What’s It Like to Be a Stage Actor in Vancouver?

Actor Tess Degenstein, who stars in The Comedy of Errors at this year’s Bard on the Beach, pulls back the curtain on stage life.

How did you got started in stage acting? 

I grew up in Regina, and saw a company called Regina Summer Stage do a production of Oliver! when I was about five. I was totally enamoured with everything about what was happening up there, and have been at it ever since. My best friend to this day was also in that show in the kids’ chorus, so that production of Oliver! was really life changing for me.   

What drew you to Vancouver’s theatre scene? 

Before moving here from Toronto last March, I had done a couple shows in Vancouver for the Arts Club, and I just…had the time of my life every time I was here. I love the Vancouver audiences (who I got to know pretty well doing Spontaneous Theatre’s Blind Date, a show where an audience member becomes my co-star onstage), I love the curiosity and joy I’ve found in the creative community—and I love riding my bike to rehearsals, along the SeaWall with mountains in the background. It can be a very “pinch me” city when I remember to look up.  

What are the biggest challenges you face as a working stage actor? 

I think the challenge is that it’s in so many ways out of your hands whether you’re working or not, which can be totally maddening. I have not “overcome” this part of the business at all, but I try to build a full life outside of my work, including a series of other jobs. Truthfully the rising cost of living has made putting together the puzzle of “getting by” pretty challenging, but I’m grateful for the union there, who negotiate some good industry standards and baselines. 

What’s a typical day in your life during rehearsal and performance season?

On a show night, the biggest challenge is not burning myself out during the days. When I was running Blind Date, I remember telling myself that my task during the days was just to “become soft” so I could carry the tension and energetic output of the show in the evening. (Is that a good answer to your question? “Become soft”?)

How do you prepare for a role in a Shakespeare play?

If I can, I like to read the play every day for 30 days before rehearsals start. It makes for a nice slow on-ramp into the language, letting it just live passively with me for a month before I start trying to do too much with it.

How do you see the future of theatre evolving, particularly in Vancouver?

I do think that as AI becomes more prevalent in other media we’re consuming, theatre is going to provide an increasingly necessary experience for people. I feel that for myself when I’m in an audience—just kind of lucky, grateful, a sense of relief at the aliveness and that it’s all happening right there.

Check out the Big Fall Arts Preview here to make your theatre plans for the season.