FeatureFriday

Feature Friday

While the cast are working hard on the upcoming performance of Magnificat! We are here to bring you another edition of Feature Friday: a chance to get to know some of the fantastic people who are part of the ESG community.

This week we spoke with: Jemma

How long have you been involved in ESG?

Eight years!

What’s your favourite thing about ESG (other than snacks!)?

It’s all chaotic, and then everything just fits into place. It’s just really amazing to see it all come together like that.

What has been your favourite ESG performance?

Sampson and Delilah. They tied it into the pipeline story that was happening at the time. It was such a powerful performance. I’m just remembering being so impressed (and I was only 8 at the time!)

If you could play any fictional character, who would you choose and why?

Jo, from Little Women. She’s everything that I want to be. She had a progressive mindset for her time, an amazing strong woman in a time when women did not have a lot of power.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next Feature Friday!

Events

Save the Date! 2022 Performance

On May 14th & 15th

Magnificat! The Story of Mary

Saturday May 14th  6pm

Sunday May 15th  10:30am & 4:30pm

We can’t wait to welcome you back in person!

Eastside Story Guild members are excited to be diving into rehearsals, making sure we all remember which is stage left and stage right after all this time. We can’t wait to welcome you back in person this May!

We look forward to presenting the story of Mary, mother and disciple of Jesus, to the community in the spring:

  • Saturday May 14th  6pm
  • Sunday May 15th  10:30am & 4:30pm

More details to come closer to the date!

FeatureFriday, GuildFridays

Feature Friday

It’s the first Feature Friday of 2022! Thanks for tuning in!

The ESG cast and crew are working diligently on the upcoming performance about Mary, the mother of Jesus.

While they rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, we want to give you a chance to get to know some of the fantastic people who are part of the ESG community. So, watch for our Feature Friday posts, introducing you to a different ESG member each week.

This week we spoke with: Gilbert

How long have you been involved in ESG?

11 years I think?!

What’s your favourite thing about ESG (other than snacks!)?

How you get to see something you worked on come to fruition. There’s a really cool product at the end of what you’ve done.

What has been your favourite ESG performance?

It’s a toss up between This Changes Everything and the Kingdom Beat. Both are Jesus stories, told differently. Kingdom Beat (which was 2016 or earlier) because it was based on slam poetry and set on Commercial Dr. It was told so well, it sticks in my mind. It had a cool vision of how it was depicted, and it engaged all of the kids really well. This Changes Everything just looked really good and I really liked the script.

If you could play any fictional character, who would you choose and why?

A character I’ve really always wanted to play was MacBeth. It’s just a really interesting role and I really enjoy Shakespeare

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next Feature Friday!

GuildFridays

Welcome Back to Guild Fridays!

And we’re back!

Energy was high today as we gathered for our first Guild Friday of 2022! Newer cast members were introduced to a couple of our favourite theatre games to warm up, as more experienced actors kindly took the new folk into the fold. Everyone is so excited to be putting on a show after the pandemic-caused hiatus.

What’s involved in getting started? Jeqn encouraged the cast to come together as an ensemble and offered an inspiring reflection on some of ESG’s core principles, such as teamwork, commitment, and being supportive through curiosity and non-judgement.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The cast got to hear the story that will be told through their spring performance, the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus. ESG’s own Playwright, Kathy, shared some of her process in creating this year’s script. Once the actors received their roles, they dove right into character development.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It was thrilling to hear the walkthrough of our upcoming production. We can’t wait for everyone to see it!

Stay tuned as we pick up with another season of Feature Fridays, in which we interview an ESG participant, volunteer, or staff person and get to know a little more about the amazing people who make up the ESG community.

Events

All The World’s A Stage

What a special way to wrap up the fall session of ESG!

On Monday, ESG actors and volunteers gathered to clean up the neighbourhood around ESG Headquarters (a.k.a. Grandview Church) and spread some Christmas cheer (some of us adorned in silly costumes!). We had truly gorgeous weather, one last sunny, crisp fall day of the season.

We split up into two groups, one headed north and the other south, and collected bags of garbage (with gratitude for Vancouver’s street cleanup party program).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Afterwards we warmed up in the lower hall with hot chocolate and watched The Grinch while snacking on some delicious popcorn and gingerbread cake.

A great time was had by all! This may be an event worth repeating in the future, so stay tuned.

Have a joyful, peaceful Christmas and we are excited to gather again in 2022!

Events

Exciting Adventures for ESG – Part 2

The exciting times continue for Eastside Story Guild!

Part 2 – The Great Advent Bake-Off

Last year a new tradition was established within the ESG community when the actors participated in a virtual zoom-based bake off challenge.

This year we were fortunate enough to be able to gather in person for another year of Advent Bake-Off, including two cookie decorating challenges: A Star Cookie Challenge…

…and a gingerbread space-themed Show Stopper.

Thank you to our wonderful leaders and volunteers who helped make this such a fun, community-building event. We can’t wait til next year!

Events

Exciting Adventures for ESG – Part 1

We here at ESG have an exciting few weeks!

Part 1: The Planetarium

Near the end of November we gathered at the Planetarium to explore space and learn about the universe. It was a truly phenomenal field trip that included a show in the Rocket Lab and a trip through the universe in the IMAX theatre. Everyone had a great time, and it was a fun opportunity to hang out together.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Thank you so much to those who worked so hard to organize such a fun outing!

Uncategorized

A Guild Friday like No Other

Last week we gathered for our first Guild Friday with all the new cast members for the 2021/22 season. What a fun, fulfilling afternoon! It was so wonderful to see returning faces excited to see each other and welcoming new ones into the group. The icing on the cake was definitely seeing all our actors in their Halloween costumes!

After snack (when kids were equally excited to catch up and get to know each other), we enjoyed three stories about the cosmos from our Storyteller In Residence (Melanie), with a guest Graphic Storyteller, Anika Bauman. Click to watch a time-lapse of Anika’s work.

The actors then had the opportunity to reflect on the stories through collage.

Have a look at some of the images from the afternoon!