calls and much discussion, I told Susan
Everyone knows, to take another example, that Opera is not just a
that I could not bring an American company to Victoria to
play where some of the actors sometimes sing. In the same way, this
present Alice Munro short stories. However, I loved the idea of
is not like the simple reading aloud of a bedtime story, although
word-for-word as a form of theatre, and would Susan allow us
it shares some of those deep, long-forgotten pleasures. Nor is it a
to steal their idea, and would she perhaps serve as a consultant
simple, on-stage series of scenes, or sketches that amount to a play.
on a Belfry production of Munro short stories?
It is something in between, a fascinating new, blended art form that you’ll enjoy describing to your friends.
Susan was incredibly gracious, and happy for us to proceed,
I was glad to do what I could to help Michael and the Belfry bring
San Francisco with Ivan and Anita Rochon, who was on board
this off. I was also glad to give my advice on which Alice Munro
as director, confirmed Susan’s willingness to share her wisdom.
stories would work best here, in combination. I knew from my work
We attended their production of “Night Vision” by Emma
producing tapes of Alice’s own readings from her work, that listeners
Donaghue and “Silence” by Colm Tóibín, which crystallized a lot
were regularly surprised by how funny so much of her dialogue is.
of ideas for us around this hybrid of theatre and short story.
Great art is not always linked with solemnity. This is Alice Munro.
with the request that we not use the same two stories. A trip to
The show that Susan had proposed bringing to Victoria used the stories “The Office” and “Dolly.” Anita and I reread most of
Douglas Gibson was Alice Munro’s Editor and Publisher. She wrote the Introduction to his book of memoirs, Stories About Storytellers (2011). He also writes about her in his Across Canada By Story (2015). She is the final author in his 2017 Sesquicentennial show celebrating Canada’s greatest fiction writers between 1867 and 2017. The touring show will run in Victoria on May 29. For details, contact Munro’s Books or Bolen’s Books close to the event.
the canon of Munro short stories. A number of possibilities were chosen, and promptly discarded after a day of readings in Vancouver. It was Doug Gibson who suggested “Differently,” partly because of its Victoria setting (and brilliance!). Erin Macklem suggested that we look at “Save the Reaper,” which, given its engaging plot and atmospherics, appealed very much to Anita. My gratitude to Susan Harloe and JoAnne Winter for cofounding Word For Word Theatre, and for giving us their blessing to produce our very own Alice Munro Stories. MICHAEL SHAMATA,
Tickets 250-385-6815
Artistic Director
Cast & Creatives
LIVE EVENTS
—
Throughout Alice Munro Stories we’ll host a number of events that will deepen your theatre experience or just plain astound you.
AFTERPLAY Caroline Gillis
Arggy Jenati
Gerry Mackay
ACTOR
ACTOR
ACTOR
Facilitated discussions – audience member to audience member – follow every evening Mainstage performance of Alice Munro Stories (except Opening Night and Talkback Thursday). These are a great opportunity to share your thoughts and hear fellow patrons’ reactions to the production and the ideas it presents.
TALKBACK THURSDAY Michael Scholar Jr. ACTOR
Jenny WaskoPaterson ACTOR
Anita Rochon DIRECTOR
THURSDAY, APRIL 27
Meet some of the actors post-performance when they return to the stage to answer questions and provide insight into the play.
BOOKSMACK MONDAY, APRIL 24 AT 7:30 PM
Librarians go head-to-head as they race against the clock to speed review their favourite books in these fun and
Peter Hartwell DESIGNER
Alan Brodie
Antoine Bédard
LIGHTING DESIGNER
SOUND DESIGNER
competitive events, co-presented with the Greater Victoria Public Library.
VOCALEYE SUNDAY, MAY 7 AT 2 PM
For our patrons with low or no vision, we offer this VocalEye performance during Alice Munro Stories. Trained Audio Describers provide descriptions of the visual elements of the show, allowing people with low vision to enjoy the theatrical
Jennifer Swan STAGE MANAGER
Emily Mewett
experience without missing any of the details.
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
Belfry Librarian
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories by Alice Munro
The wonderful librarians from the Greater Victoria Public Library have compiled a list of books to help you get even more out of our production of Alice Munro Stories.
