The Belfry Theatre presents 2b theatre company in co-production with the National Arts Centre
Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story
Created by Hannah Moscovitch, Ben Caplan & Christian Barry
Playwright – Hannah Moscovitch
Director – Christian Barry
Songs by Ben Caplan & Christian Barry*
CAST
Ben Caplan – The Wanderer, guitar and banjo
Shaina Silver-Baird – Chaya, violin
Eric Da Costa – Chaim, woodwinds
Jacques Arsenault – Keyboard and accordion
Andy Wiseman – Drumset
CREATIVE TEAM
Louisa Adamson & Christian Barry – Set & Lighting Design
Jordan Palmer, Graham Scott, Christian Barry & Ben Caplan – Sound Design
Carly Beamish – Costume Design
Laura Vingoe-Cram – Assistant Director
Susan Stackhouse – Voice and Speech Coach
Jennifer Swan – Stage Manager
Carolyn Moon – Apprentice Stage Manager
Louisa Adamson – Production Manager
William Fallon – Sound Engineer
Graham Scott – Music Director
Rebecca Desmarais – Tour Producer
Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is 80 minutes with no intermission.
The Belfry Theatre is a member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres and engages professional Artists who are members of the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the terms of the jointly negotiated Canadian Theatre Agreement.
The Belfry presentation of Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is
supported by a generous gift from Dr. Stephen Tax
The Belfry Presentation of Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is generously sponsored by
SEASON SPONSORS
PUBLIC FUNDERS
…from the Artistic Director
Welcome back for the final show in our 2022-2023 Season. We presented Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story for one week during our 2019 SPARK Festival, and it was embraced wholeheartedly by all who saw it. But given the one-week run, not enough of you were able to see it. And so, it thrills me to say “Welcome back, Old Stock—!”
And welcome back to Hannah Moscovitch, one of this audience’s—and my—favourite playwrights. Welcome back, as well, to Christian Barry, who so beautifully directed Hannah’s The Children’s Republic on this stage. We have had a long and creatively happy relationship with Christian and his company, 2b theatre in Halifax, producers of numerous SPARK Festival presentations, including What a Young Wife Ought to Know, as well as this remarkable musical play in which you are about to be immersed.
Old Stock would not be Old Stock without the breathtaking talents of Ben Caplan, who co-created this work of art with Hannah and Christian. When I think back to the SPARK run of the show, I see Ben floating above the stage, up around the balcony, larger than life. I can’t believe that he was ever just standing on the stage—! Making their Belfry debuts with this production are Shaina Silver-Baird and Eric Da Costa, as Hannah’s great-grandparents, Chaya and Chaim, and musicians Jacques Arsenault and Andy Wiseman.
I thank you for patronizing—and loving—this very special theatre. Your loyalty makes it possible for us to bring you positive theatrical experiences, while we continue to recover from the challenges of the past three years. Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is our thank-you gift to you—!
With gratitude and respect—
Michael
…from the Executive Director
As we come to the end of our season, I think of change.
Coming to the Belfry and Victoria last summer, and completing this first season, was a period of personal change. The learning and growth feel quite enormous, and yet never quite enough. I am only just beginning to understand the city, the local arts ecology, and the varying social and political worlds we each occupy.
That last is the biggest change with which I am grappling. The world around us is changing and shifting. It is only in hindsight that the change is easily recognizable. I hear how Victoria has changed from 10 years ago. How the pandemic changed us. How the funding climate has changed. I hear how the conversation around marginalization, racism, and Indigenous rights and sovereignty has changed.
Our art is a constant in our lives, refracting the change in the world around us. All of you reflect our shifting world back at us, inspiring us to keep thinking, keep pushing, and keep changing.
Thank you for all that you bring to the Belfry.
Isaac
Playwright’s Notes
The text in this project is the story of my paternal family. When there have been gaps in my knowledge of actual events, I have taken artistic liberties. For instance, I do not know the full story of how my great-grandfather Chaim Moscovitch’s family died in Romania. And because I have often been working from incomplete information, I have discovered over the course of this project that I have parts of my family’s history wrong. In two instances, I decided to leave my inaccuracies in the text. I originally thought that Chaya was older than Chaim; I later found out from a census that they were in fact the same age. And I believed that Sam Moscovitch, my grandfather, was the oldest child in the family. He was in fact the second child: his sister Mary (Michal) Moscovitch was the firstborn.
