A writer types a line in Halifax. Within seconds, a choir sings that same line in Vancouver.

This is the basis of Town Choir: it’s not time travel, teleportation or mindreading—it’s theatre. 

Combining creativity and technology to build a choral performance crafted in real-time, the brilliant minds at Theatre Replacement are excited to bring PuSh Fest audiences this experimental production, which is an iteration of a previous show called Town Crier.

Speaking on the phone with Theatre Replacement’s Maiko Yamamoto, the Straight asks an obvious but burning question: How does it all work?

She tells us that the troupe has recruited four Canadian singer/songwriters in Prince George, Winnipeg, Montreal, and Halifax, to write real-time lyrics for the Vancouver Youth Choir.

Using a special Dropbox program that enables the writers to upload their sentences directly to Yamamoto’s computer, she then displays them on four large, on-stage screens. 

Then, the choir sings the on-screen words in one of a handful of pre-determined choral frameworks, chord arrangements, and harmonies.

Yamamoto is the gatekeeper: she decides which lines become lyrics, and when they’ll be sung.

“The writers have a very set menu of instructions,” she says, “usually things like, ‘Now write 10 observations about the place you’re in’.”

Sentences like “The room is dimly lit”, or, “I’m sitting in an uncomfortable chair” are transmitted on the screen.

“It’s all interfacing together in the moment, and you can almost imagine the writers at home in their living rooms or studios,” she continues.

Working with conductor Robbie Blake, the Vancouver Youth Choir is made up of 60 vocalists between the ages of 14 and 23, and is broken up into different sections.

After being presented with a new sentence, each section has a different melisma, or group of notes, to work from.

Yamamoto says it's a negotiation of sorts between what’s happening with technology, what’s happening with the choir, and what’s happening on the writers’ end.

“It all feels very immediate when we’re doing it, even stressful,” she says.

“These really everyday ideas and thoughts act as a container for other people to drop their experiences in,” says Yamamoto of the performance.

“It’s easy for audiences to make their own meaning of it.”

Town Choir takes place on January 22 at the Woodward’s Building atrium, on January 29 at the Roundhouse Community Centre, and on February 5 at Vancouver Public Library’s Central branch.

All performances begin at 12 p.m., and are free of charge.