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Volume 14 Number 31 | 50¢
August 6, 2015
downtownkamloops.com
Chimera becomes reality with Andrew G. Cooper Canadian actor, director and playwright Andrew G. Cooper is a graduate of the Bachelor of Arts program at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) in Kamloops. He made his professional acting debut during the summer of 2013 as Snoopy in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” and then as Rat in “Fantastic Mr. Fox” as part of Project X Theatre’s, X-Fest 2013. He is a familiar face who has won both acclaim and awards in musical theatre, acting, dance, choreography and has written or produced multiple shows for independent theatre groups like BC Living Arts, Villains and Vittles Dinner Theatre, Caravan Farm Theatre and Western Canada Theatre companies. Now Andrew adds another credit to an already impressive resume, taking on the role of artistic producer with his new venture, Chimera Theatre. The independent theatre company was started in the summer of 2014 and continues to grow in popularity, with plays being performed across the province from Nelson to Victoria. Trina: X-Fest is having a great run this year! Having background in so many aspects of stage production, what are the challenges you face in trying to prepare for a specific acting role? Andrew: There’s nothing quite like performing on stage in front of a live audience. It’s exhilarating, but what some people don’t realize is that it takes a lot of work to prepare for a role. You have to find aspects of the character that are both physical and vocal and rehearse those aspects until they become a part of you on stage. Before you can find what a character moves and sounds like, you need to understand who they are. It takes a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of fun. In X Fest this year I get to play not just one or two characters, but over a dozen! The Shakespeare Show is a hilarious, fast-paced comedy that has a huge cast of characters played by only
two actors, Kelsey Gilker and myself. I actually started my performing career as a dancer and learning to work onstage in this way has been an interesting journey. Trina: With over seven years of dance training, award-winning choreography and experience in musical theatre, can we expect to see a return to your dance roots any time soon? Andrew: I’ve been so busy teaching dance and working as a choreographer that it’s hard for me to find time to dance. I love the work I do at The Academy of Dance and I’m so happy to be choreographing for companies like Project X Theatre and Chimera Theatre, but I do miss dancing onstage myself sometimes. Because of this, I have been working on some preliminary plans to stage a theatrical dance piece with Chimera Theatre. It’s still in development and I don’t want to give too much away, but look for that in the coming year or two. Trina: Chimera Theatre has been making waves in the theatre community, with great reviews and success in promoting local artists and networking talent. Are you attending the Victoria Fringe Festival as anticipated? What production will you be performing and what does the competition look like? Andrew: We are touring to the Victoria Fringe Festival later this summer! We’re taking a one-act version of “The Untold Tales of the Brothers Grimm”, which Chimera Theatre - continued on page 2
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