Bike Ride
When: July 12, 13, 19, 20 from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (last tour departs 6:30 p.m.)
Where: Galloping Goose Trail (the Hub is Cecelia Ravine Park)
Tickets: $15 in advance at www.ticketrocket.org or 250-590-6291. $20 at the Hub. $25 two-day pass. Kids 12 and under free
Whether selecting a dance group, theatre troupe or other performing ensemble, Theatre SKAM’s criteria for its one-of-a-kind summer festival Bike Ride are generally the same:
“We go for somewhere between crazy and incredibly talented,” Bike Ride producer Graham McDonald said.
It fits, for a festival that trades traditional stages for the nooks and crannies along the Galloping Goose Trail.
Bike Ride returns this year with 14 acts, ranging from opera singers to puppeteers.
Audience members collect in groups at the Hub in Cecelia Ravine Park, then travel from site to site by bicycle.
In addition to a range of disciplines, the performers also come with varying levels of experience, Graham said.
“We want that mix of raw talent, energy and enthusiasm. So we have companies right out of university who are just gung-ho to create new work and we also have the crafty veterans who just want to test their mettle and do something different.”
Among them is the Ottawa Stilt Union.
“They have a person in a cocoon hanging from a tree, who will emerge on stilts — pretty cool,” McDonald said.
Rebecca Hass, a veteran on the local opera stage, will make her Bike Ride debut this year alongside husband Mike Lenz.
The couple have pared down Wagner’s epic Ring Cycle from about 16 hours to 10 minutes.
“The story alone is crazy complicated; it’s based on German and Scandinavian myths,” Hass said.
“It took Wagner 26 years to write it. And it’s taken me, it feels like, 26 years off my life to reduce it.”
Hass, who has 28 years as a professional opera singer, said she decided to try pitching a show to Bike Ride after enjoying her experience as an audience member. She joked that she would have to adjust to working without a stage manager.
“I’m used to being well-cared for and usually people dress me. But I want to give it a go. So this is sort of my first jump into self-production,” she said.
Justin Carter is also a first-time participant.
“It’s very cool, it’s very impromptu, I like the idea of theatre in the open,” he said of his experience as an audience member.
He’ll play a fundraising canvasser in a short play called Giving Back.
“It’s about two canvassers who work for a non-profit organization and the interaction between them. I guess the term moral relativism comes to mind,” he said.
A full list of performance descriptions are available on Theatre SKAM’s website (skam.ca).
The Selkirk Station will take pre-bookings for bike rentals at 250-383-1466.
Now in its sixth season, Bike Ride seems to be establishing itself well as a community event.
“I think last year was a real turning point for the company,” said McDonald, who has worked on the event for three seasons.
“The numbers grew significantly. And everywhere I go and talk to people about it now, about 70 per cent already know about it. So that’s a huge difference.”
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