Theatre at UBC
Season
Welcome to Theatre at UBC, where the future of the theatre in Canada can be seen on the stage today.
Download the Season summary: THEATRE & OPERA SEASON 2014
Announcing Our 2014/15 Season:
We're delighted to announce that the Department of Theatre and Film and the School of Music's Opera Program will be merging our production seasons starting in the fall of 2014. This merger is a landmark event for both programs; Opera and Theatre at UBC have enjoyed an informal association since the 1960’s, and this new formal alliance of our production areas has been developing since the founding of the UBC Opera ensemble by Professor Nancy Hermiston in 1995.
The combined Opera and Theatre season of shows will be unique among Canadian post-secondary programs, an unparalleled training environment for student performers, directors, designers, and technicians, as well as a marvelous expansion of the opportunities to enjoy great live events on the UBC Vancouver campus.
We not only present this wonderful combined season of live performances, but we’ll also, for the first time in our history, be premiering an original film created entirely by students; “Naked Cinema”, which will be ushered to the screen by award winning filmmaking collaborators Bruce Sweeney and UBC Associate Professor Tom Scholte.
Please join us to experience the exciting work of our next generation of theatre, opera and film artists.
- Robert Gardiner
Professor & Acting Head
Come to our performances this year to be inspired, encounter new thinking and have your world expand in exciting and unexpected new directions. UBC’s award winning artists on faculty & guest artists join Theatre, Film and Opera students to produce a season of highly intelligent, entertaining and risk-taking work.
Plan your season choices now and save - subscription packages start at only $33.
TWELFTH NIGHT
THEATRE SERIES | Romantic Comedy
By William Shakespeare
Director Stephen Heatley
September 25 - October 11, 2014
$7 PREVIEW September 24, Talkback October 1
Venue: Frederic Wood Theatre
…one of the most engaging romances ever written.”
– New York Times
This romantic comedy of epic proportions is often referred to as Shakespeare’s finest comedy. Orsino loves Olivia. Olivia doesn’t love him. She loves Cesario who’s actually Viola in disguise. And then there’s Malvolio… where will his giddy infatuation lead him? Outrageous high-jinx ensue as pangs of unrequited love afflict these unforgettable characters. The hilarity of the play’s gender bending and sexual confusions is heightened against the backdrop of Mardi-Gras.
THE BARTERED BRIDE
OPERA SERIES | ~ Sung In Czech
Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina
Director Nancy Hermiston | Conducted by Norbert Baxa
November 13 - 1 5, 2014 at 7:30pm
Matinee November 16, 2014 at 2pm
Venue: Old Auditorium
This score's inventiveness never ceases to astonish…”
– The Guardian
It is spring in a Bohemian village and holiday time. The villagers gather to celebrate the festive occasion. It is against this background that the story of love, arranged and unarranged, is played with a great deal of bargaining on all sides. Relationships and assignations are put to the test against the carnival atmosphere in the village with the inevitable happy ending, although not quite as expected.
NAKED CINEMA
EXTRA EVENT | FEATURE FILM PREMIERE
November 27 - 29, 2014
Venue: Norm Theatre, Old Student Union Building
Alumni and award winning filmmaking collaborators Bruce Sweeney and Tom Scholte rock our season program with a full frontal cinematic offering. The duo’s work is described by critics as “raw, naked, and uncompromising.” Under their stewardship, expect nothing less from the UBC Theatre and Film students, who create an original feature length film from start to finish. The work is inspired by Lars von Trier’s DOGMA 95 Manifesto, which seeks to strip all manner of artifice from the filmmaking process and free artists on both sides of the camera.
THE 520 STUDIO SHOWS
EXTRA EVENT | MFA Directors Program A
November 27- 29, 2014
Venue: Dorothy Somerset Studio
First year MFA Directing students Evan Frayne and Keltie Brown test their mettle in these evenings of two engaging one-act plays. The focus is squarely between director and actor in Program A, while Program B brings in design students and a more adventurous theatricality. Play selections and details on our website in late October. Admission by donation!
THEATRE SERIES | Modern Greek Tragedy
THE BACCHAE 2.1
Euripides, Adapted by Charles Mee
Director Dennis Gupa
January 22 - February 7, 2015
$7 Preview January 21, Talkback January 28
Venue: Frederic Wood Theatre
Striking juxtapositions create word images of remarkable beauty.”
