The Way I See It...

mt_champion @ 2009-07-22T20:41:00

2009-07-22T23:42:56Z

The Way I See It Theatre Blog is the proud owner of a snazzy new domain and a spunky, spruced up new look! The same blog that you have enjoyed on Livejournal now makes its home right here! Please check it out, update your bookmarks and spread the word!

As I was transferring all the old blog entries to the new website, I came across some particularly fond blasts from the past, and I thought I would thrust some of them back into the limelight for my new[er] readers, who may feel overwhelmed in digging through the archived blogs as there is quite the collection.

Here are some of the entries that stood out to me:

Obviously, my interview with Tony Award winning Broadway Star, Idina Menzel, was a definite highlight of TWISI thus far.
During my interview with Haligonian actor Jeremy Webb I could barely capture his answers because he had me in stitches the entire time.
I discussed my perceptions of Toronto’s importance and its potential on the World Theatre Scene as long as we refused to downplay our power, and start saying yes, we can! In the same way, I discussed our government’s lack of support for the Arts, and the need for Canadians to stand up and defend our right to our own, unique, distinct culture.
Damien Atkins conducted the best interview of Adam Brazier ever for me in March. Hysterical.
Patricia Zentilli? Check. Sharron Matthews? Check.
I got to review some Broadway Shows when I went to New York for three days on a “scholarly trip”- West Side Story and In the Heights were both so great.
I was particularly proud of my entry addressing the Garth Drabinsky diabolical.
Wayne Gwillim made a song for Greg Gibson during the Sing Out, Louise! promotional campaign that impressed me to the core. And it’s so damn catchy!
I interviewed David Storch! Dream. Come. True.
I interviewed the Impromptu Splendor cast in January. It was the first/only time I ever interviewed four people back to back. Ron Pederson’s epic answers still make me laugh.
I wrote a Christmas entry about the need for theatre and charity to have stronger links. It is essential for the theatre world to give back to its community.
I wrote “What Gives” for a school Dramaturgy assignment, and I think it captures nicely the Edmonton-connection aspect of TWISI.
I shook things up a bit with my sharp interrogation of Richard Ouzounian a year and a half ago. I still stand by my initial perceptions.
And OF COURSE- the Original Edges Interview that started it all!

I encourage you to check them all out and to indulge yourself in a little, nostalgic TWISI retrospective. Thank you for your continued support! See you on the new blog!

Smoothies With Colin Jones: Neptune's Got the Power!

2009-07-14T02:34:57Z

In December, I was blown away by Colin Jones, who played Jean Valjean in Neptune Theatre’s Youth Performance Company’s production of Les Misérables: School Edition. His performance earned him a 2009 TWISI People’s Choice Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Young Actor in a Musical. Jones has recently graduated from Sir John A. Macdonald High School and is heading to Victoria, British Columbia at the end of August to attend the Canadian College of Performing Arts in the fall. In anticipation of the next chapter in his life, Jones and I sat down at Second Cup on Spring Garden Road and enjoyed delicious Vanilla Strawberry Smoothies which are only $0.99 ($1.14 with tax) until July 17^th. They are incredible, low in fat and ridiculously cheap, so I would encourage you to all run to Second Cup and take advantage of this berry delicious promotion. In the meantime, you should read this great interview with Colin Jones, as he is absolutely one to watch for. I am certain that he will be nationally heralded as a brilliant Canadian musical theatre performer within the next decade. Currently, he is the very definition of what Rosie O’Donnell would have called a “cutie-patootie” in 1996.

Amanda Campbell (AC): So, Colin, the first question I was wondering was when and how did you first get involved in the theatre?

Colin Jones (CJ): Um, I guess really it was in school and doing school stuff in elementary. My school, the school I went to it was sort of arts focused- I mean, it wasn’t like a performing arts school or anything because we were like five, but like in kindergarten our teacher would get us to do stuff like acting out the stories that we would read as a class. And then that led to summer camps… I don’t think that it was until grade four that we actually had drama and then in grade five I did my first musical. It was this terrible musical comedy about a traveling dentist. Oh, I almost remember what it was called…. How Floss Will Travel! (laughs)... Then I just kind of continued on from there—

AC: Wow. Did you have a big part in that show? Was there any sense then that this was something that you were particularly skilled at and that you should maybe pursue?

CJ: Um, I played the narrator and I liked it but I wasn’t like “this is what I want to do!” I don’t even know if I had that moment until not long ago. Maybe not even until this year almost.

AC: Did you have any early theatrical influences? Or even an artist you liked or a CD that you would listen to that had a profound effect on you?

CJ: Um, I dunno. Not really. Growing up I was never a really die-hard musical theatre fan and my parents almost never took me to see many musicals. I remember that my neighbour and I would always watch the Whitney Houston produced version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella with Bernadette Peters and Brandy. I always really loved the big production of it all. I guess that I basically owe it all to my mom because she found Neptune for me, and I went to a musical theatre camp that summer and loved it.

AC: How old were you then?

CJ: I was about fourteen or fifteen. I think it was 2005. And the camp was Mamma Mia, the musical theatre camp, and I remember being sceptical at first because my mom was like, “you’ll get to sing ABBA all day!” and I was like, “ehn, I dunno” but I went with a couple of friends and I ended up auditioning for YPCo. I absolutely loved it. It was taught by Matt (Amyotte) and Mary Fay (Coady) and then some how I ended up being a YPCo Apprentice, back when they still had that. I actually don’t know how I pulled that off. First of all, the auditioner was sick so I got an automatic Call Back and then I had to be late for some reason, I can’t even remember why, but they knew, and I remember going into the Studio Theatre and it being packed with people and then slapping my name on my front and back and having to go in and sing in front of all those people. And there was such an intense dance call. And I did this terrible monologue-

AC: What did you sing?

CJ: Mr. Cellophane from Chicago.

AC: And you did a terrible monologue!?

CJ: Yeah, a terrible monologue that I had gotten from the Internet. And I don’t even know what it was from or remember what it was about, but what I do remember is that Drew, Drew O’Hara, who was also auditioning at the time, had the same monologue. And we both didn’t really know it that well, and so both of our monologues had the same sort of idea, but they were not really the same at all. No, it was actually kind of a miracle that I got it. I was actually kind of surprised.

AC: When was your first year in (the Youth Performance) Company?

CJ: My first year in Company was 2007.

AC: What show did you do that year? What was your experience like that year?

CJ: Little Women. Um, yeah. I really liked it. I really liked that role. As Professor Bhaer I got to play the romantic lead, and marry the lead and yet I was still only in like four scenes. It was great because it felt so rewarding but it wasn’t too much commitment. And also, I loved working with Sam(antha Wilson). She is so nice and just so… so eloquent.

AC: Did you like Little Women as a show? It was a bit strange the way it was set up, having such a major character not appear onstage until late in the Second Act. There was so much crammed into the end of that show.

CJ: Yeah, I did. It’s a bit strange, like you said. But I liked it a lot. It was also great working with Vicky (Houser) too. She’s great.

AC: And then you played Jean Valjean in Les Misérables. What was that like?

CJ: That was like ridiculous. I’m one of those people who don’t know a lot of musicals before I start rehearsals. There were people who auditioned for YPCo that year because Neptune had announced that they were doing Les Miz and they loved Les Miz. I auditioned for YPCo because I loved YPCo. And then when I was doing my research, people started to say that I should go for Valjean, like write it down on the paper for the audition or whatever. And when I was listening to it, I started to be like, “okay, I guess yeah, this would be a really cool part to play.” Mary Lou Martin directed and I had never met her, but some people in the company knew her and people like Meghan (Hubley) knew her and people started saying things like, “Mary Lou Martin hates flip flops” and “Mary Lou Martin hates Andrew Lloyd Webber… don’t sing any Andrew Lloyd Webber” and I started to get really intimidated. So, when I went in for my audition I sang “My Unfortunate Erection” from The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and she was like, “that was cute.” And that was like it. So, I was like, “what does that mean?” “Is she going to even cast me?” “Is cute good?” And then when I got the letter, that form letter, that had “Jean Valjean” filled in, it was sort of strange to think that someone thought I could do that. It’s still in the front of my school binder… the letter there saying “we are pleased to offer you… (laughs) It was such a big role to tackle. But, Matt (Amyotte) and Mary Lou (Martin) made it a lot easier. They both would let you go with it and to make your own choices, but if they thought you could do something better they would suggest different things and help guide you in the right direction. Also there was those two semitones that were lower in the School Edition so it wasn’t like I was belting Bs like Colm Wilkinson.

AC: Right. Better to wait until you’re on Broadway for that and you have mics. So after Les Miz, you played Jack in Into the Woods at Saints Alive Theatre Company. Can you talk a bit about that?

CJ: Um, it was like completely different and yet just as challenging. I mean, the musical itself is challenging, and some of the music in Les Misérables was a challenge, and then there’s just (Stephen) Sondheim in general. It was also a fun change to play a comedic, more carefree character rather than this sort of… epic… adult. I dunno, I loved working with Saints Alive Theatre. I sort of wish that I had gotten the opportunity to work with them before like my last term in school because you get the opportunity to work with older artists and it is so much more professional. I was working with people like Ian Gilmore, and other older theatre performers who aren’t just thirteen to eighteen. That was really nice. It was also really nice that I got to work with people who had already graduated from CCPA and Sheridan. It’s like; they sort of prove that you can do this.

AC: Can you explain to the readers who maybe aren’t familiar with CCPA a little bit about the program you’re embarking on?

CJ: Okay, from what I understand, there is a national tour of auditions in, I think, ten cities and over three days, and the founder and the Artistic Director are there and they videotape the auditions. Then they review the tapes, and people are asked for interviews and stuff and then they choose forty or so first years and you can go and do just your first year there and leave with a… sort of certificate of Performing Arts and that can be it. But, they also interview people again and they choose eighteen to twenty-four people for the Year Two program and then those people can graduate with an advanced certificate of Performing Arts. And then they interview again for their third year program, which is basically a Company Year, where the students do three shows.

AC: Is there anything that you’re specifically excited about at CCPA?

CJ: Um, for me, I just really enjoy musical theatre and I wanted to train in musical theatre rather than straight theatre. I have vocal training and I love dancing, and there are not too many choices for musical theatre at the postsecondary level and CCPA was the only one that I was accepted at. My parents are still iffy about me going, but they’re getting better because I think they realized that I was going to go no matter what. But really, I wouldn’t get excited about any school in particular, I’m just excited to learn in general. If it came down between Sheridan and CCPA I would probably choose Sheridan just because it is closer. But I think that I would learn from both, just in different ways. But that either will be a worthwhile experience. ... I’m really excited to learn how to tap dance because it just looks the most impressive to me of any other kind of dance.

AC: Well, Colin Jones, I have to ask you the obligatory question: Where do you see yourself in five years? … If I could hand you your dream future on a gold platter, what would it look like?

CJ: Oh, okay. I dunno- there’s two different answers to that question really. There’s the realistic answer and the dream-

AC: Don’t say realistically you’ll be working at Starbucks because I don’t think that’ll happen!

CJ: That’d be fine. I’d take the free drinks! (laughs) Realistically, if I do all three years at CCPA, I would only be out for a few years… and I would want to be establishing myself… somewhere… I kind of feel like I’d like to come back to Halifax to work. Now, that is five years from now, so that could change, but I would love to work at Neptune because almost everything that I have seen there has been so impressive. That being said, I wouldn’t mind being in a National Tour or being on Broadway... but I wouldn’t expect that to happen so soon.

AC: Is there any particular show that you’re like, “I neeeeeeeeed to do this!”?

CJ: I think I’d like to have another stab at Les Miz. Maybe not even playing Valjean again, I just think that being in a big company and doing that show would be vastly different than what it was like with YPCo. I also really like The Last Five Years, I really like the music and I really like the concept of the show and the backwards and the forwardness and then meeting in the middle. But, I love most musicals, I’d love to be in any of them. I also would really like to be in something new that will be written in the future.

AC: You mentioned that you would like to come back to Halifax and work here, and I know that some of the professional actors here have been talking lately about the challenges that this city presents, so I was wondering, do you have a vision of theatre here that you would like to see in the next five years?

CJ: It’s kind of hard to say, I don’t have much to compare it to because I haven’t seen a whole lot of stuff outside of Halifax. I’d love to see more people that live in Halifax and surrounding areas getting their work here because there are a lot of talented people here. And recently I noticed a certain director of a certain show at a certain theatre brought in a lot of his friends from a certain city and the show wasn’t really up to par with the other shows that I have seen there, I didn’t think, anyway. I think that a lot of people I know… even people my age or slightly older, people who live here, could have done much better with that material. I didn’t even think the choreography was as good as was hyped.

AC: I know exactly what you mean. I agree. You mentioned that you got your start in Elementary School, and I know that between your generation and mine Public Schools in Nova Scotia have faced harsh Arts Funding cuts and there are more being threatened, how important do you think it is to have drama in school?

CJ: I think it’s important to have it in school. Kind of just doing the kind of stuff that I was talking about, like acting out the stories in Kindergarten, that’s important. I find that I work out excess emotions when I’m performing and I think that would be helpful to keep dumb High School drama down. It will keep everyone happier. At my school (Sir John A. Macdonald High School), the drama program was pretty well respected and so was our Improv Team, which actually has been a shining part of our school because they’ve gone to Nationals and stuff… less so our musical, which is still sort of iffy, and I found that Drama class was still sort of iffy… I once had to leave another class to go get ready for a Drama Final Exam which was a performance, and the teacher whose class I was leaving said, “this is unheard of! Leaving class for a Drama Exam.” And it was sort of disheartening to see that she felt that Drama was lesser than what she was doing. But, you still have to understand where they’re coming from, they’re there to teach this and Drama is not a grad requirement.

AC: What song have you been listening to a lot on your Ipod?

CJ: I’ve been really liking “A Beautiful Mess” by Jason Mraz.

AC: Is there a TV show that you’re looking forward to watching in the Fall or a show that you watch now that you’d encourage other people to watch?

CJ: I’m really excited for Glee. I love the pilot episode so much. What else have I been watching lately? Oh, yeah, So You Think You Can Dance. And there’s a fall season of So You Think You Can Dance too!

AC: What was the last good movie you saw?

CJ: Um, good as in entertaining, I saw The Hangover, which isn’t exactly profound, but was a funny, entertaining movie. I’m also excited for the new Fame movie, not to be too stereotypical, but it looks really good. … I’m going to see the new Harry Potter tomorrow. (laughs) The Midnight Premiere.

Well, I may not be a master at Divination, but I predict the doors to Colin Jones’ theatrical career will be swung open wide quicker than you can say ‘Alohomora.’Stay tuned!

News From Around the Barrio

2009-07-13T04:06:53Z

I have been remiss in keeping you informed with some of the goings on beyond the borders of Canada’s Ocean Playground for the past few weeks, and I owe many apologies for completely dropping the Toronto Fringe Festival ball. I’m so sorry I missed it. It passed me by completely with nary even a shout-out. I hope that all the shows were great successes, it seems as though Torontonians ventured out in droves to support the arts, and I couldn’t be happier! It is been a tumultuous couple of weeks with starting my first two weeks of teaching nearly entirely sold-out camps for 4-6 year olds at Neptune Theatre School, acquiring a nasty virus we’re all hoping is not any strain of Swine Flu, having two computers crash (one twice) and still dealing with pesky schoolwork haunting me from my academic adventures. That said, there still seems to be an awful lot to tell you, so, as Matthew Amyotte would say, without any further ad-uh—let’s see what’s-a-goin’-on in your neighborhood!

First and foremost, I have just recently become aware of Canopy Theatre in Toronto, which is a nine year old company dedicated to fostering and showcasing the talents of young and emerging artistic professionals in the production of outdoor classical theatre in downtown Toronto. Romeo and Juliet opens on July 15^th at Philosopher’s Stage at Philosopher’s Walk (80 Queen’s Park) and runs until August 1^st. The mandate of this theatre company is the creation of assessable theatre, and so not only does Canopy allow you to get your Shakespeare fix without a hefty trip to Stratford, its ticket prices are excruciatingly reasonable ($10.00 for adults, $8.00 for students/seniors and PWYC performances on Wednesdays). Andrea Wasserman, Canopy’s Artistic Director directs, and the show is produced by Doug Floyd through Hart House Theatre and Evelyn Wiseman. Matt Gorman Assistant Directs, Susan Bond provides dramaturgy and the play stars Tyrone Savage and Cosette Derome. Bring Your Own Blanket. This is a production of the world’s most famous love story that everyone will be able to enjoy! 416 946-0314 or email info@canopytheatre.ca.

If you loved Spring Awakening earlier this year in Toronto, and if you’re eagerly awaiting news of Jake Epstein’s first week as Melchior in the National Touring Cast, I have been told that you must ensure a seat in the audience for the Canadian Premiere of the American musical bare presented by Waters Edge Productions. According to its website, “bare is a pop-rock musical about the coming-of-age of five high school seniors at a Catholic boarding school. Knowing their stay in this insular world is drawing to a close, each of them question where they are in their lives and what the future holds in store. Answers are sought in the church confessional and in less formal venues including a stage, a rave, and a well-locked dorm room. The story focuses in on a secret love affair between two boys, Peter (played by Wade Muir) and Jason (Graham Parkhurst). Though Peter is ready to tell the world about their relationship, Jason fears the repercussions. bare is the beautiful and moving story about love, fear, acceptance and finding yourself.” Bare opens July 17^th at Hart House Theatre (7 Hart House Circle, Toronto) and plays Wednesday-Saturday until August 1^st, 2009 at 8:00pm with a 2:00pm matinee on Saturday. Tickets are $35.00 for adults and $25.00 for students and seniors. For tickets visit UofT Tix.

If you’re looking for a fun little frolic in Barrie, and in the heat of the summer, who isn’t (?!), Da Capo Productions is presenting the delightful Charles Schultz/ Clark Gesner/Andrew Lippa musical You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown at the Barrie Downtown Theatre (1 Dunlop Street). It boasts of a stellar cast: Trevor Campbell (Charlie Brown), Ari Weinberg (Snoopy), Lizzie Kurtz (Lucy), Ryan Kelly (Schroeder), Gabi Epstein (Sally) and Christopher Wilson (Linus). The direction and choreography is by Donna Marie Baratta and the Musical Directing by M.J. Johnson. The show plays July 27, 2009 until July 31^st, 2009- Monday/ Friday at 1pm and Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday at 7pm. Tickets are $15.00 for adults and $10.00 for children and seniors. For reservations please call 705 717-9776 or visit the website.

Also in Barrie this summer you can catch a creation from Mamma Mia/ We Will Rock You star Adam Brazier called He Sings She Sings at the Gryphon Theatre (1 Georgian Drive). Here is the blurb from the website: July 22^nd at 2:00pm and 8:00pm, July 23^rd and 24^th at 8:00pm for $29.00 ($25.00 for 2:00pm), “created and directed by Adam Brazier “songs from some of Broadway’s best musicals including A Chorus Line, West Side Story, Annie and The Full Monty, will leave you singing and smiling. A cast of two(Brazier with Melissa Thomson-Hicks and Mark Selby on the keys) embarks on a wonderfully humorous look at modern-day relationships through the revealing words and music of the most beloved tunes of all time!” Sounds like the potential for a charming evening! For more information, visit this website.

