EDITOR TANYA HILL THE VOICE, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2012 4 Comedy splash Big laughs at Vancouver’s Comedy and Arts Festival By JAMES MCLAUGHLIN defence because Vancouver's an- nual Comedy and Arts Festival has begun throwing hard punch lines to your laugh lines. The festival, running from Feb. 7 to 17, hosts some of the biggest and best names in comedy and offers up and comers a chance to flaunt their funny- side in venues across the city. However, not everyone is being tick- led. “There’s nothing funny about what we do,” says festival organizer Will Da- vis. From booking flights and hotels for performers to scheduling the shows at venues, “there’s a lot of legwork that’s involved.” Some prominent names Davis is bringing to the city this year include SNL alumni Martin Short, Full House sitcom dad turned filthy comic Bob Sag- et, Tig Notago (who recently performed “one of the greatest standup perfor- mances I ever saw” according to Louis CK) and Reggie Watts with his unique blend of beatboxing, comedy and impro- visation that your friends have proba- bly been talking about for a while. But a name less known that people should not miss out on according to Da- vis, is the hilariously awkward Phil Hanley with his signature cardigan. Hanley started off his comedy career in Vancouver doing standup sets when- ever and wherever he could, including in between sets of punk bands at the Cobalt. “It’s about getting on stage as much as you possibly can. It’s about racking up shows, just getting comfortable on stage to the point where you can be yourself,” Hanley said. The Vancouver Comedy Fest will cel- ebrate its 10th anniversary next year, continuing its tradition of stoking local comedic talent. In a small city like Vancouver, which is known as a training ground for come- dians aspiring for New York or Los An- geles, “Will [Davis] brings in such great acts and you get to see them. I remem- ber when I was starting out, after the festival I would be really motivated,” said Hanley. So find yourself a date and laugh away the winter blues at one of the hi- larious shows happening around the city. B: your winter blues know self- iE PHOTO: RAE TAKAESU Second-year Studio 58 students rehearse the play How Should you Be? It is directed by Georgia Beaty for the 13th Risky Nights Series. Risky Nights asks audience to examine the lives they choose Georgina Beaty directs a provocative new play at Studio 58, that challenges theatregoers to reflect on how they live By KAYLA ISOMURA tudio 58 presents How Should You Be? Part of the Risky Nights Series, running Feb. 12 to 17. Inspired by the book How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti, the show follows “a group of 20-something students investigating how you should live life,” according to director and Stu- dio 58 graduate Georgina Beaty. The play is a compilation of the vari- ous interviews and perspectives of characters describing “how people should be and how people choose to live their lives” features 10 second-year Studio 58 students. “The way that they’ve done that is by interviewing people ... and then bring- ing those interviews to the stage,” said Beaty. Throughout the performance, audi- ence members will reflect on their own approach to life by viewing others’ ap- proach to it, she also said. The audience can expect humour, fic- tion, and movement throughout the performance, including dancing, which students could be seen rehearsing last week among a range of props and up- beat music. The content of the play is written by the students, who have been guided through the process by Beaty and Jona- than Seinen, who also assisted in the production. Beaty said students have been able to learn techniques from experiences her and Jonathan have had in the in- dustry. The two also work together in their own production company, Architect Theatre. Despite it being the students’ first experience writing and creating their own play, “It’s great,” Beaty said. “All of the content has come from them so they’ve been really gung-ho and have tried a lot of different creation techniques to get to this point.” The Risky Night Series is in its thir- teenth season, and is an opportunity for students in the classroom to gain stage production experience. Admission for the play is by dona- tion. For tickets, call the Studio 58 box of- fice at 604-323-5227. EVENTS on Campus HOW SHOULD YOU BE? WHEN FEB 12-17 Shows: 8:15p.m. Tues -Sat Matinees: 3:15p.m. Sun WHERE Langara College, Studio 58 theatre ADMISSION By donation Doc fest inspires people to take action World Community Film FESTIVAL Festival’s is in its 12th World Community Development Education Society are hosting the opening By MARIE-ANDREE DEL CID DOUBLE BILL Bidder 70 and oDevelopment Canada and the Maestra WHERE: Rm AtS0 Langara College = 19th annual World Community Film WHEN: Festival at Langara from February 15 to Feb.15 7:30 p.m. 17th. For INFO and SCHEDULE www.codev.org/ film-festival The event is the largest social justice festival in BC, featuring over 40 docu- mentaries about global issues concern- ing communities around the world.The purpose of the event is to be able to cre- ate more awareness about social issues and to encourage the public to take ac- tion. According to Erin Mullan a festi- val co-ordinator, documentary is an ex- cellent way to inspire and activate people. “Tt really takes you inside into some- one else’s life and someone else’s story. Things can impact you in a way that just reading about it or hearing some- one talk on the radio,doesn’t hit you as hard as film can,” said Mullan “Our whole thing with the festival is to increase awareness of the issues and to inspire people to take action,” Mul- Jan added. Throughout the day, the festival will have a social justice fair where commu- nity and activist groups will have infor- mational tables where people can learn about the issues from the films and find out how they can become involved. “Change happens when we act. Therefore, there are many things going on in the world today that are fairly pressing. We have many environmen- tal films because the issue around cli- mate change is a lot worse than what people thought, but at the same time, there are things that people can do. I think that by acting it takes us out of a passive community and makes us feel less hopeless and less helpless,” said Mullan. On the opening night, the festival will be premiering two films about ac- tivism, Maestra and Bidder 70. “T was inspired by an amazing group of Cuban women who I met while study- ing there in the 1990s. They were all do- ing very cutting edge work in their various professional fields, but said that they felt the most important thing they ever did was teach someone to read and write when they were adoles- cents,” said Catherine Murphy, direc- tor of the film Maestra. PHOTO: Provided by Codev.org Maestra and Bidder 70 premier in Vancouver