Meet Vancouver theatre artist Elaine Bevans.
Elaine next appears in the Fighting Chance Productions presentation of Green Day’s American Idiot which plays in repertory with Heathers: The Musical at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island until August 27. The Tony Award-winning musical is the stage adaptation of the punk rock band’s rock opera album of the same name, and tells the story of three friends who are forced to choose between their dreams and the safety of suburbia.
Meet Elaine Bevans
Elaine hails from the northern Alberta oil city of Fort McMurray. As the youngest of six children – three boys and three girls – she had many companions to play pretend with among the poplar and pine trees of the rural north. Watching her older siblings perform in school plays, coupled with her family’s love for cinema, inspired her to pursue performance. She has two diplomas; one in performing arts from Keyano College and another in musical theatre, from Capilano University. When she isn’t singing show tunes she is compiling her list of education she wants to get “one day”, reading biographies, learning how to knit and more recently, learning how to play accordion.
20 Questions with Elaine Bevans
1. Your first job.
I helped my older brother deliver flyers along his paper route. Then once I was old enough I got a route of my very own.
2. The job you always wanted as a child.
Flight attendant, female Newsie, police officer, military officer, dancer, teacher, mad scientist, secret agent, pilot, one of the Fellowship of The Ring, lawyer … then decided I would get to try them all if I settled on acting.
3. Your pet peeve.
Slow walkers, more specifically slow walkers who block walkways with their inattentive sauntering.
4. Your hero.
Everyone who adds some love and light to the world.
5. Your biggest indulgence.
Movie Marathons and apples with peanut butter.
6. One thing no one knows about you.
I open-mouth kissed a horse once …
7. Three things you would want with you on a deserted island.
Flint and steel, a knife, and Wilson.
8. The one word your best friend would use to describe you.
Onion. In the same way an ogre is like an onion.
9. If you were not pursuing a career in theatre, what would you be doing right now?
Teaching in an elementary school or running a pearl farm in Fiji.
10. Hero or villain?
Everyone is the hero in their own story.
11. Your life’s motto/mantra.
If you can’t be consistent, start again often.
12. The song that gets the most play on your iTunes playlist.
I go through phases, but right now I think it’s Tell Me What You Want From Me by Good Old War.
13. The one role you are destined to play, and why.
The role of “Mother” on the stage of life.
14. If you were a cartoon character what cartoon character would you be and why?
Zack and Wheezy from Dragon Tales because they manage to live harmoniously (at least some of the time) with two extreme personalities. Plus they love music.
15. What will it say on your grave marker?
I am a registered organ donor and then I want to have a tree planted on whatever is left of me. So I don’t know if I get a gravestone. I’ll settle for a weeping willow instead. Or a really good climbing tree.
16. Who would you most like to have dinner with?
Emily Blunt.
17. Your idea of happiness.
Helping a friend move into a new house followed by a BBQ, Latin dancing and stargazing.
18. The one thing in your life that makes you most proud.
My siblings.
19. If you could go back in time, what would you tell your 20-year old self?
Learn a new skill. Save your money. Take more risks. And say yes to Mexico!
20. To be or not to be?
That is the question: let me deliberate for 32 more lines.