Difference between revisions of "Fire Exit Theatre"

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Fire Exit Theatre is a Christian theatre that opened with its first production in September 2002. Fire Exit Theatre is being led by Blaine MacDonald of First Assembly Church (PAOC). The theatre has produced a number of plays. Many of the works have been written by local playwrights, including several by Val Lieske who assists MacDonald in running Fire Exit Theatre.

The following people are now involved in the Fire Exit Theatre:

1. Carissa Anderson
2. Barrett Hileman
3. Val Lieske
4. Blaine McDonald
5. Shauna Nelder
6. Alan Pole
7. Wanda Reinhold

Happy 5th Year Anniversary! 5 years, 14 shows, 2 festivals, 81 actors, 8 directors, 15 Stage Managers, 2 garage sales and 1 shaved head...that'd be mine.

Six years ago my friend and co-founder Blaine McDonald and I sat in numerous coffee shops with many people sharing our vision for this new theatre company. We talked about the need we saw for theatre that would truly build community and theatre where we were not afraid to show the dark, in order to show the light. We talked about art that wasn't always necessarily just for art's sake. We shared our hearts and our grandiose dreams. More often than not I remember being told in no uncertain terms, as we reached the bottoms of our coffees, that it would never work.

Those words served only one purpose - to push me harder to make sure it worked!

Now we are 5 years old and 5 years wiser. It has been harder than I ever imagined it would be and it has brought me more fulfillment than I could've ever hoped for.

I am so proud to bring you our exciting line up of shows for our 2006-07 season.

We will launch the season with "Past Tense", a very personal story I wrote about the death of my father. Grief is horrible and ironic and funny and universal. Partnered with that will be one of my favourite playwrights, Lucia Frangione's "Wobbling Madonna", another story of finding peace in loss. Then we bring you the Calgary premiere of "Halo" by Josh MacDonald - a story of miracles and coffee to go. And finally, Laurel Lepine will be showcasing her new script, "Waco T. 1953", a look at extreme weather and history repeating itself.

As I reflect on our "by-line" Theatre of Hope, I've been contemplating what that means. What is hope? Hope is not optimism. Hope is not mental acrobatics or positive thinking. Hope is not living in denial. Pain is real and death is inevitable. Living in hope does not mean you will always have a good feeling about tomorrow. Hope is knowing that beauty is still everywhere, that truth will always survive and that the story will end well. As St. Paul says, "Hope remains."

Thank you for joining us on this journey to hope.

Val Lieske
Artistic Director

e-mail Val Lieske

e-mail Blaine McDonald

http://www.fireexit.ca