4 Save your city from zombies Studio 58 grad writes and produces an interactive play that calls on the audience to help battle zombies By MEL EDGAR magine Gastown at night. You rush down the street and duck into an al- ley. The smells of garbage, urine and decay fill the air — the zombie hunt is on! are advised against letting children under the age of 17 watch unattended. On Death’s Door: Plague of the Zom- bie Syndrome is a Virtual Stage pro- duction, and runs multiple shows, Tuesday through Sunday, between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., until Nov, 2, 2014. On Death’s Door: Plague of the Zom- bie Syndrome is an interactive play that calls on its audience to use their smartphones and their wits to keep a zombie apocalypse Vancouver. The play was spawned, written, di- rected and produced by Studio 58 graduate Andy Thompson, and takes the audience to several top- secret venues across Gastown. t Thompson _ said smells of Vancouver’s streets are part of the inspiration behind this zombie experience. “This has been a really interesting opportunity to explore,” he said. “In a zombie apocalypse, it stinks. “If you’re a zom- bie fan and you watched TV, you are not smelling the smells of the apoca- lypse,” he said. But experiencing zombie too real. “Tve kicked some human poop in that al- ley,” Thompson said. This is a reminder that, although Vancou- ver streets are the backdrop for this zombie experience, real people live there. “Tt’s kind of intense because of the content of the show,” he said. Thompson added that he is aware of the “The actual geographical nature of the alley is at a crossroads of gentrifi- cation and a lot of challenges,” he said. These challenges are why Thomp- son said he plays a security guard to escort audiences through the alley. Because the show takes place out- side, and not in a traditional theatre space, the logistics of Thompson’s zom- bie adventure are immense. Thompson partners with several groups including the Portland Hotel apocalypse sometimes gets a bit from overtaking the urban the tension. Society, a non-profit advocacy group in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Participants must sign a detailed waiver prior to the show, and parents BETTINA STRAUSS photo Studio 58 graduate Andy Thompson writes, directs and stars in Plague of the Zombie Syndrome. Thompson is pictured here with Maria Layne (left), playing a zombie in this year’s production. Langara faculty on show at Burnaby Art Gallery 66 Some people are more than happy to waitin a passive state MILOS CAMPBELL Langara fine arts chairwoman Milos Campbell, Langara fine arts chairwoman, has work in exhibit: In Wait By JONATHAN PARKIN woman, Milos Campbell, will be one of seven women involved in a collective exhibit at the Burnaby Art Gallery until Nov. 9. The exhibit is a visual collaboration called In Wait, and described by the Burnaby Art Gallery website as a con- templative response to the artist’s per- Lenen fine arts department chair- sonal experiences with the act of wait- ing. And waiting, Campbell says, is something that we’ve forgotten to do as a society. “Some people are more than happy to wait in a passive state,” Campbell said. Others, she said, are less patient. “As a culture, we’re always looking at our watches, instead of just existing in the moment.” Campbell said the idea for In Watt originally came from the story of Pe- nelope, the wife of Odysseus, who held suitors at bay while her husband was at war. The experience of waiting is some- thing that Campbell said the collective has tried to capture. Langara fine arts student, Amy Sera- da, noted that the works seemed to fo- cus on themes of both time and mythol- ogy. “Being an artist is lots of hard work, and time you just do not have,” she said. “I want 28 hours in a day to be honest.” Langara fine arts instructor, Gordon Trick, said he understands the waiting game all too well. “Anyone who works in printmaking knows that there’s a significant percentage of that time spent waiting for things to happen. That’s one of the rhythms that becomes part of the printmaking process.” He said the In Wait exhibit plays on that rhythm of creating and waiting. Dunn wins student photo of the year Langara photography student, Jayme Dunn, won first place for her photo of the Abbotsford Airshow By NATASHA CHANG student, Jayme Dunn, has been awarded the 2014 student photogra- pher of the year by the Professional Photographers of Canada organiza- tion’s B.C. region. Dunn is a third generation photogra- pher in her family. She said being awarded student photographer of the year is a way to get her name out asa young professional photographer, while refining and honing her skills as a student in Langara’s professional photography department. Snowbirds Flying High was one of four photos from her portfolio that was submitted to the photo contest, and was taken when Dunn was in Grade 11. She took the photo at the Abbotsford Airshow. “T was inspired to take photos of the airplanes. I love the airshow. My par- ents are really involved in that,” Dunn said. Dunn said that judges critique hard on photographs. “It’s got good composition, and obvi- ously [the judges] thought so too,” Dunn said. “I was out there to shoot the planes. I had to time it right so that the contrails were behind [the planes].” The department chairman of profes- sional photography, Darren Bernaerdt, praised Jayme for winning the award and said she continues a long tradition of Langara’s photography students be- ing recognized for their skills. “When you realize the speed the jets are travelling at, the tight composition, the timing, it’s a testament to her skills as a photographer,” Bernaerdt said. “We see every day the great work that [students] produce, but I think it’s very important that they get that exter- nal recognition,” he added. Dunn said she loves to travel, and she said her dream is “working for Na- tional Geographic magazine [to take] portraits of people and cultures in dif- ferent parts of the world.” Dunn aspires to start her own pho- tography business, and hopes this award will help build her rapport as a professional photographer. ee professional photography bile NATASHA CHANG photo Jayme Dunn won the 2014 student photograph of the year. "