Arts Club Theatre Company

Lyndsey (right) and her friend Erin at Tisch in Dublin.

 Guest Post by LEAP participant Lyndsey Bourne.  

Hi!  My name is Lyndsey Bourne and for the past two years I have been lucky enough to be a part of LEAP, the playwriting intensive for teen writers here at the Arts Club, and it’s been one of the best experiences of my life.  I’ve learned so much about the process of playwriting and so much about myself.  I am also amazed at the opportunities I have gained because of LEAP. 

This past year I wrote and directed my own play Sleeping Lessons for a one act play festival which was then chosen to be a part of the Theatre BC North Shore Zone Festival.  I received the Most Promising Newcomer award as well as the Outstanding Playwright award. 

Recently I returned from the trip of a lifetime.  I was one of 10 students accepted into the NYU Tisch School of the Arts summer high school program where I studied theatre abroad in Dublin, Ireland.  In this four week program I received 6 NYU credits and met other students from all over the world.  

Tisch drama students in our movement classes in the dance studio.

We spent our days taking classes in movement, text analysis, voice, and acting at the Samuel Beckett Theatre in Trinity College.  We also took an Arts and Culture class where we learned about the history of Ireland and took many field trips to museums, historical sites, and a day trip to Belfast to learn about the history of the conflict in Northern Ireland.  We spent our nights going to see theatre, Irish films, concerts, and other types of performing arts.  On weekends we travelled to various parts of Ireland including Galway, the Aran Islands, Howth, and Bray.  

A few of the Tisch students on the cliffs at Bray.

The program culminated with the final performance of our play based on Irish mythology that we wrote as a class.  From exploring the creation of theatre to the beautiful Irish countryside, this was an experience I’ll never forget.  I hope to pursue a career in theatre and I appreciate the tools and experiences that LEAP has provided me. 

Taken after our final performance at the Samuel Beckett Theatre with our director (in white) Bryan Burroughs.

In a few days, I’ll be starting my Senior year of high school at Seycove Secondary where I’ll be taking on new leadership roles in both the drama department and the music department as our Chamber Choir prepares to perform at Carnegie Hall this coming February!

The LEAP 2010 advanced class (standing) with our instructor Shawn Macdonald (bottom left) and the professional actors.

Laura Mennell in Tear the Curtain! Photo by Brian Johnson.

The first production of our 2010/2011 season is a world premiere commissioned as part of our Silver Commissions Project.  Tear the Curtain! is created in collaboration with the innovative Electric Theatre Company, and this stylish thriller is inspired by the “reel” history of the Stanley Theatre.  Experience a multimedia spectacle featuring your favourite Hollywood film noir archetypes: the mob boss, the femme fatale, the hardboiled detective, and his girl Friday.

Jonathon Young in Tear the Curtain! Photo by Brian Johnson.

Tear the Curtain! is a pure hybrid of theatre and feature film.  In 1930s Vancouver, where rival crime bosses fight for territory, a jaded critic uncovers the forgotten legacy of a theatrical legend.  A suspenseful reimagining of the events that lead to the birth of the historic Stanley Theatre, Tear the Curtain! lays claim to the entire venue —scenes unfold at the ticket window, in the lobby, the dressing rooms, and under the stage.  Created by a team of Vancouver’s most talented film and theatre artists, this innovative project promises a standoff at gunpoint between two halves of the Stanley’s past.  Does the truth lie somewhere between the stage and screen?  Watch the trailer below for a sneak peek!

Tear the Curtain!, which initially stages a battle between cinema and theatre, is ultimately about the eternal struggle for control of our attention.  Caught between the forces of the mainstream and avantgarde, the piece is a genre-bending psychological thriller in the style of Charlie Kauffman and David Lynch.  It fuses some of the visual sensibilities of 1930s experimental work (such as the silent films of Jean Cocteau and the theatre of Antonin Artaud) with more conventional cinema stereotypes of the 30s and 40s such as the Detective Mystery and the Film Noir.

Tear the Curtain! starts Sep 9 at the Stanley.  Buy tickets now!

Craig Erickson in Tear the Curtain! Photo by Brian Johnson.

Guest post by Group Sales Representative, Mike Mackenzie

Broadway theatres have been swamped in the past few years with film and television stars treading the boards in a wide variety of productions, but unless you’ve been following the musical theatre scene in New York and Los Angeles, you may not know that our own Eric McCormack has made a mark in the world of musical theatre!

At Stephen Leacock Secondary School in Scarborough, he performed in the musicals Godspell and Pippin, written by Stephen Schwartz of Wicked fame. It was in those two productions that his interest in performing began to solidify.

Following his graduation from high school and his subsequent time at Ryerson University, Eric focused more on other stage work including a stint at the Stratford Festival of Canada (now known as the Stratford Shakespeare Festival), but Eric did spend one season performing in the musical The Boys from Syracuse, by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart and then he left Canada to work in Hollywood on Lonesome Dove and Will & Grace, amongst others.

Eric's headshot from 1989 Stratford souvenir program

It was 2001 when Eric received the call to join the Broadway revival cast of Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man as the lead male, Harold Hill, and sing the seminal Broadway classic “Seventy Six Trombones.” Eric would take over from Tony Award nominee Craig Bierko, and play opposite Tony nominee Rebecca Luker for 3 months while he was on his summer hiatus from W&G.

Following the conclusion of Will & Grace, Eric returned to the stage in his adopted home of Los Angeles in a production of Tom Schmidt and Harvey Jones’ The Fantasticks, which is hailed as the world’s longest running musical. He played the role of El Gallo, the narrator of the piece. The show was produced by Reprise Theatre Company, whose Artistic Director is Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame. The show also starred Harry Groener (the original Bobby Child in Crazy for You on Broadway) and Lucas Grabeel, who would be most recognized for his work in the High School Musical trilogy as Ryan Evans.

Eric McCormack in The Fantasticks

The Hollywood Reporter said this of Eric’s performance: “The cast is total dynamite. Everyone gasps and marvels at leather-sheathed Eric McCormack’s El Gallo. He sings like a baritone Valentino, with a lip-curled villainy and an endearing sense of reality, which makes him all the more irresistible.”

Eric has also appeared as Dr. Frank n’ Furter from The Rocky Horror Show – in pictures at least.  To see a photo of Eric as Frank click here.

We all know Eric for his comedic turn in Will & Grace, and now his more graphic, dramatic turn in our production of Glengarry Glen Ross –fingers scrossed that he might one day appear in one of our musicals!