Vancouver, BC - Up in the Air Theatre proudly presents The Neanderthal Arts Festival, July 18-29, 2012 at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. Featuring new cutting edge work by emerging and established artists, the Festival will offer four distinctive lines of programming: National Mainstage, Local Mainstage, Site Specifc Performance, and readings of new works. Adventure Passes, which grant access to every play in the Festival for only $50, are available until May 31 through www.upintheairtheatre.com or www.thal.ca.
This year, events will be held in an exciting array of sites at the Cultch: the Historic Theatre, the Culture Lab, the Dressing Room Kitchens, and the Wine Bar. Showcasing both national and local theatre companies, the Festival will tackle subject matter ranging from the disenchantment of college graduation {Stationary: a recession era musical}; to rape at a highschool graduation {Exhibit A}; to ideology, war, survival and Lenin {Tyumen, Then}; to PTSD post-Saigon {Christmas Eve in Saigon}; to backstage Burlesque {Rosie Bitts Shimmy Town}. New this year, the Festival will include a series of French Canadian work in translation, produced by emerging company Bouchewhacked. Eclectic and challenging, the Festival promises a range of options to suit varied tastes and showcase the best summer theatre in Vancouver.
The programming of Neanderthal Arts Festival is designed to provide a platform for theatre artists and companies to showcase and try out new and experimental work. Entering their tenth year as Festival producers, Upintheair Theatre presents programming that is aesthetically eclectic, drawn to humour and comedy, topically relevant, and high energy. The Festival itself fills a hole in summer programming in Vancouver. Mid-summer is usually dominated by big-name events (Bard on the Beach, Cirque du Soleil, Folk Fest, etc.), which come with big-ticket prices. By keeping ticket prices low ($14 for individual tickets, lower with a pass), Neanderthal is able to offer an affordable alternative to summer entertainment for those who want to engage with live arts but can’t quite swallow the big ticket prices.
