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Pi Theatre says farewell to its outgoing artistic director with a fascinating throwback to the ancient Greek roots of theatre. As Del Surjik moves to Saskatoon to helm Persephone Theatre (now housed in a brand-new building on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River), he leaves us with a fresh and exciting blend of old conventions and new themes.

Pi Theatre’s world premiere production of The 8th Land, directed by John Wright, is truly stunning. Local playwright, William Maranda, melds Polynesian mythology, and cultural theories on the decline of the early Easter Island population with Aeschylean structural forms to create an eerily poetic sense of “other” place and time. Yet issues in this play will resonate with contemporary audiences: conflict between religious dogma and human needs; use of scarce natural resources; personal glory versus survival of a people.

Minh Ly and Mary Phan delighted us with Bill Maranda's premiere of this comedy based on the Chinese thought that beauty can be a hindrance to a happy life. Colleen Lanki who teaches Theatre at UBC and who was based in Tokyo for several years studying traditional Japanese theatre delivered this comedy with a flair only an expert in Asian theatre could execute.

In another windfall for a local theatre company, Pi Theatre announced at the May 20 opening of its latest show, Arabian Night , that it has received a whopping $100,000 infusion from an anonymous private donor. The gift has been earmarked for The Eighth Land , a Pi production slated for May 2008. The William Maranda play is an "environmental tragedy" set on Easter Island, told in the style of classical Greek playwright Aeschylus.