arts / 10

Douglas College grad becomes a

kid again at Tremors Festival

» An interview with Aaron Holt

 
  

Cheryl Minns
& Arts Editor
Marts
@theotherpress.ca

Rew Theatre’s Tremors
estival is shaking things up
this year with three shows being
performed simultaneously in
different parts of the Russian
Hall in Vancouver on November
12-15. This year’s theme is youth,
featuring shows with young

characters about the struggles of :

growing up.

With up-and-coming
directors, designers, actors, and
more working with local theatre
professionals, they will present
Harry Gibson’s Trainspotting
(about a group of young
people in Edinburgh), Hannah
Moscovitch’s This is War (about
four young Canadian soldiers in

Afghanistan), and Sean Graney’s

The 4th Graders Present an
Unnamed Love-Suicide (about
students performing a friend’s
play in honour of his death).
Tickets are available from $15 at
eventbrite.ca.

Aaron Holt, a Douglas
College theatre grad, will be
performing as class bully Mike
Rice in The 4th Graders Present
an Unnamed Love-Suicide. The

Other Press had the opportunity

to interview him about his
experience with Tremors,
musical theatre, and Douglas
College.

How did you get involved
with Tremors?

I heard that they were having
auditions and, having had
the pleasure of working

with Stephen Drover before,
I jumped at the chance to
audition.

How has your experience
been working with the
theatre professionals?
Sasa Brown and Stephen
Drover have been awesome.
It’s great to know that you're
not completely alone and
that you have someone there
to help guide you through
the process when you have
questions or want to bounce
ideas off of someone that has
been down this road before.

The End is Nigh

» ‘Unity (1918)’ reaps the harvest of humanity

Adam Tatelman
Staff Writer

he latest production

from the Douglas College

theatre department follows
the residents of a tiny
Saskatchewan town called
Unity during the waning
months of 1918, as World
War I| is coming to an end
and an influenza pandemic
with a mortality rate close
to 20 per cent is sweeping
across the globe. Unity goes
into a complete lockdown to
avoid contamination from
outsiders, forbidding public
gatherings and waging its
own personal war against an
invisible enemy, all the while
trying to keep its farming

: community from going bust.

All of the characters

: populating Unity have

something, either in mind

: or heart, motivating them

: to keep on living through

: the squalor—even if all

: they really have is a fantasy.

: Beatrice and Mary (played by
: Ashley Scigliano and Robyn

: Crawford) await the return

: of their soldier sweethearts,

: but one of them doesn’t

: know her man Glen (Michael

: Bernard) as well as she thinks.

: Sissy (Emily Brown) believes
: that the epidemic isa sign

: of the apocalypse, and so

: decides that the whole of

: the law is “do as you please.”

: Sunna (Claire Temple), the

: Icelandic gravedigger, though
: a pariah in the community,

 

What is it like to playa
fourth grader in The 4th
Graders Present?

It is challenging but highly
rewarding in that there is

so much truth in the way
children conduct themselves.
They don’t hold much back,
which can make this process
highly rewarding in some
ways and harder than others.

Did you draw inspiration
from your childhood for
this production?

Yes. I feel like a lot of Mike’s
feelings and the things he
says I can remember thinking
when I was a kid. A lot of the
time when I’m stuck, I look
back on my own childhood
and think, “How did I/my

: seeks comfort in Stan (Dan
McPeake), who grieves the

: loss of his wife and cares for

: the child she left behind.

: Hart (Brendan Saltel), a

: blinded soldier who's lost his
: family,almost never loses his
: sunny facade. And through

: itall, Rose and Doris (Allie

: Melchert and Zoe Frank)

: have to keep the phone lines
: running. Each actor brings

: their own brand of intensity
: to the roles, uncompromising :
: in their struggle to live their
: lives as Unity is—quite

: literally—surrounded by

: death.

The set invokes Flanders

: Fields-type imagery (a rather
: appropriate choice, given the
: timing with Remembrance

: Day) with row on row of

: mausoleum-like gravestones
that the play’s action happens
: on, around, and between,
fading away into the distance
: ona foreshortened backdrop
: while seamlessly morphing

: clouds and stars are projected :
: overhead. The “midnight

: walk through the graveyard”

: atmosphere is immediately

: distinct, intensifying as the

: proverbial herd begins to thin
: and everyone wonders who

: alot of things: Canadian
: history, small-town paranoia,
: veterans’ rights, doomsayers,

friends/etc. react ina given
scenario?” And a lot of the
time the answer is right there.

How do you think
audiences will react to this
show?

Some will laugh, some

will cry, and I think it will
definitely make audiences
think. Despite the fact that
we are playing 10-year-olds,
there is a lot of depth in this
production and people may
even see a lot of parallels

in these characters with
themselves—their hopes,
their struggles.

What has your experience
in musical theatre been
like?

Well, I did two musicals in
high school, and then had
the opportunity to do Beauty
and the Beast earlier this year.
But it’s always something

I’ve wanted to explore

more of. What I’ve had the
opportunity to do has been
immensely rewarding and has
just been so much fun. To me,
music just adds something to
theatre. It touches audiences
in a way that sometimes
transcends what words alone
can accomplish.

might be next. At times, the

play almost feels like a horror
: film where the unstoppable

: killer is not a psycho or an

: alien, but rather a multitude
: of microscopic parasites.

Unity (1918) is about

theotherpress.ca

What was it like playing
the Beast in Beauty and the
Beast?

Incredible. To just give myself
to the role so fully and be

so excited every day to put
on that Beast costume and
explore and have just an
immense amount of fun.
And to see some of the kids
be so excited about not

just meeting you after the
show, but coming to see the
show. It was one of my most
rewarding experiences in
theatre.

Asa child, were you a fan
of Disney movies such as
Beauty and the Beast?

Loved them! Beauty and the
Beast was always one of my
favourites, but Tarzan will
always be closest to my heart.

How has the Douglas
College theatre program
prepared you fora career in
acting?

They gave me the tools I need
to learn and to grow as an
artist, and they let me take
my own path. I really liked
that. I didn’t feel dictated to
follow one particular avenue
with this industry, because
there are so many. I was given
everything I needed and
shown my options and was
able to do what I felt was best
for me.

: black humour, and societal

: collapse among them. Even

: in the face of adversity

: though, there is always hope.
: While that may be difficult

: to remember as characters

drop dead one after the other,

: this is not a play about the

: biblical end of days. It isa

: play about the interminable

: spark of life that, even when
: hope becomes a distant

: memory, simply refuses to be
: suffocated.

Unity (1918) will run until

: November 14 in the Laura C.

: Muir Performing Arts Theatre
: at the Douglas College New

: Westminster campus. Tickets
: are $io for students and can

: be purchased at the door or

: through the Massey Ticket

: Centre at masseytheatre.com