20 in 2020

2000

Kicking off our 20 in 2020 Anniversary, we go back to the year 2000.

Our first performance, Pyropornomania was created for the Vancouver Fringe by Dave Mott and Daniel Martin, was directed by Geoff Pugen assisted by Kathy MacKenzie and featured Tania Hubbard and Simone Bailly along with the boys. We thought it was a lot more groundbreaking than it was, but audiences loved it. We were young, we were dumb, but we had a lot fun.

2001

20 in 2020 Anniversary throwback continues: the year is 2001!

There was, frankly, a lot more raving going on in 2001 than theatre making. But alongside hosting the best parties in Vancouver at The Space (324 W Hastings), we did manage to rework and remount Pyro for the 2001 Fringe. It was also the year we (somehow) got it together to incorporate as a non-profit. Pictured here are Dan and Dave with our old compatriot Jesse Rimmer, the three corners of the SGC (South Gastown Consortium), who ran The Space, and some sweet art we commissioned (sans-permits) for the parking lot.

2002

20 in 2020 Anniversary: Year 2002.

Any guesses on the title of the next show? You guessed it! This is a promo image from our 2002 show WEDGIE.
What happens when you combine the invasion of Iraq with the death of Jim Henson? You get Wedgie, a whirlwind exploration of propaganda, puberty, and the politics of revenge. The show marked the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration between the company and Jason Patrick Rothery, and was created through a collaborative workshop process with Steve Handlesman, Nicole Leroux, Daniel Martin, David Mott, Melissa Robertson and Jason Rothery. The 2002 Fringe production, directed by Dawn Milman, included one particularly incredible late night show at Performance works with audience members literally packed to the rafters (with some sitting in them) cheering every t-shirt change the cast made. Wedgie was remounted in 2003 at Presentation House in a production directed by Steven Drover, designed by Francesca Albertazzi.

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2003

2003: The Fish Walks

In late 2002 we had the most fateful beer in our history, when Jason Rothery presented us with a scrap of paper on which he had written an idea for a festival featuring new short work by emerging artists. The festival was Walking Fish, and would launch us on the path of presenters that would eventually lead to rEvolver and mark our most singular and lasting contribution to our community. It read, in part: Taking it’s concept from Darwin’s revered rung on the evolutionary ladder – the fish walking out of the sea – the walking fish is a potent and distinct symbol of the bold progressive step within the evolutionary process. All artists involved in this festival are dedicated theatre craftspeople that are forging through the most difficult – but most important – step on the theatrical evolutionary path. Among the artists who responded to that first call out
were Tanya Marquardt, Chris Gatchalian, Heidi Taylor, Thrasso Petras, John Jack Paterson, Heather Doerksen, Victor Ustare, Nita Bowerman and more who would go on to become valued colleagues and collaborators. We thought it was a good idea. We had no idea where it would lead.

2004

2004: Men of the World

Our first truly independent work produced outside The Fringe, Men of the World was the result of a fantastic collaboration with husband and wife playwrights David Geary and Deborah Wilton, and a community engagement workshop process that would become a model for our future creations for many years. A fast, smart, and funny piece on love in the new millennium, it spawned the best line we received from a reviewer in our first decade:

If shows in town were even half as entertaining as the ones that UpintheairTheatre Society put on,we would have no problem replenishing season subscriber lists with younger audience members.

The Boards

The run’s highlight was undoubtedly a raucous sold out performance on Dan’s 30th Birthday followed by a late late night of french beer and poutine.

If you’d like to know more, engage or donate visit our website

2005

2005: Brenda Matthews and Mary Simmonds

2005 had some stuff going on. Walking Fish really hit its stride in year 3, and we started work on 120bpm. But we want to take this moment to recognise two exceptional women who were integral to our growth as a company at that time: long time board members Mary Simmonds (President) and Brenda Matthews (Treasurer).

Brenda and Mary both joined our board when we were little more than an idea with a couple of fringe productions behind us, and stuck with us through the decade. It is no exaggeration to say that the two of them were the board. During that time and since, we have often wondered at our fortune to have two such smart, good hearted, generous, resourceful, and all-round fantastic people commit so much time and energy to our company. They were integral to our growth, and to the creation of the culture of hospitality, integrity, collaboration and fun that continues to define Upintheair.

