Back Luke Reece Theatre Conversation in a Covid World Cesar Ghisilieri Joe Szekeres Associate Artistic Director at Soulpepper Theatre Company, Luke Reece, is one highly charming gentleman who holds no pretentious airs about him at all. He is a very down to earth, humble and appreciative guy who shared some extremely funny moments during our conversation that I wasn’t able to include here for space. Luke is an award-winning spoken word poet, theatre producer and playwright. Through his work as an educator and artistic leader within the national arts community, he advocates for engaging and nuanced storytelling that challenges audiences. He is one of Toronto’s most decorated slam poets and has represented the country internationally. Luke currently sits on the board for the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres and the Toronto Poetry Project. We conducted our conversation via Zoom. Thanks again, Luke: The doors to Toronto live theatre have been shut for over a year plus now with no possible date of re-opening soon and day one of the Ontario provincial stay at home order. How have you and your immediate family been faring during this time? I’m happy to say that with my immediate family, they’re all doing well. Staying in touch virtually and trying to check in with everyone. It’s funny because we’re starting to hear now people getting vaccinated and my family doesn’t always communicate to me what’s going on so I’m hearing from my friends how their grandparents are vaccinated, and I’m thinking, “I don’t even know when mine are getting vaccinated. I don’t even know what’s going on.” I talked to my mom and she said they were vaccinated weeks ago, and I had no idea. Yes, that’s great news but could someone tell me so I’m not worrying about it or thinking I should be doing something. My grandparents both have their first dose of the vaccine. My Nonna just turned 92 this past Saturday. As we enter this new stay at home order today, my first thought honestly, Joe, when they announced it was that we were legitimately low on toilet paper here. And I thought if we go out and get toilet paper, we’re going to be those people who are hoarding and stocking up, and we’re not. We really do need toilet paper because we’re out. So, trying to navigate that. I’ve been good health wise, going for walks and doing yoga. Still trying to figure out when it’s my turn for the vaccine. I’m hearing mixed messages. Some people are saying we can register for it. Anyway, I will take care of it soon. I have asthma so I’m hoping I’ll be able to find out when I can register. How have you been spending your outside time since the theatre industry has been locked up tight as a drum? I’ve been doing a lot of writing, and that really picked up a year ago. I’ve always been a writer; I’ve always done it in the time that I’ve been able to find. I’ve always called myself a playwright since high school but wasn’t really able to fully step into that identity, I think, until the last couple of years just because I was producing a lot. You know, Joe, I started producing because I wanted to produce my own work when I was in early university. As soon as I figured out how to do it, I felt selfish and then I wanted to produce other people’s work, so I stepped away from mine for the longest time. When things slowed down a year ago, I was able to find the time to write some more and also to remind people in the community that I’m a writer; I’m a spoken word poet as well and that form can easily be consumed online through performances and videos, so people started to pick up that I’m both a spoken word poet and a playwright. I’ve got a few commissions underway and a few projects in development and being Associate Artistic Director at Soulpepper and owning that side. So, the switch for me is realizing all the creative work I’ve been doing outside my full job, I can bring in and enfold into Soulpepper now in my artistry. I’m a big Raptors Fan so following the NBA is something that takes up a lot of my time when I want to step outside of theatre. (Luke then turned his computer camera around to show me a lot of his Raptors and sports memorabilia. He is a true sports fan outside of his work at Soulpepper). I also play soccer, but too short for basketball team, but I still shoot hoops when I can. It’s tough to find spots on a hoop right now; I’ve just moved into a new area of Toronto, I’m out in the east end and I’m trying to figure out what time the courts and fields are busy so that I know when I can schedule. I’m craving that time too to shoot some hoops for a bit. The late Hal Prince described the theatre as an escape for him. Would you say that Covid has been an escape for you, or would you describe this near year long absence from the theatre as something else? I think it’s been a partial escape. Covid has been around long enough that I have to segment it to answer. For me, it was an escape from how I thought about my relationship to work in my life. I think people really started to appreciate family and loved ones. We’re seeing people lose loved ones; I lost an uncle early on, not Covid related, but it was right at the moment where we could not gather for funerals. Early on for me was recognizing how interacting with our family is now different as they feel further away. So now it became a matter of how do I manage my time where I can speak with my family more, and call my grandparents more, organize picnics over Zoom. I was at Obsidian Theatre at the time, ended up leaving Obsidian in August of 2020 and took some time off. I saved up some money and used that time to get things in my life sorted, so it was a bit of an escape in that sense. I also went on a road trip to Whistler and back with my best friend. He had this mini van and we thought to have a mini van bubble, he and I, and we camped mostly along the way, save a few air bnbs. It was cold though as we went in September and October. Camping in Banff in September gets below freezing at night, so I had to buy some new sleeping bags. I was always first up in the morning to start a fire. We got to see some beautiful parts of the country. Driving across seeing the Prairies was also an escape too. I saw a lot of wildlife as well and that was cool because I love wildlife. I’ve interviewed a few artists several months ago (Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill was one) who said that the theatre industry will probably be shut down and not go full head on until at least 2022. There may be pockets of outdoor theatre where safety protocols are in place as in Stratford. What are your comments about this? It's amazing she had the foresight then to predict 2022. I remember at one point feeling so confident that we would be back in fall 2020. We weren’t cancelling shows in April because we thought it’ll pass by the fall. I think for the fact I could remember we were feeling so certain early on that we were coming back. Every time I felt certain we were coming back it’s been pushed further ahead. I don’t feel certain about anything now (Luke says with a laugh). I think, at the very earliest, 2022. Some companies are talking about doing stuff at the end of 2021 and I don’t see how you can. There are a couple of factors to it. Even as we progress and people are allowed back into theatres, the indoor capacity will be only 50 for awhile. So is this sustainable to do productions given this number, the size of the production. Outdoor stuff we’ll see as at Stratford this summer. I was surprised at first and then thought what do they know that I don’t know. But that’s great the Festival is returning. The next question is how comfortable will people be in returning. I don’t doubt people will be excited to return to the theatre, I also think people will take their time returning to the theatre especially now with the variants and the stay-at-home orders or lock down orders. We’re getting the first dose of the vaccine but now the second dose is being pushed back further and further so this is another factor to consider. There are so many variables. I could say, “Yes, Spring 2022, we’ll be back full tilt”. Fast forward to then and it would be, “What was I thinking?” It’s all up in the air as far as I’m concerned. I had a discussion recently with an Equity actor who said that yes theatre should not only entertain but, more importantly, it should transform both the actor and the audience. How has Covid transformed you in your understanding of the theatre and where it is headed in a post Covid world? Personally, it’s made me a bit more aggressive in seeking what I want in my life. Life’s short. It’s taking the time. When my friend said we would be gone for 5 weeks road trip out west, I quit my job and went. This thing I want to do. This was before the second wave, so it felt like it wasn’t a responsible thing to do since we weren’t in a bubble. Looking back now, I went across Canada during the pandemic…aggressive decision but … My partner and I just moved in together for the first time. I bought a barbecue. The things that I want to do, I don’t hold back. I’ve always been somebody who wants to find the joy in life and I think it’s connected to my role at Soulpepper because there’s a lot of work to be done. I have to approach it with the same attitude of having fun, working within my capacity, allowing space for myself to enjoy life. That’s always been inside of me and I know I’m more open about it. Just to shift to Soulpepper and work culture, the staff has been through a lot together. Unlike Obsidian from where I came with a smaller staff, Soulpepper had a larger staff and they’ve had to adapt to the programming we’re actually doing with some cuts. We’re not producing full seasons, so the staffing has to adapt to reflect that. The company has been through a lot together and what I love here is they are doing these weekly full staff meetings where we talk, go into breakout rooms where we have these focus questions and talk about the programming plus we get to know each other more in these break out rooms since we can’t walk into the building right now and say hi to somebody. That camaraderie that we all experienced together a few years ago, let’s find a space where we can all come together and talk, decompress and unite. When the theatre comes back, Soulpepper and this team will operate in a way that it never has before. You can feel the energy in these Zooms. Zooming out into the community now, what I loved at the top of the pandemic was the fact theatres were talking to each other in a way they weren’t before. They had to be open about the planning of shows for when and where and how. It became what the theatre should have been all along: We’re all making art together and we should share resources and knowledge. I think honestly some of this is fading now, and I want to hold on to it. I want theatres to continue to talk to each other because yes we’ve all figured out a way for our companies to operate now, but we’re going to need each other when we do come back again. We’re going to need to talk, to strategize, to come back united not just for the sustainability of the companies but for the audiences, for the artists because there is the fact we’re the ones welcoming the artists and audiences. We need to all be on the same page as to how we’re doing that so there aren’t variant experiences. If we weren’t thinking of making sure we are caring for our artists given all that’s happened socially over the last year, there is no excuse now. We have do this. As an artist myself, Covid has transformed me by making me aware of the context in which I’m writing. That was always a big thing for me, and I think that came from being a spoken word poet who’s performing mostly at poetry slams where it’s a competitive form, and anybody in the audience can be asked to be a judge that evening. Knowing that anybody with any lived experience can come in and would have a right to critique my work, I don’t know this person, but I have a sense of the context of the world right now. And maybe I can’t speak to that specific person with my heart, but I can speak in the context and there should be some where in there to be able to connect. We’re going to see this line of work that was pre Covid and work post Covid. Subject matter will be taught differently. The language we use to engage each other, to care. We have to be aware of this as an artist. What are the audiences bringing to my work that I already know because the world has changed a lot. Audiences are seeing the changes the same time I’m seeing the changes. The late Zoe Caldwell spoke about how actors should feel danger in the work. It’s a solid and swell thing to have if the actor/artist and the audience both feel it. Would you agree with Ms. Caldwell? Have you ever felt danger during this time of Covid and do you believe it will somehow influence your work when you return to the theatre? Yes, I agree danger is part of the work in the theatre. When I go to the theatre, I want to be challenged; I want to be pushed; I want to feel uncomfortable. I would lean more to the word ‘uncomfortable’ rather than danger because I think you can be uncomfortable but still be safe. If you lean too much into danger, especially going back now, audiences might just tune out and start to wonder about their safety. There is a hyper-awareness around am I safe where I am. If I’m walking on a busy sidewalk or going to Shopper’s Drug Mart, there’s always that question of ‘am I safe where I am?” In order to get audiences to suspend their disbelief, we have to let them know they’re safe so they’re not pocketing that in their mind and so they can they be challenged and uncomfortable by the work. I have felt uncomfortable during this time 100%. The most uncomfortable I felt was on the trip to Whistler. We were camping and we were fine as we were outside and lots of fresh air. My friend’s friend wanted to meet us for a drink. I thought, okay, doing something outside that should be okay. My friend hadn’t seen his friend for awhile, okay. We get there, it wasn’t outside but downstairs in a building where no one was masked. Covid has also been a time of where we have taught each other that we have different comfort levels. My friend I was camping with out west is one of my best friends, so it was a challenge. I had my mask on downstairs in a bar, but I did feel scared. So, if anything, that time taught me the importance of sharing with even closest friends that it’s important that we all state our comfort level at all times. As we move forward on a personal level in relationship with others, it’s going to be how do we communicate the feeling of being uncomfortable that is tolerable and palatable with friends in our community. Ultimately, it’s about being vulnerable. As Soulpepper emerges slowly from the pandemic, it’s about finding safe ways to present the work where it’s still part of the art. If we’re sitting 6 feet apart, it’s not a part of Covid but part of the world in which we now live. There have been conversations on how to do that, but every time we feel we’re close to understanding then there’s a shut down or stay at home order. Joe, I think about the first show I want to come back to, it’s a risk. Theatre is a chore for some people to see – going for dinner, drive downtown or take public transit, find parking, affordable tickets etc…and now we put another barrier the fact there might be an element of danger and feeling uncomfortable? We better be putting out some good work for audiences to see to bring them back. I want to put out high quality work even in these times of danger and feeling uncomfortable. The late scenic designer Ming Cho Lee spoke about great art opening doors and making us feel more sensitive. Has this time of Covid made you sensitive to our world and has it made some impact on your life in such a way that you will bring this back with you to the theatre? I call artists more than I think I did before, just on the phone. I used to see people in the Obsidian office, and we’d chat about events. I like talking and connecting with artists to see how they’re doing. Some I went to school with, some we’ve just become friends over the years. I remember having to make the call of a play we were to have done at Canadian Stage, and there was a discussion on how to discuss with the cast over the decision that was made. We had a group meeting over Zoom, and seeing the hurt, disappointment and pain. We had to contact them individually to sort out payments, and I volunteered to call many of them because I wanted them to be able to speak to me openly and me sharing with them, and for the artists to know they’re seen and they’re heard and that we’re thinking of them, especially when CERB payments began to roll out. Off the top, a lot of the independent artists felt lost and forgotten. They were just left hanging. For me, it was communicating with them openly as much as possible. Even now, that we’re seeing more opportunities comes, I’m on these journeys through the Academy and program with the city called ‘Awakenings’ and workshops people have to apply. People are applying because they want to talk to artists again and engage in theatre. At Obsidian I also checked in with a lot of people to see how they were doing. It takes time to do that. Folks at Soulpepper are pretty busy but I’m taking the time to do that as part of this new role. Again, the late Hal Prince spoke of the fact that theatre should trigger curiosity in the actor/artist and the audience. Has Covid sparked any curiosity in you about something during this time? Has this time away from the theatre sparked further curiosity for you when you return to this art form? I’m so curious as to how we take care of our audiences. I know I just spoke in the last question about taking care of our artists a lot, but I feel like I have a better handle because of what I just prioritized on how to take care of our artists. Taking care of our audience right now, that I’m curious about. How are we at Soulpepper going to show our audiences they are safe with us? How are we going to show audiences they can escape with us in our productions? I think we’re going to see a lot of comedies as we slowly return, I hope, I hope a lot of comedies. People need to come back and laugh, and I’m curious to see how we join in space together again. I’m curious to see how people handle consent after Covid, the ideas of boundaries and personal space. Even though hopefully we will have both vaccinations when we return, as you know, Joe, there is this space in the theatre where we hug upon greeting each other. I think we’re going to see more of artists asking each other what they are comfortable with. And I’m most curious about kids. Out of everything that has happened over the last year plus, I’m curious for 5, 10 years from now the results on kids. I know when I was a child, I loved hanging out with my friends, playing recreational sports and being at school, doing extra-curriculars. And I think about what that would be like if I didn’t have that in the same way, or if I was glued to a screen all day. I worry about the kids who have gone through this and how it will manifest itself in the art they will create. I have no idea what the experience of the pandemic is like for them, and I can’t wait to learn it about it through them and their art. You can follow Luke on his Instagram and Twitter: @lareece93 To learn more about Soulpepper Theatre Company, visit www.soulpepper.ca ; Facebook: Soulpepper Theatre Company; Twitter and Instagram: @Soulpepper. Previous Next

Back 'The Hen Night Epiphany' by Jimmy Murphy A Toronto Irish Players' production now onstage at Toronto's Alumnae Theatre Heather Walker Joe Szekeres A challenging play underneath as backstories become unravelled and the truth is revealed. For some reason, when I discovered ‘hen night’ is the equivalent of a bachelorette party for the bride, the thought of the film ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘Irish Girls Gone Wild’ kept playing through my head. Thank goodness playwright Jimmy Murphy had no intention of developing this idea to fruition in ‘The Hen Night Epiphany’. I found it interesting, though, how a male playwright wanted to tell a story of how women really speak to one another during a hen night. The same thing occurred with Robert Harding’s ‘Steel Magnolias’ where he wrote about women and their relationships with each other. And there is a male director who has taken the responsibility to helm The Toronto Irish Players’ production of the intricate nature of these true-to-life real women. I say bravo to these three men for tackling and daring to tell these three different stories. Premiering in September 2011 at the Focus Theatre, Dublin, ‘The Hen Night Epiphany’ is set in the 2008 real estate crash. We journey up a hill outside of Dublin with five uniquely distinct women who initially have one thing on their minds – to have a rousing hen night of activities before bride Una’s (Cora Kennedy) wedding to Kevin, the son of Olive (Jane Hunter). Along for this hen night are two of Una’s best friends Triona (Alison Mullings) and Kelly (Martina Schabron). Anta (Maureen Lukie) best friend of Olive’s and godmother to Kevin also joins in on this journey. Why have these ladies journeyed up this hill? Una and her fiancé have recently purchased a dilapidated-looking hillside cottage overlooking Dublin. She wanted these most important ladies in her life to see what she has purchased before the renovations begin. Co-Set Designers Bernadette Hunt and Sean Treacy have perfectly established that run down, ‘God, what were they thinking’ exterior look of the house badly in need of a paint job. There is so much stuff in the front yard possibly from the previous renters/owners who may have had to leave quickly. There is a gate off its hinges upstage left. Chairs and tables are located around the playing space. There is a portable small bbq which has clearly seen better days in front of the house. Bridget Jankowski’s selection of pre-show/intermission music nicely encapsulated various themes of the play in the song lyrics. John Sellens’ lighting design finely showed the passage of time with lights slowly receding as the day moved on. The costumes worn by the ladies nicely accented their individual personality traits. Earlier I stated ‘Bravo’ to director Alan Hunt because ‘The Hen Night Epiphany’ is a challenging play to undertake. If we are to understand that epiphany is akin to an awakening ‘aha’ moment, then Hunt must ensure the various backstories of these ladies that emerge during this celebration are treated with respect and dignity while still ensuring the story’s pacing appears naturalistic. Hunt succeeds satisfyingly on this account. I don’t want to spoil the revealed information in the backstories for future audiences. Some of the things I learned about these ladies are quite funny, some are poignant, a few made me do a double take while one truly alarmed me. One slight quibble - I found the energy level from everyone onstage appeared to wane halfway through the second act. At one point, I thought I might have heard Alison Mullings’ Irish lilt fade away. This is understandable as the actors and production are coming off what is known in the theatre as HELL WEEK where everything is finally put together, and sometimes patience can run thin. Once people have had a rest for a few days away from the theatre with solid sleep, I’m certain they will be mindful of energy upon return. As the excited bride-to-be, Cora Kennedy’s Una remains grounded as the gracious host of the event and appears to be the ‘fixer’ when relationships break or run amok. All I will say is when we finally learn about her back story – I hope the others are there to help her through. Alison Mullings and Martina Schabron make good choices in their performances. Mullings’ Triona effectively never upstages as she hears a heated discussion ensuing between Olive and Anta. What was especially nice about this moment? Mullings instinctively just showed her response to this distressing news through her facial responses. Schabron’s Kelly handles herself with a tremendous class when her backstory is revealed about her personal health. At one point, I felt myself starting to laugh and so did a few others around me when Schabron reveals what was going on; however, she thankfully did not turn it into a sitcom type of response. Instead, it’s a believable moment where Kelly must deal with what has happened, realize the consequences and move forward. The woman ‘role models’ of the group have their own issues. Maureen Lukie’s Anta reminded me of that ‘deer in the headlights’ when her backstory is revealed about her relationship with her husband. Lukie just uses her eyes in such a comical way that made me laugh out loud a few times. But again, Lukie does not make Anta the comic buffoon especially when she tries to remove Olive from a confrontational scene near the end with Una. There were a couple of times I found when Jane Hunter’s Olive came close to stealing the show. At those moments when the tension was thick, Hunter’s comeback magically brought not only me to laughter but to many sitting around me. Hunter reveals her strength as an actor when she confronts Kennedy’s Una near the end. What I saw at that moment (and I’m trying not to give away the surprise here) – a mother will always come to the defence of a child no matter how old that child is. That confrontation scene had me sitting on the edge of my seat wondering where it was going next. Final Thoughts: An announcement was made before the performance began that since ‘Hen Night Epiphany’ involved the story of five women, the next Toronto Irish Players’ production involves the story of men. A good decision was made here to balance out storytelling. Go see ‘Hen Night Epiphany’, and if you can, see the next one. Would be interesting to compare the similarities and differences in both productions. Running Time: approximately two hours and ten minutes with one intermission. ‘The Hen Night Epiphany’ runs to November 5 at Alumnae Theatre, 70 Berkeley Street, Toronto. For tickets, visit torontoirishplayers.com and for further information. Toronto Irish Players present ‘The Hen Night Epiphany’ by Jimmy Murphy Producer: Geraldine Browne Director: Alan Hunt Co Set Designers: Bernadette Hunt and Sean Treacy Sound Design: Bridget Jankowski Lighting Design: John Sellens Stage Manager: Gina Taylor Performers: Jane Hunter, Cora Kennedy, Maureen Lukie, Alison Mullings, Martina Schabron Previous Next

Back Kevin Bundy Looking Ahead Trish Lindström Joe Szekeres There are no pretentious airs whatsoever with artist Kevin Bundy. He strikes me as one of those guys to whom you could say let’s go for a beer and talk further. And I’m sure he would even buy a round, right, Kevin? I’ve seen his work on stage many times at Soulpepper in ‘Sisters’, ‘A Christmas Carol’ and in ‘Carmel’ at 4th Line Theatre. Kevin’s work on stage has been diverse, and whenever I see his name in the programme or in publicity, I know for certain that he will always deliver an excellent live performance. Kevin completed his theatre training at Montreal’s National Theatre School from 1984-1987. He was also at the Banff School for Fine Arts and took the Summer Drama Program. He has worked at many theatres across the country including Stratford, Shaw, Soulpepper, and Necessary Angel. There are still many theatres across the country where he would love to work. We conducted our conversation via Zoom and shared some good laughs. Thank you so much, Kevin, for adding your voice to this profile series: It’s a harsh reality that the worldwide pandemic of Covid 19 has changed all of us. Describe how your understanding of the world you know and how your perception and experience have changed on a personal level. Wow!!! That’s a big question to begin with, Joe (and Kevin and I share a quick laugh). I realize that being an actor for somebody who works mainly in front of a live audience, that I value and my personal worth partly from those live performances. Personally, I do as well as an actor and an artist. I realize during this time that my self worth was put in great jeopardy because I don’t get that feedback from a live audience which I personally need so that’s been tough. So, I’ve discovered what and how my own personal worth is in terms of my acting and my contributions to the profession and then, also hand in hand with that in my personal life, what have I done? What I have I achieved? What is of value that I attempted to achieve? All of those things really, boy for me, come into question. I was listening to an interview on the CBC where the interviewee was stating that, as an artist who performs live in front of an audience for six years now, he gauges his self worth on what he gets back from the audience; he said that he doesn’t get that anymore on account of Covid. And I thought, “Oh my God, I’m having those same exact thoughts.” What we have to try to do in these times, at least for me, is not to try deriving self worth from our profession anymore but take some time alone to decide who I am. This is the edge of a giant therapy session. (and we two share another laugh) Those are the big questions of my profession. This is who I am in my profession, and now that that’s gone, who am I? With live indoor theatre shut now for one year plus, with it appearing it may not re-open any time soon, how has your understanding and perception as a professional artist of the live theatre industry been altered and changed? Because of my profession, I think it’s important to attend live theatre and perform live theatre. Because it hasn’t been around for these last sixteen months indoors (and God knows how much longer), to me, now, it’s essential. Live theatre has become that much more important in people’s lives, and I hear that from other people who say, “You know what I miss? I miss live theatre.” I thought they were going to say ‘going to the movies’. Friends of mine who don’t attend a lot of live theatre say they’re looking forward to that time when they will have that chance to attend a show when they choose to do so. So, the answer to that question is it’s gone from being an important part of our lives to being an essential part of our lives. The fact that live theatre was gone raised the bar on how important and essential it is. As a professional artist, what are you missing the most about the live theatre industry? There’s so much I miss. I miss rehearsing a part. I miss researching a part. I miss getting into a part. I miss the people in the rehearsal hall. And there’s something about that last run through in the rehearsal hall before you hit the deck. It’s always so magical. There’s always something amazing happens because we try to put as many of these pieces together as we can before it gets taken apart again. That last run through in the rehearsal hall – I really, really miss that. I miss seeing my colleagues do really good work when you go see something and tell that person after, “I didn’t know you could do that” or “I knew you could but boy you blew it out of the water.” I really miss seeing actors and artists doing really good work and being thrilled by it. That’s what I miss a lot. I miss seeing my friends doing great things, but I always want to go and perform live theatre and take people away in the same way my friends and colleagues do. As a professional artist, what is the one thing you will never take for granted again in the live theatre industry when you return to it? Oh, yeah…that human connection in the room. So many times, what we’re doing now (and Kevin points to his computer screen), the Zoom call, the Zoom room, the Zoom audition, the Zoom workshops, we’ve all done lots of them now. But it’s real human connection with someone else in the room. That is greatness, so I’ll never take real human connection for granted ever again. Describe one element you hope has changed concerning the live theatre industry. (Before Kevin answered this question, I let him know several artists found it difficult to narrow it down to one element, and amusingly stated they would like to cheat on this question and add many elements.) I can see why people want to cheat on this question and say they want to use the word ‘many’ elements instead of just one… (Kevin gave a long pause and I could sense he wanted to say it right and state it right) This is what I think. I think the standard will go up. After these last fifteen, sixteen months away, when we return to the theatre we have to raise the standard, and say that we, as artists, have to do better and to make this medium and profession better. The medium and profession can’t go on the way it has gone on for so long. We will ensure this profession’s bar is raised to the highest standards and expect a higher level of ourselves, our performers, and our writers. That’s what I think. The last fifteen months with social movements throughout the entire country will only assist in raising the standards of equity, diversity, and inclusivity even further to make this medium and profession even better. Explain what specifically you believe you must still accomplish within the theatre industry. Oh, wow, that I must still accomplish. I must still accomplish getting another job. (and we share another good laugh). The one thing that I would like to be able to accomplish...wow…I like to be able to accomplish effecting somebody who is younger and who wants to be in the profession. It is so hard to break into this profession, and even if you do, to maintain and sustain a career in it. I would like to influence and affect somebody to want to continue to be in this profession. There are loads of theatre schools and lots of theatre graduates. There are a lot of people as well asking what’s happening here, and I hope I can influence someone to want to move forward in this profession. I hope I’ve done that so far. Yes, there are harsh realties of the business, but I hope I can help younger actors find that magic in it, the beauty of it, the poetry and greatness this industry holds. Some artists are saying that audiences must be prepared for a tsunami of Covid themed stories in the return to live theatre. Would you elaborate on this statement both as an artist in the theatre, and as an audience member observing the theatre. (And again, I let Kevin know first how some artists truly felt about this future possible wave of Covid themed plays and stories) Joe, you said several other artists told you there would be no fucking way they would attend a Covid themed play. I understand why people might answer this question in saying that. It’s inevitable that there are going to be Covid themed stories and plays because it’s an era. It’s an era that has happened to humanity so it’s not going to be denied or ignored. I think audiences might get bored with Covid related stories and plays early on, but this is a time of all of us trying to find out who we are. This has been a major time in humanity as we’re all trying to figure out who we are. In a way, I say the opposite to no fucking way. I say, “Bring it the fuck on” (and we share another good laugh). I do get it, but for sure it’s gonna happen. As a professional artist, what specifically is it about your work that you want future audiences to remember about you? Oh, oh, great question, Joe! I want audiences to remember that they were taken outside of themselves. I would like them hopefully to be moved by something I did or were different in the way they left from the way they entered the theatre by something I did, by an interpretation that I was able to do with someone else’s words, or somebody else’s text. That’s what I would hope they would remember me by. Not with humour or melodrama, drama, or anything like that. But just generally overall hopefully I’ve moved an audience member into better insight into themselves or humanity. Is that a really lengthy answer, Joe? (and Kevin and I share another good laugh) C’mon, what did other people say? Previous Next

Back 'Women of the Fur Trade' by Frances Koncan The Studio Theatre at The Stratford Festival The Studio Theatre at The Stratford Festival Geoffrey Coulter, Guest writer, actor and arts educator ‘Women of the Fur Trade’ is a silly, sometimes dizzy examination of a period in our country’s history…it’s a wildly entertaining, giddy and thought-provoking lesson. I would never have considered Louis Riel and the pre-Confederation days of the fur trade and the Red River rebellion stuff of sarcasm and satire! But then I witnessed an extraordinary and offbeat history lesson told by three women from this country’s turbulent past. A Métis fan-girl pines over the “gorgeous” but unkempt Riel while another sells furs and decries John A. Macdonald as a misogynistic colonizer with a hate-on for the Indigenous population. At the same time, a married settler woman has her eye firmly planted on Riel’s assistant, Thomas Scott. They sit on their rocking chairs, drinking and spilling tea, working, gossiping, and writing letters to the objects of their affection with hilarious results! “Women of the Fur Trade” is equal parts rom-com, farce, theatre of the absurd (zipline mail delivery) and magic realism (radio-controlled toy trucks and letters dropping from above!). It’s a creative, engrossing, campy, and whimsical look at Manitoba’s turbulent history. Set in a frontier fort near the “Reddish” River during the "18-somethings”, the play follows three women stuck in a single room. A battle rages outside, harkening to the beginnings of a new province. Although it’s not clear why this trio is together, one thing is sure, they can’t leave (or can they?), so they dish on Indigenous-settler relations, which side of the Métis resistance they stand on, and what this all means concerning their futures and friendships. Métis Marie-Angelique (Kathleen MacLean) has been sent to the fort by her mother for a better life and wants her heartthrob Riel to be part of it; Eugenia (Joelle Peters) is a scrappy Ojibway trapper from northern Manitoba who can more than look after herself. Cecelia (Jenna-Lee Hyde) is a settler woman waiting for her husband to return home. When heartthrobs Louis Riel (Keith Barker) and Thomas Scott (Nathan Howe) finally appear, they don't quite live up to Marie-Angelique’s hype. Riel is the self-absorbed man Eugenia warns the other women about while Thomas Scott hides a secret. Though dressed in authentic and culturally appropriate garb by costume designer Jeff Chief, this narrative is not a pioneer tale. It’s told in modern slang and references many of today’s pop culture icons like Britney Spears, Keanu Reeves, and even Tyra Banks. An ingenious device to engage a modern audience! Playwright Frances Koncan (of Anishinaabe and Slovene descent) affirms that the many Indigenous issues from our past are still relevant today. Her characters take us beyond the history books with palpable tales of being Indigenous, white, and women, all under the watchful eye of the imperious patriarchy. This refreshingly different play trades the traditional colonial male’s perspective for that of Indigenous women. Each character is clearly defined and recognizable from the outset, thanks to the fine acting talents of each company member. Their impeccable comedic timing and engaging, often hilarious, portrayals make singling out any one the 5-member cast a trifling and unfair exercise. Theirs is a masterclass in ensemble work. Director Yvette Nolan deftly handles some of the dark history of this country. She tackles the themes of misogyny, racial tensions, and cultural appropriation without it feeling preachy or politically aggrandizing. She heightens the pace while effectively engaging the audience by continuously moving her actors inside the small thrust space of the Studio Theatre; no one faces any one direction for very long. Samantha McCue’s wood-slat walls and planked stage feature a constantly flickering campfire where teacups and twigs magically appear from the earth around it. Suspended portraits of modern and historical men of fame and power (Rob Lowe, Oscar Wilde, Jean Chretien, even William Shakespeare) are strikingly incongruous as they peer down at the stage and the audience. Michelle Ramsay’s lantern-like lighting design transports us with aplomb between the fort and the forest. It’s clear where each scene takes place in such a small space. “Women of the Fur Trade” is comedy genius. It’s a silly, sometimes dizzy examination of a period in our country’s history that most of us don’t know anything about. But it’s a wildly entertaining, giddy, and thought-provoking history class. The production runs until July 30 in the Studio Theatre at the Stratford Festival. Previous Next

