An SFU professor and playwright’s latest work is coming to the stage in Vancouver in April.
Peter Dickinson’s Long Division, which premiered in November at the Gateway Theatre, is back onstage at the Annex Theatre from April 26 to 30.
Pi Theatre is presenting the work, with choreography by Lesley Telford, musical score by Owen Belton and direction by Richard Wolfe.
“Math is a secret language hidden in plain sight. So much of what we see in the world around us – traffic patterns, the growth of plants, our ubiquitous mobile devices – are governed by logic and patterns that can be expressed purely in numbers,” Wolfe said in a press release. “In this remarkable play, Peter exploits this phenomenon and takes it a step deeper – using mathematics to chart the connections between disparate humans. It is a thrilling accomplishment whose end result wrenches your heart and sets your mind racing in equal measure.”
Long Division’s story revolves around seven characters who are travelling to a downtown bar on the occasion of a complicated anniversary: a high school math teacher, a soccer-loving imam, a lesbian bar owner, an aspiring actress and a single mother working in the corporate world, among others. All of their lives overlap in a single, unresolved traumatic event that binds their pasts together.
The ensemble cast includes top performers from Vancouver’s theatre scene, including Anousha Alamian, Jay Clift, Nicco Lorenzo Garcia, Jennifer Lines, Melissa Oei, Linda Quibell and Kerry Sandomirsky.
Dickinson is a professor at Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts and in the Department of English, and also serves as director of SFU’s Institute for Performance Studies.
He’s a former board member and past president of the PuSH International Performing Arts Festival and sits on the boards of Zee Zee Theatre and Turning Point Ensemble. He also blogs about Vancouver performance at performanceplacepolitics.blogspot.ca.
CHECK IT OUT
What: Pi Theatre presents Long Division
When: April 26 to 30, with preview April 26 and opening night April 27. Performances at 8 p.m., with matinees April 29 and 30 at 2 p.m.
Tickets: $25 matinees, $30 general admission. Buy through www.pitheatre.com/tickets.
Where: The Annex, 823 Seymour St. Vancouver