2006

In 2006 we returned to The Fringe for the first time since Wedgie, and undertook the second and final out of province tour in our history, driving the team over the Rockies in a certain 1973 Dodge campervan (The Wagabondi!) that would go on to star in our final Fringe show in 2009. The project was a remount of our site specific Walkingfish year one fundraiser version of another Jason Rothery script, Moxie, a dark comedy about cannibalism, the prison industrial complex, and the shittiness of Fringe star ratings.

The team was packed with good friends and long time collaborators: directed by perhaps the loveliest man in theatre, Thrasso Petras, stage managed by our now board member Maria Denholme, and featuring Dan and Dave along with Darren Boquist who along with lighting design, rehearsed all three parts in the play, and performed Dan and Dave’s roles once each in an epic demonstration of line and blocking retention with no real purpose except to increase the craziness and fun of the journey.

2007

2007: 120 bpm

Written by Dan, Dave, and Aiden Maxted, 120bpm felt like something special: one of those moments when you are able to bring everything you’ve gone through, learned, been working towards, to some sort of culmination. The highs and terrible losses of our party days, physical theatre training with the CORE group, 5 years of community collaborative creation models, and a decade of personal growth came together in this show. We expressed our love for the scene that had brought us together, and we said goodbye to it and to a phase of our lives.

We also learnt a powerful lesson about who we made art for critics either deeply disliked the show or were confused by it. But 120bpm sold out 10 of its 11 performances, and received standing ovations for its final 9 shows from crowds of ex-ravers who recognised themselves and the story on stage.

120bpm marked Dan and Dave’s directorial debut. It was stage managed by Noa Anatot, and starred Sara Bynoe, David Patrick Flemming, Chris Frary, Caitlin Fulton, Miranda Huba, Jamie James, Kyle Jesperson, Frano Marsic, and Daniel Errey. Live DJ duties were
shared by Luke Martin and DJ Flye. The closing night party was epic.

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2008

Here we go! Our 20 in 2020 Anniversary campaign continues with…

2008: The Johnny Grant Creation Tour

Sometimes the creation process is better than the show, and that was the case with Johnny Grant: A Rollicking Adventure Story. Based on the life of Dan’s great great great grandfather, the show, which was part of the 2009 See Seven series, never quite achieved what we wanted it to. But the creation and devising process was something else. The highlight was a 10 day road trip in the Wagabondi to Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, and a follow up trip to Winnipeg. There was archival research, site exploration, interviews with all sorts of interesting folx, camping, great food, craft beer, and a number of those incredibly sketchy moments that get better the farther away they are…

With much thanks to the one and only Heidi Taylor, director and dramaturge.

2009

2009: Wagabondi Ho! Uptown, Downtown, how you gonna get around Eastside, Westside, come on y’all it’s free to ride….

It’s been cropping up the last few years: taking us to Calgary, Montano, Idaho, and Wyoming, as well as serving as a mobile office for fundraisers, set mover, and more. In 2009, The Wagabondi got its own show, Wagabondi Ho! at the Vancouver Fringe. A hymn to a one of a kind, steadfast and loyal white and green 1973 Dodge Camperized Van. Audiences of 4 were invited into the van for a cup of tea and one of 3 short performance pieces. It was probably the best reviewed show in our company’s history, including this nice line from Colin Thomas “Theatre is all about communion and storytelling. Wagabondi Ho! has those elements in spades.” Sadly, there was no way to make the piece economically viable for longer runs, and those that didn’t make it at the Fringe missed out forever.

The van doesn’t run anymore, but keep an eye out for our 21st Anniversary bash next year, where there are plans for it to make a guest appearance…

2010

Who could forget when the Liberal government “paused” gaming payments to arts and environmental organizations in 2009/10. At the time we had only earned the regualr support of the City of Vancouver and BC Gaming, and now our flagship festival Walking Fish immediately became unproducible. It was the first time Upintheiar faced a real existential crisis and it was in no way certain we would be able to keep going.

Instead of giving up we decided to take a risk on growing something bigger, a new venture that would hopefully lead to professional arts funding. It was a big roll of the dice…. In partnership with Allyson McGrane and Shane Birley of LeftRightMinds, we launched the Neanderthal Arts Festival. The gamble would pay off Neanderthal was a success, garnering support from all levels of government, putting Upintheair on the national stage, and laying the groundwork for rEvolver.

