The Cultch presents
THIS IS THE POINT
Ahuri Theatre & The Theatre Centre (Toronto) Presented with PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
WHEN: Jan 29 – Feb 2, 2019
Jan 29, 8PM: Opening
Jan 30 – 31, Feb 01 – 02, 8PM
Feb 02, 2PM
All shows will be treated like relaxed performances. Relaxed performances are designed to welcome audience members who would benefit from a less restrictive audience environment including (but not limited to) individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, sensory sensitivities, and learning disabilities.
ASL Interpreted Performance: Feb 2, 2PM, Live Audio Description by VocalEye: Feb 2, 2PM
WHERE: Historic Theatre, 1895 Venables St.
TICKETS: Tickets from $24. Single tickets on sale now through The Cultch’s Box Office: 604-251-1363 or tickets.thecultch.com.
ADDED VALUE: Book tickets for one of the TALKBACK performances and enjoy a lively post-show Q&A session with the artists: Jan 30
Dora Award-winning show This is the Point makes its Vancouver premiere
(Vancouver, BC) – The Cultch is thrilled to present, This is the Point, from Ahuri Theatre and The Theatre Centre (Toronto). This is the Point is a co-presentation with PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, and runs January 29-February 2, 2019 at the Historic Theatre.
Dan and Christina are parents searching for the best way their disabled son Bruno can share his voice. Tony is a non-verbal adult who won’t shut up. Liz is his long-time romantic partner grappling with the judgements that society makes about their love and sexuality. Through a series of staged conversations and theatrical re-enactments, these two couples draw from their personal lives to explore and debate questions of representation, the nature of companionship, and whether people of different abilities can ever connect with each other on equal terms.
This play was developed through the two-year residency program at the Theatre Centre in Toronto. It incorporates high and low tech augmented communication aids (devices used by non-verbal people to express themselves), as well as projected live video feeds, to create a heightened naturalistic style that simultaneously connects and contrasts the physical body with the technologies we use to communicate.
“A whip-smart play about, love, sex, and disability in all its gritty, messy humanness.”
– Lynn Slotkin
“Anyone who’s feeling anxious or isolated or in need of connection can look to these four performers” — Toronto Star
“This was an entirely original theatrical experience for me—watching a monologue, speaking it and being moved by it all at once.” — Kelly Nestruck, Globe and Mail
Written by: Tony Diamanti, Dan Watson, Christina Serra, Karin Randoja and Liz MacDougall
Director: Karin Randoja
Performers: Tony Diamanti, Liz MacDougall, and Dan Watson
Projection Design: Melissa Joakim
Set & Costume Design: Sonja Rainey
Lighting Design: Andre du Toit
Sound Design: Tim Lindsay
Production Stage Manager: Pip Bradford
ABOUT AHURI THEATRE:
Ahuri Theatre is an award-winning collective of artists that makes live performances, placing people, cultures, languages and ideas in a creative space to be explored, celebrated, challenged, and transformed. Inclusion is at our core: we progressively define, evolve and redefine our creation methods to include everyone in the room regardless of language, culture and ability. The collective is led by Haruna Kondo in Japan and Dan Watson in Canada. Over its existence, the collective has produced 7 theatre productions both in Toronto and Tokyo, garnering 17 Dora Award nominations (winning three). During that time we have formed partnerships with arts organizations the Setagaya Public Theatre, The Theatre Centre, Theatre Smith Gilmour and Why Not Theatre, government agencies The Norwegian and Canadian Embassies of Tokyo, Educational institutions Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Toho University of Japan and Humber College, cultural institutions The Japan Foundation of Toronto, The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, The Columbus Centre and the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, and health and wellness organizations including Bridgepoint Health Centre, Variety Village, Communication Disabilities Access Canada and Triluma Living Collective.
ABOUT THE THEATRE CENTRE:
The Theatre Centre is a nationally recognized live arts incubator that serves as a research and development hub for the cultural sector. We are a public space, open and accessible to the people of our community, where citizens can imagine, debate, celebrate, protest, unite and be responsible for inventing the future. The Theatre Centre’s mission is to nurture artists, invest in ideas and champion new work and new ways of working. The company fosters a culture of innovation by embracing risk and questioning traditional notions of failure and success.
ABOUT THE CULTCH:
Since 1973, The Cultch (formally the Vancouver East Cultural Centre) has been one of Vancouver’s most diverse and innovative arts and cultural hubs. The organization operates three theatrical venues, a gallery, and various ancillary spaces in the heart of East Vancouver. The Cultch offers dynamic contemporary programming in theatre, dance, music, and the visual arts, bringing world-class cultural presentations to thousands of citizens each year through its own programming and through providing rental opportunities for community users. Our purpose is to provide a venue for performance that serves a diverse and engaged public and provides space for artistic experimentation and development, building an audience for local companies and presenting cutting-edge national and international work.
