Posted by Ryan Parker, Drama / Theatre Teacher in : Testimonials
Annually our school produces a feature film that is written, directed, performed, produced and edited by the students of the Kitsilano Theatre Company here at Kitsilano Secondary. This year, a group of passionate and dedicated students took on a period piece from 1899 and travelled to Barkerville Historic Park to film for several days in November. With sixty percent of the film compete, they returned home ready to travel to Spokane in April to complete the film. That is when the world turned upside-down.
Suddenly, this group of amazing students who had spent years establishing themselves as the best and brightest in the program lost their prom, graduation, final term of school and completion of the film that they had worked so hard on. The situation seemed hopeless with almost all of them graduating and moving on. That’s where you came along and saved the entire production and gave us all some good news in these difficult times.
You and your community open your doors to our studio in July 2020 for three days of full access to you, your staff, your beautiful location and your horses. Suddenly, the idea of completing the film wasn’t an impossible dream, but a reality.
For three days you trained the actors to ride, supervised and blocked out scenes with the horses, gave advice to the actors for the shots and answered any questions they had about the scene. Then, without hesitation you visited with them during their breaks to talk about the industry and your own personal experiences while fielding all their questions. You even gave them free shirts and encouraged them to contact you with any questions or help they may need to progress in the industry. This compassion during these unparalleled times was a reminder that there are amazing people in this world that are willing to help others when times get tough.
This group of students were very dear to me; you sensed that and went the extra mile to help them complete the film as well as progress as young actors, editors, directors and producers. Thanks to you and the rest of the family at Virtue Studios this film will now be complete and close an important chapter in all of our lives at Kitsilano Secondary. For this, I am forever in your debt and cannot wait for the next opportunity to work with you.
Welcome to the Kitsilano Theatre Company family at Kits Secondary and thank you for every beautiful moment you helped create on and off the screen for my students and staff.
Sincerely,
Ryan Parker
Drama/Theatre Teacher
Kitsilano Secondary School
This compassion during these unparalleled times was a reminder that there are amazing people in this world that are willing to help others when times get tough.