Katrina Darychuk couldn't ask for anything she'd rather spend her summer doing.
The 22-year-old New Westminster native is serving as an apprentice director for Bard on the Beach this season, working with director Michael Shamata on Equivocation - a contemporary play by Bill Cain in which Shakespeare is hired to write the "true history" of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot.
Theatre is pretty much all Darychuk has wanted to do since she took her first drama class at age 11.
She got introduced to the world through programs at Arts Umbrella while she was still at Herbert Spencer Elementary School.
"For me it was everything as a kid - it allowed imagination, it allowed learning, it allowed education," she says.
By the time she hit New Westminster Secondary School, she knew it was time to get serious.
After a couple of years at NWSS, she opted to take her high school courses by distance education so she could spend more time at Arts Umbrella, studying and working in various capacities.
"It was a pretty unorthodox approach," she says with a laugh. "I love school, I just needed to have more flexibility."
After high school, she moved to the U.K. to study for a year at the Oxford School of Drama - which has its home in a farmhouse outside of Oxford, with a barn for a theatre.
Upon her return to Canada, the auditioned for Studio 58 - the professional theatre training program at Langara College - "on a fluke," as she says. But she was accepted, and away she went.
She spent a year-and-a-half studying in the acting stream, then found herself called more to the production side - studying writing, directing and voice work in what she laughingly calls a "build your own adventure" education.
She hadn't even yet graduated when she got the chance to serve her apprenticeship with Equivocation - a co-production of Bard on the Beach and Victoria's Belfry Theatre. The production has already had its run in Victoria, where Darychuk was introduced to the world of the apprentice director.
Asked what the job entails, and she laughs.
"It can be really anything. It's organic," she says. "It's pretty much what you want to get out of it."
She says the job is a blessing for her, giving her a chance to become immersed in every aspect of the production, from the costuming and lighting to what's happening on stage.
Working on a production for two theatres has been particularly enlightening, she notes, since she's had a chance to help figure out how Equivocation would work in the traditional theatre setting of the Belfry and then transfer to the Bard's Howard Family Stage tent.
"You can't do a blackout, you can't really hide anything," she points out. "It takes a lot more thought on the part of a director to make an outdoor space work."
Not only that, but she notes that there are also many logistical issues attached to a production that's alternating nights with Shakespeare's Cymbeline - meaning every aspect of the production must be easy to set up and take down.
"Things have to be quick and easy to move but still give a very different feel between the shows," she points out.
She's greatly enjoyed watching Shamata work with the cast of six actors - who between them play many more parts than that.
"Michael is very specific in how he works, and he knows exactly how to deal with the very established players," she says, noting he never makes any of the complex challenges involved seem difficult. "It appears effortless."
Darychuk notes she also benefits from seeing some of Bard's veteran actors at work - including Bob Frazer, who stars as William Shakespeare.
"They in themselves are teachers, just getting to watch them work," she notes.
Darychuk points out that the Bard setting, with the audience in a tent and surrounded by the noises of outside, creates a special relationships between the actors and the patrons - in a different way than in a theatre, when the audience sits in darkness beyond the footlights.
"The audience can be present with you if you are present with them," she says.
Darychuk's apprentice stint officially ends once Equivocation opens, though she notes she'll still have a chance to remain involved with the Bard family and she'll likely be back for some of the "talkback" nights over the summer.
And she's already lining up her next challenges - she'll be directing solo shows at the Vancouver Fringe and the Winnipeg Fringe, and she's planning to direct a production of Shakespeare's Henry V later in the year.
After that, she's open-minded. She can see herself working around Vancouver for the next couple of years and then returning to the U.K. - the sense of history there, plus the sheer richness of its theatre culture, are calling to her.
Ultimately, she figures she would return to Vancouver and find a place for herself in its theatre scene.
"I'm excited about Vancouver because I do think it's on the precipice of growing further as an arts city," she says.
And yes, she's quite aware that the path ahead of her isn't likely to be a smooth one.
"I don't think there's anything easy in theatre," she says with a smile. "It's not easy, but it has to be fun."
Equivocation plays July 2 to Sept. 19 at Bard on the Beach in Vanier Park. Check out www.bardonthebeach.org for schedule and ticket details.
