A It’s Skookum Pete, an old, homeless man who lives in Stanley Park, who saves the siblings’ Christmas.
Leaning on each other for support, Jennifer and Josh struggle with the death of their father while discovering the power of love.
The Patron Saint of Stanley Park, written by Vancouver-based playwright Hiro Kanagawa, has been performed throughout B.C and as far east as the Maritimes.
After seeing the modern-day fable at the Arts Club in Vancouver five years ago, director Carla Fuhre knew she wanted to one day bring the play to Squamish.
“I remember the way it made me feel and the dialogue I had with my daughter as we left. It was incredible and very moving,” said Fuhre, who has been with Between Shifts Theatre for 14 years. This is her fourth time as director.
“The children are dealing with loss, but there is also an element of comedy,” she said. “The subject matter is deep, and there are beautiful, light moments.”
The Patron Saint of Stanley Park, starring Caitlin Main as Jennifer, Rod Neufeld as Skookum Pete, Christine Gavin-Bartlett as Marcia, Cole and Jack Kirkpatrick as Josh, Darcey Kirkpatrick as Kevin and Prentice Geary as Vancouver Harbour Control, runs until Dec. 5 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Eagle Eye Community Theatre, 38430 Buckley Ave. Kanagawa will visit on Dec. 4 for an informal question-and-answer session with the evening’s patrons.
Tickets are available online at betweenshiftstheatre.com.group of Squamish-based actors recently explored Stanley Park to take in the setting of their upcoming play, The Patron Saint of Stanley Park.
“We saw how majestic the park is, and how easy it would to get lost in it during a storm, particularly for children,” said Caitlin Main, a Between Shifts Theatre Company actor who plays Jennifer, a 16-year-old who lost her father in a floatplane accident at Prospect Point.
The play, which runs from Nov. 26 to Dec. 5, takes place on a stormy Christmas Eve when Jennifer and her younger brother have an argument with their mother and run off to Prospect Point, determined to honour their father’s memory.
They are rescued by a mysterious vagabond who takes the pair to a magical world beneath the iconic park where visions help them heal from their father’s untimely death.
While on the field trip, the cast took in the views from the small peninsula of the North Shore mountains, Lions Gate Bridge and Burrard Inlet, imaging what it would be like to be caught in a vicious ice storm. Next they wandered around the outside of Prospect Point Café and came across the location where, according to the play, a magic bunker exists.
It is here that the siblings come to terms with their father’s passing.
“Jennifer is having a very tough time with her loss. Her grief comes out in anger and sarcasm,” said Main, who is in her second year of studies at Quest University.
“By the end of the play, she is able to say goodbye, but she’ll always mourn the death of her father.”
The siblings’ emotions run high on the first anniversary of the floatplane accident. Their mother, Marcia, tries to hold it together for the kids, an attempt Jennifer angrily dismisses as denial, while Josh clings to stories of pilots returning after being kidnapped by aliens.