Back Bruce Dow The Self Isolated Artist Ian Brown Photography Joe Szekeres In my recent compiled profile, I wrote that Canadian playwright Norm Foster would be the kind of guy where you could sit down and discuss everything and anything with him over a few beers in a pub. I wouldn’t solve the world’s problems with him, but Norm just seems like the kind of guy to give a new slant, spin or take on seeing the world from another perspective. From this online interview with Bruce Dow, I learned he is the no holds barred, cuts straight through the crap stuff to get to the heart of the matter, kind of guy. So be strongly aware of this as you read what Bruce has to say. With Norm, I’d have a few beers. With Bruce, I’d have a few glasses of wine, just sit back and listen to him. Why? Because I believe that Bruce would do the same for someone whom he calls a friend. Bruce was a marvelously uproarious Pseudolus in ‘Forum’ when it played through Toronto’s Mirvish Productions. Bruce also appeared in one of the many casts of the famous (or infamous) ‘Les Miserables’. You’ll see from his first answer that he was appearing in previews for the musical based on ‘Diana, Princess of Wales’. This was one show in the Big Apple that I was hoping to get to see. I still hope the show doesn’t lose its momentum after we get out of all this. Thanks, Bruce, for this interview and for your time: 1. It has been just over two and a half months right now that we have been under this lockdown. From your Facebook page, I see you’re living in New York and that you are a member of the cast of ‘Diana’. Are you still in New York now or did you return home to Canada? How have you been doing during this period of isolation and quarantine? How is your immediate family doing? ‘Diana, a true musical story’ was in previews at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway. We were rehearsing in the afternoons and doing previews at night - less than ten days away from our Official Opening Night. When the announcement was made that Broadway was shutting down, I saw it as an opportunity to come back to Toronto to see my fiancé, friends and family. The Broadway League told us that we would only be shut down for three weeks. I assumed it would be longer - but I had no idea it would be this long. (It’s only been two and a half months? It feels like an eternity.) On March 31st, the entire company, crew, creative team and producers met online for a toast to what would have been our Official Opening Night. Over 70 people joined the Zoom chat. It hit me then that we were not going to be coming back to each other for a very long while. For the first month plus, because I was living with roommates (3 grown-ass middle-aged men in a 2 bedroom apartment - Me sleeping on a cot in the living room. #StillAm) and because my fiancé was living with his parents - we were in a form of quarantine, so I didn’t see him other than on FaceTime. My roommates are saints. None of us expected this. I can’t believe it’s only been two months. It feels like forever. In the last few weeks, we been able to meet while “social distancing” - and I’ve helped out around the in-laws garden a bit - always “social distancing”. Though I realize mine are 1st world, privileged problems… It’s been hard. Very hard. My roommates and my fiancé’s parents are all of an age where this shit could kill us. I have asthma and a tendency to bronchitis. If I get this disease, I’m gone. It’s not so much the fear of death as… the fear of losing a life I finally want to live. There are things I want to do. Ways I want to give and serve. That said - my understanding of the life I want to live has drastically changed - and perhaps, this whole “time out” has given me a great gift in the chance to reflect and grow. Still. It’s hard and it sucks. Really, really sucks - but not perhaps in the ways you might think. 2. Along with your work in ‘Diana’. were you involved in any side projects before the pandemic was declared and everything was shut down? Were you involved in the planning stages of any new projects? How has the cast of ‘Diana’ been doing for the most part during this lockdown? I can’t speak for any of the cast of ‘Diana’. We are in touch sporadically. Our producers and the creative team (the writers of the ®Tony Award Winning ‘Memphis’, and the creative team behind ‘Come From Away’) are very much committed to ensuring that ‘Diana’ will be among the shows on the rialto when Broadway re-opens. Everything else that I was working on before and during ‘Diana’ has come to a screeching halt. But, I’m also aware that I’m not feeling the same drive, so I’m not missing it. This “should” be the time for me to finish any number of projects. But, I’m not. And that feels healthy to me, right now. “Shoulds”, in my experience, never lead to healthy choices. 3. What has been the most difficult and/or challenging element of this period of isolation? So many things. I’m sure what I am feeling is similar to what many are feeling - a complete lack of focus and direction in life, with the added bonus of a near-complete lack of tangible options toward moving forward in life. I can’t do what I do - and I can’t find anything new to do. I say ‘near-complete’ because, believe me, I am digging in every corner of existence, trying to find my purpose and direction - I am digging so hard my fingernails are bleeding. And I am finding some very interesting things… none of which I would have expected. 4. What have all of you been doing to keep yourself busy during this time of lockdown? I am teaching online - a college level course in acting through song, and private lessons/coaching through my mini-company Dow Workshops. (https://brucedow.com/dow-workshops/) For a long time now, teaching has given me the greatest reward in my life. It is challenging, rewarding, daunting and fulfilling. That… and… aside from digging in corners till my fingers bleed, I have been getting out for walks when possible… eating and drinking too much… and sleeping too little. (My cot is not comfortable, and my body is old.) As for “Creativity”? I am not feeling remotely creative. So, I am not pushing myself. I find there are some folks who are feeling the creative bug - that’s wonderful! Then there are some not feeling creative - that’s also wonderful! What I fear is the toxicity I am witnessing in some who are feeling compelled to be creative when they are not feeling it innately. It’s a part of our art that scares me and disgusts me - It’s that toxic “the show must go on!” even when everything in your heart (and the universe) is telling you to stop. pause. reflect. rest. 5. Any words of wisdom or sage advice you would give to other performing artists who are concerned about the impact of COVID-19? What about to the new theatre graduates who are just out of school and may have been hit hard? Why is it important for them not to lose sight of their dreams? In context with what I’ve said above: No one should lose sight of your dreams. BUT - the universe is telling you to pause and reflect. Now is the time to ask yourself WHY you have these dreams and to ask yourself, “are these dreams healthy for me?” Are they feeding me, or are they poisoning me? Do they come from a positive, forward moving energy - “I want to explore and give” - or do they come from a wound, a need, an emptiness - “I need attention and validation.” One kind of dream is healthy. The other can actually prevent you from growing and healing, and can end up hurting you very deeply. (The one’s who need to read that will either feel a sigh of relief, or they will be thrown into a panic. Don’t panic. Choose the sigh. Breathe - always.) 6. Do you see anything positive stemming from this pandemic? Our world has been a train wreck for a long time. Our art has been reflecting the world’s panic in both healthy and unhealthy ways. Calling attention to our individual stories has been of vital importance. There have been some astounding conversations in our art of late. (We can see how the United States has ignored, glossed over, and sugar-coated its stories for far too long, and now the country is imploding.) On the other end of the spectrum, some wounds have been weaponized - embracing a confrontational politics - as a child having a screaming tantrum with its thumbs firmly stuck in its ears. No conversation can be had. We are going to need truly inclusive stories coming out of this. The narcissism of Instagram and Facebook and Twitter (guilty as charged!) and our knee-jerk desire to fix the wrongs of the world with a clever quip and a click-of-support have proved insufficient. Our desire to scream of our differences has been healthy and necessary, but I don’t see it as a means to an end. I’m hopeful that, if we are able to survive this “pause”, we will be able to think more broadly and more inclusively than ever before. 7. In your estimation and informed opinion, will the North American/Canadian performing arts scene somehow be changed or impacted as a result of COVID – 19? Uhm. Yeah. There will be no live performance with anything resembling a full-house or a “live” audience until there is either a vaccine or a successful treatment. We saw what SARS did to Toronto - It took years to recover from that. And back then, we only shut down for two weeks. Two things will probably occur: a. People will need to rebuild their financial situations to a level where they have disposable income to spend on things like theatre - OR - we will have to find another funding process, yet unimagined. b. People will have to rebuild their confidence in sitting in close proximity to a stranger so that they will feel safe on a plane or in a theatre seat. So - if we can’t come up with a clear cure/vaccine - and/or if we can’t come up with an entirely new financial model - and/or if we can’t find a new form of spatial relationship with our audiences - We will not be coming back for a long, long time. Guessing 12-18 months or longer. Most likely if SARS is the model - 2 or more years. In terms of content in art: I feel we must shift the conversation from its present focus on individuation and confrontational politics and find a place where we can share our differences and grievances in a healthier way - and I believe that place is much further down the road than our present position. But… Inclusivity - if that’s the right word. We need to find a place where we can recognize our mutual humanity while in no way diminishing one another and where we can accept/embrace the responsibility we have to each other. If we can’t talk to each other, we can’t learn and grow. It may mean we may not get to have our full conversations the way we want to have them at this point. And that’s going to be hard for a lot of us. But, I believe we will be able to have those conversations in a richer and deeper sense further down the road, even though, right now, we may need to jump ahead for a moment - We will need healing after this. A lot of healing. We aren’t talking about our dead right now in anything more than numbers. We are gonna have to talk about our dead -Birth and death are the two things we all have in common. Our awareness of them is what makes us human. We will have to talk about that - but, in a new light . 8. Many artists are turning to streaming/online performances to showcase/highlight/share their work. What are your thoughts about this format presentation? Any advantages to doing this? Disadvantages? Are you participating or will you be participating in this presentation format soon? I think ALL performance is great and necessary! As for how it’s being accomplished online: we are working out the kinks! Look at the first strips of film from the birth of cinema… it’s an imaginative mess! That’s where we are right now with online work. Filmed versions of stage productions are noble and beautiful - but they still kinda suck. Online readings and creations are proving successful in “what they are” - but they still kinda suck. But that’s why we have to keep trying! How can we make online versions of stage productions more engaging? What is the actual online experience as different from the theatre or the cinema or the lecture hall? - We don’t yet know! SO - Keep playing and making mistakes and making glorious messes! That said - there is a toxic trap online of which each artist must become aware, and upon which they must reflect before engaging. Unfortunately, you can see a fair amount of desperation in some of the work online right now. While it is par for this unknown course, that desperation can take an individual and personal toll on the artist. Intuitively, I set myself some rules: I have participated when asked - and I’ve felt it’s “right for me, right now”. I have turned down some offers - because they didn’t feel right. I even accepted one very prestigious offer, only to decline it recently, because I wasn’t feeling it. Right now, as a creative person (I know that’s who and what I am) -who is NOT feeling creative - I feel it is my purpose to be a voice against the panic. Creative is me. I do not have to create constantly for that to be true. I am trying to avoid the endless cries of the bottomless abyss (the internet) as it screams to be satiated. The internet will always need more and more content. I cannot fulfill its needs. But I also know I cannot fulfill my needs through the acquisition of “hits” and “likes”. So, my philosophy: If you’ve got it? If you’re feeling it? Flaunt it! Bravo! Explore content creation! - but expect no glory till, perhaps, long after the fact. (and even then!) If you’re not feeling it? - even though you know you’ve got it - If you wanna sit in a corner and stare at the wall? Choose that! Choose your mental and spiritual health over the constant cries from the internet in its unending quest to be satisfied. Stop. Pause. Reflect. REST. 9. What is it about performing you still love given all the change, the confusion and the drama surrounding Covid? I’m not loving performing right now - and I’m okay with that. I have taped a couple of self-tape auditions, and it was nice to dip my toe. I’m good. I’ve still got it. (I just don’t want it right now.) I have recorded a couple of songs for various church services and events for friends of mine. I still love to sing. But I don’t have to do either in front of an audience to feel valid and whole right now. I guess that’s what I’m learning - about myself. As for the confusion and drama? I’ve had enough of that bullshit in my life and my work! (meaning every good family and every good play is full of ‘confusion and drama’) I’m very tired of the drama we manufacture for ourselves, for our lives - Most of our life drama is manufactured. Very little of it is real. This Covid thing is REAL. Drop you own drama - (‘cause really? aren’t you bored with it yet? I’m bored of mine!)- and deal with what is real, right now. Food. Shelter. Family/Friends. Live what’s real… With a respectful acknowledgement to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton, here are the 10 questions he asked his guests at the conclusion of his interviews: a. What is your favourite word? lesbian. (seriously. it just feels so great to say it. its origins are amazing, and it means something beautiful!) b. What is your least favourite word? Right now? “Creativity.” (fuck off, “creativity”) c. What turns you on? The idea that there is something huge happening right now. Lives can and will be changed - for better and worse. We are being shaken by the scruff of the neck. d. What turns you off? Anger - might sound funny after this - I know text has no tone of voice, but none of the above is said in anger… just in fatigue… with a wistful smile. Anger is always pointed at the wrong people, at the wrong time, and is delivered in the worst possible way. e. What sound or noise do you love? Laughter. (dull answer, but joyously true…) f. What sound or noise bothers you? Construction. (It’s not ‘progress’) g. What is your favourite curse word? FUCK h. What profession, other than your own, would you have liked to attempt? That’s for me to know and you to find out - and why is this question in the past tense? I very well may yet change professions. i. What profession would you not like to do? Anything that isn’t real. I want dirt and sweat on my skin and in my nostrils. I want ideas to circulate my brain. I want healing and sharing. I don’t want anything to do with “hits” on my “page” (He says, scrolling through his Twitter with the other hand… but, seriously, the internet is toxic AF these days) j. If Heaven exists, what do you hope God will say to you as you approach the Pearly Gates? “You tried.” I can’t reflect on my life and expect him to say, “you tried your best”. I know I haven’t. But, I know I have tried. To be responsible. To be honourable. To make amends. To help find peace for those I meet. To learn more about Bruce, visit his website: www.brucedow.com . Previous Next

Back Andrew Prashad Moving Forward --- Joe Szekeres I have seen Andrew Prashad’s name on several entertainment social media sites over the last few months. Once again, it was my friend, Carey, who encouraged me to get in touch with Andrew to learn of his story. And what an incredible story and conversation I had with him via Zoom. Andrew gleamed with a loving parental pride every time he spoke about his immediate family, his wife and children. He is a multi disciplined performing artist from being on stage to his work in cinematography and video editing. Andrew has appeared on stage at the Ed Mirvish Theatre and Young People’s Theatre and a number of others across Canada. He’s also quite the tap dancer as well. I’ve included a link at the end of his profile so you can hear one of his cover songs. Andrew also received a Merritt award for outstanding supporting actor for ‘Cinderella’ at Halifax’s Neptune Theatre. His one-person show ‘One Step at a Time’ chronicles his life as a parent with a child who has Spina Bifida. Andrew spoke to me about this show near the end of our interview, and this is one I have on my list to see when it is safe to return to the theatre. Thank you, Andrew, for the conversation: It has been an exceptionally long six months since we’ve all been in isolation, and now it appears the numbers are edging upward again. How are you feeling about this? Will we ever emerge to some new way of living in your opinion? A little nervous. As an artist, we’re trying to get back to work. We’re trying to do everything we can to do our part. Things have to do what they do, I guess, and not all of that is helpful to keeping our numbers down. As a parent, it’s really not great. I had to send my kids to school so having the numbers up is scary. We’re monitoring every day. I’m not happy that the numbers have gone back up, but I’m not surprised by some of the events I’ve seen reported on the news. Once there is a vaccine, we will emerge to some new way of living. There’s just going to be a whole new battle of getting people to use the vaccine. Should we use the vaccine? Is it safe? How long were the trials? And all those questions that go with it. A lot of people are thinking that once there’s a vaccine that things will get back to normal, but I think we’re being naïve. Anti-maskers was the big hurdle because as soon as the vaccine comes out, there’s going to be a bigger fight, a bigger problem, a bigger conflict. Once all this gets settled, however long that takes, maybe there will be some kind of normalcy, but who knows? How have you been faring? How has your immediate family been doing during these last six months? We’ve been doing surprisingly well. The kids are resilient. During that whole stretch when everything was shut down, we were doing the home schooling and they loved it. My daughters would come down, print off their homework and they’d be ready when I came down, made breakfast and started checking in on their homework. My wife was still teaching so I pretty much did the kids homework and their schoolwork during the day. When my wife was done teaching, if she finished teaching in time, we’d go out for a walk, or she would take over and I’d go do my work and things I had to get done. The kids handled it well which is great because I’ve been hearing about numbers of kids who did not handle it well. It would have made everything so much harder if my kids weren’t as awesome as they were. By the time we got the kids to bed, my wife and I were exhausted. We were toast. My son was born was Spina Bifida and he has a physical disability and high needs, but he’s doing really well. He just got his first wheelchair, he’s so excited. There are some really great things coming for us, but we’ve been managing, hanging on and figuring it out. As an artist within the performing arts community, what has been the most difficult and challenging for you professionally and personally? Professionally, one of the most challenging things was losing all of the work and the teaching. It’s funny because I’ve been telling people they have to diversify what they do. I’m an actor, dancer, singer and musician but I’m also a video editor and a music editor. I have a recording studio people come to use. I’m a photographer. I try to diversify my skills which are all based in the arts, so I’m not just an actor. I’m a teacher and choreographer. When Covid came, it wiped all of it out, it didn’t matter how many different alleys I was in. Everything was shut down. I couldn’t teach. I couldn’t choreograph. Nobody needed video editors; nobody needed photography, nobody needed music, nobody needed anything so there was no work. All our theatre gigs were lost, film and tv shut down, I lost a tv commercial I had just booked. That was really rough along with trying to figure out where money was going to come from. Luckily, my wife was still working from home, so she still had her pay cheque, but I didn’t have my pay cheque. For a short while, I was on CERB for 4 weeks. Slowly, recital time came in the dance studios. We started teaching online so I taught a few classes online for a few hours a week via Zoom for multiple studios. I was also doing some private teaching. I got some video editing gigs because the dance studios were still doing recitals, but they couldn’t have the kids in the space. We were doing these virtual recitals so I was editing all of these recitals, but I couldn’t do it during the day because I was helping home school my own kids. When I put my kids to bed, sometimes I would work until 2 in the morning trying to edit all these dance recitals so these other kids could have them. And then I’d wake up at 6 in the morning and it was to make some breakfast and get ready for school at home all over again. It was exhausting, but I was able to bring in that little bit of money because I also wasn’t charging full rate because the studios weren’t charging full rates for classes. They didn’t have money to pay for what I would normally charge as an editor. So, it was ‘What can you afford? Ok, let’s make it happen”. Personally, the most challenging was, or is, finding ME time. My ME time is after bedtime but then I needed to sleep so there was no ME time. There was no US time for my wife and I. It was exhausting. Were you in preparation, rehearsals, or any planning stages of productions before everything was shut down? What has become of those projects? Will they see the light of day anytime soon? My one-person show was going to be put up at Neptune Theatre in Halifax. We had a two-week scheduled run there which was really exciting. It’s called ‘One Step at a Time’ and it’s about my family, my son and balancing being a performer and raising a child with special needs and a physical disability. I lost that and it was postponed. Neptune is doing their best, but they don’t know if they’re going to survive. I also lost the parlay of my show into other theatres. But now, those other theatres have to make room for the shows they had booked because they feel as if they have to owe them a run. Where these other theatres were of the mindset, ‘Oh, we’ll bring you in next season’, I don’t know what will happen because these folks will bump you. All of those things I’ve been working so hard on to string together have all fallen apart. I had some big auditions I was working on and in final call backs – all of those projects died as well. What have you been doing to keep yourself busy during this time? I’ve been doing everything – husband, dad, teacher, friend. I’m the chef. My wife cooks too but she does more of the dinner stuff. My wife and I share the cooking, taking care of the kids, taking care of my wife. We both take care of the kids, but I also take care of her. She gets to sleep in, and I’ll handle some stuff for her so she can go and teach. We’re sharing an office. I’ve set up her computer beside mine in my studio, so she has a comfortable place to work. Teaching online has been cool. Lots of self tapes. Lots of auditions which are coming back. Some bookings. Some voice over gigs. Again, I had two voice over bookings which were awesome. They were both first. One was a first for a video game and I had to go into the studio, and everybody was doing their Covid safety which was great to see. The other one was a voice over for a commercial which I had never done either, but I got to do that from my home in my recording studio which was really, really cool so I did that in between the catheter times for my son at school. And Theatre Passe Muraille put on a fund raiser. They reached out to me and asked if they could use my show to create a fundraiser. It turned into a much bigger thing than we thought. I thought I was going to host a mini version of my show from my garage studio. And then TPM got the go ahead that I could come into the space. But since we were in the space, we thought let’s just go full out and all of a sudden, we had four cameras, designing lights and sound with their team, choreographing the cameras. It was huge undertaking that none of us saw coming but it was awesome, lots of fun and everybody at Theatre Passe Muraille were incredible. It was worth it, but it was a lot more work than I thought it was going to be. Any words of wisdom or advice you might /could give to fellow performers and colleagues? What message would you deliver to recent theatre school graduates who have now been set free into this unknown and uncertainty given the fact live theaters and studios might be closed for 1 ½ - 2 years? Well, I don’t know if I’m the one to be giving advice but if people wanted to know what I had to say – “Reach out to communities. Stay in touch with people.” I found this really helpful. When the pandemic hit, my wife and I were running out of a specific hand sanitizer we needed to clean our hands first before we catheterize our son. I’m always steps ahead when we’re out if I happen to see the product, so we never run out. When Covid hit, everywhere was in short supply of hand sanitizer. I put it out on social media that I was looking for this product. I put it out on social media and a lot of people came to our aid so we were good for a few months. I was driving all around southern Ontario for two days picking up what people had to give us. Other advice: Reach out because you don’t know who might be there to help you. Find time to take care of yourself too. Make sure you’re mentally and physically okay. It’s nice to take a day or take time to rest, to sleep if you need to do that. But make sure you stay physically active because that helps your mind as well. Make sure you’re okay before you can then reach out and take care of those whom you love. For the theatre grads, and for others – it’s tricky because you want to get out there and make your mark. Since everybody who teaches you or who could teach you is out of work, try to find those teachers who are online and sharpen your skills. I’ll tell you, most of you all aren’t ready to be at an extremely high level coming out of school. It doesn’t mean you’re not going to get work. There’s a lot of room for growth. School is the preparation for the growth you’ll experience once you’re in the real world. So, it gives you that little bit of time to sharpen your skills. Reach out, barter if you have to do so as I understand that money might be tight in some cases. Read plays. Educate yourself further. Work on those skills that you know you need to sharpen. For my artists of colour: If you haven’t heard it yet, all of us who are working now have been told at least ten times that we need to be at least two times greater than our white counterpart. You’ve got the time now. Go make sure you’re there. Just because people talk about changes in the industry etc, you can’t change people’s mindset overnight. Those people aren’t going to vanish from the theatre industry. They’re not going to give up their position leading a theatre company. They put out a statement, ok they are statements. You need to go out there and be able to show them, “No, no, no. I’m that good. You should take a second look at me.” Use this time to get all that done. Do you see anything positive stemming from Covid 19 and will it leave some lasting impact on the Toronto/Canadian performing arts scene? I think there are some positives. Just thinking about family. If you’re lucky enough to have people living with you, that time together is a gift. The fact that everyone was stuck at home with their lives on hold really helped put focus on social changes that need to still happen. We were all able to sit in George Floyd’s death and murder more because there was nothing else to go do and escape it. The population had to choose which side they were going to be on. Some chose one side, and some chose another. People of colour got a few more allies out of all this and people who thought they were allies realized they could be better allies. There’s a lot more education happening surrounding this issue. A lot of the artists of colour are speaking out, speaking up and we’re getting a lot of flak for it from different people, sometimes within our own community. That’s a positive. I can’t tell you how many white artists told me, ‘Oh, I had no idea. I didn’t know this was a thing.” I hope everyone works together to make a more inclusive space. Part of me is excited to see where the industry goes – film, tv, theatre. Part of me is ready to roll my eyes when our new or old allies kind of flake on us. ‘Cause it is going to happen, it’s just how many. That’s the question of how many are going to flake and how many are really here for the real deal and long haul. Some artists have turned to You Tube and online streaming to showcase their work. What are your comments and thoughts about streaming? Is this something that the actor/theatre may have to utilize going forward into the unknown? I am right in the middle on all this. It’s right where we are, and we have to adapt. I love creating work for You Tube and online platforms because it’s something I do. It helps me to flex my video editing skills, my cinematography skills. It helps me grow. But it was always something I was doing while I had theatre/film or tv. Now, YouTube and online streaming are becoming theatre in a sense and it’s not, but theatres have to adapt. It was weird putting on my show. I think my show was the first that was back in a space with a full team, social distant with masks and no audience. I’m lucky that I know the show and where an audience might laugh or cry. In my head, I had that and I went full out and imagined the energy that wasn’t there with an audience in front of me. It was draining because I was trying to compensate because the lack of energy with a missing audience was difficult on the Main Stage at TPM. There’s a give and take in energy in live theatre, and that wasn’t there when it was streamed. I also had to make sure my performance didn’t suffer because the audience wasn’t there even though the crew was there. They weren’t watching me as an audience as they were there to film the production. I had to put more into my performance. I thought the one performance was successful as Passe Muraille made some money from that one night of streaming and I got a pay cheque, but I only wanted to do it for one night as I didn’t want to kill the show and not tour with it. If you don’t have those skills of taping yourself, you need to reach out to people who do. A friend of mine is trying to learn video editing and up his game in self editing skills in order to put work out there to be seen. I think we’re being forced into that position. In the film and television industry, all actors are being forced into being videographers and cinematographers and proper lighting. My self tape game was always good, and my friends didn’t measure up to what I was doing. Now, everyone has to measure up and learn how to self tape. If your self tape doesn’t look good right away that’s a knock against you because somebody else who is auditioning might have a tape that is just as good or better than yours. There is no payment in streaming and a YouTube presentation right now. EQUITY and ACTRA are in discussion of whose jurisdiction is it when a theatre show becomes digital. The digital space is ACTRA’s space, but EQUITY is trying to make a case that it’s their space because it is a theatre show. I have to side with ACTRA on this one unless someone can educate me further. This is all tricky, tricky stuff and I don’t know enough about it. Despite all this fraught tension and confusion, what is it about performing that Covid will never destroy for you? The idea of sharing part of yourself will never get destroyed no matter how you tell the story. The idea of sharing a story needs to be told will always be important. Since we’ve started telling stories, we’ve always used different mediums to tell them. Just because we’re losing one of those facets doesn’t mean the story telling and the sharing and the giving will ever stop. We have to adapt how we do it and that’s my favourite part as a performer. I love inhabiting a character and experiencing different things, but what I love most about performing is the reaction and the emotion you give and get out of an audience member. One of the most favourite things about doing my show is the diverse audience that it draws. You get the regular theatre goers, but you also get the singers, the actors, the tap dancers, and the dancers. You also get the special needs, high needs and the differently abled and disabled communities. Those communities (special needs and differentially abled) don’t have a show that represents them in Canada. My show represents them. Right now, my show is not enough but it’s something for the differently abled to see themselves in. It’s amazing and means so much to me the responses I’ve received from audience members after each performance, and performing my show feeds my soul in knowing I was able to give them that re-assurance, that understanding and these communities are so happy whether it is a large part or a small part of their story being told on a real professional stage in Canada. It doesn’t exist and if people have tried, they’ve done it wrong. I’m hoping that when people see the attractiveness of parts of my show that they’ll expand on that. I can’t create a work that’s all differently abled artists that’s based on my experience because that’s not my experience; however, perhaps seeing a show about my son’s experience and seeing how well it does, sometimes, leave theatre producers thinking, “You know what? This audience, there’s value in telling these stories.” And then maybe these stories will get told more because as much as we are fighting for people of colour, we’ve fought so hard and so long for it, but as far as we’ve come the disabled community and differently abled community – they’re decades behind where we are. It’s going to take whatever privilege we can grab we have to pass it on right away, otherwise the disabled and differentially abled community will never catch up. They’ll never make ground. They’ll never have their stories told because our stories don’t cover everybody. Everybody should be able to see themselves on a stage represented. It’s wild and fulfilling for little brown kids to be watching me on stage, winning Halifax’s Merritt Award, and then watching me sing and dance in a solo moment of a big musical and then knowing it’s not only for white people. Brown people will not be portrayed as a stereotypical immigrant character. That is my favourite part that Covid will never be able to take away. Seeing the faces on the brown kids knowing that yes, they can do what I can do and can be the lead and can make a difference in the lives of others. To learn more about Andrew Prashad, visit his website: www.andrewprashad.com . Previous Next

