Profiles

Cool people doing amazing things — and I get to write about them!

As POF Eliminates Intimate Encounters, Ashley Madison Makes Them Easier Than Ever

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“Two hundred years ago someone uniquely stepped up and said ‘Hey, we shouldn’t put people in prison or put scarlet letters on someone that is being unfaithful,’ and that person would have seemed like a radical,” says Avid Life Media CEO Noel Biderman, who hails from Toronto. “But in the end that is where the rest of society went to. That is what innovation is all about.”

After 19 million members in 26 countries, Ashley Madison is now the world’s largest extramarital dating website; in other words, a website for married people seeking additional affairs. While other online dating companies like Plenty of Fish and Match.com focus more on building relationships, Ashley Madison steers in the opposite direction by connecting people who want to hook-up in a discreet fashion.

Since the launch in 2001, Ashley Madison has received criticism and accusation for profiting off of ruined marriages and broken families. But affairs have been around way before the website’s existence. While some might frown at the prospect of adultery, Biderman believes he is creating a community for a large group of people who are in dire need for his service.

“Accountability lies in human decisions making,” Biderman told Techvibes. “We sometimes want to point fingers, but I can’t convince anyone to have an affair; not one on one, not on a TV commercial, and not if they read this article. People have affairs because their lives are complicated.”

Unlike other dating websites, Ashley Madison—which was just ranked 29th in the Profit 500—offers a secure platform for users. By separating their infidelity from social settings such as bars, Facebook and workplace, people can quietly go about their business without the constant fear of being discovered.

“The perfect affair means meeting someone and not getting caught,” explains Biderman, who was nominated for the 2013 Ernest and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. “I’m trying my best to give you the technologies to do so. When you sign up I’ll put your photo under lock and key. I have a panic button. I have discreet billing. And ultimately when you are finished with Ashley Madison, I don’t just delete your profile like other social networks do. I’ll go back and take back every message you have ever sent to anyone historically and yank them off the site.”

Canadian dating website Plenty of Fish recently eliminated their Intimate Encounters feature. POF founder Markus Frind explained the reasoning behind it as such: “Intimate Encounters on POF can be summed up as a bunch of horny men talking to a bunch of horny men pretending to be women.”

Meanwhile, Ashley Madison is making intimate encounters easier than ever with the launch of BlackBook, a new app for iOS and Android that allows members to call each other using disposable phone numbers in a secure manner to keep their affairs secret. And although Ashley Madison may seem like the dark side of Internet dating, Biderman assures the public that it is in fact a far more honest and robust platform than the alternatives.

Online dating is still in its infancy and has a lot of stigma to overcome. But Ashley Madison is taking a different route to earn respect. A full-time romance and a short-term intimacy is of equal value and that is exclaimed in Ashley Madison’s slogan, “Life’s short, have an affair.”

Dating is not just about holding hands and walking in the park, nor should it be chatting about sex with a mysterious avatar. People are as complicated as their relationships and Ashley Madison and Avid Life Media have created platforms for people of all types to make life’s engagements a little bit easier.

Metafor Software: Detecting Unexpected Changes in Your Computers

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Downtime for any website can be devastating. It doesn’t matter if the occurrence last for 10 minutes or 10 days, the result is always chaos.

But with the way the Internet is programmed, such anomalies are unavoidable. Even the largest websites in the world can suffer downtimes and that includes Google. Recently, the heart of the Internet skipped a beat and caused Gmail and many other Google features to go down for 18 grueling minutes—a lifetime for many users.

The solution for such a crisis is often time-consuming troubleshooting. Technicians will spend minutes upon hours of trial and error, attempting to locate the problematic server among a hundred other servers.

But now Vancouver-based Metafor Software have developed advanced algorithms that will quickly distinguish server drifts, shorten troubleshooting time and prevent red herrings.

Metafor Software is the industry’s first provider of environment anomaly detection and solution for the web and data centre applications. By quickly locating inconsistencies, Metafor can replace manual troubleshooting with automated diagnostics and prevent environment anomalies before they impact the quality of service.

