Caravan Farm Theatre is back with a bang

Apr 19, 2022 | 11:30 AM

The 44th season of the Caravan Theatre is going to be big and bold.

Leaders at the professional outdoor theatre company located on an 80-acre farm in Spallumcheen, are promising a 2022 season of immersive storytelling, large-scale horse operas, thrills, chills and celebratory dance parties, and a fresh take on a holiday classic.

“We are coming back with a bang,” said Estelle Shook, Caravan Farm Theatre (CFT) artistic and managing director, “and we have a year-round slate of artistic programming to offer our audiences.”

The season begins in May with The Audio Land Walks: three storytelling journeys created by Kenthen Thomas, Christine Quintana, and rice & beans Theatre. The Land Walks are 30-minute audio stories that are listened to during a 2.5-kilometre walk through the fields and forests of Caravan Farm.

“These are interactive, evocative encounters with the art of audio storytelling and our beautiful landscape. Each one is meticulously produced and provides the listener with a unique and highly personal way in which to experience them. One can do these solo, in a reflective, meditative way; or more socially as part of a family or friend outing,” Shook explained.

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The walks begin May 7 and run afternoons Thursday to Sunday through spring and summer.

“They are a wonderful opportunity to get out of the house for an artistic adventure,” Shook remarked.

Summer sees the return of the horse opera, Blackhorse. Written by Shuswap raconteur Linz Kenyon, and directed by Shook, Blackhorse incorporates horses in both the staging and storytelling for the first time in years.

(Photo credit: Caravan Farm Theatre)

Shook and Linz have been developing this show for the last several years — the third in their “horse opera” trilogy which includes Cowboy King (2000) and IOU Land (2005). Folks can expect the same gritty, hilarious, rural poetry and bust-out-of-the-gates indie rock score that is Linz’s hallmark, as well as some spectacular staging featuring six heavy horses and a team of local horsewomen, led by heavy horse-pulling champ Joyce Marchant.

Blackhorse is the contemporary tale of a B.C. couple struggling to raise a family, own a home and cope with one parent away at work in the Alberta oil patch. The show runs July 14 to Aug. 7.

Back for another late August week of film screenings is the third annual Caravan Film Festival, including the Indigenous Short-Film Showcase and featuring pre-show live music.

In October, the Sound Walk of Terror: Sparagmos returns with even more frights, more fire-throwing KINSHARA acrobatics, and culminates in a dance with the funk band Freak Motif.

December brings the beloved winter show. This year, guests will be treated to The Wonderful “a wild adaptation” of It’s a Wonderful Life, from a black perspective, written by African-Canadian slam poet champion Luke Reece and directed by Kimberley Rampersad of Shaw Festival Theatre fame.

“We’re really excited about this piece. The black experience in rural Canada is a story not often told, and it is one that needs telling. We are so thrilled to present Luke’s premiere and to welcome the exciting creative artists at the helm of this work. The Wonderful wraps up what will be a big, bold season of spectacular, meaningful, theatre for our community,” Shook added.

People need to recover and reconnect, said Shook, and this season will provide that for the community.

“The theatre, especially outdoor, immersive theatre such as ours, is an opportunity not only to encounter art, but to strengthen the bonds of our relationships — whether it’s with oneself, or one’s family, friends and loved ones.”

For more information about Caravan Farm Theatre’s 2022 season and upcoming shows, visit the farm online at caravanfarmtheatre.com.

The Caravan Farm Theatre is located on the unceded traditional territories of the Secwepemc and Syilx First Nations.

by Vernon Matters Staff

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