Since I dropped the Toronto Fringe ball, but I am a big fan of Chris Craddock, a brilliant playwright/performer from Edmonton who started in the Edmonton Fringe Festival years ago, I am going to plug his show Moving Along, hoping that all you in Toronto saw it and relished it for every exquisite moment and that you will help me pass the word along to the citizens of Winnipeg. Moving Along begins at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival (Canwest Performing Arts Centre 2 Forks Market Road) July 15, 2009 at 11:00pm, Thursday July 16^th at 5:00pm, Friday July 17^th at 10:30pm, Tuesday July 21^st at 7:15pm, Thursday July 23^rd at 12:00pm, Friday July 24^th at 9:30pm and Saturday July 25^th at 12:00pm. Here is what other reputable people had to say about Craddock and his show: “The writing is as electric as the chair and the performance will make you gasp!”- Liz Nichols, The Edmonton Journal, “Craddock is nothing less than brilliant”- Martin Morrow The Calgary Herald, and “This show is brilliant!… See it! See it! See it!”-Kurt Spenrath See Magazine. I rest my case.

Summer is always fraught with Shakespearean offerings what with classical works under canopies and in parks and parking lots alike. In Edmonton, for example, the Freewill Shakespeare Festival has kick-started with Comedy of Errors and Titus Andronicus which play on alternate evenings at 8:00pm Tuesday through Sunday until July 26^th. There are matinees at 2:00pm on Saturday and Sunday. For tickets visit Tix on the Square or call 780-420-1757.

Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare’s goriest of tragedies, is (obviously) the inspiration for Stewart Lemoine’s newest revenge comedy Mother of the Year now playing at the Varscona Theatre in Edmonton. Check this out! “In July 2008, the largest Teatro cast in many a season convened for the premiere of Stewart Lemoine’s A Rocky Night for his Nibs. Box office records were shattered as a riot of summer fun was had by all. Teatro’s July offering for 2009 is entitled Mother of the Year, and it’s another big 'un, a grandly scaled companion piece to the Free Will Shakespeare Festival's concurrent production of Titus Andronicus. This potent new Lemoine offering looks directly into the dark eyes of ambition and revenge and returns their cold gaze with a dazzling smile

Set in Edmonton during the 1980’s, Mother of the Year unfurls the dramatically hilarious saga of a pair of rival meat packing companies and the families who run them. It’s a fast-paced, shockingly Shakespearean display of simmering resentments, disastrous marital alliances, quiet double-crosses, and bold betrayals, all played out in a world strongly reminiscent of such classic Reagan Era prime time soap operas as Dynasty, Dallas, and Knot’s Landing.

Coralie Cairns, previously seen in Teatro’s At the Zenith of the Empire and The Velvet Shock, returns in the role of Vitellia Fane, the fire-breathing matriarch of Fane Foods, with Ron Pederson and Farren Timoteo as her hapless sons. Julien Arnold plays hooky from the Free Will Players this season, to appear as Granger Haverly, proud CEO of Haverly Meats, father to two coltish daughters portrayed by Briana Buckmaster and Shannon Blanchet, and employer of two assistants with very different notions of loyalty, played by Jana O’Connor and Davina Stewart. Andrew MacDonald-Smith appears as a mysterious newcomer among the sexy slaughterhouse crowd, and Jeff Haslam and Sheri Somerville smolder as unscrupulous contractors whose dealings with the Haverlys and the Fanes help precipitate the torrents of calamity and carnage that conclude the play.

Stewart Lemoine directs the proceedings with whimsical gravity, while set and lighting designers Paul Bezaire and Scott Peters create an opulent Romanesque vision of Edmonton in its Pocklingtonian heyday. Costume designer Leona Brausen has a ball, outfitting everyone in shoulder pads, sequins, and appliqué. In a long overdue return to Teatro, stage manager Michelle Chan uncorks the champagne, hoses down the abattoir, and hands out the volumnizing gel.

Mother of the Year runs at the Varscona Theatre from July 9 to 25. Performances are Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 7:30 pm, with additional matinee performances on Saturdays at 2pm

Ticket prices are $25 for adults and $20 for students and seniors on Wednesday through Saturday evenings. All seats on Saturday afternoons are $15, and Tuesday evenings are Pay-What-You-Can.

Also, anyone with a ticket stub from the Free Will production of Titus Andronicus will receive a $10 discount on a single regularly priced ticket for Mother of the Year, and Mother of the Year ticket holders will receive the same discount at Titus Andronicus. This deal is available at the door only!

For reservations, call 780 433-3399, Voice box #1.Tickets also available through Tix on-the-Square at 780 420-1757 or www.tixonthesquare.ca

AT THE VARSCONA THEATRE 10329 – 83 AVENUE.”

Also at the Varscona, if you’re in Edmonton, you’re not going to want to miss the Season Finale of Oh Susanna!—the live, improvised Euro-style variety show hosted by the indominable and ultra glamorous Susanna Patchouli. It has been an entire decade of frivololity- so come kick off at the party that tops them all—featuring the divine charms of co-host Eros, God of Love and the antics of the Compania del Mambo, plus a cavalcade (a freakin’ cavalcade!!) of special guests! Laughs! Music! Cocktails! The party starts at 11pm on Saturday July 25^th at the Varscona Theatre (10329-83^rd Avenue, Edmonton.) It’s surely a celebration not to be missed!

I am hesitantly going to post the news that Anthony Rapp, the original Mark in Jonathan Larson’s 1996 musical Rent, who reprised his role in the 2006 Chris Columbus film adaptation told me that as far as he knows, Toronto will be added to the list of destinations for the National Touring Company of the musical in which Rapp plays Mark and Original Cast Member Adam Pascal reprises his role of Roger. I will post more information as soon as it becomes available, in the meantime, you can catch the scoops from this website.

Lastly, I wanted to draw your attention to the fact that I have enabled the comment option at the bottom of each of my blog posts. I do encourage you all to leave comments and opinions and to further discussions of the issues that the blog attempts to raise. I also encourage you to embark in discussions with one another as well as just with me, as that will help develop a more unique and strong sense of community here at TWISI. Please, do bear in mind to be considerate and respectful, and that this blog tries its best to be a positive space, and while of course criticism is welcome, I would like to gently discourage anything that resembles overt “bashing”. Enjoy! And thanks for visiting!

Frolic in the Park with Love’s Labour’s Lost

2009-07-11T22:44:58Z

I don’t make a secret of the fact that I usually don’t like my Shakespeare “fucked with.” It’s not necessarily that I am a Shakespeare “snob” (that depends on your definition of snob), but I think that Shakespeare’s works are so seldom professionally produced in places like Halifax with one regional theatre and a few independents who are passionate about creating new works and a Fringe Festival which so often provides space for contemporary and Canadian productions, that when I go to see a Shakespeare production I want it to be a work of quality. Maybe, if I’m being honest with myself, I want it to seem “authentic” or even “reverential,” but those concepts are neither here nor there. Quality, though, does seem to be a fair expectation for a theatregoer to have. For this reason, I tend to have a love-hate relationship with Shakespeare by the Sea, because too often I leave frustrated in feeling that they fucked too much with the play.

I understand, of course, that Shakespeare by the Sea, is attempting to make these shows assessable to a non Shakespeare-savvy crowd of Haligonians, and that their target audience are tourists and park lovers who want to be entertained, and perhaps it is ambitious and impractical of me to feel like the Bards’ words alone are sufficient to translate to these particular people. In any case, I think there is a balance that must be struck. I’m happy to report that in the case of their newest Shakespearean offering, Love’s Labour’s Lost, I think the balance is pretty near accurate.

Love’s Labour’s Lost is a really silly play and therefore it lends itself nicely to the antics of this group of actors and the dynamics of the park itself. It is written in a pastiche of poetic styles from Shakespeare’s time which lends itself to feeling a little clunky and reminiscent of plays written by other less sophisticated Elizabethan playwrights. Its plot is extremely loose and often confusing, and the direction by Elizabeth Murphy helped to clarify a lot of the subplots and strange Shakespearean antics. I found the choice to use more modern-style dress also helped to illuminate the characters and establish them visually within their context. The costumes also suggested Noel Coward to me, which was an interesting analogy. I was a bit confused with the costume choice for Ari Millen’s Moth, who was the only character who looked like he had walked off the set of Grease.

There were several really fantastic performances that made watching this production enjoyable and at times particularly hilarious. Amos Crawley was absolutely brilliant as Berowne. His command of the language is breathtakingly superb and it makes his performance shine with finesse and every moment appear so natural and honest. Kevin MacPherson was also in complete ease with his lines and was able to express an exuberant silliness that lent such energy to the production. Jeff Schwager was hilarious as the foppish, witty, Boyet. I was particularly impressed by Caitlin Stewart this year, who played Rosaline with a mixture of spunky ingenuity. She reminded me of Maggie Gyllenhaal and within the context of this show that worked really well. Drew O’Hara shone brightly as the shy, awkward Dumaine, giving a particularly genuine performance, which Shakespeare’s words don’t always lend kindly to. Simon Henderson was absolutely delightful as Dull, utterly reminiscent of a Muppet, and Jeremy Webb was also Muppet-like (more specifically hysterically akin to Pepe the King Pawn) playing Don Adriano De Armado with a wayward accent and extra, extra cheese. The Queen of the Park, though, was definitely the divine Geneviéve Steele whose French accented Shakespearean verse as The Princess of France was absolutely flawless. She had such spunk and joie-de-vivre; it was a pleasure and real treat to watch her perform.

Despite the fact that the play is long (it runs until about 9:30pm with an intermission- during which if you’re cold, you can cuddle for free with Jeremy Webb) and the Second Act drags in bits, Love’s Labour’s Lost is a fascinating play to see. The ending is especially unexpected and the performances infuse it with a sense of modernity and relevance that I found surprising. At its core, however, it is still a nonsensical romp in the park and one that adds just the garnish a Haligonian summer’s day dish needs to add spice and delight.

Love’s Labour’s Lost runs in rotation with Jack and the Beanstalk Market (not written by William Shakespeare) and MacBeth until Sept 6^th, 2009. Admission is by donation, with a suggested donation of $15.00. You can bring your own blankets or chairs, or you can rent chairs at the park. All shows take place in the Cambridge Battery in Point Pleasant Park (5718 Point Pleasant Drive) and you can consult the Shakespeare By the Sea Schedule for show dates and times.

Face the Picnic: Sketch Genius that is 100% Reliable

2009-07-11T21:14:33Z

There is this apathetic myth that tends to circulate among Haligonians from time to time that I would like squash right now. It is the myth that nothing cool ever comes from Halifax and nothing cool ever happens in Halifax. So frequently it seems like the general public in Halifax looks wistfully toward Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver and laments that it has been short sided. This is not necessarily so and I am not talking about the fact that as I type these words Paul McCartney is hanging about our fair city (in the glorious sunshine and mild summer heat) readying for his concert tonight in the park where we have all played Frisbee, walked our dogs, jogged, rode our bikes and sunbathed. No, I am referring to the success of some of Halifax/Dartmouth’s own talents, specifically the popularity of a little video sketch called Powerthirst.

Powerthirst currently has 15, 414, 516 views on youtube (a number of hits that this blogger only dreams about!) and Picnicface, the Halifax-based sketch comedy troupe that has been running like Kenyans since 2006, has garnered fans across North America and around the world. Although Picnicface has reached Internet celebrity and their youtube videos have joined Sidney Crosby and Ellen Page as being household names across HRM, if not throughout the province, what many people don’t seem to realize is that living in Halifax gives you a huge advantage over the hoards of other Picnicface fans living elsewhere, because every second Sunday the Picnicface boys and girls do a live show for just five bucks at the Paragon on Gottigen Street.

On July 5^th I found myself at the Old Marquee Club, now known as Paragon, in a slowly gentrified strip of Gottingen Street, surrounded by young hipsters in skinny jeans, sipping soy beverages and seeking Halifax’s small (but mighty) Independent Theatre scene. It became apparent that a large number of the audience that filled Paragon for the newest Picnicface show avidly attended the shows and were familiar with the troupe’s style and their sketches. Although, I was a little surprised by how easy it was to snag a seat in the relatively small venue considering the live shows are biweekly and this troupe is internationally known. I was thrilled, however, that the show boasted of entirely new sketches that you cannot see anywhere else.

The Picnicface Troupe, made up of Andrew Bush, Kyle Dooley, Cheryl Hann, Mark Little, Brian MacQuarrie (who was MIA in the July 5^th show), Evany Rosen, Scott Vrooman and Bill Wood, are masters at creating the ultimate succinct, clever, absurdist sketches which always seem to walk the line between sketch and improvisation. There is this laissez-faire ambiance surrounding Picnicface which suggests that at any moment an unexpected hullabaloo could ignite, and Little and Bush would calmly and wryly catapult its hilarious elements into the show. When the sketches are particularly incredible, it seems as though they are being created spontaneously and the audience is prone to wondering whether particular moments emerged organically or were deftly scripted by the troupe.

Highlights from the July 5^th show included Kyle Dooley’s remarkable 1940s gangster voice, Andrew Bush’s exuberant shoe/jacket salesman, the sophisticated witty word artistry displayed in Bill Wood and Kyle Dooley’s scamply radio play, the cleverness of the Scott Vrooman/ Mark Little sketch which reflected on the marvel of the evolution process from babyhood to adulthood, Bill Wood’s disgruntled crazy employee, and Mark Little’s cartoon-like Agent Buttburger. There was a clear sense of continuity between the sketches as there were recurring characters sprinkled throughout as well as referential sketches. At the end of the show a multitude of familiar characters crowded into one sketch which provided a clever sense of conclusion. Despite some technical glitches, Bush and Little’s comic timing and sense of confidence turned any hitch into a source of glee rather than irritation.

After an intermission where patrons were encouraged to pay visit to the bartender, the Picnicface gang treated the audience to some Improv, which was quite basic, but ultimately entertaining. The highlight of the Improv was Andrew Bush’s rap about racism. It’s interesting to note that the members of Picnicface have recently returned to Halifax from Edmonton where they were performing at Improvaganza at the Varscona Theatre. This proves to me why I think it is so important for the theatre community in Canada to be aware of the events and the talented performers all across the country, because ultimately we are all connected, and so often our worlds collide and our talents are given opportunities to overlap. Improvaganza is the perfect example, as members of Rapid Fire Theatre (which includes many members of Teatro la Quindicina) played host to Improvisers that I blog about frequently in Toronto as well as Picnicface from Halifax. I love seeing artists from across the country playing and learning from one another and I hope that these opportunities will only increase in the future!

Next Sunday, July 19^th, 2009 will be Picnicface’s last show before they go on hiatus for the summer, so I encourage you all to support these talented folks and head over to Paragon (2037 Gottingen Street) at 8:00pm for the show. It costs an incredible mere $5.00 and is well worth its weight in the power of 500 babies.

Heal the World

2009-07-08T03:48:51Z

In an ABC’s 20/20 exclusive interview with Barbara Walters in September, 1997, Michael Jackson discussed with Walters the paparazzi Hollywood epidemic shortly after the tragic death of Princess Diana. In this interview, when asked his feelings on the nicknames the press had bestowed upon him in the tabloid magazines, the late King of Pop said, “I have a heart and I have feelings. I feel that when you do that to me. It’s not nice. Don’t do it. I’m not a “wacko.” I don’t want the paparazzi, really. But if they come around, be kind. Write the right kind of thing to write.” Of course, Barbara Walters, hard-hitting, razor tough journalist that she is, questioned Jackson’s perception saying, “Is it the journalist’s role to be kind?” This question has been haunting me since Jackson’s untimely death on June 25^th.

It is perhaps ironic that since Jackson’s death, I have been spending most of my time surrounded by four to six year olds, as I’m teaching theatre camps to students at Neptune Theatre School in Halifax. My super-indelible cohort in the Neptune madness, the incredible Jessica Barry, and I try to infuse our students with strong values and we do not take lightly the responsibility that comes with the power of being teachers, role models (and sometimes idols and heroes) to some of the shortest and most impressionable members of Canadian society. We teach the children the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have done unto you. We stress the importance of caring and of being kind. As individuals these basic principles, which are entirely secular, form the foundation of our children’s education, and yet, as a society we seem so quick to toss them out the window. Kindness. Caring. Genuine, unselfish sympathy, understanding and compassion. In our world of reality shows like Big Brother, websites like TMZ, and Perez Hilton and of course the countless tabloids and magazines, our society is continually pitting people against one another and themselves, creating scapegoats to divert the public attention from massive global epidemics like famine, poverty, natural disasters, and war and building up idols and superstars only to wait in anticipation for the right moment to tear them back down. Michael Jackson’s words may seem simple, they may even seem infantile or inane, but in fact, they are quite astute, and quite wise. Why shouldn’t an adult, a professional grownup, have to abide by the same rules as a four year old in a preschool classroom? Be kind. Be considerate. Care.

Of course, one must ask difficult questions at times, and Michael Jackson’s intricate life is fraught with examples of the press digging and searching for the truth, which at times appeared like a dark, twisty, mysterious, elusive thing. Yet, are we not taught as young children the appropriate way to ask questions? The appropriate way to approach problem solving? Are we not taught that resorting to lying, name-calling and overt, hurtful, unfounded judgements are detrimental to the well being of other human beings? Do we not learn in seventh grade that gossip alone can leave scars that take years of soul searching to heal? Did we not learn throughout those painfully awful years between age twelve and seventeen that viciousness and maliciousness are a sheer waste of our time and energy and that it always comes back to bite us in the end? If this is the lesson we wish to teach the teenagers of the world, how do we justify condoning the very same behaviour by adults who make their living spreading lies about celebrities and viciously and maliciously creating havoc in order to sell and advertise products that make us lazier, fatter, and less compassionate people?

Michael Jackson issued a challenge to the press in 1997 which went entirely ignored, “write the right thing.” Recently a Facebook friend of mine who was on a very popular, successful American sitcom when he was a child from the mid/late eighties until the early nineties had a status that jumped out at me. It said, “Got so scared yesterday when someone said, “Hey, you’re on TMZ.” As a society we seem to forget that acting is a profession. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a strange one, but it is still a profession. Yet, the more “successful” one becomes, the more this profession morphs into a celebrity circus and human beings become targets, as my Facebook friend exemplifies. Without even looking at the website, this actor was afraid because he knew that the attention that would be lavished upon him given his celebrity status on this website would undoubtedly be negative and unkind. Perez Hilton recently got into an altercation with someone who was frustrated by the blogger’s unkindness and lack of empathy and consideration for celebrities’ feelings. Yet, we cannot blame Perez Hilton alone, for if there was no market for his product, he would disappear. Society clicks and surfs and looks to throw celebrities to the wolves and the Golden Rule asunder.

What does this have to do with theatre? What does this have to do with me? I recently read an old quote from Toronto Life where Albert Schultz, Artistic Director of Soulpepper Theatre, criticized a theatre critic in Toronto saying, “I have told him that I sometimes find his approach bitchy, mean-spirited and personal, and I know I'm not alone in this assessment.” Therefore, it is not only in Hollywood where our society seems to relish in tearing others and their accomplishments apart. As artists we are encouraged to express our innermost selves, we are continually struggling to be brave, and to be open to inspiration, to our most creative impulses, to push the boundaries and to be personal. As artists we are encouraged to share. As children we are told to share our talents as "gifts", and as adults we try to nurture and foster the emerging creativity, zeal, passion, love and sense of fun and play in the children we care about. How then we can turn around and attempt to tear artists apart for sharing their gifts-- for giving us some of the most candid expressions of the human spirit? Can’t we only speak about how this gift impacted us on a personal, individual level? Can’t we only speculate from our limited experience with this art how successful we feel the artist was in conveying what we assume may have been her or his intention? There will be those who will thrive on the adversity and will muster every ounce of ambition to prove “those bastards wrong” and some will. There will be those who don’t take anything personally, and continue along their artistic path relentless in their own pursuits. Yet, how many dreams do mean-spirited, bitchy, personal “critiques” squash? How many artists with the potential to be great become disheartened and choose a safer path? Is this a necessary weeding out of the weak? A strength-testing challenge? If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen?

