Theatre Conspiracy is thrilled to launch an Indiegogo campaign for Extraction.

Extraction is Conspiracy’s most ambitious production to date.

An exciting and challenging project, Extraction has thus far involved research in Beijing and Fort McMurray, and working with an international cast and talented local theatre makers. We mounted a work-in-progress presentation in July at Your Kontinent: Richmond International Film & New Media Festival, and now we’re working towards the premiere at The Cultch in March 2013.

Please check it out on Indiegogo and consider helping us make a smashing premiere! (Just click on the image to the right.)

Conspiracy’s Tim Carlson receives three obstructions

If you have been following Progress Lab’s Obstructions series, you’ve had a taste of the companies in Progress Lab at their craftiest.  Over a one-year period, a group of Vancouver theatre companies challenge each other to create work built around custom-designed limitations.   The result is unlike anything you’ve seen from that company before.

On July 28, following a performance of Radix’s farcical feast in carrot kingdom at PL1422, Tim Carlson took the hotseat and received Theatre Conspiracy’s obstructions with measured calm.

Conspiracy must now devise a theatre piece that meets the following criteria:

1.  Cast of the piece must include at least one woman over the age of 60.

2.  Theatre Conspiracy must create a romantic love story (without irony).

3.  The subject matter of the piece must celebrate Walmart (without irony).

Curious to see what we make of it? Our show happens December 1 at PL1422.  We’ll let you know when tickets become available.

Read more about Obstructions here.

After three weeks of creative jamming, the Extraction company is on the boards with a first-draft documentary show about traffic nightmares, diplomatic intrigue, oil politics and translation problems.

Pictured are: Sunny Sun, Jimmy Mitchell and Teresa Tang untangling a Mandarin translation question; and composer Ron Samworth’s score, which builds toward a sonic “freakout” of some sort.

If you’re curious about Extraction, come and see our work-in-progress performance on Saturday, July 21, 8:15pm at Performance Hall, Richmond Cultural Centre
(7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond).

Tickets are available by phone or in-person:

• Call 604-247-8300
• Pay by cash or debit at the front desk of the Richmond Cultural Centre.

If we don’t use too much tar sand can we call it ethical theatre? Or is it just dirty theatre no matter how you slice it?

These are a few questions being considered as Theatre Conspiracy begins creative sessions for Extraction after two years of research and planning. Our cast and team of theatre artists are in residence at The Cultch in Vancouver for the next few weeks to experiment before a work-in-progress presentation at Your Kontinent: Richmond International Film & Media Arts Festival on July 21.

Extraction premieres March 5-9, 2013 as part of The Cultch season.

The Conspiracy tar sand usage equation goes something like this:

About two tons of tar sand has to be extracted from an open pit mine to produce one barrel of oil. Approximately 10 per cent of that barrel can be refined into jet fuel.

We flew our cast member Teresa Tang [see photo], a freelance interpreter, from her home in Beijing to Vancouver rehearsals on an Airbus 330, which burned 78,889 litres of jet fuel on an 8502 km flight.

Teresa was one of 265 people on that flight, so she personally burned 298 litres of jet fuel. Presumably, it will take as much to get her home.

Teresa Tang. Photo by Belinda Bruce

Sixteen litres of jet fuel can be produced from one barrel of crude oil. So just over 36 barrels of oil will have to be produced to fly Teresa to Vancouver and back. That adds up to 36 tons of tar sand.

According to our statistics, our researchers and cast members for Extraction have flown and driven about 77,144 km back and forth from Vancouver to Beijing and to Fort McMurray, if you add it up individually.

All told, we estimate we have burned 324 tons of tar sand so far or almost one dump from the Caterpillar 797 [see photo], the largest truck on the planet, which can haul 400 tons. The truck is industry standard in tar sands mining operations in Alberta.

Of course, about 6 barrels of oil would have to be spent on mining, hauling and refining that 324 tons of tar sand. Plus, we used 1,296 barrels of water in the process. So, technically, that’s on the Conspiracy tab as well.

Teresa Tang brings a lot of expertise into the rehearsal room. She’s of Taiwanese extraction, educated in California, and did a stint on Wall St. before moving to Beijing in 2004 to become a professional interpreter in many diplomatic and business settings as well as working with such celebs as Tony Blair, James Cameron and Steven Spielberg.

Just the same, is Conspiracy dirty for flying Teresa in for rehearsals? If we could guarantee that the jet fuel expended on her flights came from a Canadian source like the tar sands rather than, say, a less-than-democratic source like Saudi Arabia, could we say that Extraction is somewhat more ethical?

It’s up in the air.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST CONCERTS OF 2011!

Four singers swig wine and break bread while anxiously awaiting a late guest of honour. It’s the Last Supper – in a funky, theatrical new song cycle inspired by the Gospels of John, Thomas, Judas and Mary Magdalene, and Luis Bunuel’s provocative film The Exterminating Angel. Fresh from its debut at the PuSh Festival, this encore performance features musicians from a host of Vancouver’s top indie bands.

Tickets are nearly sold out! Best availability for the 10:30pm late-night performance on Friday. Click here for tickets:  The Meal Tickets

Written by Rick Maddocks.
Directed by Richard Wolfe (The Busy World is Hushed).
The Lost Gospel Ensemble features Lucien Durey (vocals), Sean Fulton (keyboards), Jody Glenham(vocals), Stephen Lyons (drums), Rick Maddocks (composer/vocals), Caleb Stull (vocals); Jon Wood (bass/lap steel). Jeff Harrison (set and lights).