Metafor is a cloud-based tool that is able to check servers for anomalies hourly, daily or only on certain days. The program would automatically send an email alerting that a server has drifted from a desired state. This feature would mitigate downtime from occurring and highlight areas within the servers that need addressing.

Problematic changes in servers are unexpected and that is what makes them so hard to detect. Even the smallest change that may have slipped into the system can bring down a Goliath like Google. And without software like Metafor, programmers wouldn’t notice the problem until they apply new configurations into the system.

“Metafor provides instant actionable insight,” said Toufic Boubez, CTO, Metafor Software. “It’s a standalone solution that fills a critical gap in the DevOps troubleshooting kit by preventing drift in environments where change is continuous and constant.”

Boubez was previously the cofounder of Layer 7, which was acquired in April by CA Technologies for $155 million.

Metafor Software was named to 2013 ICT Emerging Rockets list as part of the Ready to Rocket recognition program, which showcases British Columbia’s growth leaders of tomorrow in the technical sector.

“All of us at Metafor are honored to be a part of such a prestigious list of companies,” says Jenny Yang, CEO, Metafor Software. “If the talks today at Monitorama are any indication, anomaly detection will become a critical component in the DevOps tool chain. The coming year is going to be exciting!”

Metafor offers its anomaly detection solution free of charge to anyone who joins its Beta program. A task that was once tedious can now be routine, with a single command Metafor Software will perform troubleshooting, release validation and alert problematic anomalies before your morning coffee is ready.

Uploaded: a profile of Andrew Huang

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Formerly published in Ricepaper Magazine.

by ELLIOT.CHAN on Apr 27, 2013 • 4:23 pm

Andrew Huang’s musical mystique is an exploration. Different environments conjure different personalities, different auras and different sounds. Like a chameleon, he is able to instinctually morph to suit his surrounding, whether it is the soulful rhythm of a heartbreaking ballad or the fast-pace delivery of a tongue-tying rap song. One scroll down Huang’s YouTube channel and you could witness his musical range.

“I made my YouTube account in 2006,” he said, “just because I thought I should have one. But I didn’t put anything on it right away.” Now with over 260 videos, Huang had fully embraced the platform and not only does he consider it to be a jumping board to higher achievement, he feels YouTube might just be the next grand artistic movement. “I started seeing how fast an audience can grow there, because there was already a community. It started making sense.”

Limitation is the stratosphere determined by artists’ platforms. While some are trapped within a glass jar, Huang feels he could reach the stars with his creative freedom. Marching to his own beat, he focuses his attention away from creative roadblocks such as administrative, logistical work. “If I want to upload 10 videos in a month, I can do that. You can publish stuff anytime you want,” he said, “and anyone on the Internet can just stumble upon it.”

Despite all the fun, it is still a livelihood. The business demands a lot of him and the effort it takes to produce a product do not always yield a gratifying or satisfying profit. Huang is a brand, and he understands the dark side to marketing. “The question of how much you can get back from it is a question of how much you can engage a community and reach new people,” he said, “At the end of the day, I can be doing the exact same amount of work, but for whatever reason I get twice the subscriber base and in theory there would be twice the people downloading my songs.”

The Internet is an intimidating place, especially when artists are uploading such vulnerable pieces of work. Huang takes chances—a lot of them. Although he is fueled by positive reinforcement, a negative comment can drain the tank pretty quickly. Still, there are few put downs and snarky remarks that can keep Huang down. In a piece where he took a viewer’s ideas to use a 1000 pairs of jeans to formulate a song, he was met with a sarcastic comment asking, “how much time do you have?” To which Huang replied, “24 hours in a day like everyone else… I just have a more interesting job.”

“If you are getting any amount of views on YouTube, it is hard to avoid those hateful and ignorant comments,” said Huang, “I usually ignore it and focus on the positive. But every once in a while someone will bring up a point that I feel is good to response to.”

Feedback is vital to all artists and the same goes for Huang. But he doesn’t allow it to interrupt his creative progress. While writing a song or filming a video, the little critiquing voice in the back of his head can be an asset and a torment. “This part of the video someone is going to make fun of or the fact that I decided to wear this, someone is going to call me a name,” he said, “These things occur to me, but I don’t change the work I am doing because of those thoughts.” Huang takes compliments and criticisms when they come, but none of it is precious.