I disagree wholeheartedly with the argument that to be kind somehow devalues criticism, and that everything becomes wishy-washy and painted with the same mediocre brush. When we teach children, we guide them and encourage them and treat them with respect and kindness. And yet, their natural strengths still shine through brightly, and I believe, even brighter than they would if the children were treated with harsh judgement and criticism for the things that they struggled with or were still learning and figuring out. We will create an atmosphere conducive to learning and to excelling if we are encouraging, kind, compassionate and empathetic. If it works in kindergarten, it will work everywhere.

Michael Jackson tried to elevate his life to a higher purpose, above the petty turmoil of Hollywood. He donated passionately to charities and he was devoted to shining the limelight on the plight of the people in Africa. For all his scandals and the misconceptions about his life, and the speculations about his tragic death, Michael Jackson wanted to create a better world- one that resembled the UNICEF posters in Elementary Schools with children of all colors, creeds, religions, beliefs and languages of choice, all with happy smiling faces, holding hands all around the globe. Again, this may seem infantile, it may seem precious, or impossible, but as lofty as it may be, shouldn’t the happiness and peacefulness of everyone be a priority for the citizens of Earth, the only planet that can sustain life in the Milky Way and maybe even beyond?

For children, adults tend to break things down into manageable chunks, and I’ve found this advice is pertinent for adults prone to feeling overwhelmed as well. I may not be able to save the world in one fell swoop, but I am entirely in charge of this blog, and as the great playwright Brad Fraser reminds me, with power comes responsibility, and that is something that I hold solemnly in my heart. This blog seeks to help heal the world. This blog seeks to create a better Earth in whatever small way it can. This blog seeks to be a place of care, of compassion, empathy and kindness. This blog seeks to say YES. YES, Barbara Walters, the press can be kind and still maintain its journalistic integrity. “There are ways to get there if you care enough for the living. Make a little space, make a better place. Heal the world.”

TWISI Fine Print

2009-07-01T03:53:49Z

I was sitting in the park beside St. James Cathedral one pretty spring day in Toronto after coming from seeing a particularly extraordinary production at Soulpepper when I started to muse about the little things I enjoyed about the theatre. The programmes, the theatre buildings, and I found myself saying (in my head), “Someone should give out awards for these types of things!” The next thing I knew, I had realized that I was that perfect someone, and that I could. Not only could I give out awards for things no one seemed to be talking about, but I could give out production and performance awards too. Before I knew what was happening I had come up with thirty categories and had a flutter of excited butterflies in my belly.

The more I sat in the park and thought, however, the more it seemed a smidgen self-serving for me to use my blog to give awards to the people I thought deserved them. But… what if my readers could vote too? And thus the TWISIs and the TWISI People’s Choice Awards were born! I have had so much fun playing hostess to the 2009 TWISIs. It gives me a little thrill every time people say or type the word ‘TWISI’! The response delighted me and exceeded my expectations, so thank you to everyone who voted, and to every single person who is reading the results right now. Thank you from the very bottom of my heart for finding your way here.

The TWISI Awards were chosen by me (Amanda Campbell) and the TWISI People’s Choice Awards were tallied and chosen by popular vote.

IMPORTANT

I wish to offer a hearty congratulations to all the winners of the 2009 TWISI Awards! I would also ask that if you have won a TWISI award, please get in touch with me at some point to discuss exciting details of the prizes to follow. You can email me at twisi.theatre.blog@gmail.com or however else you know how. I would also encourage you to let any winners you’re in contact with know about TWISI and the awards, because I would be extremely humbled if all the remarkable people listed above read my blog, and I want to make sure the winners get in touch with me about fun specifics. So, please, share the joy!

Have a Happy Canada Day!

2009 TWISI Award Winners

2009-07-01T03:51:20Z

The 2009 TWISI Award WINNERS

1. Outstanding Achievement in the Production of a Play (awarded to the theatre company):

TWISI Award: Scorched- Tarragon Theatre. (Richard Rose).

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Scorched- Tarragon Theatre. (Richard Rose).

2. Outstanding Achievement in the Production of a Musical (awarded to the theatre company):

TWISI Award: Cabaret- Stratford Festival. (Des McAnuff).

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Edges AND A New Brain. Acting UpStage. (Mitchell Marcus.)

3. Outstanding Achievement by an Actor in a Play:

TWISI Award: Albert Schultz. Glengarry Glen Ross. Soulpepper Theatre.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Diego Matamoros. Travesties. Soulpepper Theatre.

4. Outstanding Achievement by an Actor in a Musical:

TWISI Award: Steven Gallagher. A New Brain. Acting UpStage Theatre.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Steven Gallagher. A New Brain. Acting UpStage Theatre.

5. Outstanding Achievement by an Actress in a Play:

TWISI Award: Kristen Thomson. I, Claudia. Crow’s Theatre.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Kristen Thomson. I, Claudia. Crow’s Theatre.

6. Outstanding Achievement by an Actress in a Musical:

TWISI Award: Trish Lindström. Cabaret. Stratford Festival.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Janet MacEwen. Anne of Green Gables. Mirvish Productions.

7. Outstanding Achievement by a Young Actor (under 18 years old) in a Play:

TWISI Award: Lucas Tennen. A Christmas Carol. Soulpepper Theatre.

8. Outstanding Achievement by a Young Actor (under 18 years old) in a Musical: TWISI Award: Christopher Van Hagen. The Music Man. Stratford Festival.

*I bent the rules for the Young Actor and Young Actress Awards as some of the winners appeared in non-Equity productions*

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Colin Jones. Les Misérables. Neptune Theatre School Youth Performance Company.

9. Outstanding Achievement by a Young Actress (under 18 years old) in a Play: TWISI Award: Isabella Lobo. Festen. Company Theatre.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Lucy Campbell Devil’s Disciple. Shaw Festival AND Samantha Wilson. Blackbird. The Canadian Stage Company.

10. Outstanding Achievement by a Young Actress (under 18 years old) in a Musical: TWISI Award: Vicky Houser. Les Misérables. Neptune Theatre Youth Performance Company.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Jacqui Sirois. Thoroughly Modern Millie. CATS Mainstage Company)

11. Outstanding Achievement by a Director of a Play:

TWISI Award: Joseph Ziegler. Travesties. Soulpepper.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Richard Rose. Scorched. Tarragon Theatre.

12. Outstanding Achievement by a Director of a Musical:

TWISI Award: Ron Jenkins. The Black Rider. November Theatre/ Tarragon.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Daryl Cloran. A New Brain. Acting UpStage Theatre. AND Michael Mayer. Spring Awakening. Mirvish Productions.

13. Outstanding Achievement in Set Design:

TWISI Award: Michael Gianfrancesco. It’s A Wonderful Life. The Canadian Stage Company.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Graeme S. Thomson. Scorched. Tarragon Theatre.

14. Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design:

TWISI Award: Leslie Frankish. The Forbidden Phoenix. Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Bretta Gerecke. Nevermore. Catalyst Theatre. Luminato Festival.

15. Outstanding Achievement by a New Theatre Company (one founded after June 2008):

TWISI Award: The National Theatre of the World. Ron Pederson. Matt Baram. Naomi Snieckus.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: The National Theatre of the World. Ron Pederson. Matt Baram. Naomi Snieckus.

16. Outstanding Achievement by a Cabaret Performer (female):

TWISI Award: Sharron Matthews for Sharron’s Party

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Sharron Matthews for Sharron’s Party

17. Outstanding Achievement by a Cabaret Performer (male):

TWISI Award: Thom Allison for Rainbows and Songbirds

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Bryce Kulak for The Big Idea

18. Outstanding Achievement by a Playwright:

TWISI Award: Wajdi Mouawad for Scorched.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Wajdi Mouawad for Scorched.

19. Outstanding Achievement by a Canadian Playwright:

TWISI Award: Stewart Lemoine for Happy Toes. Teatro la Quindicina. AND Jonathan Monro for Variations On a Nervous Breakdown. Talk is Free Theatre.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Kristen Thompson. I, Claudia. Crow’s Theatre.

20. Outstanding Achievement in the Production of an Improv, Sketch or Comedy Show (awarded to the theatre company):

TWISI Award: Ghost Jail Theatre (Ian Rowe/ Caitlin Howden).

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Ghost Jail Theatre (Ian Rowe/Caitlin Howden).

21. Outstanding Achievement by an Improviser (Male)

TWISI Award: Fraz Wiest

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Matt Baram

22. Outstanding Achievement by an Improviser (Female)

TWISI Award: Kayla Lorette

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Kayla Lorette.

23. Outstanding Achievement in Musical Direction

TWISI Award: Reza Jacobs for The Sound of Silence. Acting UpStage.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Wayne Gwillim. A New Brain. Acting UpStage.

24. Outstanding Achievement in the Production of a Visiting or Touring Show:

TWISI Award: Spring Awakening. David Mirvish.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Spring Awakening. David Mirvish.

25. Outstanding Achievement on CD by a Canadian male theatre artist (The album must have been released between June 1^st, 2008- June 30^th 2009).

TWISI Award: Michael Hughes for Michael Hughes

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Michael Hughes for Michael Hughes

26. Outstanding Achievement on CD by a Canadian female theatre artist. (The album must have been released between June 1^st 2008- June 30^th, 2009).

TWISI Award: Patricia Zentilli and Patti Loach for Pull Me Through

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Janet MacEwen for Back Where I Belong AND Patricia Zentilli and Patti Loach for Pull Me Through

27. Special Honour for Best Theatre Programme (as in, the booklet you receive at the theatre):

TWISI Award: Soulpepper Theatre. (Albert Schultz)

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Shaw Festival. (Jackie Maxwell).

28. Special Honour for Favourite Theatre Space (as in, the building that houses the theatre):

TWISI Award: The Berkeley Street Theatre (Matthew Jocelyn)

TWISI People’s Choice Award: BusStop Theatre (Lee-Anne Poole)

29. Special Honour for Most Audience Friendly Theatre Company:

TWISI Award: The Canadian Stage Company (Natasha Mytnowych)

This award is going to Natasha Mytnowych to honour all the work that she has done to develop and implement amazing programs that reach out to young artists and the theatre community as a whole and enriches the Canadian Stage experience so much.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Acting UpStage Theatre. (Mitchell Marcus) AND Ghost Jail Theatre (Caitlin Howden and Ian Rowe).

30. Special “Just Cuz” Award for Someone in the Theatre Community most deserving of recognition:

TWISI Award: Jenni Burke.

Jenni Burke has fostered, encouraged and inspired dozens of young performers through her work at Statler’s and with her huge heart and beautiful spirit.

TWISI People’s Choice Award: Derrick Chua.

While I was tallying the votes, I was really touched by the “Just Cuz” category, and I realized that there were so many people in the theatre community that were deemed deserving of recognition. So, I decided to post all the names that were emailed to me on the blog as a way of honouring each person individually.

The Other Recipients of “Just Cuz” Shout Outs Are:

Martha Burns, Martha Irving, Jon Kaplan, Matt Baram, David Shore, Caden Douglas, Meghan Hubley, Sharron Matthews, Thom Allison, Barbara Fingerote, Nina Aquino, David Oyie, Blair Irwin, Janet McEwen, Raquel Duffy, Steven Gallagher, Claire Leger, Matthew Amyotte, Ron Pederson, Pat Thornton, Mike Jackson, Kayla Lorette, Jeigh Madjus

News From Around the Barrio

2009-06-18T18:27:47Z

It has been a horrendously difficult time to be away from Toronto due to the sheer amount of awesomeness that has been emanating from that city as of late. With that in mind, how exciting for all of you who *are* in Toronto! I’m sorry I have been neglecting my blog duties, I am currently swamped under the weight of (originally four now) three papers that need to be finished in order for me to hope to graduate in November as a Master of Drama Studies. That being said, let’s do a fun recap and see what exciting, fantastic things have been rocking the socks off the Canadian theatre community!

First of all, of course, the Luminato Festival dominated the theatre scene, between June 5^th-14^th, making my heart ache with all the innovative, amazing, Canadian new work that was being showcased and that I was missing. The buzz I heard from Halifax was on Catalyst Theatre’s production of Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe. “Hot on the heels of its June debut at Ottawa’s Magnetic North Theatre Festival came the Toronto premiere of a uniquely compelling theatrical experience. Delightfully dark and heartbreakingly comic, this amazing new creation by Edmonton’s award-winning Catalyst Theatre is a musical-gothic fairy tale for adults, an irreverent and affectionate homage to an iconic literary misfit.” Sounds amazing, huh? All I can say is that I wholeheartedly hope that this show will find another home in Toronto for a longer run, and soon, because it sounds like a theatrical experience not to be missed! Also, keep in mind that Catalyst Theatre’s production of Frankenstein will play at the Canadian Stage Company from May 3-29^th, 2010. This winner of eight Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards stars the world premiere cast: Nick Green, Andrew Kushnir, Tim Machin, Sarah Machin Gale, Nancy McAlear, Tracy Penner and George Szilagyi.

The buzz was also on the North American premiere of Robert Lepage’s newest epic Lipsynch also at Luminato. Fresh from critically acclaimed presentations in London, Madrid and Sydney, Australia, this nine-hour multimedia extravaganza that weaves together the stories of nine interconnected lives over the span of seventy years, proved to be one of the theatrical events of the year. Co-written by Frédéike Bédard, Carlos Belda, Rebecca Blankenship, Lise Castonguay, John Cobb, Nuria Garcia, Marie Gignac, Sarah Kemp, Robert Lepage, Rick Miller, and Hans Piesbergen, Lipsynch was presented by Ex Machina/ Théâtre Sans Frontières. For such a gigantic, theatrical epic, Lipsynch only ran for five performers in Toronto, so one would hope that this is not the last we have seen of such a once in a lifetime epic from Canadian legend Robert Lepage. Especially since, I have yet to see a Robert Lepage show, and this is something I feel must be rectified as soon as humanly possible.

The Canadian Stage Company’s Festival of New Ideas and Creation that I mentioned before is finishing up its second and final week at the Berkeley Street Theatre. I hope that you have been able to catch some of the incredible opportunities that have been offered through this exciting venture. Again, it hurts my soul that I have been missing it, it sounds like an incredible experience. Here are some events that are still coming up as part of the festival!

Investigation: Dance / Theatre in Practice

Free Public Forum: Friday, June 19 at 3 p.m.

Dubbed a 'contrived collaboration' led by theatre director Weyni Mengesha (‘da Kink In My Hair, blood.claat) and choreographer Kate Alton (The Four Horsemen Project, Appetite), this investigative workshop pairs two acclaimed artists together with a selected group of performers from various disciplines to explore some of the ways in which dance and theatre can intersect. Using a performance laboratory model, the group will spend three days developing and expanding a practice that aims to integrate these forms in hybrid creation work evolving out of questions posed and ideas put forth by Mengesha and Alton. On the final day findings will be shared with artists and the public.

Forum: Right Here, Right Now: an Un-Conference on The Future(s) of Toronto Performance

Facilitated by Misha Glouberman

In partnership with Small Wooden Shoe and Dancemakers

Saturday June 20, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., reception to follow

$10 (includes lunch)

A one day meeting of Toronto’s groundbreaking professional artists, arts workers and arts leaders to talk about the future(s) of performance practice and our city’s stages. Facilitated by Trampoline Hall’s Misha Glouberman using techniques drawing from open-space technology and world cafes (the “Un-” denotes a conference with no panels, guest-speakers or pre-determined outcomes), the agenda is crafted by participants and the issues on the table are the ones of most relevant as they most specifically impact practice and craft. All who have stake in the evolution of performance are encouraged to attend to strategize, explore and identify what we can do right now to address our most challenging and exciting opportunities RSVP at: http://unconference.eventbrite.com

101 Series:

Video Editing with Blair Francey

Thursday June 18, 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., $15

Video is playing a greater role in both how we create for the stage, as well as how we share our creative process with our audiences through the web. This workshop will cover the basics of using video as creative and communication tool. The session will take participants through the process of how to get from your camera phone to YouTube, with topics covered to include essential gear, software, hardware, what to consider before you begin shooting (ie. theme, message, how it will be distributed), and various ways of distributing the video across the net.

One of the most exciting events, in my opinion, is a co-production between The Canadian Stage Company and the Festival of New Ideas and Creation and Acting Up Stage Theatre Company which brings Tony Award winning composer William Finn (Elegies, A New Brain, 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Falsettos) to Toronto! On Monday June 22^nd at 7pm, William Finn will sit down at the Berkeley Street Theatre with Richard Ouzounian and talk about his life and his work, as well as hear performances by Thom Allison, Barbara Barsky, Steven Gallagher and Eliza-Jane Scott accompanied by Wayne Gwillim. Tickets are $25.00 or $50.00 and available by calling 416 368-3110. There are discounts available for CAEA members and 2 for 1 deals for students.

Also, check this out! Thom Allison, Maja Ardal, Damien Atkins, Maev Beaty, Christine Brubaker, Marjorie Chan, Benjamin Clost, Sasha Cole, Melissa D'Agostino, Julian DeZotti, Diana Donnelly, Monica Dottor, Rosemary Dunsmore, Paul Fateaux, Tracey Ferencz, Cara Gee, Michele George, Dean Gilmour, Allan Gillespie, Maggie Huculak, Tanja Jacobs, Melody Johnson, Daniel Karasik, Rob Kempson, Andrew Kushnir, Rosa Laborde, Richard Lee, Trish Lindstrom, Matthew MacFadzean, Jordi Mand, Richard McMillan, Jeff Meadows, Andrew Moodie, Natalia Naranjo, Sarena Parmar, Jordan Pettle, Michelle Polak, Gregory Prest, Philip Riccio, Brenda Robins, Anusree Roy, Sarah Sherman, Erin Shields, Michele Smith, Birgitte Solem, Chy Ryan Spain, Jamie Spillchick, RH Thomson, Severn Thompson, Adam Underwood, Nigel Shawn Williams, Sarah Wilson, d'bi.young anitafrika and members of The Canadian Stage Company Young Company. Holy Hannica! What are all these Toronto theatre stars doing tonight and tomorrow night, you ask? Well, the answer is that they are all appearing in a part of a staged reading of Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia which started last night with Voyage, but continues tonight (Thursday) at 7pm and tomorrow (Friday) at 7pm at the Berkeley Street Theatre. Each play tells a complete story, so it is possible to attend just one evening. The trilogy has been called Stoppard’s “crowning achievement,” which speaks volumes since Stoppard has written a number of remarkable plays. The Coast of Utopia made Tony Award history when it won nine of the awards in 2007. Tickets are $15.00 and can be reserved by calling 416 368-3110. Sounds like another event not to be missed!

Here’s some news from Monkey Toast! Monkey Toast: The Improvised Talk Show. David Shore and The Gladstone Hotel present the biweekly Improv comedy inspired by guest interviews. This week with special guests, Gladstone bartender, Nathan Stevens, and author/musician, Dave Bidini. This show's improvisers: Colin Mochrie, Jan Caruana, Paul Constable and Herbie Barnes. Music by Kevin Baker. Sunday, June 28th. 9pm. PAY WHAT YOU THINK. The Gladstone Hotel Ballroom 1214 Queen St. West. And, if you’re toasting for more monkeys—there is a NEW SHOW! Check this out! The Panel Show! Monkey Toast presents a new show featuring a panel discussion on current events with real guests and improvisers portraying famous people. This week's panellists are: Andrew Coyne (Maclean's), Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (aka, Sam Kalilieh), Mrs. Karlheinz Schreiber (aka, Jan Caruana) and more. Hosted and moderated by David Shore. Thursday, June 25. 8pm. $5. The Comedy Bar. 945 Bloor St. West.

Speaking of monkeys on toast, Matt Baram recently sent me a Facebook invite to a new Canadian film that he’s a part of called Baby Formula. It is being screened starting tomorrow at the AMC at Yonge and Dundas. It stars Angela Vint, Megan Fahlenbock and Rosemary Dunsmore. It plays Friday through Sunday at 12:35pm, 2:45pm, 5:00pm, 7:25pm, 9:50pm and Monday through Thursday 2:45pm, 5;00pm, 7:25pm, 9:50pm. In the words of the ever-quoteable Meghan Hubley, “movies are fun because you can sit still and eat!”

