A few more "Shows We Saw" and some audience reaction!

Trio Member Paul Just
rocking it out at Karaoke
Night at the Fringe Bar

Wow! It's hard to believe there are only 3 more days of the Fringe Festival! This has been hands-down one of the most amazing experiences ever. Aside from producing a stellar show, we have had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful artists and Fringe-goers alike. If you ever get to be a part of this Festival we can guarantee it will be an experience to remember.

When we're not on the stage, we've been taking in many of the shows on and off island! The plethora of talent is outstanding. Last night, while having a post show celebratory drink at the Fringe Bar (AGRO Cafe on Granville Island) we were trying to decide what late-night show to catch before packing it in when we were approached by charming actor/singer/musician pitching his show "The Illumination of the Grumpy Guitarist". Long story short, he sold us and we quickly guzzled our drinks and skipped over to the Review Theatre to see what the hubbub was about!

In case we needed
directions to the bar! ;-)

Delighted, surprized and thoroughly entertained is all we can say! So much so, that we leapt to our feet at the end. It was a combination of theatre, song and dance by some VERY TALENTED artists! It was a great end to an evening! If you're still trying to decide what to see on these last 3 days of the festival we highly recommend this show! And they have 2 performances left! Friday at 6:45pm and Sunday at 1:55pm. Go check it out!

"The Birdman" was another show we took in a few nights ago. Weird, quirky and strange is all we can say! But the uninhibited dance number at the end was worth the wait! He's at Performance Works!

Tony, our amazing stage manager had this to say about "Under the Mango Tree"... "UTMT was great. Veneesh Dubois is a very talented performer who played several roles in this semi-autobiographical play about her growing up in Fiji ‘Under the Mango Tree’. It was moving and delightful and incorporated film, music and her singing and dancing. I would recommend it her personality is charming and her acting good." You can catch this show at the Firehall (same venue as Trouble In Tahiti!)

As for Trouble In Tahiti, we still have 3 performances to go! Tonight (Friday) and Saturday we've got twilight shows at 11pm and our CLOSING (sniff-sniff) show is on Sunday at 7:15pm. There's still time to get your tickets in advance through www.vancouverfringe.com or at the door (cash only).

Here's a smattering of what we've been hearing from our audiences!

"Congratulations on all your hard work. I really really enjoyed your production last night. Thanks for bringing such a rare gem to Vancouver audiences." ~ Scott Ashton Swan (Applause Musicals)

"Congrats on a great show. So glad I got to see you all tonight. The street scene duet was just gorgeous. A real success all around." ~ Diane Speirs

"I was at the show last night. LOVED the music. Congratulations to you all!" ~ Susinn McFarlen (Actor/Playwright)

"Let me again congratulate you on Trouble in Tahiti – I thoroughly enjoyed it." ~ James W. Wright (General Director, Vancouver Opera)

"I'm glad I came!" ~ Reviewer (Opera Canada)

Tahiti Musical Director Kathy Gable
with Trio Member Grant Wardlow
relaxing at the Fringe Bar!

The Reviews Are In! And no... there is no naked Sam!

Trouble In Tahiti
September 8 to 18, 2011
Firehall Arts Centre

We have three performances under our belt and five left to go! Yesterday the reviews came pouring in and we are tickled pink with what the critics have had to say. Below are some snippits from the reviews. You'll also find hyperlinks each of the individual reviews should you wish to read the full version.

"Very innovative approach to the Berstein opera, and excellent performance by these five talented opera singers!" - Review Vancouver

“If you’ve wanted to try an opera but never dared go to one because it seemed inaccessible, Trouble in Tahiti is probably the best introduction. It’s in English, it’s accessible and it’s very short (40 minutes).” - Anabelle Bernard Fournier, Hummingbird604

"Contralto Natalie Burdeny carries the lyricism of the aria beautifully and has the maturity to convey the sadness and desperation of trying to get from a bed of weeds to a garden of love and happiness." - Lisa Barrett, Plank Magazine

"The show left me touched and sad, a good sign that the singers conveyed the emotions well. I had a great time and I recommend it to opera newbies and buffs alike." - Anabelle Bernard Fournier, Hummingbird604

"The show scene is a witty triumph itself with a naked* Sam singing about the glories of being a winner." - Lisa Barrett, Plank Magazine

* Just a little clarification on the quote above. There is no actual nudity in this show but maybe a little "teaser" which is what the critic above is referring to. You'll just have to come see it for yourself to understand what that's all about!

