A new artistic director will soon take centre stage at the Gateway Theatre and he's promising to wave an international wand over Richmond.
Jovanni Sy will bring 20 years of artistic experience as a director, dramaturg, performer, writer, and teacher to the Gateway.
And as well as experience from working extensively across the country, Sy has a background of collaboration with culturally diverse communities.
It's that very multi-national mix that Sy hopes to employ when he takes his post officially in mid-April.
"I want to connect with the community and really make the Gateway resemble today's Richmond on the stage," Sy told the News from Ontario.
"I want to raise the Gateway's national and international profile the same way Richmond is now a destination city."
To achieve such a goal, Sy has a vision of the Gateway producing multilingual plays, partly in English and partly Chinese.
"I will do this through international collaboration, as I have worked extensively in Hong Kong and have a network of connections there," he said.
"I want to continue the good work of Simon (Johnston) and Suzanne (Haines) by attracting more of the city's Asian community into the Gateway.
"The programming would perhaps better serve that community by having bilingual interpretations of classic plays. I think it could be quite exciting to have a multi-lingual production, perhaps two thirds in English and a third in Cantonese.
"I think it might be exciting for a Western audience to see something familiar, but in Cantonese. I have had success with cross-over audiences."
Sy said he also brings with him much "enthusiasm and passion" and is very much looking forward to moving to Richmond with his playwright/actress wife, Leanna Brodie.
"I have an uncle and cousin living in Richmond and I've been there several times, so I'm sure I'll feel at home," he added.
As for filling the shoes of outgoing artistic and executive director Simon Johnston, Sy said he hopes his predecessor won't be straying too far.
"(Johnston) is rightly defined as a cultural icon and I have very big shoes to fill," Sy said.
"I'm glad he's still going to be around, so I can have a drink with him or lunch, as I can learn so much from him."
For six seasons, Sy was the artistic director of Cahoots Theatre Projects in Toronto, a company dedicated to producing culturally diverse theatre.
He has performed with theatre companies across Canada, including: Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland (St. John's); The Grand Theatre (London); The Citadel (Edmonton); and The Banff Centre, Theatre Junction (Calgary).
His most recent appearance was in Fear of Flight at the East Vancouver Cultural Centre during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Among his numerous film and television credits are regular roles on two CBC series - Riverdale and Side Effects.