So, by now your schedule may look a little heavier, and your wallet may feel a little lighter, but people, you can’t make plans for Saturday night unless they include the LAST EVER (FOR REALS) SHARRON’S PARTY. SHARRON’S BIG GAY PARTY is going to be so epic it deserves CAPITAL LETTERS! It’s pride, people, and there is no more fun to be had than at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre with Sharron Matthews celebrating the exuberance that was 4 years of the very best in Cabaret. You laughed. You cried. You spittaked. You sang. You choked. You got breast milk squirted at you. Really, what could be better! You need to go out and support Sharron, because you KNOW she’s going to go out with a bang and a really hot dress. Saturday, June 20^th. 8pm. Buddies. Jeigh Madjus. Thom Allison. 416 976-8666. Tickets= $20.00. This show= Priceless.

Check out this amazing video! This is the very stuff of champions. Wow.

Vancouver’s Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards were announced at the Commodore Ballroom on June 15^th. You can check out the list of winners here!

Hold on to your guns, Edmonton! Rapid Fire Theatre’s Improvaganza has begun! Since yesterday and for the next nine days, sketch, Improv and stand-up acts from around the world will grace the stages of the Varscona Theatre and B-scene Studios. Tickets are as low as $10.00 and feature amazing comedy acts such as Picnicface, Impromptu Splendor, Pete & Pat, That’s So Weird Cast, 4Track, La Gata from Colombia, Bansai Twins from Japan/Belgium, The Crumbs, Upfront Theatre, General Fools, Vancouver Theatre Sports League, Hawkmail and great local acts from Edmonton, plus live music! You can get more information on their website, and even if you won’t be in Edmonton this week, you should still check out all the cool things that Rapid Fire Theatre has to offer, including CHiMPROV and THEATRESPORTS. Also, there are cool cool people involved with Rapid Fire including Mark Meer and Chris Craddock! But it won't let me click on their pictures to read more about them on their website. Dear Rapid Fire Theatre, Please look into this, I'd love to see who else is involved with your company and I bet countless other people would too! Love, Amanda.

Lastly, but certainly not leastly, I hope that you all have plans to vote for the 1^st Annual TWISI Awards! Votes are due June 21^st, 2009. All the information you need to vote is at http://mt-champion.livejournal.com. Thanks in advance!

*If you would like your theatrical event to be posted on The Way I See It’s “News From Around the Barrio”- throw me an email at twisi.theatre.blog@gmail.com and I’ll see what I can do!*

School's Out- Time to Be Victorious!

2009-06-08T22:30:33Z

By Meghan Hubley

Barbara Johnston is frustrated with people labeling our generation ‘apathetic’. I am not surprised by this considering this young woman’s goal is to start the first repertory company in Canada for musical theatre. Along with best friend Suzy Wilde and over 30 talented performers, Johnston aims to “produce good, not-for-profit musical theatre shows.” Their fourth show, BEGGAR’S BAG COMPANY’S SCHOOL’S OUT started rehearsals in April, and is going up at the Bathurst Street Theatre June 19^th. The press release states it’s “a bi-annual musical theatre cabaret show with an enormous cast made up of recent graduates of performing arts programs at Ryerson, Sheridan, Humber, U of T, Etobicoke School for the Arts and Wexford school for the arts.” Johnston graduates from Ryerson’s Performance Acting Program on Thursday and Suzy has graduated from Humber Music School, the show is produced by performer Amber Allicock-Hawtin, who works at SK Films. Over-time they hope to have full seasons to put up a new Canadian musical and remount an old American classic each year, and cast from within their huge company base which covers ages 17-30.

Matt O’Connor, also graduating from Ryerson on Thursday, says it’s about time Canada has a company like Wilde and Johnston envision. This is O’Connor’s third show with the aptly named ‘Canadian Musical Theatre Repertory Company’ (CMTRC) which began in his and Johnston’s second year of training. Sitting in on their Sunday afternoon rehearsal, I watched Johnston, O’Connor, Jeanine Dinger and Danny MacDonald work on choreography to a beautiful song written by Suzy Wilde herself. O’Connor shocked me when he said he had never sung or danced before hooking up with the Beggar’s Bag, as I took him for co-choreographer or a dance captain role! “It’s just that I’ve been at every rehearsal,” He laughed. “I find the dancing very challenging, this show is the most I have ever done. People come and go (with the company.) The last shows had more trained male dancers, but now I have to step up and pretend I know how to do it.”

It’s the growth in performers like O’Connor who rise to the challenge and push their limits, that Johnston enjoys the most about producing these shows. “Everyone is dancing, everyone is developing skills.” Johnston’s pride of the work she and the cast – all comprised of friends of her and Wilde, or friends of friends, from theatre school or high schools – are doing, is infectious. And watching her work with the dancers is enchanting. The environment is collaborative and easy-going. The first hour or so Johnston, O’Connor, MacDonald and Dinger are working on Wilde’s song, featuring a guitar strummed gorgeously and poetic lyrics only enhanced by the body’s full movement. Each lift, turn, or jump fits the song naturally, broken down like an actor may break down moments in a monologue. The dancers are full of drive and desire to move forward and tackle the material, but the determination is speckled with the sense of joy in the room – everyone wants to be there. Suddenly more dancers enter and the rehearsal hall splits in two. There are four facing where I sit, and six facing the mirrors on the east side of the room where performer Jesse Stanley leads a review of the title track’s choreography. It is a wise way to use their time, which has been the biggest challenge according to Johnston. “Being artists, we are not naturally organized people. We’re developing skills on the fly, learning by things we do wrong. You have to be more flexible when people are donating their time.” (Did I mention everyone involved is entirely on a volunteer basis?) Challenges for Johnston include “Time management, organizing 40 very different schedules, fundraising…” though she is quick to tell me that ticket sales haven’t been a problem in the past and that eventually the aim is to pay the players.

Before their break (which is taken a half-hour late, to no complaints by the dancers) the group works on two huge numbers, including “mostly” original Fosse choreography to ‘All That Jazz’ (which makes me mushy.) For their finale number, the dancers are given the instruction “find a silly way to get onstage” and 10 seconds later there is not a straight face in the room. I only spent 2 and a half hours with these guys and am already struck by their diversity and ability to shake up the style from rock’n’roll to swing to contemporary to vaudevillian without a second thought.

“The theme is moving on, change…And letting go,” Johnston says of SCHOOL’S OUT, tying it in with the fact many of her cast are now graduating. “There are bigger issues like war, and our generation needs to come up and be a voice for something!” She looks out in awe at her cast, now beginning a vocal warm-up. “We’re all people, together. We need to be victorious!”

From my sneak-peak into CMTRC, I think they will be. SCHOOL’S OUT plays June 19th and 20th at 8:00pm at the Bathurst Street Theatre. Tickets: $20 General Admission, $15 Students (I.D required) To reserve or purchase tickets for School’s Out please contact Adrienne Ceaser at (416)432-0057 or online by emailing tickets@beggarsbag.com | www.beggarsbag.com

Tonight... Tonight... Theatre Stars They Shine So Bright

2009-06-08T07:31:05Z

I’m certain that my experience with the annual American Theatre Wing’s Tony Award broadcast mirrors that of young, proud theatre dorks across the world. For me, growing up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, especially before the advent of Playbill.com and Broadwayworld.com, the Tony Awards were so often my introduction to sensational Broadway shows and unbelievable show-stopping stars. I remember watching Hunter Foster perform “Run, Freedom, Run,” during the 2002 Tony Broadcast, my mouth gaping open thinking, “who is this boy? What is this show? I need to get it now. Who is this boy!?” The Tony Awards used to be a conglomeration of Broadway’s biggest stars, it seemed, all vying for the ultimate honour. Yet, tonight, with the Tonys turning sixty-three, I didn’t find a single performance that captivated me with quite as much star power.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that there aren’t stars on Broadway this season, but rather that the performances chosen for the ceremony tonight may not have been the most suitable. Karen Olivo, who won her first Tony tonight for her mind-blowing portrayal of Anita in West Side Story, has all the passion and belting prowess of such Broadway legends as Idina Menzel and Patti Lupone. It’s too bad she didn’t get a chance to showcase any of that in the broadcast tonight. There were very few nominees that I was overtly rooting for, but Olivo was absolutely one of them. It thrilled me to bits to see how moved and overwhelmed she was to receive such a merited award.

My favourite moment of the evening was watching 83 year old Angela Lansbury accepting her Tony Award for her role in Blithe Sprit. What an exceptional lady. Her speech was so poignant and full of class. She, for me, is the essence of joy and happiness. What an extraordinary achievement from one of the world’s most renowned performers. I stand in such awe and take such inspiration from her.

I also take inspiration from Jerry Herman, who was awarded the special life-time achievement Tony Award. Along with being an incredible Broadway composer who previously won two Tony Awards, he is also such a brave pioneer of the gay equal right’s movement that is still being fought especially in parts of the United States. As much as I love contemporary musical theatre, I found myself growing nostalgic as I watched pre-recorded performances by Carol Channing in Hello Dolly and heard bits of the score to Mack and Mabel and La Cage Aux Folles and Mame being played. There is something of such grandeur about Herman’s songs, such sweetness and richness and nuance. Contemporary musicals have that when they’re not ripped off Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks movies or compilations of rock stars’ greatest hits. I miss having something lyrical on Broadway. I miss having something poetical. I miss having something that allows you to appreciate the talent of the singer and a story and characters that require real acting muscle. Will we find our way back to then?

Don’t even get me started on Shrek- the Musical and Rock of Ages makes We Will Rock You look like Sweeney Todd. I don’t understand why Hair won for best revival over West Side Story, unless only because Gavin Creel is a superstar. I would listen to Liza Minnelli read the phonebook she is so enchantingly hysterical. I teared up again when I saw Bea Arthur on the “In Memoriam” board. I had heard that the new revival of Guys and Dolls was bad, but seriously, sit down... you’re ruining the show. Yikes. I was surprised how unimpressed I was with the performance from Billy Elliot, but I think it was just a poorly chosen excerpt, as it seemed to be entirely without context and I’m sure that within the production, the sequence is both stunning and impressive. I was not at all surprised that the show won ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It won four Laurence Olivier Awards after all.

It struck me how many of tonight’s winners had British accents. I had thought that the “British Invasion” of the 1980s was over, but upon second glance that seems to be a naïve thing to say. While I have no problem at all with the musicals from other cities/countries finding a home on Broadway, London’s gifts to Broadway, the slew of Lloyd Webbers that dominated marquees for decades upon decades, Mamma Mia and We Will Rock You, are all the giant McShows that continually have me worried and often make my stomach churn. America seems to be fighting back with its Disney sure-fire hits and juke box shows like The Jersey Boys-- and they’re all fine and dandy as long as they’re not making it impossible for musicals rooted in stories, with characters who express themselves in innovative new song and dance, to emerge and thrive.

At the same time, the Tony Awards are broadcast on CBS, where they compete for viewers and try to appeal to a general public that doesn’t attend the theatre. It frustrates me because the Tony Awards are for us. They are for the theatre geeks, and the Broadway lovers, the artists, the aficionados and the impresarios. They are for the Angela Lansburys and Jerry Hermans of the future. We have one night where the television broadcasts our world, and yet, it is always slightly compromised. I did like Neil Patrick Harris as a host, he’s ridiculously cute and delightfully suave. Indeed, there are some cross-over stars that I enjoy seeing presenting at the Tony Awards. John Stamos has owned a piece of my heart since I was six, and who is cuter than Chandra Wilson!? Yet, I can’t help wonder where Audra and Bernadette and Brian Stokes and Marin Mazzie and Patti Lupone and Idina Menzel and Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick and Barbara Cook… were. We have one broadcast a year that showcases the best of Broadway and I feel unfulfilled when the giants of the American theatre aren’t given at least a few moments to shine. Appealing to the general public is also the reason why the extra performances were from two juke box shows (Mamma Mia (which really- haven’t we bombarded the world with enough of that already!?) and Jersey Boys) and Legally Blonde (based on a hugely popular Reese Witherspoon movie). If the American Theatre Wing can’t proudly stand behind American musical theatre rather than catering to what it thinks “the general audiences want,” who will support and INSPIRE the Hal Princes and Stephen Sondheims of tomorrow?

On second thought, however, the Tony Awards probably aren’t the best venue for the American musical theatre community to be able to unite and perform alongside one another in celebration of Broadway, as the telecast, with all the commercials and awards and speeches, already runs over its allotted time. Maybe there needs to be another night, a night that are just performances, like how in Toronto we have nights like Sing Out, Louise. How glorious would it be to have another night in the year where Radio City Music Hall is thrust in all its sparkling splendour into our homes. Dreams.

I am, of course, excruciatingly proud of fifteen year old David Alvarez for winning a Tony Award for Billy Elliot in what was the most hilarious and adorable and sweetly-awkward Tony Award acceptance speech, I’m sure, in 63 years. What an awesome, awesome achievement for such a fantastic young performer! It’s clear that he has a bright, bright future ahead of him.

I, like many of you, was dismayed and angered by the announcement that Joseph Leo Bwarie (who played Frankie Valli in The Jersey Boys in Toronto initially, but who is from Los Angeles and was replaced by brilliant Canadian performer Jeff Madden in December 2008) was “representing Toronto” in the Jersey Boys medley at the Tony Awards. However, after seeing the show, I have come to the conclusion that the powers that be did not ask Madden to “represent Toronto” at the awards, out of fear that he would outshine and upstage Broadway’s current Valli Jarrod Spector. Understandable.

Lastly on my little Tony Award rampage, the overwhelmingly worst thing about the awards, was something so basic that it seemed outrageous that it was even an issue. That, of course, was the terrible sound quality of the show. It is dismaying because obviously the Tony Awards are not a priority of CBS by any stretch of the imagination and the sound issues were such an affront and disrespect to the actors and the audience. It disheartens me so much that some of the biggest giants, the most illustrious talents working in America today can sit in the same room and the networks barely bat an eyelash.

I hope that I have grown quick to demand excellence from the arts institutions that surround me. I hope that I have become a woman who is not quite as easily dazzled by Broadway’s lustre because I have immersed myself in the theatre for the past six years. I hope that out there in the world is a little girl who saw the Tony Awards tonight in a small city away from New York and who was just as inspired by what she saw as I was by Hunter Foster seven years ago. The power of the theatre, that which insures its continued survival, is its ability to touch our hearts, inspire, astound, and change our lives. Thankfully, this is a power undaunted by even the McMusicals and unfocused sound technicians. We band together and unite. We cheer, we grow, we thrive. We overcome. Just as we always have. Just as we always will.

Purple Summer

2009-06-06T06:15:58Z

I told you that I’d give you an update on Jake Epstein being cast as Melchior Gabor in the National Touring Company of the Tony Award winning musical Spring Awakening. Here is what I have managed to steal from playbill.com. According to these news sources, Epstein will join the cast when the musical arrives at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C. on July 7^th, 2009.

The national touring company of Spring Awakening includes Blake Bashoff (Moritz), Christy Altomare (Wendla), Steffi D (Ilse), Krystina Alabado (Ensemble), Julie Benko (Ensemble), Todd Cerveris (Understudy Adult Men), Chase Davidson (Swing), Kate Fuglei (Understudy Adult Women), Gabrielle Garza (Anna), Kimiko Glenn (Thea), Kate Hampton (Adult Women), Sarah Hunt (Martha), Anthony Lee Medina (Otto), Andy Mientus (Hanschen), Ben Moss (Ernst), Krista Pioppi (Swing), Angela Reed (Adult Women), Perry Sherman (Ensemble), Matt Shingledecker (Georg), Claire Sparks (Ensemble), Henry Stram (Adult Men) and Lucas A. Wells (Ensemble).

You can see Jake play Melchior in any of these fine American cities:

Louisville, KY (June 2-7 at the Kentucky Center)
Baltimore, MD (June 9-21 at the France Merrick Center)
Philadelphia, PA (June 23-28 at the Kimmel Center)
Washington, D.C. (July 7-Aug. 2 at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater)
Chicago, IL (Aug. 4-1, at the Cadillac Palace)
Milwaukee, WI (Oct. 6-11 at the Marcus Center)
Kansas City, MO (Oct. 13-18 at the Music Hall)
Austin, TX (Oct. 20-25 at Bass Hall)
Costa Mesa, CA (Nov. 17-29 at the Orange County PAC)
Denver CO (Dec. 1-19 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts)
Hershey, PA (Jan. 5-10, 2010 at the Hershey Theatre)
Cincinnati, OH (Jan. 12-24, 2010 at the Aronoff Center for the Arts)
Charlotte, NC (Feb. 2-7, 2010 at the Blumenthal PAC)
Rochester NY (Feb. 9-14, 2010 at the Rochester Broadway Theatre League)
Atlanta, GA (March 9-14, 2010 at the Fox Theatre)
Dallas, TX (March 23-April 4, 2010 at the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts)
Miami, FL (May 11-16, 2010 at the Arsht Center)
Orlando, FL (May 18-23, 2010 at the Carr PAC)

*Also-- hot of the presses is the Toronto Fringe Festival Program which was released earlier today! You should check it out right now! How exciting!*

Guilty or Not Guilty: That is the Question

2009-06-06T05:46:18Z

simon henderson and jeremy webb

Bill Shakespeare stands onstage in chains. There is something rotten between the pages of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. The illustrious characters that he has slaved mercilessly to bring to life have vanish’d into thin air. We, the contemporary audience, have lent Julius Caesar our ears; but is Shakespeare’s language too languid and crammed with poetic, buried subtext to be fully understood and appreciated? For all the foul deeds that have unleashed numerous ghosts and bloodied hands, does Shakespeare’s theatre now prove as deadly as MacBeth’s sword? Thus, William Shakespeare is on trial.

These questions are explored in the hilarious new play (aptly called Shakespeare on Trial) by Jeremy Webb which plays tomorrow at the Bus Stop Theatre at 2pm and 8pm. The play was created to be toured to schools as part of Theatre Nova Scotia’s Perform Program, as a means to remind students that the words they study in English class were written to be performed by actors trained to convey the essence, beauty and truth of each line they spoke. Also, to remind students that these four hundred year old texts are called “plays” for a reason and to reveal that the theatre, good theatre, is not the house of boredom that stereotypes so often make it out to be.

Here, Bill Shakespeare (Simon Henderson) is greeted by four of his most famous characters: MacBeth, Iago, Hamlet and Juliet (all played by Jeremy Webb, as, a man in his time plays many parts) and he is confronted (literally and physically) with whether his words still hold their relevance in today’s world. The play is a joyful romp reminiscent of smooshing Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author together and thrusting the mixture into the Globe Theatre circa 1594.

Webb has a brilliant talent for knowing exactly how to balance remaining true to the world of the story he is presenting and adding pertinent, witty, pop culture references, improvisations and jokes. The audience is treated to a grand buffet of humour, most of it broad enough to appeal to even the biggest Shakespeare cynic (Webb plays a Juliet who I’m sure could be BFFs with Britney Spears), but there are a few tidbits slightly more obscure for us more pretentious aficionados (Hamnet. Hamlet? No Hamnet. Hamlet? No Hamnet. Hamlet? Hamnet. Hamlet? Hamnet!).

Martha Irving’s direction brilliantly utilizes an extremely small space to the most effectiveness and includes hilarious moments of physical humour, as well as a magnificent sword fight. Together, Henderson and Webb embody the world’s most famous men (and women) and yet, through it all, at their essence, they are two boys playing in an Elizabethan cartoon world of limitless imagination.

