To our ABJ Fine Arts family,

Hello, and welcome to the ABJ Fine Arts performance of I Never Saw Another Butterfly. We are extremely excited for you to see this work, as it marks our Drama program’s first ever filmed and streamed main stage production! You may have enjoyed our Musical Theatre 15’s streamed production of Annie earlier this year, and now our Drama and Technical Theatre programs step into the spotlight to showcase their efforts as well.

As we all know, the global pandemic has taken an incredible toll on all of us, in many ways. From the tragic loss of loved ones, to reduced or lost jobs and incomes, to the mental and physical challenges that come with quarantine and pandemic restrictions, we all have had to face adversities unlike anything any of us could have ever imagined. Through it all, our amazing students have absolutely persevered. They have risen to the challenges of in-person learning, online learning and all variants in between.

This group, in particular, has had to face incredible uncertainty as they began their journey, with the plan to produce the show for an online audience. Sets and costumes were designed (but not yet constructed), actors were auditioned and cast (but hadn’t begun to rehearse), and plans were put in motion to stage and film the play here at ABJ, and stream it to you, our audience, over the internet.

However, as November closed, the pandemic raged in Alberta, and schools were once again closed and students were placed online. We suddenly found ourselves faced with the challenge of quickly pivoting to a completely new structure for this production. Our initial thought was to have students film themselves individually, in their homes, and present the piece as a sort of “Zoom” show, with the actors performing in front of digital backgrounds as their sets. Plans were put in place to provide each actor with a costume, a green screen, lights, tripods and props to create a “home studio” where they would film their own parts, solo. The play was rehearsed online through the end of November and December, with students and director meeting virtually through Google Meets to rehearse.

Then came the holiday season, and a new level of quarantine restrictions that, fortunately stemmed the tide of the virus somewhat, and allowed us to return to school in January. Once again, without hesitation, the students shifted their approach. The set team immediately swung into action during the first week back and constructed the set you’ll see in our production in just 3 days! Our costume team assembled and worked tirelessly for less than a week to outfit each actor with a costume for each character. The props team put together a collection of items to accurately suit the time period of the play and we quickly and efficiently designed and programmed stage lights for the show…all in just one week!

At the same time, the actors met in person for the first time in more than a month, to rehearse the production, and in little more than a week, it was ready to be filmed.

After countless hours of post production video editing, arduous decisions and immeasurable passion and commitment from this phenomenal group of talented students, we are now excited to bring you this heartwarming and touching play!

Please enjoy I Never Saw Another Butterfly, and thank you for supporting the arts at ABJ and in EICS!

Sincerely,

Dustin Maloney

Director, Fine Arts Lead

ABJ Fine Arts Department