It wasn’t the first time Ally was instrumental in a big positive change for us. Back in the early ‘aughts, as part of TheatreMom, she helped us put together the governance infrastructure that led to non-profit and charitable status, and she employed Daniel at LeftRightMinds, allowing him to transition out of restaurant work and significantly upgrade his skills and knowledge in arts management, all to the benefit of Upintheair. Thank you Ally (and Shane!)

2011

2011: A Guide to Mourning

Walking Fish wasn’t the only thing affected by the withdrawal of Gaming funding the year before. The loss of those funds for two years also took away our ability to support reation and development of our own artistic work, and it would be 2013 before we put up an original piece again. So for two years we turned to producing scripted plays for the first time, in partnership with the awesome awesomeness that was Genus Theatre. True co-productions between two companies that shared values and got along fantastically, it kept our artistic fires burning in what were otherwise pretty dark times.

In 2011 the two companies produced A Guide to Mourning by Eugene Stickland. Dave directed the production starring Brenda Matthews and Paul Herbert, along with Genus’ Kelly Sheridan, Frano Marsic, and Frank Nickel and Dan. It also featured a brilliant, one night only, on book performance in the lead role from Heather Doerksen when Brenda had to take a night off for family matters.

Working with Genus was always fun, always low stress, and always packed in happy laughing audiences.

Fun fact: maybe the only play in Canadian history to feature two future John Hobday Award winners (Nickel and Martin) on stage at the same time?

2012

2012: Stationary. A Recession Era Musical

Tomorrow, you’re my best friend…bah bah bah bah bah bah bah dum DAH!
At this point The Millennials really started to take over….quite possibly the most successful show to ever debut at one of our festivals, the inaugural run of Stationary was really something special. It remained for many years the only show to open the b
alcony in the Historic Theatre during the fest (until writer Christine Quintana repeated the feat with Never the Last).

Stationary went on to two future productions in Vancouver and touring across Canada, but this gutsy, less polished version remains our favourite. It also introduced us to a bunch of great artists: Christine Quintana (who had actually already performed as a young woman in the Walking Fish Festival some years earlier), Michelle Cutler, Brian Cochrane, Laura McLean, Meaghan Chenosky and the rest of their team.

2012 was the final Neanderthal Arts Festival, and it went out with a bang with this fantastic, heartfelt, fun, funny, smart, catchy show

2013

2013: rEvolver

In retrospect, 2013 was a huge year for us. With the return of gaming funding, we were able to start creating and supporting new work again. Following a workshop in 2012, we were presented by The Cultch for the first time with JP Rothery’s Inside the Seed, directed by Richard Wolfe (but more on that next year).

As Neanderthal came to an end, we gave very serious consideration to giving up festival producing. We had been at it since 2003, and it had always been something we did because there was a need, and funding, and we were good at it, but which was secondary to our creation work in our hearts. That winter was the closest we came to walking away. Instead, we made the decision to launch a new festival one more time. We stripped it back to basics, and the first rEvolver was produced with a staff of 3 – Dave, Dan, and TD Jordan Boivin. We didn’t even have a publicist. We wanted to very consciously and slowly start small.

The rest, as they say, is history. rEvolver took off, and we have been on a tremendous gr
owth spurt ever since. And it was finally the festival where we really learned to embrace and love our role as presenters, creating space and finding resources to support others as our first, much cherished role.

2014

2014: Inside the Seed

Ok, we are cheating a little bit here as Inside the Seed was actually produced in 2013, but in 2014 we got our first ever Jessie Award nominations and wins for this powerful show. Seed was a significant milestone for us as it was our first professional presentation by The Cultch, and we had never worked under Union contracts nor received this kind of public recognition for our work from the theatre community.

We were particularly pleased for the two award winners, as it was the first Jessie win for each of them. Our long term collaborator Jason Rothery (he who came up with the idea for Walking Fish that pushed us into festival production) won for Outstanding New Script. And Richard Wolfe who, along with Tim Carlson was the first “professional” artist to ever turn up to see our work way back with Men of the World, and had continued to support us ever since won his first Jessie for Outstanding Direction. Both artistic and personal successes for them and us.

Seed was performed by a stellar cast including Patrick Sabongui, Alison Raine, Mia K Ingimundson, Carl Kennedy, Tamara McCarthy, Dave Mott, Adele Noronha, Tetsuro Shigematsui, and Dallas Sauer. It was designed by Jergus Oprsal, Jordan Watkins, and Flo Barrett. What a bunch of lovely people they were to work with – a number of whom we first met on this show and have gone on to become important colleagues and collaborators.

