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Bard on the Beach founder designated
Douglas Honorary Fellow

> Christopher Gaze recognized for contributions to Theatre Department and youth education

Caroline Ho
Arts Editor

 

ouglas College has given its

2018 Honorary Fellow award to
Christopher Gaze, Bard on the Beach
founder and long-time friend to the
Douglas Theatre Department.

The Honorary Fellow designation
is Douglas’ highest distinction and is
given to individuals who demonstrate
exceptional achievement or service
ona community, provincial, national,
or international level, The award
was granted to Gaze at the winter
convocation on February 14.

Gaze was chosen for his contributions

te, and advocacy for, performing arts
education and youth outreach in the
Lower Mainland. The Bard on the

Beach Shakespeare festival, founded

in 19g, stages several Shakespeare
productions every summer and also runs
a multitude of educational programs

te support young actors, directors, and
other theatre practitioners year-round,
including Young Shakespeare Workshops
and the Riotous Youth internship.

In addition to his community
engagement through Bard on the Beach,
Gaze has also heen involved directly with
the Douglas Theatre Department for the
past 25 years, most notably by running
mock-auditions for students, said retired
Theatre Department Coordinator Allan

Lysell, who nominated Gaze for the award.

These mock-auditions simulate
the experience of a professional
audition, with students preparing an
presenting material and Gaze playing
the same role he played in real life as
Bard Artistic Director by critiquing
their performances, These sessions,
satel Lysell to the Other Press via
email correspondence, have given the
students invaluable real-life practice,

“Auctioning isa major part of
an actor's life ane it is imperative
that the Theatre department provide
skills, training, and feedback that will
provide students with the hest possible
founclation for what is arguably the most
important part of their careers, next te
actually performing,” wrote Lysell,

“He pave every student the time
and focus necessary bo provide then with
accurate feedback, His responses were
incliviclual for cach student and although
some of the comments he made were
similar to instructors’ comments, it had
so much more impacton the students as
itcame from an industry professional for
whom they might audition in the future,”

Gaze's comments were so well-
received that the Theatre Department
invited him back for repeated sessions
over the years, He has alse provided
support through offering suggestions
for the Department's educational
direction, as well as attending
the major theatre productions to
watch student performances,

Cyberpunk 1s back

> ‘Altered Carbon’ and the sci-fi revival

Duncan Fingarson
Senior Columnist

 

tsanestablished fact that trends
[noe in cycles—every generation is
nostalpic for the period roughly 30 years
ago, You might have natioed Hollywood
breaking out alot of culturally relevant
films for another pe, furasste Pork,
Jurmenji, ancl Star Wors have all pickeel
up new remakes, sequels, prequels, or
spin-offs, There’s another on this list
though, ane on first glance it seems a
bit of a weird choice; Blade Runner,

Blade Runner was the genre-

defining cyberpunk movie, [twas
originally released in rg82, followeel
closely by William Gibson's equally
prototypical novel Newromancer
in 1g84, Both works contributed te
eyberpunk—what it is ancl what it’s all
about, Inig#y, Shadowrun came along
ane expanded! the genre further with
the acddition af fantasy elements, At
its heart, however, cyberpunk is alwut

technology, corporations run rampant,
and what it means to be human.

The point I'm getting at is that all of
these things came out roughly 30 years
ago. Since that's the nostalgia sweet spot,
everything old is new again and Netflix
has released Altered Carbon. Adapted
from Richard K. Morgan's 2002 novel of
the same name, Altered Carbon tells the
tale of Takeshi Kovacs. Kovacs is woken
up at the start of episode one (don't
worry, no spoilers here that aren't in the
episode description) and enlisted to solve
a murder, Somewhat paradoxically, the
murdered man is the one who hires him.

Altered Carbon revolves around
“stacks,” memory storage devices that
everyone has installed at a young age.
You died? No problem, we'll just put
your stack ina new body and you'll
be all set. Naturally, this means that
the rich are functionally immortal,
and the poor get screwed; boclics,
after all, do not grow on trees.

The show shines in its visuals, and

 

Douglas College's performing
arts programs maintain a strong
engagement with Shakespeare: The
Departments of Theatre and Stagecraft
& Event Technology have staged some
of the Bard's plays in previous years,
including most recently A Midsummer
Night's Dream last March,

Lysell told the Other Press that he
believes that studying Shakespeare is still
valuable today because his works speak to

the fundamentals of the human condition,

“[Shakespeare's] works show us what
it means to be human, and ask the most

important questions that we ask ourselves:

What makes us who we are? What
behaviours serve us and what behaviours
harm us? What does ‘death’ mean? How
does love enter our lives? How do we

the futuristic city where it takes place
echoes Blade Runner's Los Angeles.
It’s dark, brooding, and wonderfully
trippy. The themes, though, are
where the show really stands out,
Cyberpunk, as cool and
technologically advanced as it appears,
is also typically dystopian. This is a
world where corporations rule the world
and money talks louder than anything.
Governments have little power in the
face of the almighty dollar. Anyone
without the wealth and power to live

Phote of Claire Sakaki and Christopher Gaze

via Bard on the Beach

move forward against increasingly
difficult challenges?” wrote Lysell.
Many of the Bard's works feature
young adult protagonists and the
struggles they face, said Lysell, making
them especially relevant for young
adult audiences and college students.
“For example, at their cores, both
Romeo and Juliet and As You Like It
are stories about young people looking
at the world their parents created and
wondering how they screwed things up
so badly," he wrote. “With the issues
of today ranging from climate change
to civil unrest te economic instability,
let alone the insanity that is Donald
Trump, these are realities that any
young adult can empathize with.”

 

at the top spends their life asa slave to
their wages, or an outcast, It’s a world
that looks a lot like our own, Ifyou
squint, you could see it from here.

It's fitting that in a year where
you-know-who is somehow sill the
president, cyberpunk is triumphantly
coming back, It’s great for science
hetion lovers like me, but it’s alsa
great asa lens through which to view a
future that we hope will never come to
pass. In the age of Trump, cyberpunk
is more relevant than ever before.

The importance of art

Image via Nettlix