Ep. 40 Donna Spencer

On this episode I am joined by Donna Spencer. She is the artistic producer and one of the founding directors of the Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver, BC. She is the winner of the Jessie Richardson Outstanding Direction Award for Urinetown, the Musical and for Reading Hebron. She is the recipient of a Jessie Richardson Award for Multicultural Innovation in the Theatre and the Jessie Richardson Career Achievement Award. She was  awarded the City of Vancouver’s Mayor’s Arts Award for Theatre in 2012 and recognized by the B.C. Achievement Foundation for her theatre and dance works.  She is a member of the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame.

The Firehall Arts Centre was originally first firehall in Vancouver, located at 280 E Cordova. The 2022/23 season marks the 40th Anniversary of the theatre. The goal of the theatre is to connect communities and strives to provide a greater understanding of diverse and inclusive stories. They offer tickets on a sliding scale and have pay-what-you-can performances.

We discuss what impacts covid has had on not only the Firehall Arts Centre but the arts in Vancouver, BC and what struggles they had to endure over the last three years but what changes they have made going forward. We discuss the variety of performances that will be available this season. They truly offer something for everyone.

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Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the filled up cup podcast. We are a different kind of self-care resource one that has nothing to do with bubble baths and face masks and everything to do with rediscovering yourself. We bring you real reviews, honest experiences and unfiltered opinions that will make you laugh, cry, and most importantly, leave you with a filled up cup.

Ashley: 0:32

I am very excited today. I have Donna Spencer joining me. Donna is the fire hall theater in Vancouver, British Columbia. Artistic and executive producer. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Donna: 0:44

It's great to be here with you.

Ashley: 0:46

Can you tell everybody who maybe is unfamiliar with the firehouse theater, where it's located and what people can expect when they go to your theater?

Donna: 0:55

The fire hall is located in what I call the heart of the city of Vancouver. We're at Cordova and gore street 280 east Cordova in an old fire hall that was built very close to the turn of century, 1906 and ceased to be a fire hall in 1975. And then the fire hall theater society, which became the fire hall arts center was formed in. 1983 first opened in 1982. The actual society was formed by a number of individuals who believed that the building was a perfect place for the arts to happen. Since then we've had on the average about 200 performances a year until of course COVID came along.

Ashley: 1:32

I love the fact that it's a repurposed fire hall building. I imagine that just adds so much to the ambiance. Of the theater.

Donna: 1:40

It absolutely does. It's a rather institutional building on the outside as all fire halls were at that point. It was the first fire hall in Vancouver actually. Inside in the interior, in our lobby area, there's the beautiful old brick that was there when it was created and beautiful brick in where my office is located, which isn't actually the old post tower of the building. So it's got a feeling of history about it and heritage about it, but there's also some kind of warmth about that brick that makes everybody relax when they come into the lobby. They're just kind of wowed by it because. It's not that it's a super beautiful building. It's just, there's something comforting about being surrounded by brick, I think. people love it and we also have an outdoor patio that they're able to go out on to. So it's got a sense of difference from any other theater in Vancouver or even the greater Vancouver area.

Ashley: 2:31

I feel like it's like that safety in old buildings. Just the fact that it's been there forever. There is some comfort of knowing that you're walking into history a little bit.

Donna: 2:41

I actually think that when the firemen were here, They were here to take care of people in the city. People would come here apparently during the early days of the fire hall children from the neighborhood would come and visit the firemen and the firemen at that time. And they were all firemen at that time would give out oranges and bags of goodies at Christmas and take care of the community. So it was seen as a place to go as a community at that point when it was a fire hall. But Prior to us coming into Vancouver and Vancouver being settled. It was a gathering place for the indigenous people who would come here because there were lots of maple trees around here, and they would come here to gather with their other colleagues from various nations to eat food, tell stories, and sing. It's kind of fabulous that it's now an art center

Ashley: 3:31

yeah. Almost full circle. I know for me personally, going to the theater was such a family tradition. I was very lucky in the fact that when I was a small child, I was taken to different theater productions in Vancouver. So for me, it just always creates this like very welcoming space or there's lots of core memories of being able to go to productions. So I think that a lot of people potentially feel that way. The theater has always been so welcoming of people, whether it's different cultures, different races, different, sexual orientations, things like that. It does seem like this place that everybody can just kind of go and be together and experience a show no two performances are ever the same and no, crowd is ever exactly the same. So you kind of get this once in a lifetime experience in a sense.

