Critical response from the 2009 workshop production at Toronto’s SummerWorks Festival:

“Deveau…does an incredible job of humanizing the story.”                
- Donna G: CIUT 89.5 FM

“The play is certainly affecting… [Deveau] has embraced the challenge of keeping his play timely by including the most up-to-date information.  This timeliness makes the play feel very present in the here and now.”
-Allyson McGrane, PLANK

“The strength is definitely Deveau’s personal take. His anguish over the senseless death is palpable, and when he challenges the audience to think about its own humanity, it rings true. My Funny Valentine [is] a great, emotional show.”
  -The Panic Manual

MY FUNNY VALENTINE
by Dave Deveau
Directed by Cameron Mackenzie

Tuesday-Saturday, 8 pm 
2 for 1: April 17, 2 pm  
Pay What You Can: April 20, 2 pm 
Additional Matinees: April 23, April 24, 2pm

HELD OVER: 
Additional performances April 26-30, 8pm
Additional matinee April 30, 2 pm 

PAL Theatre
Georgia & Cardero (see map)

Click HERE for Tix

Featuring Kyle Cameron

On February 11, 2008, in Oxnard, California, 14-year-old Lawrence King asked a boy in his class to be his valentine. That boy’s name was Brandon McInerney. The next day, during first period, McInerney took out a gun and shot King twice in the head. On February 13, King was declared braindead, but was left on life support so organs could be removed for donation. King passed away on February 14, 2008 – Valentine’s Day.
                                     
After countless delays in the judicial process, the preliminary hearing took place in August 2009, revealing the details of McInerney’s neo-Nazi involvement. The presiding judge described McInerney as having shot “with the cold-blooded precision of an executioner”. The trial is still pending.

My Funny Valentine examines the fracturing of opinion in the face of a horrendous act within a community. And as we await the trial, it invites the audience to search for its own humanity amid the confusing and chaotic implications King’s death brings to the surface. In searching through this thick haze, it enables us to find the heart.

"Smart, heartfelt, and sometimes funny"
- Colin Thomas, Georgia Straight

"So raw and intimate you might feel you're eavesdropping…Nelly Boy gets under your skin"
- Jo Ledingham, Courier

"For 75 minutes you could have heard a pin drop in the small space of the PAL theatre. As the actors exited and the lights went to black, the words "brave, terrifying, sad" competed in my head… well worth seeing"
- Gillian Lockitch, Review from the House

"well written, well directed, the actors captivating"
- Kari Barrett, The Peak

NELLY BOY
by Dave Deveau
Directed by Cameron Mackenzie
22 October to 01 November
PAL Theatre, 581 Cardero at Georgia (see map)

Caught in the middle of opposing gender ideals, Nelly is forced to confront hatred and his/her own perceptions of the world in order to survive suburbia.

Produced by Zee Zee Theatre in association with Screaming Weenie Productions and is presented as part of the See Seven independent subscription series.

ALLAN ZINYK Man/Father
AMITAI MARMORSTEIN Nelly

CAMERON MACKENZIE Director, Producer
DAVE DEVEAU Playwright
SEÁN CUMMINGS Assistant Director
MARINA SZIJARTO Set Designer
JERGUŠ OPRŠAL Lighting Designer
SYDNEY CAVANAGH Costume Designer
MICHAEL RINALDI Sound Designer
JILLIAN PERRY Stage Manager
TIM FURNESS Technical Director
EMMA SLIPP Production Assistant/Front of House
BRANDON GAUKEL Production Photographer

MEDIA PAGE

“Despite gloomy predictions of the future of indie theatre in these trying economic times it’s heartening to see ever more new and driven companies springing up in Vancouver. Companies with something to say, and the desire to say it from the stage. Companies with more passion than money, and the will to get the production up regardless. Companies like Zee Zee Theatre. I’m proud to see independent Vancouver artists like Cameron Mackenzie taking the task this seriously. If we keep going like this, Vancouver could very well be a formidable force in presenting indie theatre to the world as a profitable and sustainable industry.”
-Simon Ogden, The Next Stage

“Playing Auto, Jeff Gladstone delivers a performance that defines a new high-water mark in his career. His work feels so deeply internal that it's like his character is imploding. And when Auto tries to emerge from psychic hiding to respond to Jude's touch, it obviously hurts so much that you can't help but be moved… A lot of theatre is boring because it's emotionally timid. MacDonald's script and director Cameron Mackenzie's production aren't afraid to ooze bodily fluids.”
-Colin Thomas, Georgia Straight

“Under Cameron Mackenzie's sensitive direction for Zee Zee Theatre, Gladstone and Jon Lachlan Stewart (as Jude) are tender and as playful as a pair of bear cubs. Stewart, particularly, is so sweet--almost cherubic--that good feeling simply flows from him. I don't remember the first time I saw the play feeling such goodness emanating from this character. When Jude finally does break through to Auto and then to Lyle, it's like the clouds have cleared and the sun has broken through. There are a couple of embraces that just about rip your heart Out.” 
-Jo Ledingham, The Courier

WHALE RIDING WEATHER
by Bryden MacDonald
Directed by Cameron Mackenzie
February 12 to 28, 2009
PAL Theatre Vancouver, 581 Cardero at Georgia

This multiple-award-winning Canadian play follows rich and complex characters on a journey through addiction and co-dependence towards self-awareness and freedom.

Lyle, a campy old queen and alcoholic, regales us with unashamed egocentric tales. His younger lover, Auto, stands as a wounded child trapped in the body of a man who has become co-dependent and depressive after years with Lyle. Auto's new friend and would-be-lover Jude sweeps in and brings a fresh outlook on life: a tenderness that both men have forgotten.

Whale Riding Weather is a painfully beautiful story of love, regret, forgiveness, loss and freedom.

ALLAN MORGAN Lyle
JEFF GLADSTONE Auto
JON LACHLAN STEWART Jude

CAMERON MACKENZIE Director, Producer
BRYDEN MACDONALD Playwright
MARINA SZIJARTO Set Designer
JEFF HARRISON Lighting Designer
SYDNEY CAVANAGH Costume Designer
JILLIAN PERRY Stage Manager
EMMA SLIPP Production Assistant