“Intensely spiritual and potent choral indie folk that is fortunately being remounted with new material and members at Pacific Theatre this year.” ~Stuart Derdeyn, The Province

“Rick Maddocks’s lyrics are pure poetry that bend and shape to fit the angular rhythms.” ~Greg Potter, TV Week

Provide practical and organizational support to the director, actors, designers, stage crew and technicians throughout the workshop and performances of Extraction (July 2 to 22, 2012).

May lead to work in the production of Extraction (Feb.11 to March 10, 2013), and touring opportunities.

Responsibilities

Some duties include:

• communicating the director’s wishes to designers and crafts people

• coordinating the work of the stage crew
• scheduling and running rehearsals

• calling cues and possibly actors’ entrances during performance

• overseeing the entire show each time it is performed

• mark out the dimensions of the set on the floor of the rehearsal hall

• make sure rehearsal props and furnishings are available for the actors
• attend all rehearsals

• notify the designers and crafts people of changes made in rehearsal

Qualifications

Several years SM experience in the professional theatre.

Experience in creation-based theatre processes and fluency in Mandarin would be assets but are not required.

The successful candidate will be available for all Extraction workshop rehearsals and performances – July 2-22, 2012. 

Renumeration

Workshop equity rate.

How To Apply

Send a short letter of interest and resume or bio to jwaller@conspiracy.ca with the subject line “Extraction ASM.”

The $60,000 prize will support Theatre Conspiracy’s production of Extraction, which will be presented March 5-9, 2013 as part of The Cultch’s 2012/2013 season.

Through the biographies of four performers, the bilingual, documentary-style play looks at lives transformed by the rapid growth of Beijing and Ft. McMurray, Chinese investment in Alberta’s tar sands and the evolution of Canada/China relations.

“The award means that Theatre Conspiracy can be much more ambitious in the research for the play than would otherwise have been possible,” said company artistic producer Tim Carlson, who leads the creation of Extraction. “It also means we can afford more workshop and rehearsal time and have an excellent venue as well as marketing and technical support from The Cultch.”

Extraction will be directed by Amiel Gladstone, with original music by Ron Samworth, video and projection design by Flick Harrison, production and research dramaturgy by Jeremy Waller and stage management by Benjamin Cheung. The concept for the play follows on Carlson, Gladstone, Samworth and Cheung’s work with Berlin’s Rimini Protokoll on Best Before (Cultch/PuSh Festival 2010) and 100% Vancouver (Theatre Replacement/PuSh Festival 2011).

The Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award has supported the creation of a new theatre, dance and music works presented at The Cultch since 2000.

“Rio Tinto Alcan has made an immense contribution to the performing arts in our province with this award,” said Carlson. “It’s beyond compare in this community and offers a fine model for supporting culture that we’d like to see other corporations emulate.”

The performers in Extraction are not actors but people with distinct life experiences who play themselves: A former Canadian diplomat and journalist who spent most of the past 20 years in China; a freelance interpreter from Beijing who has worked for diverse clients in cultural, corporate and government spheres including Steven Spielberg and Tony Blair; a mechanical engineering student who was trapped in the legendary 10-day 2010 traffic jam in Beijing while en route to the small farm where he grew up; and a tar sands labourer who came to Ft. McMurray as a temporary “guest worker.”

“We have cast two performers from Beijing, one from Vancouver and we are still looking to cast someone from Ft. McMurray, where we’ll be spending a lot of time this spring,” said Carlson. “Ideally, this would be someone of Chinese descent who came to Ft. Mac as a guest worker or as an industry or conservation professional.”

Extraction is a bilingual show (Mandarin and English), that will integrate theatrical use of audio and visual translation / interpretation techniques — illustrating the difficulties and solutions the performers encounter living in a foreign place and echoing the way we interpret the radically shifting political, social, environmental and cultural planes influenced by the oil extraction industry.

“My family’s history is very much tied to the oil industry in Alberta,” said Carlson. “My grandfather, father, uncles, cousins have all dug-in in various capacities since the 1940s. So this is a subject I’ve always wanted to explore in the theatre and this seems like the perfect time to do it.”

“Also, two years ago one of my best friends, Jimmy Mitchell, moved back to Vancouver after the better part of 20 years in China and Taiwan as a teacher, traveller, student of Chinese history, journalist, and diplomat. Extraction is very much influenced by his experience and insight and I’m pleased that he will be performing in the show.”

Theatre Conspiracy was founded in 1995 and is mandated to produce and interpret work with an international perspective. Highlights include the translation and coproduction of Heiner Müller’s Macbeth: nach Shakespeare with GasHeart Theatre (2011), award-winning productions of David Harrower’s Blackbird, Joe Penhall’s Blue / Orange and Tim Carlson’s Omniscience, and the annual coproduction of Club PuSh at the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.

For more information on Extraction visit conspiracy.ca or the Theatre Conspiracy fan page on Facebook.

Media enquiries: Belinda Bruce, Theatre Conspiracy communications manager, bb@conspiracy.ca

Casting enquiries: Jeremy Waller, Extraction dramaturge, jwaller@conspiracy.ca

The successful candidate will have an interest in documentary theatre, experience or training in stage management or theatre tech, be fluent in Mandarin, have a good knowledge of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, have a drivers’ license and access to a vehicle, and be available for flexible hours during the Extraction workshop period, July 2-22, 2012.

An honorarium is offered for the ASM position.

The position may lead to further work in the rehearsal and production period mid-Feb. to March 10, 2013.

Send a short letter of interest and resume or bio to info@conspiracy.ca with the subject line “Extraction ASM.”

Scott Hawthorn in his Gastown loft

The Secret Spaces fundraising dinner at Scott Hawthorn’s loft in Gastown on December 1, 2011 was a fabulous night for all.  Great food, drink and company, not to mention the digs.  Worth seeing for the bathroom door alone. Thanks to Scott for being a wonderful host and sharing his space with Conspiracy.