Steinbach theatre community embracing innovative storytelling

A new type of theatre experience will be offered by local writer and actor Scot Moir who will be giving a performance of his original Suddenly Another Fish, a live storytelling event to be held at the Steinbach Cultural Arts Centre Aug. 28 at 7 p.m.

“A live storytelling show is different from traditional theatre,” said Moir. “Both audience and storyteller don’t know exactly what’s going to happen on stage until the yarn is being spun, right then and there, live in the room.”

Moir’s use of local guitarist Dima Schevchenko in his production, creating improvised music in the moment based on the emotional interaction spontaneously happening between the participants during the event, emphasizes this unique live storytelling dynamic.

Schevchenko has established himself in Steinbach as a talented musician and popular performer through other Looking Glass productions such last year’s The Community Talent Show and will create a vibrant element to the storytelling experience.

“The haunting guitar of Schevchenko will add yet another layer of live excitement to the evening, as he improvises along with the storytelling,” said Moir.

That innovation from simple narration to experience is exactly what Moir is aiming for with Suddenly Another Fish and is part of something he is calling Dreamtime Theatre, using well-known tales like Greek myths and the Arthurian legends, which is something very popular in cinema right now with movies like Christopher Nolan’s version of The Odyssey.

He said the performance is intended to bring the audience on an adventure through the strange and surreal world of dreaming by weaving together the story of Perceval and the Holy Grail in combination with events from Moir’s own dreaming experiences and reflections.

“It’s not a recitation, but a telling. There is no script, only the story, the story which both teller and audience participate in bringing to life in an act of community imagination,” said Moir.

“Suddenly Another Fish probes the unfettered boundaries of imagination to explore how we might wake up walking in that wonderful world all the time,” said Moir.

Suddenly Another Fish is being presented by Steinbach’s only professional theatre company, Looking Glass Theatre, and will be held at the SAC building’s SCU studio. The performance is for those 16 and older, and tickets are available at the door for $20, or online at simpli.events/e/suddenly-another-fish-storytelling.