– Theatre Man
Expect the unexpected from Charles Mee’s richly poetic creation The Bacchae 2.1. In addition to Euripides' classic Greek tragedy, the script draws from German literary theorist Klaus Theweleit's Male Fantasies, Valerie Solanas' The S.C.U.M. Manifesto and Joan Nestle's Lesbian Herstory Archives. All find their place in Euripides' theatrical celebration of the god Dionysus, set in a world both ancient and modern.
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
OPERA | ~ Sung in Italian
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte
Director Nancy Hermiston | Conducted by Neil Varon
February 5 - 7, 2015 at 7:30pm
Matinee February 8, 2015 at 2pm
Venue: Chan Centre for thePerforming Arts
…one of the greatest operas ever written.”
– Theatre Jones
Servants Figaro and Suzanna find themselves in a tangled web prior to their wedding day. Count Almaviva, bored of his wife the Countess, has romantic intentions with Suzanna. To save both marriages, everyone becomes involved in elaborate schemes, which include an amorous teenager, an old maid, a drunken gardener, and a silly young girl. Much can happen on a “folle journée”.
THEATRE SERIES | Romantic Musical
THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE
Book James Marauder | Music Jeffrey Stock | Lyrics Susan Birkenhead | Based on the play by Marivaux
Director MFA Directing Candidate Barbara Tomas
March 19 - April 4, 2015
$7 Preview March 18, Talkback March 25
Venue: Frederic Wood Theatre
Triumph of Love is a hip fairy-tale…”
– Variety
Love can make a woman do strange things: When the brilliant princess Leonide becomes smitten with Agis, the rightful heir to the kingdom that was usurped by Leonide's family, the girl must bend her gender and rescue her man from his stuffed-shirt uncle and sour-puss aunt. Such is the state of things in Magruder, Stock and Birkenhead's hilarious, tongue-in-cheek, modern musical adaptation of the classic 18th century romantic comedy by Pierre Marivaux.
THE 520 STUDIO SHOWS
EXTRA EVENT | MFA Directors Program B
April 16-18, 2015
Venue: Dorothy Somerset Studio
First year MFA Directing students Evan Frayne and Keltie Brown test their mettle in these evenings of two engaging one-act plays. The focus was squarely between director and actor in Program A earlier this year. Here in Program B they bring in design students and a more adventurous theatricality. Play selections and details on our website in late October. Admission by donation!
NATIONAL CANADIAN FILM DAY
EXTRA EVENT | Free Film Screening
April 29, 2015 at 7:30 pm
Venue: Frederic Wood Theatre
Cult Classic , John Fawcett’s GINGER SNAPS: Join us to see a great Canadian film on this year’s second annual National Canadian Film Day. We’ll be showing the cult classic horror film Ginger Snaps and our resident cult film expert, Professor Ernest Mathijus, will provide an insiders introduction. – Admission FREE! More details about free screenings across Canada at http://canadianfilmday.ca
LA TRAVIATA
OPERA | ~ Sung in Italian
Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Director Nancy Hermiston | Conductor David Agler
June 20 and June 25-27, 2015 at 7:30pm
Matinee June 21 & 28, 2015 at 2pm
Venue: Old Auditorium
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought"
– Percy Bysshe Shelley
La Traviata, "The Lost One”, tells the tale of doomed love between the famous courtesan Violetta and the handsome Alfredo. An opera filled with lavish parties, true love, evil deceit, and heartbreak; La Traviata unveils an unforgiving world of morality and hypocrisy. Violetta herself passionately exclaims that even when God has forgiven you, mankind is relentless and you are doomed forever.
BOOK NOW AND SAVE! This year we offer Theatre Series Subscribers the benefit of adding our feature film Naked Cinema and one or more Opera at subscriber pricing. In addition to our season of plays we offer many low cost and free events, check out our website for announcements throughout the year.
Three Play Subscription Prices: $54 Regular $42 Seniors, $24 Students ~ add our Naked Cinema for $9 and one or more Operas at subscriber savings at $30 Regular, $21, Seniors, $14 Students | Single Theatre Ticket Prices: $24.50 Regular $16.50 Seniors, $11.50 Students | Single Opera Ticket Prices: $37 | $27 | $20. All prices include tax & service charge.
Theatre Series Discounts: UBC Alumni, Faculty, Staff and University Neighbourhood Association members are eligible for 2-for-1 tickets.
Discounts for groups of 10 + and Youth rate for high school students.
Bookings & Information: Theatre & Opera at UBC Box Office at 604-822-2678
Subscription & Single Ticket bookings available online August 15th.
