Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
Quintana’s writing is natural, bitingly funny, and heartfelt.
—The Georgia Straight
Jo, a sixty-something recovering alcoholic, struggles to piece together a life shattered by addiction. Once a prominent botanical researcher, she now lectures at the local horticultural centre and begins to open her guarded heart to Rick, a fellow sober soul with his own complicated past. But Jo’s fragile progress is disrupted when a mysterious phone call from her estranged daughter forces the past to resurface. As Jo embarks on a desperate journey to connect, the intricate, unseen communication between trees mirrors her own quest for healing and reconciliation.
Christine Quintana’s As Above is a profoundly moving exploration of redemption, renewal, and the beauty of finding connection in unexpected places. Set amongst the majestic cedar forests of Victoria, British Columbia, this tender and spiritual play is a meditation on the deep roots that connect us to each other and the natural world.
Jo navigates some of the hardest questions a human being can tackle. How can she live with the pain she has undeniably caused, individually as a sober addict, and culturally as the descendant of colonizers? …Do we deserve to be happy, become comfortable, and recover when we’re so keenly aware of the damage we’ve left in our wake? …This story cracked me wide open, and the tears of catharsis flowed.
—Mackenzie Gibson, Nexus Newspaper
As Above celebrates the power of the human spirit and the power of the world around us—both seen and unseen. Christine combines the messy reality of our human-ness, with the beauty and magic of nature, and creates a universe full of hope and second chances.
—Michael Shamata, artistic director of the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, British Columbia
Born in Los Angeles to a Mexican American father and a Dutch British Canadian mother, Christine Quintana is now a grateful visitor to the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people. Christine is an actor, playwright, producer, and dramaturg. Winner of an LA Drama Critic’s Circle Award, Dora Mavor Moore Award, Jessie Richardson Theatre Award, Tom Hendry Award, and the Siminovitch Protégé Prize for Playwriting, as well as a nomination for the Governor General’s Literary Award, Christine’s works have been translated and performed in Spanish, French, German, and ASL in over ten cities worldwide. As a performer, she’s acted on stages big and small, in a camper van, in neighborhoods across East Vancouver, and on a farm. Christine is a graduate of UBC’s BFA Acting Program.