Human Theatre has been in operation since 2006 and in that time we have co-produced with companies overseas, done several successful intensive workshops in Vancouver, Brisbane and the UK, we’ve taught with groups in Vancouver, like Circus West and Tooba Physical Theatre and we joined the Artists in Residence program with the Vancouver School Board. We would like to feature the people at the core of our growing company. This is the first in a series of articles to make you more familiar with our team.
If you’ve been to the theatre this season and taken in a United Players, Metro Arts or Presentation House production, you might have noticed Anthony Wade-Cooper’s picture hanging in the lobby. He’s stage managed eight shows since completing his training in the Capilano University Technical Theatre Program. The most recent one was Dante’s Inferno, the 2010 “In the Raw” production by Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre in Brisbane Australia.
Anthony decided to take up theatre after retirement from a 35 year career as a flight attendant. He had performed in his college days, in his home town of Brighton, England, but wanted to see what it would be like to work on the technical side of production. His professional people-management skills and health/safety training made the learning curve a little less steep and before he knew it, he was doing semi-professional gigs with directors like Jay Brazeau and Bernard Cuffling.
When I meet my flight crew friends they say it looks like I found my true calling. Then they ask me what a Stage Manager does! ‘Everything’ I say, but this time I stay behind the curtain for the entire show.
Aside from being a Director of Human Theatre and our resident stage manager, Anthony’s next projects include Cinderella, the opera, with DragonDiva an apprenticeship with Vancouver Opera in 2011.
