Pivot - “To drastically change the way in which something is presented”.

Box - “The limitations of conventionality”.

Producing theatre of any kind always requires a couple of key components. Understanding the space in which you can perform and the flexibility and creativity to make modifications as the development of the work progresses. You typically know the parameters of your space, your budget, the licensing and the tech available to you. This is your box. Then you add a cast enviably encounter snags, hiccups and roadblocks that require you to adapt, change and adapt your plan, but you don’t exactly pivot. You modify or plan for alternate scenarios, but the box is still the same box.

Enter the 2020-21 school year, Quarter 4 and the first opportunity for our grade 11 and 12 to take a theatre class. To do something that fueled new possibilities, and bringing with it the unique energy that collaborative creativity produces. We started that whole process online, which no one wanted, and suddenly flipped to in person midway through show development.

At the beginning of the quarter, I told the class that we had a box to play in. It included new platforms for producing theatre and aspects out of our control. I said that while this is not the box we all wanted, it is the box that we have and we have the choice: stuff it full to bursting or complain about its limitations. They stuffed it full. We found ways to do drama online, pushed the limits of my laptop and Google Meets and on the cusp of our script writing process we headed back to in person learning and a complete tech switch. We went from planning to record at home, to creating mini green screen studios. While we all wanted to be back, it meant that we had to drastically change our plan for casting and filming. The box had changed and we pivoted with it.

Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us that there is a time for everything; and while these young artists couldn’t perform live or even in the same space, they absolutely embraced writing, producing and performing original works. What you experience when you sit down to watch is countless hours of decision making, teamwork and a heightened understanding of what each season in our lives brings to us and in particular what this box has brought all of us; a time to build, to laugh, what to keep and what to let go of and ultimately a time to keep.

SerenaRae Stein

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God ~ 1 Corinthians 10:31

Our familiy and friends.

Our front office staff, for everything you do for our theatre program.

To our admin team, who continually make space for us to create.

Orysia Burdett who is always available to listen, offer wisdom and laugh (or cry) with me.

Mike Brazeau for coaching me so well in Quarter 3 that I never need to ask a question until the midnight hour of Quarter 4!

Bradely King and Beth Dart at the Fringe Theatre for their care and grace.

To our audience, for loving us and seing the heart of our creativty through all the "if we had only known" technical moments. Our collective learning curve was massive!

My family, for all your support especialy giving me space to and time to edit when the glorious outdoors was calling.

And finally, to my combined theatre class: there is no other cast that I would pick to pivot with.