2015

2015: The North Plan

For a brief, horrible minute, it seemed like The North Plan might not happen. We had fortuitously found an incredible, never used site in the basement of a tower block in Chinatown, with an agreeable owner, to rehearse and produce the play as a site-specif
ic installation piece. We just had to wait for some renovations to be finished and an occupancy permit to be issued, which was all to be done 5 or 6 weeks before opening. Except it wasn’t. Instead of a long, relaxed installation and rehearsal process, a we
ek before opening we were still rehearsing in a separate location and still didn’t know if the space would even be usable. We finally got access 72 hours before opening, and our tech team led by Kougar Basi pulled off an epic install, including a proscenium set up in one room and in the round seating in the other, and we opened one day later than planned.

Artistically, The North Plan was the closest to perfection we’ve ever been. Beautifully cast and directed by Chelsea Haberlin, audience members travelled between the two locations during the performance, and were literally yelling out in surprise at times. The run was too short, and everyone involved was heartbroken to end. We would be nominated for 5 Jessies, winning 3 including Chelsea’s first for Outstanding Direction (which pleased us just as much as Richard and Jason’s wins for Inside The Seed), and our first, and only, for Outstanding Production (small theatre). Genevieve Fleming took
home the award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role for her showstopping performance as Tanya.

The North Plan was performed by Genevieve Fleming, Catherine Lough Haggquist, Paul Herbert, Daniel Martin, Allen Morrison, and David Mott, and designed by Mary Jane Paquett, Laura Fukumoto, and Jergus Oprsal.

Sadly, the play seems more relevant in 2020 with each piece of news coming from our southern neighbors.

2016

2016: The Resident Curators

Our Resident Curator program has had a long slow germination. The first person to step in to cocurate the festival with Dan and Dave was Stephanie Elgersma, who was with the company for a year as Associate Producer on an ECD grant. The following year, we created what was then called the Guest Curator program, which invited emerging artists to sit on the rEvolver cura
tion panel for a year. Elysse Cheadle, Adele Noronha, and Derek Chan and Pedro Chamale (rice and beans theatre) all spent a year with us, contributing greatly to the festival and to our organization. Over that span it became clear just how important this role was. When we launched Walking Fish, and really right up to the early years of rEvolver, Dan and Dave were themselves emerging artists. But as rEvolver gained traction, and we aged, we couldn’t really keep kidding ourselves. We had entered the dreaded “mid-career” zone, and frankly, we needed younger voices on the panel who were living the experiences of emerging artists in the current time. It also became clear that for both parties, one year wasn’t a sufficient length of time. It gave the Guest Curator’s time to learn about Upintheair and rEvolver, but it didn’t allow for the application of that knowledge.

In 2019, we implemented what we had learned, renaming the position as Resident Curator, and
expanding it to two positions on overlapping two year terms, with Davey Calderon and Kayleigh
Sandomirsky. This would allow for the second year Curator to help orient and mentor the first year
position, and to have a year to help implement change and leave a lasting legacy of their time with us, and to build skills, knowledge, and connections to further their careers after their time with Upintheair.

Just a great bunch of people that we have been blessed to work with.

2017

2017: The City and The City

A co-production with The Only Animal, The City and The City was by far the most ambitious project we have ever undertaken – an interactive, technology driven adaptation of a complex weird-fiction detective novel by China Mieville. Audiences were equipped with headsets, which were fed individualized audio feeds via an infrared system developed by the United Nations. The audio prompted them to take roles in the performance and help create Mieville’s dark world.

What a long haul developing this show was by far the longest, and most expensive piece in our
history. In all, it would be almost seven years from Dan’s original inspiration to adapt the story, through the first script workshop with Dave and Jason, to the co-production with TOA presented as part of the 2017 PuSh Festival of Performing Arts. It was our first (and so far only) presentation at PuSh, fulfilling a long held ambition.

The production brought together a raft of old compatriots Jay Rothery, director Kendra Fanconi, Heidi Taylor, Darren Boquist, Nita Bowerman, Steph Elgersma and Patricia Collins with new folx we hadn’t worked with before like Connor Wylie, Jono Kim, Lisa Goebel, Stephen Atkins and Nancy Tam. With Special Thanks to Colin Cooper and Pedro Chamale for their technical expertise throughout.