Forward is the only direction for Huang. Moving from one project to the next, he has few motives except to create. “The stuff that I’m most proud of I’ll go back… I mean I’m proud of most of it, but the stuff I really love—it is nice to be able to enjoy it from a distance,” he said. “But for a lot of it when it is done, I am ready to move on to the next project.”

But being so prolific comes with its own downfall, and for Huang it’s organization. “I love having an organized space,” he said, “but the actual sorting out where things have to go and cleaning up. And organizing in terms of events and productions.” Being a jack-of-all-trades requires him to juggle many tasks at once from printing CDs and vinyl to corresponding with other artists for collaboration projects. “It has to be done, so I do it.” If Huang isn’t bouncing from one instrument to the next in his studio, he’s on the Internet, rather emailing or searching up the latest trends.

Creativity and curiosity is the air Huang breathes. From the computer to the microphone to different instruments, if there is a blockage in inspiration, all he has to do is shift gears and keep going. “I enjoy so many different types of things,” he said, “I’m working in video and music, but I’m also doing different types of music and video. Within the world I work in different genres. The fact that there are so many different things I could be doing keeps me from those creative blocks. It’s a constant state of creativity or emailing.”

As a morning person, Huang takes advantage of the longer day, spending anywhere from eight to 12 hours being creative. But despite working such long hours, his craft is still an unknown. “It’s kind of tricky,” he described the complexity of explaining his work in a social situation, “It depends on the type of person I’m talking to. I might introduce myself as an independent musician or I might introduce myself as an Internet content creator. Or I just call myself a musician.” Regardless of what Huang sees himself as, it is always a process communicating his job to others. “I make YouTube videos for a living,” he said with an air of pride, “but there are certain preconceived notions of what that can mean.”

The Internet is a forest of celebrities, from great Sequoias to plain Danaes. With acres upon acres of content to explore, Huang believes it is the new world of entertainment. “All these people who have hundred of thousands and millions subscribers, they aren’t on TV, they aren’t in the magazines, they can walk down the street and not be recognized,” he smiled about the oasis he created for himself, “maybe one day it’ll be more than saying, oh I make stuff for the Internet.”

Canadian Startup eBounties Launches, Makes Getting What You Want Easier

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Unlike Craigslist or Kijiji, eBounties puts the buyers in charge.

While the Internet is full of sellers trying to dispose of their merchandises and prize possessions, buyers end up searching through pages and pages attempting to locate what they want. How is anyone supposed to find that needle with all those haystacks? Well, eBounties puts the onus on the public to get you what you want and offers a reward or a bounty as an incentive.

Ebounties is a free service, but pre-approved payment through PayPal is needed to confirm that the money is available when someone finds what you are looking for. The user will only pay for results.

Last week, Toronto-based eBounties launched in Canada, as well as the US, the UK, and Australia. Allowing users to tap into the collective knowledge of the crowd, the possibilities are endless. Scavenger hunting is a realistic job. Users browsing will not only help someone find a rare collectable or help a company find a suitable employee, they will also be making a little spending money.

Users can claim a bounty in a couple of ways. The first is by providing the exact knowledge, service, item or connection that a buyer is seeking; the second way is by connecting the buyer with someone else who has those knowledge, items or etc.

“If the average person knows just 300 people,” says Luke Chao, founder and CEO, “100 people know 30,000. You absolutely need crowdsourcing to find a person (or an item, or information) that is rare.”

Headhunters, matchmakers, antique dealers and other traffickers of privileged information and connections garner a lot of money, yet they don’t have any special requirement. Ebounties is hoping to start a revolution, one that allows anybody with informative knowledge or highly touted items to make money.

Google searches don’t always yield the information we want, so the Canadian startup encourages users to be creative. One user offered a $15 bounty to anyone who can find a local nut-free Chinese restaurant, while a Toronto-based hypnosis centre offered $75 to anyone who can bring in new clients.

