VocalEye and the Arts Club Theatre have been working together to make theatre more accessible for audience members who are blind and partially sighted since 2010. We’re thrilled to share another full season of Arts Club audio plays with our Almost Live audiences.
A boyfriend from hell. A nightmare apartment. A botched Tinder date. Isabelle and Kristen have been through a lot together. But the arrival of Kristen’s new romantic interest leaves Isabelle wondering how long she can stay in a supporting role. This new comedy launches Cyrano de Bergerac into the 21st century: mistaken identities, millennial manifestos, and the quest for self-love. Who might be waiting in the wings?
Written by Christine Quintana, who will be joining us for conversation and Q and A.
The VocalEye virtual lobby opens at 6:30 pm Pacific Time for some socializing and community updates with host Amy Amantea. The pre-show introduction will begin at 6:45 pm with Amy and guests. The show begins at 7 pm with a running time of approximately 90 minutes, followed by conversation, Q and A and a prize draw.
If you’ve never attended a VocalEye Almost Live Zoom event before, you can register for just one event or sign up for the full season. A Zoom link and reminder will be sent to you on the day of the event. Almost Live events are designed for people with sight loss, but everyone is welcome.
Register here or call 604-364-5949
A note from the playwright:
These days, it’s really hard to do anything.
When I sat down at my desk to write Someone Like You, I struggled. Deep into our pandemic year, I was feeling the stasis. Same desk, same sweatpants, same underlying current of dread. Old play. Cyrano de Bergerac, the source material, is a dusty classic. Is now the time for a remake of a 100-year-old play?
I have a cynical streak, and my reading of Rostand’s original play goes straight to some of my darkest parts. Sorry—a funny, charming, witty man LIES TO and GASLIGHTS an intelligent woman to help his hot friend MARRY HER because he can’t have her because of an INSIGNIFICANT PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTE of his and then the hot guy DIES and then he LIES TO HER FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE so she NEVER EXPERIENCES LOVE WITH HIM? And that’s a timeless comedy? WHAT?!
Whew, that felt good.
Yeah, so that’s where I started, from the depths of my cynicism and pandemic funk. A terrible place to begin.
But here’s the thing—like Cyrano himself, I’m also a romantic. I love love, and I love love in the face of a world that so often robs us of our joy. And love surviving alongside a global pandemic, multiple international uprisings against inequity, and systemic discriminations?
That, I can get behind.
So this remix of Rostand’s original flawed, longing, imperfect characters is a love letter to our modern times and a middle finger to the many reasons it’s sometimes hard to get out of bed in the morning.
This is a love letter to the life-giving, essential friendships that stay with us through our lives.
This is a love letter to anyone who finds a way to love themselves in a world that constantly tells them not to; and to those who aren’t there yet but want to be.
This is a love letter to everyone whose heart has been bruised over the last year and a half of isolation.
This is a love letter to love in all its forms; imperfect and open-hearted, just like each of us.
And a middle finger to all the things, big and small, that tell us we are not worthy of love.
Nothing cynical about that.
–Christine Quitana
