This week Donna chats with actor, playwright, photo, photographer and star of the upcoming Firehall production of 'I Walked the Line': Allan Morgan. 

A joyful storyteller, Allan talks with Donna about his tumultuous career from chef to Prospero to mail clerk to union activist and finally to writing his life's experience in a series of phenomenal one-man shows.

Book tickets to 'I Walked the Line' at http://firehallartscentre.ca/

This episode contains a moderate amount of strong language. 

Dramatic Pause returns from hiatus as Donna chats with Elaine Avila over zoom. Elaine is a multi-award winning playwright, screenwriter, educator and dramaturge. Firehall fans will remember her play FADO: The Saddest Music in the World selling out its season in 2019. 

This week Elaine and Donna chat about playwriting and teaching under lockdown, the importance of supporting diverse voices in arts administration and Elaine's newest work in progress 'Capes'; exploring her Portugese heritage through the traditional capes worn by the women of the Azores islands. 

https://www.weseeyouwat.com/

Donna and Emi Morita talk the Powell St Festival. PSF has been an annual celebration of the Japanese-Canadian contribution to the DTES since 1977. Donna and Emi talk about the challenges and opportunities in the digital realm as this year the historic festival moves online.  Don't miss this year's Festival Telethon featuring live performances and entertainment, August 1st 2pm-7pm.

www.powellstreetfestival.com

Changing direction, this week Donna takes a look at the infrastructure and legal frameworks that keep the creative industries alive in BC as she speaks with Martha Rans. 

Donna and Martha dive deep into the ways legal clinics, funding bodies, and copyright advocates work to support art, artists and not-for-profit companies throughout BC and the problems they face in the COVID age. 

Pacific Legal Outreach

Find more about Martha's Work HERE

Donna zooms with actor, playwright, director, activist and newly appointed Arts Club Cultural Liason Omari Newton about his career, the Black Lives Matter movement in Vancouver and the cultural impact of his first play, Sal Capone. 

Donate to BLM Vancouver HERE

Donna talks with dancer, performer, choreographer and community activist Ziyian Kwan about isolation, family, her heritage and the effect it is has had on her creative works.

Watch and follow Ziyian's work at dumbinstrumentdance.com

This week Donna chats with Executive Director of the Eastside Culture Crawl about the future of Vancouver's biggest visual arts festival. 

https://culturecrawl.ca/

Donna chats with theatre and film director, writer, performer, musician and First Nations activist Renae Morriseau about theatre, her work with the indigenous peoples of BC and the overall importance of listening. 

"astam awasisak" performed by M'Girl.  

The first episode of Dramatic Pause with Firehall Arts Centre Artistic Producer, Donna Spencer.

Actor, writer, director and theatre-maker David Diamond joins Donna to talk about his life and work as one of Vancouver's most innovative artists. They discuss the foundations of the Headlines Theatre Co and its growth into the revolutionary Theatre for Living, as well as looking at the future of live performance in a post-viral society.