– Hannah Moscovitch
Songs
Songs were written by Ben Caplan and Christian Barry
except where indicated.
Traveller’s Curse by Geoff Berner
You’ve Arrived
Truth Doesn’t Live in a Book
Od Yishama by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach
The Happy People by Danny Rubenstein
Minimum Intervals
Plough the Shit
Lullaby
Fledgling
What Love Can Heartbreak Allow
Ben Caplan (The Wanderer) in Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story / Photo by Fadi Acra / Louisa Adamson & Christian Barry – Set & Lighting Design | Carly Beamish – Costume Design
Notes on Pogroms
Pogrom is a Russian word meaning to wreak havoc and destroy violently. The word is most commonly used to reference brutal attacks on Jewish people between 1881-1921 in Russia and Eastern Europe. These mob attacks wiped out entire Jewish communities. As the pogroms became more frequent, millions of Jews were forced to leave their homes in search of safety. The Holocaust is often referred to as “The Last Pogrom”.
By WWI, Canada’s Jewish population was over 100,000. While Canada was a new home, many Jewish refugees were met with antisemitism and continued marginalization.
Over the next hundred years, Canada would accept thousands of refugees escaping war and persecution from places such as Hungary, Chile, Uganda, Vietnam, and the former Yugoslavia.
Today, Canada is settling refugees from conflict zones including the Middle East and North Africa. Unfortunately, Islamophobia and xenophobic attitudes are still alive and well in Canada making the transition even more difficult for refugees from these areas.
If you would like to dig deeper, here is a list of resources.
About the Belfry
About the 2b Theatre Company
What to Expect – Live in-person attendance
Cast & Creative Team
Ben Caplan – The Wanderer, Guitars & Banjo
Ben Caplan is a songwriter, performer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Kjipuktuk, NS (Halifax). He released his first studio album in 2011 and has spent the last twelve years recording albums and performing in music venues and theatres around the world. In that time, he has performed in over 350 cities in 28 countries. You can find more of his music, including the soundtrack for Old Stock, available for purchase or streaming at bencaplan.ca or anywhere you assume you might. He loves a bagel with smoked salmon or a bowl of rice with kimchi and an egg for breakfast.
Shaina Silver-Baird – Chaya, violin
Shaina is thrilled to be playing Chaya and telling the story of Jewish immigrants like her own great-grandparents. Since graduating with a BFA from the Acting Conservatory at York University and the Professional Theatre Program at Citadel Theatre/Banff Centre, Shaina has been working as an actor, singer, songwriter and writer. Favourite acting roles include Charlotte (Charlotte: A TriColour Play with Music – Theaturtle, European Tour); Juliet (Romeo & Juliet – Citadel Theatre); Toba (Chasse Galerie – Soulpepper/ Storefront Theatre, MyTheatre Award Nomination Outstanding Performance/ Dora Award Best Ensemble). She is also the lead singer/songwriter for electro-pop band Ghost Caravan and previously led the folk band Crooked House Road. You can find her music on all streaming platforms as well as on sale in the lobby. Upcoming she will be starring in the new digital series Less Than Kosher (Filmcoop/ HighballTV) for which she also served as creator, showrunner and executive producer which will be released on HighballTV in June 2023. For Josh, Emi, Mom and Dad. Instagram: @shainasb @ghostcaravan
Eric Da Costa – Chaim, clarinet & various
Eric is very excited to be a part of 2b theatre’s Old Stock. He is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy where he studied theatre in NYC and LA. He has been a musician for as many years as he has been a performer, so this opportunity is an exciting one. Previous credits include The Master and Margarita (Crow’s Theatre); Annie, Honk!, Snow White: The Panto, Peter Pan: the Panto (Drayton Entertainment); Key Change (Globe Theatre Regina); Hollywood Hits (Stage West Calgary). Huge thanks to the entire Old Stock team and as always, special thanks to family and friends for their constant support. This one is for Grandpa Da Costa.