It is to their credit- their brilliantly exuberant, joyfully playful, yet earnest, performances- that most of the comedy is due. Henderson’s Shakespeare revels in hearing his words performed, and is quick to jump into the saddle of any part that needs playing (including Ophelia). The dialogue Webb has written for Shakespeare sounds as though it was lifted from the Bard’s own journal (those antiquated Facebook statuses of yore.) All the words in the play come alive as they are spoken, proving that Henderson and Webb are just the sort of actors for whom Shakespeare penned his plays.

Shakespeare on Trial is just the sort of theatre that I imagine invigorating an auditorium filled with teenagers. It is silly enough to prove that actors are but merely players, and yet full of the stuff to inspire and capture young minds and hearts- perhaps even those who will grow to become Halifax’s own future Hamlets, Ophelias, Othellos, Iagos and the indigenous playwrights who could grow to be the “soul of [our] age, the applause, delight, [and] the wonder of our stage.”

Off the Leash’s Shakespeare on Trial plays at the Bus Stop Theatre (2203 Gottingen Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia) June 6^th at 2pm and 8pm. Junior High and Senior High Schools (grades 7-12) can book this show through the Perform NS website. Tickets are $10.00 and available at the door.

News From Around the Barrio

2009-06-03T22:06:37Z

I posted the 2009 Vancouver Jessie Award Nominations and the 2009 Edmonton Sterling Nominations without a commentary because I hadn’t seen enough of the shows in Vancouver and Edmonton in order to fairly weigh in about the nominations or to speculate on the winners (which I don’t like to do anyway). My opinions, I think, are at best predictable (or dull, depending on your opinion!). Ron Pederson’s portrayal of Carmen Ghia last summer in The Producers at The Arts Club in Vancouver stole that show with exorbitant panache. His performance as James in Extinction Song at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton this winter blew my mind via a short promotional video that was posted on the Citadel’s website. Ron Jenkins’ writing and direction was fifty percent responsible for said blown mind. Thom Allison is an incredible performer who continually throws 110% of his extraordinary talent into every part he plays. I am sure his portrayal of Adolpho in The Drowsy Chaperone at the Arts Club was pure bliss. I heard Jay Brazeau’s Man in Chair rivalled that of Bob Martin. Stewart Lemoine’s new 2008 Fringe play Happy Toes was the epitome of what theatre should be for me. In both cases, the Jessies and the Sterlings, it was nice to see the best of what I had seen in these two cities being so well represented- regardless of whether my opinions are predictable or not!

thom allison as aldopho in the drowsy chaperone (arts club)

In Toronto, however, I do feel qualified to speak at further length about the 2009 Dora Nominations that were announced today, as I was lucky enough to have seen most of the productions that received nominations and a fine array of shows that did not. There are very few nominees that I overtly disagree with. Still, the list appeared a bit lacklustre to me. I suppose since this was the first year that I had seen almost every theatrical production produced in a city in a year, I was struck for the first time how even when a slew of deserving artists and productions are nominated for awards, there are so many equally as deserving who are not. I found myself noticing the absences more than I noticed the nominees. I appreciate how difficult it must be to choose. I keep going over the list: Chris Abraham’s fantastic direction of I, Claudia; Diego Matamoros in Travesties, Abena Malika in A Raisin in the Sun, Richard Lee and Ron Jenkins’ work in The Forbidden Phoenix, Nicola Lipman in Another Home Invasion, the entire production of The Company Theatre’s Festen, Raven Dauda in general, the Jersey Boys… Maja Ardal in You Fancy Yourself (amazing!) and everyone I know raved and raved about Christine Horne's performance in Miss Julie: Sheh'mah (I'm still kicking myself for missing it!)... Certainly this list represents the best of 2009 theatre in Toronto. It just isn’t half as conclusive as I would want it to be.

It’s a good thing that I have my own Canadian Theatre Awards (The 1^st Annual TWISI Awards!) so I can add a few names to that list! I hope that you’ll join me by voting for the Canadian theatre artists you feel most deserving of an extra special honour! Email twisi.awards@gmail.com before June 21^st2009 to have your vote counted!

bob martin

Speaking of The Drowsy Chaperone and Bob Martin—guess who is going to be at Bread and Circus on Monday Night!? Here’s a little bit of “That sounds too good to be true!” for all of you in Toronto. Monday June 8^th, 2009 is the reunion show of the Alumni Café, a long form Improv show that used to play at the Tim Sim’s Playhouse (apparently, I don’t know what that is, but it sure sounds impressive!).

Starring: Bob Martin (Broadway Star and Tony winner for writing The Drowsy Chaperone)

Paul O’Sullivan (best known for playing Franz in Mirvish’s production of The Producers)

Linda Kash (Waiting for Guffman)

Lisa Merchant (Canadian Comedy Award Winner for Best Female Improviser)

Janet van der Graaf (YES!!! That Janet van der Graaf! And you thought she was made up!!)

Teresa Pavlinek (The Jane Show. Women Fully Clothed)

Music by the Jazz Dogs led by Tony Award winner Greg Morrison who wrote the music for The Drowsy Chaperone.

According to the press release, and according to me, this is a not-to-be-missed- one night only Improvaganza AND it is PAY WHAT YOU CAN and the proceeds are going to a charity that the audience votes on!! What could be better than that? Bread and Circus (299 Augusta Street, Kensington Market: 8:55pm-11:55pm).

Have you ever heard of Monkey Toast?! Sounds strangely appetizing, doesn’t it!? It is a live, improvised talk show in Toronto! I recently watched a hilarious video from one of the past shows which featured both Colin Mochrie and Deb McGrath! You just never know who is going to show up in the Toronto comedy world! Here are the details:

Monkey Toast: The Improvised Talk Show. David Shore and The Gladstone Hotel present the biweekly improv comedy inspired by guest interviews. This week with special guests, author, Sheryl Steinberg, from Maclean's, Andrew Coyne and more, interviewed by Shore. This show's improvisers: Lisa Merchant, Jan Caruana, Scott Montgomery, Naomi Snieckus, Herbie Barnes, and more.

Sunday, June 14th.

Doors: 7:30pm

Show: 8pm

PAY WHAT YOU THINK (after the show, pay what you think it's worth)

The Gladstone Hotel Ballroom

1214 Queen St. West

www.monkeytoast.com

Sounds delicious to me! Don’t be a maroon and miss it!

The Canadian Stage Company is certainly leading the way in offering amazing audience and artist enrichment projects. (Thank you Natasha Mytnowych). I am so jealous that I am not in Toronto to catch their Festival of Ideas and Creation I could just spit! I highly, highly, recommend you visit this website to read all about the amazing opportunities that are being offered for you to take part in between June 8^th, 2009 and June 27^th, 2009. There will also be musical performances by the incomparable duo of Steven Gallagher and Thom Allison. Here is what you NEED to know NOW:

The Canadian Stage Company Festival of Ideas and Creation runs from June 8th to 27th at The Berkeley Street Theatre, focusing on artistic process and exchange. It offers professional development opportunities for local and national artists to present new works and evolve their creative processes while offering the general public the opportunity to explore art behind the scenes and participate in the development of new work. First established in 2006, the festival is slated to become an annual event with a dynamic line-up of public, youth, artist and industry programming.

Festival Highlights

· Open readings and rehearsals of exciting new theatrical works by senior and emerging artists from across Canada such as two-time Governor General's Award-winner Judith Thompson & Tony-award winner William Finn;

· In Conversation Series with stalwarts in the world of live theatre such as Siminovitch Prize-winner Daniel MacIvor;

· Industry explorations, master classes, forums and conferences

· Book launches, Backstage tours, Youth programming and more!

I am overwhelmed and anxious just typing about it! Please go, so that I can live vicariously through you all.

kayla lorette, ron pederson, naomi snieckus, matt baram

The Los Angeles Improv Festival is currently in full swing in Hollywood and amid performances from such comedy legends as Sarah Silverman, Drew Carey, Angela Kinsey and Kate Flannery is IMPROMPTU SPLENDOR! Okay, so maybe they are on the Second Stage, but still (!), the National Theatre of the World (Matt Baram, Naomi Snieckus, Ron Pederson) represent Canada (albeit the world!) tonight Wednesday June 3^rd, 2009 at 10:30pm at the Andy Dick Experimental Black Box Theatre (really, they named a theatre after him. I don’t know why). 63366 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, California. If you’re in Los Angeles, hop in your Porsche and zip on over for a hilariously famous brand new Canadian/American one-act play! But, first, check out this entirely unofficial Impromptu Splendor promotional video.

*Please note that the unidentified brown haired girl says that Impromptu Splendor plays every Thursday- she is interrupted by the unidentified redhead before she can specify that Impromptu Splendor MOVED TO MONDAYS in MAY. So, Impromptu Splendor. Mondays. 9pm. Comedy Bar. 945 Bloor Street. Toronto. Plays That Make You Laugh With Your Heart.*

Finally, I wish to officially proclaim across the country, towards Edmonton, to Teatro la Quindicina (tay-at-tro la quin-de-scene-na): Happy June 3^rd! Have a perfectly winsome day!! J

2009 Dora Award Nominations!

2009-06-03T16:41:10Z

The Dora Award Nominations were announced this morning at the Four Season's Centre. There are too many categories for me to copy and paste them all, so I will redirect you to the Official Website. I wish to offer a heart felt congratulations to everyone who was nominated!

30TH ANNUAL DORA MAVOR MOORE AWARDS
Toronto’s Theatre, Dance and Opera Awards
Monday June 29, 2009
Hosted by Jian Ghomeshi of CBC Radio One’s flagship arts show Q

5:00pm-7pm VIP Reception, place tba 8pm Awards Show in the Winter Garden Theatre of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, 189 Yonge Street 10:30pm After-Party at Metro Square

Directed by Vinetta Strombergs
Written by Briane Nasimok
Rick Sacks – Musical Director
Camelia Koo – Set Designer
Andrea Lundy – Lighting Designer

Tickets on sale as of June 4
Regular Tickets: $60 – Ticketmaster 416-872-5555 or www.ticketmaster.ca
VIP Tickets: $160 – call 416-536-6468 ext 27

And the Nominees Are....

2009-06-02T03:18:55Z

The Nominations for the 2008-2009 Sterling Awards have been announced! I stole this from an article in The Edmonton Journal. Once again, I'm sure even my readers who haven't been to Edmonton lately will recongize some of the names and the productions that got nominations-- if only from my constant references here on the blog. I wish all the Nominees a very heart-felt congratulations. The winners will be announced on June 22nd at a gala at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre.

Outstanding Production of a Play: Extinction Song (The Citadel); Grace (Shadow Theatre); Love (Northern Light Theatre); Scorched (Citadel/ Tarragon Theatre).

Outstanding Production of a Musical: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Mayfield Dinner Theatre); Forbidden Phoenix (Citadel); Little Shop of Horrors (Mayfield); Nevermore (Catalyst); The Flying Dutchman (Edmonton Opera); The Wizard of Oz (Citadel.

Outstanding New Play: Jonathan Christenson for Nevermore (Catalyst); Beth Graham for A Life in the Day (Maggie Tree); Darrin Hagen for Buddy (Theatre Network); Ron Jenkins for Extinction Song (Citadel).

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Amber Borotsik for Love (Northern Light Theatre), Lally Cadeau for Doubt (Citadel); Natasha Girgis for Palace of the End (Theatre Network); Fiona Reid for The Blonde, The Brunette and The Vengeful Redhead (Citadel).

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Chris Bullough for Richard III (Freewill Shakespeare Festival); Brendan Gall for East of Berlin (Theatre Network); Jesse Gervais for Buddy (Theatre Network); Ron Pederson for Extinction Song (Citadel).

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Lora Brovold for Mo & Jess Kill Susie (Northern Light); Karen Robinson for Doubt (Citadel); Myla Southward for Some Girl(s) (Northern Light); Nadien Chu for Palace of the End (Theatre Network).

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: John Kirkpatrick for Julius Caesar (Citadel); Steve Pirot for The Play About The Baby (Image Theatre); John Wright for Palace of the End (Theatre Network); Frank Zotter for Grace (Shadow).

Outstanding Director: Jonathan Christenson for Nevermore (Catalyst); John Hudson for Grace (Shadow); Ron Jenkins for Extinction Song (Citadel); Bradley Moss for Buddy (Theatre Network).

Outstanding Independent Production: The Edmonton Queen (Guys in Disguise / Fringe Theatre Adventures); A Life In The Day (Maggie Tree), Hello, Hello (Kill Your Television); Last Train To Nibroc (Blarney Productions).

Outstanding Set Design: Leslie Frankish for Pride and Prejudice (The Citadel / Banff Centre); David Fraser for Palace of the End (Theatre Network); Bretta Gerecke for Nevermore (Catalyst); Camellia Koo for East of Berlin (Theatre Network).

Outstanding Costume Design: Elizabeth Allison for Peace, Love & Rock N’ Roll 2 (Mayfield); Leslie Frankish for Pride and Prejudice (Citadel/ Banff Centre); Bretta Gerecke for Nevermore (Catalyst); Narda McCarroll for Julius Caesar (Citadel).

Outstanding Lighting Design: David Fraser, Palace of the End (Theatre Network); Bretta Gerecke, Nevermore (Catalyst); Narda McCarroll, Extinction Song (Citadel); Michael Walton, East of Berlin (Theatre Network).

Outstanding Score of a Play or Musical: Jonathan Christenson & Wade Staples, Nevermore (Catalyst); Paul Morgan Donald, As You Like It (Freewill Shakespeare Festival); Matthew Skopyk, Palace of the End (Theatre Network); Chris Wynters, Wedlocked (Mayfield).

Outstanding Musical Director: Jonathan Christenson, Nevermore (Catalyst); Don Horsburgh, The Wizard of Oz (Citadel); Lisa St. Clair, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Mayfield); Van Wilmott, Peace, Love & Rock N’ Roll 2 (Mayfield).

Outstanding Choreography or Fight Direction: Cindy Kerr, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Mayfield); Laura Krewski, Nevermore (Catalyst); Vicki St. Denys, Pride and Prejudice (Citadel / Banff Centre); Adrian Young, Forbidden Phoenix (Citadel).

Outstanding Fringe Production: A Body of Water (Blarney Productions); Coffee Dad, Chicken Mom and the Fabulous Buddha Boi (Guy Un-Disguised); Happy Toes (Teatro de la Quindicina); Spiral Dive (THEATrePUBLIC).

Outstanding Fringe New Work: Kenneth Brown, Spiral Dive; Nick Green, Coffee Dad, Chicken Mom and the Fabulous Buddha Boi; Stewart Lemoine, Happy Toes; Jennifer Spencer, Maggie-Now Part 3; Keith Wyatt, Anime.

Outstanding Fringe Performance by an Actress: Coralie Cairns, A Body of Water; Kendra Connor, Maggie-Now Part 3; Beth Graham, A Body of Water; Sharla Matkin, Meat Farce.

Outstanding Fringe Performance by an Actor: Trevor Schmidt, Coffee Dad, Chicken Mom and the Fabulous Buddha Boi; John Sproule, A Body of Water; Bryan Webb, Spiral Dive; Frank Zotter, The Good Thief.

Outstanding Fringe Director: Kenneth Brown, Spiral Dive; Stewart Lemoine, Happy Toes; Wayne Paquette, A Body of Water; Jennifer Spencer, Maggie-Now Part 3.

The Margaret Mooney Award for Outstanding Achievement in Administration: Danny Gagne.

Outstanding Contribution to Theatre in Edmonton: Nancy Power.

PROJECTproject COMBUSTIONfestival: for people who seriously dig anything remotely awesome.

2009-05-30T17:29:12Z

By Meghan Hubley

Thursday night at the Comedy Bar could have easily been one of the liveliest, joyful, and ridiculous nights I have experienced there. (And that, TWISI-ites, is saying something; I mean the place is called COMEDY BAR for cryin’ out loud.)

CRUSH (NYC) was up first. Imagine eight bodies of energy and wit playing as a team, riffing for a good 45 minutes on one simple suggestion from the audience: ‘foot.’ Their 8 voices melded together and played off each other creating ocean waves and a Broadway show, their bodies becoming submarine sides, boat masts, and giant under water spiders. I was completely in love with the crew, (Brandon Lisy, Brian Bockrath, Steve Horak, Chet Siegel, Nick Kanellis, Frank Bonomo, Lauren Olson & Taylor White... directed by Christian Capozzoli) not even 10 minutes in. Our hosts for the evening warned us that CRUSH was going to “rock your pants off.” And metaphorically I was embarrassed, because I sure was not in my skinny jeans by the end of this set.

Next on stage were “improv royalty” from Winnipeg, CRUMBS. Lee White & Steve Sim, riffing on audience suggestions of ‘popsicle’ and ‘respiratory therapist.’ The two were joined by live improvised music that ranged from a country-western creep to epic Nintendo-sounding super hero music. It is astonishing to see these two men onstage together; building with what the music is giving them and completely in tune with their counterpart. They created the basement of a hospital so vividly with just the two of them, I felt like I was reading ‘The Bell Jar.” I have no words to describe; really, my mind was blown out of its skull. The Facebook event said, “Miss this show and hate yourself.”DON’T WORRY GANG…you, too, can love yourself by coming out at 9pm tonight to see CRUMBS perform once more.

The 9:30 pm show began with 4TRACK (Christian Capozzoli & members from CRUSH [NYC]) who got the suggestion ‘cheese.’ Nothing is more enjoyable to watch than artists taking care of each other and becoming completely engrossed in sense of play. There were dinosaurs. There was a horrific director on a film set. There was picture day in Hicksville, where the kids’ skin is so shiny it causes glare on the camera. There was magic, absolute magic.

The evening wrapped up with one of the coolest projects I’ve heard of. It was a gigantic movie project; directors and improvisers filmed different beginnings of a film, ending at cliff-hangers, the stakes held high. As they ended, different improvisers, doppelgangers, rushed onto the stage and had to pick up where the clip had ended. The movies themselves were hilarious, and the after effect of people forced into monkey suits, T arantino-esque living rooms, and outer-space, was fantastically funny. This is one amazing (PROJECT) project, indeed.

TONIGHT is your last night to catch the COMBUSTION festival. At 8: The Kid is Hot 2night showcase:“After an intense audience-choice long form elimination tournament that started in February with more than 64 improvisers, only 6 are left standing. And they are here to play for you. Find out who made it all the way...” All this is to be followed by some amazing HALIFAMOUS improvisers and writers, MARK LITTLE and ANDY BUSH from Picnicface. They hold a special place in my heart because Andy taught me at Neptune Theatre many years ago and Mark helped whip my high-school improv team into some sort of shape when I was a wee teenager. Now they are here in Toronto being exceptionally awesome and you should PROBABLY HEAD OUT to see them!

9:30 tonight is when, as I said, CRUMBS will be up once more, and then the festival explodes to an ending with Samurai Davis Jr. & Dim Sum's Super Mega Happy Fun Time Improv Show. Facebook says; “This improv/Japanese game show/edible gross-out sensation from Atlanta's Dad's Garage Theatre (Amber Nash, Chris Blair & special guests) will destroy you. With laughter.”

There’s not much to say, readers. Just do your heart a favor and get out to the Comedy Bar (945b Bloor St. W.) tonight! $8 for one show, $12 for two shows on the same night - available at the door.

