SKAMpede by Theatre SKAM returns July 8-10, 2016

SKAMpede by Theatre SKAM returns July 8-10, 2016.  Media release New HUB location offers more space for performances and festivities When SKAMpede returns for the eighth annual festival of original short outdoor performances, audiences will be welcomed to a new home base with more space, a greater range of activities and a larger variety of music and performances. Held along the Galloping Goose Trail, SKAMpede is a series of short … [Read more...]

Roller Derby Saved My Soul at OUTstages Festival 2016. An interview with Nancy Kenny.

Roller Derby Saved My Soul at OUTstages Festival 2016. An interview with Nancy Kenny. She's back! Nancy Kenny returns with her hit one-woman show to the 2nd annual OUTstages Festival produced by Intrepid Theatre. What sparked the creation of this show? I've been participating in Fringes since 2002. I always admired one person shows. I never knew how to approach it until one day I read an article about roller derby in Ottawa. It was the … [Read more...]

Mammoths Giant of the Ice Age at the Royal British Columbia Museum. June 3-December 31. 2016

Mammoths Giant of the Ice Age at the Royal British Columbia Museum. June 3-December 31, 2016. I still remember my first visit to see Woolly, the mammoth at the Royal BC Museum—the year was 1968 and the new building at the corner of Belleville and Government had just opened.  Everyone was in awe—what a difference from the antique display cases in the basement of the Legislative Buildings. Over the years, I returned many times, always finding … [Read more...]

The Ginger Goodwin Story by Michael Stephen May 9th 2016. A preview.

The Ginger Goodwin Story by Michael Stephen May 9th 2016. A preview. Michael Stephen has long been interested in social and labour history.  For years he taught at the Contact Alternative School for marginalized youth in Toronto.  He knew many “Wobblies”—members of the Industrial Workers of the World, an international labour union founded in 1905—which was where he was first introduced to the story of Ginger Goodwin, Vancouver Island’s most … [Read more...]

Bent by Martin Sherman. A fundraiser for the Victoria Refugee Initiative. March 3-6 2016. Interview.

Bent by Martin Sherman. A fundraiser for the Victoria Refugee Initiative. March 3-6 2016. Interview. Local actor Trevor Hinton (Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream--Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival; Waiting for Godot--Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre) is one of the core members of a group of citizens (the Victoria Refugee Initiative) who have formed a constituency group to sponsor a family of Syrian refugees to Victoria. The local … [Read more...]

Dance Victoria presents Dance Days 2016 January 22-31.

Dance Victoria presents Dance Days 2016 January 22-31.  (media release) Dance Victoria’s popular city-wide Dance Days event is back for its seventh year featuring free classes in all kinds of styles in studios all over town. This year the free classes include a larger dance fitness component for adult beginner, intermediate and professional levels that’ll move you. You can try your hand (or foot) at salsa, swing, flamenco, yoga, nia, zumba … [Read more...]

Black History Month 2015 in Victoria BC

Black History Month 2015 in Victoria BC A Black History and Heritage Day (February 15th), an evening of performance and song (February 23 at the Belfry Theatre), a gala awards night (February 28th at the Copper Owl), a cemetery tour (February 22nd) and three presentations make up the very ambitious schedule in celebration of BC Black History Month February 2015 in Victoria. Many people are not even aware of the significant role black … [Read more...]

Early and Night Shift at the Royal BC Museum November 21, 2014

Early and Night Shift at the Royal BC Museum November 21, 2014. Media release and preview. This past year, the Learning Department has invited three Victoria artists—Aimee van Drimmelen, Lindsay Delaronde and Gareth Gaudin—into the Royal BC Museum for a year-long residency. In addition to taking part in our Wonder Sunday and Night at the Museum events, they went behind the scenes to creatively chronicle the extraordinary objects and … [Read more...]

17 Stories by Bema Productions November 29/30 in Victoria BC

17 Stories by Bema Productions November 29/20 in Victoria BC at Congregation Emanu-El Synagoge. Life is full of small happenstances.  I would not have known about Victoria's newest theatre company, Bema Productions, if I hadn't stopped to chat after RKO Productions' Rocky Horror Show.  Little did I know that Jessica Van der Veen, who I knew more for her political forays, was an actor. Following the great success of the arts festival celebrating … [Read more...]

Laughing Allowed! —The Slapstick World of Neighbourhood Activism. November 8th, 2014.

Laughing Allowed! —The Slapstick World of Neighbourhood Activism. November 18th, 2014. My readers may remember local theatre director Will Weigler for his community-based work that resulted in From The Heart: Enter the Journey of Reconciliation.  He's at it again--this time with a more comedic bent.   It’s great when neighbours unite and work hard to make their community better, but sometimes there are bumps on the road to getting … [Read more...]