October 6–30, 2022 (Media opening: October 12)
By Amy Lee Lavoie & Omari Newton . An Arts Club Silver Commission as part of a Rolling World Premiere with Tarragon Theatre (Toronto) and Imago Theatre (Montreal)
VANCOUVER, B.C. (September 14, 2022)—Hard-hitting comedy meets searing social commentary on race, gender, and oppression in the Rolling World Premiere of Redbone Coonhound, playing October 6–30 at the Arts Club Theatre Company’s Newmont Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre.
When Mike (Jesse Lipscombe) and Marissa (Emma Slipp) —an interracial couple living in Vancouver—meet a dog with an unfortunate breed name, it unleashes a cascading debate between them and with their friends about race and their relationships. Using popular culture as touchstones, Redbone Coonhound navigates topics of oppression through a series of fever dreams satirizing modern perspectives on race, privilege, gender, and power in a visceral, tactile, and theatrical manner.
Redbone Coonhound is a 2022 Arts Club Silver Commission, originally adapted into an audio play for the 2021–2022 Listen to This series. This season’s production is the Arts Club’s first Rolling World Premiere, in partnership with Tarragon Theatre (Toronto) and Imago Theatre (Montreal). After its initial premiere at the Arts Club, Redbone Coonhound will go on to have a second premiere in Toronto and Montreal shared by Tarragon Theatre and Imago Theatre. This arrangement will allow the playwrights’ work to deepen over the course of the year, and these Vancouver-based writers will have their work disseminated across Canada.
Playwright and director Omari Newton said, “I’m thrilled to share this piece, a labour of love, life, and strife, co-written with my wife, Amy Lee Lavoie, and co-directed with my dear friend and collaborator Ashlie Corcoran. The play explores issues of race, gender, and class in ways that are equal parts humorous and merciless. Our hope is that the work makes people examine their deeply held beliefs. The play invites us all to look at language and cultural norms, and to laugh with each other about our own self-righteousness. It is my belief that in these increasingly absurd times, humour is a much-needed catalyst for empathy.”
Arts Club’s Artistic Director and Redbone Coonhound co-director Ashlie Corcoran added, “When I originally sat down with both Amy Lee and Omari to hear about Redbone Coonhound, I was blown away by their commitment to the ideas behind this work—ideas that show up in the content of the piece as much as they show up in the form. This kind of theatre—where a play’s form does as much dramaturgical work as its content—is my favourite kind of art!”
SHOWTIMES + SPECIAL PERFORMANCES
Tue–Thu at 7:30 PM, Fri & Sat at 8 PM, Wed at 1:30 PM, and Sat & Sun at 2 PM Tuesday Talkback: Tue, October 25, at 7:30 PM VocalEye Performance: Sun, October 30, at 2 PM
SPONSORS
Community Partner: BMO
Season Sponsors: BMO, CMHC Granville Island, CTV, IA Financial Group, Sandman Hotels, Inns & Suites, Vancouver Sun
Media Contact The Art Club
Jasmine Proctor
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