Donna: 4:17

Well people, I think, tend to forget that. I think you're absolutely correct. People tend to think that the shows are always the same. Well, having been on stage myself and having talked a lot to actors, they're not always the same because the audience is in a different mood. You, the actors may be in a different mood. Yes, of course. They're performing on the same set or saying the same lines, but nothing is ever identical because there is some kind of energy Coming from the audience all the time that the actors are getting and they're feeding off of. So every performance, as you said, totally unique and totally Overwhelming sometimes to realize that because you go, oh, no one else is ever gonna see the same show that I saw. So that's, what's exciting about it. I think that's what people missed during COVID was the ability to actually be together in a space, enjoying a performance or a concert or whatever that would never be recreated again.

Ashley: 5:13

During COVID were you doing zoom shows or did you shut down for the last few years?

Donna: 5:18

We kind of did a lot of different things actually. Of course when COVID first happened and the theaters were all closed because we weren't a necessary service. We did close our performances. We were not allowed to have performances. So we did do some screen presentations that we put out to our audiences. We started a fire hall podcast actually that was called dramatic pause because we were in a pause and we couldn't do any drama. So we did that. And then we created an event outdoors because events were then began to be allowed for. I think it was 25 people if they were outdoors. So we started a series of performances over the summer of 2020 called music in the courtyard. The first time we had audiences in the space or the first music in the courtyard, between the audiences and those technicians and myself, we almost cried because people were so excited to be back together. So yes, we did a lot of that, but we also started to do, as we were allowed to eventually gather people together in smaller audiences sizes, I think it was up to 50 and made sure that. The theater was set up so that they were adequately spaced out and the performers were back from them. With performers, we ensured that they went into an isolation period. So they weren't seeing other people when they were working. The performances were smaller. We would either a solo show or a two hander or things like that, so that we could keep everybody safe, staff wise, the same thing, everybody performing or doing their jobs in masks with plexiglass and all the rules and the regulations of the public health authority. I got very involved with a team of other artistic directors and producers and presenters to work, to ensure that public health understood. What it was we did because we were shocked cuz we saw ourselves as businesses. We understood that some businesses, had to close if they weren't essential. But we were shocked to find out that we were considered to be just events. So we had to do a educate, not the just events. I don't mean there's some great events.

Ashley: 7:31

But I know what you mean, like instead of a trade show that you're actually an ongoing business.

Donna: 7:35

So that was a real learning experience for all of us and for the public health people that we were able to work with, we actually created a linkage with someone who was working with public health. So we could find out and provide advice about how we could keep our people, that were working with us safe and how we could keep the audiences safe. That was extremely beneficial. So that they looked at us in a different way.

Ashley: 7:58

I think that part is important, cuz I think that obviously the theater should be classified as a business and not necessarily just like a one-off show. But it must have been so stressful to have to pivot or come up with. Let's try this and see if it works and let's try this and see if it works. Cuz I know like two years ago the rules were changing so rapidly that it must have been quite challenging to have. Try to come up with different ideas and different solutions

Donna: 8:23

oh yeah, no, it was really challenging. We looked at all sorts of different public health authorities that are applied to different businesses and tried to incorporate some of those actions into what we thought would be beneficial if we could operate under these restrictions. Also to ensure that. We that we understood that it wasn't a punishment. It was more about, let's try to keep everyone safe, but we were also very concerned about trying to keep people employed. I think that was one thing that wasn't understood greatly was that the arts are major employers in the province. The fact that we were closed down, a lot of people lost work and had to go on CERB or something else because there were no resources to actually. Employ them or pay them. Because one, we weren't doing shows and, we did actually keep a core staff on and kept them busy doing different projects. But a lot of artists suffered a lot of technical people and services. People were out of work and it was impossible for us to hire everybody and keep them working. Within our budgets because there was nothing we could be doing other than actually recording work and making mini films, which is not what live theater does. Yeah. It's not easy to become a filmmaker and have it look good and feel the same as it would, if you were sitting in a live theater, it's just different. It's very different..

