History

Pangaea Arts has been introducing Canadian audiences to performance traditions from around the world since 1997. Pangaea Arts creates productions that educate by participation, encouraging audiences and artists to actively investigate different cultures and ideas.

2010 - JADE in the COAL

Co-produced by Pangaea Arts and Theatre at UBC in November and December of 2010, JADE in the COAL was a theatrical dramatization about the early thriving Chinese community of Cumberland, BC. Combining Cantonese opera and Western theatre, it was a collaboration between Canadian artists and internationally-renowned Cantonese opera performers from China and Singapore. The original script was written by Governor General’s Award-winning writer Paul Yee with an original score by composer Jin Zhang, performed live by a six-piece Cantonese opera ensemble.

For more information visit the UBC showsite at http://www.theatre.ubc.ca/jade_in_the_coal

 

2008 - 2013 The Trollsons in THE STORYTELLER

Come deep into the forest as a family of trolls bring Scandinavian folklore to life. It's Grandpa Trollson's 200th birthday party, but he refuses to come out of his tree stump to celebrate! When audience participants join the action onstage, Grandpa cannot resist the power of storytelling. Join us for three truly interactive tales based on stories by Hans Christian Andersen, featuring live music, incredible masks, physical comedy, improvisation, and good old-fashioned troll trouble!
More about The Trollsons in THE STORYTELLER

2010 - Kabuki Movement Workshop

Pangaea Arts and TomoeArts presented a Movement Workshop with master dancer Fujima Shôgo.
All professional kabuki actors begin their training with studies in Japanese classical dance, and every movement in kabuki is based in dance. Vancouver performers were invited to participate in a workshop on character movement and dance in kabuki, led by visiting master dancer/teacher Fujima Shôgo.

2008 - The Life of Paper

The Life of Paper was an innovative new theatrical work developed in collaboration with origami artist Joseph Wu. Pangaea Arts fused the ancient art of paper folding with live theatrical performers from a range of artistic backgrounds. The Life of Paper is a visual feast, featuring a stunning world made entirely of paper, and combining elements of East and West. More...

2006 - The Gull: The Steveston Noh Project

Developed over three years, The Gull: The Steveston Noh Project was a new Canadian noh play by Daphne Marlatt with
music by Richard Emmert, about the experience of Japanese
Canadian fishermen returning to Steveston after the internment
years. A noh master, a noh composer, a noh mask maker and four noh musicians came from Japan to collaborate and perform with Canadian theatre artists.

2006 - Exhibit: Noh Masks Exhibit at Richmond Museum

Wakayama mask-maker Hakuzan Kubo created two original noh masks for The Gull: The Steveston Noh Project. While here, he gave workshops on the art of noh maskmaking, and partnered with the Richmond Museum to create a Noh Mask Exhibit.

2006 - Lecture Demonstrations: Noh Theatre

Ancillary events for The Gull: The Steveston Noh Project included several Noh Theatre Lecture Demonstrations in the community by noh theatre performers who had come from Japan to participate in this collaboration. Workshops were led by noh master Akira Matsui, noh scholar and composer Richard Emmert, and by Wakayama noh maskmaker Hakuzan Kubo.

2005 - Staged Reading: The Gull

A crucial part of the developement of The Gull was the workshop process, which provided training in noh technique for the Canadian performers, development time for playwright Daphne Marlatt and composer Richard Emmert, and critical audience feedback from two public performances, one at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site, and one at the National Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre.

2005 - Noh Theatre Workshops

Part of the development cycle of The Gull had Richard Emmert, one of the leading experts on noh in English, visiting from Japan. As well as giving a specialized three-day workshop in noh performance, Mr. Emmert led a public workshop in The Music of Noh Theatre.

2004 - Fabulous Fables and Masked Mayem

Pangaea Arts was commissioned by the Singapore International Arts Festival (children’s component), to develop two interactive storytelling shows. The result was Fabulous Fables and Masked Mayhem, featuring masks by acclaimed designer and mask-maker Melody Anderson, which premiered in Singapore to much acclaim in June of 2004, and currently tours throughout the lower mainland to festivals and special events.

2004 - Butterfly Dream

In May of 2004, Pangaea Arts produced a new work called Butterfly Dream, adapted by Yuan-Tzeng Hsia, in partnership with the Gateway Theatre in Richmond. This was a full-length bilingual Chinese Opera performed in English and Mandarin (with English surtitles). Included was an educational lobby display on the history of Chinese opera in BC and the art form of Chinese opera.

2002 - Einstein's Dreams

An adaptation of Alan Lightman’s international best-selling novel. Einstein’s Dreams was a choreographed fusion of Asian and Western theatrical forms, spoken word, physical theatre, multi-media projection and original music.

2000 - Into the Heart of Beijing Opera

Created and performed by artists from BC, Mainland China and Taiwan, Into the Heart of Beijing Opera was a bilingual production that introduced Canadian audiences to the art of Chinese Opera through performance, educational demonstrations and audience participation. This production toured to schools in BC from 2001 through to 2004.

1997 - Cultural Metaphors

Cultural Metaphors developed over a period of three years, and was a dynamic fusion of the musical, cultural and performance traditions of India, Ireland, and China. Cultural Metaphors won a 1999 Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Significant Artistic Achievement in the Theatre for Young Audiences category.