Back Durae McFarlane Moving Forward Mark Binks Joe Szekeres A year ago, I had reviewed an outstanding production of what many in Toronto were calling ‘not to be missed’. Toronto’s Crows Theatre had staged Annie Baker’s ‘The Flick’ terrifically directed by Mitchell Cushman. I had never seen this production, but word on the street and from what I had researched online indicated this play was something that would be remembered for a long time. And to this day, I can still recall that specific production, that awesome set design, and the three powerhouse performers who literally took my breath away as I watched with keen fascination. One of those dynamos on stage for his debut professional performance was Durae McFarlane, and he is one we should all keep an eye on when it is safe to return to the theatre. Mr. McFarlane’s performance was stellar. Durae is an actor and writer originally from Mississauga, Ontario. He is a recent graduate of the University of Windsor’s BFA Program and also trained with Canada’s National Voice Intensive. We conducted our interview via email. Thank you for the conversation, Durae: It has been an exceptionally long seven months since we’ve all been in isolation, and now it appears the numbers are edging upward again. How are you feeling about this? Will we ever emerge to some new way of living in your opinion? To be honest it is what I expected. There were always talks about a second wave and so the numbers raising is not surprising. What is a bit surprising is the way it is being handled by the government (at least in Ontario where I am). It is less than ideal. There was also a part of me that was holding on for some sort of miracle that things would continue to get better and that life would somehow resemble what it used to be in some ways, but that is more idealistic than anything. I think this is going to be our new way of living for a long time. Wearing masks, always washing our hands (which should have always been a thing), and social distancing. Now if we will ever not have to do these things, I’m not sure. I think at the beginning of the pandemic, I just thought that we just need a vaccine and then things will resume how they use to be. But, I don’t believe that anymore. I’m not super informed about what the release of the vaccine would look like, but after witnessing how many people are against even wearing a mask, I’m sure there will be a group of people who will be against getting a vaccine altogether. And I’m sure that will make things complicated. How have you been faring? How has your immediate family been doing during these last seven months? I’m been doing okay all things considering. I really spend a lot of the first couple of weeks watching tv shows and movies and distracting myself from what was happening because it was just too much information and stimulus all the time. I also stopped going on social media and listening to the news for a bit, which was new for me (not constantly going on my phone to go on Facebook or Instagram). And now I limit the amount of time I spend on social media. My family is doing good. I was staying with my grandmother when the pandemic first started, and she is doing good. She wasn’t really stressed or anything but was cautious and was always updated with what was going on, which was the complete opposite of what I was doing. So, if I wanted to know something, I would just talk to her about it. My mom works in a nursing home, so it was stressful for a bit, but she has thankfully been safe and everyone else has been working from home. As an artist within the performing arts community, what has been the most difficult and challenging for you professionally and personally? The most challenging thing for me at the start of the pandemic, was that I was feeling really great after coming out of The Flick and, as that was my debut, I was really looking forward to capitalizing on that. But then I couldn’t audition for any theatre things. But I think people will remember things and roles that had an impact on them, and I think I will be okay. Personally, I really hated not having something to do, or something to work on. I’m someone who is always looking for a way to continue to grow and get better both as a person and as an artist. So, having so much time and not knowing what to do with it was challenging. There was the possibility of doing online things, but I also couldn’t afford to do a lot of the things I wanted to do. But then I found myself writing a lot which was something that I have been interested in but wasn’t necessarily my focus. But that’s kind of all I’ve been doing is writing and every couple of weeks it’s like there’s a new idea for a play or screenplay that comes to me. Way more ideas than I’m capable of writing. Were you in preparation, rehearsals, or any planning stages of productions before everything was shut down? What has become of those projects? Will they see the light of day anytime soon? I wasn’t in preparations or rehearsal for anything, I was just working a part time job in the food industry, so I was kind of grateful at the time for things to close because I was staying with my grandmother and I was very concerned about continuing to work while it started to seem more and more unsafe to do so. What have you been doing to keep yourself busy during this time? A couple of friends and I started this sort of web series back in the middle of March just as a way to stay creative, have some fun, and just have something to do. But that took a pause in June. And as we all started to go back to work, we haven’t continued it and don’t know if it will continue, but it was a good thing for me to do at the time. I also started meditating which has been such a great practice for me to start. It has really helped me feel less anxious in my day to day life and helped to bring awareness to my habitual thinking patterns and allowed me to tune in to what isn’t helpful to me. I’ve also been reading a lot and writing. I’m part of the Cahoots Theatre’s Hot House Lift Off Unit where I’m with a bunch of incredible artists as we all are writing our own plays. We’ve been meeting on Zoom pretty much since the beginning of the pandemic, and it’s been wonderful to have that space to chat with them all about all things theatre. Any words of wisdom or advice you might /could give to fellow performers and colleagues? What message would you deliver to recent theatre school graduates who have now been set free into this unknown and uncertainty given the fact live theatres and studios might be closed for 1 ½ - 2 years? Being such a new artist to this industry myself, I don’t think I’m in any position to give any advice to anyone, but I would just say to find the joy in whatever it is you’re doing. I think the world can seem very dark, so it’s important to find purposeful moments of joy when you can. Do you see anything positive stemming from Covid 19? Yes. I think because everyone was home and not doing much, it allowed certain people who maybe have not paid attention to issues of racial justice to really start listening once the murder of George Floyd was all over social media and the details of the murder of Breonna Taylor started to circulate the internet as well. It caused people to mobilize and fight the systems in place that are hurting BIPOC in a way that I haven’t seen happen before. I think being stuck at home forced people to really have to reflect about who they think they are vs who they actually are and made some of those people go “oh maybe I’m not doing things I need to be doing to align my idea of myself with the actions I take.” And I hope that now that a lot more people are back to work, it doesn’t also mean they go back to their old habits of not really caring or doing anything about these issues. It also allowed BIPOC people to feel more empowered to speak up and not let things slide by. I think we’ve been hearing people speak that haven’t simply been given the platform or space to speak about the issues they're facing and what people can do to help change things. I think I’m seeing a lot more space be given to those voices and that’s been something long overdue, but great to see. Do you think Covid 19 will have some lasting impact on the Toronto/Canadian/North American performing arts scene? I hope with the sort of wake up with the racial inequities of the world, theatre will be more conscious of what it means to be an equitable space for all people. It really goes beyond just saying a bunch of nice things but implementing things in how they run their theatre companies and who makes up theatre companies. Some artists have turned to YouTube and online streaming to showcase their work. What are your comments and thoughts about streaming? Is this something that the actor/theatre may have to utilize going forward into the unknown? I think if it works for the artist, do it! If it helps them stay enriched in some way, absolutely go for it. It’s something that I did for a little while and it definitely helped me feel more connected to other people and performing. I think at least for now, theatres have to utilize it in some ways. Some theatres have been. Sometimes I think it works great and sometimes I think it doesn’t, but it’s definitely new territory that places are learning to navigate and it’s not always going to be perfect and that’s okay. Despite all this fraught tension and confusion, what is it about performing that Covid will never destroy for you? Covid could never destroy the need for stories. During this time a lot of people turned to their computers/TVs to watch shows or movies or listen to music or read books. The need for stories will always be present to either distract people from their current situation for a little while or to illuminate something about themselves or the world. I think the need for stories will always be present and thus the need for storytellers. The way in which we tell stories and the medium we use may change and adapt but there will always be a need to Visit Durae’s Instagram: @duraemcfarlane Previous Next

Back Damien Atkins "Change is constant and necessary. It’s not always fun, but there has been some worthwhile movement forward..." Credit: Soulpepper Theatre. Pictured: Damien Atkins in rehearsal sitting on bench with Colton Curtis who plays Lord Alfred Douglas Joe Szekeres One of Canada’s accomplished artists, Damien Atkins was raised in St. Albert, Alberta. He is a graduate of the musical theatre program at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, Alberta. This month, he will appear as Oscar Wilde in the world premiere of Soulpepper’s ‘De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail.’ I held a telephone conversation with Atkins as he walked to the theatre as the show was now in preview. Adapted by the creative team of Gregory Prest as Director with Original Music and Lyrics by Sarah Wilson and Mike Ross, the production is billed on the Soulpepper website as a musical fantasy based on Oscar Wilde's letter. At the same time, he was incarcerated for ‘gross indecency’ (homosexuality) with his love, Lord Alfred Douglas, for two years at Reading Gaol. Over three months, the letter was written a page a day, collected at the end of each day, and handed over to Wilde on his release from prison. When I asked him what drew him into wanting to learn more about Wilde, Damien paused momentarily. He added that, as a queer person himself, he has a connection to the flamboyant writer and author; however, the spectre of Oscar Wilde was a familiar nightmare of what can happen to a gay person, and Atkins didn’t want to look too far. The troubling factor remains that Oscar fell in love, which destroyed him. He went to jail for being gay, a wrong reason for imprisonment. Prest, Wilson, and Ross delved further throughout the rehearsal process to uncover the extra nuances of understanding Wilde. The creative team had always wanted to write a show for Damien when he received a call to see if he would be interested. Initially, he had no idea the story would be about the author. Atkins quickly adds that he has great confidence in the creative team and calls them brilliant. Audiences must come to see the production because it’s fierce, it’s wild, and it’s unlike anything they have ever seen: “[Gregory, Sarah and Mike] bring mischief and a sense of impishness. It’s a perfect blend of reverence and irreverence. A terrific blend of seriousness and frivolity has been balanced during this time. Their intuition, patience, and sensitivity to the culling of Oscar’s letter have been both fearless and kind…Prest has been unassuming and kind but also mischievous and fearless in his direction and staging.” There’s sensuality, sexuality, pleasure, and wit for audiences to witness. Atkins states the production is a theatrical endeavour unlike anything ever seen. Philosophically, it will lead us to ask if we all really know what happened to Oscar Wilde. The man was a genius, a revolutionary and a hero, but he was also a terrible person at times and, in Atkins’ words, could also be an ‘asshole.’ Nevertheless, ‘De Profundis’ will allow audiences to see Wilde’s tremendous humility in taking responsibility. Wilde does not apologize for his sexuality and renounces it. Instead, he takes responsibility for a bad lot and vows to do better by holding those in charge accountable for the wrong reasons for his imprisonment. When I asked him how he felt about rehearsals and previews, Atkins didn’t say too much except that things were going okay. During that time, his basic tenet was that everyone works as hard as possible. Damien keeps his head down and does not want to evaluate so much. How does he feel about the Canadian theatre landscape and industry changes? “Change is constant and necessary. It’s not always fun, but there has been some worthwhile movement forward that has been worth the hard work. The industry must continue to work on equity, diversity, and inclusivity (EDI). Yes, the pandemic made us aware, but we must continue to do more.” Atkins spoke about the troubling audience reluctance to return to some theatres nationwide. Encouraging people to return remains challenging, which has been a tremendous loss to the industry. Realistically, it’s all a question of money. That money (whether from the provincial, federal, or municipal governments) will also help other sectors. The help from the government is crucial moving forward as theatres continue to deal with changes and adaptations. Damien continues to hope audiences and governments will recognize that dollars are well spent promoting the arts. Once ‘De Profundis’ concludes its run, what’s next for Damien Atkins? At first, he jokingly stated: “A break,” and we laughed briefly. He’s not one to sit around, though. Atkins returns to the Shaw Festival this summer to play Sherlock Holmes for the third time in a new play entitled ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Human Heart. He will also appear in Bernard Shaw’s ‘Candida’. Damien would also like to continue to appear in his solo show “We Are Not Alone.’ I saw the production at Crow’s a couple of years ago. At first glance, the solo piece becomes a look at “mysterious sightings, videos of shapes moving in shadows and inexplicable crop circles. Are these occurrences a sign of otherworldly visitors, or are we being deceived?” Atkins stated the show becomes a comment on how we live together. Can we live peaceably with crazy ideas and notions? Hmmm…’ If “We Are Not Alone’ returns, it might just be worth another look. ‘De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail’ is now in previews. It opens on February 8 and runs to February 18, 2024, in The Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Lane, in Toronto’s Distillery District. For tickets, youngcentre.ca or call 1-416-866-8666. To learn more about Soulpepper Theatre, visit soulpepper.ca. Previous Next

Back Mike Nadajewski Looking Ahead (courtesy of The Shaw Festival) Joe Szekeres Mike Nadajewski’s work has been extensive in the Canadian theatre cannon, and I’ve been pleased to have seen his work in the Stratford production of ‘Jesus Christ, Superstar’ before it transferred to Broadway. Other memorable roles include ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’ at the Ed Mirvish Theatre and ‘Harvest Moon Rising’ (Talk is Free Theatre, Barrie, Ontario). Recently, I saw Mike read the role of Nick in ‘The Great Gatsby’ for Talk Is Free’s Theatre Dinner A La Art. I’ve always liked the Gatsby story and hearing it read made me hopeful that a play may be in the works sometime in the future. This summer, Mike will appear at the Shaw Festival. He speaks about his roles in one of his responses below. You will see Mike’s wit clearly in some of his responses below. To me, it appears Mike is the kind of guy who would be willing to say, “Let’s go for a beer.” We conducted our conversation via email as Mike is in the midst of rehearsals right now for Shaw. I do hope I get the chance to speak to him in person soon to say hello to him. Thank you for participating and for adding your voice to the series, Mike: It’s a harsh reality that the worldwide pandemic of Covid 19 has changed all of us. Describe how your understanding of the world you know and how your perception and experience have changed on a personal level. Well. First, I love these softball questions, Joe – nice n’ easy (!!!) What ever happened to, “How do you learn all those lines?” But seriously folks… Everything I say will be an understatement, no doubt, and my colleagues have spoken far more eloquently in your column than I can. (And now that I’ve hopefully lowered your expectations, buckle up for what can only be described as some primo insight.) When we were in the first months of this pandemic, I remember thinking how acutely I felt the loss of being able to gather. (See? Understatement.) I have the benefit of living with my family – a completely different experience from those who had to endure quarantine in isolation – and I still was completely blindsided by the realization of how deep this primal-gathering- need goes. The loss felt was grief, of course. We are hardwired to gather together and share ... something! Whether it’s art, food, religion, sports – we want to do it together and experience it together. What about those introverts, though? Well, I know a few of those (I’m also married to one!), and a lot of them got pretty tired of people saying to them: “Well, you’re probably fine with this, aren’t you?” Yes, at first, they were fine, but it wasn’t long before they weren’t, because once the choice of ‘going to that opening-night party or not’, or ‘grabbing that drink with colleagues or not’ is taken away from you, the power of choosing not to be social, so you can claim regenerative time for yourself, evaporates. I’m certainly not the first person to equate the gathering restrictions with feelings of grief. I often think, when it comes to any part of our quirky, uniquely contradictory and baffling array of human traits, “What’s the primal application here?” What purpose did grief serve our Cave-B&B ancestors when grief has the potential to shut you down completely? Of course, the other side of the grief-coin is love and attachment. I had never given much thought about the love and attachment I had for, well, just people. My fellow humans! And certainly not in this ultra-specific way. I’m already an empathetic sort. I’m an actor and I people-watch, and of course (on the inside), I watch myself interacting with people while I people-watch, and I’m kind of always taking notes on behaviour. And we all know what isolation does to people – it’s a form of torture and punishment in prisons, after all – so, within this context, I’ve been asking myself, “If contact is denied, is it an affront on our capacity for love?” Most of us have felt grief and heartache after a break-up with a partner, and when your heart is broken you grieve, and you’re generally not very interested in seeking out love again for a while. The COVID crisis has had kind of a similar effect on me. A kind of erosion has taken place. I remember last year being quite keen to gather as soon as possible. But over time, that keenness has been chipped away. This paralyzing, surgically precise attack on our second nature of passing touches, handshakes, hugs, and proximity, has slowly and rather insidiously eroded my desire to want to interact with people. Again, I have my family at home, and we get a lot of what we need from one another. In many ways – and please know I say this knowing that this has not been everyone’s experience – we have been incredibly grateful for this time as a family. But in other ways, it has turned me inward. I know we’ve all experienced this fatigue to some degree. I shudder to think of how our kids will be affected in the long run. I’ve got one of those (kids, I mean), and I think/hope mine will be alright – but what about the little-ones who are in their formative social-skill-building years? When it’s safe again to do so, it’s going to take time, along with some conscious effort, to find my way back to wanting interaction, even though I know I need it. With live indoor theatre shut for one year plus, with it appearing it may not re-open any time soon, how has your understanding and perception as a professional artist of the live theatre industry been altered and changed? My understanding and perception actually haven’t changed much, I’d say. Art finds a way. I’ve always known it could do this, but to actually witness and participate in this phenomenon has been pretty incredible. Artists will always find a way to make their art. I still think being able to congregate with a live audience and share stories together is an essential human experience and it’s not going away anytime soon (theatre has been dying for 4,000 years, after all). It wouldn’t be hyperbolic to say that our very humanity is centred around story-telling. Isn’t it funny that our TV’s are always desperately trying to evolve to become more and more “life like”? Higher definition, 4K, 8K, 12K, HDR, 3D, 50”, 75”, 85” screen sizes – this is technology jockeying to essentially replicate an immersive live experience. That’s not to say I don’t love story-telling in all mediums – film, television, video games, etc., but ultimately, at least for me, these are all placeholders for the real thing. What’s better than hearing your favourite band on your speakers or headphones? Seeing them LIVE! What’s better than seeing your favourite actor on screen? Seeing them LIVE! It feels as though LIVE shared experiences do something to us at the cellular level – or something. I don’t know! Dammit, Joe, I’m an actor not a …! By the way, have you noticed that everyone is obsessed with the arts? I’m not sure the greater population truly understands (which means our leaders probably don't understand) how artists touch everyday lives. All people want to do with their leisure time is read a book (written by an artist), listen to music (written by an artist), see a play (written and performed by artists), watch a film (created by artists), look at photographs (taken by artists), look at paintings (created by artists), read magazines (about artists) … this list is infinite. Art is how we survived lockdown! If I may indulge in a sweepingly general “our society” rant: Our society discourages, mocks, and dismisses its artists – these aggressions are received directly, indirectly, and systemically as well (you need to look no further than how the provincial government has abandoned the LIVE sector with confusing and unspecific guidelines for reopening). We even doubt our own worth: artists frequently discourage the next generation, telling them to, “Do anything else if you can”. I know this impulse comes from a good place, trying to give an honest reality check with statements like: “As an artist you will be underpaid, unappreciated, deemed expendable, a dime-a-dozen, seen as a free-loader, endure volatile income, it will be difficult to get a mortgage, better to have something to fall back on,” and so forth. I’ve heard them all. I’ll never forget the actor that came to my high school on Career Day. She basically said, “Don’t do it,” and that she was leaving the business. It was … really super inspiring (Can you see my eyes rolling? No? Cool.). But it’s not our fault that we feel devalued and feel the need to play the role of Dream Crusher to those hoping to make their way as artists. We need governments who understand the fundamental role artists play in our society. We need to seed long-term value in the arts. We need to foster the next generation of diverse artists from birth by funding access to the arts in all schools, including lower-income and diverse neighbourhoods. How about government funding for our major arts institutions that is on par with the support other arts organizations enjoy all over the world? I’m tired of artists needing to constantly shout from the hilltops, “ARTISTS ARE ESSENTIAL!” If you want a healthy, functioning, thriving society, ARTISTS ARE ESSENTIAL. Preaching to the choir here, I’m sure. As a professional artist, what are you missing the most about the live theatre industry? I miss the spontaneity of art popping up where you least expect it: a reading at someone’s house because they’ve just finished their play and need to hear it read out loud; a coffee concert, a grassroots project some folks are just throwing together, catching that show that’s only open for a weekend, an exhibit at that gallery. You know – Living Art. As a professional artist, what is the one thing you will never take for granted again in the live theatre industry when you return to it? Well, I’m lucky. I have already returned to theatre with outdoor rehearsals for Charley’s Aunt and Sherlock Holmes and the Raven’s Curse c/o the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. It is a well-known fact, but always bears repeating, that the Shaw Festival's handling of the crisis last year under the leadership of Tim Carroll and Tim Jennings (and the remarkable team behind them) was absolutely LEGEND – they managed to keep all of their artists employed throughout the entire summer by creating the Education and Community Outreach Specialists (ECOS) program. Many have also benefited from the mastermind running Talk Is Free Theatre (in Barrie, Ontario), Artistic Producer Arkady Spivak, who kept artists working throughout the winter months with a variety of innovative online projects. But to answer your question, what will I never take for granted? ‘Leaders who value artists.’ Describe one element you hope has changed concerning the live theatre industry. I feel like just before the pandemic hit we were beginning to see a shift in the culture with regards to providing theatre artists with a better work/life balance. I first began to see the change with Talk Is Free Theatre’s shorter rehearsal days and two-day weekends (a weekend!? — *gasp* — just like a real person!), as well as supporting artists with families by supplementing child-care costs, among other ground-breaking initiatives. I’ve noticed the Shaw Festival has endeavoured to give ensemble members a two-day weekend during rehearsals whenever possible, which is a terribly difficult thing to do, given how complex The Shaw’s repertory schedule is. It’s also worth mentioning that The Shaw has occasionally made allowances for artists to “call out” of a show to attend a loved one’s wedding (this was unheard of in the non-profit theatre world not too long ago!), as well as being able to attend funerals for people not directly connected to the artist’s immediate family (all of this with the caveat of having a rehearsed understudy, of course). I hope this trend continues – this holistic approach will only benefit the art in the long run. Explain what specifically you believe you must still accomplish within the industry. What I must still accomplish? Well, before I can answer that, I first need to acknowledge my position of privilege. Talking about this is tricky – I’m not looking to explain away my ‘benefitting from being a white dude in the arts’ by just saying I’m aware of it (this is one of the many, MANY reasons why I keep off social media, because saying anything like this can often be interpreted as virtue signaling and performative – but here I go.) I’m a white dude in the arts. I’ve worked at Canada’s major theatre festivals for the majority of my career. And yes, work ethic, yes, talent, yes, handsome … (Anyone? Anyone? No? Cool.) … yes, drive, yes, yes, yes – but I still have to acknowledge the fact that I will never fully understand the degree to which white privilege has played a role in my success in this industry because it’s so deeply baked into the DNA of everything I touch! Learning that I’ve been unknowingly complicit in upholding systemic biases by merely participating in this industry is mind blowing – another devastating realization afforded by this pandemic. But I own a home. I have a family. I live in a safe neighbourhood. I often have work to look forward to. I can even look back to my early beginnings in high school when I was first cast as the Emcee in Cabaret – I remember being told I looked like Joel Grey! I looked the part. There is no denying that I am a white artist who has benefited. So, what do I need to accomplish? Well, I am not an activist, and I am not an outspoken person in the room, it’s just not my nature (if anything, I am more peacemaker than instigator), but I want to be an ally. So, I need to do my part, however small, to help facilitate the deconstruction of systemic biases that are inherent in the system. By doing what? Well, I’m not always sure. As actors, we don’t have a lot of agency, but I need to actively look for opportunities to nudge things in the right direction, including (but not limited to) recommendation requests, seeing and supporting diverse artists with my ticket purchases, educating myself, educating my son, and a healthy dose of listening. I also hope that someday I get to be in plays that tackle this issue head on. I may not have the words to express it, but I know some brilliant artists who do! Some artists are saying that audiences must be prepared for a tsunami of Covid themed stories in the return to live theatre. Would you elaborate on this statement both as an artist in the theatre, and as an audience member observing the theatre. Isn’t it fascinating that there wasn’t a “tsunami” of stories after the last pandemic 100 years ago? I wonder if the feeling back then was, “No one wants to see or hear about that anymore!” I suppose the one big difference between then and now is, well, we have therapy. We know the value of healing through talking about things that are hard to talk about (yes, oversimplified). And truly, who could ask for a better backdrop to tell their story than this shared, visceral experience we’ve all endured together? A fascinating exploration for those on either side of the footlights! I cannot wait to hear all the unexpected stories about the times we’re living in. As an artist, what specifically is it about your work that you want future audiences remember about you? My curls. I don’t know. Who cares about me? As my friend and colleague Mike Shara says, (an actor I’ve admired greatly ever since my early days at The Shaw), “No one knows who the hell we are!” I love to make people laugh, I love to sing, and I love to act in compelling, potentially moving stories that hopefully resonate with people in profound and/or carefree ways. If I’m remembered for any those things: Aces! If not, then, sure the curls. To learn more about The Shaw Festival, visit www.shawfest.com . Facebook: @shawfestival Twitter: @ShawTheatre. Previous Next

Back Ali Kazmi 'Behind the Moon' means so much to me as a Canadian, as a South Asian and as a Pakistani...there's diversity in the Canadian theatre fabric which has been embraced. Jay Samuel Joe Szekeres After seeing Ali Kazmi as part of a solid ensemble performance this past fall in ‘Uncle Vanya’ at Crow’s Theatre, I wanted to learn more about this extremely humble and grateful artist who has been appreciative of all his opportunities in the performing arts. Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Kazmi has quite an extensive background in the performing arts according to his IMDB mini bio: [He] hailed from a family of creative juggernauts (actors and directors Rahat Kazmi and Sahira Kazmi, sister Nida Kazmi and Grandfather Bollywood actor Shyam)…Kazmi says: “It was like growing up in a warm, fuzzy and loving film school! [I] lived it, loved it, imbibed it, and have put it to good use since.” Even at the young age of seven working in a studio on a show his mother directed, Kazmi said he felt so much at home and found beauty in the chaos in the production of a televised show. He didn’t feel out of place at all. He continued in theatre, film, and even some clowning while studying and living in Pakistan. Kazmi warmly stated his parents taught him about being an artist and setting a strong foundational base for him. The career can be a difficult one. It wasn’t about fame or money. It was always about the art first. Do your best and everything else will be a by-product. If it comes, it comes. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Kazmi says he wants to be performing until he’s at least 80 and then laughingly stated if he dies (literally) on stage, he will be a lucky man. However, in his early twenties, Ali recognized he wanted to be a multidisciplinary artist and create his own path. He wondered how he can take the legacy forward from the foundational base established by his parents. Kazmi felt he owed to his parents, to himself and to the art as to what he could leave for the future performing arts community. He wanted to study film. Alas with no film schools in Karachi, how could he evolve further as an artist in a community that was saturated with film and theatre? Ali spoke lovingly about his childhood sweetheart with whom he fell in love in the mid-late 1990s. He credits his wife as a catalyst for his future changes and growth in coming to Canada. She came to study at McGill and, in 2001 (one year at university), she came back to see her parents for summer vacation. When he started dating her that summer, he kept thinking could he come to Canada, get his credits transferred and perhaps start film school? This all occurred in July 2001. He was set to come to Canada in September 2001, and we all know what happened then: “A single, Pakistani, Muslim male…there were no opportunities anymore, no visas, no nothing.” Ali recalled with a tone of sadness in his voice. “That was a very strange feeling coming from a decent family, an educated family, an artist family…I felt very strange…I’m not a terrorist.” Ali and his future wife made their six-year long-distance relationship work and got married when they were 24. Then it was a choice – He had an established career as an artist in Pakistan. She had started her work in Toronto as an accountant and doing very well. Forever the optimist, he called it an adventure and an evolution and chose to come to Canada in March 2008 and start from scratch. He attended the Toronto Film and Drama School while doing odd jobs. He also made a promise for six-seven years that he would not take any job offers from Pakistan because he really wanted to make a go of his career here in Canada. Ali’s first love is the theatre. This month he appears in ‘Behind the Moon’ by Anosh Irani which just recently opened at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre. Directed by Richard Rose, Kazmi appears with Vik Sahay and Husein Madhavji whom he calls brothers. During the pandemic two years ago, Ali signed on to be a part of ‘Behind the Moon’ and be in on the creative process with Rose and Irani. Set in a restaurant, Kazmi describes ‘Behind the Moon’ as a story about three men stuck in their own different stages in their lives. At times it’s a volatile story about humanity, a story about love and a story about how sometimes we misuse each other as humans and as people. Ali calls ‘Behind the Moon’: “a beautiful and poignant show”. What has it been like to work with director Richard Rose: “Richard Rose is probably one of the most interesting characters I’ve met in my life. I’ve learned so much…he’s a taskmaster. He got the pulse of the show. He’s so precise and at times you are at loggerheads, but that’s the beauty of theatre. Richard gives but also accepts the feedback back and forth between the actor and director. He thrives on it. And so do I. I appreciate that. On the inside, Richard is soft-hearted too where we would also discuss children and life. That’s what you want.” During ‘Moon’ previews, Ali says there were lovely people who came to see the production. When the audience is there, Ali says that’s fun because they continue to discover new layers to the show as there is so much complexity in it. He recalled how emotional he got the other day about the show: ‘Behind the Moon’ means so much to me as a South Asian, as a Canadian, as a Pakistani and as a human being. Anosh Irani’s story is simply beautiful and to share this play with two other brothers (Vik and Husein), two other South Asian Canadians, the impact of the reach of this show hit me yesterday. The magic of this show is the fact it hits on so many levels.” He, the cast, and the crew continue not to think too much about Covid’s embrace. They continued to test throughout the rehearsal period and will continue to do so. Now that the show is up and running, he said: “To be honest we don’t have too many extracurricular activities outside our performances. All of us are making sure we keep our essential activities to a minimum. It’s full steam ahead with the play. That’s all we can do. We have to live life.” There is a great deal of theatre going on in Toronto. Why should audiences come to see ‘Behind the Moon’? Ali stated it has been an interesting time for Toronto theatre. There’s diversity in its fabric and Canadian theatre is embracing this diversity. ‘Moon’ is not just a play about three men in a restaurant. It’s a story about being human, Canadian, and South Asian. Once again, Kazmi acknowledges how much he, Vik and Husein connected during rehearsals. They didn’t know each other at all before this play, and Kazmi is the first to point out how this play is a true ensemble production. What’s next for Ali once ‘Behind the Moon’ has completed its run? Ali continues to remain grateful the Toronto theatre community has accepted him. He goes straight into rehearsal and working with Necessary Angel in association with Canadian Stage and The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in the production of Pamela Sinha’s ‘New’ to be directed by Alan Dilworth at the end of April at the Berkeley Street Theatre. Tickets for ‘Behind the Moon’ are now available online through tarragontheatre.com or call the Box Office at (416) 531-1827. The production runs until March 19 at Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Avenue, Toronto. Previous Next

Back Andrew Moodie Theatre Conversation in a Covid World --- Joe Szekeres I was extending an invitation to Andrew to participate in this series through Messenger. Instead of writing one long bubble, I was dividing it into smaller bubbles. I hadn’t even got through the second bubble where I was going to send him some samples of the profiles, and Andrew quickly responded by saying he would LOVE to participate. We conducted our interview via email. Thanks, Andrew, for such a quick response. I’ve seen his work on stage several times at the Stratford Festival in ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Amadeus’, ‘Pinocchio’ at Young People’s Theatre and ‘Hamlet’ at Soulpepper. Andrew’s theatre writing credits include: Riot, Factory Theatre, 1995, directed by Layne Coleman. (1996 Chalmers Award for Best New Play). It has since been performed in Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax. Oui, Factory Theatre, 1998. Wilbur County Blues, Blyth Festival, 1998. A Common Man's Guide to Loving Women, jointly produced by Canadian Stage and the National Arts Centre, 1999, and has since been performed in Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax, and Vancouver. The Lady Smith, Passe Muraille 2000, also remounted in Montreal. The Real McCoy, Factory Theatre 2007, 2008, and has since been performed in Ottawa and mounted in St. Louis in 2011. And finally, Toronto the Good, Factory Theatre 2009 was nominated for a Dora award for Best New Play. When I asked him where he had completed his training, Andrew wrote the following to include in his profile: “I was not accepted at any [theatre] school I applied to. One school told me that I don't have what it takes to be a professional actor. At first, I was truly crushed that I didn't get in but after hearing the experiences of other black actors at theatre schools in the 80's I soon realized that I would never accept the way that they would treat me, and that I would have dropped out of the school and become an actor anyway. Some universities and colleges in Canada still struggle with racism. The solution is hiring a diverse faculty and accepting diverse students. I teach at the Toronto Film School and we have a diverse student body and a diverse faculty. Our students literally come from all over the world. The Director of Operations is an Asian woman, Annie John. She’s amazing. We have teachers who are South Asian, Asian, African Canadian, you name it. I LOVE it there. If you are a person of colour and are looking for a place to study film and theatre acting, I would suggest studying at the Toronto Film School.” Thank you for adding your voice to the discussion, Andrew: The doors to Toronto live theatre have been shut for over a year now with no possible date of re-opening soon. How have you been faring during this time? Your immediate family? I’ve been busier than ever. Writing, applying for grants, teaching. My wife works for a grocery store chain, so she has been busy as well. It’s been really challenging for my daughters. Really challenging. How have you been spending your time since the theatre industry has been locked up tight as a drum? I wrote a play for the Tarragon Theatre, and I am in a Musical Theatre workshop with the Musical Stage company. And I just did a movie with Jennie Garth called ‘Left For Dead’. I’m doing a reading of a Norm Foster play next month. And I’m doing research on a play about AI and racial and gender bias. Learning about how an AI company that sells facial recognition software to police forces all over the world was run by a white supremacist. So not much really. The late Hal Prince described the theatre as an escape for him. Would you say that Covid has been an escape for you, or would you describe this near year long absence from the theatre as something else? There is no escape. Remember, Shakespeare worked through the Black Plague. Some of his best plays were written during that time. I’ve interviewed a few artists several months ago who said that the theatre industry will probably be shut down and not go full head on until at least 2022. There may be pockets of outdoor theatre where safety protocols are in place. What are your comments about this? Do you think you and your colleagues/fellow artists will not return until 2022? That’s the plan. No theatre till 2022. And that’s even after everyone gets the vaccine. It’s killing me. Oh. Perhaps that was not the best choice of phrase. I had a discussion recently with an Equity actor who said that yes theatre should not only entertain but, more importantly, it should transform both the actor and the audience. How has Covid transformed you in your understanding of the theatre and where it is headed in a post Covid world? I always suspected that you could do theatre over the internet. Covid 19 has proven my hypothesis. The late Zoe Caldwell spoke about how actors should feel danger in the work. It’s a solid and swell thing to have if the actor/artist and the audience both feel it. Would you agree with Ms. Caldwell? Have you ever felt danger during this time of Covid and do you believe it will somehow influence your work when you return to the theatre? I feel true danger going to the pharmacy to buy medicine, or the grocery store, or the bank. True danger. It makes me put on a mask and rub my hands with antiseptic. Theatrical danger is actually just a fear of being uncomfortable. That’s not true-life threatening danger. And I LOVE making people uncomfortable in the theatre. The late scenic designer Ming Cho Lee spoke about great art opening doors and making us feel more sensitive. Has this time of Covid made you sensitive to our world and has it made some impact on your life in such a way that you will bring this back with you to the theatre? I’ve always been too sensitive. Painfully so. Hopefully, I will be less sensitive when all this is done. Again, the late Hal Prince spoke of the fact that theatre should trigger curiosity in the actor/artist and the audience. Has Covid sparked any curiosity in you about something during this time? Has this time away from the theatre sparked further curiosity for you when you return to this art form? Absolutely. I get curious about something and then I write a play about it. And one day you’ll see productions of all the things I’ve been curious about. Previous Next