Ashley: 9:45

You don't get that ambiance. You don't get the energy in the same way, especially if you're not used to doing it, so I imagine that part would've been really challenging

Donna: 9:52

A lot of people really did try it. Some of the work really was fabulous, but it was not live theater. It was adaptation and cinematic or digital. I congratulate all those succeeded in crossing over, but I also saw a lot of really like, okay, if an audience is seeing this, are they gonna stay with this? and not when they have competition like Netflix and things like that. It was very challenging and still is actually, because even though we're coming out of COVID, are we really coming out of COVID because it seems like the rate of infection is increasing again. And what will that mean in terms of how we go forward for the 40th anniversary season for example, because we'll have to be prepared to pivot at any moment. The other thing, of course, that is happening is that just as an any other industry there are less people available to work either they've had to change their career path because we were closed or they've decided to leave the business or the province or whatever. So I think just like every service industry, even, the healthcare system is everyone's struggling to find employees. So that's a challenge.

Ashley: 11:00

Yeah, we definitely are in a staff shortage whether they were in the theater or not. I think everybody got so burnt out the last couple of years that it's like, do I wanna go back to this nine to five job? Or can I afford to live in British Columbia anymore and really sort of evaluated. Where they were at and what was best for them long term. I think we're entering an era of it's gonna be the great, nobody applies anyways, because I think that is more entrepreneurs or people deciding that they don't necessarily have to fit into a nine to five mold, which I know the theater, obviously wouldn't

Donna: 11:32

yeah. I think you've hit on something that's really important. I think everyone, regardless of whether you were in the arts or whatever industry you were in or occupation you were in COVID was a shock for us all. I don't think any anyone ever could have believed or ever expected that the world would be shut down in the way that it was by this infection. The fear of that, what could happen, that was a huge load and the loss of individuals, the loss of life. And the loss of freedom, I think, was a real shock to most people. And I think you're right. I think people sat back and started to evaluate what was the most important thing for them to be doing. I think a lot of people made choices. To change careers or to say, I only wanna work three or four days a week. I don't wanna be burnt out. I wouldn't equate it with the kind of post traumatic stress disorder that one would get if one was in a war zone by any means or in a tragic accident. But I do feel like there's a real sense of. Loss or something that's going on with people as we evaluate the fact that we can control our own actions, but we can't control the world's actions

Ashley: 12:49

for sure.

Donna: 12:52

so I think there's a lot of that going on thinking about what's important for the next year.

Ashley: 12:58

I think the mental health struggle of sort of being stuck in the unknown essentially for the last, like two, two and a half years where we almost do get stuck in that flight or fright or freezer or fawn mode of like, we don't know what is next, which I think is really the fantastic thing about theaters and productions and stuff like that. Being able to open up so that people can get outside of the house. They can kind of turn their mind off where they don't have to worry about things, but not. Necessarily, depending on the theme of the show, have it be so heavy that it just allows them to kind of be lost in the moment and be able to relax in that sense. Which I think our nervous system as a whole society really, really needs. Now thinking about heading into the 40th season, how many shows do you do per year?