Jacques Arsenault – Accordion and keys
Jacques Arsenault is an Acadian performer from Prince Edward Island. He is a conservatory-trained accordionist with performance degrees in opera and classical organ and he is delighted to be on board the Old Stock ride. Previous credits include The Marriage of Figaro, Salome (Canadian Opera Company), Louis Riel, The Marriage of Figaro (National Arts Centre), The Phantom of the Opera, La Traviata (Opera on the Avalon), Bandits in the Valley (Tapestry Opera), The Last Romance (Miracle Theatre), The Merry Widow (Edmonton Opera), Figaro’s Wedding, and his gender-bent adaptation of La Voix humaine (Against the Grain Theatre). He has also performed at the Acadian World Congress in Miscouche and at the Carrefour mondial de l’accordéon in Montmagny. Much love to Is, Lulu, and other kindred spirits.
Andy Wiseman – Drumset
Andy Wiseman is a multi-instrumentalist, producer and artist from Halifax, Canada. After spending a year in college studying both Recording Arts and Music Arts respectively in Nova Scotia, he moved to Toronto in 2012 to begin his journey as a session musician, producer, engineer, hired-gun, composer, artist, band leader and everything in between. Andy has collaborated with countless artists on their productions both on and off the stage across North America, Germany, Denmark, and China.
Hannah Moscovitch – Playwright
Hannah Moscovitch is an acclaimed Canadian playwright, TV writer and librettist whose work has been widely produced in Canada as well as around the world. Hannah has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Trillium Book Award, the Nova Scotia Masterworks Award, both The Scotsman Fringe First and The Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh Festival, and the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize administered by Yale University. She has been nominated for the international Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, New York City’s Drama Desk Award, and Canada’s Siminovitch Prize and Governor General’s Award (twice each). Past stage work includes East of Berlin, This is War, Bunny, What a Young Wife Ought to Know, Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes, and her confessional work for the stage, Secret Life of a Mother (with Maev Beaty and Ann-Marie Kerr). Hannah has been a Playwright-in-Residence at Tarragon Theatre, in Toronto, since 2007.
Christian Barry – Director, co-lighting & set design
Christian Barry is a multi-award-winning director and theatremaker from Halifax, Nova Scotia. His productions have toured prestigious festivals and theatres around the world. Christian was nominated for four individual Drama Desk Awards in 2018, including Best Director, and received a nomination for Best Production. Other select awards: Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production, Three Theatre NS Merritt Awards for Outstanding Direction (nine nominations), Two for Outstanding New Play, and two for Outstanding Lighting Design. Christian received the Halifax Mayor’s Award for an Emerging Artist, the Urjo Kareda residency at the Tarragon Theatre, and is a winner of the Nova Scotia Masterworks Award – the largest arts prize in the province. He was also a finalist for the 2019 Siminovitch Prize for Directing. Directing credits for 2b: Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, What a Young Wife Ought to Know, The God that Comes, Homage, Revisited, The Russian Play, The Story of Mr. Wright, East of Berlin, Manners of Dying, and Cherry Docs.
Louisa Adamson – Production Manager, co-lighting & set design
Louisa is a theatre maker and manager, a collaborator in design and production, a builder of systems and spaces, and an instructor and consultant based in Kjipuktuk/Halifax. She is Managing Director of 2b theatre company. Artistic collaborations: Home Economics Art Collective, Kinuk Studio/Ursula Johnson, SAGA, Shape/Shift, Accidental Mechanics Group, ReWork Productions. Past work: Kazan Co-op, Spatz Theatre, xosecret, Zuppa Theatre, Eastern Front Theatre and The Atlantic Film Festival. Nominated for 2018 NYC Drama Desk Awards; Set Design, Lighting Design. Recipient of the Scotland Herald Angel Award and “little devil” Award and seven Merritt Awards for Stage Management and Design. Graduate of the Technical Scenography Program at Dalhousie University.
Carly Beamish – Costume Design
Carly Beamish is a Costume Designer and Builder. She completed her B.A. in Costume Studies at Dalhousie University but now lives and works in Toronto. Carly has stitched and dressed shows at Mirvish Theatre (The Book of Mormon, Piaf/Dietrich, Anastasia), designed costumes for the Lifetime movie A Killer In My Home and recently had the pleasure of stitching on Ross Petty’s Little Red Robin Hood, The National Ballet of Canada’s Swan Lake and Stratford’s Chicago. Notable treasured positions from her time in Halifax include Stitcher at Neptune Theatre (Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Shrek, Great Expectations); Dresser and Head of Wardrobe for Symphony Nova Scotia’s The Nutcracker; Costume Designer/ Builder for local productions (Waiting For Bardot, Playing House, EDNOS). Carly is thrilled to have had the opportunity to work with such an extraordinary team of artists on Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story.