Back Lesson in Forgetting, English Language Premiere Pleiades Theatre, Young Centre for the Performing Arts Cylla von Tiedemann Joe Szekeres Sometimes, works of artistry defy commentary. In the right hands of a committed artistic team, live theatre is skillfully crafted to become either beautifully cerebral and/or sharply felt within the heart. This is Pleiades Theatre’s ‘Lesson in Forgetting’. But I will do my best to comment. I attended this production with a friend who was intrigued as I was. We dissected as many theatrical elements of the production during the car ride all the way back to Oshawa following and then wondered if we were doing justice and being fair regarding this extraordinary presentation. If anything, we hope there might be future talkbacks (at least one?) for future audiences as the depth and breadth of this, what I will call, ‘mystical production’ remains with me even as I write at this moment. HE (a stunning, marvelous performance by Andrew Moodie) has suffered a massive brain trauma as a result of a car crash some years earlier. At the top of the show, we hear the crash so a possible trigger warning for future audiences. Ever since, the only thing HE can remember is how much he loves his wife SHE (immeasurably poignant and emotional character arc work by Ma-Anne Dionisio). SHE is confined to caring for him for the rest of her days and wishes nothing more than for him to forget that he loves her so that she might yet start over on her own path of life. Initially Reese Cowley as the Narrator puzzled me. Why is the person there? I needed to sit overnight on this question. When I re-read Ash Knight’s Director’s Programme note, then it suddenly made sense to me. Cowley’s confident performance at the top of the show where we are introduced to these two characters is noteworthy. The Narrator becomes the split in SHE’s mind and (spoiler alert for the rest of this paragraph), thus the reason why SHE is dressed in red and the Narrator is dressed in white. SHE has been broken and bleeding for so long as she does what she can to be of assistance to HE. The Narrator becomes that split in SHE’s mind as she is constantly wondering if there is something else for her beyond the struggles she now faces. How often have each of us wondered about this when we believe we can’t deal with our own personal struggles and challenges? Jackie Chau advantageously places the set in the middle of the auditorium with the audience on both sides. This sense of free flow allows for actor maneuverability and for the audience to be drawn immediately into the story action. Stages left and right are mirrors of each other as we see rectangular risers and boxes placed equidistant from each other. Marissa Orjalo’s selection of eerily sounding music coupled with Arun Srinivasan spectral lighting design foreshadows unearthly and metaphysical visions and movement. I loved that feeling of anticipation in hearing something and then wondering what might occur shortly. Denyse Karn’s Projection designs are breathtaking to watch as they appear so true to life that I felt like I wanted to reach out and feel the leaves falling into my hands. At one point, when SHE mentions how everything just stopped after the accident, the falling leaves are perfectly timed to cease at that moment. Exhilarating to watch and to take it all in visually. Jackie Chau’s costume designs suitably reflect the other worldliness captured in her set design. Dionisio majestically utilizes her deep red dress in a definitive, regal like movement. Moodie’s subtle earth tones of matching pajamas, beige housecoat and comfortable looking slippers offer a visual juxtaposition of two individuals who care deeply for each other but are worlds apart on account of the trauma and its aftermath. According to Andrey Tarasiuk, Pleiades’s Artistic Director, Haché’s script is super poetic and delicately written. How veritably true is this statement. Periodically, I found myself closing my eyes and just listening and hearing each spoken word of the text delivered with clarity, definition and understanding. Not once did Moodie or Dionisio’s monologue delivery ever sounded rushed. They instinctively allowed the words to speak and to sound what they mean and infer, an important task for all good actors to attain. To me, it appeared Director Ash Knight tenderly cares very much about the three individuals in this production. Might I even say he loves this piece as he asks us, in his Director’s Programme Note, if love is enough because by going deeper into the complexities of love between this man and woman, we realize love’s complexity challenges our minds and hearts. Both Ma-Anne and Andrew are certainly up for this challenge. I had the chance to interview her a few weeks ago and asked her how rehearsals are going. She stated the piece is a wonderful observation about the vulnerability and fragility of the human mind and heart, and the human spirit. And it is, but I’ll go one step further. What makes this production memorable for me is Knight’s vision in centering real grounded performances from Dionisio and Moodie. One example occurred in the dancing choreographed by Nicola Pantin. From my seat in the house, just watching Ma-Anne and Andrew move and sway themselves, their bodies and, ultimately, their souls in time with the music and with each other was sensually and sensitively arranged through Intimacy Director’s Siobhan Richardson’s coaching. There was nothing erotic or sexy about the dancing or movement between HE and SHE. It’s all about that spiritual and soulful connection we all wish to have in our lives, and that made the dancing bewitching to view. Again, in her recent interview with me, Dionisio reiterated how she has trained herself for the work to come through her, and never making it about her. How true this statement is for both actors. Never once during the heightened, tender, anguished, and wrenching emotions did either of them ever venture over the top into unbelievable melodramatic emoting, not once. Near the end of the production, I felt a gasp of breath as if I had been slapped in the face when we learn something about HE from SHE, but Dionisio moves forward as if to say it’s important to know, but going forward is it really worth it to know and to remember? Final Comments: There is a line from the play that resonated with me and I wrote it down in the dark hoping I could decipher it later: ‘Your body has forgotten desire, but not love.” In her playwright’s Progamme Note, Emma Haché asks of us if love is sufficient given what we may encounter in our lives? What kind of love then? Familial love, selfless love, unconditional love? Questions upon questions upon questions….but that’s what makes good theatre. This ‘Lesson in Forgetting’ is good theatre. Running Time: approximately 75 minutes with no intermission Masks in effect at the Theatre Production runs to May 22 in the Michael Young Theatre at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Lane, Toronto. For tickets, visit www.youngcentre.ca or call 1-416-866-8666. LESSON IN FORGETTING by Emma Haché Translated by Taliesin McEnaney with John Van Burek Commissioned by Pleiades Theatre Director: Ash Knight Choreographer: Nicola Pantin Set & Costume Design: Jackie Chau Lighting Design: Arun Srinivasan Projection Design: Denyse Karn Sound Design & Composition: Marissa Orjalo Intimacy Director: Siobhan Richardson Stage Manager: Laura Lakatosh Production Manager & Technical Director: Madeline McKinnell Performers: Reese Cowley, Ma-Anne Dionisio, Andrew Moodie Previous Next

Back Jacob James Theatre Conversation in a Covid World Selfie Joe Szekeres Jacob James is one extremely passionate fellow in sharing how this pandemic has ultimately transformed his life. I wasn’t able to include every single bit of information he shared with me during our hour-long conversation as one topic sometimes dove into another completely different question or topic that I hadn’t even considered. But that’s okay. At one point, Jacob poked fun at himself by telling me that I would glean from our conversation that he loves to speak with others who are just as passionate as he is about the arts and about the state of live theatre as we all move forward post pandemic. He is an actor, director, drama professor currently at Queen’s University in Kingston, and creator of the YouTube channel Theatre Curation Project. He has spent seven seasons with The Stratford Festival, five seasons with Drayton Entertainment, five seasons with Videocabaret (Dora awards), five seasons with The Thousand Islands Playhouse, and has worked with Theatre Kingston, Soulpepper, Neptune, Globe Theatre Regina, Charlottetown Festival, New York Shakespeare Exchange, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Playhouse...and more. As a teaching artist, Jacob has taught at arts institutions across North America for over 20 years including Michigan State University, St. Lawrence College, and Queen's University. Please visit Theatre Curation Project on YouTube and subscribe, follow him on Instagram at @jacoboneilljames. Jacob is a graduate of The National Theatre School, Birmingham Conservatory (Stratford Festival), Second City Conservatory, and York University's Teaching Artist program. Jacob adores his six year old son, Henry, and still finds time to consider new and exciting ways to keep interest in the arts going. I plan to check out many of his passion projects with the links included at the conclusion of his profile. We conducted our conversation via Zoom. Thanks again for the lively discussion, Jacob: The doors to Toronto live theatre have been shut for over a year now with no possible date of re-opening soon. How have you and your immediately family been faring during this time? I must say that many people are talking about the waves that it goes in. Sometimes I feel positive, inspired and motivated, then the next day I’ll sit the entire day in my pajamas at the computer checking social media. I was set to do my third of ‘Billy Bishop Goes to War’ this time with Drayton Entertainment. We were supposed to start rehearsals March 26. I was in New York at the time. I’ve been splitting my time between Kingston teaching at Queen’s and in New York where my son’s mother was based. It was a harrowing lifestyle for the going on two years I’ve been doing it. The numbers in Stratford are low right now, but we’ll see what happens in the summer. Henry, my son, is 6 and he’s doing alright. All to say, yes, there was such a downfall from theatre becoming disenfranchised and yet, at the same time, it meant that I got my son safely back to Canada. My son’s mother and I, we co-parent relatively well and decided to locate to Stratford. I spent my 20s as an actor and she owns a house here. On the one level, I have felt totally disenfranchised but on the life level really grateful not having to split my week between Kingston and New York City and all that travelling. Having my son back in Canada and in one place is good. I’ve had ups and downs, but it has forced me to get innovative and thinking about ways about what can I do to help. Theatre is being diminished through this pandemic and there is a real danger of it being impacted permanently. How have you been spending your time since the theatre industry has been locked up tight as a drum? That sense of stewardship started to rise within me as a result of this worldwide epidemic. I’m not the kid anymore and it’s my generation to make the initiative to preserve and to curate what past mentors had shared with me. I wish they were here because I would really like to talk to them now as I reflect back and wish I could ask them things now, but obviously I can’t. That gave birth to something I created on the You Tube channel called ‘The Theatre Curation Project.’ It started twofold. I got thinking about all the mentors whom I’ve had in this business who have now passed away. My original mentor, Valerie Robertson, was in Theatre Five. She is one of the mothers of Canadian Theatre. Here at Stratford, Richard Monette was my major mentor and influence. Well, there are a lot of people who are still alive and have these stories and lessons. Why not reach out to those who were influenced by those who may not be here? Why not reach out to those who are still here and are leaving their mark on the theatre scene? Kenneth Welsh is a veteran of our time, but who was his mentor for example. To my surprise, this avalanched into 40 + episodes of ‘The Mentor Series’ I’ve curated. I’ve about 20 in the bank ready to go. The idea here is to preserve these stories for future generations and from being lost forever when I’m gone. I got to thinking about the conversations we would be having in the rehearsal hall, and I’m a big ghost nerd. I get into these conversations of did anyone ever work in a haunted theatre and what was their experience. I discovered a lot of people share that same curiosity and interest, so I created a second series for the You Tube Channel ‘Haunted Theatre Stories’. The basic format is similar to the Mentor Series channel. The next phase of the Theatre Curation Project is the beginning of an online theatre school. Right now, we’re beginning with an online component. Eventually, I’d like to buy a building when we can be physically back together with that theatre school graduating into a theatre company, an apprenticeship school where there is an opportunity of doing. So, preserving the tradition and maintaining community are important. The late Hal Prince described the theatre as an escape for him. Would you say that Covid has been an escape for you, or would you describe this near year long absence from the theatre as something else? Yes, it has been an escape for me in good ways and in bad ways. Being in Covid has been an escape from hopping on a plane and going to New York to see my son or only seeing my son for half the time. It’s also been deprivation. I’ve been fortunate to have done a bit of tv and film over the interim since that has kept rolling. It doesn’t fill the void. I love editing and I wonder I might have become an editor for film and tv if I had gone a different path. I’ve interviewed a few artists several months ago who said that the theatre industry will probably be shut down and not go full head on until at least 2022. There may be pockets of outdoor theatre where safety protocols are in place. What are your comments about this? Do you think you and your colleagues/fellow artists will not return full throttle and full tilt until 2022? I’d say that’s a very safe bet. Again, there are a lot of variables that could take us further ahead that could accelerate the process but there are a lot of factors that could set us back. Of late, what I’ve been coming to terms with is the struggle. Certainly, in Canada and Ontario specifically, the colour coded roles and the numbers, these two things are not working together in tandem. My mom is still in Kingston and I talk to her regularly. When Kingston was opened up, even though Toronto was in lockdown, people in Toronto are going to Kingston to the restaurants. I shudder to say it: If we created a uniform set of rules for the province, we’d be in better shape. If we stayed in lockdown since Christmas, we wouldn’t be where we’re at right now. There’s always that tendency of “Well, if I visit this person, it’s just me not everybody.” When Trudeau said at the beginning last year, “It’s time to come home”, we still need to be in that tone, or nothing is going to be done. I get the fatigue of it all but… In the end, what is it worth if we can’t see our family next Christmas? My forecast for all this? There will be smatterings of outdoor theatre going on this summer. My thinking if rules are set that 100 or more can be in a theatre to watch a show, masked and social distanced, we could start seeing those small, distanced audience numbers in the fall, okay that’s a start. But back to where we were before with full houses and sitting next to people shoulder to shoulder? That won’t happen until at least 2022. I had a discussion recently with an Equity actor who said that yes theatre should not only entertain but, more importantly, it should transform both the actor and the audience. How has Covid transformed you in your understanding of the theatre and where it is headed in a post Covid world? It's transformed me because empathy has been at the forefront of my mind because this is what is needed right now to help control this worldwide pandemic. If we’re not empathetic and care for each other and put ourselves in each other’s shoes, wear the masks, do the social distancing then it’s going to continue to be bad news. I’ve been transformed because I used to be quite romantically optimistic about everything and had a lot of faith in humanity. I have to admit that the empathy is still there, but the faith in humanity has been dampened a little bit for me because it’s pretty simple. We’ve got a simple set of rules to follow to protect ourselves and each other, and yet there are people who are actively out to go against the grain. Here in Stratford, I’m seeing signs of NO MORE LOCKDOWNS. I can’t wrap my head around it. Where have I been transformed concerning live theatre? I’m all about theatre that engages as opposed to pacifies. Theatre needs to come from the inside out, not the outside in if it wants to be authentic and achieve any kind of vacuum quality acting level. The audience should feel like voyeurs, according to the late William Hutt. The late Zoe Caldwell spoke about how actors should feel danger in the work. It’s a solid and swell thing to have if the actor/artist and the audience both feel it. Would you agree with Ms. Caldwell? Have you ever felt danger during this time of Covid and do you believe it will somehow influence your work when you return to the theatre? I agree with Ms. Caldwell. We need to see a character begin somewhere and end up somewhere else. In order to do that, there must be conflict. The conflict is where the danger comes from. It makes me think about an experience I had. I originated the role of Clown 1 in the Canadian premiere of ‘The 39 Steps’. I had a strange kismet with that play where I later played Hannay at Neptune in Halifax. When I got to New York, there was an off-Broadway production running and I was asked to understudy all three male roles. But then the show closed. I assistant directed a Canadian production oddly enough with the guy who assistant directed the off-Broadway production and who I had been auditioning for in New York for the understudy job. Dayna Tekatch directed the Canadian premiere. She reminded us, excluding the role of Hannay, the characters can be as big and buffoonish as you want them to be, but they have to be rooted in playing a real objective to come from the inside out. They have to be real people and start as real people and not inauthentic lunatics. If these people are not real, there can’t be any danger. If there’s no danger, then there can’t be any stakes. If there are no stakes, then it becomes a bunch of silly gags and actors playing different characters. It needs to be that thriller. If there is no danger in this particular play, it’s over before it starts. I did a short film in Toronto over the last summer. It was the weird period of being in limbo between the first phase of the pandemic and not quite into the second phase. I remember thinking we are in this little window where we can do this. Productions have learned a lot since then; companies have learned a lot about how to do the protocols. We all had our tests on this film, but I was the stickler during the film ensuring that we would all be safe. There are these stories about Douglas Rain, one of the original company members at Stratford. He got a bit reclusive in his last days. Apparently, he set up a little tent corner area when he wasn’t working. He didn’t want to talk to anybody. I was close to pulling a Douglas Rain on the short film I shot last summer. I didn’t want anyone to come near me because I did feel the danger in my being a stickler about safety on set. I was grateful to do a job but felt petrified the entire time. I went to length of during that whole shoot and the two weeks after, I isolated from my son. The late scenic designer Ming Cho Lee spoke about great art opening doors and making us feel more sensitive. How has this time of Covid made you sensitive to our world and has it made some impact on your life in such a way that you will bring this back with you to the theatre? The thing I’m most keenly sensitive about from all this is we’ve all been experiencing some degree of trauma on the spectrum of trauma. I recognize that and have seen it manifested in myself and in others. It manifests in unexpected ways and it has heightened our reactions to so many things. Being a parent of a six-year-old, there are so many undiscovered epiphanies. I’ve been keenly aware of the other two kids who are in Henry’s learning pod through school. For those kids who can’t articulate the trauma they’re experiencing or recognizing it, I’ve learned how to be more sensitive especially towards Henry. He’s happy here in Canada, his socialization is fine with a good balance of work and play. There was a moment where something wasn’t right and just a moment out of the blue. Henry is a good kid. He’s funny, got a good sense of humour and is sensitive, there was a moment where he came up and sat on my lap, and cuddled up on me and hugged me and squeezed me. I asked him if he was alright, and he just started crying. He said he just felt sad. For ten minutes he went through that. It was hard, heart wrenching but it was good because he was having an emotional release. That led to a conversation of saying it’s a good thing if you’re feeling sad to cry because you’re letting it out of your system. He doesn’t understand fully what is happening to him. And it suddenly dawned on me that what I was telling Henry, I should have been telling myself as well. Sometimes you forget that if you need to take a day to be in pajamas and watch mindless movies or play video games, it’s okay to not feel the shame and to take the time to not do anything. How will this translate into my work? With my students I was working on a couple of different Shakespeare monologues. I gave them something dense and challenging from Richard III. In working with them, we looked at the two different Richards. We saw the adult and the child Richard. How did Richard get to this point? It started me thinking what this would have been for him? That level of trauma would probably have created some arrested development and to lead to insane behaviour and the shutting off of emotions. Again, the late Hal Prince spoke of the fact that theatre should trigger curiosity in the actor/artist and the audience. Has Covid sparked any curiosity in you about something during this time? Has this time away from the theatre sparked further curiosity for you when you return to this art form? The Theatre Curation Project and Channel have made me even more curious. I’m a big theatre nerd. Long before I studied at the Stratford Festival, I had the books about William Hutt and renowned at Stratford and I was a big theatre history buff. But looking at the journey and legacy of how we got from where it started to where we are now is at the forefront. What I’ve been recognizing as we’re 40 episodes in with more to follow, the similarities, the patterns and the story forming from hearing the accounts of these mentors, I’m realizing and now starting to map together the foundations of Canadian theatre and the commonalities. It’s prompted me to perhaps have these stories come out as special presentations. Ultimately, I want to transpose a lot of these stories into books and volumes so they can be in libraries of theatre schools long after I’ve left this world. I got thinking about this idea of the architects of Canadian theatre. At this point, I can count on two hands specific people who started it all. Almost in a Bible format, I’d like to write the ‘Genesis’ history of the architecture of Canadian theatre, the creation of Canadian theatre. One volume for example might be called THE BOOK OF HUTT (with great respect to William Hutt) and the impact they had then and now. My drama students at Queen’s don’t know who are Val and Gord Robertson. This has to change. They have to know these names of the greats of Canadian theatre some who came from Kingston. Just in terms of life as well has made me curious. There is re-inventing going on because of the pandemic. Rather than being defeated by all this, what can we do in spite of all this. Not only to keep it going and preserve the stories, but I’ve said in some of the faculty meetings with the drama department at Queen’s to look at online learning as an opportunity and silver lining that perhaps what we are doing online now will augment the learning of the students when they return in person. To learn more about Jacob’s passion projects, please visit: YouTube Theatre Curation Project: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLhEdMQ-NVs_WC61tHYw7yQ?sub_confirmation=1 Facebook Group: Theatre Curation Project https://www.facebook.com/groups/645544769451393/ Patreon: www.patreon.com/theatrecurationproject Follow Jacob James on his Insta: @jacobonielljames Previous Next

Back 'Intimate Apparel' by Lynn Nottage Now onstage at the Firehall Theatre until August 27 as part of the Thousand Islands Playhouse Series Credit: Randy deKleine-Stimpson. Jonathan Silver as Mr. Marks and Gloria Mampuya as Esther Joe Szekeres A Voice Choice. ‘Intimate Apparel’ remains a gripping production with an empathetic vision in direction and highly credible performances. Playwright Lynn Nottage had been helping her grandmother move from her family home when she came across an old passport photo of Nottage’s great-grandmother. For Lynn, that photo invited questions about her great-grandmother that no living person could answer. ‘Intimate Apparel’ resulted from questions Nottage gathered about her great-grandmother, Ethel, who lived as a seamstress in New York City at the dawn of the twentieth century. The production is set in 1905, in New York City (and in a segregated America). ‘Intimate Apparel’ focuses on central protagonist Esther Mills (Gloria Mampuya), a 35-year-old unmarried black seamstress living in a boarding house for women. Her landlord is Mrs. Dickson (Kirsten Alter). Esther makes intimate apparel for women ranging from high society white individuals like Mrs. Van Buren (Olivia Neary-Hatton) to prostitutes like Mayme (KhaRå Martin). Esther is in high demand for her work as a seamstress. She has set aside money over the years and has stuffed it into the quilt on her bed. She hopes one day to open a beauty parlour for black women where they will receive the same treatment as wealthy socialite white women. Esther is also lonely. She has watched other women from the boarding house marry and leave. She longs for a husband and her own life as well. Her heart appears to lie with the Hasidic fabric shopkeeper Mr. Marks, (Jonathan Silver), from whom she buys the fabric to make the garments. Mr. Marks is also smitten with Esther; however, his strict faith does not permit him to pursue this relationship. Additionally, he is part of an arranged marriage set by his parents years ago. An unseen mutual acquaintance introduces Esther to George Armstrong (Fode Bangoura), who works in Panama building the canal. They correspond by letters. Throughout Act One, we never see George but only hear his voice as he reads his letters. Esther is illiterate, so she has someone write for her. Soon, these letters move from formal introductions to intimate connections where George suggests he and Esther marry without seeing each other. Great care has been taken to accurately depict the early 1900s down to minor details in the three-quarter theatre setting of the Firehall. Sarah Uwadiae’s has created four distinct playing areas. At centre stage on a raised circular dais is Esther’s room. There is a bed and a quilt stuffed with her money. A turn of the twentieth-century century foot-pumped Singer sewing machine figures prominently centre stage. Stage right is the boudoir of Mrs. Van Buren. Stage left is Mayme’s apartment where she entertains her ‘guests,’ and Mr. Marks’ fabric shop. Frederick Kennedy’s sound design is solid in hearing the sound of the door knocks and bells as Esther moved around the stage. Jareth Li’s lighting design adroitly sets the appropriate mood. Joyce Padua’s costume designs finely replicate the early 1900s. This ‘Intimate Apparel’ remains a gripping production. The creative team has taken great care to ensure the poetry of Nottage’s language is never overshadowed by the, at times, underlying violent tones. Director Lisa Karen Cox clearly shows empathy for Esther and the role of women in the early 1900s. Gloria Mampuya delivers a graceful and human performance of the central character. Although not school-educated, Esther has worked diligently to reach her current position in life. Despite Esther’s illiteracy, Mampuya duly reveals the protagonist’s determination to succeed in establishing her future beauty parlour and in wanting to find a husband who will love her for who she is. While she falls prey to George Armstrong's hands, Mampuya duly maintains Esther’s dignity and worth. Women at the turn of the twentieth century were not highly valued. Playwright Lynn Nottage shows these opposing societal standards in the socialite Mrs. Van Buren and prostitute Mayme. Olivia Neary-Hatton’s Mrs. Van Buren is vain and egotistical at first. There are moments when she, too, shows her white privilege over Esther. However, once Van Buren's backstory of a loveless marriage is revealed, Neary-Hatton's emotional outburst and desire for connection with anyone, including Esther, become heartfelt. Esther's friend, Mayme (KhaRå Martin), has personal interactions with men, of which Esther disapproves. Mayme may initially be viewed as "the tart with a heart," but Martin wisely reveals more on stage. Like Mampuya, Martin’s solid performance duly asserts dignity and worth in Mayme, elevating her to a significant influence in Esther's life. Kirsten Alter is likeable and commanding in the role of boarding house landlady Mrs. Dickson who becomes the voice of reason in Esther’s life. It becomes interesting that Dickson is the only person who speaks the truth to Esther while the other characters all have hidden secrets lying underneath. Lynn Nottage effectively reveals how patriarchal societal norms affect the life paths of her male characters. As shy fabric retailer Mr. Marks, Jonathan Silver's initial bashfulness in concealing his feelings for Esther remains quite touching. Director Cox skillfully utilizes this initial meekness to heighten the sexual synchronicity between Esther and Mr. Marks. Whenever the retailer brings forth new fabric, Silver lovingly and intimately strokes the material with his fingers as he presents it to Esther. Mampuya responds by touching the material with the same long finger strokes. These scenes are intensely passionate moments between the two without touching each other. Throughout Act One, we only hear Fode Bangoura’s voice read the letters as George Armstrong. Bangoura’s voice is mellifluous and sultry. As the letters become more intimately personal throughout Act One, Mampuya dreamily listens to them read like a bride on her wedding night and finely responds as one. She is a woman who hopes George is the one who will sweep her away and allow her to open the beauty parlour. However, all is not right as Mrs. Dickson suspects. When the audience finally sees George at the end of Act One, he is not what his letters sound like. For instance, when the audience first sees George, his ill-fitting suit with the slightly ripped fedora indicates he is not the man he says he is. Bangoura delivers more than just the proverbial ‘snake oil’ salesman in his performance. His George Armstrong is deceptively cunning and dangerous, filled with a desire for destruction. His relationship with Esther is not one of sexual attraction but rather a violent and twisted connection lacking in passion. Final Comment: In her Director’s Note in the Program, Lisa Karen Cox writes that she is deeply vested in celebrating and sharing Esther’s perspective (and the perspective of others that look like her) with the theatre-going public. While Esther may not be ‘school educated,’ this production clearly shows a woman who is deeply intelligent because she has lived life and will continue to do so despite repressive societal standards for women. The audience is richer for this experience as this terrific cast has successfully captured Cox’s wish and heartfully honours it. Please see ‘Intimate Apparel.’ Running time: approximately two hours with one intermission. ‘Intimate Apparel’ runs until August 27 at the Firehall Theatre, 185 South Street. For tickets, call the Box Office at (613) 382-7020 or visit 1000islandsplayhouse.com. THOUSAND ISLANDS PLAYHOUSE presents ‘Intimate Apparel’ by Lynn Nottage Directed by Lisa Karen Cox Set Designer: Sarah Uwadiae Costume Designer: Joyce Padua Lighting Designer: Jareth Li Sound Designer: Frederick Kennedy Stage Manager: Rebecca Eamon Campbell Intimacy Choreographer: Corey Tazmania Performers: Gloria Mampuya, Kirsten Alter, Olivia Neary-Hatton, Jonathan Silver, KhaRå Martin, Fode Bangoura Previous Next

Back Chris Tolley and Laura Mullin PlayME is a love letter to the Canadian Theatre Scene Courtesy of CBC Media Centre Aaron Kropf PlayME, a unique show, offers anyone around the world the opportunity to experience some of the best theatre Canada has to offer. PlayME is a podcast that is the brainchild of Laura Mullin and Chris Tolley. They were looking for a way to expand the audience of some of Canada's best theatrical productions. PlayME has been a CBC podcast since 2018 and this year they have put together their most ambitious season to date in offering some of the greatest hits in theatre this year including shows such as 'Prodigal', 'First Metis Man of Odesa', and (the most talked about show of shows of 2023) 'Uncle Vanya'. This season may seem more ambitious than previous ones. For anyone that has been listening over the years, that is by design. A few weeks ago I got to chat with Laura Mullin and Chris Tolley about the show. Below is a little insight into PlayME. We talked about starting the show, what makes a season, and how does a show come together. Getting some of this insight provided more appreciation for the podcast. Each season Mullin and Tolley try to put together a season that gives a lot of insight into what is going on in the theatre scene across Canada. Once they have selected the show they would like to have included in the season, the work really starts. As you can probably imagine, taking something from stage to an audio format would require a different approach. Mullin and Tolley will sit down with the playwright to help make a show more suited for an audio only audience. But it is vital to keep the integrity of the original production. This included, as best they could, getting the company members together to record the show in the studio. This helped to keep the vibe of the stage production. PlayME is really a love letter to Canadian theatre. This is a way to experience shows that you may not be able to experience in the theatre because you cannot always travel to a show. Experience all Canadian theatre has to offer vicariously through the CBC podcast, available where you get your podcasts. If you love theatre you'll love what PlayME has to offer. Previous Next