We have 5 performances left and 10% of proceeds to to the Vancouver Food Bank on Friday night! Show your support and keep opera at the Fringe!

Tuesday, September 13 @ 7:15pm
Thursday, September 15 @ 7:00pm
Friday, September 16 @ 11:00pm
Saturday, September 17 @ 11:00pm
Sunday, September 18 @ 7:15pm

Tickets Online: Tickets may be purchased online up to 4 hours before showtime.
At the Door: Tickets are available at the door 45 minutes before curtain. CASH ONLY!

Fringe is in full swing!

So the Vancouver International Fringe Festival is in full swing and VanCOCO is having a blast. Over the past few days we have had the pleasure of meeting some really awesome people; both audience members and cast and crew from other shows.

Ed Moran (Sam) and Natalie Burdeny (Dinah)
checking out the Sanny Board Forest
on Granville Island

Thursday night after our final music rehearsal we all headed down to Performance Works on Granville Island to take part in the "Fringe For All". Along with about 40 other presenters we gave the audience a 2 minute accapella snip-it of Trouble In Tahiti to entice Fringe-goers to circle our show in their Fringe Guide and come and experience Opera at the Fringe.

The most exciting news though is that we had our first performance yesterday! We had a great turnout and we were ecstatic to feel the pulse of a live audience laughing and gasping in all the right places! The entire cast and crew left the theatre after the performance pleased as peacocks! Oh, and we even signed a few autographs at the end! FUN!!!!

After the frantic strike we headed down to the FringeBar at Agro Cafe on Granville Island for a much deserved glass of wine, a few beers, and some delicious munchies. Afterward we went our respective ways to go and see the shows that interested us the most.

Ed Moran (Sam) took in an impromptu performance at the Agro Cafe Wild Canyon Stage (???) of "Say Wha" a collection of literature that once read actually insites the words "Say Wha". His favorite quote of the evening was from a magazine that said, "You are the ball bearing rolling around in the glass house inside of me"...Say Wha?

Natalie Burdeny (Dinah) and Kathy Gable (Musical Director) took in two otheer shows that evening: "You are not Dead: A Guide to Modern Living" at the Granville Island Hotel and "This is Cancer" at Performance Works. Both were equally entertaining, however Natalie said that "This is Cancer" was exceptional! She didn't know whether to love it or hate it as she laughed and shed a tear or two. "You'll feel moments of extreme discomfort and joy.... if I were to recommend a show... it would be This is Cancer!", she said.

Trouble In Tahiti has 7 more runs and you can get the full schedule on our website (www.vancoco.ca). We invite you to head on down to the Firehall Arts Centre... in the words of the surprise critic who came to our show last night... "I'm glad I came!" Don't miss it!

Take a photo and WIN tickets to Trouble In Tahiti!

Kate Wilkins, Festival Assistant

Today was Artist Check-In at the Vancouver International Fringe Festival tent on Granville Island! We arrived early of course, and there was already a line-up! The ever so friendly and sweet Kate was there to help us get oriented and answer the million and one questions we had!

We claimed our "sanny-board" (#11a) and now we have a challenge for you! In the next few days, the "sanny-boards" will be circulating around Granville Island. If you want to WIN two tickets to a performance of Trouble In Tahiti  all you have to do is:

(a) Find our "sanny-board" (Hint: It's #11a)
(b) Take a photo with you and our "sanny-board"
(c) Email your photo and name to info [at] vancoco [dot] ca by Wednesday, September 14th!

The "Sanny-Boards"

We will randomly draw two winners on Thursday, Sept. 15th for our 11pm shows on Sept. 16 and 17 respectively. Boards will begin circulating in another day or two so be sure to go snap your shot and check out some of the other fantastic Fringe shows both on and off the Island!

Interested in other ways to win tickets? Local social media guru Hummingbird604 is doing a giveaway and you can check it out by clicking "here".

And... to the 100th person who "follows us" on Twitter, we'll be giving away another 2 free tickets!

Can't wait to see your photos! This should be FRINGE-TASTIC!!!!

---UPDATE----

The first photo has been submitted!

Madeline Hannan-Leith!!! Great shot!

Tech Day at the Firehall Arts Centre

We are excited to say we are all moved into the theatre, unpacked and just about ready to go. We spent the majority of the day on Saturday positioning our set and hanging our lights. Sound cues have been worked out and projections are in place. We're in great shape for our dress rehearsal tonight.

