[van-announce] Forum: Women Creating Change

[resist admin]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 23:32:11 -0800 (PST)
From: Sid Tan <sidtan at vcn.bc.ca>
Reply-To: "RTL, project-x: it's ALL THE SAME" <project-x at lists.resist.ca>
To: BC Environmental Network <info at bcen.bc.ca>
Subject: [pr-x] WOMEN CREATING CHANGE/Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the
    People"


Please circulate:

The Firehall Arts Centre presents the forum:

WOMEN CREATING CHANGE
Wednesday February 12, 7:00pm
YWCA of Vancouver, Meeting Rooms 1&2,
545 Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC

A celebration of the efforts and activism of women who are
working to create change in their communities.

Moderator: Frances Wasserlein, Vancouver Folk Music Festival.
Panelists: Benita Bunjun, Vancouver Status of Women
	   Rita Wong, Poet and Activist
	   Ellen Woodsworth, Vancouver City councillor
	   Margo Kane, Full Circle First Nations Performance

The WOMEN CREATING CHANGE forum is organised to raised issues brought
forth by Henrik Ibsen in "An Enemy of the People", currently playing at
the Firehall Arts Centre. Director Donna Spencer has adapted this theatre
classic that explores the balance of individual and collective rights,
responsibility and power. Issues of gender are also addressed by replacing
the traditionally male lead role with a professional single mother.

An Enemy of the People runs until February 23. Call 604.689.0926 for
ticket information, half-price previews and pay-what-you-can performances.

Contact: Kelly Foxcroft
Public Relations and Marketing Co-ordinator
Phone: 604-689-0691

The following submission to Columbia Journal was accepted for publication.

THEATRE AS ACTIVISM AT FIREHALL ARTS CENTRE:
Twenty Years and Running in the Downtown Eastside
by Sid Chow Tan

"I've made a great discovery...and I'll tell you what it is: the
strongest person in the world is the one who stands alone."

The quote from Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People" could have
anticipated the Firehall Arts Centre and Donna Spencer, its founding
and resident Artistic Director. The Firehall has distinguished itself with
culturally diverse dance, theatre and visual arts in the Downtown Eastside
of Vancouver. To do it for twenty years in this vibrant and troubled
community deserves greater recognition and support.

Currently running at the Firehall, Ibsen's classic is relocated to
a 21st century British Columbia resort area. A community faces a moral
dilemma when they discover the local hot springs resort water is
contaminated and their resource based economy is threatened. Adapted and
directed by Donna Spencer, the production's present day setting lends a
new sense of purpose and dynamics.

An Enemy of the People serves as a timely commentary of what we face in
addressing environmental health issues when personal conflicts are mixed
with communal interests. It navigates the difficult terrain where
political, business and environmental concerns play out on the daily news.
The casting choices further serve to reflect the present day multicultural
Canadian landscape.

Donna Spencer and the Firehall have always taken risks with unconventional
repetoire and colour-blind casting. Riskier, however, was betting theatre
would find a home in one of the lowest per capita income postal codes in
Canada. Lower Mainland theatre-goers and area residents have kept theatre
alive in the Downtown Eastside for two decades. Hopefully, theatre as
activism will see another twenty years at the corner of Gore and Cordova.

An Enemy of the People runs until February 23. Call 604.689.0926 for
ticket information, half-price previews and pay-what-you-can performances.

An Enemy of the People runs until February 23. Call 604.689.0926 for
ticket information, half-price previews and pay-what-you-can performances.

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Half price previews Jan. 31, Feb. 1, 2, 3 and 4
Opens Wednesday, February 5 and runs through Sunday Feb 23.
Tuesday - Saturday at 8:00pm
Pay-what-you-can: Sundays at 2pm and Wednesday at 1pm
Tickets $10-$20 available through the Firehall Arts Centre Box Office
280 East Cordova Street
604.689.0926 and online at www.firehallartscentre.ca