Lots to report, coming soon! For now, I have
two items I’m excited to share.

I’m thrilled and gob-smacked that my short script
Doors & Windows was the Winner of Best Short
Screenplay at World Webfest Mania – FilmFreeway!
Thank you World Webfest Mania. And thanks to
friends and colleagues who championed my efforts
on my very first screenplay.

And please check out
https://videopress.com/v/2J6raTrB to see
Whistler Search and Rescue Society’s slideshow
about the mysterious disappearance and
ongoing search for RCAF Flight Officers
Gerald S. Stubbs (my dad) and James E. Miller.

A time of discovery, promise, disappointment, transformation and Covid 19.

Design by John Endo Greenaway of Big Wave Design adapted from image by David Botton, Western Edge Theatre.

Our Ghosts* received its first production at Western Edge Theatre in Nanaimo, Oct./Nov. 2019. Directed by Wendy Wearne, it was an ambitious, intelligent and moving production. My heartfelt thanks to the Western Edge team.

I’m excited to report that a Vancouver area production of Our Ghosts is in the works and will be directed by  Rachel Peake.  A few months ago, we assembled a stellar cast to  workshop the new draft. Enter Covid 19. Exit live workshop.

Hello Janet Munsil and The Canadian Play Thing, Janet’s brainchild to support Canadian plays and playwrights. We livestreamed a reading in April, learned a thing or two and had a terrific experience. Thank you, Janet.

On May 2nd we livestreamed Our Ghosts as part of  #CanadaPerforms. Thank you: Facebook, Slaight Music, the RBC Foundation, SiriusXM Canada, and the National Arts Centre / Centre national des Arts.  Big thanks also to McMedia Audio Visual Services for their support. The reading was up for a week and received over 2,000 visits and a 5/5 star rating.  Amazing. Bizarre. Kinda thrilling.

But I’m a theatre geek, so bring on the live, socially-distanced workshop and reading for a count-on-one-hand invited audience of colleagues later in July! Fingers crossed…

Publication:
It was an honour to have an excerpt of Our Ghosts published in Understorey Magazine Issue 16 (2019): Diverse Stories of Women on Stage, editor
Natalie Meisner.

Polly and the Penthouse: A Spirited Musical Review: Our work-in-progress event at In Tune 2019 was hosted by the Penthouse Nightclub just under a year ago. The joint was packed and jumpin’. Thank you, Penthouse. For their generous support of our work of the script-in-process, Britt MacLeod (composition and lyrics) and I (book and lyrics) give special thanks to Laura Di Cicco, AD of the former Fugue Theatre and Roy Surette, AD of Touchstone Theatre. To the talented and brave In Tune performers who sang, ‘boxed’ and pole-danced… You knocked us out! Thanks also to New Magnetic North Festival for partnering with In Tune.

Following a hiatus, Britt and I are looking forward to getting back at it and turning a creative corner. We think we’ve found a wildly theatrical form in which to bring to life some remarkable Penthouse stories.

We are very grateful to the Canada Council for the Arts for supporting Polly and the Penthouse.

Sarah Roa and Finnegan Howes; photo: Matt Reznek, Bold Rezolution Studio; design: John Greenaway

Centurions and The Centurions Project. Last August, our Evergreen Cultural Centre showcase, directed by Lynna Goldhar Smith, profoundly impacted audiences and the artists involved. The piece was in negotiations for production and related community engaged programming with two Metro Vancouver venues. Like so much theatre everywhere, it’s all up in the air now.  To be continued…

We thank Canada Council for the Arts for its support of The Centurions Project.

You can’t keep a good story down. Centurions will be seen and heard. I’m adapting the script. More on this coming soon.

*

Doors and Windows

Doors & Windows*: dark comedy, 1 W & 1 M, a 10 min play & now a short screenplay.

Doors and Windows, the 10 minute play, was in rehearsal for the Or Festival featuring 8 new short plays and scheduled to open in March at the Havana Theatre. Then, you guessed it… Covid! The Festival was postponed to June 2020 then again to March 2021. Thanks to Olivia Etey and the Or Festival team for their determination.

