Victoria-based Artist in Residence
The soft spaces is an invitation into those spaces that lay in between. Moving through personal loneliness, creator Andrew Barrett revisits his queer, rural upbringing. Using theatrical conventions, contemporary dance and embodiment, Barrett weaves audiences on a journey to forest floors, rocky coastlines, and, perhaps, the ecosystems they grew up in.
Impulse Theatre creates and presents contemporary interdisciplinary theatre and dance performances, cultivates a community of artists, and empowers artists, emerging creative producers, and arts workers as leaders.
Impulse has created over 20 works of embodied contemporary performance. Locally they have been presented at the Belfry Theatre’s Spark Festival, Theatre SKAM’s SKAMpede, and Intrepid Theatre’s Incoming Festival, OUTStages, UnoFest, Winterlab, and Victoria Fringe. In Vancouver, the company has been presented at Upintheair’s rEvolver Theatre Festival and the Firehall’s BC Buds Festival. They have participated in residencies with Dance Victoria, Peek Fest, Leña Artistic Residency and Research Centre, and the nationally acclaimed VideoFag.
The company is a mainstay in Victoria as an incubator and instigator that supports the development of performing arts workers, both their process and new work. They have presented their arts worker festival, Peek Fest, since 2017.
Andrew Barrett
Andrew Barrett (he/him) is a queer multidisciplinary performing artist based on the traditional territories of the Lekwungen Peoples/Victoria, BC. He is a creator, choreographer, performer, director, emerging arts leader, administrator, and founding Artistic Producer of Impulse Theatre.
Barrett received his BFA in Theatre from the University of Victoria and studied Arts and Cultural Management at MacEwan University. He attended One Yellow Rabbit’s Summer Lab Intensive in 2016. He was one of Dance Victoria’s 2020/21 Artists-in-Residence and his solo project, the soft spaces, was one of the Belfry Theatre’s New Incubator Projects.
Barrett has worked as a producer, choreographer, operations manager, and a variety of other roles with such companies as the Intrepid Theatre, SNAFU, Theatre SKAM, Atomic Vaudeville and Puente Theatre, over the past eight years. Barrett was awarded the 2022 City of Victoria Creative Builder Award for his work in supporting new performance and arts workers within the region.
Amber Downie-Back (she/they) – Video Designer
Angus Gaffney (he/him) – Sound Designer
Nicole Malcolm (she/her) – Lighting Designer
Patricia Reilly (she/her) – Set and Costume Designer
Adrienne Wong (she/her) – Dramaturg