Lives Of Girls And Women: A Novel by Alice Munro Lives Of Mothers & Daughters: Growing Up With Alice Munro by Sheila Munro
Alice Munro: Writing Her Lives: A Biography by Robert Thacker Alice Munro’s Best: A Selection Of Stories by Alice Munro Stories About Storytellers by Douglas Gibson
The Progress Of Love: Stories by Alice Munro Across Canada By Story by Douglas Gibson Writing Short Stories: A Writers’ and Artists’ Companion
Away From Her [DVD Video] by Sarah Polley
by Courttia Newland
The Best Of Writers & Company by Eleanor Wachtel
Compiled by Sarah Isbister, Public Service Librarian, Greater Victoria Public Library 5
SPOTLIGHT ON SUPPORTERS
Alec Scoones When we caught up with Alec Scoones, he was preparing for his wedding in May to his longtime sweetheart and theatre companion, Marion. This sounds like a wonderful continuation of a full life, which has led this father of three to gravitate to both the ocean and the stage. Alec, who is a “master” or Captain with BC Ferries, spent a number of years performing in community theatre, before he took on his busy career. He enjoyed drama in Victoria high schools, studying with Mike Stephens at Mt. Douglas High School. Later, while an English student at UVic, he participated in a directorial workshop of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. He went on to play Barnaby in Hello, Dolly! among other roles for the Victoria Operatic Society. He also appeared in Abelard and Heloise at Langham Court Theatre. Alec, who happily lives aboard a sailboat moored in Sidney, says he supports the Belfry because the “arts are critically needed in a world with too much emphasis on competition and not enough on cooperation.” For last season’s production of Joan MacLeod’s The Valley, Alec and Marion attended both B4Play and Afterplay, free audience engagement programs which Alec refers to as a “great gift.” He finds that sharing the questions and perspectives that resonate with other theatre-goers to be yet another thing he likes about the Belfry, as theatre is such a shared experience that promotes a sense of community. Alec has long supported a number of causes both local and international, and decided in recent years that supporting the Belfry would be a great way to contribute to his local community. By becoming a yearly, then a monthly donor, and by further increasing his monthly support, Alec is just the sort of supporter that the Belfry thrives on. To become a monthly donor, or for any questions about supporting the Belfry’s artistic and educational programs or Capital Campaign, please contact Development Manager Susan Stevenson at development@belfry. bc.ca or 250-385-6835 ext. 229.
Tickets 250-385-6815
Calendar
20 r u O
17–18 Seaso
n
Alice Munro Stories PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
April 18 – May 14, 2017 Tuesdays – Thursdays at 7:30 pm Wednesday Matinees at 1 pm (April 26, May 3 and 10) Fridays + Saturdays at 8 pm Saturday Matinees at 4 pm Sunday Matinees at 2 pm Audience Engagement Schedule B4PLAY · Saturday, April 15 at 11 am TALKBACK THURSDAY · April 27 AFTERPLAY · Following all evening performances* VOCALEYE · Described performance Sunday, May 7 at 2 pm * Except opening night and Talkback Thursday
Please renew your season
Plus you’ll receive
tickets before May 31.
discounts and priority
Your season includes:
booking privileges for: Summer Fun
THE CHILDREN’S REPUBLIC September 12— October 8, 2017 by Hannah Moscovitch
ONEGIN
How to buy tickets By telephone 250 385 6815
Please have your credit card ready, as well as the date and time of the performance you wish to attend.
Online
Visit belfry.bc.ca/tickets and buy your tickets online, anytime.
In person
Drop by our Box Office. We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, debit card, cheques, and, of course, cash.
October 17— November 12, 2017 Book, Music & Lyrics by Veda Hille and Amiel Gladstone
FORGET ABOUT TOMORROW January 23— February 18, 2018 by Jill Daum, with music by John Mann
SALT BABY April 17—May 13, 2018 by Falen Johnson
BED AND BREAKFAST August 8—27, 2017 by Mark Crawford Holiday Classic
A CHRISTMAS CAROL November 28— December 17, 2017 by Charles Dickens, adapted by Michael Shamata
2018 SPARK FESTIVAL WHO KILLED SPALDING GRAY? by Daniel MacIvor Ray Bradbury’s TOMORROW’S CHILD by Eric Rose, Matthew Waddell and David van Belle Visit our Box Office when you are here to see Alice Munro Stories or call us at 250-385-6815 to renew your season tickets.
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PUBLIC FUNDERS
Belfry Theatre 1291 GLADSTONE AVENUE VICTORIA, BC
V8T 1G5