Doors and Windows, a short screenplay adapted from the play, was a hoot to write and the first thing I’ve submitted to film festivals. It made the semi-finals of at least one festival. I’m not allowed to say more than that, but it’s a fun beginning. Lots to learn.

*Thanks Wet Ink Collective for supporting Our Ghosts and Doors and Windows.

It’s been too long, but the good news is that I have some exciting developments to share. I’ll start with–

THE CENTURIONS PROJECT We have just been awarded an Explore and Create: Concept to Realization Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. Thank you, Canada Council! The Centurions Project team couldn’t be happier.

In other Centurions Project news: we recently completed an exciting two week Design Residency at The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.

Here’s a sampling of what our team had to say about the Shadbolt Residency. For more on the project and my play Centurions: http://www.thecenturionsproject.ca 

Congrats again on such a great residency. It was really interesting to me in the way that we worked. Totally unique, and so successful in many ways. Definitely one of the most collaborative processes I’ve been involved with.
Jordan L. Watkins, Projections Designer / Mentor

I would say that the residency at the Shadbolt was a unique and beautiful experience because it allowed me to engage with show designers and the technical team in different ways than I am used to. I have a greater knowledge and respect for the work that technical teams put in to productions, with such a short amount of time. The Shadbolt was an accessible and welcoming venue, the staff were kind and the venue was beautiful.
Sarah Roa, Actor / Costume Design / Mentor

Working so closely and collaboratively with the designers and stage manager, with the time to create every cue so precisely, and the joy of facilitating a process that deepened the young actors awareness of what design and stagecraft can bring to their performances– was like a prize that I was waiting to win. Thank you Cory Philley and Shadbolt for providing this opportunity to The Centurions Project.
Lynna Goldhar Smith, Director / Mentor

This residency was crucial to understanding the play at its technical level. As a performer, I’m grateful we had these two weeks to work out the logistics of everything…  It was also very interesting to be included in the technical team’s processes, and get mentored in sound design. It has humbled me as a performer, and made me more versatile in this industry. Thank you!  Jade Lim, Actor

For myself, I had a wonderful time at the Shadbolt Arts Centre. Phil, Masha and Robert have been nothing but professional and accommodating to us. The rest of the reception and box office staff at the Shadbolt were considerate and great to get along with throughout our Residency.  Jethelo E. Cabilete, SM / Mentor

Thank you so much for this amazing experience! I am so incredibly excited for the Evergreen, and the Shadbolt residency has taught me so much. I know I definitely love theatre and acting and want to do it for a long time. So fulfilling. Chantal Gering, Actor

Our residency at the Shadbolt was a designer’s dream experience. Getting the time and space to experiment alongside the entire creative team proved to be an amazing and productive collaborative experience that gratified both the artistic process and end result. Evan Rein, Sound Design / Mentor / Production Assistant

And in August we bring it all to life in the Evergreen Cultural Centre Studio Theatre in Coquitlam. Our Residency begins on August 6 and on the 21st and 22nd we are proud to present Centurions by Sally Stubbs.

More on Centurions at the Evergreen coming soon! evergreenculturalcentre.ca
http://www.thecenturionscentre.ca

 

 

My gratitude to Vancouver director, Sarah Rodgers, for stepping in to guide this presentation when it became clear that I would have to bow out due to elements beyond my control. As always, she brings her inimitable vision and magic to the work.

Sarah Roa and Simon Web as Sarah Holdon and Grampa.

For bios and headshots of the cast and creative team Click Here.

Tickets available NOW at the Fringe BoxOffice  

Poster Design by Sandi McDonald

Photography by Mits Naga

More information on the show coming soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some highlights that have emerged out of the chaos.

Our Ghosts. My new script! Inspired by the true story of the disappearance of a jet and its two pilots, one of whom was my father. About a woman’s lifelong quest to find her husband; the ripple effects of his disappearance; and learning how to live with our ghosts. 2018 honours: semi-finalist, Ashland New Plays Festival; selected for presentation, Women Playwrights International Conference, Santiago, Chile; listed for publication, Scirocco Drama. Our Ghosts awaits its premiere.

