The Shoes That Were Danced To Pieces
In place of the usual project description we offer this letter we received from an audience member:
To: The Sponsors, Producers, Director(s), Cast and Crew of “The Shoes that Were Danced to Pieces”
I have decided that the rarest and most cherished commodity in my adult life is to be pleasantly surprised. And so, though it has been weeks since the evening we spent with Boca del Lupo in Stanley Park, I write to offer my thanks and my praise for what was one of the most memorable evenings of the summer. I mean, really, the idea that 100 people would willingly suspend their disbelief and run with you through the forest to unravel a mystery that solves itself in the title of the play? Frankly, the more the script called attention to itself and the ridiculousness of our co-operation in this enterprise, the more I bought in. My family (including construction worker husband [read: not a theatre buff], 9 and 11-year old children, and even my world-weary mother in-law from New York) were equally charmed by this production.
While this note is, in some measure, meant to urge the creators and co-conspirators in this project to please carry on with your fantastic work, I know you will no matter what I say. So what I really hope is that you will also pass along my note to the sponsors of this event as an inducement to continuing their support of the Boca del Lupo productions in Stanley Park. This is a wonderful gift to the city and a superb example of how thoughtful sponsorship can play a major role in developing and advancing the artistic, intellectual and cultural life of Vancouver.
Again, my thanks and praise to all of you. See you next year!
Best wishes,
Jillian
Creative Team
Sherry J Yoon
As a theatre maker, director and currently co Artistic Director of Boca del Lupo in Vancouver BC I’ve been creating intimate immersive installations, made work inside theatres, and created large scale site activations for over 20 years.
My productions have toured across Canada, Latin America and Europe, with commissions and premiers at theatres and at festivals.
In addition to more traditional venues, my work has brought artists and audiences to old growth forests with performers rigged up 40 to 75 feet in the tree tops, to darken shipping containers experiencing the auditory journey of crossing the Pacific, under the ocean waters where we follow an archeologist 150 years into the future. I’ve worked on an interactive installation about climate change and our relationship to the guilt and isolation that people carry, involving the audience charging a battery on a stationary bicycle, a giant puppet piece that brings audiences into the imagined life of these creatures on land, ocean and sky.
As theatre maker my passion for creating new performance with Boca del Lupo and through collaborative pursuits has instigated international co productions with Mexico, Argentina, Ireland and South Korea.
As a director, workshop facilitator and teacher I’ve freelanced for companies and schools in Vancouver and across Canada. During my tenure Boca del Lupo has received numerous awards including the Alcan Performing Arts Award, Jessie Richardson awards, and the Critics Choice Award for Innovation and I have been nominated for the national Siminovitch Prize for directing.
Past committee work includes: the Studio 58 Arts Advisory, Canada Council’s REAC committee, the Arts Advisory for Theatre Section and the BC Arts Council Advisory. I’ve launched the 3.7% local and National Leadership Initiatives – and advocacy group to support emerging and established BIPOC women and non binary artists in leadership, and since the pandemic, Stop Asian Hate, an initiative that has galvanized Asian Canadian Leadership in the performing arts across Canada to help stop the spread of anti- Asian sentiments through connection and support within our communities.
Jay Dodge
An inventor, creator and entrepreneur, Jay’s imagination for the what, how and why of theatre defies conventional boundaries . During his tenure, the company has won the peer-assessed Alcan Performing Arts Award, and several Jesse Richardson Theatre Awards including seven nominations for the Critic’s Choice Award for Innovation and the Patrick O’Neill Award for best anthology with Plays2Perform@Home. Jay is a passionate set and video designer with Jessie Richardson Awards in both of those categories as well as a published playwright including a contribution to Boca del Lupo’s Red Phone project. His artistry is one of innovation and daring and his one man show, PHOTOG. featured interactive video, stunt rigging and verbatim text, touring to World Stage, Prismatic, Festival Trans Amerique and PuSh. Having served as President on the national board of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres, Jay also has special interest in creative space making including as co-founder of celebrated colocation space PL1422, co-founder of the Granville Island Theatre District. Happiest when he is tinkering in his studio with collaborators from a diverse range of disciplines and backgrounds, the impact of Jay’s influence is quiet yet profound.
Assistant Directors Tamara McCarthy and Rachel Peake Performers Lois Anderson, Thomas Conlin Jones, Kelly Metzger, Ari Solomon, Andy Thompson, Tamara McCarthy, Donna Soares, Lindsay Alford, Cat Main and Hazel Venzon Costumes Mima Preston Music Joelysa Pankanea, Steve Charles and Jenna Newman Managing Producer Hilary Davis Associate Producer Kris Nelson Crew Jamie Nesbitt and Sebastian Kroon
