Despite entertaining Squamish for the past 30 years, the award-winning Between Shifts Theatre (BST) still has to fight for recognition in a fast-changing sports town.
“That’s something that is a big priority for us,” said BST board chair Amy Reid. “Over the past few years, we’ve lost a lot of our members, long-term people that had been with us for decades. As the town has evolved, many of those old members have moved away, so we’ve had to look at different ways of ensuring the people who do live here … know that, as a community theatre group, we’re here and we’re ready to welcome whoever wants to be a part.”
That’s part of the logic behind BST’s latest show, Take Five: One Acts, which, as the name implies, is a series of five bite-sized, one-act plays that leans heavy on the comedy. An extension of BST’s theatre mentorship program, called The Studio, the production is a blend of fresh-faced students relatively new to acting and seasoned BST regulars, counting both adults and teens in the cast. [Editor’s note: The author of this story has previously performed in BST productions.]
“The idea is we wanted a night of really high comedy, something light, something fun, very silly. Each play is very absurdist,” Reid said. “It’s meant to be a bunch of good fun and a really welcoming way to bring new actors into the fold, The Studio is set up so half the process is lesson time. They do different exercises and improv games and get some of the core basic skills. Then, for the second half, they rehearse.”
The diversity of experience in the cast not only benefits the newcomers, but the old hands as well.
“I know for myself, I always love working with people who have something to teach me and I love working with people that have experiences I don’t, so I think the students get a lot of out of it and there’s a freshness and an excitement the more seasoned actors get out of it,” Reid said. “Ultimately it makes our theatre company stronger because it means we’re always opening our doors to people. You don’t have to be a really seasoned performer to come with something fresh and new and talented.”
The five one-acts hitting the Eagle Eye Theatre stage are Don Zolidis’ delightfully campy 10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse, directed by Reid and starring The Studio’s teen class; the prolific North Van writer John McGie’s Ups and Downs, a high-speed, side-splitting romp set entirely on an elevator, and also directed by Reid; David Ives’ Babel’s in Arms, directed by Reid, about two Mesopotamian construction workers tasked with building the Tower of Babel; another two-hander from McGie, Table Manners, a deliciously scandalous comedy starring and directed by Reid and BST co-founder Kathy Daniels, who dish out more than just gossip over lunch; and Christopher Durang’s classic farce, The Actor’s Nightmare, a play within a play that goes off the rails in quick succession, directed by Sara Marrocco.
The show runs every night, beginning at 7:30 p.m., from June 26 to 30 at the Eagle Eye Theatre inside Howe Sound Secondary. Tickets are $25, except for Tuesday, June 27, when BST offers three “pay-what-you-can” tiers for $10, $20, or $30.
Learn more, and find tickets, at betweenshifts.tickit.ca.
