HIVE
(2007-2012)
HIVE
HIVE was a series of performance events orchestrated by the Progress Lab consortium of companies, an ad hoc arts service organization of eleven of BC’s most influential independent companies. The group came together in service of its energetic core of movers and shakers. The goal being to establish Vancouver as an international centre for theatrical innovation. At the time it was made up of non-profit professional organizations with a median age of about 15 years, and a history of producing works of extreme theatrical daring. PL hosted 4 HIVE events over a period of 5 years.
HIVE I: I am Sam Stan (2007)
I am Sam Stan was a performance puzzle which continued non-stop for just over 3 hours. Audience members were allowed to stay or leave whenever they wanted. This durational piece told the story of an extremely dysfunctional couple trying to run a sun-tan oil business post-apocalypse. Inspirations included Beckett’s Endgame and the strong desire for a tropical vacation.
Created and performed by James Long and Maiko Yamamoto.
HIVE II: WeeTube (2008)
Part performance, part parlour game, WeeTube uses the publicly posted comments found under popular YouTube videos as performance text in an effort to highlight both the brilliant and the mundane found in the world’s most populated critical discourse.
Created and performed by James Long & Maiko Yamamoto.
HIVE III: Speak Please A Moment (2010)
1. Leave cell phone on
2. Give your number to an operator
3. Wait for call
4. Speak Please A Moment
Speak Please a Moment is an interactive performance where audience members are guided through a series of intimate phone conversations, with topics ranging from kissing, infidelity, and our complex relationships to our mothers and pets, and the ultimate search for true happiness. In this circumstance, we are asked to reveal our deepest secrets in front of a room of strangers. The anonymity gives us the courage to speak what we probably wouldn't tell our closest friends, lovers, or family members.
Created by Cindy Mochizuki, Marco Soriano, Cat Main, Ruthie S Tabata and Maiko Yamamoto for the Cultural Olympiad.
HIVE: OBSTRUCTIONS
Does creativity feed on limits? Following three sold-out iterations of HIVE, Vancouver's Progress Lab network of indie theatremakers comes together to test that theory. Inspired in part by The Five Obstructions by Jorgen Leth and Lars Von Trier, the core artists of each participating company submit, a few at a time and under a cold spotlight, to a list of obstructions delivered by a shadowy emcee. The companies are then commanded to create their next production around those limitations. The obstructions for each company have been developed in secret by their peers — a custom-designed set of obstacles that will prompt each artist to adapt to a new approach to making theatre. Form, place, style, theme, design, period, story — Obstructions spills out the artist's bag of tricks and kicks them out of reach.