Donna: 13:45

Well, before COVID we were doing a mixture of what I would say were four or five full productions, where we start with a script. It could be an existing script or a new script and go through the process of rehearsing and designing and all of that. And sharing that with the audience. We also do what is called presenting, which is where I would find a show that I thought Vancouver audience should see. And bring it in either if it was on tour and present that or a local company that had just had a short little run somewhere that had exciting work. So that would be part of the season and it would involve dance and music as well as theater. So that all kind of changed a bit as we've gone through recovering from COVID or taking back the stage, if you will. Because there isn't as much work touring one because there was the hiatus where no one was creating, but also the fact that you couldn't really tour you couldn't travel from Montreal to Vancouver. But that is now changing. Some work is actually going to be on the road, which is great. We have two dance pieces next season that are coming in that are actually will be on tours one from Edmonton and one from Toronto, but most of our theater work is going to be local productions where we're partnering with another local theater company, or we're producing it ourselves. We are trying to take into consideration your comment about people need to, go to a place and just be able to relax and not have to be told that they need to do something to help somebody or whatever. And so we're trying to, and, and I've been talking to a lot of my colleagues who are also artistic programmers and producers and directors about what their approach is. I think all of us are looking at not necessarily all doing light comedy, but certainly not doing plays about COVID or putting people into a place of stress. I think everything that we selected this year. Has a bit of has drama to it, but also humor and love and entertainment. We need to not only give our audiences a chance to breathe in the theater and not feel, oh my God, I'm so guilty. I didn't do something about that. But our artists as well, because they've felt the stress too. So our first production actually that we're doing, and, part of the mandate of the fire hall is to be inclusive and to address stories that haven't been told elsewhere. So our first production in November, Is called courage now. It's written by Manami Hara and it's a piece that is a drama, Chiune Sugihara worked in an embassy in Lithuania, he was a Japanese ambassador. This was during the second world war and he was known for his work. Assisting Lithuanian Jews to get out of the country or people out of the country safely away from the encampments. Now it sounds heavy, but it actually is being told from the perspective of one of the young women who was. Rescued and lived because of the work he did. It's a meeting between her and his wife when she's in her fifties and just after Sugihara has died. So a lot of Lithuanian Jewish folk that were saved by his work live in, British Columbia. So it is based on a historical fact.. It is about love and loss, but it's also an interesting, historical piece that allows people to understand that there are good people in the world that there are good people that are trying to help people live in a safe and healthy way. So that one I considered whether or not it might be too heavy, but I also felt that, we must continue to remind ourselves. that we need to be open to other people's stories and their needs, and we need to help those that are being put in places of, perhaps well, loss of life, certainly, but loss of home and loss of place. I think Canada is known for trying to reach out and help. And certainly I've noticed that a lot of Vancouver, churches and organizations have actually reached out to the Ukrainian people and are trying to help them as well as the Syrian people, as well as, I mean, really the world. If you look beyond. Or look around the world too much, that there are lots of people that need help Canada is not perfect, but it has a lot of fabulous things to offer people and we need to be generous and appreciative of that.

Ashley: 18:11

I definitely agree with that. I think sometimes even if you're say watching something that's heavy or sad, sometimes as long as it's not. Personally happening to you or in your home in the same way, I think it can still be touching to be able to see something like that. I don't think that, like you said, we don't need to just go and watch just comedy to laugh and relax. I think even sometimes just being reminded of human connection. Yes. And that sort of beautifulness of being able to help each other or being able to depend on each other. Because I think whether it was COVID or whether it's. Being sort of in the digital age where you are less likely to pick up a phone or answer a phone call for that matter. If somebody phones you versus sending that quick text, it feels like we're more divided as people just physically in where we are that I think sometimes just being reminded, Hey, you can see somebody struggle and it's okay for you to be like, Hey, is there anything I can do? Sometimes it's as simple as that piece being missed.

