Noh-influenced libretto by renowned Canadian poet Daphne Marlatt

Shadow Catch recounts the dreams – or are they dreams? – of the Runaway, a teenage boy who ends up one night in Oppenheimer Park in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Here he is visited by four troubled spirits from the park’s past: the Spirit of the Maple Tree from K’emk’emeláy̓, whose grove was decimated by loggers; a member of the brilliant Asahi baseball team whose players were sent off to Japanese internment camps; the keeper of a 1920s brothel who is haunted by the tragic death of one of “her” women; and a roughneck 1930s policeman who succumbed to corruption. This is a story not only about characters from Vancouver’s historical and cultural past, but about the journey and transformation that must take place to confront one’s greatest fears and regrets.

Each of the four acts in this Noh-influenced libretto by the renowned poet Daphne Marlatt has been set to music by composers Dorothy Chang, Benton Roark, Jennifer Butler, and Farshid Samandari. Replete with contextual material, this book includes brief histories of species interconnectedness in the park, the Asahi baseball team, Vancouver’s early red-light district, and the Battle of Ballantyne Pier.