Production History

Upintheair Theatre was founded in 1999 by Daniel Martin and David Mott, and incorporated as a non-profit society in British Columbia in 2000. Since then Upintheair has established a reputation in Vancouver for creating original, contemporary theatre. Upintheair's work to date has been concerned with issues of popular culture, coming of age, self identity and personal transformation. Of course, this is all up in the air. The company strives to create theatre which is accessible to a wide audience while still pushing its artistic boundaries.

120bpm

By Aidan Maxted, Daniel Martin and Dave Mott

Directed by Daniel Martin and Dave Mott.

DJ Performance: Luke Martin and DJ Flyte

Cast: Sara Bynoe, David Patrick Flemming, Christopher Frary, Caitlin
Fulton, Miranda Huba, Jamie James, Kyle Jeperson, Frano Marsic and
Daniel Errey.

Saturday Night. The bass beat all around you. The sweet smell of sweat and pot. People hugging, touching, clutching. Chasing cheap love from thirty dollar pills. The dance dies, night fades, lights on. Everyone looks so dirty. You enter into the morning. The sun sucking at your face. Smoke your last smoke. Sunday.

True stories taken from Vancouverites who participated in the cities all-night dance parties, club, and rave scenes form the core of this compelling magic-realist myth about the loss of innocence and the power of dreams.

Penguins

By Matthew Kowalchuk

"Penguins...and coffee. I just don't see the connection." A one man play about a once high-flying Ad-Man struggling to keep his career, marriage, and head together. This show marked Martins solo performance and Mott's directorial debuts. This extremely successful foray into physical theatre was a hit with the audience privileged to see the one-off performance. Keep your eyes open for a remount.

Directed by Dave Mott.

Cast: Daniel Martin.

Moxie

By Jason Patrick Rothery

Two inmates try to keep from being eaten alive in a morally bankrupt future prison system. Take one part French farce, one part existential angst, add a dash of Machiavellian survival instinct and you have Moxie . Moxie is a ruthless social satire addressing our cutthroat corporate culture; a dystopian absurdist comedy about the prisons we're born into, and those we create for ourselves. Rothery's script pokes holes in our collective illusion of security.

Sometimes no matter how hard you try, no matter how often you do the
right thing, you still end up as next morning's breakfast.

Directed by Thrasso Petras.
Cast: Darren Boquist, Daniel Martin, Dave Mott.

Dave Mott and Darren Boquist in Moxie
Photo Daniel Martin

 

Men of the World

By David Geary and Deboarh Wilton

Upintheair Theatre's 2004 mainstage production is a searingly funny examination of sex, love, world travel and the pursuit of happiness through 7 years in the lives of four twenty-something Vancouverites. The company collaborated with dramaturge Victor Ustare, playwrights David Geary and Deborah Wilton and over 30 guest artists in a series of creative workshops; the product: Men of the World , the story of Guy, a high-strung idealistic community newspaper journalist searching for fulfillment, truth, love, and a clue.

Directed by Paulo Ribeiro, assisted by Dave Mott.
Cast: Darren Boquist, Daniel Martin, Kim Isbister, Laura Jaszcz and Robin Mooney.

Stumped

By David Mott

Stumped was created in collaboration with Lynna Goldhar, Sarah Edmondson and Stephane Capellinni as part of Fly Solo, a solo show creation workshop held in 2003. An exploration of self mutilation, office politics, and personal loss, this show tells the story of Nathan; did he deal with the pain in his hand, or did he just cut it off?

Directed by Daniel Martin.
Cast: Matty Finochio, Laura Jaszcz, and David Mott.

