CGAS RISER Found Festival
BY
July 6-9, 2023

Perfect Strangers

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Schedule

  • July 08, 06:00 pm–8:00 pm
  • July 09, 07:00 pm–9:00 pm
  • July 10, 02:00 pm–4:00 pm
  • July 10, 07:00 pm–9:00 pm

by Popcorn Galaxies
Venue: Various – starting location will be the intersection of 105th Street & 86th Ave, near EL Hill Park.
Runtime: Approximately 120 minutes.

Perfect Strangers is a site-responsive micro-performance which explores themes of intimacy, human connection, and friendship. Audience members who have never met are paired up and embark on a walking journey through the neighbourhood. The pairs are guided through a series of questions, games, and prompts which become increasingly intimate. 

Throughout the journey, participants record moments of their experience on Post-It notes which are posted as they walk, forming a guerilla art-installation for other passers-by and animating the landscape with a fleeting archive of transforming relationships.

This quirky theatrical experience attempts to answer the question: how can a group of audience members start off as strangers and become friends? Perfect Strangers is your chance to have a face to face encounter with a perfect stranger who you may otherwise never meet.

HOW TO ENJOY PERFECT STRANGERS:

Audience members will gather at the designated meeting spot at the intersection of 105th Street & 86 Ave near EL Hill Park (see map below). Please arrive no earlier than five minutes before your scheduled start time.

This experience will involve some movement from location to location, which includes uneven pathways and travelling over grass. Travelling between each location takes 3-5 minutes, for a total of 15-20 minutes of walking. Seating will be provided wherever possible.

There are no public washrooms available on the route, and the show is unable to accommodate latecomers.

If you have any further questions or concerns about accessibility for this performance, we encourage you to reach out at boxoffice@commongroundarts.ca if you would like to be provided with as much information as possible prior to the performance.

Click here for a Google Maps Pin to the performance starting point!

NOTE: 5% of all Found 2022 ticket sales, and 5% of all donations made to Common Ground Arts Society until July 10, will be donated to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.

CREATIVE TEAM & THANKS:

Created by: June Fukumura and Keely O’Brien
With collaborators: Cindy Mochizuki, Sophia Wolfe, and Daniel O’Shea

With support from: Boca del Lupo Space Residency, B.C. Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts.

We find ourselves in Amiskwaciwâskahikan (ᐊᒥᐢᑲᐧᒋᐋᐧᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ) on Treaty 6 territory, traditional lands of the Cree, Nakota, Blackfoot, Dene, Saulteaux, Metis, and other indigenous peoples who have made this place home long before we settled here. For thousands of years, people have gathered here to share in story, community, and creative exchange.

We find ourselves thankful: thankful to play a small part in that long-standing tradition, a tradition carried on the shoulders of so many creators, builders, dreamers, agitators, and makers who came before us, and who will come long after us.

We find ourselves inspired: inspired by an evolving community of artists who passionately spark the magic that manifests when we surrender ourselves to the long summer days of this northern place.

We find ourselves grateful: grateful to everyone who rallies around this tiny but mighty Festival — the artists, the volunteers, the staff, the audience, the board, the mentors, the partners and sponsors, the funders, the believers. Found Festival exists because of you.