Back Frayne McCarthy Canadian Chat Selfie Joe Szekeres Frayne McCarthy is one extremely busy artist. As the Artistic Director of King Street Productions, Frayne works alongside his creative partner, Kevin John Saylor, who is the Artistic Director and owner of the Royal Theatre, Thousand Islands in Gananoque, Ontario. This quaint Eastern Ontario town is one of the most beautiful tourist destinations in late spring, all summer and fall. After two invitations with no response from Frayne, I had moved on. It was a nice surprise to get the answers to the questions from him tonight through Messenger. As you read his answers, you’ll understand and see why he must place some elements of his life in priority. Frayne has liked some of the profiles I’ve published over the course of the pandemic, but his name sounded familiar to me even before I saw his resume. Once I saw it, then I knew where I had seen his work before. I saw Frayne’s performance as Marius in the Montréal production of ‘Les Misérables’ at Théâtre St. Denis. I also saw his work in the original Canadian cast of the musical ‘Napoleon’ at Toronto’s Elgin Theatre. You’ll see from his answers what else and where else Frayne’s life and work have taken him. Thank you so much, Frayne, for adding your voice to the conversation: Tell me about some of the teachers and mentors in our life for whom you are thankful and who brought you to this point in your life as a performing artist. I haven’t had a typical performer’s training, so some of my mentors might surprise you. I suppose I can honestly say that my earliest mentor was my mother. I remember singing with both my Mom and Dad during the longish car rides to visit my grandparents. My mother always had a beautiful singing voice (and still does), and even as a young child I appreciated that she had something more significant in her sound than any of my teachers who taught us ditties at school. Fairly recently, I heard a keepsake cassette-recording of Mom singing with a twelve-year-old me for an aunt and uncle’s wedding, and I realized that, indeed, Mom had the natural talent to have been a professional singer. That sort of thing just wouldn’t have been considered realistic for an English-speaking girl from a rural background in western Quebec in the 50s and 60s…but she was absolutely that talented. In fact, performing never seemed like a possibility for me either. I attended a high school where there was no drama program to speak of, except for the small mafia of popular kids (which definitely did not include me) who seemed to monopolize the class for social time. There were no school plays or musicals, so I was never the least bit inclined to explore Theatre in school. But once I got to college things changed. Heritage College in Hull (now Gatineau) Québec didn’t have a Music or Theatre program, but while I was there, it did have a National Award-Winning stageband comprised of high school grads (that’s grade 11 in Québec) with exceptional talent who came from the separate school board’s feeder school (so, not the high school that I attended). These players were so remarkable that they were kept together as a group by two very caring bandleaders, Bobby Cleal and Heather Karas, who volunteered their time and talent to continue working with these students who had so much musical potential, and to help carry their development further. Bobby, Heather, and this brilliant gang of musicians to which they were committed just came together to rehearse (for no academic credit or financial remuneration at all) because it was thrilling to make amazing music together. And my own life was completely changed when I was allowed to participate as a band vocalist. Now, I know you might be wondering what singing in a band might have to do with Theatre, but I only later came to realize that it had a great deal to do with how I evolved as an actor. I learned to interpret my songs. Acting is storytelling and every song is a story being told through with music; it’s a sung soliloquy of sort. As I explored the feelings behind the lyrics, the dialogue that told these stories, I was becoming an actor. I was privileged to be a real part of this group of brilliant, talented players who, again without a Music Program, went on to win several Music Festival awards including the National College and University top prize and a regional ‘Best Festival Soloist’ – usually reserved for an exceptional instrumentalist – by me, a singer. I will always remember Heather talking through a band arrangement for a vocal number, and I will always remember when, after hearing me sing, Mr. Cleal officially announced that I was in the band. Excellence was nurtured by these great mentors who gave so much of themselves to our young band. Several of the players went on to professional careers in music. And because they took a chance on me and believed in my talent long before I ever took a singing lesson, I had an opportunity to discover my own potential as a performer. Sorry for reminiscing at such length about how I became a band singer, but it really was a catalyst for my personal artistic development. I later went on to study at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec; I took electives and audited classes in the University of Ottawa Music Department (while I was a full-time student in the Visual Arts Department). Later I studied Vocal Performance for a few semesters in the Jazz Program at Humber College. Some of my music teachers were very helpful, but I made my greatest strides as a singer with my private voice teacher, Bruce Kelly in Toronto, who became my mentor and friend. He took on the mantle of mentor very seriously, and he was a constant and generous source of guidance, information, and support. I had the privilege of studying with Bruce for several years and he still inspires me today. As for Acting mentors, well I learned stagecraft mostly “by doing”, and talking to directors and other actors whom I respected. Much of my formal education was spent in Art studios with a paintbrush in my hand, but I realized eventually that I yearned to be a performer, particularly in Musical Theatre. Rather than go back to school to immerse myself in a formal theatre program, I instead threw myself into as many amateur productions as I could audition for in the Greater Toronto area, where I was living at the time. And it was an amazing education, although I sometimes joke that it was the School of Hard Knocks. I spent many hours learning my lines and lyrics while on buses and subways travelling to rehearsals in Toronto, Scarborough, Mississauga or wherever there was a show that I wanted to be in. I just got myself there. Of course, there were lessons to be learned through every show in which I was cast, but wo very special people stand out as my mentors during this period of my life: Lorraine Green Kimsa was the Artistic Director of Broadway North in North York, and she knew how to push me to be bolder and more confident that I eve thought I could be on stage. She took my shyness and vulnerability and made them strengths. Next, choreographer Nina Falconer, who became like a sister to me, taught me to have fun with dance, and to remember to smile in difficult scenes or through songs of melancholy or sorrow. Nina was never my director, but she was a constant artistic touchstone whom I always trusted when I asked for her personal notes. You can instinctively figure out who you best teachers are, and Nina was one of them. I’m trying to think positively that we have, fingers crossed, moved forward in our dealing with Covid even though the media tells us otherwise. How have you been able to move forward on a personal level? How have you been changed or transformed personally? Covid has been a terrible beast. I admire the people who can honestly say they have been positively changed through this period. Like many, I put on a brave face, pulled away from friends and family, took a forced break from my career, followed all prescribed protocols (including double vaccination and then boostered), and I’ve been waiting for things to get better. You know this, but your readers likely are now aware that I co-own the Royal Theatre Thousand Islands in Gananoque, Ontario with my partner, Kevin John Saylor In March of 2020 we shut down our operations before many other theatres, and we’ve remained closed until some limited capacity events were briefly allowed. But the stress of having both our home and the theatre to maintain without an income has been hard on my partner and me. Just because there weren’t any shows on our stage didn’t mean that we didn’t have the regular monthly overhead to pay. Kevin took a job on the Mohawk Territory of Kahanawake, which is his home community, teaching Grades 7 and 8 English. We are grateful for his employment at this time because we need some kind of household income to cover bills at the house and at the Royal. Unfortunately, I know that Kevin who has taught Theatre at the State of New York, has four University Degrees and a Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General of Canada, is not in the most fulfilling teaching position for someone with his qualifications and artistic experiences. And so, while he’s in the classroom, we’re apart from one another during the week, every week, which is challenging, stressful and depressing. It’s an entirely different mindset than when we’re separated for creative work, like a show in a different city. So, I suppose the greatest challenge these days is maintaining a degree of optimism for the future. We need to take care of our mental health more than ever because, honestly, Covid has not presented any positive experience in our household at all. We are thankful that we and our circle of friends and family have not suffered any casualties. How have these last few months changed or transformed you professionally? Okay, I appreciate the nuance in this question, but again I’m amazed when I read about people who say that their creative careers have been transformed because of the pandemic. I’m not saying that it can’t be, but that I respect and tip my hat to these artists. Before Covid hit us all sideways, I was enjoying a bit of a career reboot. I had just come off a back-to-back gig in two of the most popular shows in Québec. I spent a year playing Harry Bright, a role I’d dreamed of playing in the spectacular multi-million-dollar production of ‘Mamma Mia!’ for Just for Laughs Productions in Montréal and Québec City. This French language production was a bold and beautiful (and frankly much improved) new version of the popular show. I knew well from being cast in the Mirvish Production in Toronto. Director and translator Serge Postigo’s reimagining of ‘Mamma Mia!’ was one of the most joyful experiences of my stage career. And while Kevin and I were apart, we were both creatively engaged (he at the Royal) and happy, and we managed to see each other quite frequently. Mamma Mia!’ then dovetailed perfectly with my next show, which was quite possibly the most prestigious stage production of the year in Montréal, Michel Tremblay’s and Andre Gagnon’s gorgeous ‘Nelligan’ for Théâtre du Nouveau Monde. I played the role of the father, David, in the piece and I was so captivated by the intimate family drama about unconditional love being impacted by mental illness that I collaborated with Michel on an English language adaptation of the show. I didn’t have an agent but was quite confident that I would be able to attract bilingual representation with my work in ‘Nelligan’. I was also very certain that I had acting work on the table for several months still as I had already been tapped to continue on as David Nelligan through the next summer in Québec City. The production was actually on tour throughout the province when we got word that we were cancelled. Overnight, every creative person I knew was unemployed. And soon after, as I tried to reach out to agents, I got the same unsurprising response that they were not taking on new talent, especially not at this time. Yes, some artists have tried to embrace the internet and present themselves online through live streaming. I was (am) one of them. I was very excited to be one of the first batch of performers selected by the National Arts Centre for their Canada Performs series. My one-hour live show was called ‘Émile Nelligan & Michel Tremblay in Poetry/en Poésie’ and it was well received Then Kevin and I worked with the American Federation of Musicians, the Musicians’ Trust Fund and the Union of Professional Musicians of Eastern Ontario to present several concerts at the Royal Theatre. And we also helped to produce twice the First Peoples’ Performing Arts Festival of the Thousand Islands online. But I’ve discovered that I do not have a particular passion or aptitude for the technical aspects of this very specific forum/medium that is the very particular specialty of some Creators. Sadly, the glut of amateur video production may have devalued the work of creatives working seriously in this medium. And the flood of free online performances of all sorts, I think, has somewhat devalued the work of many professional performing artists. But we need to move forward, and so, at the Royal, we have invested in equipment and continue to collaborate with the Union of Professional Musicians of Eastern Ontario. We hope we will be able to improve our online presentation when the gathering of groups for the purpose of livestreaming is allowed again (it’s been restricted, on and off). The Royal Theatre Thousand Islands is an amazing space acoustically for presenting live music, and musicians love the vibe of the place. So we do what we can, when we can, to use our space creatively, but that is not why my partner and I bought the Royal in 2013. Kevin and I bought a theatre because we are both actors and directors and we hoped that we would be establishing an exciting performance venue in Eastern Ontario, but it’s been extremely hard, and Covid has only presented more challenges. But has Covid changed or transformed us as artists? I guess it has made us fighters. We will not lose our dream, and so we are adapting at every turn, as best we can, and we do so with determination. And I hope that I will personally be able to get back on stage soon as well. In French or in English, I need to be performing. Do you see the global landscape of the professional Canadian live theatre scene changing at all as a result of these last two years (and moving into a third year)? The Canadian live theatre scene has been in limbo for basically two years now. I hear about actors who are looking forward to picking up contracts that were deferred all this time, but they are nonetheless doubtful that the shows will go on. I, myself, was offered a since-postponed ‘Nelligan’ concert tour, that is now being reconsidered, but no contract has been offered because everyone is still in a wait and see holding pattern. I completely understand. As theatre owners, Kevin and I are concerned about public safety, and we know that we are not alone. The global pandemic hasn’t run its course yet…and so we need to resign ourselves to being patient awhile longer. We know of theatres and companies that have closed permanently since Covid started, and so, yes, fewer performance opportunities and spaces will definitely affect the Canadian live theatre. Interestingly, I have many actor friends in Paris, France, whose shows are still going on and being sold to full-capacity houses. The spectacular mega-production French adaptation of ‘The Producers’ is completely sold out and has now announced a long-extended run. Meanwhile, in Canada, the huge success of Mirvish’s ‘Come from Away’ had to close completely because there wasn’t enough government financial support or understanding of how important this production was, what it represented or how terminating its theatrical run hurts a Canadian industry as well as many satellite businesses that rely on the success of the arts. But is it reckless for big shows (or shows of any size) to still be running in France? When I hint at my concerns for my friends’ and the public’s safety, I am gently rebuffed…so I say nothing further. The subject is so completely polarizing that I don’t want to lose friends, either here or in Europe. I see all sides. As an actor and theatre presenter, I am desperate to get back to business as usual, but I don’t want to be doing so in a way that endangers fellow artists or patrons. And when you are talking about someone’s livelihood in the performing arts, it’s even more difficult because our industry was the first to be completely shut down and has always seemed to be the least understood in terms of how to support our professionals and how to get show business back on its feet. How much our own Canadian theatre scene will change remains to be seen, I think. We still need to see how many companies survive, and how many theatre professionals have moved on to other employment opportunities. There is certainly going to be a period of rebuilding our industry required for awhile. What excites/intrigues/fascinates Frayne McCarthy post Covid? Post Covid? I want to get representation (remember, I’m in agent limbo) and see if I can get back on the boards and in front of the camera a bit more. I am also starting work on a second English language adaptation of an opera by Michel Trembly and composer Christian Thomas. In a perfect world, I’ll get back onstage as a performer. ‘Nelligan’ will be workshopped and produced.; I’ll work with Michel and Christian on ‘Solemn Mass for a Full Moon in Summer’; and maybe some light might also shine on ‘The Virgin Courtesan’, a musical I wrote with the brilliant Blair Thomson. And, of course, there is the Royal Theatre Thousand Islands, which is the 165-seat vaudeville theatre that Kevin and I run in Gananoque which I hop will become better known and appreciated as a great live-performance venue in Eastern Ontario. How many actors do you know who would go so far as to change their lives to buy, restore, and operate their own theatre? Not many, probably, because it’s madness! But Kevin and I love the Royal, and we have surrounded ourselves with great people who, like us, see wonderful potential for making our town a much more important arts destination in Canada. What disappoints/unnerves/upsets Frayne McCarthy post Covid? I supposed the idea of needing to start so many things from scratch. This is a weird business where you are quickly forgotten unless you are in the immediate creative mix. You’re apparently only as relevant as the last show you were in. I’ve always straddled Toronto and Montreal because I don’t seem to be one of the usual suspects in either city, and now I live in neither, but between both. I have been written off as retired by some people, and I just want to scream from the mountaintops that I’m still here, probably more dedicated to performing than I have ever been in my life. But I suppose that’s up to me, to make a stronger impression. Where does Frayne McCarthy, the artist, see himself going next? GOING next? Is that a trick question? Because if I could choose to actually go anywhere other than here (Gananoque/Montreal/Toronto), it would be to return to Paris to perform. I was blessed to live there for a time, and that city just felt so perfectly like home. Kevin loves it there too, so if there was a way to work in Paris again, and bring my Kevin along for the ride, and somehow leave the Royal in the care of a brilliant Manager (oh, the dream of being able to hire a Theatre Manager is so huge for us) that would be amazing. And seriously, I do see myself returning to Paris at some point in the future. I think I have more professional cachet in Europe as the first French Marius in ‘Les Miserables’ and the first French Capitaine Haddock in ‘Tintin, le temple du soleil’ than I have for any of my work in Canada. But next…-most immediately? I want to see my English language adaptation of ‘Nelligan’ come to life on stage so that I can continue to work on it with Michel Tremblay. And I will also continue working with Michel and Christian Tomas on the English language adaptation of ‘Solemn Mass for a Full Moon in Summer’. I also want to get an agent…and in jig time, I’ll be booked in the Big Time…Oh, what a dream! (Sorry, I geeked out there on a bit of ‘Gypsy’) Yeah, I want to get back in the saddle! And Kevin and I, and our Board of Directors, and our team of Royal Family volunteers will continue to build on our Royal Theatre Thousand Islands brand as an important Arts Venue in the Best located tourist destination in Ontario! Where does Frayne McCarthy, the person, see himself going next? Oh, you are being tricky! I see what you did there! Frayne the Artist and Frayne the person have been the same for so long that I hardly distinguish between the two. Frayne is only perhaps less the Artist when he is “Frayne, the son of Teresa and Kevin”…but even then, as I mentioned, my Mom was always a singing mentor; and both Mom and Dad have been my greatest supporters as an artist, and my Dad is even on the Board of Directors of our Production Company! I’m incredibly blessed to have them both so fully involved in all facets of my life. My friendships, too, nearly all revolve in some way around the world of the arts. And my relationship with Kevin is also deeply rooted in our artistic partnership. We met working on Theatre together; grew closer through working on Theatre together; and now we own and manage a Theatre together! Kevin makes me a better person, but he also makes me a better artist in every way possible. Frayne the person will go wherever Frayne the Artist needs to be. RAPID ROUND If you could say one thing to one of your mentors or favourite teachers who encouraged you to get to this point as an artist, what would it be? I discovered that my mentors were people whom I wished to somehow emulate, and so I thank you for your example, support and guidance. If you could say something to any of the naysayers in your career who didn’t think you would make it as an artist, what would it be? The news of my retirement has been greatly exaggerated. What’s your favourite swear word? I honestly don’t like to swear. Swearing is a lazy form of expression, and I don’t think much of it in play dialogue either. What is a word you love to hear yourself say? Gorgeous What is a word you don’t like to hear yourself say? Disingenuous What would you tell your younger personal self with the knowledge and wisdom life experience has now given you? To that kid who was mercilessly bullied, I’d say “It gets better.” With the professional life experience you’ve gained over the years, what would you now tell the upcoming Frayne McCarthy from years ago who was just in the throes of beginning his career as a performing artist? Go to the events and be seen; go to the parties and mingle and do your best to make friends and network with people in the performing arts. What is one thing you still wish to accomplish personally and professionally? I want to record a solo album while I still kinda like my own singing voice. Name one moment in your professional career as an artist that you wish you could re-visit again for a short while. I wish I could live in the pure euphoric joy of being cast as Marius in ‘Les Misérables’. Would Frayne McCarthy do it all again if he was given the same opportunities? Yes, Frayne McCarthy would do it all again, but I think with a little more confidence, focus and drive. To learn more about The Royal Theatre Thousand Islands in Gananoque, Ontario, visit https://www.royaltheatre.ca/ Social Media: Facebook: @RoyalTheatreThousandIslands AND Twitter: @RoyalTheatreTI Previous Next

Back Mark Crawford The Self Isolated Artist Liz Beddall Photography. Joe Szekeres I’ve often wondered if professional artists who wear more than one hat as an actor might prefer one identity marker over the other. For example, there are those who are actor/director, director/actor, playwright/actor, actor/playwright…the possibilities are endless. Since I’ve entered the Facebook and Twitter universe, I’ve seen Mark Crawford’s name appear under PEOPLE YOU MAY KNOW. I remember his play ‘Bed and Breakfast’ was a summer hit at Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre where Paul Love described it as “adding a splash of fun to the dog days of summer”. In January, I reviewed a good community theatre production of Mark’s ‘Stag and Doe’ at Bloor West Village Players and really liked the story. When Mark’s name appeared a few days ago again under PEOPLE YOU MAY KNOW, I threw caution to the wind and thought, “What the hell?” and sent him a message asking if he would like to be profiled. I was pleased he agreed. Just from our online conversation, I found him pleasant and affable and I hope I get the chance to meet him in person soon. Mark studied theatre at the University of Toronto and Sheridan College. His plays which are published by Scirocco Drama have been produced across Canada and internationally. Recent acting credits include Stage West Calgary, Arts Club, Blyth, Centaur (Montreal), Port Stanley, Factory Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick and Thousand Islands Playhouse. I’m not going to tell you here whether or not Mark likes to be referred to as a playwright or actor or both. I’ll have you find out: 1. How have you been doing during this period of isolation and quarantine? Is your family doing well? Thankfully, everyone in my family is healthy. I’d love to go see them, but we’re being good and hunkering down at home. As for how I’ve been doing…turns out pandemics are a real roller coaster ride! Today, I’m feeling pretty good. Over the past several weeks, I’ve had moments where I stand in the middle of the kitchen, staring into space, saying to no one: “What is happening?!” At this point in the game, I don’t think there’s any point in pretending this isn’t weird and hard. 2. Were you involved in any projects before the pandemic was declared and everything was shut down? What has become of these projects? Yes, I was performing a play called The Outsider at Stage West Calgary when everything ground to a halt. We were about halfway through our run, so it was disappointing to stop when we did. As a playwright, I had some productions that came to a standstill. Theatre New Brunswick’s Young Company was on tour with my play for young audiences, Boys, Girls, and Other Mythological Creatures. Neptune Theatre’s Touring Company had just started rehearsals for that play as well. The University of Windsor was about to go into tech with Stag and Doe. I’m hopeful that some of these productions will see the light of day again. In the past few weeks, I’ve experienced the next wave of postponements. The Birds and the Bees at Port Hope’s Capitol Theatre has been put off till next year, Bed and Breakfast at the Charlottetown Festival is delayed as well, and I’m in the Toronto cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which is also postponed till 2021. So yeah. It definitely sucks. But there’s comfort in knowing that everyone in the business is in the same boat. 3. What has been the most challenging part of the isolation and quarantine for you? The not knowing: not knowing how long this will last, not knowing when we’ll get back to work, and not knowing what life on the other side of this will look like. Also, it’s been a challenge to not eat two weeks’ worth of groceries in four days. 4. What have you been doing to keep yourself busy during this time of lockdown? I’ve been going on a lot of walks, using my actor training to balance the stage picture and keep my distance. I’ve been doing lots of cooking, lots of baking, and now that the weather is nice, lots of work out in the yard. I’ve given myself some big garden projects to work on this year. It feels good to get my hands in the dirt. I’m reading all of the Harry Potter novels. I read the first two when they were fairly new, but then I got too busy in university reading The Canterbury Tales and ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore. Anyway, I’m halfway through Order of the Phoenix and loving it. After weeks of not feeling able to write, I’ve started work on a little radio/podcast play. It’s different than anything I’ve written so far. It’s fun because the form allows me to dream up stuff I wouldn’t write for the stage. In a few weeks, I start teaching an online play writing class for teens through Theatre Orangeville. I’m really looking forward to that. But let’s be honest: I’m spending a lot of time staring at my phone, watching TV, negotiating how much news to consume, developing a love/hate relationship with Zoom, and lying on my yoga mat not doing yoga. 5. What advice would you give to other performing artists who are concerned about the impact of COVID-19? Oh, jeez. I don’t know if I’m in a position to give anyone advice! I’ll say this: if you thought you’d use this time to write your King Lear and it’s not happening, that’s OK. I saw a great tweet the other day that said, “It’s a global pandemic, not a writer’s retreat.” If you’re able to focus and create, more power to you. But if you sit down at the computer and nothing comes out, that is completely understandable. Maybe instead of output, this is a time for input. Read some books, watch some movies, listen to music or podcasts, talk to your friends, fill up your tank. And by this, I don’t mean, “This is your chance to read the Riverside Shakespeare cover-to-cover,” I mean, “Absorb whatever you’re drawn to.” The finest actors and writers I know have wildly eclectic (and often pretty low brow) taste. Everything is grist for the mill. 6. Do you see any positives coming out of this pandemic? Wouldn’t it be great if our society used this as a chance to look at some big stuff? It seems like the ideal time to address economic injustice, the minimum wage, a universal basic income, workers’ rights, health care, education funding, long term care, household debt, homelessness, poverty, climate change, I could go on and on… On an individual level, I hope this experience makes us all a bit more compassionate, more patient, and more grateful for what we do have. Who knows if any of that will happen? A boy can dream… 7. Do you believe or can you see if the Canadian performing arts scene will somehow be changed or impacted as a result of COVID – 19? There’s no doubt that it’s already been impacted. Sadly, I don’t think all theatre companies will survive this. Not all plays that were programmed or in development will go forward. New work opportunities will decrease as theatres try to salvage contracts they had to terminate. Worst of all, I’m afraid some artists will have to make hard decisions about whether or not they can afford to stay in the business. I don’t mean to be a pessimist here, but I think we’re all realizing the next year or two will be tough. One positive way to think about it, though, is in ecological terms. When something dies and breaks down in the forest, it creates an opportunity for new life to emerge. Maybe out of these hard times, we’ll see exciting new companies form, young actors burst onto the scene in creative ways, and over scheduled directors and designers come back to their craft with a fresh approach. I sure hope so. 8. Many artists are turning to streaming/online performances to showcase/highlight/share their work. What are your thoughts and comments about this? Are there any advantages or disadvantages? If you have the energy and the chutzpah to create something, I say go for it. I’ve been watching some stuff and it’s fun to see what folks are coming up with. But for me, watching a play on YouTube or a reading on Zoom underlines the ways in which theatre is—at its very core—a live experience. The magic happens when artists and audience inhabit the same space, at the same time. Until that can happen again, I applaud any attempts to stay connected to an audience. 9. Mark Crawford is a playwright and an actor. Is there one he prefers over the other? Nope! I love doing both. Acting and playwriting are challenging and rewarding in different ways, but they also inform each other. I find it funny when people want me to choose one or the other, as though wearing two hats is a newfangled fashion trend and not something people have been doing forever. As a nod to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton, here are the 10 questions he asked his guests at the conclusion of his interviews: 1. What is your favourite word? Hope 2. What is your least favourite word? Despair 3. What turns you on? Wit 4. What turns you off? Meanness 5. What sound or noise do you love? Waves lapping on the shore 6. What sound or noise bothers you? Important announcements over a loudspeaker in which you can’t make out a damn word the person is saying. 7. What is your favourite curse word? I’m a big fan of the curse phrase. For moments of personal frustration, a particularly evocative one I picked up in rehearsal a few years ago is, “Oh, fuck me with a rubber hose!” 8. What profession, other than your own, would you have liked to attempt? Baker 9. What profession would you not like to do? Banker 10. If Heaven exists, what do you imagine God will say to you as you approach the Pearly Gates? “You did good.” Previous Next

