Nutcase
10-30-2006, 12:48 AM
Camyar Chai was born in Iran, raised there and in England and the United States. Throughout his young life he travelled a lot because his father worked for an airline so it wasn't a huge culture shock for Chai when the family finally moved to North Vancouver in 1980, when he was 11 years old.
He was always the new kid, so he had to adapt, and that is why Chai does well as an actor.
"When I was in England within a month I had a Cockney accent and when I was in North York I sounded like I was from Brooklyn," he says with a slight slur.
It was at Windsor secondary school that Chai became inspired to pursue acting. His drama teacher, Gary Zim had a profound impact on his life.
"You know those stories you hear about teachers that make an effect on your life because they re such good teachers?" Chai asks. "Sometimes high schools get a bad rap because there are not good productions but Zim did everything. He sewed all the costumes himself, he built all the sets and he directed the shows and they always looked stunning and it was always on."
There are a bunch of people from that high school who were in Zim's class that are now working professionally in the theatre, Chai says.
His first professional job was on the Beachcombers. Chai studied with James Doyle on the North Shore and in Los Angeles with Stella Adler. For a while he worked mainly in film but the theatre beckoned him back.
He's written a play and he has his own theatre company called NeWorld Theatre, which has received several Jessie awards. A musical comedy called Asylum of the Universe, which is based on a Persian king that lived in Victorian era Iran and it has a lot of parallels to world politics that are going on right now. That is around the time when the interest in oil started. "The whole story is about power," Chai explains. "I think a lot of what is going on in the world has to do with people being addicted to power."
Talk of power brings us back to the themes behind Zadie's Shoes. Chai says the play raises difficult questions around addiction and choice in a beautiful way. He grows excited talking about the production and the quiet morning by the water doesn't seem so sleepy, anymore.
http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_02.12.04/arts/photos/aliandali.JPG
a puppet show of one of his plays:
YouTube - Classical theatre of Agraba
He was always the new kid, so he had to adapt, and that is why Chai does well as an actor.
"When I was in England within a month I had a Cockney accent and when I was in North York I sounded like I was from Brooklyn," he says with a slight slur.
It was at Windsor secondary school that Chai became inspired to pursue acting. His drama teacher, Gary Zim had a profound impact on his life.
"You know those stories you hear about teachers that make an effect on your life because they re such good teachers?" Chai asks. "Sometimes high schools get a bad rap because there are not good productions but Zim did everything. He sewed all the costumes himself, he built all the sets and he directed the shows and they always looked stunning and it was always on."
There are a bunch of people from that high school who were in Zim's class that are now working professionally in the theatre, Chai says.
His first professional job was on the Beachcombers. Chai studied with James Doyle on the North Shore and in Los Angeles with Stella Adler. For a while he worked mainly in film but the theatre beckoned him back.
He's written a play and he has his own theatre company called NeWorld Theatre, which has received several Jessie awards. A musical comedy called Asylum of the Universe, which is based on a Persian king that lived in Victorian era Iran and it has a lot of parallels to world politics that are going on right now. That is around the time when the interest in oil started. "The whole story is about power," Chai explains. "I think a lot of what is going on in the world has to do with people being addicted to power."
Talk of power brings us back to the themes behind Zadie's Shoes. Chai says the play raises difficult questions around addiction and choice in a beautiful way. He grows excited talking about the production and the quiet morning by the water doesn't seem so sleepy, anymore.
http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_02.12.04/arts/photos/aliandali.JPG
a puppet show of one of his plays:
YouTube - Classical theatre of Agraba