Director's Note

GONER: Idea - you bring me any food?

IDEA: I brought a play.

GONER: What do you do with that?

IDEA: Perform it.

GONER: I wish you’d brought food.

IDEA: We could eat the play.

Why do we do plays at Sanctuary? It’s a question I’ve been asked. I might be confused, but... don’t street-involved people need, um, food? Sure they do. But our community survives on a lot more than food. We need friendship, work, creativity, learning, beauty, expression, humour and, so importantly, a group of people to celebrate alongside.

This year, we’re doing a trio of plays with our usual eclectic mix of street-involved, urban, professional, volunteer, first-time and experienced actors. With thirteen performers, two stage hands, two playwrights, one director, one producer and a cornucopia of volunteers, this production sometimes has the feel of a small city.

The word "Vaudeville" comes from the French phrase "voix de ville" or "voice of the city". Historically, Vaudeville performances were short, comedic, unrelated plays that were accessible to a broad spectrum of viewers (kind of like live, local TV). Professional actors would use the Vaudeville stage to train and to try out new ideas. Audiences would come for a night of comedy that interrupted and lightened some of the daily grind.

Vaudeville (Voice of the City) captures much of the original Vaudeville spirit. Dick Charlton’s The Venus Figurine and The Golden Limping Stick are plays that carry forward from The Affair of Lady Fairfax, a piece presented at an earlier Sanctuary Arts eXtravaganza. They are comedies that train actors and allow audiences to laugh. Of Boots and Birds will also make ’em laugh (hang on for the chicken fight), but prods a little bit further into experimentation, playing with Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.

Why do we do plays at Sanctuary? So that we can perform, so that we can eat, so that we can light fires that singe our beards, so that we can staunch wounds, so that we can laugh and laugh and laugh. Ladies and gentlemen, a great big round of applause to...

-Shannon Blake, Playwright and Director

Who are the Screaming Monkeys

The Screaming Monkeys are made up of a variety of our friends. Some have always dreamt of acting, some were in their high school productions but haven't done much since, one of our team has performed at Massey Hall and Stage West, while still others are just looking to try their hand at something new.

It is important, for each of us to feel that we are being heard...that we have a voice. while most of us take this for granted, many of our friends who live on or near the streets don't enjoy that luxury. Instead, they are often disregarded, shoved aside, overlooked...not heard. This contributes vastly to their sense of health and value. Dramatic expression gives them an opportunity to be heard and, even more, to have their voice celebrated and affirmed. This experience increase their overall sense of health which allows them, in turn, to be healthier participants in and contributors to the Sanctuary community.

As well, street life often reflects an attitude of "every man for himself". The essential gifts of interdependence, trust and mutuality are rarely cultivated or valued. Being involved with others in a drama production is a powerful way of developing these values. Actors depend on one another for the right lines; the director depends on the actors to execute well; everyone relies on the stage-hands to do their part. A drama production, properly executed, is a beautiful microcosm of healthy community