hold fast hope

"Despite its rather morbid title, Gruesome Playground Injuries is a surprisingly tender story of love and friendship with moments of sheer brilliance."  - Mark Robins, Vancouver Presents "Newcomers Pippa Johnstone (Kayleen) and Kenton Klassen (Doug) are both talents to watch. Klassen finds a whole lot of charm in Doug’s goofy hyperactivity... Klassen impresses. And Johnstone is so thoroughly grounded and subtly responsive that I kept imagining what it would be like to watch her on film."  - Colin Thomas, The Georgia Straight "Johnstone and Klassen yielded stellar performances... It may be difficult to shift through the eight disjointed scenes in the play, however director  Chelsea Haberlin  achieves this effortlessly by using the actors’ onstage costume changes to predicate the transitions. Garments designed by  Christopher David Gauthier  dangle on racks at opposite sides of  Carolyn Rapanos ’ bandage draped, alley-style stage. - Cora Li, Vancouv...

Christopher David Gauthier is an award-winning, constantly-creating costume designer who is almost as excited about designing GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES as we are to have him on our team. Christopher’s work was last seen at PT for MEASURE FOR MEASURE, in GA TING with the Frank Theatre company, PROOF at Mnemonic Theatre, and he is nominated this year for a Jessie for Outstanding Body of Work in Costume Design for Small Theatre.  How did you get involved with Gruesome Playground Injuries, and Pacific Theatre? Pippa Johnstone asked me as we were working on The Honest Fishmongers' production of Measure for Measure presented at Pacific Theatre. So I said, sure I'll read it, but I was a bit leery about a co-op/low budget production at this point, but Pippa was a draw, Kenton is charming and [director] Chelsea Haberlin and I had been talking about working together so it had all that. Then I read it. And I said yes immediately. The script is achingly beautiful, as well as d...

Rajiv Joseph's 'wondrous strange two-hander'  is coming to Vancouver! I'm very excited to present the artistic team and poster. I fell in love with this play as soon as I read it, which was perfect timing as I was trying to decide on a final apprentice project with Pacific Theatre. I can't believe the amazing team that has come together. We are excited to premiere this beautiful play in Vancouver!  Director - Chelsea Haberlin Stage Manager - Shelby Bushell Kayleen/Co-Producer - Pippa Johnstone Doug/Co-Producer - Kenton Klassen Set Designer - Carolyn Rapanos Costume Designer - Christopher David Gauthier Lighting Designer - Phil Miguel Sound Designer - Chris Adams Assistant Stage Manager - Charlie Mitchell Communications Coordinator - Johnny Hamilton Gruesome Playground Injuries follows the decades-spanning relationship of an accident-prone dare devil and a corrosive masochist who navigate friendship, love, and the wounds created in between. Dou...

Here is the poster I designed for Bleeding Heart Theatre's upcoming production of Oleanna.

I'm performing in a musical improv show Feb 21,22 at Pacific Theatre! Here's my interview for www.soulfoodvancouver.blogspot.ca. Our apprentice Kenton Klassen is going to be joining the team for  SIDESHOW ! Here's some background on him. What got you started improvising?  My high school drama teacher Karen Towsley, an improv whiz! What is your favourite part of improvising?  I like the risk involved in not having a plan. It's scary and exhilarating! How does musical improv actually work?  Your guess is as good as mine. I'm guessing you have to make up songs or something... Who is your role model, when it comes to performing?  Hmm.. there's a few. Paul Dano, Daniel-Day Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio are a few. In the comedy world I would have to say Jim Carrey! "We've got no food, we got no jobs, OUR PETS HEADS ARE FALLING OFF!" If you were to get a Sharpie tattoo on your back, what would it be? A tiger killing a shark. I hate sharks. ...

It was my thirteenth birthday, exactly thirteen years ago today. The height of puberty and girl craziness. I had a party at my house full of junior high boys and girls. My darling mother Lynae spent a good portion of her day making me a delicious Baked Alaska birthday cake, or rather two of them. A Baked Alaska is an ice cream cake covered in meringue  that you pour brandy over and then light on fire just as you serve it. My mother decided to use two very large baking bowls to set the cakes in. When they were finished she put the two domes of cake side by on a pan and covered them with meringue. My innocent mother accidentally brought a gigantic pair of flaming boobs out to a table full of thirteen year olds. It was the best birthday surprise ever.

I believe that theatre is a powerful form of communion between artists and audience. You are with people, experiencing a story together, without the ability to pause or fast forward short of walking out of the theatre. Many facets of the human experience are portrayed raw before your eyes. Actors often say that moments in rehearsal or on stage can somehow feel more truthful than moments in real life. Acting demands vulnerability that we rarely engage with in the day to day. There is an irrefutable exchange of energy, a transaction, something visceral happens. Something that could be arguably described as 'spiritual'. My faith demands that I ask hard questions of myself and so does good art. That is part of the reason both of these things are important to me. They compel me to dig deeper, wrestle with darkness, celebrate goodness and challenge me to become a better person. I'm not saying that one can't exist without the other or anything like that, just that for me the t...

I have found that the passage of time can become a bit of a blur. Things get mixed around and forgotten. In response to this I am going to write annual blog posts to keep track of some of my personal highlights. Here is 2013!  This past spring I finished the B.F.A. Acting program at UBC, a comprehensive three year classical acting program at the beautiful Vancouver campus. I learned so much about the craft of acting, the art of storytelling, and a whole lot about myself. I was insanely busy performing in four overlapping plays (The Duchess, Dancing at Lughnasa, Rhinoceros, and Blood Relations) on top of my final year acting classes and preparation for a showcase at the Artsclub.  Along with significant growth as an actor I developed a work ethic that is going to serve me well.  http://www.theatre.ubc.ca         My family purchased an amazing nine acre mountainside property in Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island. Talk about a dream c...