Date: December 2 – 4, 2011
Location: Firehall Centre for the Arts
Website: www.vancouverpromusica.ca and www.tomoearts.org

Shadow Catch is a Japanese Noh-influenced, brand new chamber opera that weaves together four stories from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Rich with local history and haunting characters, this riveting tale features an original libretto by celebrated Vancouver poet Daphne Marlatt, an evocative score by four Vancouver composers – Dorothy Chang, Jennifer Butler, Farshid Samandari, and Benton Roark, music direction by Marguerite Witvoet, and stage direction by Asian theatre specialist Colleen Lanki. Shadow Catch tells the story of a young runaway newly arrived in Vancouver who spends the night in Oppenheimer Park—and the four spirits who appear to him in his dreams to recount aspects of the dynamic pre-war history of the Powell Street neighbourhood.

Shadow Catch Promotional Video from Benton Roark on Vimeo.

With support from the City of Vancouver’s 125th Anniversary Grants Program and the participation of the Government of Canada.