Donna: 19:15

I think you're right. It concerns me as, I guess, cuz I'm an older person that when I see people walking down the street together, both on their phones, And you're going okay, are they texting each other or in a restaurant I wanna say you're in the restaurant to be together. Aren't you? So, yes, you're right. When they're sitting in the theater, you cannot be on your phones. that's not allowed. We have a joke here. We say quite often, please turn off your phones because we really don't want Siri to interrupt a performance. We've actually had that happen. where and we didn't know what had happened. All of a sudden this voice. Started basically repeating what she was hearing on stage and the poor gentleman who had forgotten to turn off his phone is going, oh my gosh, that's me. That's me trying to get his phone turned off as fast as possible. Everybody's looking at him like, Okay. but, it's only happened once and I don't know why it happened, but it happened. It actually allows us to put a little humor into, please turn off your cell phone because we don't want Siri choreographing the play or whatever, or being a part of the play

Ashley: 20:21

How awkward for the actors at stage I'm sure. Trying to ignore or stay in the moment

Donna: 20:26

yeah, no, they kind of all. And then they just went on. I mean, actors are amazing people.

Ashley: 20:33

Yes.

Donna: 20:33

They have the capacity to sort of go, okay, that person over there is eating. Popcorn and go back into the moment that they're creating. I don't know how they do it, but well I've totally forgotten how they do it. I think, cuz I haven't acted for quite a while, but there is a skill that they have that is amazing to me. They create a world together and then it's gone. And like you said earlier that world that they create one night is a different world than they create what, in terms of what they create the next.

Ashley: 21:03

Which also must be so fun in the sense that, if you work an office job for the most part, your day to day is exactly the same. So at least you can go in with this excitement or like, what is it gonna be tonight that if you have the bad performance that you have. the next night to recreate it, or, you know, you could end up with a funny situation where somebody's phone is ringing mid performance or something happens in the theater, that it would be fun knowing that every performance is gonna be something completely different.

Donna: 21:33

There's also, you know, as an actor, you also have to be so aware of everybody that you're working with because someone could miss a line. If you're just waiting for them to say the line that's before your. line then everything falls apart. So you kind of have to be all right, this, person's having a bit of a hard day, so I need to be ready because I may have to save them or save the story that we're telling So there's many, many funny stories of people forgetting that they should be on stage. Then the actor on stage having to sort of create the world until they get on stage or the stage manager says, where is that person? Or, you know, someone gets a bit of a mind lock and they can't remember where they're supposed to be, but those are all fun things that half the time the audience doesn't know. I mean, I've seen shows where. A bed has broken and the actors just gone on making a joke about it without the line, even being there and just continuing on and the audience going, oh, well, that's an interesting part of the show. I would not have thought about that. And then you talk to them after, and of course. you say, well, that was actually the bed broke. that simply sat the bed fell apart and it wasn't supposed to, but the actors just continued on or a table leg breaks or something and you just have to keep going. Figuring out your way through it. So it's a bit of an adventure and half the time, as I said, the audience has no idea that that's happened

Ashley: 22:57

I really do love that my daughter used to do ballet. She did ballet for like six or seven years and she'd come off stage and she'd be like, did you see that? And I'm like, no. And she was like, this person missed this step and this person didn't do this. And it's like, as a watcher of it, you just, you never, for the most part, you would never notice.

Donna: 23:15

No. You only notice if people. Oh, I screwed up or completely fall out of the character and you go, oh, where's that person But I mean, I see that because I'm a director, so I might see more of that than an average audience member, but sometimes I don't even notice I'm so into the play that I don't notice if somebody's done something wrong.

Ashley: 23:35

They can change the performance in a sense. And it just makes it more interesting. For the most part, I would say you might see like a certain show if it was touring over the years, but for the most part, you're not gonna see, you know, back to back performances. So you would never really know, oh, Hey, on Tuesday they did it this way. And on Thursday they did it this way. Like, that's weird because it really would be. You'd be lost in your performance that you're watching.

