In the Shadow of the Mountains
Written by Valerie Sing Turner
2019 Staged Reading Presentation – Thursday, November 7 at 7pm
Produced by Visceral Visions
Presented by the Heart of the City Festival & Chinese Cultural Centre Museum + Archives
555 Columbia Street, Vancouver, BC
Join us to hear 10 actors bring to life the latest script written by Artistic Producer Valerie Sing Turner, in collaboration with Dennis Joseph, Squamish Nation Cultural Consultant and composer, and dramaturg Jessica Schacht.
Synopsis: It’s 1988. A family gathers to discuss what to do with Esther, a Chinese-Canadian WWII veteran, as they can no longer ignore her growing dementia. She keeps talking to Victor, her beloved brother, whose death she blames on the Japanese when he volunteered to serve in the Pacific arena during World War II. Her husband George, an Indigenous WWII veteran, was Victor’s best friend. Their son, Gary, arrives with his Caucasian wife, Joanna, and their 18-year-old daughter Lucy. Things are already tense when estranged elder daughter, Nancy, shows up with husband, Ken, and their two daughters Denise and Andrea, who have never met Esther and George because Ken is Japanese-Canadian and Esther refuses to acknowledge his existence. But the real fireworks begin when Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announces his plan to apologize to the Japanese Canadians who were interned during WWII. Will the weight of Canadian history tear them apart?
Producer: Shanae Sodhi
The 2019 development workshop + staged reading were made possible with funding from City of Vancouver and BC Arts Council.
2017 Staged Reading company L-R: Diana Bang, Amanda Sum, Ronin Wong, Laara Ong, Mason Temple, Donna Wong-Juliani, Jay Brazeau, Valerie Sing Turner, Chelsea Rose Tucker, Jessica Heafey, John Cook.
A big thank-you to everyone who contributed to making our way-too-short development workshop plus the public reading on December 10, 2017, a success! In addition to our fabulous cast, we want to acknowledge dramaturg Lisa C. Ravensbergen; Squamish Nation cultural consultant Latash Nahanee; public reading co-presenter Granville Island Cultural Society; funders BC Arts Council and City of Vancouver; as well as intrepid supporters Sarah Garton Stanley, National Arts Centre (English Theatre), Tompkins Wozny LLP, Starbucks, and SFU Woodward's. Audience members commented on the power of the piece, which exposed disturbing pieces of BC history through the use of poetic language and the personal experiences of one family. The development process has given Valerie lots of ideas and inspiration for the next draft, so stay tuned!
National Arts Centre, English Theatre Collaboration - Visceral Visions
National Arts Centre, English Theatre 2016/17 Artist in Residence - Valerie Sing Turner
John Moffat + Larry Lillo Prize 2017 - Valerie Sing Turner
Visceral Visions gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the Granville Island Cultural Society, National Arts Centre, City of Vancouver, and the BC Arts Council to this project.
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