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DIRECTOR'S NOTES

A few years ago, I read Seminar and immediately became enthralled by the text that Theresa Rebeck had created. It was funny and ruthless. It explored the subjects of truth, power, and one that resonated with me, artistic coming of age. These students are passionate about their craft of writing and go to inexplicable lenghts to please their teacher, their role model, their inspiration and end up getting shred to pieces. It was all too familiar. Oh right, the craft of acting. The parallels between the story and some of the things that I went through to get to where I am today were so clear. Rebeck does a great job implementing comedy into these situations that sometimes can be absolutely terrorizing and that's why I knew I had to direct this show and explore those avenues. 

As soon as we made the decicion to put on the show, I emailed Andrew Wheeler out of the blue and asked him to consider our project. I've been a fan of Andrew's for awhile and couldn't see anyone else in this role. At the time, I didn't expect him to say yes, I had seen him at the Arts Club and the Playhouse and I was just a young director looking to gain some experience. He very quickly agreed to come onboard the project and play Leonard. That type of passion and support is rare and I can't thank him enough for believing in this project and for bringing his years of experience to the table.

This has been a hell of a journey for myself and my associates, Devon Busswood and Alex Strong (some of the brightest minds in the business), and we couldn't be happier with what we've created: Stages Theatre Co. If you read the next page, you can read a little bit more about our company and what's in store for our future. Putting on a show is a truly intense and powerful process; we've learned so much from these past few months, there have been failures and successes and those will only support us as we move forward to create some great productions. 

Finally, I want to mention this cast and crew who have come on board with such an open mind. Working for an unknown company on such a tight rehearsal schedule can be scary but they all brought their A-game from day one and I know audiences will not be disappointed. 

Enjoy the show and I urge you to continue seeing theatre in Vancouver!

Thank you,

CORY HAAS

Artistic Director 

Stages Theatre Co.