New Vintage Theatre has taken their latest performance off the stage — adapting it to be viewed live in the audience’s living rooms.
Because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Kelowna theatre company has adjusted its eighth season to keep the arts alive.
“World-wide theatre and live performance has been really devastated but we are really firm in our belief in promoting artists and the work of local artists in particular so we want to keep going but we are just looking at new ways of doing that,” said Bonnie Gratz, New Vintage Theatre artistic director.
And New Vintage Theatre is doing just that with their recorded performance of Pink Unicorn, a one-woman show exploring gender identity, societal norms and the love of a mother.
“It’s really about understanding what gender is and throughout the play, as a cast and a crew, we have really understood that for people in the LGBTQ+ community, gender is a spectrum. It’s not something that’s assigned to you at birth and I think that’s an important understanding that this play represents,” said Gratz.
Actress Kendra Hesketh takes on multiple roles and transitions through the characters seamlessly to tell their stories.
“It was an incredible stretch for me as an actor first of all even memorizing an hour and 20 minutes of lines then delving into these characters with a southern accent,” said Hesketh.
For the online endeavour, the theatre company paired up with the Okanagan Society of Independent Filmmaking to give the performance more depth and emotion.
“By choosing where the camera is, you get to choose where the audience sits and what they see, whereas in theatre you don’t get a choice,” said James Alton, O.S.I.F. president.
“We had one (camera) that was really tight on Kendra’s eyes so when she would have a really reflective moment we could show the audience her gaze, her longing and desires.”
The Pink Unicorn is available to view until June 13 and tickets are available at http://www.newvintage.ca.
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