Shadbolt showcase is on tap

Lively City column by Dan Hilborn
Published Apr. 12, 2006


Is there an artist hidden inside of you? If you think so, then get yourself down to Shadbolt Centre on April 22, where you'll have the opportunity to see and get hands-on experience with a wide range of art forms.

The public is invited to the Burnaby Arts Council Showcase where they can see a variety of displays and demonstrations of all kinds of artistic endeavours, ranging from pottery throwing to Ikebana flower arranging, musical puppet shows, dancing, singing and more.

Hands-on activities include short lessons in how to draw, children's art activities and making authentic old-style hot wax cards.

Among the professional artists who will be volunteering their time to this event are such local luminaries as Zoe Clemens, Muriel Corson, Eileen Fong, Ray Hargreaves, Margaret Lee, Lucille Loose, Shirley Lowes, Shahla Majlessi, Paula Moreau, Wendy Mould, Sharon Nordquist, Eileen Pick, Donna Polos, Wendy Schmidt, Robert Sondergaard and Elizabeth Wallace.

The studio theatre will be kept busy with performances by the Maple Leaf Singers, Scottish Country Dancers with Corryvreckan, Clef Society, Royal City Concert Band and Dance Imagination.

In addition, the Burnaby Writers Society will be offering a free Blue Pencil Cafe, where they invite aspiring new writers to submit a short piece of prose for an on-the-spot critique.

The Burnaby Arts Council Showcase 2006 is a free event, running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., April 22 at the Shadbolt Centre, 6450 Deer Lake Ave. For more information, call the council at 604-298-7322.

STEP UP FOR ANDERSON

One of the busiest actors in Burnaby will be taking on a role that helped propel Colin Mochrie into Canadian comedy superstardom, when the Laughing Planet Co-op reprises its improvisational comedy Suspect: A Game of Murder, at the Jericho Arts Centre next month.

Brian Anderson, a mainstay of the Vancouver TheatreSports League and star of the Axis Theatre production of Number 14, has the lead role in the comic murder mystery that is one part scripted and one part improvised.

The story revolves around eccentric inventor T. Frognall Dibdin, who has invited an odd assortment of guests and relatives to see his latest invention and hear the reading of his new will. But when Dibdin is done in, it's up to the audience to figure out who dunnit by offering clues, motives, secrets and weapons to the actors on stage.

Anderson, who has the distinction of playing every role in the TheatreSports repertoire over the past 13 years (including the female ones), plays both the dead man Dibdin and the detective who has to solve the murder.

There is another Burnaby angle to the play, too. Ian Forsyth, the art services manager at the Shadbolt Centre who is currently putting together the seventh annual Burnaby Blues Festival, was one of the four original Laughing Planet team members who helped write the story for its first run in 1984.

Other cast members in this reprised version include Kerry Blouin, Russ Brummer, Dianna David, Leanne Koehn, Sarah Pledge, Mark Wilson and Nelson Wong.

Suspect: A Game of Murder runs at the Jericho Arts Centre from May 2 to 14. Tickets are $20 and $18 through 604-224-8007. Call early to find out about the repeat offender program or visit www.suspect.comedyevents.ca.

STUDENTS AT BAG

Arts Alive, the annual showcase of Burnaby's most talented students, will be back in the Burnaby Art Gallery from April 20 to May 14.

This much anticipated event features the exceptional talent and creativity of 87 young artists who attend the city's public secondary schools. Their work is both exceptional and diverse and this show is a must-see for anyone interested in finding out what's on the minds of young people these days.

The Burnaby Art Gallery is located at 6344 Deer Lake Ave., east of the Shadbolt Centre, and is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and from 12 to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

A free hands-on family program is offered on Sunday, April 30.