It's standing-room-only in East of Main Café on this sunny Monday evening in late June.
The air is thick with anticipation as the diners sip wine and share plates of spiced almonds, hummus and labneh. From the sidewalk in front of the bustling East Georgia establishment, a small crowd observes the goings-on inside through enormous picture windows.
On both sides of the glass, they're waiting for the trio of bar stools at one end of the room to be filled by talents from the BC film and TV industry. Tonight, as with previous Mondays, the triple-bill is top-notch: writer-producer Gillian Horvath; casting director Candice Elzinga; and actor-director Peter DeLuise.
The event is Monday Night Live, the brainchild of East of Main Café co-owner and casting director Maureen Webb and actor Ryan Robbins (Sanctuary; Falling Skies). Since the inaugural event this past Spring, the bar stools have been occupied by a who's who of local industry folk, including Brent Butt, Amanda Tapping, John Cassini, and Michael Eklund.
From their perches atop the bar stools, the showbiz pros share true stories with an audience that includes emerging and established actors, directors, agents, producers, film students and fans. "Different people come for different reasons," Webb says. Admission is free but space is limited and the events aren't recorded; if you've missed it, you've missed out.
Each Monday Night Live has a theme. On this particular evening, the theme is lessons. Elzinga shares a defining motto from her childhood: Go as far as you can see, and you can see further. Horvath provides a glimpse inside a TV writers' room and mind. DeLuise has the audience in stitches with anecdotes from his career and marriage before serving up the following: When you pretend you know something you dont know, you cut yourself off from learning. Throughout the establishment and on the sidewalk outside, there's a steady stream of applause and laughter.
It's storytelling for a good cause: every penny raised at Monday Night Live (be it from food and beverage sales or a donation jar) benefits Project Limelight, a performing arts program for children and youth living in Vancouver's lower income neighbourhoods. (BC-raised actor and Glee star Cory Monteith, who passed away last weekend, was a vocal and passionate advocate for Project Limelight. The Globe and Mail reported that he had dinner at East of Main last Thursday night and discussed what more he could do to help raise funds for Project Limelight. This past Monday's event was postponed because of his death.)
A large chunk of the cash collected at Monday Night Live is directed to feeding the Project Limelight kids at rehearsals. "We don't ask if kids are hungry; we just assume that they are," said Webb, who founded Project Limelight and East of Main Café with her sister, Donalda Weaver. "It's fuel."
While the goal never changes, the actual event transforms from week to week. "Sometimes it gets really heavy, and sometimes it feels like a party," said Webb. "And some of its more focused on the business. I love that it changes all of the time."
The idea for Monday Night Live sprung from a conversation Webb and Robbins had at his birthday party at East of Main Café. Today, the casting director and the actor are a dynamic programming duo with a lengthy list of industry contacts between them. "He knows the people that I don't know," said Webb. "And he's really passionate about Project Limelight because he comes from a very strong arts background himself."
And in the end, thats what Monday Night Live is all about: the kids. "It allows me to tell the story [about Project Limelight] repeatedly, sometimes to the same people over and over," said Webb. "They're going to know."
On Tuesday, Cory Monteith's family named Project Limelight as one of three memorial charities in his honour.