Silliness and Shakespeare: Caffeinated Soliloquies by Jeremy Webb

2009-05-30T06:33:22Z

Jeremy Webb (left) with Simon Henderson in Shakespeare On Trial

In Halifax the name Jeremy Webb is likely to be synonymous with two things: constant hilarity, and the posting of a slew of old photographs of absolutely everyone in the Nova Scotian theatre community on Facebook within the last week and a half. Since arriving in Canada from England in 1998, Webb has become a mainstay of theatre in Nova Scotia, performing, and also directing, often at Neptune Theatre, Festival Antigonish and Shakespeare by the Sea (where he won the 2009 Merritt Award for his brilliant portrayal of Iago). His most recent venture takes him on tour to schools around the province with a new show he created and performs with Simon Henderson called Shakespeare On Trail. The show will play for three public performances: Friday June 5^th at 8:00pm and Saturday June 6^th at 2pm and 8pm, all at the BusStop Theatre. Webb and I sat down at Uncommon Grounds Coffee on Argyle Street in Halifax on a perfectly Maritime wet, misty day to chat about this new venture. I drank hot chocolate, while he had tea and banana bread. “Tea and cake,” he said, sitting down across from me, “very British.”

Amanda Campbell (AC): So, what I want to know is; what was your first experience with Shakespeare? Was it always something that you connected to?

Jeremy Webb (JW): Oh wow, I guess, like most people it was in High School and studying it in a classroom. But we had this very animated English Lit teacher, Mr. Sutton. John Sutton, I think he’s still alive. And he motivated us in a very wonderful way. And I remember that we all took a school festival to the Stratford Festival (England) and we saw The Merchant of Venice and I was fourteen. Of course this was the time when it was more important who you were sitting next to- and whether you were sitting next to a girl- than what play you were seeing. So I remember that girl- isn’t that terrible? It was more important whether you were getting the chance to touch thighs with a girl... but that long court scene was great *laughs*. So, yeah, my first memory of Shakespeare was of sitting in a darkened theatre with a girl rather than focusing on the Bard’s words. Which is how it should be, I think. *grins*

AC: *grins* For sure. So, when was it that you started to connect more to the words of Shakespeare and focus less on-

JW: The girl I was sitting with?

AC: Yes!

JW: Uh, I would say years later when I was doing Community Theatre in Cambridge (England) where I grew up, I used to do Shakespeare in the summers with this amateur theatre company called Bawds. B-a-w-d-s. It didn’t even stand for anything. *chuckles* We would do our shows on the Cambridge University grounds, so it was a really beautiful space. And there was this costume designer who was one of my mentors- a set and costume designer- who was really flamboyant. That was my first experience with that type of over-the-topness that we now know and love. And I would direct shows there, and I would be in them, and we would rent costumes from the Stratford Festival. And I remember once I got to try on Anthony Sher’s Richard the Third hump. He had done a really famous portrayal of Richard III back in the eighties. And he wrote this book called Year of the King which I had read in the eighties. And then suddenly there I was standing in the costume room wearing his hump. It was really exciting. Really, this company was like Shakespeare by the Sea, only it wasn’t a professional company, and that’s where I fell in love with performing and the language of Shakespeare.

AC: You’ve had great success with your one-man show A Christmas Carol which you created and performed at Neptune Theatre and on tour; was that the first play that you wrote?

JW: No, actually, bizarrely enough, in this envelope *gestures to opened envelope and pulls out a script*, there is a play that I wrote in 1996 while at Bristol Old Vic that I sent myself as a cheap form of copyright, and it’s called A Dozen Single Eyes. It’s about the last British sailor to be killed by firing squad during World War II, and coincidently there is a Canadian character in it, and I wrote the play before I came to this country. So, I recently dug it out to see how my writing had grown and changed, and likely this will seem very naive to read now. It had been performed in Bristol and Cambridge, but I dug it out to see if there maybe was something there. So I wrote things. I also co-wrote a screenplay for HandMade Films about the Court of Charles II and, uh, it was called Ministry of Pleasure and, uh, we went for development, and got a pretty nice deal. We were going to make money and do the film, and then that year John Malkovitch announced that he was going to do a film on the same subject, with the same story, starring Johnny Depp. And that killed our film dead. Actually, it was only recently that I watched the DVD of his film (The Libertine (2004)) because I couldn’t bring myself to watch it, I was so upset. But A Christmas Carol was the first thing that I did here where I had an idea and I ran with it. Originally it was going to be just a semi-staged reading, but it very quickly turned into a fully staged production. I’ve done it three times and it’s going to tour again in (Christmas) 2009.

AC: So, how did you decide that you wanted to write Shakespeare On Trial?

JW: It was actually a very easy decision, I was unemployed in April and May and I needed to pay the rent, so I called Theatre Nova Scotia and I asked if I could do a workshop for students at around this time, maybe something to do with Shakespeare in schools. And they said, “Sure, sounds great!” And then a half hour later I called Joanne Miller back and said, “I think I have a play.” So I sat down and wrote a three paragraph synopsis of what I wanted the play to be, and it’s still what I use for promotional things now. I wrote that in about a half hour. Three weeks later I was rehearsing a play. So, it was pretty quick. For me when I think that I have a semi decent idea and it feels right, I like to go with it.

AC: This show is aimed at teenagers, and it is summarized as “exploring the Bard’s relevance and accessibility in classrooms today.” Why do you think it’s important for teenagers to read Shakespeare’s plays in schools?

JW: To be honest, I don’t think it’s important for teenagers to read Shakespeare. I think that it’s important if they’re going to be forced to read Shakespeare in a stuffy classroom that they understand that they are reading the script of a play that is meant to be performed by actors who know what they’re doing and who have passion and understanding of what they are doing. I think it’s important for teenagers to know that if Shakespeare is performed that way then it can be just as passionate, dynamic, relevant, and sexy as anything else they see at the theatre. But that is a big IF. Being forced to read Shakespeare in a classroom kills it, and it kills the idea of the theatre. And so the idea of this play (Shakespeare on Trial) is to destroy that idea of the theatre. Here you get to see a selection of Shakespeare’s plays in the middle of a really zany plot, and maybe they (the audience) will make a decision to check (more Shakespeare plays) out and not be scared of it... or bored by the prospect of it… and that goes for all theatre. I mean, here you have a forty year old, slightly overweight man playing Juliet. That alone, I think will turn some heads, and change some people’s opinions of what Shakespeare can be. And Simon Henderson as Ophelia! His Ophelia is great.

AC: *laughs* Oh, I can’t wait to see this show!

JW: *laughs*

AC: It’s funny because the production that I saw when I was fifteen where suddenly everything clicked, and I went, “Oh! This is what Shakespeare is supposed to be!” was Hamlet at the Neptune Studio which you assistant directed….

JW: Oh yeah, Linda Moore’s…

AC: Yeah. And I remember even then thinking it was odd that Hamlet was being done in the Studio rather than on the Mainstage. And that was the last time that Neptune did a Shakespeare show, I think… except for the Pre Professional Training Program. So, I was wondering if you thought that the larger, professional theatres in the province should be making it a priority to do more Shakespeare shows.

JW: Well, to be honest, professional theatres in Canada, I would imagine, they have to program shows that meet certain funding requirements, and doing the work of a 400 year old British writer doesn’t meet the requirements of every theatre. And we do have Shakespeare by the Sea who do two Shakespeare shows a year, so if you want to see Shakespeare shows, you do have that option. I’m- I get excited about doing classical shows, whether it’s Shakespeare or a George Bernard Shaw --although I wasn’t in that one... Shakespeare by the Sea had a great season last year and was met by a lot of success. (Their production of) Othello was nominated for a bunch of Merritt Awards, and I think maybe, that proved that these plays can really still cut it.

AC: I remember talking to you while you were rehearsing that show and you found it quite--

JW: Petrifying! It still was while I was doing it! When you’re playing a role of that size and, I don’t want to say “complexity” because I was having too much fun to complain about the role being “complex”, but just that size and importance- and being a forty year old man, my memory isn’t the same as it used to be, remembering all those lines alone was pretty petrifying! It was one of, maybe three career highlights for me, because it was just such a joy to do, and I got to pay my rent. The other two would be, of course A Christmas Carol, which was also such a joy, and (playing Cogsworth in Neptune’s) Beauty and the Beast, just the feeling of that show and the company and the great friendships that were made. Those three things. And to work with Troy (Adams) (in Othello) and of course that annoying has-been Raquel Duffy who keeps going back to school to learn more because she’s not very good to begin with. Hopefully she’ll decide to come back here when she’s all finished to do some work. *laughs* Raquel and I have worked together a number of times- actually she was in the very first show I did in this country. It was part of one of the most amazing casts- make sure you get this down. There was Frank MacKay. Niki (Nicola) Lipman. Bill Carr. Raquel Duffy. Martha Irving. Marty Burt. And Charlotte Moore. All in the same Summer Season at Neptune in 1998. All in the same shows. It was (Willy Russell’s) Blood Brothers and Rumors by Neil Simon. I had just moved here from England and I thought that I’d landed in the Promised Land. But yeah, having her (Raquel) as my wife was seriously wonderful. Although she should stop eating garlic. Unless, maybe she was doing that as a repellent. *laughs*

AC: Probably! I remember seeing Blood Brothers, I was thirteen and sat in the back row of the balcony. It was of course my first time seeing you onstage, but it was also my first time seeing Raquel, and I remember being like, “I just… want to be her friend.”

JW: Oh me too. When we were in Blood Brothers I would stand in the wings-- there was this scene where Raquel was onstage and both the guys were singing this romantic song to her—and I would make sure I was in the wings and would take my clothes off... yes, I would flash her to try to make her laugh during this romantic song. So, I’ve been naked in the wings at Neptune. Isn’t that the title of a book? Someone’s autobiography? I can’t think of it... if it’s not, I’m going to take it and use it. It’s also a good title for a play. Naked in the Wings. … I’ll have it written by tomorrow. *grins*

AC: My readers will hold you to that. You mentioned memorizing lines, and I’ve often wondered, is there a trick to learning Shakespeare?

JW: No, it’s only repetition. Or, if there is, I don’t know about it! I have now this routine that if I know I have three weeks to learn my lines, I know it will take me three weeks. Which is terrible, twenty years ago it would have only taken me a week. But now, the first week is all about familiarization and having the script in my hands as much as possible. I go to this rocky beach near Purcell’s Cove with a coffee and I run the lines at the ocean. I don’t think this does anything except be a pleasant experience that makes a horrible process a bit better. In A Christmas Carol and Shakespeare On Trial there are improvised sections, which came about in Christmas Carol because I couldn’t learn the lines for the last scene. I found them so difficult. So, I thought, “wait, I’m the producer, and the director, and the writer and the performer, I can improvise this!” Which, of course, drove the stage manager crazy! The scene is scripted now, but I feel like I always have a little freedom to leave the text, especially if something happens with the audience, as long as we’re not disrespectful to the story. Sometimes I get into trouble about improvisation. I’ve had Neptune Stage Managers watching me making sure that I don’t go off onto some tangent. I remember once I stopped the show in One For the Pot because Nigel Bennett flubbed a line and I said, “would you like to try that again? Go on, give it a go!” And this started a little bit between the two of us, which was very naughty. But of course the audience loved it. I would never do that now, but I was a younger man then. And of course, I would never do it with an actor who I didn’t know could handle it. Of course, that was all Nigel’s fault. He’s a very amateur actor. He should go study with Raquel. *grins* I hope no one from Stratford is reading this! I’ll never work again! *laughs* *(Jeremy Webb wishes to make known that he loves working with his pal Nigel Bennett and is the godfather to Bennett's daughter.)* You can only do that sort of thing in the plays that warrant it, but of course, the Stage Manager would say that no play warrants improvisation. But I think that a play is about growing with the audience. At first you have this relationship between you, and the play, and the director. But then when you add three hundred or four hundred audience members, things change. And you never know what they will do. You have to have a little freedom there, without ruining the play. Tory (Doctor (Lumiere)) and I (in Beauty and the Beast) got into a lot of trouble one night where we actually both got told off by stage management, and rightly so, for a little improvised moment that came out of something so natural and so real, but still, it left Julie Martell (Belle) standing there onstage, looking at the two of us, wondering when we were going to get back to the play. And even then, when we went offstage we were like “we shouldn’t have done that.”

AC: I’ve heard that Nathan Lane does the same thing, so you’re in good company.

JW: Yes. He’s one of my heroes.

AC: Mine too. Next time you’re in Toronto, you should check out a theatre show called Impromptu Splendor. They do live Improvised plays in the styles of different playwrights. And they have guest improvisers!

JW: I haven’t been to Toronto a whole lot; I was there a few months ago, when I saw you that night... I saw Sharron’s Party, which, is, it’s ending?

AC: Yeah, the last one is in June.

JW: Yeah, so I managed to see one. And that was fantastic. And I saw Thom Allison perform which- well, you know, you were there. I saw a lot of people that I had only ever heard the names of. And of course I was there with Raquel Duffy. I wasn’t planning on going with her; she was just a tag along. She said she had a lot of work to do, but decided to come anyway, and I was all like, “well, if you must- I had planned to meet all sorts of important people there and having Raquel tagging after me was kind of embarrassing.” *laughs* Oh yes, I am ROASTING Raquel Duffy! She’s going to kill me! *laughs* *grins*

AC: *laughs* So, how did you pick MacBeth, Hamlet, Iago and Juliet to be the characters that confront Bill about his inaccessible language in the play? Of all the characters you could have chosen…

JW: Yeah, I know! Okay, So I was writing the play, I was in a bar in Ottawa mapping out what the play was going to be and it was during that one hour lunch that I realized that this play needed two people. Because, originally, the play was going to be a one man show so that I didn’t need to ask someone else to give up their time. But then I realized that I needed two actors. So, I made a list of the plays I knew. And I had directed Romeo and Juliet, and I had directed Hamlet and I had played the role when I was twenty-three.

AC: Oh, wow!

JW: I know. Where do you go from there? *laughs* I was always saying that after that there was nowhere to go. And MacBeth, I had done a couple times, I had played MacDuff a couple times, and I had just done Iago. So I knew that there were good bits in all those plays, and also it was a bit of a time saving effort because I knew the shows really, really well. And MacBeth, I think, is basically the perfect play. It is blood-filled and it has sex... sex, blood and rock n’ roll. And Hamlet is the perfect play. It’s my favourite. I’ve worked it out that in total I’ve worked on that play for fourteen months of my life. So, I know it pretty well. When I did it at 23, I finished it, and it was not a long run, and I was like, “Well, that’s it. What am I going to do now?” It wasn’t even that I was very good in it. I really wasn’t very good at all! But I had peaked at 23. So I feel like I had my peak then, and then I got another peak with Iago, because the parts are similar size, they’re both huge, scary roles that are insurmountable. ... It’s weird to be sitting here talking about myself... believe it or not. *grins*

AC: *laughs* So, then how did you decide that Simon Henderson was going to be in the show with you?

JW: Very easily, actually. I thought of him right away. I needed someone to play the Shakespeare role. I had decided that I would play the multiple character changes, because I tend to do that a lot. It did it in Stones in My Pockets at Festival Antigonish, I played multiple characters, and of course in A Christmas Carol. So I needed a good, solid, strong actor, and someone that I liked socially. Since we were going to be touring the show, and getting up at 7am and driving to—New Glasgow together, I needed someone that I got along with. And Simon and I had worked together before. We’re also similar looking. And there’s this idea that because I look a bit like Simon and he’s playing Shakespeare, then in a way all the characters look a little bit like Shakespeare. My brother, actually, was the one who mentioned that we looked alike, from looking at a picture on Facebook. He called Simon “MiniMe”, and it is right then, that the characters should be a larger than life version of Shakespeare since I am a larger than life version of the guy playing Shakespeare. That’s all far deeper than the play is. *laughs* Believe me. And I realized with two of us I couldn’t get away with not having a director and I immediately thought of Martha.

AC: Of course you did.

JW: As so many people do.

AC: Yes. Absolutely. Okay, one last question. Can you tell us about this new website that you have going on?

JW: Oh yeah! I guess you really do have the exclusive on this. Well, because I have three shows at the moment that I have created or co-created, and I don’t have a theatre company, and I don’t want a theatre company, I’ve got this website that is going to go live in a week’s time www.offtheleash.ca. It’s basically going to be like my brand. It will include all the plays that I’ve written, and a play that I’m working on with Sarah English, that she created and asked me if I would direct called Swelle. And also, I’m working on a short film called Wake which is going to go into production this fall. We have some tentative shoot dates and I’m very excited. So, this will be the brand for everything that I have created and anything that I create in the future. So, there will be a page for each show on the website and you’ll be able to get more information, and then be able to book the show. It’s a way to gather everything together and to put all my ducks in a row. And Swelle is going to be in the Festival Antigonish Second Stage Series this summer, and there has been some interest in bringing Shakespeare on Trial to Cape Breton, and Newfoundland and Utah, in the States. I know—random! But hey, I don’t have any problem driving down to Utah! The show was originally written to be toured and to be seen by students but we wanted to have a few public shows for the public so that our friends and families could come, and so that the theatre geeks could come and laugh at me in a dress. Again.

Jeremy Webb and Simon Henderson perform in Shakespeare On Trail June 5^th (8pm) and 6^th (2pm and 8pm) at the BusStop Theatre on Gottingen Street in Halifax. Tickets are $10.00 and can be purchased at the door on the evening of the performance. It’s sure to be a performance that proves Bill’s theory that indeed “the play’s the thing.”

A Little Art for Your Pallet

2009-05-30T04:51:30Z

Sometimes you just don’t want to go to the theatre. I know that’s a strange way to begin a review, but it’s the truth. Sometimes we’re simply not in the mood to trundle down to that well-known place where we sit in quieted darkness and commit 60-150 minutes of our lives to a journey into one specific entity. Sometimes we’d no doubt like to dabble into a number of different things, and to be able to come and go as we pleased. Sometimes we’d like to sit and socialize and eat good food and have drinks. Well, if sometimes we just don’t want to go to the theatre, what if the theatre came to us? And not in a brash and aggressive way either (we do, after all, like being able to sit and socialize). No, what if the theatre came to us on our own terms?

Such is the genius of Garry Williams and the Café DaPoPo. The last Thursday of every month, upstairs, in a coffee shop/bar called Menz Bar on Gottingen Street in Halifax, is a little theatrical haven waiting to be discovered. Upon entering, guests are presented with two menus. One is a typical restaurant food-type menu, while the other lists a selection of theatrical treats (including scenez, songz, shtick, sonnetz, soliloquiez, show tunez, Shakespeare, sock puppetz, sweet dessertz, rantz, lecturez, happeningz, and surprisez) that can be ordered by individuals or by entire tables. Like a 'Choose Your Own Adventure', the guests of the Café decide what sorts of theatrical meals will quench their artistic hungers this particular evening. The actors (who rotate a bit each month) prepare an impressive spread of possibility, but only perform the choices of their audience on that particular evening. It’s an intimate arrangement, if you have ordered a piece the actors stand close, sit at your table, sock puppets sing over your shoulder and you are thrust into the center of the action. You become a scene partner, a character yourself in this magical world, or at the very least, a cohort in the kookiness. What is even more fascinating, however, is the theatre that you are not quite privy to. The monologue that is performed just beyond your earshot suddenly looks fascinating. A scene plays out like a silent movie across the room. And, as performer Keelin Jack states, “if you see something that looks interesting, you can always get up from your chair and go take a closer look.”

The huge appeal for me in Café DaPoPo is that it presents its theatre in succinct smatterings with wide variety. Essentially, you get to dabble. It’s like buying a platter filled with selections of Hors D’oeuvres; you can have a little bit of Shakespeare, one scene from a Brad Fraser play, a song from Into the Woods, and a few pages read aloud from a Charles Dickens novel all in one night (and for cheap!). This way the audience gets introduced to an array of different theatrical and literary works without the concern of being bound to something lengthy that doesn’t suit its tastes. Like at the finest restaurant, everyone is offered the potential to walk away with something new to explore more fervently.

