The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

theatre arts | by T. weir ¿1 Spring is here, a n d all the tulips a n d daffodils p l a n t e d last s e a s o n are p o k i n g t h r o u g h or blooming, and the bulbs from previous seasons have m u l t i p l i e d , giving us even more beauty this year. Presentation Similarly, three years ago, Theatre planted the House seeds for a p r o g r a m c a l l e d On the House. The first fruit w a s G e o r g e F. Walker's Science and Madness, c o - p r o d u c e d by Epicentre Theatre of Vancouver. The only t w o w o m e n In the cast w e r e M e r c e d e s D u n p h y a n d Teresa Weir. From t h a t p r o d u c t i o n the seeds of Theatre Tart were s o w n . M e r c e d e s a n d Teresa s o u g h t to create their own w o r k , a n d to g i v e o p p o r t u n i t i e s to w o m e n In theatre to g r o w a n d e x p a n d their skills. In f o r m i n g Theatre Tart they set t w o g o a l s for their first year: to do a small fringe f e s t i v a l t o u r a n d to a p p l y for a n On the House contract. It w o u l d be M a y before any decisions w e r e m a d e at Presentation House, so Theatre Tart f o c u s e d o n preparing for the fringe tour. Wanting to keep things small for their first o u t i n g , t h e " T a r t s " d e c i d e d to look for comedies w i t h only t w o w o m e n . In the end, G e o r g e s F e y d e a u ' s Ladies' Man w a s paired and Tat. It w i t h A u g u s t S t r i n d b e r g ' s The Stronger, g i v e n t h e a p p r o p r i a t e title of Tit for e n j o y e d a s u c c e s s f u l run in Prince George, w h e r e it b o a s t e d the highest a t t e n d a n c e ; in Victoria it w a s p r o c l a i m e d a " m u s t s e e " and r e c e i v e d raves a b o u t the c o s t u m e s ; a n d at h o m e , in V a n c o u v e r , t h e y h a d t h e largest audiences of the run. Back in May, w h e n the " T a r t s " w e r e hoping for a call to say t h e y ' d b e e n short listed for t h e 2 0 0 3 On the House s e a s o n , the phone sat silent. D i s a p p o i n t e d at not even making it to the interview stage, they decided to call In June a n d f i n d o u t w h a t they c o u l d do to Improve o n their p r o p o s a l for the f o l l o w i n g year. Then, o n t h e last Friday in May, at 4 o ' c l o c k , V a l M a s o n , t h e A r t i s t i c Director of P r e s e n t a t i o n H o u s e , c a l l e d to offer If T TO RIGHT: THEA" 6 March | April MERCEDES DUNPHY Tart a spot in the s e a s o n ! Theatre