As someone who has devoted a tremendous amount of time advocating for the cultural sector during the pandemic, Donna Spencer knows how brutal it’s been on performing artists.

The Firehall Arts Centre artistic producer is especially troubled by the impact of the pandemic on younger actors. Many have found it nearly impossible to find work in their chosen field after graduating from university or college programs such as Studio 58.

“Most actors have not been working in theatre because theatres have been closed,” Spencer tells the Straight by phone before a rehearsal of her company’s latest production, Mary’s Wedding. “There hasn’t been the opportunity to see these younger actors on-stage or in showcases.”

So when she had to postpone the Firehall’s coproduction of FADO—The Saddest Music in the World with Puente Theatre, she decided to stage a play that would feature young actors.
She chose Stephen Massicotte’s award-winning Mary’s Wedding, a love story set in the First World War.

“I was looking for something that we could do with two people—a two-hander that we could double cast in case something happened and one of our four artists got that dreaded virus,” Spencer says.

In her role as the director, Spencer cast Sarah Roa and Tanner Zerr, as well as Emma Ross and Jacob Leonard, to play the characters Mary and Charlie.

“It’s basically about young love and hope and looking to the future,” Spencer says. “And, of course, what happens when the future doesn’t go exactly like one planned.”

She says that she first saw the play 20 years ago when it premiered at the annual playRights festival in Calgary. She describes Mary’s Wedding as a hopeful story, noting that we all need some of that these days, as well as a little humour.

The show also has emotionally wrenching moments, like when Charlie finds himself on a battlefield near the France-Belgium border.

Spencer sees parallels between what’s happening now and the magnitude of changes that took place in the era when Mary’s Wedding is set.

“There is a realization within the play that sometimes you have to give up on things that you believe—and see that things do change—and that you really are not in control of the world,” she says.

Spencer is particularly impressed by Massicotte’s script, describing it as “poetic”. She also loves how the story is told in a nonlinear way.

“The language is beautiful,” the director says. “I keep saying to my artists here, the actors, ‘Trust the words.’ The words will take you to the place that you need to be at this time. And I think that’s what happens.”

The Firehall Theatre was built in 1906 as Vancouver’s first fire station, so it actually existed at the time when this play is set.

According to Spencer, the theatre’s black-box space really lends itself to this type of production. That’s because the stage is wide enough to create the flat landscapes of the Prairies and war-torn Europe, which come to life through Riley Hardwick’s sound design.

Spencer also credits lighting and set designer Lauchlin Johnston for “working his magic on creating a set that I can turn into all sorts of different places”.

“He’s also doing the lighting for it, so I think it’s going to be quite a beautiful piece to see,” Spencer adds.