DON'T FORGET YOUR PANTS Opens Tonight at Vancouver's Havana Theatre
Vancouver is known around the world for playing host to some the theatre world's biggest productions. However, this July the Provincial capital will stage an innovative and compelling new comedic production that has quite literally been built from the ground up by its two driven creators.
'Don't Forget Your Pants' is a unique collaboration between Christiaan Westerveld and James Challis, two young Australian thespians who have written, directed, funded and built the production using their own passion and resources. With the show making its debut at Vancouver's Havana Theatre tonight, July 17th, theatre buffs from across North America are excited to witness the fruits of the duo's labour.
The production is a fun-filled comedy with colourful characters, witty dialogue and absurd situations. Told through a series of swiftly sketched scenes we follow the misadventures of four characters as they struggle to assert themselves in society.
The play contains three major narratives that weave together. After making a series of questionable decisions Chauncey touches on a moral core that he has ignored for years. Lewis, neurotic and insecure, tests the limits of his relationship with Serena by his unreasonable demands. But all Serena wants is to get married. Meanwhile, Todd, just wants a hug. From anyone. Along the way they encounter a variety of other intriguing characters.
As the show's writer explains, they wanted to officially stage the play following critical acclaim from some of the industry's top pundits.
"We submitted it for the National Playwriting Festival in 2012 and though it was not a winner it did manage to make it to the short list of twenty from over one hundred and sixty entrants. The judges said that it was outstanding for its ambition, insight, demonstrated understanding of the medium and our facility with character and dialogue. Due to this success, we wanted to take the show to a live audience," says Westerveld.
With a decision set in stone, the duo quickly realized that they faced the mammoth task of securing funding, building props and handling each and every aspect of the production process.
Director James Challis enjoyed the challenge; "We set up a crowdfunding campaign to raise the money we needed to cover our high costs. Every penny went directly into the production and this allowed us to hire a great team to build backdrops, move furniture and secure costumes. To keep our costs low we visited consignments stores and even took donations from friends. It's going to be an awesome production and we can't wait to share it with the world."
The show's crowdfunding campaign is still live, with backers receiving numerous creative rewards as a thank-you for their donations. Depending on the amount pledged, backers will have an opportunity to receive free tickets, be named as a major sponsor and even party with the cast and crew following July's debut performance.
In all, 'Don't Forget Your Pants' is a powerful display of the determination, passion and creativity of grassroots theatre.
The show opens at the Havana Theatre tonight, July 17th, 1212 Commercial Drive ,Vancouver BC.
Recently Christiaan Westerveld appeared in another original production in Cairns called At Sea, Staring Up by acclaimed writer Finnegan Kruckemeyer. He has participated in both Writing for stage as well as Improvisational and Script Development workshops. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts and has appeared in productions of Camino Real, Twelfth Night and Three Sisters.
James Challis was the winner of the Getaway American Road Trip that featured on Channel 9 in Australia. He has starred in various theatre productions such as Relatively Speaking by Alan Ayckbourne, Jane Austin's Emma, The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters.
He worked for prestigious film production companies as a project manager and producer for Fade In Productions, Play TV, Best Picture Show and Active TV.
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