Chicago, IL. - When your personal demons are about to consume you there is only one thing you can do to survive. Just as Little Sambo conquers the greedy tigers by spinning them into an edible pool of butter, so must you engulf your demons, subsume them and then move on with life. Dealing with demons is what Dean Sarah Daniels must do when racism becomes a dominant issue in a small private college in Vermont. At least that's how I understand the metaphor.

It took the passengers less than a minute to catch on to the answer to the rapid fire questions posed by the shuttle bus driver taking us to the McCormick Place Convention Centre.

Vancouver, BC. It's five-thirty on a clear, still Vancouver morning. I watch the rising sun spotlight the boats anchored in the waters of False Creek while gulls swoop and cry. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee complements the fragrance of dew-laden air entering my window. I breathe deeply and contemplate Shakespeare's depiction of the warring "heroes" of Greece and Troy, and their women.

VANCOUVER, BC - The fine Vancouver drizzle that began as we followed the "shepherds" along the trail to the grassy meadow in Stanley Park could not dampen the enthusiasm of the preview night crowd. And from the opening moments of Boca del Lupo's The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces this show enchanted adults and children alike.

VANCOUVER, BC - I first saw  The Winter's Tale more than a decade ago at Maynardville Open Air Theatre in Cape Town. It was a warm summer night and as the sunlight faded to dark and the moon rose, a gentle breeze rippled through the trees surrounding the stage evoking the ambience of pastoral Bohemia. The image of Hermione, frozen in time, holding on to her belief in the oracle's prediction of her daughter's return, and my emotional response to Hermione's "resurrection" and her reunion with Perdita, have stayed with me over the years.