Our Golden Years. My short and not-so-sweet dark comedy about love in the ‘golden years’ was named a semi-finalist in the 2018 Little Black Dress INK Festival which took it to Milwaukee. Still awaiting news on Festival finalists.

Polly and The Penthouse: A Spirited Musical. Thrilled to report that this musical is finally coming to life! I’m writing book and lyrics and Britt MacLeod is composing. Commissioned by Fugue Theatre, Polly and the Penthouse is in development with Fugue and Touchstone Theatre and the Penthouse Nightclub. On track to premiere 2019/20 at the Penthouse.

Spinning You Home. Delighted to direct my script for Spinners Collective at the Vancouver Fringe Festival and work again with actors Sarah Roa and Simon Webb. Both were on the team behind the 2016 Pick of the Fringe production of And Bella Sang With Us.  Spinning You Home celebrates love that defies death, a haunting chapter in BC history and the power of storytelling.

Simon Webb Photo by Mits Naga

The Centurions Project. Autumn 2017 director Lynna Goldhar Smith and I embarked on an exciting new venture, working with a talented group of youth to explore possibilities central to my script Centurions in a community engagement project. We were awarded a Boca del Lupo Theatre Residency in the spring of 2018 and then offered a co-production and 2019 premiere at Evergreen Theatre and Cultural Centre. So grateful! Onward. 

Syrah Khan Photo by Mits Naga

Underbelly. Working on a TV series pilot and season package which are inspired by Canada’s – and Vancouver’s – first women police officers and my play And Bella Sang With Us. 

 

 

 

I’m thrilled to announce that the And Bella Artists Collective is celebrating our amazing journey working on my little play that could – And Bella Sang With Us – at the Jessie Awards next Monday night.  The production was nominated for Outstanding Direction by Sarah Rodgers and Ian Harmon and Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor by Sarah May Redmond.  Sarah played Bella Boychuk and Gertrude Crane in our Vancouver Fringe Festival production.  Congratulations and thank you to our nominees and to all the talented and passionate artists involved in our production at the 2016 Fringe and the remount at the Firehall Arts Centre in January 2017!  It’s been a joy!

Congratulations, too, to all this season’s Jessie Award nominees!

Photo:  Leanna Brodie as Constable Harris, Sarah May Rdmond as Bella Boychuk and Sarah Louise Turner as Constable Miller.  Set design and photo: Brian Ball.

Photo by Emily Cooper.  From Left: Leanna Brodie as Constable Harris & Sarah Louise Turner as Constable Miller.

Thanks Vancouver for your vote of confidence!  And Bella Sang With Us runs at the Firehall Arts Centre from January 4 to 14, 2017.  For tickets & information please click here.

I’d like to thank a few of the many people involved in getting this beautiful production of my play to the Firehall.

Thank you Donna Spencer and the Firehall team for inviting And Bella into your home.

Big thanks to artists Sarah May Redmond, Sarah Roa, Matt Grinke, Patricia Jiang and Kenta Nezu who did outstanding work on our Pick of the Vancouver Fringe production, but were unfortunately unable join us this time around.

Thanks to Amanda Testini for bringing her sharp choreography to our Fringe production.  And for doing so again.

And here’s to the new and returning Company members who are now working their magic to bring And Bella Sang With Us  back to life.  They are:

Direction:  Sarah Rodgers with Ian Harmon
Stage Management:  Breanne Harmon
Fight Direction: Derek Metz
Actors:  Leanna Brodie (Constable Harris); Agnes Tong (Mai Ji/Joseph); Sarah Louise Turner (Constable Miller); Simon Webb (Constable Fields/Daniel Crane/Connor O’Rourke); Beatrice Zeilinger (Bella Boychuk/Gertrude Crane)
Piano Player: Patrick Courtin
Costume Design: Barbara Clayden
Set Design: Brian Ball
Lighting Design: Kyla Gardiner
Playwright/Producer:  Sally Stubbs

To see artist bios and head shots please click on the link to the COMPANY page.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Firehall in the New Year!