The Gas Heart
Description
The Gas Heart by Gas Heart Theatre
Written by Tristan Tzara
Adapted by Quinn Harris and James Foy
How does the Oxford English Dictionary define “bootylicious”? Is Helvetica really a fascist typeface? Can I get an STD from unprotected twittering? Find horribly unscientific answers to these and more imperative questions of our time in a modern adaptation of a classic from the Dada movement. Aptly described by its author as “the greatest three act hoax of the century,” The Gas Heart searches through the skivvies of our society to reveal the senselessness in our world today: politics, pop culture and potato chips in 2011.
Praise
"Who's your Dada? James Foy and Quinn Harris have grabbed on of the weirdest pieces of theatre ever to emerge from the Dadaist movement of about a century ago, and what was already very deliberately anti-theatre is now an off-the-scale blast of anarchy... a whole lot of fun."
-- Peter Birnie, The Vancouver Sun
"Not only is The Gas Heart awesome, it is so fresh, young and tight you wanna spank its ass till it gets purple.... I could write specifics, but I will not... nope nope nope!! You know why? Because I want everybody to see this show. Well, everyone over the age of 14."
-- Victor Terzis, Plank Magazine
Company
GasHeart Theatre was founded by James Foy and Quinn Harris in 2007 and is a resident company at Theatre Conspiracy. The companyʼs aim is to create theatre that cannot be expressed through any other art form, theatre that engages its participants, artists and audiences alike, in discussion and debate on universal themes of contemporary relevance to our community. Our work includes The Mechanical Bride (2008 Victoria and Vancouver Fringe Festivals), NAPathy (HIVE3, 2010), and Macbeth: nach Shakespeare (co-produced with Theatre Conspiracy 2011). For their next work of absurdity, GasHeart co- artistic producers James and Quinn will both be pursuing law degrees, ʻting-a-lingʼ!
Credits
Quinn Harris – Director/Co-Creator/Co-Artistic Producer
James Foy – Co-Creator/Co-Artistic Producer/THE GAS HEART
Sarah Mansikka – Lighting Designer/Stage Manager
Chris Cochrane – NECK
Mack Gordon – EYEBROW
Timothy Johnston – EYE
Amitai Marmorstein – NOSE
Maryanne Renzetti – MOUTH
Katie Takefman – EAR
Company
CHRIS COCHRANE - Neck
Chris Cochrane is very lucky. He loves The Gas Heart and will always cherish the times they shared. He really hopes you enjoy the show. Recent theatre credits: Wired and New Canadian Kid (greenthumb), The Amorous Adventures of Anotol (Playhouse). Recent film/tv credits: R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour (The Hub), Time After Time (Hallmark). Chris studied acting at the Stella Adler Studio (NYC) and Studio 58.
JAMES FOY – Co-Creator/The Gas Heart
James Foy is a recent graduate of the University of British Columbia with a degree in Theatre Design and Production. Selected past credits include Production Management for Seussical: the Musical (Carousel Theatre), The Hobbit (Carousel Theatre), Gravity (Urban Ink Productions), and The Odyssey (Carousel Theatre); Technical Direction for Best Before (PuSh Festival/Rimini Protokol), After the Quake (Rumble Productions) and Blackbird (Theatre Conspiracy/Rumble Productions). James has been nominated for a Jessie Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement in Theatre for Young Audiences and has also jointly received two Jessie awards for Outstanding Production in Theatre for Young Audiences for Seussical: the Musical and The Odyssey. James co-founded GasHeart Theatre with associate Quinn Harris in 2008 and has co-produced The Mechanical Bride and The GasHeart for the Vancouver Fringe and NAPathy for HIVE3.
MACK GORDON - Eyebrow
Mack Gordon graduated from the University of Victoria in 2008 and moved to Vancouver in 2009. He's been working in and around the city ever since. His first role came with Pacific Theatre's You Still Can't. Last year he was nominated for a Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding Performance in TYA for The Big League (Carousel). Before that he performed in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, (Chemainus) and has since toured Wired (Green Thumb) all across North America, from Southern California to Massachusetts to Newfoundland. He also writes and performs work that is not for children. He played a serial killer in Hardline Productions' premiere event, An Evening of Sam Shepard, Brad Majors in The Rocky Horror Show, Antonio in Twelfth Night (Project X), and Benjamin in Strindberg's Easter (Chemainus). In June he made his Vancouver directorial debut with Hardline's Bash and at Halloween will be helming Itsazoo Production's Debts.
