Cross country skiers or snowshoers who follow the trail to the shores of Lost Lake Park in coming weeks shouldn't be alarmed by the sight of a 44-foot geodesic dome. It's not a top-secret VANOC laboratory or yet another security camp. Rather, it's the site of a unique theatre installation that will be taking place nightly from late January and throughout the Olympic Games.
Last spring VANOC announced that the Vancouver-based theatre society, The Only Animal, would be staging a site-specific production, NiX, in Whistler as one of almost 600 projects that are part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad program.
Kendra Fanconi is the co-artistic director of the The Only Animal and the playwright and director of NiX. The theatre company's mission is to revitalize the role of theatre in society, creating new works of theatre that range from intimate solo shows to large-scale site-specific performances. The company is responsible for Other Freds, a production that took place on Granville Island docks and the waters of False Creek in 2005.
Developed in partnership with Alberta Theatre Projects and Ghost River Theatre, NiX made its premiere in Calgary last February, where it ran for about a month garnering critical praise and two Betty Mitchell Awards. Now, it's set to make its B.C. premiere on an elaborate stage made from almost 200 tonnes (20 dump trucks worth) of snow. The stage will be created by a longtime member of the Canadian Snow Sculpture team, Carl Schlicting.
"...Carl is more like an abstract sculptor, so he's working with the sort of practical theatrical things that I'm asking of him," Fanconi explained.
The cast and crew comes to Whistler on Jan. 4, and Schlicting and his team will immediately begin setting up the geodesic dome that protects the stage from the sun. That process takes about three days. Then, they set to work creating the stage of ice and snow, which takes another five or six days. Finally, the cast will begin rehearsing on-site.
"The vision that he developed was that it's actually a set that transforms," said Fanconi. "So it starts out and it's just one stylized snowdrift and then as the play goes along different things are excavated out of it and it completely transforms."
After the show an assistant spends four hours in the middle of the night recreating the site for the next evening's performance.
"There have been changes to the script, there's improvements to the design, that kind of thing. But the thing that's new in Whistler that we didn't do in the premiere in Calgary last year is that there's a whole second venue, which is an ice bar."
Schlicting also designed the ice bar outside of the dome, which will serve as both a concession and starting point for the performance.
"The first scene of the play has been re-imagined to be in this place."
The bar opens about an hour before the show, so guests can come out and enjoy one of their many special drinks, like the Firestarter - a Mexican hot chocolate with crème de cacao - before the performance.
On top of the unique backdrop of Lost Lake and the icy staging, NiX also tells a story, featuring a cast of three central characters left behind after an icy apocalypse: an arsonist, a woman who is 10 and a half months pregnant, and a young girl.
"The critics often compare our work, saying it's Cirque du Soleil on ice or something like that, but I think it's more appropriate to say it's Cirque du Soleil with a dialogue because it is a play; it's a strange love story, very much drawn from the elements of snow and ice themselves, so the idea of the frozen places inside and the power of love to thaw," Fanconi said.
"It's dark, it's funny, it's tragic - it has lots of theatrical elements to it and it's very, very visual."
Of course, putting on a play outdoors at the peak of a Canadian winter raises some logistical concerns. Keeping everyone warm in this world of ice and snow is an issue, but actors are costumed in such a way that they can tolerate temperatures of -20 degrees Celsius, while audience members are encouraged to dress for an outdoor winter activity and are given blankets and seat warmers to use at the show.
"Its not a theatre show you come into wearing high heels," Fanconi quipped.
Fanconi has been keeping a very close eye on Whistler's weather and so far, our snowy winter conditions are ideal.
"We have been really pleased with the amount of snowfall and with the trends towards cold weather, so we have our fingers crossed," she said.
"One of the big things that we're worried about in Whistler is digging out our audience pathways during our five-week run," she said with a laugh.
Organizers recently put a call out for volunteers in the community, looking for about 15 people to help with set up and execution of the production - working as ushers, shuttle drivers and in promotions.
"On the volunteer front, a bunch of people came rushing in, so I know there are a few positions still left, but that response was pretty tremendous. And all in all, I have to say that we've just been really warmed and welcomed in Whistler," Fanconi said.
They've established partnerships with local companies like Cross-country Adventures on equipment rentals, so people who are attending the performance can ski or snowshoe into the show and then be shuttled out afterwards., and are in the process of developing another package with Outdoor Adventures for a pre-show fondue and sleigh ride to the site. People will also be able to shuttle from the transportation hub to Lost Lake Park.
"There's just a whole bunch of people behind the scenes that are helping to make it happen."
Now, after years of planning and hard work, the production is finally ready to make its Olympic debut.
"We've been working on this project for five years. It was first imagined when the bid book went in... when our dreaming on it started, so it's quite amazing to see it coming to Whistler."
Performances will take place from Jan. 22 to Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $19 to $50, depending on date and seat location. Almost one-quarter of the performances are sold out already and the venue only seats about 100 people per night, so people who are interested in attending should purchase tickets soon by visiting www.brownpapertickets.com.
"We know from the gang at Whistler Theatre Projects that Whistlerites are famous for booking last-minute, but that might not be the wisest approach with this show, because our capacity is only about 100 people a night, so the whole run only seats something like 4,000 people."
