New Roots Festival 2022

About

The second annual New Roots Festival celebrates Work In Process by inviting audiences into the development of new theatrical works. This is a chance for you to be among the first to hear commissioned work from Pacific Theatre playwrights, and to see full readings from our Working With community playwrights’ group.

The festival spans four days of free readings, with audience feedback and interaction after each event. A celebration of creation is the perfect way to send off our season and close out our New Roots Campaign.

All our New Roots Festival events are free to the public – reserve your tickets today!

THE FESTIVAL LINEUP

THURSDAY JUNE 16

7:00 PM | PLAY READING – ABBAMMA!
by Keith Murray

ABBAMMA! A new play inspired by the ancient sayings of the desert fathers, mothers and others, looks through a dressing room mirror into the life of a 6th-century CE Christian monk. Through the temporal-drag of herstory, we scry a mirror dimly: can a spiritual refugee fleeing a binary world, create Eden in the desert? Can a drag performer, wrestling with faith and identity, find their truth, and reconcile their fractured family?

ABBAMMA is being developed as part of Pacific Theatre’s Working With community playwrights’ group. This event is a reading of Keith’s current draft, with an opportunity for audiences to share their thoughts on the piece through feedback cards.

FRIDAY JUNE 17

7:00 PM | PLAY READING & TALKBACK – THE TETSURO PROJECT
by Tetsuro Shigematsu

Before she passed away last summer, Tetsuro’s kids prayed with their grandmother every night. Even though Tetsuro has long departed from his childhood faith, he can’t help but notice that their home – without Grandma’s prayers – feels emptier. Told in his signature style, Tetsuro Shigematsu’s latest solo work (Empire of the Son, 1 Hour Photo) wrestles with his complicated relationship with faith. In it, he questions belief, what parts of faith we leave behind and what we carry forward for the rest of our lives.

The Tetsuro Project is in development through Pacific Theatre’s New Roots initiative with dramaturg Daniela Atiencia and director Kaitlin Williams. This workshop is a reading of the first 45 minutes, followed by a discussion and talkback with Tetsuro and Daniela.

SATURDAY JUNE 18

7:00 PM | PLAY READING & TALKBACK – MARY, MOTHER OF GOD
by Shauna Johannesen and Laura Koch

Mary is an icon. Literally and figuratively. And yet, we know almost nothing about Mary herself. The centrepoint of the Christian Story is that God became human and dwelt among us and yet we seem to go to a lot of lengths to keep Mary, his mother, from being too human – to keep her saintly, sanitized, and other-worldly. Virgin birth… How would that have played with your parents? Silent night… She literally gave birth in a barn, so probably not.  Mary took these things and pondered them in her heart… OK, and then what? What was the WHOLE REST OF MARY’S LIFE like? And in the centuries since, how has Mary’s story been used, who has used it, and what is the power of a person’s story anyway?

Mary, Mother Of God is in development through Pacific Theatre’s New Roots initiative. This workshop is a reading of a few scenes from the play (with songs!), followed by a discussion and talkback with Laura and Shauna.

SUNDAY JUNE 19

3:00 PM | PLAY READING – TREE GIRL
by Tina Teeninga

Through treeplanting, Daria’s out to prove to those who’ve never believed in her (and there are a lot of them) that she’s one tough S-O-B. The only problem is, Daria sucks at planting, maybe at relationships, and even life-in-general. No matter, with the God of the universe at her side, she’s bound to get better in all areas and succeed, right? When things in the woods go brutally awry, Daria’s clear path towards personal redemption is blurred and she’s forced to reconsider all she knows about herself, others, and even God. A tough and tender coming-of-age story with a host of wonderfully weird characters set in the rugged, rocky forests of Northern Ontario. 

This play is being developed as part of Pacific Theatre’s Working With community playwrights’ group. This event is a reading of Tina’s current draft, with an opportunity for audiences to share their thoughts on the piece through feedback cards.

7:00 PM | PLAY READING – THE LAST CONCESSION
by Kathy Parsons

A comedy/drama set on a farm in rural Ontario. An old farmer picks up a ‘city-girl’ wandering along the road early one morning and takes her home. The city-girl won’t tell anyone who she is or where she is from and sparks fly when the hired hand becomes suspicious of her. There is, however, cause for suspicion on many sides because she’s not the only one keeping secrets.

This play is being developed as part of Pacific Theatre’s Working With community playwrights’ group. This event is a reading of Kathy’s current draft, with an opportunity for audiences to share their thoughts on the piece through feedback cards.

Artistic Team

PLAYWRIGHTS

SHAUNA JOHANNESEN
MARY, MOTHER OF GOD

Shauna is an award-winning writer, actor, dramaturg, and filmmaker. Her plays have been produced across Western Canada, including Common Grace, and M is for Music, commissioned by the VSO.

