content

Patrick Keating

Maiko Bae Yamamoto

Andreas Kahre

Noah Drew

Adrienne Wong

Barbara Clayden

Alex Ferguson

Ilena Lee Cramer

Erin Wells

James Long

what we do

Bob's Pizza: Memories of Rumble

NOT SO CONCISE A HISTORY

The first time I saw Norman, he was dancing. 
No, he was drumming. 
Actually, he was dressed up like a monkey, 
and I'm pretty sure he was smoking. 
Huh. 
Not much has changed.

THE BIG QUAKE OF 2001

It was back in the days when Rumble occupied the corner office on the 9th floor, when NeWorld Theatre shared the space. It was a beautiful spring day—absolutely golden—sunny and crisp with a slight breeze. I was comforted by the nearby sounds of my comrades, Camyar Chai and Steven Hill. As I typed away, the desk started to shake. This didn't seem out of the ordinary, as the desk always shook like that when you typed, because it was fashioned from an old door and drafting table legs. But then I noticed the whole room was shaking. The blinds were moving back and forth. Was I imagining this? Just then, a confirmation from comrades:

Camyar: Did you feel that?
Steven: Is that?
Mosey whimpers.
Camyar: Oh my god. This is it.
Steven: What is it we're supposed to do?
Stand in the doorway.
Steven stands in doorway.
Maiko: We're getting out of here.
Steven, put your shoes on.
Steven grabs his shoes.
Camyar: ...should I grab my laptop?
Maiko: There's no time. Come with me now!

We leave the office and Cam, Steven (holding shoes), Mosey and I all begin to make our way down those creepy horror movie stairs in the middle of the Dominion Building. Along the way, we meet other nervous office workers. We get to the point where the spiral staircase ends and everything converges upon these tiny marble stairs that lead to the lobby. I could feel the energy change in all of us, feel us fighting our desire to mow people over to get out of the building voted by the Georgia Straight as the worst place to be in Vancouver in an earthquake. We stand by the war memorial across the street. Steven puts his shoes on. Half an hour later we go back in, congratulating each other on our survival skills. Later, Norman gets to the office and I tell him,"There was an earthquake! We had to evacuate, we totally thought we were going down." He looks blankly at me and says, "Oh. I didn't notice." And then he gets on the phone. I guess you had to be there.

BURNED INTO MEMORY

Opening night of Burning Vision at the Firehall. We are standing outside a circle of rocks. We are a group of actors, writers, producers, publicists, stage managers, directors and designers. We are a group of dreamers. The air is full of haze and opening night nerves. In the middle of the circle, a Shinto priest is chanting. He lights incense and rings a gong. The gongs follow no set rhythm, they start slow and speed up. He approaches each of us and bows. We bow back. My chest feels tight, like there's a bird caught inside my ribcage. I peek over at Julie Tamiko Manning and I see her face contorted, tears streaming down her cheeks. I listen. The priest gongs one last time. He joins us in the circle, and now two Native elders begin banging their drums and singing. The singing is mesmerizing—it breaks the silence and hangs in the air for a moment, then vanishes. They go around the circle and we all smudge. Everything seems to fade away and all that remains is us, standing in a circle. I am struck by the thought that this moment is actually what theatre should be. Moving, powerful, deep and slightly unbearable.

5 THINGS I'LL NEVER FORGET

1. Chris Gerrard-Pinker taught me how to grab someone by the balls.
2. Adrienne Wong's filing system. It's moved into the territory of myth.
3. Norman as John D. at the Cultch.
4. The Mac is NOT a Typewriter! Arial 10 point. Underlining is passé.
5. Armour is amour with an r.