A captivating street theatre act will call Art's Home its stage at the 12th annual Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival.
Stories on Wheels is a storytelling production by a comic, using a vintage bicycle with an old wooden stage attached to its back, created by Pangaea Arts - A World Arts Theatre.
"It's neat," said Heidi Specht, Pangaea's founder and artistic director. "It's this beautiful stage with beautiful art."
The act is inspired by Kamishibi (paper theatre), a traditional Japanese travelling storytelling show. It fuses oral storytelling with narrative paintings.
"It was very popular in Japan before television," Specht said in a phone interview. "It features work by local artists and traditional paper cards all the way from Japan.
This production features two artists who are Emily Carr University grads. One of the artists is Toni Zhang of Burnaby. Her website is zedlast.com.
Kamishibi heavily influenced the art of mangas as well, which are Japanese graphic novels.
"I did research in Kyoto under a Kamishibi master and went to a manga museum there," Specht explained. "They have a whole room dedicated to Kamishibi for its contribution to manga."
Some stories are told with music, dramatic acting and interacting with the audience at large.
"The performance lasts about 30 minutes," Specht added.
It's a portable, flexible and simple performance that interacts with the environment around it, from large theatres to classrooms, to impromptu street performances on the grass or sidewalk.
In the height of Kamishibi popularity, Japanese children would run to the performer, as they would now to an ice-cream truck.
For more information visit www.pangaea-arts. com.
