Image Credit: CFJC Today / Dylana Milobar

By Dylana Milobar

HYDRA FESTIVAL 2019

Chimera Theatre brings Hydra Festival back for round two

Apr 28, 2019 | 1:43 PM

KAMLOOPS — Next month, Chimera Theatre’s Hydra Performing Arts Festival will make its return to Kamloops, and promises a performance schedule with something for everybody.

Chimera’s Artistic Producer Taylor McCallum says this is the second year of the event, and the theatre group is hoping it will continue to be an annual performing arts festival in the city.

“We have 12 shows, ranging from all different types of disciplines,” He explains, “We wanted to be able to do performing arts that weren’t as popular or as easy to sell tickets for to give artists an opportunity to showcase their unique art and inter-disciplinary art at a venue where they know that they’ll be supported.”

A few theatre and arts festival staples already exist within the community circuit, so McCallum says the festival aims to give Kamloops something different to experience.

1000 Ways to Heal

1000 Ways to Heal: Pain Body

17h ago

Sound Off

SOUND OFF: Celebrating Child Care Month

18h ago

The Tattle of Hastings

THE TATTLE OF HASTINGS: Airing it out

23h ago

One of the performances audiences can expect includes a comedy special, Body Break, from Aaron Butowski, who has been doing stand-up on the local scene for the last decade.

Image Credit: Chimera Theatre / Hydra Festival

“It’s mostly about growing up in the 80s,” Butowski says, “Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart’s brother was my gym teacher, and so that was always a very interesting experience to have. And just getting older, getting more out of shape, and just the fun stuff about that.”

A unique addition to the festival includes a shadow puppetry performance, called Grow On, Grow Forth, from artists Kayly Erno and Jyelle Vogel.

“It’s a play that is put on without dialogue so it’s pretty all-inclusive,” Erno explains, “You don’t actually see the actors, you’re looking at them through a screen. So it is kind of like a live action movie, all happening with the use of a projector.”

Image Credit: Chimera Theatre / Hydra Festival

Throughout Hydra Fest, audiences can also experience talk show style entertainment with Tonight’s the Night, with Zorblax, the Destroyer of Worlds.

Creators Dan Ondang and Ashley Hiibner say their performance will be sort of a review of other performances in the festival, given that their ‘Zorblax’ character is an art critic.

Some of the features however, are more of a traditional format, with the production of Brothers.

Writer Paul Rancourt says the play delves into the depths of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, along with how grief impacts those left behind when a loved one dies.

“I guess the phrase that comes to mind and got me writing this whole thing is, sometimes there are worse things than death. And being the one left alive with the scars hidden on the inside that no one else can see is one of them,” He explains, “That was kind of the grain of sand that the pearl was created around.”

A portion of proceeds from Brothers will be given to Can Praxis, a three day program based in Alberta that was created for Veterans and First Responders and their families.

Lastly, McCallum says they’re encouraging audiences to check out A Slip in Time, performed by the Freudian Slips, which is an audience-interactive performance with a Dungeons and Dragons / fantasy theme.

The Hydra Festival takes place May 23rd to June 1st this year from the Actors Workshop Theatre on the Thompson Rivers University Campus. (For directions to the theatre and a schedule of performances, click here.)

Ticket bundles are available, and a variety of purchasing options can be found online through the Chimera Theatre website, accessed here.