INTERNATIONAL

One of our core values at Boca del Lupo is to embody an international perspective as we operate locally, find partners nationally and search for collaborators in other parts of the world. An international mind set is an active state.  We are diligent in our search for individuals and companies that share our ideals both at home and abroad. This includes making a concerted effort to find diversity within our collaborators that reflect Canadian culture offering the opportunity to contribute artistically and organizationally, in emerging, established and leadership positions.  This belief extends to the inspiration for our productions.  We look to our own experience and histories along with that of our collaborators to find the heart and personal connection to what we perform and create.

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ARTISTIC MISSION

Boca del Lupo -International, Experimental, Spectacular

Boca del Lupo is dedicated to the creation of new performance works using unique processes of collaboration and extra-ordinary interactions between performer and audience.

Boca del Lupo is devoted to discovering and actively seeking out international, national and regional artists to collaborate with in creating new works drawn from our collective experience.

Boca del Lupo is committed to providing professional opportunities to diverse artists and individuals in our productions and tours in both emerging and leadership positions.

THE BOCA TEAM

SHERRY J. YOON, Artistic Director
Currently as Artistic Director of Boca Del Lupo, Sherry has collaborated on over a dozen new creations. Some of her favourites include, THE DOPPELGANGER TRILOGY, BEWILDERED, and VASILY THE LUCKLESS, the most recent of Boca Del Lupo's outdoor roving productions set in the treetops of Stanely Park. Boca del Lupo's award winning productions have also toured Canada and throughout Mexico. THE PERFECTIONIST will tour to the University of Alberta and to the Theatre Centre in Toronto as part of the Free Fall Festival and premier in Vancouver, January 2006. She is thrilled to be working with such an incredible team of artistic collaborators.

JAY DODGE, Artistic Producer
Jay has been the Artistic Producer of Boca del Lupo since 2001 and was also part of the founding collective. Over the last eight years, Jay has played a variety of roles within the company; writer, creator, performer, producer, designer. In 2002 he won a Jesse Richardson Award: Outstanding Set Design for "Hold Your Head Tight". At the heart of Jay's relationship to theatre is his love and commitment to new creation. Since his first student performance in 1998, Jay has been a part of creating over 20 original productions.

HILARY DAVIS, General Manager
Hilary has been working in the wonderful world of arts administration since completing an international internship in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 2001. Before that, she completed her BFA at UBC in Technical Theatre and stage managed many productions for companies including Bard on the Beach and Green Thumb Theatre. Other adventures have taken her to the festival frenzy of the Vancouver International Film Festival and into the crucial world of fundraising at Arts Umbrella. Hilary is delighted to be working in the theatre again joining the Boca team.

JOELYSA PANKANEA, Artistic Associate
Originally from Kenya, East Africa, Joelysa is an award winning percussionist and composer, as well as an active member of Vancouver's vibrant artistic community. Her most recent theatre appearances include her work for Boca del Lupo's Vasily the Luckless, Runaway Moon's production of The Tales of the Unknown Island, NeWorld Theatre's Crime and Punishment, and Urban Crawl's Maharaja's Daughter. Away from the theatre, Joelysa has been and continues to be a dynamic performer in a number of music festivals, most notably Drum Heat, Listen Up!, Vancouver International Jazz, and the Vancouver Island Folk.

JAY WHITE, Artistic Associate
Jay White's innovation with 3D animation has led to numerous awards and recognition over the past eight years. His recent animated shorts, Business (2003) and Random Acts of Silence (2004) have aired on CBC: Zed TV and CBC:Play, and have aired in various festivals across Canada. Most recently, Jay has exhibited a sold-out show of his paintings, and been awarded a Canada Council of the Arts Production Grant to create a mixed-media gallery exhibition featuring his latest animated short and paintings.

LIZ BACA, Technical Director
Liz Baca is a free-lance technical director, scenic carpenter, lighting and stage technician. She has worked as Technical Director for Ballet British Columbia, Kidd Pivot, The Vancouver Fringe Festival and Touchstone Theatre. Liz is a graduate of UBC and the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts.