Vancouver’s Fatigue Science Develops New Technology to Help Sleep

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Sleep: we spend a third of our lives doing it—or at least we should.

In our stressful 24/7 world with deadlines and overtime, sleep deprivation is a common problem for many people. Whether you are a student or a professional athlete, society demands us to function at our best and Fatigue Science knows that in order to give our top performance we must be well rested and fully charged.

In 2007, Vancouver-based Fatigue Science was founded with the goal of creating a more effective world by applying science and technology to assist sleep, optimize performance, reduce risk and improve lives.

Fatigue Science understands that scheduling for sleep is not always as simple as closing your eyes. “Studies show that in the United States, 30% of adults sleep less than 6 hours per night,” FatigueScience.com states, “and 65% of adults have sleep problems at least a few nights a week.”

The new ReadiBand technology is hoping that informative personal data will reduce the risk and improve the quality of sleep. The wrist worn device was first developed in part by the US Military, where functioning through fatigue is a fact of life. Now government professionals use ReadiBand, as well as corporations around the world and even professional sports teams such as the Vancouver Canucks.

The ReadiBand measures day-to-day sleep quality, quantity and timing. The sleek black wristwatch measures and analyzes the wrist movements to distinguish sleep/wake patterns. Data shows that this virtual sleep assessment has 93% accuracy, the same as a sleep lab polysomnography. Statistics gathered from the ReadiBand can then be processed through a patented and validated computer model to evaluate fatigue risk levels.

Busy work schedules are important, but the body clock is not something we can ignore. Fatigue does not only affect workplace performance. Lack of sleep is dangerous in all areas of life. In the last five years, according to the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, 21 per cent of motor vehicle collisions have been the cause of fatigue. The result is about 400 deaths and 2,100 serious injuries every year.

To avoid these critical accidents, Fatigue Science also developed a tool to help employers and employees chart their schedules. FAST, or the Fatigue Avoidance Scheduling Tool, is a software application which calculates fatigue risk, reaction time and other variables to help people properly schedule their work and sleep during a course of a week.

Most adults require seven to nine hours of sleep to have a fully effective day. To most of us that sounds like a luxury, but sleep should be a requirement—a responsibility. Too often, we sacrifice rest to fit more activities into our day and adjust our sleep pattern on the fly.

Fatigue Science shows that many people are poor at judging and managing their alertness level. Too little or too much sleep can attribute to a less than healthy lifestyle. With the help of Dr. Steve Hursh, who has 23 years of experience at the Pentagon, Fatigue Science created a model by comparing fatigue to blood alcohol content.

Gym memberships, organic diets and now Fatigue Science; there will always be new advancement to healthy living. But as long as we find the balance between work and rest, we can mitigate weariness and continue fulfilling our responsibilities and doing the activities we love to our full capacity.

 

The ripple effect: a profile of David Yee

/ Elliot Chan / 1 Comment

Formerly published by Ricepaper Magazine.

by ELLIOT.CHAN on Apr 9, 2013 • 4:14 pm

Entertainment evolved from a grand spectacle to a simple click on a screen. With such convenience, Toronto-based playwright David Yee believes theatre is more relevant than ever. The content we choose for ourselves is of immediate interest, but fosters little growth. The majority becomes cocooned in their safe little entertainment shell, and although it is not Yee’s goal to pierce the membrane and rip the public out of their security, he issupplying the tools.

He sees trends in the arts and education system, referencing Neil Postman’s The End of Education. “University started encouraging specialization,” said Yee, “They started filtering out a general educational tract. People were no longer reading works of literature—because it wasn’t super germane to pursuing Canadian business management or biology, whatever. And that is when people stop asking the essential question: Why are we here?” By catering only to current pursuits, people develop myopic views of the world. They become the centre of their own universe. A well-rounded education and artistic diversity can cleanse the palate and open doors to growth and greater interests.

Yet Yee’s passion did not stem from social revolution, it began as a mean of attracting the opposite sex. While training to be an actor in University of Toronto, he was offered roles that he did not engage with. “I started writing mainly as a vehicle for myself,” he said. “It was purely out of self interest.”