This is definitely one that, as time has passed, we have come to appreciate just how crazy the entire idea was and how much the group achieved.

2018

2018: Welcome Aboard Pips!

For 18 years, Upintheair had been a two person company. Although we had ongoing collaborators and contractors, it had just been Dan and Dave at the helm. In 2014/15 the wonderful Steph Elgersma joined for a year on a BC Arts Council Early Career Development grant, allowing us to upgrade a lot of our activity particularly rEvolver, which became deeper and more complex. We tried and failed to make the Associate Producer job a reality for the next four years, with multiple grant applications and fund raising initiatives intended to generate the funds necessary to create the position. Various folx in particular Adele Noronha and Elysse Cheadle helped out immensely on short term contracts, but it was increasingly clear that we could no longer continue to de
liver, let alone grow, the level of programming we envisioned without a permanent third staff person.

Finally, in late 2017 we were able to grow our permanent, year round staffing levels with the hiring of Pippa Mackie as Associate Producer following a tho rough and competitive process. Pippa has added to the company with a complimentary skill set to the two founders, and remarkable professionalism, drive, passion, and intelligence. Her work and presence has been integral to the further growth and change of Upintheair in recent years.

2019

2019: rEvolver Fest highlights including The Killjoy Series, Body So Fluorescent and LARRY.

One of the hardest things about 2020 has been cancelling rEvolver in large part because the 2019
festival felt as close to perfect as we have come. The diversity and quality of the shows, the conversations and meet-ups, were all top notch. 2019 smashed our attendance records, but more importantly, that attendance was spread out between shows there was no obvious “unicorn” like we had had in previous years. And that’s before we get to the closing night party which, thanks in large part to the energy of our touring performers and a couple of Walking Fish alum (Tanya Marquardt! Darren Boquist!) turned into a dance-a thon into the wee hours.

The 2019 festival had so many highlights, but three that stood out were: The ASL interpreted performance of Candy Bones’ Larry. Who knew that adding a sign language interpreter to a clown show would completely transform the performance from top to bottom. In retrospect, predictable, but utter magic for those lucky enough to be there nonetheless.

Madonnanera Performances’ impeccable Body So Fluorescent by Amanda Cordner and David di
Giovanni . BSF was everything we look for in a one person show: smart, moving, wild and delivered with utmost precision and heart whether a sold out Friday evening or smaller audience on a Sunday matinee.

The Killjoy Series stood out as a new kind of programming and mentorship for us, where we supported Killjoy Theatre to present three works by female and non-binary playwrights. We gave the group free reign to bring forward the artists and shows they had supported through an ongoing dramaturgical process, and they sold out their full run in the Greenhouse with smart, challenging work.

2020

What a trip it was to go back over our history, revisit highlights, remember people we’ve worked with, and most of all to realize how much we’ve grown. From a couple of well meaning but ignorant outsiders who thought NO ONE was doing relevant theatre IN ALL OF CANADA so WE HAD TO, tracking our organizational and personal growth to the present moment, has brought back a lot of fantastic memories.

2020 has, no surprise, was one of the wildest and most challenging years in our history as it has for many, as we live through a global pandemic. We reluctantly decided to cancel rEvolver, and in the space of 6 weeks we conceptualised, programmed, and produced the work by a great bunch of performance artists as part of the live streamed eVolver Festival. The Array 2020 has moved online, and everything we are planning for 2021 has been reinvented, tweaked, and contingency-ed. And of course, we’ve been doing these posts instead of throwing an awesome IRL 20th anniversary bash.

We are grateful to our fantastic team who have put so much into the reinvention of our offerings this year Pippa, TD Taylor Janzen, Resident Curators Davey Calderon and Kayleigh Sandomirsky, tech wiz Chase Padgett. They are all such pro’s and it’s an honour to have such faith in the people you are working with to kick ass at their jobs.

And we all know now that nothing is set in stone, and the world can throw anything at us. We’re looking forward to rEvolver coming back, and audiences, and producing the UpDrafts Commission many good and exciting things for 2021 and 2022, knowing our team has the capacity, skills, and
knowledge to react to the most trying circumstances. We will continue our mission to support emerging artists to bring meaningful work to their communities in line with our organizational values: Integrity, hospitality, opportunity, collaboration, relevance and fun. And oh yeah, we’re looking forward to celebrating our 21st Birthday in the antipodean style once crowds are cool again with some dancing, some drinks, some music and a sweaty crowd!