By Dessa Bayrock (The Cascade) – Email
Boasting two stages, four visiting schools, 23 UFV directors, and the opportunity to see 42 plays over the course of five days, UFV’s theatre department proudly presents the 17th Annual Directors’ Theatre Festival.
“It keeps growing,” laughs Ian Fenwick, festival coordinator, faculty member, and founder of the theatre program at UFV. “When we started with our first directing class, I thought, well, let’s invite other schools around the province — other universities and colleges — to join our students in a similar experience… and that’s how the Directors’ Festival started. It’s really a celebration of student talent.”
The festival kicks off with a full day of performances on April 25th, starting at ten-thirty in the morning and continuing until ten-thirty at night. Each day is split up into chunks of about an hour each, which might include a single play, or present three or four back to back, depending on length. Directors’ Festival, after all, is all about exploration. These shorter shows (ranging from fifteen minutes to an hour) are a way to dive in and out of a narrative quickly, allowing a wide variety of genres and pieces to fit into a relatively short five days.
“The enthusiasm amongst the students just keeps growing and building on itself,” Fenwick grins, surrounded by chattering actors. “I think this will be one of the best festivals ever – I think it gets better every year.”
It’s the day before the festival officially begins, and the department is waking up and coming alive. Lights are warmed up and tested. Actors run lines, move set pieces, and complain good-naturedly about costumes. The air hums with excitement; these shows have been in the works since February, and now it’s finally show time.
“It’s an opportunity to meet and interact with emerging young artists and build connections,” explains Joshua Wilson, one of the students involved in the festival, “Especially if you want to pursue things later on in the field. It’s also nice to see edgier work… you don’t get a lot of that, especially in Chilliwack.”
It’s this opportunity to tackle edgier work that is part of Directors’ Festival’s appeal – A little over half of the plays include a warning in their description, ranging from “mature content” to “constant and gleeful profanity” to “booty-shakin’.” It’s a chance for the theatre students to both push boundaries and pursue what interests them – sometimes that results in pieces with stronger language and sexual themes, but as Fenwick says, “it’s a real wide range of plays. Some are suitable for younger audiences, some are very edgy… It really reflects the interests of the students.”
For the most part, the only restrictions on students when picking shows have to do with logistics; it’s suggested that directors keep to a three or four person cast, and sets need to be designed to be completely taken down and reset for the next show in twenty minutes – or less. Even so, students always find plenty of ways to work with the restrictions put on them.
“We try to encourage the students to pick plays that mean something to them,” Fenwick says. “Sometimes they’ve created their own work, and we have some of that… as well as comedies, dramas, plays by well-known playwrights… there’s something for every audience’s taste in the festival.”
Directors’ Festival plays April 25 to 29 at UFV Chilliwack campus, and tickets are one for $5, four for $15, or a festival pass can be purchased for $40. Tickets can be obtained prior to the shows at the box office, open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, and tickets are also available at the door of each performance (although seating is limited in some cases and patrons are advised to purchase their seats in advance.)