Donna: 23:59

It'll be interesting to see in January, we're bringing back a production that we had hoped to bring back last year. It's called Fado the saddest music in the world we did it in 2019. It's going to be very interesting to see because we're bringing it back with the same cast, but they've had a different life experience since then. So I feel like it's going to be a way richer performance in many ways. Because this piece, even though they haven't done it for It'll be three years cuz it's 2023. We're doing it in it's four years almost. They have had time to think about those characters a bit more and the music will be the same, but I'm pretty sure it's going to feel very different. It's a wonderful piece. It basically tells the story of a woman and her daughter going back to Portugal. After a long time and her encountering the love of her life when she was a young woman and before she moved to Canada and of course there's also a great FADO singer in it and wonderful Portuguese guitar player he's not Portuguese, but he's one of the few players of the Portuguese guitar in Canada. Oh, cool. That was a show that sold out audiences loved it. And even though it's called the saddest music in the world, it's music that was written for some people's perspective, from a very political perspective because of what was going on in Portugal at that time. But it's a love story. There's humor in it and there's loss in it, but it's really affecting, and I think the audiences that have already seen it will probably wanna come back, but I hope people will not miss it because it's cathartic. I think in some ways, Audiences, as we've already talked about need that kind of cathartic experience so they can go, okay, now I can go on tomorrow. I can do this. I'll be fine. So I'm looking forward to that one Elaine Avila wrote it she's a very well known playwright. She tends to, work quite often on political type subjects. So there is politics in this, but it's also just good performance and good entertainment.

Ashley: 26:10

I think it would be really cool for anybody who had previously seen it to sort of see what the actors are gonna do with it now, or just see them become more comfortable with their characters.

Donna: 26:21

It would be called a remount if it had happened the year after, but it's kind of a new take on the production. So there's a new lighting designer, new costumes. So it'll also look different. So it'll feel like a different piece. I'm sure for those who walk in and they'll go, oh, I remember when that happened, but, they maybe remember what they saw, but it'll feel different. I'm very excited. This is a project that we've done with Puente theater from Victoria. So that's also something that fire hall is known for is actually collaborating with other companies on the productions that we do. So that one Puente has been around for a long time and they've been doing a lot of diversity work, culturally inclusive work, and Mercedes who is the artistic director. There will be directing this.

Ashley: 27:03

When you partner with other theaters, are they usually just theater companies within British Columbia or is it kind of from everywhere?

Donna: 27:10

When we do that kind of partnership on a production pretty much set in Vancouver, we've also partnered with Western Canada theater company in Kamploops. We've partnered with the gateway theater in Richmond and then Puente in Victoria. It usually depends on what the script is and what the interest is. We've partnered with Savage society on our production of white noise, which is a piece about truth and reconciliation. That show we did last year and it sold out audiences loved it. It's funny, but it talks about. Understanding, how do we create understanding be between the colonizers and those indigenous people who were colonized? So it it's Taran Kootenhayoo who wrote it unfortunately he's passed on, but it was his first and only play. It was magnificent. So we're hoping to bring that back next year as well. And, why I'm not saying it's absolute is because we're working on some rewrites for it, but also just making sure we have the team in place that we had for the last one. Sometimes that's not possible because either they have. Contracts in film and television, which is one of our competitors or the designers may want to do something different. So we're just working through that right now, but we're hoping it will be part of our 2022/23 season. And if not, then the 2023/24 season.

Ashley: 28:32

I do love that diversity is so important within your theater, because I feel like that's another thing that. People don't wanna see stories about the same types of people or the same types of families or. Whatever the case may be that I do love the fact that it's stories that not only can we be entertained, but we can learn about, people that are different from us the fact that it enriches people's lives in a way that maybe, watching the same Netflix show isn't gonna do.

Donna: 29:02

I think it's so important cuz Canada has. So many stories, there's so many stories out there. One of the fire Hall's goals has always been to tell good stories. There are good stories that we've sometimes worked to help get written into plays. But there are many good stories from many different cultures that maybe relate to our culture. We just don't know it or the mainstream culture, but we don't know it because we've never heard it before. When it comes right down to it, there's the similarity between all humankind is that, you know, we breathe, we love, we have families, we care hopefully and there's a lot of similarities, I mean, but there's also lots of differences. So it's really good for us to understand what they are and why they are. I'm always intrigued by good stories regardless of who writes them. When I'm choosing work, I'm trying to think about. Who is interested in listening to these stories or how can we get people interested in listening to these stories and knowing these artists, cuz there's, I mean, for Canada, a population of what are we 35 million now or something like that? We have a lot of artists and we have a lot of great storytellers and there's a reason why a lot of Canadians end up being very successful south of the border. It's because all across the country, there are unique ways of telling stories and culturally, there are very unique ways of telling stories. That's why, I guess I'm still excited about the work that I do.