Some highlights from the Café last evening (Thursday, May 28^th, 2009) were; Andrew Chandler’s beautifully tender, simple and earnest rendition of “What More Can I Say” from William Finn's Falsettos (about which Haligonian actor and audience member Kathryn McCormack said, “it was queer, and I liked it!). Chandler and Kristi Anderson’s performance of “Therapy” from Jonathan Larson’s tick…tick… BOOM was especially hilarious. The show-stopping moment of the evening was the ensemble number, performed by the company spread throughout the entire space. It was a parody of “One Day More” from Les Misérables entitled “One Play More,” a revolutionary call to arms for independent theatre to stay true to art and love rather than surrendering to the artistic perils of the commercial theatre. This proved a rabble rousing anthem, especially since Menz Bar was filled with many of Halifax’s most well known theatre artists. The song was pointedly relevant, witty, hilarious, and especially showed off the lovely vocal talents of Garry Williams and the impressing belting skills of Amy Reitsma. It was greeted by an eruption of cheers and audience members leaping to their feet with pride.

The Café reminds me of a mixture of Commedia Dell’Arte and Vaudeville; a space where theatricals are thrust toward its audience with swiftness and diversity, but not always as meticulously perfected as you would see in an entire production. The result is that sometimes the treats are a little rough around the edges, but in this roughness comes the freedom to explore with the audience and to learn through practice and most importantly, the freedom to play. If something doesn’t work, it can be thrown away, if something magical emerges organically, it can become incorporated into future shows. I am not sure how the DaPoPo cast rehearses, but I do think that some of the scenes may benefit from a stronger directorial voice, as a few that I saw had a tendency toward hesitant and aimless movement.

In all though, Café DaPoPo is a perfectly entertaining way to spend a Thursday evening. And in a city where full-scale productions of celebrated Canadian plays and complex, contemporary musical theatre are rarer than flying pigs, DaPoPo may be just the evening needed to satisfy your hunger for Independent Theatre.

The Shadow Shines

2009-05-29T22:34:33Z

By Meghan Hubley

I have never seen an opera. Not one that hasn’t been billed as a musical, or operetta anyway (I’ve seen ‘The Phantom Of…’ and sang baritone…yes, baritone…in ‘The Pirates of Penzance” when I was 17…) But that didn’t put me at ease as I stepped into the beautiful Berkley Street Theatre on my way to Tapestry’s THE SHADOW. Outside of the theatre were many interesting articles about Old Barcelona, where the story of The Shadow (written by Alex Pock-Goldin and composed by Omar Daniel,) takes place, on Jungian theories of the shadow archetype, and on Antoni Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia. But don’t worry, TWISI readers, I became less intimidated upon learning that Pock-Goldin has never written an opera before, and discovering a screen hanging above the orchestra stage right that would show the lyrics the singers preformed. I felt like, maybe the composer and I were in this together, and that if needed to I could make like I was watching a silent film.

There were two particular pieces of writing that struck a chord with me both personally and as the story unfolded. The first was about the two concepts of shadows the show tackles… the Carl Jung energy he believed we all have, a dark yet moral-less part of our psyche that does what it needs to survive without thought or care. The other ‘shadow’ is a famous character in Spain who, dressed to the nines, would haunt folks who did not repay borrowed money on time, taunting and ridiculing the subject until the debt was paid back. The second article was about people’s function versus their individuality…if all we do is strive to be good at our job, our daily tasks then our heart and soul will suffer. On the flip side, if our passion and character takes precedence over giving back to society, we become useless. What if a man was self-aware enough to know he was useless? What lengths would he go to to become the vibrant individual he wished he were?

THE SHADOW begins in spring in Barcelona where we meet Allegra, (soprano Carla Huhtanen) a bored and beautiful young lady who knows nothing of her city as she is a kept close to home by her wealthy and over-bearing father (baritone Theodore Baerg, who also plays the Don.) Allegra has captured the heart of the mail man -el cartero en espagnol- Raoul (baritone Peter MacGillvary.) Raoul believes “there is so much more that [he] could be” if only Allegra would love him, but feels because of his mundane life she never could. The inciting incident of the play happens fast and as the playful xylophone and excitable horns ignite the house, Raoul decides to feign a second existence as a handsome, rich man about town.

The plot thickens, and certain instances feel as familiar as inside jokes. Huhtanen hits a note higher than I have ever heard and the sound of glass shattering is heard from back stage. The waiter at the fanciest restraunts in Barcelona (tenor Keith Klassen) shows off for the audience, his charm and humour stronger than any fourth wall. Actors waltz and run through the house and out to the lobby. The conductor (the amazing Wayne Strongman) is even acknowledged by a character at one point. There were many a little surprise to keep me captivated, gleeful, and comfortable watching a piece so outside my genre. Allegra and Hernando (Raoul’s alter-ego who woos the young chica) finish dining and he receives the horrifically expensive bill, it is a moment so brutal I felt my cheeks turn red. Moments land on MacGillvary so refined, each beat and note is supple with emotion and candor. He is in agony over the bill, he is in agony over how poor he is and how much he loves Allegra. Unfortunately Allegra has fallen for Hernando, not Raoul. In his desire to keep her he borrows money from the Don, and when he cannot pay back the massive fee in time, the Shadow (countertenor Scott Belluz who’s high notes will blow your mind, I swear) is sent to follow el cartero and expose Allegra to the truth.

The actors and musicians triumph in their task of whizzing from panic to romance to terror to joy at break-neck speed. The plain and relatable lyrics sit nicely overtop gorgeous, complex music and Spanish decorates the text to give us a taste of the city. There is an orchestra of alarms, violins, chimes, and even a sack of coins! Shadows are used in many ways throughout the show by lighting designer Robert Thomson, whose work is as much a masterpiece as the opera itself. If you love opera, you need to go. If you’ve always wanted to see an opera, this is the perfect one to start. Artistically victorious and touchingly relevant (themes such as money keeping us from our dreams, or a desire to mask who we are…) THE SHADOW will thrill you and grasp at any open heart who sees it.

Tapestry New Opera's The Shadow plays at the Berkeley Downstairs (26 Berkeley Street) theatre until May 31st, 2009. For more information visit the website and for tickets call 416 368-3110 or www.canstage.com or www.totix.ca.

News From Around the Barrio

2009-05-29T05:14:31Z

The Toronto theatre community, is all atwitter (literally, I’m sure as well as figuratively) over this exciting news: Jake Epstein (Ross Petty’s Cinderella, and the star of this winter’s hit play Dog Sees God- a National Theatre School of Canada graduate, and much beloved internationally for his turn on CTV's Degrassi: The Next Generation) has been cast in the National Touring Company of the Broadway hit musical Spring Awakening. When this show was playing in Toronto I frequently told anyone who would listen that as talented and fantastic as the American cast of Spring Awakening is, our Canadian theatre stars are equally as brilliant. I am thrilled to my toes that the Casting Directors of this fantastic show apparently agree! I will post more information as it becomes available and I wish Jake an amazing adventure. We’re so proud of you!

It is with bittersweetness I’m sure that Sharron Matthews gets ready for the second last Sharron’s Party ever this weekend. You’re not going to want to miss the greatest Cabaret in the city. Sharron is ever fabulous. Tomorrow night she entertains special guest stars Patti Loach and Brad Hampton. For a preview of the hilarity that will ensue, check out this promotional video.

Saturday night features the FIERCE Carling Connor and Marcus Nance. Saturday and Friday both feature the divinity of Sharron Matthews, who needs to be seen in person for her genius to be truly appreciated/believed and for you to really have entered the divalicious rockstar haven that is Sharron’s Party. Get your tickets now, people! All the cool kids’ll be there! Buddies in Bad Times. http://www.ticketweb.com. May 29^th and 30^th. Second. Last. Party. EVER.

Lastly, I’m providing a very special, awesome opportunity for everyone in Halifax who knows children between the ages of four and eighteen. And there is an extra special opportunity for children between the ages of four and six years old! Beginning June 30^th, I, Amanda Campbell, along with an epic conglomeration of other enthusiastic, knowledgeable, gosh-darn fun theatre artists and practitioners, are going to be teaching Summer Camps at Neptune Theatre School! The camps run in either one or two week sessions for a total of eight weeks and focus on a variety of different forms of theatre such as musical theatre, Shakespeare, script work, and themed camps for the little ones like Super Spies/CSI and Dr Seuss and all sorts of opportunities for adventure! I teach the four to six year olds, where we play tons of games, read stories, and write our own plays to perform at the end of the week! It’s a blast and a half and I’m stoked! You can register for the Camps and get more information on this lovely website!

There's No Phoenix from this Ash Girl

2009-05-29T05:05:41Z

I used to write stories compulsively as a child; I wrote hundreds and hundreds of them that fill vintage floppy disks and old coiled notebooks in my mother’s house. One of the things I used to do while in elementary school was write adaptations of classic stories, of fairytales mostly, where I clumsily tried to modernize them, and added awkward vernacular and borrowed jokes from Disney cartoons. Eventually, however, I realized that I was absent from these stories. They weren’t coming from my heart or my own inner truth. I wasn’t connected to any one of them. I was just trying to learn to be clever. I was reminded of these stories while watching Neptune’s Pre Professional Training Program’s production of The Ash Girl at the Studio Theatre last night.

The Ash Girl is Timberlake Wertenbaker’s 2000 adaptation of the Cinderella story. My first question is, I think, the obvious one. Do we really need ANOTHER adaptation of Cinderella? Why? This story sits in an awkward, hesitant place between being the familiar children’s tale we know and wanting to tread (awkwardly and hesitantly) into darker waters. It attempts to modernize aspects of the story only to have them appear oddly anachronistic. The footman, for example, could have been played as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, but no one else seems to be anywhere remotely near Los Angeles. At the same time, the clarity of Wertenbaker’s choices is frustratingly ambiguous. She introduces her Prince (Amir) as being from some far away Arabian land without giving the audience any insight into why this is vital to the story, unless it is to reinforce the stereotypes of the allure of foreign kingdoms.

The biggest difference The Ash Girl provides when compared to other Cinderella stories is the allegorical incorporation of the seven deadly sins. In this play, it is suggested that the “Ash Girl” is struggling with some form of depression and serious self esteem problems. This could have been an interesting insight into the story, if the tools she is given weren’t so superficial. The Voice in the Mirror (this version’s Fairy Godmother) gives Ash Girl the same gifts Cinderella is given in the original: a pretty dress, killer shoes, and a chance to marry a Prince. I admit to my feminist biases, but those don’t sound like the shields I would want young girls to look to as defense against real issues of depression, self loathing, immense sadness or feelings of insecurity and inferiority.

Paradoxically, although fairytales are deceptively simple, I think that they provide some of the hardest work for actors. The members of the Pre Professional Training program work for sixteen hours a week from September until May and learn a variety of different theatrical skills. I think that this program is very important for the Nova Scotian theatre community, and a tool toward building knowledge and creating versatile performers, but I think there are definite limits to how much skill one can acquire in eight months. Ash Girl proved a difficult show for this company. When tackling fairytales, I think it is difficult to resist the urge to slip into imitations of stereotypes. It is especially difficult when the script relies heavily on stock characters rather than focusing on the specific, unique traits of individual human beings. Wertenbaker’s language provided even more challenges as it is utterly poetic (although inconsistent), but required actors who could find the truth in every word to make the poetry seamless and inconspicuous within the story. It is even more difficult to play an allegorical character, to personify a concept because concepts don’t have personalities or the same sort of depth as someone like Tennessee Williams’ Big Daddy Pollitt does. I also found myself wondering what the difference was between sloth, gluttony and envy; weren’t they, in essence, all different manifestations of the same principle?

The result was that The Ash Girl seemed a lot like the stories I wrote as a child, attempting at something someone else had done, but without deep, personal roots. I spent a few hours with members of the Pre Professional Training Program before seeing their show, and it is no doubt that they are an exuberant, versatile, talented bunch. I saw them do some slow motion fight choreography that had me mesmerized. I wish that Neptune would invest more in this program, it is, after all, the “only conservatory-style training program east of Montreal for adults.” I think that with more time, and more opportunities to do a variety of different theatre shows, the Pre Professional Training Program could become the foundation for emerging professional actors that I know the theatre school would like it to be. I think this requires that the actors are given the opportunity to play roles that they would feasibly be cast in at a Festival like Stratford, or Shaw, or in a company like Soulpepper; a Tennessee Williams, a Judith Thompson, a Samuel Beckett or Morris Panych play.

There was something hesitant about The Ash Girl and I feel like these performers needed someone to look at them square in the eye and say, “Here. This is a complex, deep, profound, renowned piece of world theatre to sink your teeth into. You’re going to do it and you’re going to be brilliant.” The last thing a young actor needs is to be able to get away with being wishy-washy. The theatre world can be as dark, twisty, and scary as the woods in any fairytale. You need to commit to your choices boldly from the get-go, or else you’re apt to get eaten by the wolf.

How the Chaotic Good Came to Be: Live from Rhys Bevan-John's Living Room!

2009-05-28T22:55:00Z

It is a partly cloudy Wednesday in Halifax, Nova Scotia and after an epic trip to the grocery store, I sit on the couch in Haligonian actor Rhys Bevan-John’s living room surrounded by three adorable cats, one of which is poised on top of a gigantic fish tank. Bevan-John and I have known one another since he taught me the foundations of acting at Neptune Theatre School in 1997-98 and I, as a tree, threw apples at him, as a Scarecrow, in Elsinore Theatre’s production of The Wizard of Oz in 1999. His most recent venture is the founding of the Chaotic Good Physical Theatre Laboratory which uses the teachings of Tony Montanaro to explore the human body and how it can be used as a communicative vessel which can be adapted for theatrical means. A group of those interested in learning about (and practicing) physical theatre meet every Monday 7:00pm-9:30pm at either The Theatre Nova Scotia Space on Agricola Street or at the BusStop Theatre for their weekly workshop. This workshop is open to anyone on a drop-in basis! Bevan-John and I sat down and chatted about how Chaotic Good came about.

Amanda Campbell (AC): So, I’ll ask you the same question I ask people in Toronto. Who are you, where are you from and how did you get so talented?

Rhys Bevan-John (RBJ): Um, my name is Rhys Bevan-John, I’m from Dartmouth (Nova Scotia) and *sighs heartily and thinks about his answer* and I started as the loud kid in school. So, my mom put me in Neptune Theatre School classes. You know how kids have their ‘thing’? Like some kids are into soccer… I just always did theatre. I guess that’s how I’m talented. I was the loud kid in class.

AC: Do you remember what your favourite theatre games were as a kid?

RBJ: I remember really, really enjoying “This is a What,” like when I had gotten really, really good, it was really satisfying. … I really liked “Monarch”… I think like Kings and Queens. I’m trying to remember… you know, I don’t remember what my favourite ones were. I like doing shows the most, working with a script more than the gamey type stuff. When I was at the theatre school it wasn’t that far to get to Acting Youth IV, I think I did Acting Youth I, II and III in about a year and a half. And then in Youth IV we did The Terrible Fate of Humpty Dumpty. Gay Hauser directed. Gay Hauser was our teacher.

AC: I know that Tony Montanaro was a world famous mime, can you talk a little bit more about him and how you came to stay and study with him in Maine?

RBJ: Mime was really central to Tony’s life, he had me come live- part of the reason… he had lots of apprentices who came to live and learn around him, I just happened to be the last one *laughs*, but Tony told me once that the reason that he had me come down was obviously to teach me, he wanted to make me understand the things he was saying, but it was also for him. Through working with me, he was getting a better understanding of these processes through the teaching. Which, of course, is true of anything. He, uh, I think he had seven kids… two of which he found at a bus station. Two little Korean kids. The rest he had with his first wife Pam. And he spent a lot of time in different philosophical outlooks. He went to an ashram to study the Indian mediation form and lived there, and he synthesized everything into mime. And he was a Jersey boy. He was Italian American, his mom came over to America and he was born in New Jersey, and my mom is from Jersey too… although my grandmother was Hungarian, not Italian, still it was always nice for me to hear stories of his childhood. I kind of had sentimental feelings to his nostalgic remembrances of his childhood. And when would that have been? He was in his seventies… so it would have been in the late (19)30s.

AC: How did you first come across Tony?

RBJ: Jest in Time (Theatre), they brought Tony and Karen, his wife, in for a three day workshop and a performance. I was rehearsing for a dinner theatre show at the time at Halifax Feast. I had heard about (Jest in Time Theatre) as a kid because Christian Murray had worked with YPCo (Neptune’s Youth Performance Company) and my mother- well our next door neighbor- was friends with Christian… like he taught me how to juggle when I was a kid... So I knew Jest in Time and I knew of Tony that way. And I was really interested in physical theatre. And I remember it was one night at the Improv Knights, Gord Gammie said that, like, his girlfriend at the time had registered for this workshop, which was full up, but she had to cancel, but she hadn’t called to do it yet. And I had really wanted to do the workshop, except it was full. So I called Theatre Nova Scotia, or Jest in Time, whoever it was at the time, and I said “I know this girl is cancelling and I want her spot.” And I ended up calling before she did, and when she called she was like “Rhys Bevan John wants my spot.” And Tony and I really got along. I mean, I say we got along, here’s a man in his late sixties, and I was nineteen. I think that he appreciated my exuberance and thought that I would take well to what he did. So, he invited me to Maine for a three week advanced workshop, and usually these students who did this workshop were older and more advanced, but he had given me the green light. And that was really exciting for a nineteen year old. And so I went down there and spent my time with all these neo-Vaudevillians. There was this professional American storyteller, who made her living telling stories on the American storytelling circuit. And Takeo (Fujikura), the man who translated Tony’s book into Japanese, he has his doctorate in theatre and he’s a professor, but he’s also a professional mime. These were all people who made their livings being neo-style Vaudevillian performers. I was down there for three weeks and then Tony invited me to stay with him for six months and that’s when I lived with him at his home. The three week workshop had been at the barn, it used to be an old horse barn, and then it became home to a theatre company that toured internationally called The Celebrated Barn Theatre. Look, *gestures to his shirt* I’m wearing the t-shirt! When I lived with him at his home, he had a studio with a living dorm style living accommodations.

AC: When was this?

RBJ: That was in 2002.

AC: Right, so you’ve been home for quite awhile. What made you decide that now this was the time for you to start your own physical theatre workshop? Why is the Chaotic Good Physical Theatre Laboratory emerging now?

RBJ: Um, once I was down there I coerced a number of my friends to come down and stay with me too. My friend Mike McPhee lived there for four months and worked with Tony and he put it best when he said, “I feel like there’s work I should be doing that we’re not doing.” All I know is that before I started doing Chaotic Good Laboratory I was fundamentally unhappy, I was sad. Something was telling me that I need to do this work, and it’s not really something that you can do by yourself. I mean, you can do it in the corner of your living room, but that’s hard. I needed to start something to make it accessible to myself. And then I got a hold of some (theatre) spaces and now I’m happy. I dunno what it is that I’m doing or to what point it is that I’m going to take it; all I know is I just know that it satisfies me inside to be doing this work and it’s fun and exciting. And it took me awhile to reach this point. I looked around and I was thinking about going to school. I Assistant Directed a number of Sarah Stanley’s plays because I thought I wanted to be a director and I had a mind to maybe apply to the National Theatre School of Canada. After we worked together I asked the inevitable, “So I’m thinking of applying, what kind of fit do you think I am?” And she said “actually, I don’t think you are fit. I don’t think that you want to be a director, I think you want to be an actor and an acting teaching.” And she had such insight and was so astute, I am really grateful to her for that, because she was right. I didn’t have the vision to necessarily direct, I wanted to create things in ensembles. Then I was looking into York (University) because I have a friend who just finished the program there and there is someone who teaches a “Teach Physical Theatre Workshop” and she was underwhelmed with my experience, and not at all impressed that I had studied with Tony Montanaro for six months. And her name was Erika Batdorf, and she told me that I shouldn’t take the York MA, that I should just do physical theatre, and get people together and to just do it. She mentioned that having a group where you can get people to go away and learn things and then come back and share was really important. She said that I needed to engineer my life so that I was doing physical theatre as much as I could do it. Because she said that that is what she had done. She didn’t have a degree or anything. She had just done it. I am always finding myself considering going to school, but there is always something that holds me back. And I don’t know, I mean… I am impressed with, well, I’m impressed with you, Amanda, because you know so much about what is going on in theatre in Canada, and theatre in the world. And I find it hard enough keeping up with what’s going on in the theatre in Halifax! And that’s when I got sad. This work was missing in my life. When I wasn’t doing it, I was sad. Now that I am doing it, I am happy. I just don’t necessarily know the direction or the output of it yet.

