Beckett 19 is the UBC fundraiser for the Peter Loeffler Memorial Prize, an award for an undergraduate student majoring in theatre. Over 15 years since the prize was introduced, the Beckett productions have raised over $30,000.
Beckett 19 sees UBC Theatre alumni performing scenes from the work of Irish playwright Samuel Beckett. When asked what makes Beckett 19 different, director Gerald Vanderwoude summarized that it’s always up to the theatre department to decide, but that the legacy behind these shows is what makes it special,
“As alumni of the program, we wanted to give back. And so what we try to do with the production students and some of the acting students over the years [is] we try to offer positions where these brand new theatre students who are just in their first or second year in the department [get] the opportunity to work alongside us. Really, it’s about training them and saying, ‘This is what it’s like when you do a show.’ It’s really important to us that we actually model for the students so that they know what happens after you graduate.”
Not only that, but in working with the production, the students get an appreciation of the department, “Also so that they know the stories and the histories of the theater department. ... I have a long history of all the shows that have gone on in the theater, and we like giving that history back to the students at the same time,” said Vanderwoude.
“Our show is kind of like this, this crazy free for all, where we’ll take anybody, and we’ll teach them.”
Vanderwoude mentioned that the work of Samuel Beckett is not for every theatre group. It’s hard and requires a lot of technical acting and key influences. He expressed that working with Beckett’s plays for over 25 years helps, as director, to understand the necessary placement of a comma or pause, “You really start to get it.”
“I’ve known these [actors] for 20 years. And when you get to work with a series of actors … it’s a lot of fun. And you enjoy it because it’s creative. You really get to know people and can really focus in on the acting.”
“[Peter Loeffler] was a very inspirational man. He loved theater, he enjoyed a great party … His favourite spot was to stand outside the Chan Centre overlooking the Rose Garden. And he taught me that every time we would do a show, on opening night that’s where you had to go for two minutes [to] look at the world and wish it well and then run back into theater [to] do a show … this is a year Peter has been heavily on my mind just because he was such a great guy and certainly gave me many opportunities and taught me a lot. And the Beckett’s are really for him.”
Vanderwoude briefly explained that his relationship with the late Peter Loeffler was more than teacher and student: they were close friends. Often Loeffler and him would discuss theatre in the mornings during Vanderwoude’s undergraduate. Vanderwoude expressed that “Peter was such an influential professor.” Often their discussions would revolve around theatre and the work of Beckett, whom both of them admired. The celebration of Beckett is what created this many year long legacy that began before Loeffler passed away in 2002. “It was just for the sheer celebration of existential theater.”
Beckett 19 premiers on September 25 in the Frederic Wood Theatre and closes on the 28. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. In memory of Peter Loeffler, everyone is invited to stay for discussion, cake and champagne after the show.