Yearly Archives: 2016

Enjoy the casual, intimate experience of our Studio Stage with this year’s Studio Production.

One starry night the body of a young man, still strapped into his airplane seat, falls from the sky into the yard of Harold and Elsie’s farm. As the night unfolds, their mysterious guest effects a profound transformation in his hosts. Falling: A Wake is a haunting and surprisingly funny play about love, loss, and the redemptive power of letting go.

Tickets cost $27.

Show Location

This play is not at the theatre Mainstage, it’s at our Studio Stage

Available Performances

Book Your Tickets

Book online or call the box office now to book your tickets! 1-800-565-7738

Get a photo with the stars after the show!

Bring your group to see our summer KidzPlay (ask our groups coordinator about our special groups rate!) and meet the cast after the show in the front courtyard.

Pet the Fish and Other Impossible Tales is a hero’s tale for kids, an imaginative, exciting fantasy adventure for children coming to life on the Chemainus Theatre Festival stage again this summer.

Last seen on the Chemainus Theatre stage in 2004, it was written by Chemainus Theatre Festival’s Artistic Director Mark DuMez, who says it was inspired by a trip to a gift shop with his young daughter. Fascinated by a brightly coloured stained glass fish, she insisted with the enthusiastic wonder of a small child that she wanted to “pet the fish”! Ruminating on the day’s shopping adventure inspired Mark to write this heartful tale of a child’s gift to her mother; being able to return the dreams her mother lost in the process of becoming a grown-up.

Josephine, the heroine, sets out with her unwilling brother in tow, on a journey that magically transforms their lives. Their impossible tale takes them to a talking oyster, a riddling troll, and out to sea to catch the Big One.

You can now reserve your seats in advance for KidzPlays!

Recommended for ages 4 and up, Pet the Fish runs until August 13^th at the Chemainus Theatre Festival.

Tickets are only $12 (including taxes) for all ages. Or buy a family pack—buy 3 get one free! Show days and times: Tuesday 2 pm, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 11 am.

Book online or call the box office now to book your tickets! 1-800-565-7738

Groups

Contact our Group Bookings Coordinator, Karen Sharonowski:
groups@chemainustheatre.ca
Ph: 250.246.4161 or 1.877.247.4161

Get ready to dream big with Pet the Fish and Other Impossible Tales

Pet the Fish and Other Impossible Tales is a hero’s tale for kids, an imaginative, exciting fantasy adventure for children coming to life on the Chemainus Theatre Festival stage again this summer.

Last seen on the Chemainus Theatre stage in 2004, it was written by Chemainus Theatre Festival’s Artistic Director Mark DuMez, who says it was inspired by a trip to a gift shop with his young daughter. Fascinated by a brightly coloured stained glass fish, she insisted with the enthusiastic wonder of a small child that she wanted to “pet the fish”! Ruminating on the day’s shopping adventure inspired Mark to write this heartful tale of a child’s gift to her mother; being able to return the dreams her mother lost in the process of becoming a grown-up.

Josephine, the heroine, sets out with her unwilling brother in tow, on a journey that magically transforms their lives. Their impossible tale takes them to a talking oyster, a riddling troll, and out to sea to catch the Big One.

Samantha Currie, who appeared as Josephine in the original production, is thrilled to be making her Chemainus Theatre Festival directorial debut with this production about losing dreams, finding them, and holding onto them. She brings a wealth of performance and directing experience to this show and is eager to share this story with “all the dreamers, tall and small”.

Newcomers Lindsay Curl and John Han play Josephine and Jonathan, respectively. Stefano Giulianetti, previously seen at Chemainus Theatre Festival in Animal Tales and Munsch Ado About Nothing returns to play Poseidon.

Working with Samantha Currie on this production of Pet the Fish and Other Impossible Tales are: Set Designer Kevin McAllister, Costume Designer Kendra Cooper, Sound Designer Alexander Ferguson, Lighting Designer Nicole Lamb and Stage Manager Breanne Harmon.

You can now reserve your seats in advance for KidzPlays!

Recommended for ages 4 and up, Pet the Fish opens July 16^th and runs until August 13^th at the Chemainus Theatre Festival. Tickets are only $12 (including taxes) for all ages. Or buy a family pack—buy 3 get one free! Show days and times: Tuesday 2 pm, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 11 am.

Book online or call the box office now to book your tickets! 1-800-565-7738

The Cast of Footloose: The Musical (photo: Cim MacDonald)

Footloose: The Musical brings back the best of the 80’s, in all its vibrancy and punctuated by“truly emotional performances that really take the show to the next level.” – Lexi Bainas, Cowichan Valley Citizen

The audience says:

“What a performance! I was amazed at the Broadway quality voice and superb casting.”

“This is enjoyable for everyone and I’m booking again now as these tickets will be hard to get this summer.”

“…greatly deserved the standing ovation that the packed house delivered at the end of the show.”

“I found myself clapping and filled with emotion as the story unfolded.”

” We’ll be back in July to see the show again!”

Barbara Tomasic

Dance can be a way to express our deepest emotions – joy, love, and sometimes even sadness. We dance at weddings, birthdays, and great celebrations. There is a sense of abandon when we dance, a loss of intellectual control.

Footloose is a story about dancing, but it’s also about a family and a town that is grieving a great loss. It’s a story about how fear and grief can cause us to control the things around us, when what we really need is to let go.

I love this story and I’m so grateful to be telling it with the team here in Chemainus who are so generous of spirit and creativity. It takes me back to my teens, a time when, as an adolescent, I struggled to make the adults around me see what I believed to be the truth. I didn’t understand that they were dealing with their own emotions and fears and that perhaps there was a meeting ground where we could connect and learn from each other.

It is also a musical filled with love, heart, and open youthful energy, something that we can all use a bit of in our sometimes challenging and adult lives. So, we invite you to let that energy take you beyond your worries and cares and CUT FOOTLOOSE!!!

Feel free to dance in your seat.

About Barbara

I’m thrilled to be making my debut at CTF with this terrific cast and creative team! Favourite credits: Cathy – The Last Five Years, directing Crazy for You, Goblin Market and completing my MFA at UBC. Upcoming: Directing The Music Man at Gateway Theatre this winter and 42nd Street at Studio 58 in the spring. Thanks to my friends and family, and my team at Da Costa Talent.

Footloose, The Musical, will give you more flashy dancing, live rock music, and a powerful experience of the sweet story that made the original movie a world phenomenon.

Musicals adapted from movies are popping up in theatres around the world. And that’s no big surprise. Classic song and dance shows like 42nd Street, The Producers, and Singing’ in the Rain have been adapted from other sources for decades (including books, song, and radio).

What is changing is that the adaptations are more frequent, and springing from more modern films (The Lion King, High School Musical, South Park). We think that’s good news. The live telling of a terrific story is the best form of entertainment, and we’re thrilled to see more crossover!

In the tradition of great screen-to-stage adaptations, we’re excited to bring you Footloose. In today’s show, you’ll find the plot stays faithful to the 1984 film’s spirit of youth, rebellion, and romance. However, you’re in for a treat as the adaptation includes some clever improvements. Footloose, the musical, will give you more flashy dancing, live rock music, and a powerful experience of the sweet story that made the original movie a world phenomenon.

Bringing a major Broadway production to our stage is a big task. Our greatest thanks goes to our artistic team, actors, production team, sponsors, volunteers, and all those who have truly “kicked off their Sunday shoes” to make the show sizzle.

And thank you as always to our audience. We couldn’t be happier that you, too, like it live.