Fish-story

Upintheair Theatre – Walking Fish Festival

Group Profile/History of Organisation

Mandate / Constitutional Purposes

1) To educate and increase the publics understanding and appreciation of the arts by providing theatrical productions.

2) To provide instructional workshops and training in relation to the performing arts.

Artistic Mission

Upintheair creates and produces theatre in a collective environment. Our mission is to produce theatre that is accessible, challenging, intelligent, darkly humourous, and thought-provoking. Upintheair theatre creates and develops relationships within the theatre community by providing opportunities for artists to work, create, and learn together. By including audiences and the wider community in the theatrical process we educate, build understanding, and help ensure the long term vitality of our art form. We believe that theatre is the coming together of high stakes emotional vulnerability with precise and strong physical movement.

Company History and Role in the Community

Upintheair Theatre is one of Vancouver’s exciting up-and-coming young theatre companies, formed by Daniel Martin and David Mott in 1999. After producing a series of sell-out Fringe hits, the company launched the Walking Fish Festival in 2003 as a way of developing links and relationships among emerging theatre artists in Vancouver. That same year, Wedgie became the only original, locally created script to win Presentation House Theatre’s On The House competition.

As a result of the successes and growth learned from three years in the Fringe and the successful production of the first Walking Fish, the company then decided to strike out on its own for the first time with its next major creation project, Men of the World. The company collaborated with award-winning Kiwi playwrights David Geary and Deborah Wilton in a series of workshops featuring over thirty invited local artists exploring the nature of beds, bedrooms, sex, love, relationships and life rafts. The play follows the lives of four twenty-something Vancouverites coming of age at the dawn of the 21st century. Reviewer Ian Alexander Martin said of Upintheair Theatre and Men of the World;

“If shows in town were even half as entertaining as the ones that Upintheair Theatre Society put on, we would have no problem replenishing season subscriber lists with younger audience members.”

After completing the creation and production of Men of the World in six short months from June to November 2004, Artistic Directors Dave Mott and Daniel Martin decided to expand their timeline for creation projects to an 18 month model, spending 2005 and 2006 building on the success of the Walking Fish Festival while creating their next major production, 120bpm.

120bpm was produced April 3-20, 2007 in Vancouver at a Secret Warehouse Location. The show garnered a new level of critical attention for the company, while selling out its final seven shows to an audience that was 95% under the age of 40. It also marked the first time that the company was able to pay all of the artists who worked on the show, splitting 100% of the box office. Weekly training and physical engagement inspired the companies creative processes, and this training has been at the centre of much of the developmental work for 120bpm, and now for Johnny Grant.

Since its inception on 2003, Walking Fish has become a key event in the calendar for emerging artists in Vancouver. Over the course of five years, over two-hundred and forty artists have participated in the production of 55 original, Canadian works. Artists have ranged from fifteen-year old first-time playwrights to foreign directors with more than twenty years experience in the professional theatre recently relocated to Vancouver. Upintheair Theatre provides a venue and the support for these artists to work together in a collaborative fashion. Walking Fish is now entering its sixth year.

At the core of Upintheair’s artistic practice is a desire to draw young adults in to the art of theatre. By engaging young audiences with relevant material, and by creating shows that speak directly to their life experiences, Upintheair Theatre breaks down resistance to theatre as an art form.

Production History and Key Events

2000 Pyropornomania – Vancouver Fringe (Runner-up, Best Production)

2001 Incorporated June 6^th, as “Up In The Air Theatre Society.”

Pyropornomania – Edmonton & Vancouver Fringe, Gabriola Island

2002 Not Open – The Space

Wilson’s Leg – Element Sound Lounge

Wedgie - Vancouver Fringe Festival.

2003 Wedgie – Presentation House (On The House Theatre Award)

Moxie – First Site Specific performance

Walking Fish Festival I

First funded by City of Vancouver and BC Lotteries Commission.

2004 Walking Fish Festival II

Men of the World – Community Play Building Workshop

Men of the World – first full independent production

2005 Stumped! – The Office

Walking Fish Festival III

120bpm – Community Play Building Workshop I

Gained Charitable Status

2006 Penguins – The Office

Walking Fish Festival IV

120bpm – Community Play Building Workshop II

Moxie – Calgary and Vancouver Fringe Tour

First funded by CMHC-GICS and the Hamber Foundation

2007 120bpm – first site installed production

First funding from the Koerner Foundation, to create Johnny Grant

Walking Fish Festival V

Johnny Grant Creation Research Tour

2008 Walking Fish Festival VI

Johnny Grant dramaturgical workshop