Theatre of Consequence performs second play

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

Theatre of Consequence, a new company founded by Rosebud School of the Arts graduates Conrad Belau and Sienna Holden, is in rehearsals for their second show, Brilliant Traces by Cindy Lou Johnson.
Holden and John McIver, also a Rosebud School of the Arts graduate, are the two-person cast. McIver earned a 2015 Calgary Critics’ Award nomination for his performance in We Are the Body. Holden is, with Belau, co-artistic director of Theatre of Consequence.
“Their performances are gutsy, big and emotional,” said Belau. “They make the characters rise to glorious heights of healing and grace. It’s astounding.
“The story of Brilliant Traces is actually incredibly simple. It opens on a woman in a white dress banging on the door of a cabin in Alaska, and finally busting in.”
She wakes the cabin’s owner, then passes out and sleeps for two days.
When she wakes, “A conversation happens that pushes both of them to their breaking points,” said Belau.
“It’s a modern fairy tale. Something whimsical, and set in a situation we may never find ourselves in. But it’s a hugely-relatable play, asking us what we truly want in this world.”
The story “brings many deep human fears to life,” said Holden. “The death of a loved one, becoming unimportant, being indistinguishable to the people that matter the most to you.”
Yet she wants the show to bring affirmation.
“I hope that [audience members] walk away with a desire to engage life to the fullest and not sit on the sidelines while their life passes them by,” she said. “We are moving towards a more individualistic way of existing, but that need for human connection does not disappear. We work so hard to control the life happening around us, but we are all just desperately looking for a tribe to belong to.”
The show will be fun too, added Holden.
“The dialogue has a sparring quality to it that the audience will enjoy,” she said. “The relationship that develops between the two characters is quite lovely and will leave the audience wanting to see what happens next.”
Belau and Holden were pleased with the success of their first production, The Monument, this June, and are already looking ahead to the company’s second season.
“The audiences and reviews [of The Monument] were so raving positive, and the production itself was a strong debut,” Belau said. “A part of this upcoming season [is] we wanted to see how we could bring some of Rosebud to Calgary – bring our artistic home to the city we are trying to artistically add to.”
Brilliant Traces runs Aug. 24 to 27 in Motel Theatre in the Arts Commons in Calgary. Get tickets at theatreofconsequence@gmail.com or 587-887-1002.
“Come out and hear a story that is so fantastical, but is relevant to each and every one of us,” Belau said.
“It reminds me of Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail) and how she places these characters in such whimsical situations, that we at first are like ‘I wish I was like that,’ [until we come] to the realization, ‘that is me.’ “