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When & Where May 14 to June 7, 2025; Wed & Thur at 7:30pm, Fri & Sat at 8pm, Sat & Sun matinees at 2pm | Chalmers Activity Room at Pacific Theatre, 1420 W 12th Avenue Director Chelsea Haberlin Assistant Director Paige Louter Production Design Nemesis Collective Mental Health/Intimacy Director Aryn Mott Stage Manager Jasmin Sadhu The Cast Kaitlin Williams, Sebastien Archibald, Carmela Sison, Chris Lam & Marcus Youssef Reviewer John Anthony Jane We have all seen filmed interpretations of a therapy session as part of a television presentation that might be subject to drama, humour or both. Not everyone, however, has had to experience a therapy session first hand on their own behalf. In the ITSAZOO and Pacific Theatre production of Katherine Gauthier’s ‘fly-on-the-wall’ play Meeting the audience essentially become an ‘arms-length’ observer. Rather than staging Meeting in the regular theatre space, Pacific Theatre opted to put it on in the Chalmers Activity Room in a part of the building that they share with the Holy Trinity Anglican Church. The specific setting and what forms the dialogue is intended to promote a real time spontaneous meeting of a support group. Playwright Gauthier and director Chelsea Haberlin certainly take the audience out of their collective comfort zone and I have to say it wasn’t all that easy to examine the difficult issues rather than be just entertained (we call it “comfort” zone for a reason). If Gauthier had just wanted to create a story about a support group, she could have chosen one that dealt with gambling addiction, alcoholism or drug abuse, but she deliberately went for the last taboo – sex addiction. Her choice of subject also provides for a multitude of deviants. Rob (Sebastien Archibald) is a belligerent womaniser and serial cheater who can’t seem to leave it in his pants. His reasoning for validating his behaviour is that the women were all consenting adults. Patrick (Chris Lam) is addicted to cyberspace pornography and appears to take an academic philosophy to his particular mien. Linda (Carmela Sison) is the only female ‘client’ and would seem to be the professional in the group - in terms of career status. She hides behind a euphemism by describing herself as a “love addict.” Arthur (Marcus Youssef) is a closet paedophile who insists he has not, so far, acted on his weakness. Finally, there is Dawn (Kaitlin Williams) who is the group’s facilitator. Although not a qualified psychiatrist, she genuinely believes that she can help the people in her group, but she holds a dark secret that could impede those good intentions. Following an intermission, there was a post-performance discussion about the audience findings (with those that stayed) led by theatre facilitator Alexa Fraser and Coquitlam based counsellor Tricia-Kay Williams who acknowledged what most of us knew – that Katherine Gauthier’s dramatic account was not typical of an actual group therapy session. All the cast deserve special kudos for their courage and commitment in performing in this difficult piece of theatre, © 2025 John Anthony Jane
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ITSAZOO
in association with Pacific Theatre and support from Neworld
Theatre