Laura Vingoe-Cram – Assistant Director
Laura is the Artistic Director of Ships Company Theatre in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia and co-artistic director of Keep Good (Theatre) Company in Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS. Her recent directing credits include Mexico City (Matchstick Theatre), Play Building (Ships Company Theatre), Crypthand (Galeforce Theatre), Love and Information (The Fountain School of Performing Arts), The Children (Keep Good (Theatre) Company), Miss N Me (Eastern Front Theatre) Interactions with Art (Halifax Theatre for Young People) Time of Trouble (Opera Nova Scotia) Constellations (Keep Good Theatre Company). In 2018, she completed a year at the Stratford Festival working as an Assistant Director under Nigel Shawn Williams and was a member of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction. In 2015 she graduated from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow with a master’s in theatre directing.
Jennifer Swan – Stage Manager
Born and raised on Lekwungen territory, also known as Victoria, she is thankful to the Songhees and Esquimalt nations, on whose land she has the immense joy to be living. Jen has been a part of the Belfry since 1999, and it remains one of her favourite places to be. In September, she took a step back from stage management to become the finance officer and stage management mentor at the Canadian College of Performing Arts. Huge thanks to the Belfry and 2b theatre for inviting her back to be a part of this show.
Carolyn Moon – Apprentice Stage Manager
Carolyn Moon is a stage manager, technician, and technical designer based on Lekwungen Territory. Carolyn has been working in Victoria Theatre for the past seven years, including serving as the Belfry Theatre’s Venue Technician since January 2022. Select stage management credits include Love’s Labour’s Lost, Macbeth and Cymbeline (Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival); The Crossroads: A Prison Cabaret and The Emerald City Project (William Head on Stage); A Wonderheads Christmas Carol (The Wonderheads); and Concussion (Stacey Horton). Carolyn loves being a member of the Belfry Theatre community and is excited to take on a new role with this production.
William Fallon – Sound Engineer
Sound Mixer (selected): Passing Strange, The Wild Party, Once On This Island, Falsettos (Musical Stage). Sound Designer (selected): Boy Falls From The Sky (Mirvish/Past Future Productions); Cliff Cardinal’s CBC Special (Imaginary Force); Mary Poppins (YPT); ONCE (The Grand Theatre); You Are Here (Thousand Islands/Musical Stage Co); Into The Woods (Thousand Islands). Associate/Assistant Sound Designer (selected): Guys & Dolls, HMS Pinafore, A Chorus Line, A Little Night Music, The Sound of Music, Carousel, Crazy for You, and Man of La Mancha (Stratford); Life Reflected (National Arts Centre Orchestra). William is a member of the IATSE Local 58 and Local ADC 659.
Graham Scott – Music Director
Graham is a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary music maker. When he really wants to pull out all the stops for breakfast, he deploys his friend Allison’s sourdough pancake recipe! The night before, he prepares by dissolving 1 Tbsp of yeast (or 2 Tbsp of sourdough starter!) in 2 cups of warm water, then adding 1 Tbsp of yogurt and 2 cups whole wheat flour, beating until smooth, then covering loosely to let sit on the counter overnight. In the morning, he stirs together 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp of salt, then mixes this together with last night’s mixture and lets it rest 15 minutes before pouring batter onto a seasoned griddle over medium heat. He flips the pancakes over when the top is no longer shiny, et voila—perfect sourdough pancakes!
Bravo!
The Belfry Theatre gratefully acknowledges the financial support of The Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, the Capital Regional District Arts Development Office, and the City of Victoria.
Sponsors
Belfry Legacy Circle
The support of visionary philanthropy ensures that the Belfry will continue to flourish as Greater Victoria’s premier contemporary theatre company.
Donors
Bravo! The following individuals have invested generously in support of the Belfry Theatre.
Our thanks to the 135 Believers ($75-$149) and 230 Friends (up to $74)
* Donor moved up a category
** New donor
+ Through the Victoria Foundation
◊ Pass-Through Grants Fund through the Victoria Foundation
As of March 17, 2023