We are so glad that we have such an awesome Technical Team. Here is a pic of our Lighting Designer Phil Schulze hard at work in the rafters making sure that you can see our shiny faces on stage. But he is just one of the fantastic team members helping us put together this show.

Joining us again are Anthony Wade-Cooper as our Stage Manager and Wayne Gilbart as our ASM. Corwin Ferguson from Awkward Stage Productions also lent us a hand with our projections, and the folks at the Firehall were also hard at work making us look and sound great!

A big thanks to everyone who has helped along the way! We open in just a few days and we hope that you will all enjoy this show as much as we have enjoyed putting it together.

And... for those who enjoyed our segment on "Paul's Amazing Socks" we thought you'd enjoy this photo! We're not sure how he managed to coordinate this, but Paul's Socks even matched the set. Guess you will have to come and see the show to believe it. And, if you ask nicely, we're sure Paul will gladly lift his trousers to give you a peek at the "Sock-du-Jour". (Note we said "lift" and not "drop"!)

Check out our website for a complete listing of showtimes and ticket information.

Bright and Early at CBC Radio Studio 3!

Hey VanCOCO Fans! We just wanted to let you know to keep an ear out for our radio spot which will be airing on CBC Radio over the next couple of weeks to promote Trouble In Tahiti at the Vancouver International Fringe Festival. We sang our first notes of the day in CBC Recording Studio 3 and managed to get in a two minute sound byte of music from the show to entice fans over to Firehall Arts Centre. From the looks of it, the cast quite enjoyed the experience.



We are also very excited that we finished the day with our Designer Run where fellow actor/director Andy Maton, our Lighting Designer Phil Schulze, and the rest of our crew showed up to watch the show and provide us with some audience feedback and a fresh perspective on the production that we have been preparing for our new Fringe Audience. We managed to squeeze in two top-to-bottom runs yesterday and it was so exciting to see the continued energy and breath being put into this living work of art.

Don't forget... we open on September 9th and tickets are available at www.vancouverfringe.com as well as the the Fringe Box Office on Granville Island!

Check back tomorrow for a feature on Paul's Socks!

Shows We Like :: 4th Edition!

Veenesh Dubois
Under The Mango Tree

It would seem that the inspiration for most theatre comes from adversity or struggle. Trouble in Tahiti centres around a married couple who are struggling to get back to the magic of love that they experienced when they first met. This is not an uncommon topic and segways nicely into the next installment of "Shows We Like".

Producer, playwright and actor Veenesh Dubois is no stranger to the Fringe stage. Her show, Under the Mango Tree is returning to the Vancouver International Fringe Festival after its successful debut in 2009. Since then she has toured the show on numerous Fringe stages (Winnipeg, Edmonton, Toronto) along with many other independent theatres to rave review.

Under The Mango Tree is about a daughter's love and yearning for her father. The father lives in a small village and wants to find fame, fortune and better opportunities, so he leaves his family behind and emigrates to Canada. The story follows the letters that the daughter and the father exchange between one another.

This play is inspired by Dubois' own personal experience of being a young girl who grew up on a dirt floor hut in Ba, Fiji and being abandoned by her father who emigrated to Canada to make a better life for his family. While her father eventually sent for her, the play explores Dubois' own feelings around being abandon in Fiji and her family's immigration story to Canada.

Under The Mango Tree would appear to be another example of the complexity of family. The play itself has garnered rave review, described as "A tremendously told story" (Edmonton Sun), "Evocative & Entertaining" (Eye Weekly Toronto), and "An Emotional Roller Coaster" (NorthWest Interviewer - Sheryl McKay).

We can't wait to see Dubois in action! And this shouldn't be difficult as she is sharing the stage with us at the Firehall Arts Centre for the duration of the 2011 Vancouver Fringe Festival.

For more information about Dubois and Under The Mango Tree visit her website! And stay tuned for highlights from Day 2 of Trouble In Tahiti rehearsals. Staging starts today!

Website: vancoco.ca
Blog: vancocoblog.blogspot.com

Facebook: facebook.com/VanCOCoOp

Twitter: @VanCOCoOp

eMail: info@vancoco.ca

Even More Shows We Like!

SINCE YOU LEFT US
What if the greatest love
of your life is you dog?
by Susinn McFarlen

The entire process of producing a "Fringe" show has been exceptionally rewarding! Not only because we get the chance to produce a rarely performed work and bring a new genre to the "Fringe" in Vancouver, but because we have met so many really interesting people along the way. Susinn McFarlen is one of them!

