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Off the Matrix
A CHOICE LIFE by Dan Darin-Zanco, directed by Nina Aquino, with
Darin-Zanco and Kimberly Thorpe. Presented by Reality Live Productions at the
Factory Mainspace (125 Bathurst). July 5 at 8:30 pm, July 6 at 1 pm, July 7 at
10 pm, July 9 at 7 pm, July 10 at 5 pm, July 11 at 11:30 pm, July 12 at 3:30
pm.
don’t get nina aquino started on The Matrix Reloaded.
“Talky, talky, talky,” she says about the inane summer blockbuster. “There
was none of the mystery of the first film. The creators had this huge budget and
great visual means, and all their creative juices went to the chase sequences
and not the story’s pivotal moments of revelation.”
It’s a sensitive subject, because the show she’s directing at the Fringe, Dan
Darin-Zanco’s A Choice Life, deals with similar issues, albeit with a
nano-fraction of the budget and in what Aquino hopes is a much clearer way.
“Two strangers meet in a park and engage in an ongoing debate about chance
and choice,” is how Aquino sums up the play’s scenario. “I like to think of it
as the angel of death having a bad day.”
Aquino, who also helped dramaturge the work, says the play is filled with
lots of mystery and wonder.
“You don’t know where the characters are, if one of them is dead or alive, if
time has stopped or if they’re in the past or present,” she says. “Dan gives you
these hints, bits and pieces.”
Aquino’s busy this month. In addition to A Choice Life, the artistic director
of fu-GEN Asian-Canadian Theatre is working on a workshop of Banana Boys as well
as an August SummerWorks show. She’s also fresh off the hit play Miss
Orient(ed), which she co-wrote and starred in. There’s talk of remounting the
work in Montreal.
And don’t be surprised if you see writer/actor Darin-Zanco following Aquino
around with a video camera. He’s been working on a documentary on the theatre
company since its conception a year and a half ago.
“He’s seen all the struggles and challenges we’ve faced, and understands
where we’re coming from,” says Aquino. “He’s part of the fu-GEN family, even if
he’s not Asian Canadian.” GS
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