'Spaced Out' in Whistler postponed to May 31

On May 31*, decorated comedian, actor, filmmaker and writer David C. Jones is bringing an eclectic new show to Whistler. 

Spaced Out is being billed as an improv comedy adventure that casts viewers as a group of interstellar passengers and Jones as their vibrant captain. Together they'll embark on an unscripted narrative journey that features humour, off-the-cuff acting and audience participation.

Engagement is, of course, optional. 

"Nobody is required to participate in the show," Jones explains. "You only play with people who want to play, and at the very end, we do a whole group audience thing … but if you're not doing it, I can't tell. The audience will always side with [one of their own], so if I make an audience member feel bad, the audience hates me. I have enough trauma in my life without having an audience turn on me.

"But what I've found is, with my performance energy, I get people so giddy and so playful that they all participate. You see that I'm not very scary, and even when I'm intense and going like, 'oh my God, we're all gonna die,' it's more humorous, rather than threatening." 

Jones did not expect Spaced Out to take off the way it did (no pun intended). Its content falls directly into his wheelhouse as an experienced improviser who has travelled around the globe, but he was still pleasantly surprised when Arts Whistler executive director Maureen Douglas—an old friend—asked him to put the show on in Whistler. 

Another individual named Kevin Bruce requested that Jones adapt Spaced Out into a kids' program, which Jones was happy to do. 

"I'm quite excited that my love of making people laugh and having fun, but also being truthful about my own issues, have come together in this very imaginative, really cool-looking steampunk space adventure that people find hilarious and playful," he says.

'In the personal is the universal' 

Despite his whimsical personality, Jones' life has not been all sunshine and rainbows. He was once bullied and abused as a young man, but eventually became a caregiver and performer who tries to lighten up the world around him. 

Jones once poured "so much blood, sweat and tears" into a TV show called Eviction Conniption: a decade-old, six-episode program that simply did not catch on the way he wanted. He's thrilled with the reception of Spaced Out today, but was initially hesitant to create anything about his own mental-health tribulations.

T.J. Dawe, a former improv classmate and student of Jones, offered a different perspective. 

"In the personal is the universal," Jones remembers Dawe saying. "When you reveal your struggle—as long as it's not an indulgent, 'poor me, poor me' kind of way—people will be able to see themselves in it. Who's going through a lot right now? Everyone." 

You'll find lots of wild twists in Spaced Out: an alien monster, an android programmed for sarcasm, plus a fever-dream alternate universe where Earth has been plunged into chaos by an A.I. revolution and a war for Greenland. However, the narrative also includes thoughtful elements about processing one's own emotional baggage (or "heavy feelings" in the case of the youth version). 

Jones has MCd and toured with a William Shakespeare show in Whistler before. He looks forward to his imminent return. 

"I'm super excited to be back and see how much Whistler has grown and changed, and I want to share this fantastically fun show with them," says Jones. "I know Whistler people—maybe because you've got so many Australians mixed in with your population—are like a fun, wild party group." 

Spaced Out runs May 31 in the Maury Young Arts Centre. For tickets and more details, visit artswhistler.com/calendar-upcoming/spaced-out-an-improv-comedy-adventure.  

*This event was originally scheduled for April 7, but was postponed.