Back Kaylee Harwood Theatre Conversation in a Covid World Kristine Cofsky Joe Szekeres A big thank you to artist Kaylee Harwood who follows me on Twitter. I saw the National Tour performance of ‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’ in which she appeared. Kaylee performed for two years with the National Tour. Other appearances include ‘The Sound of Music’ (Western Canada Theatre), ‘Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes’, ‘The Jazz Singer’ (Harold Green JTC), ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ (Broadway/La Jolla Playhouse/Stratford), ‘Camelot’ (Stratford) and two seasons at Shaw Festival. We conducted our conversation through Zoom. Thanks again, Kaylee: In a couple of months, we will be coming up on one year where the doors of live theatre have been shuttered. How have you been faring during this time? Your immediate family? You know, it’s taken awhile to get to the point of surrender and the waiting and learning to look forward to things not surrounding the theatre, the openings, start of rehearsals, closings, tech days, all those things that have anchored my life for the last decade and have given it structure. I’m doing okay, to answer your answer. Everyone is well in health with my partner and I and our immediate families. I’m really grateful for that. My partner and I have been a bubble of two throughout this whole time. His family and my family are out in BC. I have family in Ottawa. None of us have seen our family in over a year. That’s not entirely unusual as we have chosen to live on this side of the country, and we don’t get back to BC that much. Months can go by where it adds up to over a year before we get back out there. Knowing that we’re not being able to see our families has been hard. How have you been spending your time since the theatre industry has been locked up tight as a drum? As I was saying before about the structure of the eight hour days for the rehearsal period into the twelve hour tech days into the run of a show has been the run of the cycle for me for over twelve years now. I’ve grown really accustomed to this especially when I was on tour on a weekly cycle of moving every Monday. So, this time has been a real 180 for me. At first when things shut down before we knew how extended this would all be, I certainly was in phase of tackling all those projects phase that I said I would always do. Early on, we bought paint and I painted all the things I said I wanted to paint everything in sight. It was becoming a bit of sanitorium in our apartment in Toronto because everything was white. Once I ran out of paint, I moved on to crafting. My partner and I, we were supposed to have a spread out year from each other so we were using the time to enjoy being together, to watching our favourite shows. With the crafting, I was really into making embroidery which I had done as a kid. I used to craft a lot with my hands. I then started making plant hangers, macrame plant hangers. My parents were around the first time the hangers were in vogue. I never got to see them the first time around. We had so many house plants in our Toronto apartment. We were really messy. It was like, ‘We don’t have surface anymore.” So we started elevating the plants. I made so many plant hangers that I had to start giving them away. Then I started trading them in Toronto for many things. I trade them for household items that I needed. It started to pick up steam and then people were giving my name to other people. And then all of a sudden, I was selling my hangers and a couple of months ago I started a business of Retro Décor. (website at the end of the profile) It has been a really fun adventure. I never had an actual product to sell before. I’ve always lived an artistic life, but I’ve never had something that people can purchase from me that I can give them. I’ve been mailing them all over the place. My business is called High Strung Retro Décor. Early on, my partner and I were journaling daily because this is hopefully once in a lifetime experience. We took it seriously. In early March, I’ll never forget the feelings and sights of Toronto at that time and what it looked like to see these bare, empty streets. We lived right in downtown. It’s neat to look back on the journal now. We stopped doing it religiously a few months ago, but we took a page and looked at it and it’s neat. The late Hal Prince described the theatre as an escape for him. Would you say that Covid has been an escape for you or would you describe this near year long absence from the theatre as something else? I wouldn’t say it’s been an escape. I think it’s been a tension in so many ways, a tension of holding on versus surrendering and expecting and disappointment. You know, I also don’t agree that theatre’s an escape with all due respect to Hal Prince. The time of Covid has been a digging deeper rather than an escape. When I think of an escape, I think of a distraction and forgetting what you have at home and leaving it at the door. I don’t think that’s been Covid. There have certainly been moments with the news of tragedy and disappointment has been so much that I’ve felt the need to escape. Whether that’s through the books I’ve read this year or the walks I’ve gone on and just leave the phone at home to experience life. I’ve had a bit of work during this time on Zoom and the practice of theatre, even in this strange medium when I’m in a Zoom room for eight hours a day, feels like an escape from Covid. My practice of theatre is reminding me about community and about engagement in a way that it is not a constant reminder of the tragedy of the world that I feel Covid has just exacerbated. I’ve interviewed a few artists several months ago who said that the theatre industry will probably be shut down and not go full head on until at least 2022. There may be pockets of outdoor theatre where safety protocols are in place. What are your comments about this? Do you think you and your colleagues/fellow artists will not return until 2022? I won’t believe I’m back working in theatre until I’m taking my curtain call and bow closing night. That’ll be a sign. I think I held on for a long time early on with the cancellation notices that were rolling out. With each thing that got cancelled, each heartbreak I had to go, “Okay, the curtain’s down on closing night I’m not going to believe I was in a show.” (and Kaylee and I both break out in laughter) Early on, it was by July (this was last year), by July certainly we’ll be back. And then it was early April cancellation notices were being given. And now we look back and think why would we have thought July or September would have been dates for us to return. When I see any sign that theatre is coming back, I’ll be dancing for joy but as for me, even if a contract is signed, I’ll still be waiting to see. I want everyone to be able to return safely and for audiences to feel welcomed but also taken care of. I don’t want to rush anything. Even though I’ve had to confront the injustice of how certain things can be open while others have to remain shut, I understand the motivations and financial interests, it just feels like artists get the rough go of it again. I had a discussion recently with an Equity actor who said that yes theatre should not only entertain but, more importantly, it should transform both the actor and the audience. How has Covid transformed you in your understanding of the theatre and where it is headed in a post Covid world? As for my understanding of theatre and transforming, my understanding of theatre hasn’t changed too much throughout this time. I still believe in the vitality of the stories that we tell and the reasons we tell them. I feel there’s a refinement in my choices as a result of Covid. Nothing feels arbitrary anymore. I fear that I have been changed in a way regarding relationships in that I want to embrace the old way of things. Just the day before shutdown I was in a workshop in Toronto. It was hugs, long goodbyes, talking closely and singing in each other’s faces and for so many obvious reasons we can’t do these things right now. At the news of all this, we still went out to a restaurant for drinks and food. By that point it just hadn’t hit. I miss so many of these things. I miss even taking transit right now. I miss my gross dirty gym with loud people grunting, but I’m not going to be the first person to go back in and run on a treadmill surrounded by others. I want to believe that I will trust again and be able to be in close proximity to people again. But right now, I haven’t touched another person except my partner for all these months. We’re all going to need a moment when we are able to enter a rehearsal hall again, to hug and touch another person. The late Zoe Caldwell spoke about how actors should feel danger in the work. It’s a solid and swell thing to have if the actor/artist and the audience both feel it. Would you agree with Ms. Caldwell? Have you ever felt danger during this time of Covid and do you believe it will somehow influence your work when you return to the theatre? I agree. I do think that danger is an interesting word to use. I don’t think anyone should ever feel physically in danger. Coming up in this industry, I’ve seen some of my favorite performers and shows teetering on the edge of unpredictability even though watching or working with them, I feel safe in what we’re doing for the environment that has been created already. Danger is a tricky word, and I know what Zoe Caldwell is going for as I’ve felt it as an actor and theatre lover when there is danger in the work. I have absolutely felt danger during this time of Covid. I was supposed to get on a plane a couple of days after the shutdown to go work in Pittsburgh. I was supposed to go, and it didn’t get cancelled until far too late. I didn’t end up going. I had the bag packed already but I was thinking it through, I thought it’ll be fine. And then the NBA shuts down. I still thought it’ll be fine. And then Broadway shut down. Well, I’m still going to go even through Broadway shut down. I can’t even believe I went through these series of thoughts. I remember thinking that if I had to fly the day Broadway shut down, I probably would have got on that plane and gone. Not to say I would have become sick, but just the thought of how timely and lucky I had that cancellation before I got too far away from home. I have so many stories of people who were on the road or sublet their houses and are trying to figure out how to get home. I’ve absolutely felt danger but also grateful that it hasn’t been far more serious than it could have been. I feel like in my work everything I’ve experienced informs what I do so yes Covid has influenced my work and who I am and how I’ll move forward. I don’t know how exactly that will manifest. I don’t think there is a literal way that it will. Certainly, the online work I’ve done this year, the noise of the BLM protests in downtown Toronto (I lived right on Bay Street) and the noise of the protestors moving up was incredible. To be in the midst of working on something with the noise outside, my heart was exploding from everything that was happening in the world. It as so present. It wasn’t as if I could turn off the television or the news and it goes away. It’s everywhere. And it’s the people in the Zoom boxes as well because they’re all dealing with this in their own way too whether it’s someone they know who is ill, or someone fighting for their own rights or wanting to be marching. The pull of all this stuff going on, and while we’re on Zoom we’re making stories and we’re trying things out. We’re making each other laugh, and we’re crying and we’re empathizing and exorcising all these things that are coming up for us. I think it’s inevitable Covid will influence us and our work no matter where we are in the world. The late scenic designer Ming Cho Lee spoke about great art opening doors and making us feel more sensitive. Has this time of Covid made you sensitive to our world and has it made some impact on your life in such a way that you will bring this back with you to the theatre? Hmmm…. I want to continue being sensitive of everyone’s boundaries. That’s been a real learning process for me this year of setting my own boundaries and my own comfort levels. It feels so life or death in every moment, right, that I’ve had to feel and establish my own boundaries and respect others. At the same time, I have to forge and refine my own feelings and thoughts and ways I want to live in the world. There’s been a real refinement for me in the things I care about, the causes I care about, and the things I will tolerate. I think in our business everyone’s voice matters, which it absolutely does, but the toleration of intolerance? I can’t stand intolerance. I do feel like everyone’s voice ought to be heard, yet there are voices that are intolerant that I don’t want to continue listening to and give platforms. Why tiptoe around these things? I don’t claim to know anything about anything but just my own life. And yet, there ‘s been a honing in on the things I really care about in the last year unlike any other time before. I want to bring that into my work, into my practice, my daily life and continue that journey. Again, the late Hal Prince spoke of the fact that theatre should trigger curiosity in the actor/artist and the audience. Has Covid sparked any curiosity in you about something during this time? Has this time away from the theatre sparked further curiosity for you when you return to this art form? Well, here’s where I agree with Hal Prince. I saw the In Memoriam Lincoln Centre tribute to Hal Prince. It was an extraordinary exhibit at the Lincoln Centre. I do think my curiosity about human nature has really been piqued during this time. I’m always, as a performer and actor, curious about motivations and curious about other people’s lives and their journeys or stories. During this time, the curiosity for me has been about why does that seem like it’s okay to you, or why does that seem harmful to you? We the people are making decisions and moving about the world and I don’t think there’s a ‘one size fits all’ solution for debates about issues that have surrounded Covid. This is just a mind exercise and practice, but I try to take both sides in every debate to try it on for size. My curiosity has definitely been piqued to different people’s handlings of issues as a result of Covid. When I return to the theatre, I don’t want to make any grand declarations as I believe I’ll carry this personal curiosity to my work as an artist. Not all of us are going to comfortable with certain boundaries, but that’s our responsibility to understand as we move forward. As artists we will have to ask in our curiosity what another artist is comfortable with, and re-establish those things for ourselves and in our workplaces. So often on stage, in a traditional proscenium setting, we can think of the audience as one entity, as one unit. We also have to remember the unit is made up of so many parts, that every part brings their own experience. They’ve lost people whom they have loved during Covid; they’ve experienced their own sickness or frailty during this time. I want to keep that in mind as an artist as there are so many viewpoints. To connect with Kaylee: @kaylee.harwoodTwitter @kayleeharwood. Her personal website is www.kayleeharwood.com . To learn more about Kaylee’s business ‘High Strung Retro Décor’, visit Instagram: @highstrungretrodecor OR visit SideBiz Studio at https://www.sidebizstudio.ca/store/high-strung-retro-decor/ Previous Next

Back 'Richard II' by William Shakespeare. Adapted by Brad Fraser and Conceived by Jillian Keiley Now playing at the Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford, Ontario Credit: David Hou. Standing: Jordin Hall. Kneeling: Stephen Jackman-Torkoff Joe Szekeres A ballsy adaptation that smacks hard. It sometimes stings as it rightly should, but it will be remembered. Henry Bolingbroke (Jordin Hall) and Thomas Mowbray (Tyrone Savage) argue and agree then to a duel which is in the form of a wrestling match (eerily similar to the wrestling scene from D. H. Lawrence's 'Women in Love') with their shirts off. King Richard (Stephen Jackman- Torkoff) eventually intervenes when the men just get a tad too rough and sends both into exile, Bolingbroke for ten years and Mowbray for life. Bolingbroke’s father, John of Gaunt (David Collins), Richard’s uncle, convinces the king to reduce his son’s exile to six years. After the banishment, John of Gaunt takes ill. When Richard pays his final respects, he takes offence to his uncle’s criticism of his Majesty’s heavy-handed rule and won’t allow Gaunt to leave his title and fortune to Bolingbroke. Upon Gaunt’s death, Richard seizes Gaunt’s fortunes to fund the war in Ireland. When the king leaves to fight in Ireland, he places the kingdom in his uncle, The Duke of York’s (Michael Spencer-Davis) hands. While the king is gone, Bolingbroke returns to claim his inheritance, convincing York of no other intentions for the throne. When Richard returns to England, the country is on the brink of civil war. As the story progresses, the audience witnesses the ineptness of Richard’s rule as king. I did my best not to listen or read anything about this ‘Richard II.’ Still, the word’s out that some audiences leave in disgust, shock, or a combination of both, as there are homosexual moments that may make some uncomfortable. So what? To be honest, more has been made of it than needs to be. This ‘Richard’ is ballsy. It sometimes stings as theatre should and must do. Recently I read an article in Intermission by Mira Miller about artist Maev Beaty who stated that live theatre: “is not up there to present good, clean work – we’re up there to try and catch some truth for the listener [and watcher] that is shared in real time. You can’t do that if you’re just presenting your good homework; you have to live.” This is precisely what Director/Conceiver Jillian Keiley and Adapter Brad Fraser have accomplished as their ‘Richard II’ is convincingly packaged. Designer Michael Gianfrancesco ably sets the production in the late 70s/early 80s disco scene of New York’s Studio 54. The production is a veritable candy store for the eyes, thanks to Leigh Ann Vardy’s terrific neon disco lighting. I loved the giant disco ball that periodically descends. Choreographer Cameron Carver’s dynamite 70s disco moves using the Angel Army remain stunning to watch them move in sexy and synchronized unison. Bretta Gerecke’s scintillating costume designs from the Studio 54 era are eye-popping, especially Richard’s opening white feathery outfit. Don Ellis’s terrific music selection and design for the ears fondly take me back to that 70s and 80s disco craze that was part of my undergraduate years. Keiley's direction is consistently electrifying. She and Fraser have made excellent choices to capture the vivid reality of a flamboyantly harsh and risky homoerotic lifestyle that never remains stagnant. For one, the dramatic choice to include The Angel Army remains most appropriately wise. Richard's unwavering belief in the Divine Right of Kings provides him with an unshakable sense of salvation, despite his visible decline before the audience. Stephen Jackman-Torkoff delivers a captivating performance as Richard, exuding unbridled passion and energy in his movements and marked by his unwavering resolve, rebelliousness, and conceitedness. Interestingly, Sean Carney raises a thought-provoking question in the Program Note - should we feel pity for the King or judge him? Personally, I lean towards the former. The image of Richard's grand entrance with his Army of Angels strewn across the floor at the end of Act One is just one example of why. The horrific look of surprising disbelief on Jackman-Torkoff’s face, combined with the utmost quiet from the audience watching, has etched an indelible image in my memory of that moment. Several performances also remain memorable. Emilio Vieira’s Lord Aumerle remains steadfastly grounded in his unbridled passion for his ruler, as evidenced in his passionate encounter with his King in a bathhouse. Yet, Aumerle is a troubled individual with political and familial conflicts. Religious implications are also skewered with Steve Ross’s Bishop of Carlisle as Richard’s rightful spiritual advisor. Instead, it becomes a complete shock to see the Bishop illicitly, willfully and actively participating in a gay bathhouse. Charlie Gallant’s Lord Willoughby whose persistent cough gets worse and worse grimly reminds once again of the 70s and 80s Studio 54 scene. Shakespeare purists have also commented that text sections have been removed or those from other plays have been added in this adaptation. Some articles I’ve read questioned why Fraser included lines from other Shakespearean plays. Again, who cares why he did this, but I would like to add something further as a retired secondary school teacher. From an educational perspective, I still have discussions with individuals about the value of Shakespeare’s plays in 21st-century schools. Nowhere in the Ontario English curriculum document does it state that a Shakespearean play must be studied every year, so what’s the benefit of doing so? As a retired teacher, I wouldn’t dare take secondary students on a school trip during the day to see this ‘Richard,’ and I’m positive Keiley and Fraser would agree not to do so. Ontario teachers have enough on their plates without having to add this. It would be beneficial for teachers to encourage young people to think and understand that it's okay to take some creative liberties with the text when it's appropriate. Jillian Keiley and Brad Fraser did so, and their ‘Richard II’ is completely justified in this respect. Let's move away from the idea that Shakespeare's plays must remain strictly purist in nature. Running time: approximately two hours and forty minutes with one interval. Richard II runs until September 28 at the Tom Patterson Theatre, 111 Lakeside Drive, Stratford. For tickets, visit stratfordfestival.ca or call 1-800-567-1600. RICHARD II by William Shakespeare Adapted by Brad Fraser and Conceived by Jillian Keiley Director: Jillian Keiley Choreographer: Cameron Carver Set Designer: Michael Gianfrancesco Costume Designer: Bretta Gerecke Lighting Designer: Leigh Ann Vardy Sound Designer: Don Ellis Composer: Rhadsodius The Company: Stephen Jackman-Torkoff, Jordin Hall, Emilio Vieira, Michael Spencer-Davis, Debbie Patterson, David Collins, Hannah Wigglesworth, Tyrone Savage, Sarah Orenstein, Matthew Kabwe, Thomas Duplessie, John Wamsley, Andrew Robinson, Steve Ross, Marcus Nance, Sarah Dodd, Justin Eddy, Celia Aloma, Malina Carroll, Mateo G. Torres, Matthew joseph, Wahsonti:io Kirby, Heather Kosik, Chris Mejaki, Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane, jane Spidell, Danielle Verayo, Alex Wierzbicki, Travae Williams. Previous Next

Back Three Women of Swatow by Chloé Hung Tarragon Theatre Extraspace Tarragon Theatre Extraspace Joe Szekeres These ‘Three Women’ offer surprise, suspense, and blood…oh, so much blood! I don’t believe I’m giving away any plot spoilers here for the world premiere of Chloé Hung’s ‘Three Women of Swatow’. Tarragon Theatre’s press releases speak about the oodles of blood so at least these trigger warnings have been made explicitly for future audiences. Tarragon describes ‘Women’ as a ferocious comedy, and yes there are moments where I found myself laughing and smiling at some heinous events when I know in reality this is nothing to laugh about when we realize what’s going on in the plot. It dawned on me halfway through this 80-minute riveting production where I bring some personal context as well, and it’s here where there may be a spoiler: I live in the Durham Region where the Adam Strong case shocked the city in which I live. If you are going to attend ‘Three Women of Swatow’ and don’t know about this local case, I would strongly recommend not to read about it until you have seen the play. A ferocious comedy is a good way at least to begin the conversation about ‘Women’. I’m going to go one step further and say the play’s moments of comic savagery and darkness may be troubling to some, but as Artistic Director Mike Payette and Managing Director Andrea Vagianos state in the programme: “How we have all been craving humour in the dark moments of the last two years.” Yes, indeed, we need to laugh sometimes even in the most bizarre of circumstances. It is for this reason ‘Three Women of Swatow’ becomes highly watchable, and I would recommend audiences to see it. This three-member tight ensemble cast offers viciously delicious performances. As the Grandmother and butcher, Carolyn Fe becomes enigmatically confrontational as the story progresses where we learn more about what her life was like as a young girl in Swatow, China compared to the unique circumstances in which she now finds herself with Daughter and Granddaughter. Many lines from Fe are beautifully used either as a nasty zinger or a double-edged commentary on the role of Swatow women. One occurred where Fe orders the other two to clean something up. Chantria Trim is the vegetarian Daughter whose troubled marriage became shocking for me to see at her first appearance and noticing the dark bruises around her neck. Trim’s periodic humming of the song ‘A Whole New World’ became only the first indication where she bravely tackles the Daughter’s fears in cornering her marital issues without resorting to any sort of over the top or hysterical spousal reactions, or so we are made to believe. Although we never meet the Daughter’s husband, I don’t believe Hung’s script suffers from this absence as Director Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster’s vision finely and subtly made me want to watch how these Swatow women genuinely interact with each other and watch them remain fierce. Periodically throughout the performance, the women become involved in showcasing their movement using tai chi. I find tai chi fascinating to watch, but I don’t know a great deal about potential health benefits so I had to do a quick bit of online research about this activity. Briefly (and according to the Mayo Clinic): “tai chi is a gentle way to fight stress…to reduce anxiety…and to increase flexibility and balance.” Well, I’m glad I have this brief definition because playwright Hung smartly and uniquely juxtaposes (for both comic and horrific effect) the benefits of what tai chi is supposed to do with the body versus what is actually going on in the story involving the women’s bodies. And it is this careful placing of reality and fear side by side which both heightens and becomes a clever underlying thread as the play continues, especially in watching how the Grandmother and Mother deal with the present situation in which they find themselves. Diana Luong’s notably grounded performance of character development as the Daughter/Granddaughter really made me pay close attention to her. Loved every moment Luong appeared on stage and I completely bought her arc of genuine character emotions throughout. All I’m going to say about the conclusion of the play with Luong leading the striking tableau and Trim and Fe following still remained frighteningly real within my mind even as I write this article now. That final tableau – Wow!!!!!! It must be seen to be experienced within what has just transpired. Jareth Li’s claustrophobic set and confining lighting design splendidly amped up that stifling feeling of the restrictive confines of the house and the environment in which the women live. At one point, College Street and Italian restaurants are mentioned so I am assuming the play takes place in the downtown Toronto areas. Downstage is the set of the Grandmother’s house. There are large trellises constructed of various shapes stages left and right. There is a table centre stage with what appears to be a plastic tablecloth from where I sat. A cordless telephone is found on the table with an open Bible from which the Grandmother reads at the top of the show about the place of women in marriage. Upstage right is a refrigerator with a magnetic calendar attached plus other ‘frig paraphernalia attached. Stages right and left are are kitschy looking cupboards. Behind this downstage set I can see remnants of a bathroom sink upstage right, and what looks like to be the top of a toilet. Upstage left I can see another kitchen sink with some kitchen drawers. This supposed set is dimly lit. This upstage set lit in darkness becomes Mother’s house later. Shannon Lea Doyle’s costume designs are effectively earth tone for the Grandmother and Mother. The Daughter’s clothes are bright to reflect her youthful contrast to her two elders, but minute additions add further to her character arc. Deanna H. Choi’s sound design kept my auditory experience keenly aware at all times. FINAL COMMENTS: A sometimes disturbing, but comical look at events from women’s perspectives and how they might like to deal with what needs to be done versus what we think how it normally should be done. This ‘Three Women of Swatow’ is sharp, scrappy, inhumane, feisty and wild. It also made for some good theatre to see but be warned there are triggers. Running time: approximately 80 minutes with no intermission. Performance runs to May 15, 2022 at Tarragon Theatre, Extraspace. For tickets and other information, go to www.tarragontheatre.com or call 416-531-1827. The theatre is located at 30 Bridgman Avenue, Toronto. Digital Tarragon run of Three Women of Swatow will be May 15 – 25. THREE WOMEN OF SWATOW by Chloé Hung Directed by Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster Set and lighting designed by Jareth Li Costumes designed by Shannon Lea Doyle Composition and sound designed by Deanna H. Choi Cast: Carolyn Fe, Diana Luong, Chantria Tram Previous Next

Back 'The Effect' by Lucy Prebble Now onstage at Coal Mine Theatre, 2076 Danforth Avenue Credit: Dahlia Katz. Pictured: Leah Doz and Aris Athanasopoulos Louis Train, Guest Reviewer Profound themes in THE EFFECT tackled with a blend of intellectual depth and sensuality "THE EFFECT" at Coal Mine Theatre is a play that delves into the intricacies of human connection and the complex interplay between mind and body. Connie and Tristan, participants in an antidepressant trial, navigate a tumultuous journey of emotions as they grapple with their deepening mutual attraction. The question underlying this play’s dramatic tension is not whether Connie and Tristan will get together - that’s a given from the opening scene - but why they are attracted to each other. Is it a result of chemical manipulation, or is love? And what is love anyway, if not a neuro-electro-chemical process? Under Mitchell Cushman's skillful direction and Lucy Prebble's thought-provoking script, "THE EFFECT" tackles these profound themes with a blend of intellectual depth and sensuality. At its core, "THE EFFECT" wrestles with the enigma of the mind-body problem, delving into the intricacies of our psychological and physical selves. It also sheds light on the prevalence of antidepressant usage and raises ethical questions about the pharmaceutical industry behind it. Yet, the play avoids didacticism and instead adopts a structure reminiscent of a Platonic dialogue, engaging the audience in a captivating and nuanced exploration that stimulates both the intellect and the senses. The performances from the entire cast are commendable, but Aviva Armour-Ostroff stands out, revealing her character's layers with a captivating air of mystery and tension. Each scene deepens the audience's investment in her portrayal of Dr. Lorna James, unravelling the complexities she embodies. The inventive set design by Nick Blais makes excellent use of the small space of the stage while nodding to the show’s roots in science and invention (you’ll see what I mean when you see those amazing transforming chairs in action). Likewise, the incorporation of techy music, composed by James Smith, and projection, by Jack Considine, pays homage to the scientific setting of the play while eliciting a visceral response, quickening the pulse of those in attendance. I've often considered mental health as the uncharted frontier of dramatic storytelling. In our modern era, directors conscientiously avoid perpetuating stereotypes about most marginalized communities, yet, for some reason, the realm of mental illness often receives a pardon. While many scrutinize "Othello" for its problematic aspects, "King Lear," with its profound exploration of madness ("The tempest in my mind..."), is usually exempted. Madness becomes a thrilling plot point, while few writers undertake the necessary research to portray characters with mental illness accurately. However, "THE EFFECT" stands apart, displaying meticulous attention to detail and heightened sensitivity in portraying these characters (credit again to the remarkable Aviva Armour-Ostroff). In this regard, "THE EFFECT" proves itself truly ahead of its time, breaking new ground in mental health representation on stage. Running time: approximately two hours and 15 minutes with one intermission. The production runs to July 30 at Coal Mine Theatre, 2076 Danforth Avenue. For tickets, visit coalminetheatre.com. ‘The Effect’ by Lucy Prebble Directed by Mitchell Cushman Set, Lighting and Prop Design: Nick Blais Projection Design: Jack Considine Costume Design: Cindy DEzib Sound Design and Composition: James Smith Psychiatry and Mental Health Consultant: Eloise Ballou Stage Management: Jeff Soucy and Scotia Cox Performers: Aviva Armour-Ostroff, Aris Athanasopoulos, Leah Doz, Jordan Pettle Previous Next

Back Dianne Montgomery Looking Ahead MPMG Arts Joe Szekeres Dianne Montgomery is a Toronto-based tap dancer, choreographer, and composer who will present the world premiere of her commissioned work 'Softly Losing, Softly Gaining' which she has choreographed and composed. Her work will be performed at Meridian Hall, on October 6-8 as part of Fall for Dance North Festival. The show was to have first premiered in 2020 and then in 2021. She considers performing her work on these evenings an honour and joy to be supported amid such powerful offerings. Given so much change over the last two-plus pandemic years, Dianne is appreciative of feeling respected and included by the Fall for Dance North team as she senses they want the best for and from the performers. What struck me the most about our conversation was Dianne’s frankness in sharing her vulnerability as an artist. She feels quite an emotional attachment to the premiere of ‘Softly Losing, Softly Gaining’ as she sensitively compares it to the intimate act of giving birth to her work. Finding that vulnerability requires and encourages her sense of self and soul, particularly in the experiences of the last two years. Montgomery feels a deeply renewed sense of responsibility to bring heightened senses and awareness of her work to audiences, especially to those who may have felt a sense of isolation during this time. When I inquired where Dianne completed her studies in tap dance, I learned something that I hadn’t realized about the art form. It is not just a three-to-six-week lesson twice a week with a recital at the end. Tap isn’t structurally built in a way where there is a particular school where to study tap for three or four years. For Dianne: “Tap takes years and years and years of concentrated study and training, and it never really stops. A tap dancer doesn’t have a start and end date as there is always exploring and finding. Becoming technically proficient is a forever job. The beginning students study intermediate steps; the intermediate students study advanced steps, advanced students work to be professional and professionals study beginning steps. It’s cyclical in nature.” She has performed, taught, and presented her choreography across North America and Europe. She toured the world for two years with Canadian singer-songwriter FEIST as a tap dancer and shadow puppeteer, also performing on Saturday Night Live, The Late Show with David Letterman, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. As a professional artist, Dianne finds the world of dance intriguing. For her, there’s still so much to explore, learn and find in the expression and the connection to the history of the art. There’s a connection to each other in the world of dance, which is always exciting to discover. There’s a passion for dance, and there’s also the sheer joy of kinetic movement. Words sometimes cannot do justice to the art of dance like sauteed mushrooms and butter. (Writer’s note: I like that analogy) One of the elements Dianne most appreciates is that of community with artists connecting with each other. There’s something profoundly healing in moving bodies together. In her case, there’s something profoundly healing about keeping time together as a tap dancer. Bonding and pro-social behaviour are captured in the world of tap dance, and Dianne considers it motivating to continue doing tap dance because it has a net positive effect socially: “Tap dancing is profoundly powerful in its self-study ability to connect and heal. It requires a level of focus…discipline and commitment…it has lessons in it no matter what people may think…if you don’t tap dance or have had lessons then you don’t understand the richness of the form that you carry wherever. Tap teaches you how to fall and how to get back up. It teaches you perseverance and humility and boy does that lesson come back again and again.” When it comes to the art of dance and performance, I think specifically of those husbands, boyfriends, and partners who might not hold any interest in dance and who may have been dragged to the theatre by their significant other. How can tap win over an audience when they walk into a theatre? Dianne recognizes that dance will not be to everyone’s taste within an audience, but it is her genuine hope that as dancers, and people who place work on the stage in front of audiences, it is their job to be as authentic and to be as present in the moment. The artists are generous as they are trying to make a connection to the very generous folks who have shown up: “We as artists don’t take that very lightly, not at all.” Montgomery firmly avows. “People who take their time, their money, their precious resources and come and spend an evening with us. As someone who creates for stage work, I take that responsibility super, super seriously.” Dianne invites ALL audience members to see a dance show with open authenticity, which can be very disarming. Hopefully, if the dancers and artists are lifting the moment on the stage then the audience should be feeling that lift. If we’re on the stage feeling constricted, then the audience should be feeling constricted. This is the goal for all live shows, and yes, it can go astray if egos are involved as that builds barriers and creates a kind of different performative rather than experiential. And how is Dianne feeling about this gradual return to live performance with Covid still hovering and hanging in the air? Even before she began to address the question, Dianne acknowledges the incredible very real loss that so many have experienced whether it be loved ones, lost livelihoods, homes, partners, friends, family, or senses of self-regarding mental health. The picture has not been good for many. Coming out of Covid, Montgomery likens it to a two-year hiatus, but within this hiatus there was a huge opportunity to deepen the practice of dance if you could or were able to spend time on it. Throughout the pandemic, a lot of artists had to move into other kinds of work to survive during this time. A lot of dance classes and work shifted to Zoom and other online platforms, and there were challenges regarding the time lagging in Zoom which was difficult to manage. Dianne stated that dance artists got on the best they could with what they had. There were little silver linings, however. Virtual classes had the advantage of being global in connection, so Dianne was teaching classes that had folks from Germany, the UK, all parts of the US and all over Canada. These students began to know each other, and they may not have been able to make these connections had they not been in the Zoom room together. For tap classes, yes, Dianne once again said the artists did the best they could given what they had, but the beautiful quality of the art of tap dance needs to be heard live through the ear and not through a computer or television screen. So much was learned about online classes and all the artists involved learned so much about humility. And what’s next for Dianne once ‘Softly Losing, Softly Gaining’ is complete at Fall for Dance? Dianne calls herself in process all the time. This is something she believes will be forever. She plans to continue working and to continue evolving as an artist and bring kindness into the equation of her work as she continues to learn while encouraging those around her to discover who they are and how they relate to what’s bigger than us. A final statement she told me about artists made me laugh: “Every night I quit and every morning I get back up and put my shoes on again.” How often I’m sure all of us have felt about doing this and yet we get back up and go again? To learn more about Fall for Dance North, visit www.ffdn.com . Previous Next

Back Joelle Peters “It’s like Everything Everywhere All At Once: Theatre Version” Courtesy of Native Earth Performing Arts Joe Szekeres Early in the pandemic, I spoke with artist Joelle Peters when I was still writing for OnStage Blog about how she was faring in 2020 when we all wondered what was to become of the state of the performing arts. Like all of us, she felt this need for connection through one of the darkest moments that each of us has experienced. You can read Peters’ first profile here: https://www.onstageblog.com/profiles/2021/2/1/theatre-conversation-in-a-covid-world-with-joelle-peters Fast forward three years and Joelle Peters is now one very busy individual who has established many connections since 2020. You can read about her background and training on the Native Earth Performing Arts website: www.nativeearth.ca . She’s excited yet quite overwhelmed about the return to live theatre even though we are still in Covid’s embrace. In her words: “It’s like Everything Everywhere All At Once: Theatre Version” What has changed for Joelle since 2020? She is the Interim Artistic Director for Native Earth Performing Arts making bigger decisions than she was previously. With all this change and adjustment in her career, she’s trying her best not to burn out and also find some time to enjoy the opportunities coming up. One of these opportunities is her script 'Niizh' which opens at the Aki Studio this week. ‘Niizh’ is a coming-of-age comedy. Set on a reserve in Southwestern Ontario, the play follows the youngest of the ‘Little’ family, Lenna Little, who prepares to leave home for the first time. Amid this, she meets Sam Thomas, who has returned to the reserve after many years away. ‘Niizh’ and Joelle have been on quite a journey with a lot of support. The play began its germination at the Paprika Festival to Native Earth’s Animikiig Creator’s Unit, to the Indigenous Playwright’s Nest at the Banff Centre, a commission from the Blyth Festival and back to Native Earth for a sound workshop. Through the pandemic, a lot of work that went into the script midway, and later in the process, was done online. She felt this was probably the biggest challenge because ‘Niizh’ is a comedy with bits of movement and tons of props. If something landed weird or awkward in a Zoom reading automatically made Joelle feel she might have been a bad playwright and if the script would be ready for an audience. But thanks to what Joelle calls ‘wonderful’ actors in the rehearsal hall, ‘Niizh’ persevered. The response of the first-read audience was so warm and a huge sigh of relief for her and the story. What messages does she hope audiences will take away from ‘Niizh’?: “I’d like the play to remind audiences that it’s okay not to have everything figured out as we are all on our own journey. We can put some big expectations and be kind of hard on ourselves, but it doesn’t have to be that way! “ ‘Niizh’ has been a big reminder for Joelle of how intense those feelings were as a young adult - getting ready to go off to college, and how big the world felt at the time. Anything was possible back then. It was all new, scary, and exciting. I concluded our email conversation on what’s next for Joelle once ‘Niizh’ completes its run at Aki Studio. She will be off to shoot a television commitment and then will jump back into some Artistic Director responsibilities for Native Earth. And after that, she’s off to make her Stratford Festival debut in ‘Women of the Fur Trade’. Joelle knows she has a fair amount of juggling artistic responsibilities, but this is the work that she is most excited about. For her, that’s one of the most important goals of life in the theatre. To learn more about Native Earth Performing Arts and to purchase tickets online for ‘Niizh’ visit: www.nativeearth.ca . Previous Next

