The Year in Review

Taking stock of 2007 and beyond in local theatre

By Steven Walling

We consider it our solemn duty to supply Vancouver theatre patrons with a comprehensive and insightful recap of local theatre in 2007, even if it is February. By understanding the arc of the theatre arts for the past year, we can more clearly see what prospects lie ahead for our fair city in this regard.

First and foremost, a summary of Vancouver’s core companies’ 2007 offerings is in order:

Arts Equity Inc. at the Main Street Theatre not only served up a season of provocative plays, it has also played host to alternative stage entertainment. Productions such as Eugene O’Neill’s The Long Voyage Home illuminated the work of canon playwrights often passed over in Vancouver.

Magenta Theater, based near the bustling Uptown Village neighborhood, provided a number of family-friendly plays. Of particular note was The Curious Savage.

The stalwart Slocum House Theatre Company in the heart of downtown continued their long theatrical tradition with a mix of lighthearted comedic standbys paired with more weighty dramatic works. A season spanning the female version of The Odd Couple and He and She covers a wide range of theatrical ground indeed, and serves many a patron.

Along with the New Blue Parrot, Vancouver Onstage (currently inactive), and Clark College’s Theatre Dept., Slocum House and Magenta formed the Vancouver Area Theatre Alliance (VATA) this year. Unfortunately, one founding member of VATA, Public Playhouse, left the area for Portland after being unable to find a workable venue. With the closing of the Columbia Arts Center and the departure of Public Playhouse, the need for speedier development of the new arts center that has long been waiting in the wings is made still more urgent.
While not yet an influential advocate for their members, an organization such as VATA is a step in the right direction. Both in 2007 and continuing into the new year, several plays have been produced by multiple companies. A few, such as Clark’s The Underpants and Slocum House’s Tuna Christmas, ran in competition with major Portland companies. For a large, decentralized city that is still developing culturally, Vancouver does have a respectable theatre scene—but forcing competition with bigger and better-funded regional companies can only hurt us. This type of organizational folly highlights the dire necessity for increased communication between local and regional theatre organizations to aid them as they strive to better serve the public.

As Vancouver theatre continues to grow, the hope for the future rests in all our companies’ ability to keep the bar high with regard to quality, and an infrastructure to support those companies bold enough to take a leap of faith by increasing the depth and breadth of their theatrics.