AC: Where did the name Chaotic Good come from?

RBJ: Do you know the answer to this?

AC: Nooo….

RBJ: … Well- well, actually- basically the answer is Andrea Lee Norwood, she came up with it. But beyond that, it is a pop culture reference that some people will get and enjoy and the people who don’t get it will still get the sense of it. And I enjoy the sense either way… if someone gets my quirky, obscure reference than….

AC: Can you talk a bit about what the workshop is like?

RBJ: Yep! Um, over the past couple of months, few months, we have worked out what the beginning of each class is going to look like. At first we are silent for about five minutes, and then we do “Physical Choreography” for five minutes, then five minutes of “Spiritual Choreography”, than about five minutes of “Spiritual Choreography with the Oblique”, but sometimes we do less than five minutes of that because it gets really tiring. Then we do “Verbal Choreography” and we do this all en masse so that no one is watching anyone. Then we do rolls across the floor in various styles. All of these are Montanaro style. We have different ideas of shapes that will carry you across the floor. And then we do Open Rounds. So depending on if everyone there has been to the Lab before, or if there are new people and I have to talk everyone through it, this can take 45 minutes. It’s a very personal time, the first 45 minutes. And then after that it really becomes more of a laboratory. People will ask if we can do certain favourite exercises to explore things. It also depends on how many people are there too. Sometimes people say, “let’s try this!” and it’s interesting, and then we say “okay, let’s try this again, but do this part differently.” This Monday Courtney Siebring is going to do some exercises that she learned at her Comedia Dell’Arte school. And that’s going to be great! Because I dunno what it is she is running, but I know that she has a wealth of knowledge that I don’t have. That’s like this morning, with Gina Thornhill, she has been working with Double Edge Theatre in Massachusetts for the past four months and so she was giving us a taste of what she had been doing down there. Generally Montanaro style exercises lend themselves to an open-ended laboratory atmosphere. We say, “let’s try this out”, “let’s see what this is.” There’s one thing that I’m a little bit upset with myself with, because I haven’t been focused on physical technique. We’ve been doing a lot of the froufrou elements of the work which is akin to excavating the geology and the layers of your ego. This doesn’t necessarily sculpt bodies in any particular way and I think that technique is important to shaping bodies. I have been remiss in not adding that. We have been doing things that would appear abstract as opposed to technical.

AC: When I went to your Open Class Presentation I noticed that for almost every sketch, there was one person who seemed to be acting as the “outside eye” or even the director of the work—

RBJ: Yeah, I wanted for that to give everyone an opportunity, who wanted to, to take the director’s role. There’s one thing that I felt really bad about that night, the Evolution sketch that you said you liked so much, Mike McPhee directed that. I meant to say it on the night because Mike does this work really, really well. I wanted to give everyone the chance to be that outside eye, if they had a vision they wanted to realize because I didn’t want it to just be a workshop where I stood up all the time and was like “Okay, guys, I’m going to do lots of stuff!”

AC: I also noticed that the work that was presented in the Open Class was very sketch based, like physical sketches as opposed to verbal ones. You met with great success in 2004 with your sketch comedy troupe The HenMen where you, Chris Kelly, Colin Cowan and Bill Wood did shows in Halifax, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and other venues in Europe, so I was wondering if you see yourself creating this different type of sketch show and presenting it to an audience in the future?

RBJ: When I was studying with Tony one of his fundamental things was communicating using the body. And I learned that even if I wrote down verbatim everything he said, and I often took notes, it didn’t communicate the underline explosion of what he was saying. It was more about the emphasis than the words that he was saying. He could communicate so much just with emphasis. He said to me once *speaks very meticulously and slowly* “when you’re onstage you really have to listen to the other person onstage.” Which doesn’t translate to the page, it’s not just that he’s speaking in italics, but utter explosion. You have to turn on everything and make your body a vessel to the other person. What was your question? Oh yeah, well-- the answer is, maybe. I don’t know what we’re planning. I would like to work on something, but we all have different ideas on how it should manifest itself into a Chaotic Good Show. I would like to get Evan Brown to write something, and it looks like we would get Jennette White to direct, but each of the three of us have different ideas on who we would like to have involved. I would like to have it open to all the members of the lab who would like to participate. We haven’t really talked about it a lot yet. But it’s a good idea. The style (of sketch) really lends itself to this type of theatre. We could create a physical sketch show and tour it around and make money, maybe we could even take it to schools. That would be a fun, physical sketchy thing. Maybe. I could be talked into it.

AC: You’ve also done a lot of “mainstream” theatre including productions of Oliver and The Miracle Worker at Neptune Theatre. Do you find that you can adapt your physical theatre training to suit the needs of these shows? Or do you have to approach them differently?

RBJ: All the work I’ve done with Tony completely supports the more “conventional” work that I’ve done. Especially film. I had no idea how to work in film until I worked with Tony because it’s a lot about subtext. If you watch people that you enjoy in films, people that you get engrossed in- if you were able to notice what was happening to you as you watch them, I think that it would be like there was an inner typewriter going on in their body and then there is an inner typewriter going on in your body and you are reading people’s facial expressions to sort out what is actually going on. It’s like I was saying at the Open Class, as children we are completely transparent, and we walk around showing exactly how we are feeling and what we are thinking and what we want. We learn to become less transparent as we get older so that people can’t eff with us. So Tony was teaching us to become more transparent, because that’s what mime and physical theatre is. One element of doing that is developing your perceptic senses, the body’s sixth sense, which is the body’s ability to sense itself. It is habitual and not conscious. If you don’t have awareness in a certain part of your body than you can’t invest part of yourself in that body part and so it becomes more opaque for the conduit of your “humanity.” It’s like a batter swinging five bats, once you’ve done it a whole lot and had a lot of practice you can start to use it to a small degree. The most profound example I had of this was working on a film called Crossing Over which was a wonderful experience. The script had no lines, it was all silent. Because it was a Film 5 project the journey of the character was only suggested, but nothing was actually given to me as an actor. It was all in the directions of “shoot him doing this or that.” I wrote a second script that had all my inner dialogue in it, and the first time I did all the facial expressions ten out of ten- really big. Like, *says with hugely animated face* “What’s that over there!?” and that’s when my film acting really started to make sense to me. I kept doing it at 10 with my imaginary body but I didn’t do anything with my actual body so all my reactions were really supported, and my intentions were strong and yet there was very little on my face. And there was this great moment when the First AD asked the Director which lens he wanted to use, and Cam (the director) was like, “Get the, like, A353 or whatever, lens, I think we need to get in close because it’s so subtle what he’s doing.” And I had this moment of like looking up at the sky and screaming, “DID YOU HEAR THAT WORLD? SUBTLE! ME!” *laughs* Because usually I’m so exuberant. It was really gratifying at the time. It’s the same thing for theatre. It’s all- the goal of the work is to learn to use the body as a communicative tool. And that’s what you’re doing up onstage.

AC: What was one of the most impressive pieces of theatre that you have seen recently?

RBJ: Can I say a number of them?

AC: Sure!

RBJ: Ubuntu was really good, I don’t know what to say about it. Did you see it?

AC: Yeah, I did, in Toronto.

RBJ: Yeah, of course you saw it. Yeah. It was just impressive. So impressive. But also Homage, 2b theatre’s last show, that was impressive all around. It was impressive dramaturgically, and of course the set… the set was impressive… and the acting was impressive and the writing… I dunno what to say. It was really impressive. And then there was Grandma Noda’s Tigers which Chris Little did at the BusStop. I wept. It was the most satisfying thing that I’ve seen in a long time. It was so simple, honest, genuine, and it really sucked me in and like I said, it made me weep. It was beautiful.

AC: Halifax audiences really love watching you, and I know you and I have talked about your future ideas and plans, but I wondered if there was anything that you have in the works as an actor that you can disclose to the public?

RBJ: I plan to do a one man story telling of The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde and it’s 99% sure going to be directed by Jennette White.

AC: So, if there are people reading this who are interested in Physical Theatre, but maybe feel like they don’t have enough experience, or they’re slow to commit to coming out and trying something that is unknown to them, what would you say? Why should Haligonians come to Chaotic Good Physical Theatre Laboratory instead of staying home and playing Mario Kart?

RBJ: To quote- no, better make that, to paraphrase Lorna Marshall’s The Body Speaks “the goal of this work is not to be interesting but to be interested in the experience that you have.” I spent a lot of time not being aware of my mind or body and this work forces you to be really present, which is very satisfying on a fundamentally human level. And it’s a lot of fun! And you feel really good after you’ve done it. The hardest part is just getting there. When my friend Bill Wood and I were living in one room in England while doing The HenMen we would feel terrible and miserable at the thought of getting up and doing this physical work. We wouldn’t want to do it. But then every time, afterward, it would brighten us. I will say this, there have been many occasions where if I wasn’t the guy with the keys, I wouldn’t have gone to Lab, just because I was too tired or wasn’t in the mood or whatnot. But I have never gone in feeling like that and not come out feeling great. Secondly, I know for myself, when I was younger, the reason that I did things like drinking, was because I felt this energy and it had no release. There was all this physical tension inside of me with no socially acceptable release. This work gives you that release, it is a valve for the release of that steam, and that is so satisfying and gratifying to do.

You can join “Chaotic Good Physical Theatre Laboratory” on Facebook for more information and everyone is highly encouraged to show up Monday Nights at 7:00pm (email rhysbevanjohn@gmail.com to double check if the meeting is at the Space or the BusStop). The drop-in fee is a remarkable $5.00 and you’re guaranteed to have a unique, challenging, and utterly fulfilling experience!

News From Around the Barrio

2009-05-21T21:51:47Z

Apparently Andrew Bush, Mark Little and I have switched places. While I wander through the streets of Halifax crossing my fingers that the beautiful weather doesn’t shrivel up and disappear, Bush and Little are at Comedy Bar in Toronto gearing up for PROJECTproject’s 2^nd COMBUSTIONfestival. According to its website, “PROJECTproject: The Wu-Tang Clan of Toronto Improv is made up of eight improvisers (and over 20 affiliated artists), the company draws from almost every major house of improvisation and school of Comedy in Toronto and joins forces to tackle projects of all shapes and sizes.” With a core cast of Mark Andrada, Bob Banks, Adam Cawley, Jason DeRosse, Julie Dumais, Sarah Hillier, Sean Tabares, Alex Tindal and Kayla Lorette, PROJECTproject performs every Wednesday at Unit 102 (46 Noble Street) in Toronto.

The COMBUSTIONfestival is set to ignite the Comedy Bar (945 Bloor Street, Toronto) by bringing “some of the most exciting, talented, boundary-pushing, genre-bending, industry-leading improvisers in North America together in Toronto to showcase what they do best and collaborate together on festival-exclusive projects and shows.” It sounds mind-blowing. The Festival runs Monday May 25^th to Saturday May 30^th and features over 50 artists from 15 different companies from Canada and the United States including 4TRACK (New York), CRUMBS (Winnipeg), Mark & Andy from Picnicface (Halifax), Dad’s Garage (Atlanta), CRUSH Improv (Ottawa), Sister Act (Vancouver), CRUSH (New York), Rapid Fire Theatre (Edmonton), and PROJECTproject (Toronto). You can check out a nifty (and easy to read) schedule of the specific shows here.

For those who are interested in honing their Improv and Sketch skills, the COMBUSTIONfestival is providing an extraordinary opportunity for emerging artists to work closely with these incredible visiting artists. For the first time, PROJECTproject is offering workshops with 4TRACK (New York), Mark and Andy from Picnicface (Halifax) and/or CRUMBS (Winnipeg). For more information see the website.

This Festival is extremely exciting for those within the Improv community, but I think it is even more exciting for members of the public who are interested in Improv, Sketch and Comedy in Toronto, but feel overwhelmed by the thought of choosing what to see. Here, PROJECTproject is creating a space to showcase some of the best North America has to offer at affordable prices, all in one venue, and within a supremely social ambiance. (There’s even a Semi Formal!). I am all about building community, and collaboration and celebrating and sharing talent, skill and expertise. I strongly encourage you to check out the festival, I guarantee it will make you feel proud, warm and toasty on the inside, and possibly a little sore from such intense laughter.

Sketcherson Gary Rideout Jr.’s Comedy Bar is buzzing with activity even more fervently than usual these next few weeks in May. Even before the COMBUSTIONfestival detonates, Rideout Jr. is presenting four opportunities to see American stand-up comedian Andy Kindler TOMORROW Friday May 22^nd at 8:00pm and 10:00pm and Saturday, May 23^rd at 8:00pm and 10:00. Kindler works frequently on The Late Show with David Letterman, and has become notorious for his scathing attacks on the world of entertainment, including breaking the taboo and making fun of his fellow comedians (he once compared Dane Cook to Adolph Hitler). Kindler can currently be seen in a new stand-up special running on Comedy Central. He has also performed on the HBO Young Comedians Special, Late Night with Conan O’Brian, The Daily Show, and played “Andy” on the CBS sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond. Tickets are selling faster than hotcakes, so you should make sure to book yours right here now. You can check out a Q&A with Kindler from NOW. Nothing he says isn't funny! (wait... what?)

Just as exciting and hilarious, after performing 4 stand-up shows, Kindler will join Gary Rideout Jr. and the other members of the Sketchersons as the very special guest of the weekly show Sunday Night Live. The hijinks begin Sunday May 24^th at 9:00pm at Comedy Bar. Tickets are only $8.00 and advanced tickets are available here. It is guaranteed to be momentous!

colin mochrie and naomi snieckus
photo credit: skye regan

If you’re in the mood for a magical, little bout of theatre (and who isn’t), I highly recommend seeing Andy Kindler on Saturday night because The National Theatre of the World’s Impromptu Splendor graces the Theatre Passe Muraille stage tomorrow (Friday May 22^nd) at 10:00pm to perform an improvised one act play in the style of incredibly gruesome, darkly hilarious, usually symbolic Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. Matt Baram, Naomi Snieckus and 2009 Jessie Award Nominee Ron Pederson are joined by the fabulous Ari Cohen, Dora, Jessie and Gemini Award Nominee soon to star in Soulpepper’s production of Awake and Sing! Pederson won a Sterling Award for his performance in McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane, so you know that this Impromptu Splendor will be sheer bliss.

Spooky, Spunky and Smart: There's Nothing Dead About These Gravesavers!

2009-05-21T07:37:55Z

“I stuck my toes

In my nose

And I couldn’t get them out.

It looked a little strange

And people began to shout

‘Why would you ever?

My goodness—I never!”

They got in a terrible snit

It’s simple, I said

As they put me to bed

I just wanted to see

If they fit.”

Growing up in Halifax it was a rite of passage to have this poem by Sheree Fitch imprinted on your heart. Indeed, Sheree Fitch was as much a part of a complete childhood as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Sesame Street and sleepovers. It seems quite appropriate then that Halifax’s newest theatre company, Halifax Theatre for Young People, should choose another Sheree Fitch classic, the novel The Gravesavers, as the basis for its first play. Halifax Theatre for Young People was founded collaboratively by Nova Scotian playwright Chris Heide and Nova Scotian director Tessa Mendel as a company dedicated to producing works for children, youth and their families that are “challenging and exciting and that honour the unlimited capacity of young people.”

I have been reading Keith Johnstone’s book, Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre, which I highly recommend to everyone regardless of whether you practice theatre or admire it from afar, and in it he says that “many teachers think of children as immature adults. It might lead to better and more respectful teaching if we thought of adults as atrophied children.” I couldn’t agree more. I think that theatre for young people is immensely important and often incredibly undervalued. When children get the opportunity to see really great theatre, it is an invaluable gift with the potential to open up a magical, incredible world of limitless imagination and possibility. It at once affirms all that is so creativity within them, and can inspire them toward future dreams and ambitions. Too often children are laden down with well intentioned theatre that has been drained of its spontaneity, fun and allure because it does not speak to the child with respect or equality.

It goes without saying that Sheree Fitch’s tone strikes the seamless balance between captivating, enchanting, and inducing laughter while remaining appropriate to her readers’ ages. However, adapting novels into plays requires just as much skill and balance or even the most fantastic book can become a lifeless, didactic piece of theatre. Chris Heide’s adaptation of The Gravesavers is so smooth that it takes on a life separate from the novel. Fitch’s narration is transformed into beautiful monologues that don’t weigh the play down with details being recounted or described. The story is allowed to unfold without literary interference.

A wise Edmontonian playwright named Stewart Lemoine jokingly told me that he wrote one of his plays, At the Zenith of the Empire, a festive, joyous romp in Edmontonian theatre history, because he was weary of his contemporaries continually staging “sad plays from the Maritimes.” I realized, upon reflection, how rich Halifax is with historical tragedy, largely because of its geographical position in the Atlantic and its eminent harbour. The Gravesavers tells the story of the RMS Atlantic, a transatlantic ocean liner that operated between Liverpool, United Kingdom and New York City that sank off the coast of Prospect, Nova Scotia on April 1^st, 1873. It remained the deadliest civilian maritime disaster in history until the sinking of the SS Norge in 1904, and then the RHS Titanic in 1912. The Atlantic saw the deaths of 562 people, including all the women and children aboard except one sole survivor, twelve year old John Hindley. Since Halifax is so rich in tales of shipwrecks, pirates, and of course the Halifax Explosion, it seems natural that Halifax also carries a proud tradition of ghost stories. The Gravesavers does tell a sad story, but with shrewd mystery and a strong sense of play and pathos. The show never reduces itself to a history lesson, but will likely leave its audience members curious to research more ardently the facts of the ill-fated Atlantic.

The play was expertly directed by Tessa Mendel, who used every inch of the stage in the lovely Bella Rose Arts Centre to create truly magical pictures. The actors’ movements were universally simple and crisp with dramatic results. Each of the five lead actors gave strong performances to really lift The Gravesavers into a magical, heightened realm. Mary-Colin Chisholm is outstanding as Nana as she walks the balance between creating her own unique grandmother while tapping into deliciously funny familiar quirks. Bill Forbes shines especially bright as Harv, Nana’s beau, his vocal pacing is utter perfection. Adam Bayne is terrifically endearing, especially as Max, and Josh Cruddas creates a beautiful portrait of John Hindley, jumping between timeframes with acute precision. Allison MacDougall plays Minn, the twelve year old granddaughter of Nana, who acts as the hub that unites the two distinct stories. MacDougall brilliantly evokes the subtle air of annoyance that frequently plagues twelve year olds, radiant, buoyant joy, intense terror, and walloping confused sorrow. It is an intense journey, especially for a children’s show, but MacDougall makes it look entirely effortless.

The Gravesavers is exactly the type of theatre I would have wanted to see as a little girl. Bayne and Cruddas would have appeared like superheroes to me and MacDougall would have seemed like the brightest superstar. I entreat you to share this gem with the young people in your life because like nourishing sandwiches, educational television and joyous sleepovers, this dose of Fitch will enrich lives and encourage its audience to grow.

The Gravesavers plays May 21^st-23^rd at 2:00pm and 7:30pm and May 24^th at 2:00 at the Bella Rose Arts Centre at Halifax West High School, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Tickets are $10 (child/student) or $15.00 (adult). You can book your tickets by phone at 902 457-3239 or buy them at the door. For more information, you can visit the website.