Back Barbara Fulton Theatre Conversation in a Covid World --- Joe Szekeres When I read Barbara Fulton’s biography she had sent to me, I hadn’t realized just how many of the productions I’ve seen in which she has appeared. I’ve recognized her name in programs and it was a delight to be able to connect with her via Zoom today for our conversation. She is a singer and actor who has worked primarily in Music Theatre. Until March of 2020 she played Diane in the Toronto company of ‘Come from Away’ at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. After a year of theatre training at Halifax’s Dalhousie University, Barbara went to England to train at Bird College in musical theatre. Upon returning from England, she spent three seasons at the Charlottetown Festival and then played Grizabella in the Toronto production of CATS. (And I do remember Barbara’s performance.) She worked with the Stratford Festival for 22 seasons with notable shows: Notably, A Little Night Music, The Lion, Witch and The Wardrobe, Fiddler on the Roof, Electra, Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Into the Woods, The Mikado and The Miracle Worker. Barbara is a recipient of numerous Guthrie awards from Stratford and a Dora award for her work in ‘Life After’. Also, in Stratford, Barbara sang with The Duke Ellington and Glen Miller Orchestras and has produced two jazz standard CDs with her husband Paul Shilton. Thank you so much for your time, Barbara. I look forward to speaking with you in person when it’s safe to return: In a couple of months, we will be coming up on one year where the doors of live theatre have been shuttered. How have you been faring during this time? Your immediate family? Well, at first, I have to admit that I was giddy with excitement at the thought we were going to have a month off, and that we would have a nice holiday. But that’s not how it turned out. The week before I had just said to my husband that I was getting weary. I have an apartment in Toronto and my home is in Stratford. I would go home here on Sunday evenings until Tuesday morning. And that was great, but I was getting weary of the entire thing of six days a week for two years. I’ve had three weeks off interspersed in those two years, but it was uncanny that it was the week before the theatres were all shut down when I thought I don’t know if I can carry on and I was weary. Then this ‘thing’ happened, and none of us knew how serious it really was. Yes, the first month was nice to be at home in Stratford. Spring was coming, going for walks, seeing all kinds of people in Stratford whom I haven’t seen in months. And then this pandemic started to get a little tiring and this whole idea of having to stay and separate from people and not being able to gather in the way we used to be able to. That started to really wear on me. And then it started to get a little bit lonely. I have a son who lives in Toronto and I was back and forth a bit but not much. I kept the Toronto apartment until the end of September and then I had to give it up. Closing up the apartment was a real nail in the coffin as well as I have no idea when ‘Come from Away’ will start up again. My husband and I keep saying thank God our parents are not going through this pandemic. It’s a very hard thing for the seniors. My husband and son are doing alright. My son did get Covid early September and it was a mild case, so far he’s fine. It lasted maybe a week and a half. His taste came back and everything came back. His girlfriend didn’t get it all. Paul, my husband, and I had been with our son the day before he was diagnosed, and it was terrifying thinking we could possibly have it. But we were masked and didn’t see our son without masks on. Paul and I had to go and get tested. That was a stressful time. Paul’s fine. He works as a music director at a church and for the longest time the church wasn’t meeting. They don’t have a choir at this time so his workload is much less. But at least they were gathering for awhile. How have you been spending your time since the theatre industry has been locked up tight as a drum? My thing now is walking and listening to audiobooks, and it’s saving my life and getting my 10,000 steps in. It’s beautiful here in Stratford for the walks. I had a lot of enthusiasm for the mask thing initially thinking if this is what is going to be, so I made some masks. I made about 10-15 and gave some away and lost some since masks fall out of your pocket quietly or go flying away without me even knowing because they drop on the ground silently. I was in the middle of rehearsal of a little outside show but couldn’t attend rehearsals until I had a negative test before I could return. This show did go on. There was a dance company called Corpus in Toronto and they do site specific and a lot of outdoor performances. So that’s how we got around this. We did this show in Trinity Bellwoods Park. It was myself and four other women and the show was called ‘Divine Intervention’. We were on a quint bicycle so five of us in a row on one bicycle. It was kind of a crazy thing to try to learn to do, but what a joy to have to learn a new physical skill at this time. We were masked as well the whole time and had to physically distance in rehearsal. The whole show was set up so we wouldn’t get very close to each other. We just told this story through music and movement on this bike. It really got the attention of the audience as we sang on the bike. It was a delight and it got me through. I was so looking forward to it. I knew about it in late May so I knew about it all summer. The show ended October 4 and we were lucky as the weather was perfect in the fall. Paul’s family has a cottage on Georgian Bay, and we were up there for two full weeks – one week in July and one week in August. For the first time, ever for me, I was always unavailable to spend any time at a cottage either because I was working at the Festival or performing in ‘Come from Away’. For me, this was so unbelievable as I couldn’t believe that I didn’t have to be anywhere, that I could just sit and enjoy myself for the two weeks and not worry about missing a show or being late. My family is in Nova Scotia and they are very strict down there as well with no visitors. The late Hal Prince described the theatre as an escape for him. Would you say that Covid has been an escape for you or would you describe this nearly year long absence as something else? I wouldn’t say Covid has been an escape from the theatre. It has been a cruel captor. For everyone. Now that I’m now not up on the stage offering my heart to the character, the audiences and my colleagues, I often feel empty, not knowing what my purpose is anymore. I’ve been in this industry for 40 years, and all that time there was this natural engine that kept me looking outward towards this unknown and exciting energy that I plugged into daily. Sometimes it was hope, sometimes fear, sometimes sheer excitement and anticipation of what I was about to connect with out there with people whom I loved and respected, whom I laughed with and who infuriated me and so on and so on. All I know of work in the theatre is coming together with a common, tangible purpose – to serve up a story that the audience can connect with. To share a piece of ourselves in the process and finishing the night with appreciation, there’s no other better job in the world. So, it hasn’t really felt like an escape other than that first month. It feels like I’m being kept from the natural rhythm of my life. I’ve interviewed a few artists several months ago who said that the theatre industry will probably be shut down and not go full head on until at least 2022. There may be pockets of outdoor theatre where safety protocols are in place. What are your comments about this? Do you think you and your colleagues/fellow artists will not return until 2022? I wouldn’t disagree because I think that’s really logical. I’ve done some investigating into what the 1918 flu was like and what kind of impact that it had and compare it to what’s going on. It was about five years before that virus stopped being a threat at all. That’s a long time but that’s without vaccines. So, I’m hopeful that the vaccine will speed up things up compared to that experience. There’s lots of talk about Broadway coming back in September, and that’s all well and good. It’s not just us we’re talking about. We’re talking about the general public’s comfort level with gathering and being close together for that length of time. Whether or not theatres can or are interested in setting up plexiglass between seats, between the actors on the stage and the audience, there’s so much I can’t fathom about what Mirvish is even thinking at this time and what to do. Their discussions must be all the time in thinking what should we do? There are options and a lot of them cost a lot of money. The other option is to wait this out. That’s fine for those of us who are capable, able, and still the right age (Barbara starts to laugh). I sort of worry that perhaps I’m ageing myself. I think all of us in ‘Come from Away’ are ready to pick up right where we left off. There might be some people who have moved on professionally, but I think most of us are in for the long haul. We’re all going to have to rehearse the show to get it back to where it was before the shutdown. Just to add to all this, in a post Covid world I don’t really know what the theatre will really be like. Naturally, I believe we will be through the worst of this virus but whether or not it will be safe to gather? I don’t know. Part of this is question is if it’s going to change me. I think we’re dependant on connection with each other. Story telling is ancient; it’s a teacher; we need to see ourselves reflected back at us to learn to learn empathy and perspective. Sometimes theatre is described as an escape, but I prefer to think of it as a portal, consciously or unconsciously we’re learning what it means to be human by watching stories unfold. We will not lose the theatre that we knew, it’s just going to take a long time. I had a discussion recently with an Equity actor who said that yes theatre should not only entertain but, more importantly, it should transform both the actor and the audience. How has Covid transformed you in your understanding of the theatre and where it is headed in a post Covid world? This is hard because Covid has forced us to separate from each other emotionally as well as physically because you don’t get the emotional without the physical as human beings. That muscle in me, I feel, has gone a little bit dormant. The whole business of connecting in a shared experience. And we’re missing out on a lot of shared experience right now. That’s going to be a challenge, but no better place to do it in a theatre. I’m not too sure as a performer how Covid has transformed me because I haven’t performed in awhile. As a person, I’ve become a lot more aware of other people. The whole idea of wearing a mask, yes, you’re protecting yourself and others. The caring about others is surely more evident right now and necessary. There’s a caution moving forward that I didn’t ever use to have. None of us did. We just assumed that we were all in this big soup together and we were all fine. Being close and involved with each other, I took for granted. I’m not sure I do now. ‘Come from Away’ is going to be an emotional experience for all of us when we return because of what the story entails and details so that transformation will be strongly evident when we return. The director, Christopher Ashley, has told us we are reporters of what occurred after 9/11, but it’s going to be a challenge to not let our emotions get the better of us when we do return to what this production stands for – empathy and compassion for others. The late Zoe Caldwell spoke about how actors should feel danger in the work. It’s a solid and swell thing to have if the actor/artist and the audience both feel it. Would you agree with Ms. Caldwell? Have you ever felt danger during this time of Covid and do you believe it will somehow influence your work when you return to the theatre? It's funny I felt danger in my own life when my son contracted Covid and I had to stay away from work. I lost sleep about my son having Covid. It was terrifying. He’s fine as he only had a mild dose, but it was still terrifying. My world started to spin with understanding just how dangerous a virus this and how much of a danger I might be to others which was something I had never felt before. My presence in other people’s company is potentially dangerous. I had a test and was negative. Until I had that negative test, I felt like I wanted to disappear and not be near anybody and be responsible for anymore of this ‘horribleness’. That’s what it taught me just how we are all connected and so responsible for our actions. When I transfer that danger onto the stage, I totally agree with Ms. Caldwell’s definition. Danger is present only if you are in the moment. The work of an actor on stage is to keep it fresh every night as if it’s your first time doing it. There’s techniques to get through or to just let go and just be fully present. When you are fully present in life as well as onstage, that’s a really vulnerable place to be. And when you’re that vulnerable, it’s dangerous. I wonder if that’s what Zoe Caldwell means by danger in this context. The audience can feel danger if we are fully and truly in the moment. If you’re completely in, it’s almost scary because you don’t know what’s going to come next. If we can all feel that danger, it’s a much richer experience. The late scenic designer Ming Cho Lee spoke about great art opening doors and making us feel more sensitive. Has this time of Covid made you sensitive to our world and has it made some impact on your life in such a way that you will bring this back with you to the theatre? I’m going to be a lot more sensitive to other people’s level of comfort. I don’t know how it’s going to work when we get back together as a group and be in the same room. I’m terrified of bringing something into that space when we return because of my closeness and proximity to all of us. I’ve learned though this that different people have different levels of comfort or discomfort with this situation. It hadn’t really occurred to me that I could catch Covid just from someone walking by but now, when I walk by people in Stratford on the street, I have to be more aware of other people’s level of comfort. I hope that masks are around for quite some time, just in case. There’s won’t be any possibility of anyone wanting to go to the theatre unless they’ve been vaccinated. Nobody knows how long these vaccinations will last. Again, the late Hal Prince spoke of the fact that theatre should trigger curiosity in the actor/artist and the audience. Has Covid sparked any curiosity in you about something during this time? Has this time away from the theatre sparked further curiosity for you when you return to this art form? I feel so almost stuck. I don’t feel like I’m living the same life that I once did. It feels like a forced retirement. It might be a good thing, but I’m not ready for retirement yet. I’m always going to be available if anyone wants to pay me to sing. As far as curiosity goes, having this time has been really a gift because I’ve read so many books. I’m now very much okay with sitting down and spending a couple of hours reading. I’m not a news junkie, but it’s something I can click into if I want to. The gift of time has been incredible so I’m curious about all the things going on in the world. Books I’ve been dying to read. There’s also a curiosity about each other and how everybody is feeling emotionally. We’re all riding this thing out in the best way we can, and I love having conversations with people just about how they’re doing. In ordinary times, we talk about what we’re doing, but don’t talk about how we’re doing. Covid has made me curious as to how others are feeling. That’s a human curiosity. I love having the time and freedom to explore and be curious about other things. Previous Next

Back Susan Gilmour Canadian Chat Brian Zahorodniuk Joe Szekeres The first time I saw Susan Gilmour’s work on stage was as Fantine in the extraordinary production of ‘Les Misérables’ at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre that claimed instant fame in Toronto in the 1980s. And again, I’ve seen her work since then and her resume is impressive. I also saw her work in two other productions: the fascinating ‘Larry’s Party’ at CanStage where she performed in fine ensemble work with the late Canadian theatre icon, Brent Carver, AND in ‘Man of La Mancha’ at the Royal Alexandra where she performed the role of Aldonza/Dulcinea. Susan has also performed the role of Fantine on Broadway, in Los Angeles, and in the Asian/African production. Susan’s training includes Grant McEwan Music College in Edmonton, the Edmonton Musical Theatre and in New York City’s American Musical and Dramatic Arts Academy. We conducted our conversation via Zoom. Thank you so much for the conversation, Susan: Could you share the names of one teacher and one mentor for whom you are thankful. Yes, well, teacher wise there have been two who have been very important. One I’ll start with because she was at the very beginning and that would be (the late) Dasha Goody, founder of the Edmonton Musical Theatre. When I got out of Grant McEwan College I started working in bands and I had a duo with a girlfriend (Carmen Lindsay) and I had a party band, and then I had a jazz band. I got engaged to this amazing piano player and thought my life was set and I was so happy. Well, he decided he didn’t want to marry me and he moved on, and my life fell apart. I was really, really lost. Dasha had been one of my teachers when I went to Grant McEwan, and I hadn’t seen her in about six years since then. I was singing in a Bar Mitzvah band, really unhappy but doing my best in my life. She and her husband waltzed by and she slipped this piece of paper at my feet. I read it at intermission. The note said, “Hi, Susan. It’s been a long time. I’m sitting at table 150. Why don’t you join us and we’ll have a chat at intermission?” So I went and chatted with her and she encouraged me to come down to Edmonton Musical Theatre to see what we were doing. Dasha felt it would be a perfect fit for me. I made that decision to go and a whole new world opened up for me. I trained with them for a couple of years and felt I needed more training after that so that’s when I headed to New York where I attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy where I had two and a half years of amazing training which brings me to my second teacher – Karen Gustafson. She taught a class (all the classes there were amazing) there that has helped me the most in musical theatre in approaching a song as how you take it and bring it to life through taking it apart, looking at the music, what does the music tell you, take the words apart and find the subtext. In other words, take the song like a monologue. That particular skill has really made a difference here in my career in Canada. I’ve been able to build all my characters knowing how to do that and how to make them come alive through the songs we sing. Everyone we work with mentors us on some level through discussions, sharing onstage and backstage. We are all like a big family, we support one another. To choose one mentor – Lorraine Foreman. I met her at Charlottetown during the run of ‘Anne of Green Gables’. She was playing Rachel Lynde and I was playing Miss Stacy. This was my first professional production coming back from the States and I had a lot of questions and unknowns. Lorraine and I shared a house in Charlottetown, and we developed these friendships that have lasted our whole lives. We’ve stayed in close touch and have worked together many times. She has helped me to pick myself up, dust myself off; she’s a straight-ahead character, takes no nonsense and she loves fiercely. She’s really helped me through the bumps. Just being around her and soaking up everything she has done, the things she knows and experienced and shared with me. She’s in her 90s and still performing, most recently at Koerner Hall doing ‘Follies’ a month ago. All my life, I’ve said I’ve wanted to be just like Lorraine. She’s been a wonderful friend and mentor my whole life. I’m trying to think positively that we have, fingers crossed, moved forward in dealing with Covid. Some days are harder than others. Disregarding all these high numbers both in Ontario and Alberta, how have you been able to move forward from these last 18 eighteen months on a personal level? How have you been changed or transformed on a personal level? Well, the year before Covid hit, I had several little injuries on my knee and I had another one and it ended up I needed to have a knee replacement. Even before Covid hit, I had to take a rest from theatre and performing. I had some work lined up in the spring six months after my operation in 2020 but I had to pull out because I wasn’t able to do my best to be prepared for the work. Then Covid hit. I was already in a state of mind since I wasn’t working of thinking about who am I and who am I now in this stage of my life, and where do I see myself going. For me, Covid coming gave me more time once my knee healed, and I didn’t have that nagging at me and making me feel like I wouldn’t be able to work again, can’t dance, it was hard. I still had another two years to actually be still and think about those things. Funny, when you’re still things come to you and take time to breathe and be silent and go inward a little bit, things start to become clearer and happen. One of the things I’ve been hoping is that I would meet somebody. I’ve been on my own for many years since I’ve been divorced from (the late) Michael Burgess. The industry means we have to pick up and go at a moment’s notice so it’s difficult for relationships, and I thought in the last third of my life it would be nice to be with somebody. And sitting in that stillness came a wonderful person. I’ve had this time also along with inner searching to get to know this wonderful man and have this time to spend together and nurture a relationship. I’m thrilled and extremely happy. While the world was falling apart with so much anxiety and fear and grief in the world, I had this almost exact opposite experience personally in own little bubble here of love and growth and inner search and setting the tone and figuring out. I haven’t got all the answers yet where I’m going in this next stage of my life. Covid gave us that opportunity to just sit and be because we’re always on the go in this industry all the time to stay current on all levels. There’s never really any time to be, to read and to follow a path you haven’t followed in a long time. For me, it was learning to play the piano again. If I can play the piano for the rest of my life and accompany myself and sing for the rest of my life, I will be content until the day I die. How have these last eighteen months of the pandemic changed or transformed you as an artist professionally? Well, as an artist as I’ve spoken to other people too, there was a time where I lost my voice and thought it’s gone. I was asked to do an online concert and I was going to do this one song which was going to be funny, and I was going to throw in some Covid words. It was as if my voice had disappeared. My bad, I hadn’t sung a note in several months, so I had to pull out of that online concert because I was just so scared of what was happening with my voice. That was a little bit of a wake-up call to start singing again. And that’s what partly led me back to the piano because I was playing scales and singing and then I thought it would be nice to play a song. So, I got out a book, plunked out a few chords and thought, “Geez, I’m really terrible.” So, I bought this course, and I have a private piano teacher now all online for as long as I want, and I’m learning to play again. I also picked up my guitar again and started plunking around on that and learning new finger picking methods and just allowing myself to follow the trickle of whatever interested me without any pressure whatsoever which has been really, really lovely. I’ve even dabbled in some writing, and I’m not a writer but I thought let’s give it a try. In your professional opinion, how do you see the global landscape of professional Canadian theatre changing, adapting, and morphing as a result of these last 18 months? I think it’s going to change a lot. This time of gestation for a lot of people is going to create a lot of incredible stories that have to be told. You add that to what’s going on in the world with inclusivity of all different peoples, everyone has a story to tell and they all should be told. Whether or not that includes me, I don’t know. And that’s okay. I’m just excited to see what is going to come out of all this sadness and global strife. Nobody has been untouched by this. The artist of the world, the poets, the writers are going to build an incredible amount of amazing work that we are all going to experience. A lot of my friends have been busy writing shows and writing stories, songs, poems, and books. There’s going to be so much and that’s exciting. Theatre is always going to be there. I never thought for a moment that theatre was dead or that Covid was going to kill it. I knew that Covid would make difficulty for some of the smaller theatres. Theatre will live because people will demand it. Our audiences will come back when they feel it’s safe to come back. And they already are starting. It goes up and down and that will probably continue for awhile. There will be some much-needed changes, and it’s thrilling and exciting and I hope I can be part of it. What intrigues/excites/fascinates and interests Susan Gilmour post Covid? Wow!....hmmmm…we’re not quite post Covid yet… What excites me post Covid is I want to travel more. Now that I’ve got this amazing man in my life (and by the way we just got engaged!!!!!), there’s a wedding coming up and some travelling in the future. That’s exciting for me. I’m excited to see how I can fit into the post Covid theatre community through I’m hoping mentoring, coaching, some teaching on my own, and also performing should it come my way, and continuing on developing my own skills. I’m going to start jamming with some musicians which I haven’t done in a long time. Part of me wants to revisit all that. What disappoints/unnerves/frustrates Susan Gilmour post Covid? Global politics. Looming war. People’s selfishness, I suppose, but I try not to be judgmental as fear is a real thing as people are doing the best they can, and I know that. I really hope and pray there isn’t going to be a huge division between the vaccinated and unvaccinated. It doesn’t upset me or make me angry in that way as I try to be understanding of all that. RAPID ROUND Try to answer these in a single sentence. If you need more than one sentence, that’s not a problem. I credit the late James Lipton and “Inside the Actors’ Studio’ for this idea: If you could say one thing to one of your mentors and teachers who encouraged you to get to this point as an artist, what would it be? “Thank you” for one. “Thank you for believing in me, for pushing me, for inspiring me.” If you could say something to any of the naysayers in your career who didn’t think you would make it as an artist, what would that be? Well in another way, “Thank you” because I’m the type of person who says you can’t do something I’m like, “Oh, yeah? Just watch me!” I did have one of these individuals in my life and they did make me work harder, made me want to prove that they weren’t right. What’s your favourite swear word? Well, it’s the ‘f bomb’ I have to say. (and Susan and I have a good laugh). My brother says I’m sounding like a truck driver so I’m trying not to use it as much. What is a word you love to hear yourself say? “Yes”. What is a word you don’t like to hear yourself say? “Can’t” What would you tell your younger personal self with the knowledge and wisdom life experience has now given you? I would tell her to follow her dreams, to be patient, to listen, to have no fear and to be kind to others. With the professional life experience you’ve gained, what would you now tell the upcoming Susan Gilmour from years ago who was just in the throes of beginning a career as a performing artist? To breathe, to relax a bit more, to work hard, to say focussed. To observe everything in life around you and soak it in for characters, accents, stories, everything you can use and put in your pool to draw from as an actor. Stay focused and work hard, but always remember it’s supposed to be fun. What is one thing you still wish to accomplish personally and professionally? To accomplish personally, I want to learn to be a better cook. I’ve already started. Personally, (and Susan starts to laugh) we never think of things on a personal level anymore… I want to be here for my husband. I want to have a fulfilling relationship for the rest of my life. I want to be close to my family. I want to mentor my nieces, I’ve got two beautiful nieces (they’re 15 and 17 now) and starting to question and wonder about life. I’ve told them that anything they can’t talk to their mother about, they can talk to me. So I want to be here for that. I just want to keep going with the things I’ve started to do during Covid – cooking, gardening, I’ve picked up knitting and needle point. Oh, and having time to read. I want to travel too. Professionally, I just want to go where the road leads me because I don’t know what that looks like for me yet, but I know there’s something and I can feel it. I’m just going to stay open and walk down whatever road appears before me. I’m going to say Yes and allow those experiences to come to me whatever they are, and that will be in theatre, in mentoring, in teaching, in writing, in expressing myself through music whether playing or singing in a piano bar. I’m going to do it and do it with all my heart. Name one moment in your professional career as an artist that you wish you could re-visit again for a short while. Ohhh…there are so many… This moment, I would love to go back to the very first production of ‘Man of La Mancha’ that I did. It was at Neptune Theatre in Halifax. It was the second show I did since I got out of school. Tom Kerr was the director, and he was like a teacher to me. Ed Henderson was Music Director and was an amazing teacher as well. I learned a lot there. To work with (the late) Brent Carver – he was Don Quixote, and I was Aldonza. Brent was the seasoned actor and I learned so much from him, and from that entire company. There were so many wonderful people in that show. I would love to go back and do it one more time, just to experience the magic we made in that show together. That would be amazing. What is one thing Susan Gilmour will never take for granted again post Covid? Life and freedom. I will never take for granted life; it is so fragile or freedom. To be locked in your house and told you can’t go anywhere or see anyone, touch, hug or kiss anyone, or sing with anyone, was torture. Life and freedom. Would Susan Gilmour do it all again if given the same opportunities? (Susan says assertively) Absolutely 100%. Even the bumps along the way. Previous Next

Back Cast Iron A Binaural Drama presented by Toronto's Factory and Obsidian Theatres Dahlia Katz, and courtesy of Factory and Obsidian Joe Szekeres I had no idea what the term ‘binaural’ meant so I was pleased to see it defined on the Factory Theatre website. Lisa Codrington’s ‘Cast Iron’ is billed as a binaural audio drama meaning that directional sound is used during the performance. To attain the full audio experience, the team at Factory and Obsidian recommend that listeners use headphones during the performance. I didn’t have headphones, so I had to rely on the earbuds through my iPhone. More shortly about the reason why I strongly recommend future audiences to use headphones or ear buds especially to listen to ‘Cast Iron’. From the Factory Theatre website: ‘Cast Iron’ follows Libya Atwell (Alison Sealy-Smith), a Barbadian immigrant, as she wields acerbic wit and humour in an attempt to appease the ghosts of her past. Alone in her Winnipeg nursing home, Libya receives an unexpected visitor from Barbados. Past repression resurfaces, until the tragedy that shaped her life spills from her soul. As we can all recall at the heights of the lockdowns during the pandemic, some of the Toronto live theatres pivoted to online audio dramas so that theatre lovers could continue to turn to a form of artistic work to help cope with the strains of the time, to enjoy listening to artists tell a story, or to transport the listener (even if for a short time) out of the current world situation in which we all found ourselves. When I had the opportunity to begin listening to some audio dramas provided by Factory Theatre last year, for example, I simply used my desk top computer and turned up the sound even when it was advised to use headphones. I wasn’t certain if using ear buds would ruin the auditory experience for me. I was wrong on that account. Use earbuds or headphones if you can. They add a richness to the sound experience of the piece that I simply just closed my eyes and listen to the marvelous story telling of Ms. Sealy-Smith. Sensitively and compassionately directed by Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu, ‘Cast Iron’ becomes a tale of dignity, grace, and humour thanks to the finely distinguished vocal work of Alison Sealy-Smith supported by the solid work of John Gzowski as Sound Designer and Composer. There were moments as I listened where the whipping Winnipeg winter sounds enveloped all around me and I shivered momentarily thinking about what will probably be coming our way here in Ontario very soon. There were also moments where I was transported to the Barbados sugar cane fields where I envisioned Libya walking through them. Hearing these audio effects reminded me of the importance of sound when I attended ‘Blindness’ at The Princess of Wales in September. Additionally, Libya begins to tell an unseen visitor in her nursing home room of a deciding factor that has remained with her for most of her life. She has never forgotten a rivalry between herself and her half-sister, Gracie, who was the more gregarious one. In telling this story, we also learn about the community’s belief and fear in ‘The Red Woman’ who will haunt her down on account of her relationship with Gracie and what ultimately occurs. Just listening to this intriguing tale of this Woman instilled some momentary fear and trepidation. It did take me a few moments to accustom my ear to listen and to hear the musicality of the Barbadian dialect. One can follow along on the computer if he/she/they wanted to read the text while listening to the story. I chose not to do that but instead just follow the story aurally. I didn’t catch some moments but that didn’t distract me from the story at all. Running Time: 70 minutes ‘Cast Iron’ by Lisa Codrington presented by Factory Theatre in collaboration with Obsidian Theatre With Alison Sealy-Smith. Directed by Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu Production Team: John Gzowski (Foley Artist, Sound Designer and Composer), Lola Gafaar (Assistant Director), Jacob Lin (Apprentice Sound Director), Emilie Aubin (Stage Manager) Production to be performed live and streamed as a binaural drama November 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28 at 7:30 pm. Free tickets but you must register for a specific performance. For further information, please visit www.factorytheatre.ca or www.obsidiantheatre.com . Previous Next

Back 'Macbeth' by William Shakespeare. Presented by Loyalist City Shakespeare and Saint John Theatre Company Now onstage at Place Fort La Tour Andrew Finlay Aaron Kropf Loyalist City Shakespeare and Saint John Theatre Company present ‘Macbeth’ at Place Fort La Tour. What a terrific choice in production to draw Saint Johnners to the national historic site for the first time since its reconstruction. Place Fort La Tour was the scene of a bloody battle a few short years after Shakespeare penned the now famous Scottish play, a perfect setting for this production. This ‘Macbeth’ also marked the first time Shakespeare is performed outdoors in the loyalist city which made the excitement palpable in the sold out opening night crowd July 12. If you want a chance to catch this performance get your tickets quick! The first week is already sold out. Macbeth (Cameron Secord) encounters the weird sisters who tell him that he is soon to be given a new title and then become King. Spurred by his wife (Christina Isbill), Macbeth takes the steps needed to change the predictions from the witches into reality. When his actions affect his sanity, Macbeth becomes more and more intent on holding the crown, but another foretelling by the weird sisters lets him know how his reign will come to an end. Director Sandra Bell has selected an ideal location for the show, and the company of actors and crew are clearly passionate about bringing the works of William Shakespeare to audiences in Saint John. Bell’s knowledge of the work comes across in this staging. I’m sure there were some restrictions in the use of the space but I would have enjoyed to see more use of the forts buildings throughout the show. However, the space that she did use was a wonderful use of the many levels offered by Place Fort La Tour. Cameron Secord leads this company with an apt portrayal of the titular character. Secord plays a Macbeth that is quickly motivated by power, and just as easily becomes a man overwrought by regret for the actions he’s made to take and maintain the crown. Christina Isbill’s Lady Macbeth is even more obsessed with power than her husband. Isbill brilliantly delivers the “Out Damn Spot” monologue with great skill, one of the highlights of the production. Madison Lucas, Matt Hamilton-Snow, and Beth Pollock were definitely the pique of excellence as the three witches. When they were on stage as the triumvirate they commanded the space unlike any other in the company. Additional kudos must be given to Beth Pollock for her deliciously delectable turn as the Porter (my favourite scene in the show, it’s one that I always look forward to and she did not disappoint). It was a delight to take in a Shakespeare performance again. Hailing from Stratford, Ontario, I miss the amount of Shakespeare I used to take in living there. This production was well conceived and presented. It was really enjoyable. However, the production lacks a the subtlety that Shakespeare requires for it to be a truly spectacular production. With that aside this is a production that is well worth taking in while it’s on until July 22. Previous Next