But writing stuck and Yee can still remembers the piece that brought him the grand realization, Fronteras Americanas by Guillermo Verdecchia. The culturally diverse story hooked him and made him consider his abilities. “It wasn’t from the perspective of the hegemonic cultural majority,” he said, “and it was funny, it had pop culture references and I could get behind it.”

Despite Yee’s talents, his creative potential was not nurtured early in his career. “Some people would be like, ‘Oh I had this really great teacher.’ I didn’t have that,” said the former Governor General’s Literary Award winner with a chuckle. Stymied, but creatively resilient, Yee went on with his artistic endeavors with a bit of trickery. “It was my mother I had to convince,” his voice turned from professionally formal to mischievous, “so I lied to her.” He swayed her with stories of specializing to become a teacher, and as a teacher herself, she couldn’t refuse. “Then four years later, ‘by the way, I’m not being a teacher,’” he said, “and she just shrugged it off. Too late now.”

Growing up with Chinese and Scottish heritage was something Yee learned to embrace. But as an artist of Asian descent living in the west creating works for western consumption, he believes it is vital to own the culture, lest it become whitewashed. “We have this insertion of western colonial figures into our [Asian] stories,” said Yee, “and that is the thing that has to be battled against.” The target audiences for blockbuster films are predominately whites, but for Yee, he doesn’t think a story needs to be contained in different packaging for different audiences. “Then you have people like Leonardo Dicaprio,” he said, “bought the rights to Akira, he wasn’t planning on doing anything with it, he just didn’t want it to be made with white actors. And now it is being done, because you can only option the rights for so long. The time lapsed and now I think they are making it with white actors.”

Yee accepts the challenges that come with his profession. “Theatre becomes a negotiation between people in a room,” he said, “there is a very definitive set of limitations.” But he doesn’t work within the barriers, he ambitiously writes the story in full honesty and allows the problems to solve themselves as production approaches. “But it is good to know that when you write in a helicopter,” he said, “there very likely would not be a helicopter available inside of a theatre.”

In Yee’s latest production carried away on the crest of a wave presented at the Tarragon Theatre on April 24 to May 26 2013, he delves into the catastrophe of the Southeast Asia tsunami in 2004. Working closely with director Nina Lee Aquino and the cast, Yee consistently rewrites his piece throughout the rehearsal process. To tell a story in such a grand scheme requires him to be flexible and open minded. “It was important to write freely knowing that some stuff was going to make it and some stuff was going to get cut,” he said, “and probably more stuff was going to get cut.”

“I wanted it to be like throwing a stone in a pool of water,” said Yee, “and see the ripples that it created and not the stone.” That was his guiding principle when he sat down to write about the global disaster. His interest was not about the subduction zones or the speed of the waves, he was concerned with the consequences, days, weeks, months and years after the event.

The stories Yee enjoyed telling were those concerning characters wrapped in social crisis. And the only way to care for such a muse is by doing research. “If you are going to write about something you need to be an expert in that thing,” said Yee, “at least by the time you are done.” After six to eight months of interviews, articles and archives, he finally felt equipped to write, but research was an ongoing enterprise. “I have done so much research, I know all about earthquakes and all about fault lines. When I wrote Lady in the Red Dress I had to know all about the head tax and exclusion act. You need to know it.” Without proper research, the writing would be dishonest and for Yee that is a dire sin.

Time is a premium for the Artistic Director of fu-GEN Theatre Company, especially since he is sometimes overwhelmed with his own ideas. With an enthusiastic whimsy, he describes his next production, a story set around conmen in Bangkok. Although he is presently fine-tuning carried away on the crest of a wave, he is already anticipating the prospect of research. Yee is constantly exploring with a sole goal to present something dynamic and not easily accessible through a little black screen on your desktop or in your pocket.