VALERIE THAI, Graphic Designer
Artist and graphic designer, Valerie has been a key collaborator on all of Boca del Lupo's artwork and design materials since 2002 and has been instrumental in developing the public image of the company for the past 3 years.

HISTORY

Boca del Lupo was founded in 1996 by a group of diverse theatre artists who studied, trained and collaborated together at Simon Fraser University.

Jay Dodge, James Long, Kevin MacDuff, Tamara McCarthy and Maiko Bae Yamamoto who were joined by director Sherry J Yoon for our first performance in January of 1997.

From our deep desire to create our own work utilizing a physical approach we embarked on a journey to work together. Originally operating as a collective for the last five years we have functioned under an artistic director and artistic producer model but continue to create work collaboratively working with artists from our local, national and international performance communities.

There are various roles our company plays in these communities. We work with artists over an extended period of time through research, rehearsal, performance and touring. We provide a unique opportunity for the artists who have the ability and desire to devise work collaboratively building on their artistic abilities through collaborative writing, ensemble work and physical training. We also invest in our artists and frequently extend our relationship for more than one production.

ASSOCIATIONS

Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance (board member/ resource sharing)
Vancouver Alliance for Arts and Culture (member)
Axis Theatre (touring member)
See Seven (ongoing participant)
Stand Firm Initiative (participant/ steering committee)
Performance Creation Canada (steering committee)
Stories from the Field (steering committee)
Progress Lab (steering committee)
PuSH International Performing Arts Festival (satellite performance)
PuSH Assembly 2006 (steering committee)
Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (affiliate member/ membership committee)

Original Works

Drained (January 1997), Real Flowers (March 1998), Terminal (July 1998), Circadia (April 1999), Charge of the Moon (April 2000), Last Office (May 2001), Inside (September 2001), Hold your Head Tight (April 2002), The Last Stand (July 2002), The Beginners (April 2003), Lagoon of the Lost Tales (July 2003), The Suicide (February 2004), Vasily the Luckless (July 2005), The Perfectionist (January 2006), House of Sleeping Beauties (February 2006)

TOURING

International: The Suicide - Festival Cervantino, Guanajuato, Mexico and
the Maria Grever Teatro, Leon, Mexico (October 2004)

National: The Suicide - High Performance Rodeo, Calgary, and U of A,
Edmonton (January 2005) The Perfectionist - U of A, Edmonton (January 2006), and the Free Fall Festival at the Theatre Centre, Toronto (February 2006).

Workshops

For emerging and professional artists: Stilt Making and Performance,
(August 1997) with Gary Davis of the Fools Society; Caught in the Act,
(November 1997) building presence in the physical performer, with Ker Wells and Karin Randoja; Mask Performance (March, 1998) with Canadian mask-maker Frank Rader; In the Field, (February 2000) a two part workshop introducing local theatre makers to Boca¹s daily physical training and to The Viewpoints with Jill Samuels who received her training at SITI Theatre with Anne Bogart; Trapeze fundamentals with Jay Nunns, (March 2001); Building Ensemble, (February, 2002 and 2003) a workshop teaching Boca del Lupo creation methods and ensemble building; Vasily Workshop (July 2004) was a one week design workshop where we experimented with rigging, climbing trees and outdoor sound design; Suzuki Intensive (October 2005) in New York City with Kameron Steele who trained with Tadashi Suzuki.

Community Based and Education: Neighbourhood Stories: a performance
building workshop for community members in conjunction with Roundhouse Community Centre of Vancouver.

The SFU Workshops: ongoing training demonstrations and talk back sessions for Simon Fraser University Theatre Students on a variety of artistic and administrative topics.

The Theatre Room: a seven-week workshop on creating work with Lord Selkirk Elementary.

Templeton Workshops: a material-creation workshop with Templeton High School theatre students. Boca del Lupo has recently entered into a relationship with Main Dance and Point Grey S.S. and will be working with both schools to create their own site-specific piece in the coming months.