QUINN HARRIS – Director/Co-Creator
Quinn Harris is a graduate of the BFA theatre program at the University of Victoria with a specialization in directing. She is an artistic associate at Theatre Conspiracy, and co-founder of GasHeart Theatre. Quinn directed the company’s inaugural production, The Mechancal Bride, at the 2008 Victoria and Vancouver Fringe Festivals. She has also directed at two Walking Fish Festivals, was an instructor for Carousel Theatre’s Teen Shakespeare Program production of As You Like It, and assistant directed Theatre Conspiracy’s Live from a Bush of Ghosts, and Jack Paterson’s production of Coriolanus. For GasHeart Theatre she has directed GasHeart’s adaptation of The Gas Heart for the 2009 Vancouver Fringe and NAPathy for the third installation of HIVE as part of the Cultural Olympiad. Most recently this spring, Quinn directed the first English translation of Heiner Müller’s Macbeth: nach Shakespeare (co-commissioned and co-developed by GasHeart and Theatre Conspiracy).
TIMOTHY JOHNSTON - Eye
After premiering it at the Vancouver Fringe in 2010, Timothy is grateful be to back working on the wonder that is The Gas Heart. Timothy trained at both Capilano U and the University of Victoria, and has a multitude of credits in both cities, including Prodigals (Twenty-something), The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (Somnambulist), Ride The Cyclone (Atomic Vaudeville), Radius (Open Source), Silverwing and Disney's Aladdin Jr. (Kaleidoscope), Toothpaste & Cigars (VEC), Tartuffe (Phoenix Theatre), Seussical The Musical (Random Entertainment) and many more. Catch Tim next as Bobby in George F. Walker's Tough! at the CBC studio in August with Twenty-Something Theatre. Thank you for supporting new, local, independent theatre.
SARAH MANSIKKA – Lighting Designer/SM
Sarah is a graduate of the BFA Theatre Design program at Concordia university. She is presently based in Vancouver working as a lighting director for the Rimini Protokoll tour of Best Before. Some of her past credits include: Assistant lighting design with Vancouver Opera and Vancouver Playhouse. Lighting design with Pink Baby Monster and Nakusp Music Festival.
AMITAI MARMORSTEIN - Nose
Amitai just realized he's terrible at writing bios. He feels like any credits or accomplishments he mentions are just shameless self-promotions. But he also doesn't want to seem like a complete failure who doesn't get any work. Also, Amitai doesn't feel comfortable with the third-person-perspective that convention dictates one must write their bio in. Amitai is in a bind. So, how about this? You give Amitai the benefit of the doubt that he is super successful but also refreshingly modest and then he doesn't have to write an actual bio? That cool?
MARYANNE RENZETTI - Mouth
Maryanne Renzetti is a graduate of the UBC’s BFA Acting program, as well as the British American Drama Academy (Oxford, England). She is the Co-Artistic Director of Staircase Xi Theatre and is notable for her performances in Staircase Xi's Evelyn Strange and Oh, The Humanity and Other Good Intentions. Other favorite roles include: Kate and Petruchio in two different versions of Taming of the Shrew, The Gas Heart (GasHeart Theatre) in the 2009 Fringe Festival, Medea in Lois Anderson’s Medea (Theatre at UBC), Mary Tyrone Karamazov in The Idiots Karamazov (Theatre at UBC), Sunna in Unity (1918) (Theatre at UBC), Love/Stories (Kinetichism) and The Verona Project (Stone's Throw Productions). She is thrilled at the chance to work on The Gas Heart once again.
KATIE TAKEFMAN - Ear
Katie is thrilled to be working on The Gas Heart with GasHeart Theatre again. Previously Katie has been seen in such roles as Will Scarlet (Robin Hood, ITSAZOO Productions), Medea (Medea, Phoenix Theatre), Rosaline (Love's Labour's Lost, Somnombulist Productions), and in Grimm Tales (ITSAZOO Productions). Katie studied theatre at UVic.
