‘Twenty Feet Away’ has a local
theme and a larger message

> Show by theatre students raises environmental awareness

Caroline Ho
Arts Editor

 

wo theatre students, one unique

site at False Creek, a message about
climate change, and a lot of bottled water.

These elements come together in
Twenty Feet Away, an original Vancouver
Fringe Festival show by second-year
Douglas theatre students Dayna
Hoffmann and Sara Dunn. Twenty Feet
Away is one of five shows created as
part of Generation Hot: Waterborne, a
mentorship program for young writer-
directors run by Eric Rhys Miller and
production company The Only Animal.
Under Miller’s mentorship, Dunn and
Hoffmann have spent the past frve months
writing the script, hiring actors, building
the set, and putting the show together.

In Twenty Feet Away, two young
college students and entrepreneurs
make ends meet by taking water from
False Creek and marketing it as water
from exotic locations like Cambodia
and the Nile. The pair’s friendship
is challenged by the moral issues
that spring out of this scheme.

This year’s Generation Hot theme is
water. Beyond the requirement of tying
their stories to this theme, the writer-
directors had a lot of artistic freedom
to pretty much come up with whatever
stories they wanted. In a phone interview
with the Other Press, Hoffmann said she
drew inspiration for Twenty Feet Away
primarily from a video she saw online
about Canadian water smugglers. The
story then grew out of her and Dunn
wanting to create a show with two
protagonists, and knowing they had
to work around a specific location on
Granville Island—in their case, around
a large metal sculpture called “Pressure
Group 6” by Barry Cogswell. Within these
locational and thematic boundaries, the

story of Twenty Feet Away came together.
Hoffmann and Dunn also worked
economic constraints and an eco-friendly
mindset into the premise of their show.
The two protagonists of Twenty Feet
Away are college students of limited
means who live camped-out underneath
the sculpture. To reflect this frugal and
environmentally conscious mindset,
Hoffmann and Dunn built their set
primarily out of recycled materials and
items they already had lying around.
Hoffmann estimates they only spent
about $40 on the whole production.
“Tt really comes through in the whole
ambiance of the piece,” she said.
Although the creators had a lot of
license in writing and putting together
their show, they also benefited from the
guidance of their mentor Miller, as well as
the support of everyone else involved in
Generation Hot: Waterborne. Hoffmann
said the most rewarding part of this
program, to her, has been the opportunity
to work with fellow actors, writers,
directors, artists, and others from a variety
of backgrounds, and to build something
together with people who have so many
different skillsets and experiences.
Hoffmann recommends that
any Douglas students who have the
opportunity should absolutely get
involved with the program next year. She
herself found out about Generation Hot
from a fellow student who participated
last year. “It’s such a life-changing
experience,” said Hoffmann of her time
working on Twenty Feet Away over the
last five months. “Especially just getting
to actually produce a real show where you
make real money doing something that a
lot of people didn’t think would be a viable
career path, I think it’s really rewarding.”
However, this money won't be going
to the creators themselves; instead, the
proceeds from the show will be donated
toa charity supporting an environmental

cause, although Hoffmann and Dunn
haven't yet decided which charity. By this
act of kicking off their professional theatre
careers with a substantial donation,

the writer-directors hope to inspire
audiences even further, compounding

the message of environmental
consciousness in Twenty Feet Away.

As for the importance of their
message, Hoffmann believes that young
people have a unique perspective and deep
responsibility toward the issue of climate
change. Those born after 1988 especially—
those who are part of Generation Hot—
have grown up hearing about this issue

Chairman of the Board: Bulls,
bears, and bullies

> ‘Pit’ board game review

Ed Appleby
Contributor

decks equal to the number of players are
shuffled together and all of the cards are dealt

 

kreknkn

find most games put out in the early to

middling years of the 20th century— Monopoly
(1903), The Game of Life (1960), Risk (1959),
etc.—to be some of the worst. They are either
overly complex or overly simple, and generally
cover uninteresting themes. So you can imagine
my thrill when I picked up a card game based
on commodity trading in the early 1900s.

Pit (1903) is a set-collecting card game for
three to eight players designed by Edgar Cayce,
Harry Gavitt, and George S. Parker. Originally
self-published, it is currently being published by
Hasbro. In the game, a number of commodity

out randomly. Players then trade cards in order
to try to make a full set, and once a set is made
the hand is scored and the cards re-dealt.

On the surface, this seems like any classic
card game such as Gin Rummy (1909) or Go Fish,
but there is one design aspect of the game that
sets it apart: There are no turns. All players are
shouting and making trades as fast as they can,
which gives the game the feel of urgency that
comes from being on the floor of the stock market.
This little mechanic moves the game from being
a dull card game to something a little livelier
and more engaging. There is no downtime for
players to get bored, and there is no over-analysis
of strategy since fast trades are preferred.

I highly recommend Pit, and it just goes to

show how a slight tweak to the mechanics of a game
can elevate it from the mundane to the exceptional.

 

as almost the norm. “For me, I know that
I’ve always heard of climate change my
whole life,” said Hoffmann. “It’s been
something that we tend to turn a blind
eye toward because it’s just always been
there, but it is a real issue that needs
to be addressed, and I don’t think that
people are [ever] doing enough about it.”
For anyone who wants to both
contribute to the cause and to watch
an original work by Douglas students,
Twenty Feet Away will be running at the
Fringe Festival on Granville Island until
September 16. Tickets are available at
www.vancouverfringe.com/waterborne.

 

Photo of Danya Hoffmann and Sara Dunn

Illustration by Ed Appleby