Ashley: 30:25

That's fantastic because you wanna go to work and be excited about what you're doing. Like that's so exciting to still have that passion for it.

Donna: 30:35

If one, doesn't have it, one should move on. Of course that's always hard to think about, but you know, if you're not passionate about working in the arts, it's very difficult to work in the arts because you're not gonna get a penthouse apartment. What is happening now is we're all trying to address better working conditions for artists. Every organization across Canada is trying to do that. And recognizing that we may have to find a way to work differently. Those who are in marketing and administration and positions wanting to work some partial time at home. And to achieve a better work, life balance. But the other part of it is if we don't come into the theater, you can't zoom your performance in for sure. You do need people who will turn on the lights and greet the audience. That is the challenge of people having the same kind of enthusiasm for the arts, which kind of got crushed a bit by COVID cuz again on the day that we were all closed down, we were about to open a show here. We had two performances, so it was like previews. I remember getting a call from. My partner's saying, they were on tour. We've set up the set, but we're taking it back down now because the theater, it has to be closed within couple of hours. So it was very traumatic for everybody it wasn't just us, the gyms and the movie theaters. And everybody that worked were just like, oh my gosh, what does that mean? So when I was saying earlier that we still not out of it, I think there's a bit of uncertainty about whether or not we will be able to do a full season depending on what's going on, but also. Making sure that we have in place a way to do productions if someone within the cast gets sick. So as we're designing the programming, we're also thinking about how many understudies we can have or can we have an understudy and there's some roles that it's pretty hard to have an understudy for them because they, for example, the lead singer in fado, There's no one that can do that role in Vancouver or in BC actually. So we have to think about, okay, if something happened, who would we fly in and how fast could we put them in? So that's a big piece of it too

Ashley: 32:46

I would imagine that would be stressful in the budget and sort of stressful to always have to have a plan B because it isn't as simple as, let's just fly this person in all the time so it must be. Almost like holding your breath at the start of every production in a way that wasn't there before.

Donna: 33:02

Yeah, it is, it is a lot like that. I think audiences are kind of holding their breath going. Okay. Is it okay to go out? And can we go out safely? I mean, I don't think so much right now, but when it gets into regular cold and flu season again in the fall. Yeah, yeah.

Ashley: 33:19

What are some other shows that are tentatively planned for next season?

Donna: 33:23

We have a project a play that Sally stubs has written called our ghost which is Based on a true life story again it's the story of her father. I think one might think it was, again sad. There was sadness to it, but her father was flying with another pilot working for the air force flew out on a, I think it was some kind of reconnaissance mission. I don't know, flew out of. Comox and the plane crashed around Whistler they could not locate the plane. So of course the family lost the father, but now what has happened is there's a Whistler search and rescue have located pretty much where the plane crashed. Sally has written this play from the perspective of what happened. What was happening for her family at the time her father disappeared, but what is now happening as they find where her father's body is and there's been a documentary made about this story. That's one that I think is going be quite fascinating because it's here. In the now, but it's also in the past, we're working with rice and beans theater on a project called happy valley that story's based on the happy valley racetrack in Hong Kong. We worked with Derek Chang who on a project called yellow objects, which we did during COVID, which was a complete installation that had no live actors, but when you walked through the theater, you met all the voices because they were all recorded and screened. So you felt like you were meeting people, but they were only digitally there. Oh, that's really cool. So some of that will be involved in happy valley. We're also doing a project and one man Christmas Carol, which I didn't know if I'd ever do a Christmas Carol show here at the fire hall, but it's a production that was created by blue Ridge repertory theater in Victoria with Sanjay Talwar as Scrooge it's magnificent. He's truly magnificent. He works at Shaw on an ongoing basis, but it's telling based on the first Novea, it's actually true to the first Novea that Dickens. And we're doing that over Christmas and I think that one will be something that people will come out to. So there's lots of great stuff happening.