The day we met Susinn it was an instant "LIKE". Susinn is just plain cool! An award winning actress, with a tonne of experience in the theatre world, and a great new play to boot! We love creative people and undoubtedly she'd have some words of wisdom to share with us.

But alas, we're not here to just tell you how amazing Susinn is... you'll have to be the judge of that! She has written a play called "Since You Left Us". It has been 3 years in the making and the final results will come to fruition at the Firehall Arts Centre on September 8th.

The inspiration for this play is quite interesting and admirable. We at VanCOCO get it because we are ultimately doing the same thing in our own genre! In Susinn's own words... "Three years ago I counted the number of men over the age of 50 on stages in Vancouver. This was AFTER Bard closed. There were over 20 of them. However, not a single woman over the age of 50 was working. Right then I was determined to write a play that had interesting characters for older women. I knew that if I wrote great parts for women, I could get the best women in Vancouver to play them - because none of us were working. And I was right!".

And thus, Susinn started on her three year journey as a first-time playwright. She has already had some noteworthy success! This year she was invited to the prestigious Banff Playwright Colony to workshop the play for 2 weeks with a dramaturge and a cast and as a result she won the Larry Lillo and John Moffat Prize at this years Jessie Richarson Awards which is helping to cover the costs of self producing.

So what is the play about? Well here's the skinny...

Fanny hasn’t been home to visit her family in 15 years. Not since she sobered up. From the moment she walks in the door and sees her sister’s old dog eating dinner in a high chair and the rest of the family arrive drunk from 2 for 1 night at the local Hooters she knows it’s gonna be a difficult weekend. But when her mother’s drunken boyfriend passes out on top of the dog the entire visit is derailed. This outrageous new comedy takes us on an adventure that is unexpected and heartbreaking. SINCE YOU LEFT US is about making peace with the family you have, not the one you wish you had.

If you want to read more about Susinn, go to her website!

If you want to WIN TICKETS to her show... go here! (Beware... your going to need a dog and a camera to make this happen!).

If you want to read about the AWARD WINNING Cast and Crew (which includes a 4 legged cast member)... go here!

Other than that... just go see it!

Choreography is in the Bag

Our Choreo Genius!
Andrea Rabinovitch

Well, we spent the last two days working out our step-cross patterns and our step-ball-changes with Andrea Rabinovitch and we can't wait to show you our new grooves in the Firehall.

Below we have a dance step we call, "I am praying that I make it through rehearsal week." I am thinking this may be all the dance craze this coming fall.

Katherine... you are late for High-Tea!

And a "Family Picture second to none"!

We poke fun, but seriously we are soooo happy with the hard-work and effort that our trio put in for the last two days and just know our audiences are going to love your new dance moves.

Don't forget! We open on September 9th at the Firehall Arts Centre (280 East Cordova). Opening night is half-price night so if you're counting your pennies, you can't go wrong with a $6 ticket!

Buy them here!

Stay tuned for tommorrow's blog installment of "Shows We Like"... where you'll get a chance to meet the wonderful Susinn McFarlen and learn about her show "Since You Left Us!".

More Shows We Like!

So we are back to share more "Shows We Like". This time we'd like to share a little about a production that we get to share the stage with at the Firehall Arts Centre (280 East Cordova).

Winner of last years "Pick of the Fringe Award," Awkward Stage Productions will be presenting the musical SMILE. Not only are we super stoked that we get to see a whole lotta puppet action with their show, but we are super excited about Awkward Stage Productions mission. If you haven't heard of them yet, Awkward Stage Productions is committed to providing real life performance and production opportunities to youth in that awkward transition from childhood to adulthood, and from play acting to professional performance. Last year Awkward Stage had the youngest cast in the Fringe Festival with their production of "13". Their productions provide not only youth performers, but youth musicians, technical crew, production assistants, etc. with professionally guided theatre experience.

Not only does Awkward Stage take on one cast of youth, but they take a second, slightly older cast, to mentor the younger cast which has a huge benefit to both casts, resulting in what we are sure will be life long relationships.

Kudos to you Awkward Stage and the cast and crew of SMILE, we can't tell you how excited we are to see your show.

Plus an interesting note: PUPPETS DON'T SWEAT!



If you enjoyed that video, check out their bi-weekly YouTube updates on "The Lives of Puppets".

Check back tomorrow for photos and tales from our first two days of choreography with Andrea Rabinovitch!