Find out how two 14-year-old social outcasts prepare for the apocalypse in the world premiere of the Belfry’s 2012 Incubator Project Kitt and Jane, a stand-alone sequel to 2011 Fringe hit Little Orange Man by Victoria’s own SNAFU Dance Theatre.
“It’s a show about the apocalypse, not the end of the world and all life, but the end of this world and beginning of another. This isn’t a 2012 Mayan story,” says Ingird Hansen, SNAFU artistic director.
Created by Hansen, Kathleen Greenfield, Rod Peter Jr., with Jess Amy Shead (stage manager and creative contributor ) and Michael Franzmann (lighting designer), Kitt and Jane is an interactive show hosted by Kitt Pedersen (Ingrid Hansen) — the young protagonist of Little Orange Man, now two years older — and her friend Lucas Jameson (Rod Peter Jr), known as Jane, an effeminate boy who is the only kid at school who’s teased more than Kitt.
The two young pariahs discover a mutual fascination with the end of the world and, using themselves as subjects, they test out their ideas of how to survive the coming catastrophe.
“They also scope out the other social groups at school, picking people with specific survival skills, forming a posse that could survive a worst-case scenario,” says Hansen.
Little Orange Man got its start as a show called Gnomeward Bound at the 2010 Calgary Fringe. It was completely reworked and had an amazingly successful 2011 Fringe tour, picking up three awards in Vancouver and one in Victoria (Pick-of-the-Fringe Hold-Over, Volunteer’s Choice Award, Vancouver Playhouse Award at Vancouver Fringe 201, and Pick-of-the-Fringe at Victoria Fringe 2011).
“It was amazing to have people finally understand what goes on in our heads,” says Greenfield.
During last year’s fringe tour of Little Orange Man, Hansen and Greenfield began writing a sequel.
“We thought it would be cool to do a sequel when Kitt is two years older and going through all that teenage stuff,” says Hansen.
They decided on the theme of coming catastrophe because it’s been an issue coming up a lot in conversation lately, says Greenfield.
“It’s a collective unconscious thing,” says Greenfield. “I’ve noticed a lot of people talking about learning self-sustaining skills. Something is stirring. But at the end of the day, Kitt and Jane is about community. It’s about two kids trying to connect with people in times of catastrophe.”
Kitt and Jane is a very faced-paced physical show. “Not a play,” says Hansen. “When ever we get too serious we always say, ‘This is not literature’,” she says with a laugh.
And, unfortunately for us, this will be the last SNAFU show for a while in Victoria, as Hansen is moving to Toronto in May. But fear not, Hansen will be back this summer for the 2012 Fringe. M
World premiere of SNAFU Dance Theatre’s Kitt and Jane
Wed., March 14 to Sun., March 18, various times
Belfry Theatre Studio A
250-385-6815 or belfry.bc.ca