Wedgie

By Jason Patrick Rothery / the Cafeteria Collective

In 2002 the company began to investigate a collaborative process rooted in experience, refined through improvisation, and explored with physical creation. The initial group of seven actors spent three months on an explorative workshop process to develop the core of what would become Wedgie . The play grew from similar themes and concerns presented in Wilson's Leg , but branched out to encompass a wider scope of the concerns of youth - innocence, the development of individuality, politics, war, masturbation, media and government. The production marked a new level of awareness for the company, both with the creative process and broader social concerns. In 2003 Wedgie became the first original script selected for Presentation House Theatre's 'On The House' Co-production season.



2002: Directed by Dawn Millman The Cafeteria Collective: Daniel Martin, David Mott, Jason Rothery, Luisa Jojic, Melissa Robertson, Nicole Leroux, and Steve Handelsman.



2003: Directed by Stephen Drover Cast: Alex McMorran, Andrew Vokey, Brad McNiel, Carrie Ruscheinsky, David Mott, Daniel Martin, Heather Doerksen, Jason Rothery, Kim Isbister, Matt Olver, Matty Finochio, Melissa Robertson, Ryan Smith, Sarah Edmonson, and Theresa Skrobutan.

Wilson's Leg

By Jason Patrick Rothery


The precursor to Wedgie , Wilson's Leg was first presented by Laughing Day Productions at UBC's Brave New Playrites Festival (2000) and subsequently by Upintheair Theatre at the Element Sound Lounge in 2002 and the Bridge St Hall, 2003. Wilson's Leg is a sinister vision of modern childhood in an age of media saturation and video game violence. Evan and Bentley have brought Wilson to a tree house. Bentley brought the Super-Wrap and Evan brought the hacksaw. They're going to cut off Wilson's leg.


2002: Directed by Jason Rothery. Cast: Steve Handelsman, Daniel Martin and David Mott.

2003: Directed by Amanda Lockitch Cast: Ryan Beil, Tory Coombs and Chris Murphy.

Moxie

by Jason Patrick Rothery


First written in four hours as a slapdash entry in the Winnipeg Fringe's twenty-four hour playwrighting competition, Moxie saw it's first production in the basement of a sporting-goods manufacturing workshop. Moxie is about criticism, the prison system, glue, and freedom.


Directed by Sakalas Uzdavinys and Arvydas Lebeliunas
Cast: Darren Boquist, Daniel Martin, and David Mott

Men Without Lips

By Jason Patrick Rothery

Men W/O Lips was presented at UBC's Summerstock Festival in the summer of 2002. The play is a dark absurd comedy about quantum reality, virtual particles, the twisted nature of time, and the simultaneously shrinking and expanding space that surrounds us. But it is mostly about love; about how falling in love can feel like the entire world is upside out and inside down. One second you're alone in the drifting sea of the universe, and the next you're not. Beautiful and frightening, it doesn't make much sense.

Directed by Erin Oke
Cast: Rebecca Auerbach, Alex McMorran, and David Mott.

Not Open

By Daniel Martin

Presented at The Space in the fall of 2002, Not Open marked Martin's directorial debut, as well as his first solo production as a playwright. Is coffee truly evil? Can true love be found in a well-intentioned kidnapping? Is there any point falling in love with your waitress? And just how badly can you mess up and still get away with it?

Directed by Daniel Martin. Cast: Luisa Jojic and Craig Lapthorne.


Pyropornomania

By Daniel Martin and David Mott


Upintheair Theatre's first original creation, Pyropornomania was produced at the Vancouver Fringe Festival in 2000 and 2001. The first mounting was directed by Geoff Pugen, and the second was rehearsed in a mad-cap eleven day spurt with no director before going up before sold out houses at Lynd Hall. Pyropornomania is the story of four Vancouver ravers, and the difficulties that occur in their relationships stemming from parties, dancing, and drugs. The play was written by Martin and Mott and was work shopped over a two-year period with more than twenty artists participating in the creation process.


Original Cast: Simone Bailey, Tanya Hubbard, Daniel Martin and David Mott.
2001 Cast: Shelly Dusterbeck, Nicole Leroux, Daniel Martin and David Mott.