MAINSTAGE 2025-2026
Catching Up to the Future of Our Past
Plastic Orchid Factory
Photo: David Cooper
Catching Up to the Future of Our Past
"Two bodies meet, orbiting between what was and what might be.
Catching Up to the Future of Our Past invites audiences into the strange terrain of midlife—where time gathers, stretches, and folds back on itself. Inside a Mary Quant–inspired, retro-futurist astral bubble, their movements trace the pull of time: measurable yet fluid, finite yet elastic.
Through intimacy, repetition, and reflection, the dancers chart midlife not as a pause or checkpoint, but as a living exchange between memory and possibility. The work unfolds as a meditation on the place where nostalgia and anticipation coexist, where every choice carries echoes of what was and what could be. This work summons us to witness not only the passage of time, but its elastic potential—to feel how memory propels possibility, and how possibility reshapes what we remember.”
Plastic Orchid Factory
Founded by award-winning dance artists James Gnam and Natalie LeFebvre Gnam, Plastic Orchid Factory emerged as a non-profit, artist-run, performance company in 2008. The organization is committed to creating, supporting, and advocating for diverse art forms that embrace a pluralistic approach in practice and form. Using the body as a first line of inquiry, our programming encourages collaboration and a blending of disciplines and approaches to create new frameworks for making and experiencing live art.
We offer seasons of activity that support artists at all stages of work – from inquiry to presentation. Artist-led initiatives for research, experimentation, and dialogue sit alongside dynamic in-house creation/production cycles and platforms for connecting local audiences with underrepresented and/or underresourced dance artists who make work on the periphery of the mainstream.
As a producing company, Plastic Orchid Factory collaboratively devises interdisciplinary performances that center an embodied human experience. Known for building distinctive environments that incorporate new technologies, the company has created more than 20 original works presented in galleries, theatres, studios, and community halls across Turtle Island and beyond. Recent highlights include entre chien et loup, Digital Folk, and The Door Project, with the newest work, Catching Up to the Future of Our Past, set to premiere in 2026. The company has received from national and international arts institutions—including Lake Studios (Berlin), LEÑA (Galiano Island), Opera Estate (Bassano del Grappa), Circuit‑Est (Tio’tia:ke/Montreal), The Shadbolt Centre (Burnaby), and Centre Q (Ottawa).
plasticorchidfactory.ca
Performance History & Upcoming Performances
World Premiere
January 2026
Presenters: The Dance Centre + PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
Venue: Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver, BC
Creation Support:
- Creation Residency, Progress Lab 1422, supported by Electric Company Theatre, April 22-26, 2024
- Creation Residency, LEÑA Artist Research and Residency Centre (Galiano Island), October 14-19, 2024
- Studio showing, Dance in Vancouver at Left of Main, November 22, 2024
- Technical Residency & WIP showing, Scotiabank Dance Centre, supported by The Dance Centre, July 14-26, 2025
- Development Residency, Peek Festival (Victoria), supported by Impulse Theatre, November 17-21, 2025
Project Created by: James Gnam / Plastic Orchid Factory
Key Artistic Collaborators:
Concept & Creative Direction: James Gnam
Scenography: James Gnam & Jack Chipman
Media: James Gnam & Jack Chipman
Lighting Design: James Proudfoot
Sound Design: Robin P Gould, Loscil, Kevin Legere, Judy Garland, The Kinks
Choreography & Performance: James Gnam & Natalie Lefebvre Gnam
Media Integration & Technical Direction: Jack Chipman
Outside Eye / Performance Doula: Ileanna Sophia Cheladyn
Photography: Michael Slobodian & David Cooper
Maquette: Hailey Gil
Performance type: THIS WORK IS BUILT FOR THEATRE
How do you define this work: Contemporary dance, dance-theatre, experimental, somatic, minimal, relational, intergenerational
Length of performance: 60 minutes
Audience type: General Audience, Other (i.e. audiences who have similar embodied experiences with subject material)
General Technical Requirements: - Minimum floor plan of 30’ x 30’
- Standard lighting grid (adaptable plot)
- Sound playback (via laptop or media device)
- The stage requires a single 120 volt, 20 amp circuit and connects with a standard edison/u ground plug.
- Quiet warm-up and dressing room space with drinkable water, fridge and kettle
Please also refer to the preliminary tech rider (once the piece has premiered a complete tech rider will be available.
Required amount of time for tech set up: 10-12 hours including hang, cueing, projection, spacing, and technical integration
Alternative Venues: While Catching Up to the Future of Our Past is designed for black box or mid-sized theatres, it can be adapted to other gallery style venues with appropriate technical support. The performance is minimal and travels light, making it suitable for studios, galleries, and unconventional venues provided a clear floor space of at least 30’ x 30’ is available. Lighting and projection needs are scalable.
The work requires a quiet backstage area or warm-up space and benefits from a controlled lighting environment. It is not suited to outdoor presentation unless flooring, audio, and blackout conditions are provided. The artists are open to collaborative presentation models and can adapt the staging to suit different audience arrangements.
Number of Performers on tour (including choreographer): 2
Number of Support Staff on Tour: 3
Availabilities: 2025/26 Season, 2026/27 Season
Project Details
Community Engagement
Memory Rooms is a community-engaged residency model that invites local participants aged 18 to 80+ to co-create performance fragments that explore memory, identity, and future visions. Facilitated by James and Natalie, these engagements unfold over 2–3 days and culminate in a studio sharing or digital reflection.
This process invites intergenerational collaboration and can be adapted to community centres, universities or artist-run spaces. Activities include guided movement, writing, and discussion, and are accessible to participants with no formal dance training. Sessions are typically 2–3 hours per day.
Online preparation and post-engagement follow-up are available if desired. Collaborators may include a local artist, interpreter, or community liaison depending on the context.
Outreach Activities
Plastic Orchid Factory offers outreach activities connected to the themes of Catching Up to the Future of Our Past including:
- Embodied Memory Workshops: movement-based sessions for adults 18+ exploring personal and collective memory.
- Conversation Circles: informal post-show or pre-show discussions focused on relational performance, care practices, and aging in dance.
These offerings are adaptable in format and duration and can be hosted in studios, theatre, libraries, universities, and community centres. Each activity ranges from 60 to 90 minutes. They are designed for non-specialist audiences as well as dancers and students.