Upintheair Theatre in Association with The What Lab presents
THE ARRAY 2023 OCT 26-28
An Exquisitely Sensitive Machine
THE ARRAY: AN EXQUISITELY SENSITIVE MACHINE
Oct 26 – 28, 2023 at 7:30 PM
What Lab – 1814 Pandora St, Vancouver
4 Companies, 3 Nights, One Theme
Experience Upintheair Theatre’s speculative fiction performance series.
The Array, returns for the fourth instalment with four short original works presented between Oct 26 – 28, 2023. Newly commissioned themed works will be staged by four teams of performance devising artists in a new collaborative effort with What Lab. The theme for 2023 is based on the incredible scientific achievement that is the James Webb Telescope. Launched into outer space and gravitationally locked between the earth and our sun, the golden mirror has provided our species with a new understanding of the cosmos, our place in the universe and what it means to be human.
The Array will be held in an intimate setting at What Lab 1814 Pandora Street, Vancouver. Tickets are limited. Book Now.
What is The Array: In astrophysics, an array is a group of satellites and telescopes that can be trained on a single phenomena to provide a more detailed, nuanced, and multi-dimensional understanding of the subject than could be gained by a single instrument. The Array proposes artists as telescopes.
2023 CREATIONS
Strange Attractor Chaos Generator
Look, there! Further! Deeper! Adrift in a perpetually expanding universe, we seek to catch a glimpse of the end. Instead, we look so far away that time itself rewinds to a simpler, sensitive beginning, nestled at the intersection of chaos and order.
Amidst these ‘just right’ conditions, cosmic dust clouds merge, driven by relentless pressure. They forge, folding and stretching, sculpting celestial wonders. We find ourselves as the ancient, reclusive original stars, shining brilliantly but briefly. We exist as fully formed for only a moment. Ours is the speculative legacy of the cosmos’ super-hot and void-cool architects.
Together, we rediscover the joy of merely existing amid expansive cosmic novelty. We sense the limitless possibilities and the exquisite beauty of a fleeting perigee, a forgotten yet crucial moment in orbit.
We extend an interstellar invitation to accompany us on this cosmic voyage. Bend an eye, ear, or electron and bear witness to the very birth of things.
Created and performed by Amber Downie-Back, Angus Steele-Gaffney & Tamar Zehava Tabori.
STARBABY
Starbaby. A star. A birth. A beginning.
A fundamental change.
A primordial darkness, suddenly lit up. Baby you light up my world (like nobody else).
You’re a star, baby.
Created and performed by The Library Performance Collective:: Alexandra Caprara, Arthi Chandra,& Howard Dai.
bessᴜᴘᴇʀ ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ Pop III 𝕯𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍꧂°¤𖦹,¸.•*☆
All living things must spew when the time comes, right? Certainly, we must. But how?
The cosmic microwave background knows.
Created and performed by Jarin Schexnider
Sound composition and performance by Miguel Maravilla
Costume design by Alexa Fraser
N.R.G. (Nascent Resplendent Galaxies)
N.R.G. leads us like breadcrumbs from the birth of the universe, tracing the constellations through to the void of space and back. From our present vantage point we glimpse creation in its unfathomable feedback loop of existence with eyes somehow born of the same recycled molecules that existed when the whole shebang went boom. Peer down the lens of our species’ most sophisticated spyglass; opening your sight to the light and energy from the improbable past. Swim through the cosmic soup to a nursery of baby stars and discover a surprising cabbage patch full of potential life, bubbling chaos, and immense loneliness.
Created and performed by David Mott, Sarah Roa & Andrea Joy Rideout.
2023 COMMISSIONED ARTISTS
Featuring performances created by Alexandra Caprara, Arthi Chandra, and Howard Dai (Library Performance Collective), Jarin Schexnider (What Lab), Tamar Zehava Tabori with Amber Downie-Back, and Angus Steele-Gaffney (Tamar Tabori), and David Mott, Andrea Joy Rideout, and Sarah Roa (Upintheair Theatre).
LIBRARY PERFORMANCE COLLECTIVE
The Library Performance Collective is a performance making group based out of Vancouver. The collective’s work is primarily devised, interdisciplinary performance-rooted in themes of queerness, joy, and parties. The group acknowledges that its work takes place on the stolen lands of the Coast Salish People: the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.
www.libraryperformance.com | www.instagram.com/thelibrary.performanceco
TAMAR ZEHAVA TABORI
Tamar Zehava Tabori is a contemporary dance and video artist, extending movement beyond the stage to the screen. Amber Downie-Back, an interdisciplinary movement artist, merges mediums to navigate and craft within digital and physical spaces. Angus Steele-Gaffney, an artist and facilitator, dives into indeterminacy through innovative audiovisual design. United by friendship and a shared passion for artistic exploration, they collaborate on live performance and interdisciplinary research, consistently pushing the boundaries of their creative pursuits.
www.instagram.com/tamamamar
JARIN SCHEXNIDER
Jarin is an arts administrator and performer who has worked to build safe(r) spaces of creative expression for artists, explorers, and tinkerers for over 15 years. She is the founder and Artistic Director of What Lab, an arts incubator and warehouse space in East Vancouver. She holds a Masters of Archival Science from UBC and has worked in the art archives of The Cinematheque, Western Front, and BAM in Brooklyn, NY. She completed her undergraduate studies in Drama at Bennington College in Vermont. She calls herself a mom, a mover, a poet, a bike-rider, and so much more.
UPINTHEAIR THEATRE
Co-founded by Daniel Martin and David Mott in 1999, Upintheair Theatre has focused on producing original and provocative theatre in Vancouver. Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Mott, Upintheair will create a new work with General Manager Andrea joy Rideout and Resident Curator Sarah Roa. After collaborating on the 2023 rEvolver Festival the team is excited to delve into the theme together and generate a unique response. Recent productions include The Array: Beyond The Knowledge of Humankind (2022), Revelations (2021), The Array: The Shape of The Galaxy (2019), A Brief History of Human Extinction (2018), The City and The City (2017) co-produced with The Only Animal at PuSh Festival. For the past 11 years, the company has presented rEvolver Festival each spring, showcasing contemporary performance work by emerging and early mid-career artists.
