ARTS
18 ANNUAL DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE
HEARTTHEOF CITY FESTIVAL Modulus fest brings back HEART OF THE 28CITY NOVEMBER 8 live & online immersive concerts for one OCTOBER info: heartofthecityfestival.com FESTIVAL 17TH ANNUAL DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE
2020
TO
by Charlie Smith
OCTOBER 27 TO NOVEMBER 7
Vancouver TH Moving Theatre with the Carnegie Community Centre and the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians with a host of community partners presents
OVER 100 EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE AND ONLINE
FINAL WEEKEND – SELECT HIGHLIGHTS HEARTOFTHECITYFESTIVAL.COM
OPENINGS: Indigenous elders & knowledge-keepers share cultural teachings of resilience, hope and humour. November 3 to November 6, 7:30pm. $15 - $35 sliding scale Produced by Firehall Arts Centre w/ Vancouver Moving Theatre
Firehall Arts Centre, 280 East Cordova 7LFNHWV DW GRRU RU ZZZ o UHKDOODUWFHQWUH FD
GRACE EIKO THOMSON: CHIRU SAKURA Musician Mark Takeshi McGregor (right) plays to an audience member at Music on Main’s As dreams are made, which offers theatrically produced, individualized concerts. Photo by Jan Gates.
T
he artistic director of Music on Main, David Pay, has an amusing story to tell from his childhood. It concerned his propensity for wanting to stage shows—from a very young age. “My kindergarten teacher used to call me Cecil B. DeMille,” Pay recalls in a recent phone interview with the Straight. “She called my parents and told them I had to stop auditioning kids for my productions.” Fortunately for Vancouver music lovers, the unnamed kindergarten teacher didn’t get her way. And Pay’s love of producing will be on display this month with the 10th edition of Music On Main’s Modulus Festival. It’s his imaginative response to a serious question: how do artists respond to chaotic times? At the heart of this year’s festival is a revival of a pandemic-inspired series of concerts, As dreams are made, which premiered last year in Vancouver. It’s inspired by a speech by Prospero in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest: “We are such stuff / As dreams are made on, and our little life / Is rounded with a sleep.” This year’s concerts feature a mostly new lineup of musicians who will offer individualized performances to one person at a time on the stage at the Annex. The audience member shows up at the lobby at an appointed time. “You’re greeted in the lobby,” Pay explains. “You’re told a little bit about what’s going to happen.” The guest is brought into a dark room and a light comes up on the musician. The guest then sits in an empty chair nearby. “There’s a moment where the musician looks at you and you look at the musician,” Pay says. “It’s all silent.” The performer then plays a piece that is decided in that moment to suit the sole
audience member. According to Pay, musicians who are part of the series have a repertoire that they will choose from. “You’ll see the show and nobody is watching you see the show,” Pay says. “Then the next person will come in and have a different experience.” After each performance, the theatre darkens and the person leaves the theatre, where they’re greeted again. He says that once people reenter the world outside, it’s akin to emerging from a dream. “It’s sort of like, ‘Whoa, did that just happen? Did I just sit in a space with beautiful lighting and hear an unbelievable musician all by myself?’ ” Pay says. Last year, he adds, the response from audiences was overwhelmingly positive. At this year’s Modulus Festival, there will be five musicians featured in As dreams are made: Chloe Kim (violin), Dailin Hsieh (zheng), Jonathan Lo (cello), Saina Khaledi (santour), and Mark Takeshi McGregor (flute). On any given day, attendees will not know which musician will be performing in what Pay describes as “an immersive performance for one person”. The series relies on some methodologies developed in Europe for what are called 1:1 Concerts. “But we’ve theatricalized it so that it has this relationship to a famous Shakespeare speech,” Pay says. These brief live performances will be part of The Tempest Project, which is a fulllength immersive show that Music on Main plans on premiering in 2024. g
Elder and activist Grace Eiko Thomson reads and talks about her book Chiru Sakura (Falling Cherry Blossoms). November 4 | 7pm free Massy Arts Gallery, 23 East Pender Live. Registration required, visit website
HONOURING OUR GRANDMOTHERS HEALING JOURNEY LAUNCH
Three days of ceremony, teachings, storytelling and art respecting Mother Earth. November 5 - 7 Full event details, visit website
FIGHTING FOR SPACE: DRUG USERS’ RESPONSE TO THE OVERDOSE CRISIS
Online presentation and conversation with author and award-winning journalist Travis Lupick, with Ann Livingston and Eris Nyx. November 6, 1pm free Online. Registration required, visit website
INCARCERATED: Truth in Shadows Shadow plays dedicated to those who have faced unjust treatment in Canada’s incarceration system. Presented by Illicit Projects November 6, 8pm free Online. Registration available, visit website
Music on Main presents the 2021 Modulus Festival from Friday (November 5) to next Wednesday (November 10) at various venues.
NOVEMBER 4 – 11 / 2021
THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT
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