The play is about a million square foot abandoned greenhouse, named Concord Floral, which has become a hangout for the neighbourhood kids. Something has happened there that nobody wants to talk about. The play re-imagines Giovanni Boccaccio's medieval allegory The Decameron in a contemporary Canadian suburb, in which ten teens must flee a plague they have brought upon themselves.
Vikki is currently the Artistic Director of Theatrefront. As the founder of DVxT Theatre Company, Vikki’s work included a multi award-winning production of Ibsen’s The Doll House adapted by John Murrell,the acclaimed Soulpepper production of Happy Days starring Martha Burns and a site-specific production of The Turn of the Screw at the Campbell House Museum. DVxT received 19 Dora Nominations and 12 Dora Awards for their work.
As a director, selected credits include:
- The Orange Dot (Theatrefront)
- Top Girls (The Shaw Festival)
- Good People (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre)
- 4.48 Psychosis (Necessary Angel)
- The Misanthrope (Associate, Stratford Shakespeare Festival)
- The Mill Part 4 : Ash (Theatrefront/Young Centre)
- Romeo & Juliet (Canadian Stage)
- The Last Five Years (The Grand Theatre)
Vikki has received Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding Direction (The Doll House and The Turn of the Screw), Outstanding Production (The Doll House) and Outstanding Set design (The Doll House). Vikki has been nominated for 6 Dora Awards and has received a Harold Award. She has been nominated for the John Hirsch Emerging Directors Award.
Vikki studied directing, design and anthropology at the University of Victoria and the University of Calgary. She holds a BFA from the University of Calgary. She has also directed graduating classes at the University of Toronto, York University, the Toronto Film School and the National Theatre School.
Vikki's reasoning for choosing Concord Floral as a project for the program:
It explores themes of alienation, teen sexuality, boredom,
bullying and exclusion. All the characters are teenagers (in fact the playwright stresses the importance of working with actual teenagers), which offers the students an opportunity to play as an ensemble cast with characters close to their own age and life experience. The roles allow for great diversity in casting.Written as an unfolding urban legend, one of the most impressive elements of the script is the use of a choral structure. The story is told in short dialogues and beautiful, haunting, choral scenes with all the actors onstage. This is truly a brilliant opportunity for the students to learn about choral work, the history of the chorus, its use historically and how it serves the theatre today. Concord Floral will offer the young actors a chance to stretch their bodies, voices and minds.