ARTISTIC MILLENNIALS TRY TO MAKE IT IN BIG CITY
New play explores moments when dreams and reality conflict
As Beau Han Bridge sees it, Vancouver has become a “sort of La La Land-esque dream city.” Young, aspiring artists come to the city seeking to establish careers.
That’s the situation the two protagonists find themselves in in Bridge’s new play, Above the Hospital.
“If I had to describe this play in a nutshell, I would say that it’s a play about artistic aspirations in Vancouver millennials, and how societal pressures such as unaffordability and social isolationism work in disfavour of both the positive image we have of the city, as well as millennials pursuing their dreams,” the 24-year-old said.
In Above the Hospital, Cameron (Tristan Smith) and Lauren (Mira Maschmeyer) are a pair of 20-something aspiring artists (musician and filmmaker, respectively), who have moved to Vancouver from Ontario. They are four years into their relationship and living above an animal hospital on Broadway and Main. Conflict arises when Lauren tells Cameron she’s ready to give up on her filmmaking dream and apply to nursing school.
Written and directed by Bridge, Above the Hospital is the second production from his company, Midtwenties Theatre Society. The first was last year’s production of Kenneth Lonergan’s This is Our Youth. Set in New York, Lonergan’s play touches on similar themes of youth on the cusp of adulthood.
“Creatively, I learned how you can work a script in favour of getting that specific tone and language of those characters on a deeper level that is external to you,” Bridge said of the experience of putting on the Lonergan play.
That said, Above the Hospital is no repeat of This is Our Youth.
“I think people are going to feel this relates more to the works of Edward Albee and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ?”
Bridge, who is also an actor, began writing Above the Hospital before his company staged This is Our Youth.
“I originally wrote a draft a yearand-a-half ago,” he said.
“The idea had been building a long time before then, based on an experience I had that contributed a lot to establishing Midtwenties.”
Both plays follow the mandate he has set for his company.
“We want to produce shows specifically for the millennial demographic. They’re not just for us, though. The plays we do are going to address contemporary issues told through the perspective of people in their mid-20s”
He realizes competition is stiff for the attention of his target demographic.
“It’s difficult to reach that audience, to get them into theatres,” he said.
“Theatre will always be theatre, and there will always be that challenge of encouraging more people to come to this specific medium. But, in relation to theatre, there’s a lot to offer for millennials. Which is why we’re trying to encourage and build this audience to come see these shows.”