The Pull Festival, Vancouver’s annual festival of ten minute plays, returns for its eighth year featuring new works from Vancouver-based playwrights.
In the first of our special series with this year’s Pull Festival directors, we find out what brought Tai Amy Grauman to the festival, and the two plays she will direct.
This interview has been edited.
Why did you decide to submit your name to direct at this year’s Pull Festival?
I wanted to work with other emerging artists on bringing a play to life from the ground up. It’s always so amazing to bring a new play from page to stage.
Tell us about the plays you are directing.
I am directing The Fort by Evan Rein & Tahirih Vejdanii, and The Ocean by Amitai Marmorstein.
The Fort is a really fun musical set in a small town in Alberta about an aspiring musician Guiness and a young Sikh woman, Lilly. Lilly has returned to her hometown and her and Guiness reconnect.
The Ocean is about a young girl trapped in a hospital due to a chronic illness. In this piece, we see her world with both her father and her illness also known as “The Figure”.
What is it about the plays you are directing that excites you the most?
The Fort is charming, while The Ocean is shocking. I’m really looking forward to shaping both these pieces and spotlighting the voices within the scripts.
The plays are just ten minutes in length – as a director does this frighten you or excite you?
I think it’s exciting. It means everything has to be very specific, precise, and to the point.
Do you approach directing a short play the same way you do a full-length play?
Yes. Both still have beginning, middle and end structures as a normal length play does.
Why should someone want to come see the plays you are directing?
Because I have two all-star teams, and both plays tell important stories. Come see some of the extraordinary emerging talent that will bring the Pull Fest from page to stage.
Pull Fest VII takes place at the Little Mountain Gallery (195 East 26th Ave, Vancouver) March 21-24. Visit https://pullfestival.ca for tickets and information.