The Tarts

12/31/2023

If you're going to make a New Year's resolution? Make it fun. Make it something you actually want to do. Make it joyous and beautiful. Don't worry about the size of your waist or the number on a scale or your sins or your flaws. Resolve to be kinder to yourself. To try something you're curious about. Find joy in something you used yo love or try something new. Resolve to dance more, sleep more, play more, do more art, eat more great food, love more, live more. Life is short. This year I'm going to keep singing, dancing, poeting, laughing, loving, living AND I'm going to learn to play the bass guitar. Just for the fun of it. What do you WANT to do?

10/23/2023

Sherry MacDonald is the driving force behind 'Battle of Ballantyne Pier the Musical'. She is an award winning playwright, film maker and storyteller. Sherry is the producer of the workshop presentations of this new Canadian musical on October 27 and 28 at 7 p.m. Tickets by donation at the door. Part of the Heart of the City Festival.

06/16/2022

One of our tarts, Tina Teeninga, has a staged reading of her latest script, Tree Girl, as part of Pacific Theatre's New Roots Festival! Sunday, June 19th, 3pm. Free! See link for more info.

New Roots 2022 shares work in process by Pacific Theatre artists with the community - free play readings, workshops and discussion circles.

02/20/2022

The Tarts are thrilled to announce the addition of our new Tart member . . . drum roll please . . . Yumi Ogawa!

Yumi is a mom, actor and writer based in Vancouver. Some theatre highlights include Mom’s the Word (Belfry/PTE), the Western Canadian tour of her critically acclaimed semi-autobiographical solo show, Japanglish, (nominated for Best Solo show and Best Female Performer - Victoria Fringe 2009), S*x in Vancouver 1 & 2 (VACT), writing and performing sketch comedy with the Assaulted Fish.

In the past five years, you may have seen Yumi in various TV shows pretending to be a photo lab technician or a physiotherapist. She may have even tried to sell you some dressing. Recently, she left the world of TV/commercials to reconnect with her love for the stage.

Yumi writes for, Tada! It’s the Yumi blog. ([email protected]) As a writing instructor/ dramaturge at Arts Umbrella, she has helped teens create new and original work. Currently, she is developing another solo show, Akiko (working title).

Yumi is delighted to have perfected the choux pastry and the paradiddle step in tap, and is especially proud to be a new Tart!

The Tarts is a Vancouver-based writing collective who, along with Yumi, is comprised of Sherry MacDonald, Leslie Stark (currently taking a break), Sally Stubbs, and Tina Teeninga.

02/11/2022

The Tarts are thrilled to celebrate with our sister Tart Sally Stubbs. Sally's screenplay CENTURIONS was awarded Best Feature Screenplay (2021 Winter) by Best Script Award - London. Congratulations Sally!

Best Script Awards is a seasonal year-round competition for talented screenwriters looking for employment in the professional industry. We ourselves are f...

12/29/2020

Here is a holiday greeting from Tart Sherry who is writing a musical about the longshore workers' strike of 1935 in Vancouver titled Battle of Ballantyne Pier. Feel free to share.

facebook.com/ballantynemusical/videos/1038512279960260

11/09/2020

A tangy slice of a script-in-progress, Teeninga's "Tree-Girl, Wild and Free" will tickle your tastebuds.

Tina says:

20 years ago, treeplanting changed my life. My relationship to my fellow planters, the land, myself and to God grew and branched out unpredictably. This script-in-process is my fictionalized ode to a coming-of-age experience both gnarly and beautiful, brutal and idyllic, and ultimately, full of wild grace. Much gratitude and appreciation to my fellow Tarts for encouraging and helping to guide me through the forest of this script. Many thanks goes to my fellow actor and wonderful human being, Chris Lam. Special thanks to Sally Stubbs for her steady stage direction reading, and to Benjamin Rummen for his technical prowess and stylings.

11/09/2020

A sweetly sour satirical monologue about the end of the world.

Here is an offering from Tart member Leslie Stark.
Leslie says:
I wrote this monologue early in the pandemic as a response to Covid deniers, G5 conspiracy theorists, and new age "spirituality" enthusiasts who trust their intuition over science.
I thank them for the "inspiration" and for ensuring that my facebook feed is always entertaining.
Thank you also to my fellow Tarts, to Janet Munsil and the Canadian Play Thing, and to Benjamin Rummen for technical assistance. Special thanks to Stephanie Martyniuk for the smoke machine and for throwing books at me, to Susan Cormier for encouraging me to keep sharing this monologue, and to Dave McKenzie for keeping my masks clean, my heart full and my mind sane.

11/07/2020

Here is an offering from Tart member Sherry MacDonald . . .

Sherry says:
This is an excerpt of a script-in-progress. I am currently experimenting with songs.

I developed many of these stories at a wide range of story-telling events, most notably the Vancouver Story Slam (Susan Cormier and Bryant Ross) and The Flame (Deb Williams et al). A big thank you to those folks!

Thank you also to my fellow Tarts, to Janet Munsil and the Canadian Play Thing, and to Benjamin Rummen for technical assistance. Special thanks to Jeem for impersonating my ex-husband and for putting up with me while I learn to play the ukulele and practice singing.

10/25/2020

We are just about ready to launch! TART TALES, Sat. October 24 at 7:00 PST
The Play Thing is excited to host the launch of this works-in-progress sampler written and read by Vancouver-based women's playwrights collective, The Tarts!

HOW TO ATTEND
Click link at showtime and enter Passcode: 179380
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85989231712?pwd=QTcyNERBQXlnRDZUbUJITHFDOThxQT09
Capacity 100. Doors 5 minutes prior to showtime. Latecomers OK - audience does not appear on screen.

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10/24/2020

Introducing our Tart collaborator of the hour . . . Chris Lam

Chris Lam is an actor, director and playwright currently working and living on unceded Coast Salish Lands. His recent directing credits include AMÉLIE, GIRLFRIEND, FRANKENSTEIN: LOST IN DARKNESS and WHAT A YOUNG WIFE OUGHT TO KNOW. He has worked with Gateway Theatre, Firehall Arts Centre, Pacific Theatre, Boca Del Lupo, Arts Club, Frank Theatre, Urban Ink, VACT to name a few. He is also the recipient of the Ray Michal Award for Outstanding Emerging Director, Ovation Award and CTC Award for best Director. He was a reader for Sangeeta Wylie's WE THE SAME as part of the Heart of the City Festival being presented in November 2020.