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THE GREATEST CITIES IN THE WORLD

MAIKO BAE YAMAMOTO + JAMES LONG

Wim Wenders portrayed the landscape of Paris, Texas. But what do we know about Paris, Tennessee, the catfish capital of the USA? The state is also home to Rome, Moscow, Athens – best known for its ice cream – and London, a hamlet on a dirt road in the middle of the Cherokee National Forest.

Details

Fascinated by the lives of the inhabitants of these villages that have appropriated the names of famous cities, by their colourful experiences, their wanderings and their impassioned or star-studded dreams, the members of Theatre Replacement immersed themselves in this mythical South, visiting the length and breadth of the state, its waffle houses and backroads snack bars, its shacks and air-conditioned motels, collecting a great number of interviews and life stories to reveal an unsuspected, haunting Tennessee. After winning over FTA audiences last year with the amazing Bioboxes and WeeTube, this Vancouver company is continuing its quasi-ethnographic pursuit with this spirited new interdisciplinary piece. This astounding universe of knights, carnival queens and “stolen” dialogue portrays an America full of contradictions, a place where, during the brief passage of a baroque dance, the terrible and the magnificent unite.

Credits

PRODUCED BY THEATRE REPLACEMENT

PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY MAIKO BAE YAMAMOTO + JAMES LONG
PERFORMERS: RUBEN CASTELBLANCO + NNEKA CROAL + SUSAN ELLIOTT + YOUNG HEE-KIM + ANDREW LAURENSON + TANYA PODLOZNIUK + MICHAEL RINALDI
SET DESIGN: JESSE GARLICK
MUSIC COMPOSED AND DIRECTED BY VEDA HILLE
LIGHTING DESIGN: JONATHAN RYDER
COSTUME DESIGN: ALLEE WELLS

COPRODUCTION MAGNETIC NORTH THEATRE FESTIVAL + FESTIVAL TRANSAMÉRIQUES
WITH THE SUPPORT OF SHADBOLT CENTRE FOR THE ARTS
PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH PLACE DES ARTS

REDACTION: CATHERINE CYR
TRADUCTION: NEIL KROETSCH

MAIKO BAE YAMAMOTO + JAMES LONG (VANCOUVER)
THEATRE REPLACEMENT

After the astounding interactive installation WeeTube (Microclimats), based on videos discovered on YouTube, as well as the amazing Bioboxes, a series of “cabinets of curiosities” for one spectator at a time that featured nano-narratives of stories based on interviews with recent immigrants to Canada, Theatre Replacement continues to pursue its quasi- ethnographic approach. Amassing a vast number of testimonials, James Long and Maiko Bae Yamamoto have reshaped the material, turning it into “stolen” or hijacked tales. To that end, the two directors and co-artistic directors of Theatre Replacement (who studied at the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University and who have worked together for the past fourteen years ) teamed up with collaborators from diverse backgrounds (actors, dancers, a musician, an architect).

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