Carried away on the crest of a wave opens April 24 to May 26 2013, with preview shows starting on April 16. For more information please visit http://tarragontheatre.com/season/1213/carried-away-on-the-crest-of-a-wave/

Sales and Stand Up: a profile of Dennis Litonjua

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Formerly published by Ricepaper Magazine.

by ELLIOT.CHAN on Feb 10, 2013 • 1:34 pm

By day, Dennis Litonjua can clock 400 clicks driving around the city. His civilian day job requires him to be constantly on the road. But by night, he can still be found on the go—he goes comedy-club hopping, rushing onto stages to produce laughter. This modern day comedian can effortlessly sum up the hardships of aging and stage time, “It’s a challenge for sure,” he said. “Life gets in the way.”

I was halfway towards Goldie’s Pizza, a regular spot on Thursday nights for open mic. Downtown Vancouver was busy as usual, so I gave myself plenty of time to get there to meet with Litonjua. Then I heard my cell-phone beep and vibrate. It was a text message that began with an explicit, “Shit! Forgot!” The busy comedian had a lot on his mind. He was currently 30 minutes across town at LaffLines in New Westminster. Litonjua was preparing for his second set that night. I doubled back and arrived just as he stepped off the stage.

We greeted with causal formality. The comedy scene was familiar, like entering an old high school after graduation. In 2009-2011, I spent a good portion of my nights at bars that hosted amateur shows for comedian. Dennis Litonjua was one of the supportive regulars that guided me along, helping me improve from joke to joke.

As the show ended I watched as he continued to take on a fatherly role. A young up-coming comedian approached him. He extended his hand and Litonjua took it and offered a piece of advice along with it. Comedy can feel like a thankless job, but he made sure audiences and performers alike didn’t leave empty handed.

A lot has changed in the past few years. The recently married Litonjua has been caught reevaluating his ambitions. “For the past five years I have been graphing everything,” he said, referring to his stage time. “So I went from eight hours to 10 hours and then 14. I peaked at 14 hours around 2010 and went to 12 hours in 2011 and 2012. These are a bunch of five minute sets.” He chuckled at his undeniable Asian work ethic and added, “It is hard to fathom, right? Because of all the time you do in a year, it only adds up for 12 hours. I mean that is a lot of driving.”

Litonjua is familiar with the highs and lows of the comedy business. Having played some of the biggest stages in the city, alongside some the most prestigious comedians in the industry, he knows that even the best and brightest goes through hard times. “You don’t do comedy for financial gain,” he said, “but you have to make adult choices.”A year ago, Litonjua could be found on stages across the lower mainland three to four times a week. Now, with his busy schedule he is simply aiming for twice a week. “October November December— I did less than 2 hours combined,” He hung his head a bit disheartened, but then quickly shakes off the negativity. “For those three months that is terrible. So I’ve been dragging my feet and trying to get back into it.”

With only a handful of Asian comedians working the circuit, Litonjua takes on heighten responsibilities. The Flip N’ Comedy shows are ongoing projects that he and fellow Filipino comedian, Art Factora created in 2008 to promote comedy and fund charities.

Comedians of ethnic decent are synonymous with stereotypical jokes and funny accents, but that is not what Litonjua finds funny. “Not any of us do Asian sets,” he said, “I think everyone realized that that is what we are expected to do, but we are not defined by it. Some jokes are hilarious, but bad writers will go to stereotypes.”

As an advocate for multiculturalism, he cannot ignore the facts that stand-up comedy is an art form that hasn’t caught on in different cultures. “This sounds terrible, but I think we are a little materialistic,” he said, “So like when you have family members who make x amount of money and you are on the same intellectual level as they are and have the same degree they do and you are watching them make so much more money.” He gave a shrug and sighed.

For Litonjua a regular day consists of sales. Rather he is selling merchandise for his job or selling his jokes on stage; it is a constant act of promotion. “Self promotion is way easier now. My wife would always say, ‘Tweet that you’re performing tonight,’” he said, “And I’ll be like yeah—then I fall asleep on the john.” Despite the ease of getting the word out, he still understands the fine line between advertising and pestering. His theory is that the best way to develop a fan base is by having a good reputation. “Some people want to challenge others on an intellectual level,” he said with a smirk. “I’m not the guy. If I want to be challenged intellectually I would have a debate. I would find a forum to do that. But no, this is not the place. What comics do is angel’s work. That person sitting in the room, you have no idea what they are going through, they are sitting in a bar hopping to have fun. And that is what you want to provide them. Cause when they are laughing, chances are they aren’t thinking about the bills that need to be paid or the baby mama drama. They are there having fun.”

