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“SO MANY people in the arts yammer on and on
about how they are going to do this or that. Ron Reed went out and
did it. And has kept it up for a quarter of a century –
intriguing, stimulating, stretching an audience, and encouraging a slew of
other artists.”
So wrote Robert Smyth recently, regarding the artistic
director of Vancouver’s Pacific Theatre (PT). Smyth, the producing
artistic director of Lamb’s Players Theatre in Coronado, California,
doubtless expressed the feelings of a number of Reed’s peers.
Members of various PT audiences have been equally
effusive. Rory Holland declared:
“Ron Reed’s singular vision, accompanied by
the many people who have stood beside him, has provided Vancouver a unique
theatre experience. Often we see theatre as just another mode of
entertainment.”
PT, he asserted, “chose more, chose to see the
stage as a place where people can be moved, hearts changed, thoughts
provoked – all through the medium of damn fine writing,
directing and acting. I know we are a better city because of Pacific
Theatre.”
Playwright and actor Lucia Frangione observed:
“Most Christian theatre is actually ‘family oriented’
theatre. There’s nothing particularly Christian about it, aside from
the exclusion of certain material that some would find offensive – or
not suitable for children, or seniors with a heart condition.”
PT, she added, “is one of the rare true
‘Christian’ theatres, where issues of faith, morality,
religion, Christ’s teachings – and how they relate to the
modern world – are honestly examined. The material they explore often
is too bold for ‘family oriented’ theatre, and too
controversial for secular theatre.”
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For many theatre troupes, she contended,
“religion is a ‘red flag’ which they try very hard avoid
in their programming, out of fear they will alienate certain audience
members. Thank goodness Pacific Theatre has the courage for red
flags.”
The season opened last month with Mourning Dove, based on the Robert
Latimer case; it runs until November 15. Later in the season, PT offers Jesus My Boy, which sees the
Saviour through the eyes of his stepfather; and A
Time to Dance, about a dancer living in Nazi
Europe.
Contact: PacificTheatre.org
– DFD
November 2008
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