Four acclaimed productions, several play readings, an all-ages dance party and talkbacks with teens are among the offerings at the Belfry Theatre over the next two weeks, as the company launches its annual SPARK Festival.
“For us, it’s fun, but it’s kind of crazy,” said Belfry Theatre artistic director Michael Shamata.
“There’s always something happening. You kind of feel like you need to move your sleeping bag in and stay for two weeks.”
The festival gets underway Saturday in the Belfry’s lobby with the first instalment of Worldplay, a mini-festival of pay-what-you-can readings. The festival continues Sunday afternoon with an all-ages dance party and Monday evening with a play reading before starting in earnest Tuesday with its two first-week ticketed productions, Busted Up: A Yukon Story and Destiny, USA.
Busted Up: A Yukon Story is a production from a Yukon-based theatre company co-created by Victoria’s Jessica Hickman, while Destiny, USA is the product of former Belfry Theatre employee Laura Anne Harris, who now lives in New York. “What’s exciting about the first week is that the two shows are by Victoria artists coming here from elsewhere,” Shamata said.
Both plays run through March 14. Two other plays, KISMET, things have changed, out of Vancouver, and Newfoundland production Between Breaths lead the way in the second week, with five shows apiece between March 17 and March 20.
Shamata loves what established headliners such as KISMET — which recently wrapped its initial run at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre to rave reviews — bring to a festival with so much new and emerging content.
“It has always been a festival of work from across Canada that has already been acclaimed and celebrated. It’s also work that presents the story in a non-traditional way. There should be something about each piece that is kind of unusual.”
Interspersed between the mainstage activity are a variety of play readings, mini plays, free programming, and a talkback with high school students in the Belfry 101 program; there’s also a two-day Shakespeare workshop taught by Shamata and University of Victoria Theatre Department professor Michael Elliott.
While SPARK gives the Belfry a chance to bring productions from across the country to Victoria for a showcase, it also gives the local community an opportunity to showcase its own wares, Shamata said.
“SPARK brings in work both for the artists here in Victoria to see and for audiences to be able to see our work in comparison.”
