UCV President and Fringe Playwright

Fringe with Unitarians

Mairy Beam, President of the Board of the Unitarian Church of Vancouver (and a good friend of mine) won the lottery to get in Vancouver Fringe this year. I helped stir up interest to get a good sized audience for opening night and then asked if I could interview her from a Unitarian-slant. I’ve been a Fringe volunteer for 10 years, although I’m taking this year and a big fan of live theatre. If you are or know of a Unitarian/ Fringe artist, I hope you’ll note in the comments.

Here are the questions I started with:

I’d like to start with a couple of Unitarian-specific questions and then get into more general questions about your art practice as playwright and theatre producer.

I believe it was while taking Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way program that you realized you wanted to write plays. Tell me about that course and how that realization came to you.

You were a Unitarian in Ontario before you and your partner moved to Vancouver. I believe you wrote and produced some plays there.  When you look back, how do you feel about that experience as a novice /emerging playwright?

Many of us who came to opening night know you through the Unitarian church, has your involvement as a Unitarian had an impact on the topics of the plays you write?

This play, The Judge’s Daughter, is something of a sequel to your previous play which was a docu-drama about the trials of TMX protesters.  How did you get from one to the other? 

What support have you had either as an activist or theatre artist from the Unitarian church? 

Interesting that you weave in an audience vote into this play. I don’t know of any other religion that states “democracy” as part of their religious statement.  

As the producer of this play AND president of the board of the Unitarian Church of Vancouver, how are those two roles similar?  What challenges are the same? What satisfaction or sense of accomplishment is the same or different?

I know the Unitarians have 8 principles. Which principle (or principles) most informs your work on this particular issue – both as an activist and an artist.

Are Unitarians typically creative people? I think we’re seen more as intellectual and rational which sometimes isn’t all that artistic even though congregations usually have choirs and music, typically classical or traditional.  

I believe you grew up Presbyterian and your sister is a Christian minister. Tell me about your path from that to Unitarianism.

Other plays and writing in general

You’ve written other plays. How many? 

Do you see an arc either in your creative process or the topics you’re interested in writing about?

Why plays and not short stories or poems? Or maybe you write those too?

I know you’re a member of a playwriting group, how does that support your creative work?

What would you recommend for someone who thinks they might like to write a play for the first time?

I know there are novels and murder mysteries set in Unitarian churches.

Most recently a writer in California who is a Unitarian Universalist wrote a quite controversial novel called Search which followed a search committee for a year as they went about choosing a new minister.  If you were to create a play about “drama” in a Unitarian church, what comes to mind at this point? What are the tensions or themes, not necessarily the plot?

Your creative process

I recall you once saying a workshop leader said “start where you’re angry”.  Do you feel that’s good advice for a writer?  

Tell me about the “crafting” – I’m sure between getting the idea and then getting words written down there was a lot of fine tuning just to improve it or to make changes because time passes.  

What next? Do you have an idea for a future play or plays? Are you working on something now?

The Judge’s Daughter

Tickets: https://www.vancouverfringe.com/events/the-judges-daughter/

Inspired by real events and real people, the Judge’s Daughter is a classic tale of tension between a mother and daughter, set against the background of the climate crisis. Kelly is a judge who has sent anti-pipeline protestors to prison. Erin, her daughter, is falling in love with an activist. When tragedy strikes, judge Kelly insists that the public supports her law-and-order stance. We ask the audience whether they agree. Whose side will they take?

Showtimes

Tuesday, Sept 12 at 6:45 pm

Friday, Sept 15 at 8:30 pm

Saturday, Sept 16 at 1:45 pm

Sunday, Sept 17 at 8 pm

Written by Mairy Beam

Directed by Lindy Sisson, Kymme Patrick

Dramaturg: Elan Ross Gibson

Cast: Jennifer Fahrni, Sidney Klips, Arsham Farasat, Linden Banks

Producers: Mairy Beam, Elan Ross Gibson

Artwork: George Rammel

Here’s a link if you want to watch the unedited interview. You need to register but if you have any difficulty with that,  just send me a note and we’ll figure it out. UnitarianMary@gmail.com

https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/xCEHLDQBgMEVzjucsTrMVnubirbVLwBZBA3NctPE3tuUjGvH1ncrJkG6UOfAD_K4.2X5i1bC9cT7AYkrR

Passcode: 949W49th!

Oh and yes!! The Fringe is on till this coming Sunday – go catch some shows.