Upintheair Theatre
Upintheair Theatre is Vancouver-based theatre company run by Artistic Producers Daniel Martin and David Mott. Upintheair produces the rEvolver Theatre Festival, as well as the creation and production of new work.
Contents
Mandate
Upintheair Theatre fosters possible futures: supporting the next generation of theatre makers, and exploring new ideas through a unique focus on speculative fiction and formal innovation.
Speculative Fiction: exploring real and important ideas about what is happening in the world right now, through an intelligent eye on the near future.
Formal Innovation: experimentation in untried or risky content, issue or idea, writing style, genre, and/or staging.
Company History
Upintheair Theatre was formed in 1999. After producing a series of sell-out Fringe hits, the company launched the Walking Fish Festival in 2003 as a way of developing links and relationships among emerging theatre makers in Vancouver. Walking Fish became a key event in the Vancouver calendar for artists at the beginning stages of their professional careers. In nine years, over 400 artists participated in the production of 80 original, Canadian works. In 2010, we launched a larger two-week theatre festival with a national scope, Neanderthal Arts. Neanderthal incorporated the Walking Fish Festival and full length shows from local and national emerging professional companies and artists. Its success spurred a period of intense growth, bringing onboard new and increased public and private investment, and launching the company onto the national stage. In 2013 Upintheair significantly refashioned our festival activity, launching the rEvolver Theatre Festival and moving from July to May, changes which increased the public profile, attendance, and artistic reputation of the festival.
Upintheair’s second major activity stream is the creation and production of innovative performances. We have created shows for theatres, parking lots, abandoned warehouses, and campervans. Notable hits have included Wedgie (the only original, locally created script to win Presentation House Theatre's On The House co-production award), Men of the World, 120bpm, and Wagabondi Ho! In October 2013 we were professionally presented for the first time, as our production of Inside The Seed by Jason Rothery opened The Cultch’s 2013-14 season to strong houses and critical review, and garnered five Jessie Award Nominations, winning for Outstanding Direction and Best New Play. We also began work on an interactive adaptation of China Miéville’s acclaimed novel The City and the City, in partnership with The Only Animal.
The rEvolver Theatre Festival
See also The rEvolver Theatre Festival.
The rEvolver Theatre Festival takes place at the end of May each year in and around The Vancouver East Cultural Centre (The Cultch). rEvolver presents new work by emerging artists and companies with a focus on formal innovation. The purpose of the festival is twofold: to provide emerging professional theatre makers with a supported environment in which to produce and develop new work and connect with audiences; and to engage audiences with the full range of contemporary Canadian theatrical practice, from script-based theatre to devised and site-specific works, staged readings of work-in-progress, and a broad range of styles, genres, and subject matter. rEvolver is the only platform in B.C. dedicated to offering professional presenting opportunities to emerging artists and companies. The Festival is programmed through an open submission process taking place in the fall of each year.
Production History
Inside the Seed written by Jason Patrick Rothery
A Tomb with a View written by Norm Robbins, co-produced with Genus Theatre
A Guide to Mourning written by Eugene Stickland, co-produced with Genus Theatre
Borborygmi created by Dave Mott, Darren Boquist, Daniel Martin, Paulo Ribeiro, Kathleen Pollard, Uriah Field & Victoria Lyons, as part of Bridge Mix
Johnny Grant: A Rollicking Adventure Story written by Daniel Martin and Dave Mott
Wagabondi Ho! written by Daniel Martin and Dave Mott
120bpm written by Aidan Maxted, Daniel Martin and Dave Mott
Moxie written by Jason Patrick Rothery
Men of the World written by David Geary and Deborah Wilton
Wedgie written by Jason Patrick Rothery
Pyropornomania written by Daniel Martin and Dave Mott
