Vancouver's Electric Company Theatre has been chosen as one of 11 cross-country troupes to create and perform a large-scale, outdoor new work in response to these strange, pandemic times.

The funding comes as part of the Grand Acts of Theatre initiative from the National Arts Centre.

All the works will be performed outside in front of live audiences in various Canadian locations, filmed, and later shared with a national and international audience online.

Electric Company's work Reframed will take place on October 7, and is conceived and created by the troupe's core artists: Carmen Aguirre, Kim Collier, Kevin Kerr, and Jonathon Young. Justine A. Chambers provides choreography, Joelysa Pankanea composes the music, Carmen Alatorre creates costumes, and Jimmy JinPyo Hong will be emerging creative associate.

A reaction and contrast to the isolation and digital screen time of recent months, Reframed will feature dozens of performers in a natural environment, moving together in choreographed formations, the company describing it as "a choral expression of multiple perspectives".

The exact time and location of the show is to be confirmed. Please check here for updates.

The companies were curated for Grand Acts of Theatre by NAC English Theatre artistic director Jillian Keiley and Vancouver theatre maker Sherry Yoon, artistic director of the local company Boca del Lupo. The project is part of the NAC’s three-year “The Next Act” plan to lead and support the renewal of the Canadian performing arts sector. 

Other shows include Catalyst Theatre's until the next breath in Edmonton; Black Theatre Workshop's Black and Blue Matters - Track 1: No One Gives a F*ck About a Cop in Montreal; and Kaha:wi Dance Theatre's Continuance: Yonkwa'nikonhrakontáhkwen - our consciousness continues unchanged in Brantford, Ontario. Each performance adheres strictly to the health and safety guidelines in each region.

The project is made possible by support from The Jenepher Hooper Fund for Theatre at the National Arts Centre Foundation, established as a result of a gift from the estate of Jenepher Margaret Hooper. 

Electric Company Theatre is known for innovation and its critically celebrated, interdisciplinary creations. It was formed as a collective in 1996, and its 22 original productions include Betroffenheit (with Kidd Pivot), Tear the Curtain!, No Exit (with The Virtual Stage), Studies in Motion, Brilliant!, and the filmThe Score. It cofounded Progress Lab 1422, a theatre-creation space in East Van that it shares with Rumble Theatre, Neworld Theatre, and Boca del Lupo.