Shauna also wrote and starred in Bedbugs: A Musical Love Story about a rag-tag group of bed bug puppets. She then wrote and directed the short film, Trying, a romantic comedy about What to Expect when you’re Not Expecting. Most recently, Shauna co-directed a Leo-nominated music video for The Kwerks. She can be seen in the latest seasons of the Babysitters Club on Netflix and When Calls the Heart on Hallmark.

LAURA KOCH
MARY, MOTHER OF GOD

Laura is an award-winning musician and performer who seeps honesty through every pore as she toys with melodies like she was born doing it, and she almost was. Making music from her youngest years, in the basement of her family home where the old piano stood, one day the floodgates blasted open, and out rushed the soul-shattering songs that comprise her repertoire today. Her stage presence is warm and authentic, her stories and lyrics eliciting nods and knowing smiles. Drawing from her beloved folk roots, leaning lazily into soul, tipping a hat to pop, your ears won’t be disappointed.

KEITH MURRAY
ABBAMMA!

Keith Murray (they/them) a queer faith leader, artist and activist, has had the pleasure of haunting Union Theological Seminary, NY, as their first artist-in-resident, and exhibiting around the world, including the MoMA, NYC, and Witte de With, NL. A long-time collaborator with The Only Animal, and Green Fools Theatre: Murray has designed on ice and snow for NiX, projected stories 100 ft tall on trees for Out On a Limb, created new puppet-musicals Elephant Song, and Once Upon an Atom Bomb, with Ghost River.  2014 winner for Outstanding Achievement in Integrated Design with for their Art Direction on Nothing But Sky, Murray, is thrilled to be pushing more boundaries with the support of Pacific Theatre on their new play. Murray is living into what it means to be a treaty person in Treaty 7, in the area known as Mohkínstsis, Wincheesh-pah, Guts’ists’I, Otôskwanihk (ᐅᑑᐢᑿᓂᕽ), Calgary, Alberta. 

KATHY PARSONS
THE LAST CONCESSION

Kathy is an award winning playwright who received her BFA from York University in Creative Ensemble and Playwrighting. She has a long relationship with Pacific Theatre through acting, directing and dramaturgy. Thanks to a PT’s sponsorship, she studied Dramaturgy at Simon Fraser University and she was PT’s Literary Manager for several years where she focused on new play development and script reading. Some of Kathy’s favorite writing projects include The Sea and Crazy Eights (PT’s 24 hour theatre festival), A Good Mother (PT’s Staged reading series), Escape Artists I (Vancouver Fringe Festival), and The Hitchhiker (Jason Goode’s Indie movie which won best screenplay at the Global ComedyFest). Kathy is also a playwright for Eastside Story Guild, a local children/youth theatre program at Grandview church.

TETSURO SHIGEMATSU
THE TETSURO PROJECT

A former writer for This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Tetsuro Shigematsu hosted The Roundup on CBC Radio, where he voiced nearly a thousand hours of network programming, as well as writing, producing and voicing over 50 pieces of radio drama. Tetsuro’s theatrical solo-work, Empire of the Son, was named the best show of 2015 by the Vancouver Sun, and has been touring continuously since–in 18 cities to over 20,000 people. His other solo-work, 1 Hour Photo, garnered five Jessie nominations, winning for Significant Artistic Achievement, and was named as a finalist for the 2019 Governor General’s Award for Drama. 

TINA TEENINGA
TREE GIRL

Vancouver-based playwright and actor, Tina has a curiosity and passion for investigating and expressing what it means to be human. Recent credits include major roles in Movin’ On Up new play festival (Staircase Theatre), Women of Lockerbie (Lock & Key), Agnes of God (Stones Throw/Pacific Theatre), and Wolf at the Door (Otherwise Productions), which she also wrote and produced. She wrote and starred in Saddest Girl in the World, seen all across Canada. Currently three scripts, Tree-Girl, Red Bicycle, and Sparrow’s Nest are in development as part of Pacific Theatre’s ‘Working With’ program.

Showtimes

THURSDAY JUNE 16

7:00 PM | ABBAMMA!
by Keith Murray

FRIDAY JUNE 17

7:00 PM | THE TETSURO PROJECT
by Tetsuro Shigematsu

SATURDAY JUNE 18

7:00 PM | MARY, MOTHER OF GOD
by Shauna Johannesen and Laura Koch

SUNDAY JUNE 19

3:00 PM | TREE GIRL
by Tina Teeninga

7:00 PM | THE LAST CONCESSION
by Kathy Parsons

Special Performances

Video