Still striving to excel in his craft, Litonjua also has his eyes set on other creative avenues. Film, theatre and additional comedic opportunities lay in the future. For now he is not closing any doors. “I get spoiled on it,” he admitted, “A room full of people laughing at what you created is always fun. If I stay in the game I’ll continue being challenged.” There was an adventurous gleam in his eyes. He did not point his finger on the path he was intending to take, but something told me that he had many kilometers left to travel.

Stay connected with Dennis by following him on Twitter @flipnfunny and catch him performing live, for now here is a little taste of his comedy– enjoy.

Douglas Profile: Cast of ‘Blue Window’

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Aaron Holt, Alex Chan, Katie Doyle, Larissa Sampson, Maddy Osborne-Wood, Michael Kurliak, and Shanelle Horobec (Actors)
By Elliot Chan, Staff Writer

“Fight Club!” “Breakfast Club!” “No, definitely Fight Club!” It is not uncommon for a group working together to have disagreements, but the cast of Blue Window came to a quick consensus when discussing the best pre-performance movie. “We all have such different taste in everything,” says Michael Kurliak, “But it is one of those things we can all agree on.”

“There is action, there is comedy,” Larissa Sampson agrees, “and there are hot men for Shanelle.”

“It is always an important thing,” laughs Horobec.

Blue Window is the ensemble’s second Douglas production, and it is clear that living in the trenches together for so long has erased all signs of formality. “It is so necessary for the work we are doing,” says Sampson. “Because of the emotional vulnerability; to be able to cry in front of the entire cast and know that they are not like, ‘Heh! Look at her trying to cry, she looks terrible.’” Their friendship and trust is the framework for the performance, and it is the most valuable and pleasurable part of the experience.

But with 12-hour days, rehearsing emotional scenes over and over again, the actors feel the tolls adding up. “A lot of stuff doesn’t come out,” says Maddy Osborne-Wood, describing the internal struggles of her character Boo:

“She has these big parts where she’s just lying on a couch, and at first I was, ‘Oh okay, lying on a couch,’ but the thoughts that come from that can be pretty draining.”

Although the presentation on stage is significant, the ability to remove themselves from the lives of their characters is equally important, if not more so. “Safety is the top priority,” said Alex Chan. “It is really easy to lose yourself. It might not happen on day one, and it might not happen on day five, but… something outside the work entirely can happen to weaken your mental fortitude and that is not healthy.”

As romantic as living and breathing theatre sounds, the group also knows that such a relationship could be abusive. “After rehearsal, I can’t just go to sleep,” said Sampson, “I have to go home and de-stress.”

“Defragment,” Aaron Holt adds. “It is good to take some time off and return to it. It becomes so much more exciting.”

Acting requires effort, and oftentimes the art form is unappreciated. Marketability becomes a large factor for the future of young actors. “It sounds horrible,” said Sampson, “but you have to pander to people. Nobody wants to see you do Macbethagain, the exact same way everybody else has done it. But if it is Macbeth set in space, would that be dumb?”

On a planet where entertainment is a mouse-click away, theatre seems as good as dead, but the cast is undaunted. “It is not dying,” said Holt, “It is just changing.” Vancouver‘s diverse culture is a breeding ground for new experimental art, as well as contemporary renditions of the classics. Motivated by the evolution, Osborne-Wood and the others don’t feel a need to relocate. “We have this group of actors and the stagecraft people,” she said, “and we are just starting to create our own theatre. We just need to start doing things and see what happens. It’s about giving opportunities and testing the water.”

Anticipating the future is not a comfortable act for anybody, and it is no easier for actors. But when all is said and done and the spotlight hits the stage, the cast of Blue Window will remember the stern words of a former instructor, Stephen Drover: “Don’t bullshit me!” A lesson we can all follow.