Ashley: 35:37

that sounds like you have a great season ahead of you.

Donna: 35:40

Yeah, I think we do, it's very diverse in terms of kinds of work. we have a musical, we have a one man show. We have a work in progress based on the life of Mildred Bailey, who was an amazing singer, who not very many people know, but she actually worked with Bing Crosby and she actually. Brought her indigenous rhythms into how she sang jazz songs. So she also coached Billie holiday. As she got older Bing, Crosby, actually supported her livelihood because she couldn't take care of herself. So that's a very interesting story that we're also telling it that one's a work in progress. There's lots of great stuff going on and there'll be more,

Ashley: 36:18

It's something for every.

Donna: 36:21

We do try to do that. I don't know if we always succeed, but I've always tried to do that in the programming that we do, and we have an audience that's very curious and very literate. They're not necessarily an audience that has buckets of money. We have a very broad demographic in terms of the people who attend shows at the fire hall That's very important to the board of directors and to myself.

Ashley: 36:43

Well in thinking about tickets at the fire hall, are there certain specials or deals on tickets?

Donna: 36:50

This year we're starting, we've always done a pay what you can Wednesday matinee for the theater productions. So we're actually extending that we're doing a Tuesday night pay what you can a Wednesday pay what you can, but also all the other tickets are on a sliding scale. So, if you're coming to a Friday night performance and you only have 25 bucks, you can buy a ticket for 25 bucks. But if you can pay for 40. We encourage you to do that. So it's called we called it, pay what you wish for a while, I guess that's really what it is. It's yes, we need box office revenue. Absolutely. We need box office revenue, but we need audiences of all economic backgrounds to be able to see our work. It's very important to us. The fire Hall's in a very low income neighborhood. That's under a lot of stress and we want people who. Can't pay even 15 bucks to be able to come to a pay what you can and see the work. We have one gentleman from the neighborhood who comes to almost every show and it's become his living room. We don't make him pay for all of his tickets because we know that that's what we've become. So he always pays for at least once he and I said, it's important that we allow him to do that because that's meaningful. He wants to be here and he knows we need help, but he doesn't need to pay for if he comes to the show, 10 times and we have room for him, we don't need to do that because this is important to him. and important to us that we actually serve those who needs and want to be here.

Ashley: 38:23

It really is about that community. And knowing that, it's sharing the same space and creating that moment. So I think that is really generous that you allow him the space of welcoming him in as if it's his living room

Donna: 38:36

He's amazing artist. He sits and sketches.. He doesn't sit and sketch while he's watching the show, but he'll be in the lobby sketching. Some of the things that he sees at intermission or prior to the show, if he sees the show the night before doesn't say very much. But yeah, He just appeared and now he's become a very loyal fire hall audience member and we're glad. There are other people that come often too from the neighborhood to that pay what you cans, then that also serves senior audience members, because not all seniors have money that's a total misconception. I think, I mean, there's a lot of seniors who have a lot of money, but not everybody does. I think that's important that anybody that wants to see a show here can, can access.

Ashley: 39:21

I definitely appreciate that you create a space that people have that sense of community and have somewhere to go and just disconnect and be in the moment. Now, if people were looking for tickets, what is the fire hall website?

Donna: 39:35

It's www.firehallartscenter.ca.

Ashley: 39:40

Well, thank you, Donna so much for telling us all about fire hall theater. This has been great. Thank you so much for inviting me on.

39:50

Thank you so much for joining us today for this episode of the filled up cup podcast, don't forget to hit subscribe and leave a review. If you like what you hear, you can also connect with us@filledupcup.com. Thanks again for tuning in and we'll catch you in the next episode