Slow dancing and wild abandon are the essence of Last Night by Shaelyn Johnston. In the premiere staged production directed by CJ McGillivray, memories become delicate and rough around the edges. Reality fades in and out of focus when a college freshmen finds herself stumbling into open arms and unfamiliar territory.
CJ McGillivray’s directorial vision for Last Night is defined by a gentle, acoustic soundscape and visually dramatic multimedia projections to complement and illuminate the story as it unfolds on stage. The production was featured among a selection of short plays as part of the Sacred Space Festival at Capilano University in April 2014.
CAST
Lara Emily Foley, Gavin Langelo and Anita Topeka with projections featuring Sarah Gusten, Ben Pilger, Michael Dean Henderson and Sarah Jane Fogel.
CREATIVE TEAM
Directed by CJ McGillivray with photography by Diego Arias Montoya used for projection designs, production managed by Alexa Houle and stage managed by Luke Wawzonek with Jocelan Jansen as set decorator.
PROJECTION DESIGN
The following still images were staged by CJ McGillivray and photographed by Diego Arias Montoya for use as ongoing projections throughout Last Night:
The lighthearted, romanticized tone of the memories created an intentional and jarring contrast to the action on stage. The juxtaposition, though radical, effectively humanized an unforgivable scenario, forcing the audience the look beyond the binary of a victim and a perpetrator and to examine their own unsettling feelings in response to the narrative.
The cast and crew of Last Night thanks Blake Mattson, Sunny Mohajer, Max Morrow, Shanique Kelly and Jillian Zavazal for their generous contributions to the production.
CJ McGillivray 