Arthi Chandra explores intergalactic pop performance in STARBABY at The Array: An Exquisitely Sensitive Machine
Upintheair Theatre event features commissions from four groups of artists, including The Library Performance Collective
STARBABY.
The Library Performance Collective presents STARBABY as part of Upintheair Theatre’s The Array: An Exquisitely Sensitive Machine at What Lab, October 26 to 28 at 7:30 pm
THE SUPERNOVA DISCOVERIES of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are the premise of four all-new short works at Upintheair Theatre’s The Array: An Exquisitely Sensitive Machine, each commissioned by a different group of artists.
Arthi Chandra is working on one such piece with The Library Performance Collective, a Vancouver-based trio she founded that includes Alexandra Caprara and Howard Dai. Their intergalactic inquiry combines the space-technology theme with the glitz and glam of pop culture references.
Aptly called STARBABY, the piece was inspired by the birth of a star in the galaxy. An ethereal celebrity is born, and its story is conveyed through the creative manipulation of light and sound design. A baby-blue egg cooker acting as a spaceship is the central object tying it all together.
“STARBABY is this, I would say, figure—this human, this alien, this creature—that is beyond our binary,” Chandra explains. “It’s very much something from outer space. It encompasses all the million different galaxies, all the different stars, all the different particles of dust that come together and form this magnificent, brilliant, bright performer. So we’re playing with silver, we’re playing with glitter, we’re playing with disco balls, we’re playing with pasties and burlesque, and I would say almost drag too in a way, and the idea of pop.”
The piece came together impressively fast. When Stir spoke over the phone with Chandra a week and a half before STARBABY’s premiere, the collective had just three days of rehearsals under their belt, and three more to go. The planning process began a month or so ago, says Chandra, when all the artists involved decided on an article to pursue as their common theme.
Arthi Chandra. Photo by Chelsey Stuyt
The Library Performance Collective first worked with Upintheair Theatre last year, when the organization commissioned a revamp of their theatre-pop concert hybrid work Passenger Seat for the annual rEvolver Festival. Passenger Seat, which premiered in its early workshop stages at the Fringe Festival in 2021, has a musical flair to it that’s becoming a hallmark of the collective’s style (take for example Hot Dyke Party, an upcoming punk-rock celebration of queer femmes).
While STARBABY has of pop pizazz in its 15-minute run, Chandra says it’s less grounded in a traditional narrative, and more of a design-led alternative-theatre exploration.
“I would say it’s like the intro scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey meets RuPaul’s Drag Race, meets Beyoncé, meets a lesbian pop star, meets star pasties, meets Måneskin,” the theatre artist laughs.
Chandra, Caprara, and Dai are all equal co-creators and performers in STARBABY, with Caprara doing the lighting design and Dai managing sound design.
Chandra, who directed the 2021 feature film Done/Undone at Bard on the Beach, gravitates mainly toward devising and directing her own work. She often pulls together endorphin-pumping focal points of joy, celebration, parties, and dancing, aiming to explore people’s relationships with others in group settings, and also with themselves when alone.
“That’s what I would like theatre to be, a transformational art form,” says Chandra. “Not just for the audience watching and in-taking it, but also in our bodies. I love for people's bodies to be affected by the music, to be adrenalized by the lights, and by the sense of community.”
Rehearsals and performances of The Array: An Exquisitely Sensitive Machine take place at What Lab, an East Vancouver warehouse space run by founder-artistic director Jarin Schexnider.
“It’s this incredible little pocket that exists in Vancouver,” says Chandra. “We are so short on space. There’s a huge lack of creative space in the city that is affordable, that is accessible, that is clean, and just ready for artists. Jarin, and the entire What Lab team, has created this space that’s so great for creation.
“You go in there, and you kind of throw everything you have to the walls, and you can experiment, and you can get a bit messy. It’s as if a dance studio, an art studio, and a theatre space all had a baby together. It is such a cool space to be working in, and such a gift to the Vancouver arts community.”
Audiences can catch STARBABY’s premiere alongside works by Schexnider and Miguel Maravilla, Tamar Zehava Tabori with Amber Downie-Back and Angus Steele-Gaffney, and David Mott, Andrea Joy Rideout, and Sarah Roa of Upintheair Theatre.
While each piece in the show will be unique, Chandra is decisive on STARBABY’s upbeat vibe. “Ideally, if everyone would get up and dance, I’d love it,” she laughs.
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