Back Megan Follows “I’m never quite sure what tomorrow brings.” ​ Joe Szekeres A Canadian performing artist icon returns to the Toronto stage. I am pleased for two reasons. First, I’ll get a chance to see her perform live for the second time. The first time was at Stratford years ago, where she played tragic heroine Juliet to her Romeo, the Now Stratford Festival Artistic Director, Antoni Cimolino. Second, I appreciate that I had the opportunity to speak with her via Zoom for a few moments last week when she was smack dab in rehearsals. Megan Follows opens tonight in Studio 180’s North American premiere of ‘Four Minutes Twelve Seconds’ by James Fritz, a taut, darkly comic, and profoundly provocative Olivier Award-nominated drama. The play delves into the complex issues of consent, privilege, and the insidious opportunities new technology presents, offering a unique and thought-provoking experience. She’s joined on stage this time by Sergio Di Zio (Tarragon, Coal Mine, various films, ‘Flashpoint’), Tavaree Daniel-Simms and Jadyn Nasato. Studio 180 bills ‘Four Minutes’: Di (Follows) and David (Di Zio) have devoted their lives to giving their son, Jack, every opportunity they never had. But a startling incident outside the school grounds threatens to ruin everything they strive for. As events accelerate, Di and David question whether they can trust Jack, his closest friends, or themselves. That’s all I want to know about the plot. Megan told me that if I haven’t read the play, it’s good to come on this journey with fresh eyes. To quote Follows, rehearsals have been a hell of a journey, but she felt confident that they were right where they needed to be at that point. Pieces of an intricate puzzle were slowly being put together at that time. ‘Four Minutes’ had been in preview for the last few days. I’m certain tonight’s opening will be sold out, and an excited crowd will be ready to see one of Canada’s own back on a Toronto stage. There are surprises in the script Megan does not want to spoil about the show. I don’t want to question her further about them as I want to be carried away by the story. Fritz’s writing and the story drew Follows to consider performing the play. She was keen to work with Studio 180 and director Mark McGrinder.: “Obviously, I appreciate Studio 180's willingness to take on this piece of theatre. It’s a challenge, so I guess I’m drawn to challenges.” Follows calls McGrinder passionate and funny. Mark has a wonderful, dry sense of humour. He’s deeply interested in investigating something. He’s not afraid to get in there and help the actors to excavate as he sees it. Mark’s also a parent, so he gets the story from that angle and wants everyone to roll up their sleeves and explore the ongoing dynamics. I’ve interviewed Sergio Di Zio twice and remember how keen he was to work with Follows on this production. She feels extremely fortunate and grateful to work with Tavaree Daniel-Simms and Jadyn Nasato. She calls it wonderful to be around young, emerging artists, not only because of their energy but also because, regarding Four Minutes, it’s vital to recognize there is a generational aspect to the play regarding the navigational change: “There’s a good vibe. We’re a team. We gotta be there for each other. Tavaree and Jadyn are incredibly beautiful in spirit and also extremely talented young actors.” What are some messages Megan hopes audiences will take away with them about ‘Four Minutes Twelve Seconds’? She believes the play will raise more questions than there are answers, with a willingness for people to have a dialogue. A couple of talkbacks have been scheduled for the production. If audiences want to attend one of those nights, check the schedule through the Studio 180 website. Follows finds audience talkbacks post-performance beneficial. With a devil-may-care laugh, she honestly states she never knows how those who remain behind will respond when she participates in them. She senses that the talkback for ‘Four Minutes’ will probably delve into some good points. As we began to wind down the conversation, I asked her what was some specific advice about the business that either her parents, Ted Follows and Dawn Greenhalgh, passed on to her or someone else did: “It’s a marathon; it’s not a sprint…keep going…as a journey, there are many peaks and valleys.” She has learned from her parents that they were in the industry for the long haul. You have to roll up your sleeves and get right into it. Her parents were in it for the love of it and truly for the love of theatre and storytelling: “It feels like a privilege to be able to navigate complicated stories, issues and words and have a tangible, physical platform still to do that which is the theatre. There is a closeness of human interaction.” Follows says the theatre and the industry may feel like a luxury, but she believes it is a necessity of exploration that is important. One has to be able to see himself/herself/themself(ves) in many things. There is no quick answer to something. The theatre, at its best, is that process of discovery: “The theatre is a messy process in the best sense, meaning you have to have permission to be wrong and be brave. Being brave isn’t about posturing. It’s about going into the dark corners of things and examining them, recognizing a human ability that we all have.” Megan says we live in a black-and-white, right-or-wrong world right now, a very polarized world. For her, the truth is never in the polar opposites. Often, it’s in the greys and intersections of things that are sometimes uncomfortable or the willingness not to be right. The topic then returned to the study of Shakespeare and whether young people should still be introduced to it. There’s always the question of whether Shakespeare should be removed from use in schools. Follows believes the Bard’s works must absolutely be taught. For her, why is it an either / or? Why isn’t it an ‘and, and’? She added further: “The muscle of using language in my limited understanding of Shakespeare (it truly is) is not a lot of subtext. An actor is always thinking about the words. Shakespeare has given language expression, and it is incredibly dynamic. What is there to be lost from an exploration of that? It doesn’t have to be the be-all and the end-all. There’s power in the more we have.” What is upsetting for her is the limiting and cutting of the arts in high schools and schools. That is a lack of true understanding and recognition. Storytelling in all of its iterations is critical to making us complex and rich human beings. Why on earth we would deny our young people access to the arts, music, dance, to anything, for her, is the bigger conundrum. Follows believes studying the arts can be life-saving for some people. It can show a world of hope and beauty, a road map, a common ground, and the feeling of being seen in someone else’s story. That is critical to the power of storytelling. Megan concluded our conversation by saying her performance in ‘Four Minutes Twelve Seconds’ is the first time she has been on the stage in a long time. It’s nerve-wracking. She has been behind the camera, producing and directing and also acting. She’s never quite sure what tomorrow brings. She has been working on an entertaining Crave digital web series called ‘My Dead Mom,’ a comedy written by Wendy Litner. Megan has been acting with Lauren Collins. The web series explores the grief of a young woman haunted by her dead mother. Follows plays the mother. Megan is also developing a project with writer and actress Susan Coyne. It’s a limited series. Follows can’t say more than that because they’re in the process of something. What she says: “I’m in the process of spreading my wings. My production company (Caspian Film Productions) co-produced an independent feature called ‘Stealing the Sky' with Penny Noble and Marie Dame.’ I’ve been out there wanting to develop more and be proactive in the stories I want to see and tell.” ‘Four Minutes Twelve Seconds’ runs until May 12, 2024, at Tarragon Theatre in the Extraspace, 30 Bridgman Avenue. For tickets, visit: https://tarragontheatre.com/plays/2023-2024/four-minutes-twelve-seconds/ or call the Box Office at (416) 531-1827. Previous Next

Back Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo Looking Ahead Sylvie Ann Paré Joe Szekeres After an extremely frustrating start in getting my computer running and then Zooming in late with choreographer/director Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo, I had quite an informative conversation with this award-winning Mohawk and mixed heritage artist. I was pleased she wasn’t annoyed as Barbara said she experienced the same issues with her computer the other day in trying to connect on another Zoom call. She was smiling and I was most thankful she put me at ease immediately. Our discussion led me into a moment from our Canadian history of which I was not aware at all. Diabo examines this historical time in her upcoming production at Toronto Harbourfront’s Fleck Dance Theatre. To be honest I felt ashamed of my ignorance in not knowing or remembering this issue many years ago when I was a student. She told me I wasn’t the only one who felt like this. More about this Canadian historical event shortly. A press release I received announced Diabo’s: “long-awaited Ontario premiere of A’nó:wara Dance Theatre’s vital and potent work, Sky Dancers. The Montreal-based company was part of a production residency at Harbourfront Centre in 2019 and scheduled to make its world premiere with Sky Dancers in May 2020 when the pandemic hit.” Just like the other artists whom I’ve interviewed, Barbara reiterated these last three years have been an adjustment personally for her as well. Although she was able to work the whole time through Zoom and other digital platforms, she felt she had to adjust to being alone more as much of her social life is tied in with her work as a performing artist. But being isolated with her husband and child allowed her to do some private ‘looking in’ and tap into her Indigenous perspective and just simply be with and commune through nature. Her husband is considered an essential worker, so she and her child spent a lot of time together and her husband was able to join them when his work permitted him to do so. Artistically, Barbara says she is more grateful in being able to create with others once again albeit wearing masks, and she’s fine with that. There is an adjustment in learning how to be with others once again in a creative sense, yet every so often the realities of the pandemic creep back in for her. Nevertheless, she has learned to take things casually and deal with them when they occur. ‘Sky Dancers’ explores the impact of the Quebec Bridge disaster of 1907 which killed 33 ironworkers from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake. The community was well known for iron work which just hearing about this makes the story even more poignant. When the bridge collapsed while under construction, the fallout was felt around the world and the aftermath still echoes across generations today. Diabo’s great grandfather, Louis D’Ailleboust, died in the tragedy. And therefore I felt my ignorance that I did not remember this event. It's one thing to be able to narrate the tragedy of the bridge disaster. During our conversation, Barbara made an interesting comment about storytelling. Narration or telling in words focuses on an imposition of thoughts and ideas; dance, however, allows for an immediate visual interpretation for an audience to see. For Barbara, ‘Sky Dancers’ becomes a big scale in scope. The production was five years in the making. There is a large set needed with focused and specific lighting techniques required for effects. Barbara wants the audience to feel as if they are right in the action of the story as there is no separation between them and the performers on the stage. There are four parts to ‘Sky Dancers’ that tell a story: a) Before the tragedy we witness the Mohawk community life. b) We see the pride of the community in their iron work creation of the bridge. c) We will witness the tragedy of the bridge d) We will see the aftermath of the community where the women must clean up and learn to live without members of the community. What made this story even harder for me? The Catholic Church came in at this time to pressure the mothers to send the remaining children away to the Residential schools as it was felt the women would be unable to provide what their children required. For those who have no background in dance or movement, these specific art forms become universal at that moment in performance through the multi-faceted expressions of the artists. According to Barbara, it’s possible that if there are 250 people in the audience, each of them may walk away from ‘Sky Dancers’ with 250 different views of that story. That’s the magic of the allure of dance and movement. Although she was trained in classical ballet, Barbara felt she didn’t fit in with certain techniques of ballet and returned to the spiritual nourishment in her community to find her voice which fulfilled her personal need to dance. However, she assuredly pointed out that First Nations’ dance was discouraged for the longest time and ‘Sky Dancers’ will allow us to share the Indigenous culture with other communities. Given the last three years and the round table discussions of all performing artists here in Canada, it’s now time to share and see as many stories as we possibly can, and this includes all members of the First Nations and Indigenous communities. What are some key messages for audiences to leave with after seeing ‘Sky Dancers’ or about any First Nations and Indigenous stories? If anything, Diabo wants audiences not to see members of the Mohawk community as victims of this tragedy but the fact they survived it through their resilience and their strength as a community. ‘Sky Dancers’ honours those who died in the tragedy, their families, their descendants, and the community. I look forward as a caring Canadian to see this story of strength within the Mohawk community. ‘Sky Dancers’ will perform at Toronto Harbourfront’s Fleck Dance Theatre May 20-21 at 7:30pm and May 21-23, 2022, at 2pm in Queen’s Quay Terminal, Third Floor, 207 Queens Quay West. For further information and/or ticket prices, please visit www.harbourfrontcentre.com . Previous Next

Back Jennifer Walls Theatre Conversation in a Covid World Graham Isador Joe Szekeres Jennifer is one articulate artist who is most passionate about what she does. After our hour plus long conversation the other day, I got the impression that not even Covid can ever destroy her zeal for the arts. Jennifer is a Toronto based actor, director, producer, and voice actor. She is also the host/co-producer of Singular Sensation Online. A graduate of Sheridan College's Musical Theatre Performance program, Jennifer's diverse career spans almost two decades. She has been featured in the Globe and Mail and the cover of NOW Magazine for her work in Toronto theatre and gained critical acclaim for both her portrayal as Liza Minnelli in her solo show Liza Live! as well as her autobiographical rock cabaret Jagged Little Me, based on the music of Alanis Morissette. Before the pandemic hit she was slated to make her debut as a writer at The Victoria Playhouse Petrolia. As a director, she led the teams behind Hart House Theatre's hit productions of Heathers the Musical and The Rocky Horror Show as well as Mandy Goodhandy's Just Call Me Lady. She was also the Assistant Director with Talk As Free Theatres' production of Into The Woods. As a producer she has worked with many Fringe solo artists including Rebecca Perry and Adam Proulx as well as with Tweed and Co., The Musical Stage Company, The Toronto Fringe, Pride Toronto and Second City Toronto. She was also a producer for the Sunday Cabaret Series at the 120 Diner which was forced to close its doors due to the pandemic. As a voice actor she is the voice of the Family Channel networks. Currently, she is the host and co-producer of Singular Sensation Online, a live monthly musical theatre event (celebrating its tenth year this March) turned online performing arts talk show. Originally a live weekly event at Statler's on Church (now The Well) turned a monthly event at the 120 Diner for just over a year when the pandemic hit, Singular soon went online combining their live and online presence into an online show. Since April 2020, they have produced 20 episodes celebrating the inspiring efforts of the theatre community during the pandemic with conversations, performances and sign-up guests including appearances by TSN's Michael Lansberg, Juno Award nominee Stacey Kay, Broadway choreographer Marc Kimelma and director/choreographer and advocate David Conolly. The show's mission is to continue to offer a safe and supportive platform for marginalized voices and make the world more accessible for the theatre community through new segments dedicated to self-care and world issues. Season 2 will be debuting in February of 2021. We held our conversation via Zoom. Thanks again, Jennifer: In a couple of months, we will be coming up on one year where the doors of live theatre have been shut. It was a year ago the first case was reported. How have you been faring during this time? Your immediate family? It’s crazy. I was at the gym and I was thinking, “Oh, that sounds scary.” And here we are. I guess we didn’t see it coming even though the signs were all there, and we still wonder where it’s going. Like anybody, it’s been up and down and a bit of an existential experience. There’s been a lot of practices in mediating emotions. To give you a succinct answer I’ve been doing okay, a bit of a roller coaster in dealing with an extreme loss in our entire community and world and trying to mediate everything’s that happening. I’m very lucky, fortunate and blessed my health is fine. I’m not special in my experience. My immediate family is fine. They’re healthy. My mom works in long term care. She’s a PSW but there haven’t been any cases where she works luckily. I’m from a small town where I am now so I’m helping her out a bit. My mom’s really tired but doing well, thank goodness, and thank you for asking. How have you been spending your time since the industry has been locked up tight as a drum? I’ve been really lucky to be out of the city for the most part which has been a blessing because it’s tough to social distance in the city when everyone is close together in Toronto. I’m based in Toronto. For the first weeks, it felt like a vacation maybe a couple of weeks, just a bit of hanging out. And then things started to shut down and lock up. As of April, we took my show ‘Singular Sensation’ online so that’s been taking up the majority of our time. My partner and I co-produce the show together and it’s been a really uplifting way to spend our time. I’ve been teaching online. I’m a voice coach and learning. I also do voice work for The Family Channel. I’ve been lucky to have some sense of normalcy which has been good but trying to re-examine what I’m doing with my life, so it’s been part normal and part existential crisis. And listening to the conversation being held on what’s occurring in the world and re-discovering what the show is all about and using our platform wisely in a way that is conducive to working online. I’ve always wanted to be able to combine my interest in journalism along with my degree from Sheridan, so it’s been a gift to bring the journalistic aspect to ‘Singular’ and celebrate the work people are doing or celebrating the community hub of the show. The late Hal Prince described the theatre as an escape for him. Would you say that Covid has been an escape for you or would you describe this near year long absence as something else? I don’t think I’d call this time an escape, more a suspension of reality but we have to move forward. It was a bit of a vacation. I’d been burned out when Covid hit so yes, it was part an escape for a small amount, but it was also tough because my partner and I were on the doorstep of the biggest seasons of theatre in our careers. He’s at Stratford and I was about to direct and make a debut as a writer. You work so hard towards these milestones and then to have it taken away from us….. Wow! I didn’t want to escape from this, but I was happy to escape from a joe job. Okay, it was an escape, but I didn’t want an escape from the milestone my partner and I were about to experience. I love what I do, and I didn’t want the summer off. It’s hard with all this because I don’t know what direction to travel when everything was shutting down and we were thinking two-week shutdown? Three-week shutdown? Do I pursue a new discipline? Do I get a part time job through all of this and weather out what’s coming? How do you invest in your future when you don’t know what it is? It feels like treading water. I’m grateful for the diverse skills set I’ve recognized that I’ve had so that’s been a good thing about Covid. It’s allowed me to work through this time, yes at a limited capacity as I’m not making millions, but I’ve been able to keep a sense of normalcy. I’ve interviewed a few artists several months ago who said that the theatre industry will probably be shut down and not go full head on until at least 2022. There may be pockets of outdoor theatre where safety protocols are in place. What are your comments about this? Do you think you and your colleagues/fellow artists will not return until 2022? Oh, Joe, if I had an answer for that I’d be making millions off it. (Jennifer started laughing and so did I) I wouldn’t need to work at theatre ‘cause I’d be rich. I’m a big believer in manifestation and that makes it hard for me to be realistic. If I say 2022, am I going to manifest that? I struggle between my belief in manifestation and my rational realistic part of my brain. I don’t know, I don’t know. We have this vaccine, and we have this one school of thought that by the fall things may look very different. It’s that suspended and I don’t know how to answer that and I’m afraid to have it placed here in print. I know this sounds ridiculous, but we hold on to whatever hope gets us through the day. I don’t know. I think it’s really complicated as there are a lot of things to take into consideration from actors to audience to technical crew, it’s almost like four different industries in one. Before it’s back traditionally in the way we saw it before, yah, maybe, that could take awhile. Yes, there might be pockets and new ways of performing theatre as you mentioned earlier, but the full experience? I think there might be some realism to that prediction, but God I hope it’s before…. My epidemiology degree is about as imaginative as my Tony that I received. (Jennifer has neither, by the way 😉) I had a discussion recently with an Equity actor who said that yes theatre should not only entertain but, more importantly, it should transform both the actor and the audience. How has Covid transformed you in your understanding of the theatre and where it is headed in a post Covid world? I understand it’s transformed me to needing a bigger pant size. My experience has been up and down. I’m running again so that’s a positive start for me. This is an interesting question. We’ve done 20 episodes of ‘Singular Sensation’ and our goal is to chat with people about what they think will happen in the future and transformation of marginalized voices, inclusion, equity and creating the theatre these theatre companies want to see. I feel privileged to get to see these initiatives from the ground up through Singular Sensation. This pause has given us a time to reflect from where we have come from to where we are going, and to what needs to change. This time is allowing us to look and see what are we doing, what’s the result and how do we move forward. And it’s obvious we need to do something different. The transformation is coming in the way we see traditional theatre – I’m a big fan of non-traditional theatre and this is a positive step forward. ‘Singular Sensation’ has been transformed in the way we see creation and performance. We can’t do open mic online, so we had to figure out how to go from open mic to online performance talk show that morphed into bringing on new theatre companies focused on perhaps marginalized creators, for example. When I graduated from Sheridan many years ago, it was either Mirvish or bust. Now, that has all changed as theatre companies are springing up. At Singular Sensation, we have a platform that is safe and supportive to all artists and for all artists, but our goal is to show how the arts are transformative. We’ve had guests on from Broadway and from Mirvish, but we are also reaching out to the newer companies that did not exist when I graduated from Sheridan but have every right to have their voices heard. To be transformed, we have to listen more to each other and to hear each other’s voice. The late Zoe Caldwell spoke about how actors should feel danger in the work. It’s a solid and swell thing to have if the actor/artist and the audience both feel it. Would you agree with Ms. Caldwell? Have you ever felt danger during this time of Covid and do you believe it will somehow influence your work when you return to the theatre? Danger is a big word here. I wonder when she had said this because words and context can mean so much given what has happened. This is a really tricky question. I would prefer to use the word ‘thrilling’ rather than ‘danger’. I feel danger has a real connotation to it whereas thrilling – movies are called thrillers, they’re not called dangers, but there is danger in thrillers. This is a touchy subject for me to answer as the world we know right now is in danger of all sorts. In my understanding, I wouldn’t agree because we are in a time right now where we are examining verbiage and position. It’s too easily misunderstood right now. Thrilling feels more responsible to me during this time instead of using danger. I’ve felt danger many times during Covid but that danger feels like that I might lose my home or will I be able to afford my home or pay for my taxes. If I claim CERB and yes we have to pay it back but this has real endangering consequences and circumstances for some artists. The time we’re living in now is dangerous, and theatre is supposed to be an escape but now, in Covid, why do I want to be reminded in a theatrical piece about danger if I know I’m living in endangering circumstances. This is a polarizing question because I have felt danger during Covid because we went from seeing empty shelves at Walmart to many of us not taking this time seriously about wearing or not wearing a mask. We live in a world steeped in danger right now. When we understood the world or some of it, then we could be enticed with danger since our world wasn’t in danger. I can see the want for theatre to feel dangerous when the world is not in danger as a general state of being. Right now, people want to feel nostalgia, comfort, and joy rather than be reminded of the danger. Danger has visceral consequences whereas theatre shouldn’t. That’s the polarity of the question for me. When I emerge from this pandemic, my partner and I are leaving for sunnier destinations. (Jennifer laughs). Seriously, we’re focusing on ‘Singular Sensation’ right now as our immediate future. For us, we really want this show to stay past Covid in order to bring the struggle of the artist. If we aren’t able to understand what is happening in our industry, that is dangerous. Hopefully ‘Singular Sensation’ can offer a life raft and place things in a succinct platform to offer insight. The danger in theatre is not evolving and when we come back, hopefully, we will be aware of those issues that might be troublesome or a potential hazard. The danger is being stagnant. The late scenic designer Ming Cho Lee spoke about great art opening doors and making us feel more sensitive. Has this time of Covid made you sensitive to our world and has it made some impact on your life in such a way that you will bring this back with you to the theatre? To be completely honest, it’s what has helped ‘Singular’ in the resonance of our show, in our work, in having these conversations. In the beginning we identified with the fact that yes we wanted artists to come on ‘Singular’, but we’re also cognizant of the fact that an artist will also be reminded of the fact he/she/they have lost work as well. It’s complicated and heavy and we never know where someone is at. At ‘Singular’ we’re trying to be sensitive and cognizant and aware of the loss of the artist when they are invited; however, we understand everyone is at a different place so if the artist only wants to chat and not perform, that’s perfectly fine as well. No pressure. We are being sensitive in the way we conduct our show. That’s a big part of our mandate. In having this sensitivity, we’ve been able to have 20 episodes of the show and not pressure artists not to be anything other than who they are at that moment. In my producing, mentoring and coaching I try to be in tune with other artists. I have anxiety myself so I find that I’m extra sensitive to people’s needs because there are days when I struggle. It’s tricky. We’re going mental health shows right now which comes from a place of sensitivity. It’s important people feel comfortable and not have to present if they don’t have that desire. We can’t be so product driven right now. We have to be sensitive to ourselves and each other. And I hope this brings us to a more compassionate and humane industry when we emerge from Covid. Again, the late Hal Prince spoke of the fact that theatre should trigger curiosity in the actor/artist and the audience. Has Covid sparked any curiosity in you about something during this time? Has this time away from the theatre sparked further curiosity for you when you return to this art form? I’m very curious as to how all of this revolution will be put into practice. I feel we are coming up to this understanding of what is this renaissance going to look like. We’re speaking out about things that don’t work, systems that are in place that do not work, so let’s fix that and how is it going to be applied. I’m really curious to see how this is all going to be done. We’ve had so many glimpses of what that renaissance will look like through ‘Singular’, through conversations with our guests, even pre-conversations before recording. How will this transformation, this pause, this new understanding be practically applied? And what kind of industry will we come back to after all this? I’m really curious about it, and how to implement it. I think it’s needed. It’s going to change the theatre experience. We have the opportunity for more people to see themselves represented on stage which is so important. People are speaking up and are being brave and courageous. What is the ‘Last Supper’ painting of the theatre industry going to look like? We have the potential to change the game and I hope we do. I hope Covid is not for nothing. I hope this pause is for nothing and to allow us to open our minds and hearts a bit more and go in a new direction where people feel safer, valued, included, heard and seen and that the audience feels valued in that. To connect with Jennifer at Instagram: @jeniwallsto and the handle for her show Singular Sensation is @singular_senation. Previous Next

Back 'Mary's Wedding' by Stephen Massicotte Now on stage in the Springer Theatre, Thousand Islands Playhouse 185 South Street, Gananoque Maev Beaty & Wade Bogert-O'Brien in Mary's Wedding Directed by Brett Christopher, Set Design by Joe Pagnan, Costume Design by Jayne Christopher, Lighting Design by Jeff Pybus, Sound Design by Richard Feren Photo by Randy deKleine-Stimpson Joe Szekeres VOICE CHOICE “A ravishing Maev Beaty and dashing Wade Bogert-O’Brien deliver award-winning performances under Brett Christopher’s sensitive direction. Not to be missed.” Go and see ‘Mary’s Wedding’ now on stage in the Springer Theatre at Thousand Islands Playhouse in Gananoque. Just do it. The time is 1914. Charlie (Wade Bogert-O’Brien) appears when the house lights are still on. He first thanks us for coming. But before the story begins, Charlie tells us we are about to see a dream and that we are to remember it is one. This story starts at the end and ends at the beginning. The dashing Bogert-O’Brien (thanks to Jayne Christopher’s terrific earth tone and rural costume designs) speaks with tremendous confidence, so much so that I trust him and what he tells us. It is the night before Mary’s wedding. Stephen Massicotte’s poignant script (I hear he has written some new dialogue specifically for this production) repeatedly jumps through time and space, from a small prairie town to the blood- and mud-soaked World War 1 trenches. Mary and Charlie attend church tea parties, go on horseback rides, and recite poetry to each other, from ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ to ‘The Lady of Shalott.’ As the couple’s attraction to each other continues growing, their lives, like many Canadians in 1914, drastically change when Charlie enlists in the army under Mary’s (Maev Beaty) emotional pleas of not wanting him to go. ‘Mary’s Wedding’ is not necessarily a memory play. Instead, according to Christopher’s Director’s Programme Note, Massicotte’s use of memory and looking back “helps audiences to understand that [life] experiences, both positive and negative, shape and enrich our understanding of the world and ourselves.” This is why this fine Thousand Islands Playhouse production left me speechless at the curtain call. The creative team lushly transforms the Springer stage. Richard Feren’s selection of appropriate music and songs for the pre-show successfully evokes the sound of the 1914 era. Credit to Set Designer Joe Pagnan for creating a striking and remarkable suggestion of an abandoned rustic-looking barn where the couple meets. Pagnan pays exceptional attention to many visual elements on the stage. Such attention to the inside detail made me imagine the outside landscape surrounding the barn. Jeff Pybus’s lighting design notably underscores the emotional highs and lows of the scenes, with a growing passion at one point and a tender intensity at the next. Jayne Christopher dresses Maev Beaty in a white nightgown throughout. That nightgown strengthens the statuesque and stunning woman with whom Charlie falls in love. Brett Christopher wisely veers far from a saccharine sentimentality in his compassionate direction of this extraordinary two-hander. There are moments when his creativity in direction made me smile. For example, Charlie teaches Mary how to ride a horse at one point. What Bogert-O’Brien and Beaty did with two pieces of rope that resembled reins was inventive. Additionally, Christopher also writes how the advent of World War 1 changed all lives, making it impossible to regain the innocence of childhood once lost. Instead, in this stark reality of life change, one must become resilient, adopt optimism, and cultivate a sense of hope. Beaty and Bogert-O’Brien dutifully accomplish this vision. They are extraordinary in their performances. There’s always intent and reason behind every movement as the plot moves forward. There’s a purpose when the actors remain still. They hear, think, and respond believably and naturally, speaking Massicotte’s words with clarity and poetic finesse. Two moments come to mind. The first occurs in Charlie's conversations with Flowerdew, his sergeant and mentor. Fascinatingly, it’s Mary who plays Flowerdew. The second occurs when Mary begs Charlie not to enlist in the army. The scene is gutting and moving as Beaty and Bogert-O’Brien speak genuinely from their hearts. For these reasons, I’m on every word Beaty and Bogert-O’Brien utter to each other that I must reach for a Kleenex. A Final Thought: I always applaud a production. If I thoroughly enjoy it, my hand clapping may get a bit louder, but I rarely give a standing ovation. I’m proud to say I led the ‘Standing O’ last night in the Springer Theatre. A passionate and emotional theatre experience of award winning performances, ‘Mary’s Wedding’ is not to be missed. Running time: approximately 90 minutes with no intermission. ‘Mary’s Wedding’ runs until September 8 on the Springer Stage at the Thousand Islands Playhouse, 185 South Street, Gananoque. For tickets: https://www.1000islandsplayhouse.com/ or call the Box Office (613) 382-7020. 1000 Islands Playhouse presents ‘Mary’s Wedding’ by Stephen Massicotte Director: Brett Christopher Set Designer: Joe Pagnan Costume Designer: Jayne Christopher Lighting Designer: Jeff Pybus Composer & Sound Designer: Richard Feren Stage Manager: Rebecca Eamon Campbell Apprentice SM: Finnley O’Brien Directing Intern: Jocelyn Nicholson Performers: Maev Beaty, Wade Bogert-O’Brien. Previous Next

Back Nigel Shawn Williams Self Isolated Artist Tim Leyes Joe Szekeres I’m sure each of us will remember certain productions of plays that have touched our hearts over the years. For me, this would be the Stratford Festival’s engrossing and moving production of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ in 2018. I reviewed the final preview as I could not make the opening. It was a school matinee and there were several groups there. I remembered over the years being in audiences where there were students and wondering how they would respond. Like me, many of the students around me had tears in their eyes at the conclusion. Most of these kids were on their feet at the end to give the actors a well-deserved standing ovation. It was an honour to have interviewed the director of this production, Nigel Shawn Williams. During our Zoom conference, he let me know just how appreciative he has been of the compliments he received in 2018. Nigel explained how there are certain opportunities one gets as an artist and director to create change. What made ‘Mockingbird’ so successful for him was to show the contradiction in the story of the human being and to bring out the racism and misogyny in the story. Nigel thrives in telling stories like this. I certainly hope that I will get a chance to see future productions directed by him again once it is safe to return to the theatre: 1. How have you and your family been keeping during this nearly three-month isolation? I know, it’s been nearly three, three and a half months. We have a contract as citizens with our community and our country to remain isolated. It’s a responsibility. Yes, sometimes it’s inconvenient but not overwhelming but it’s how you put it into perspective. We’ve been okay, but in the grand scheme of things historically, Joe, this is not a big deal. Being asked to do what we’re asked to do. It’s not overwhelming as it depends on the perspective in which you put it. This contract we have with the pandemic – it’s something we have a responsibility for. On a very personal and blasé note about my family, we still have a great sense of humour. We’re able to spend a lot more time with each other. We laugh and joke. We get out in the forest and walk. So, it’s been okay. 2. What has been the most challenging and difficult for you during this time personally? What have you been doing to keep yourself busy? I guess, it’s a focus. Taking away the industry of film and television and theatre where the hardest thing is waiting for something that I don’t know what I’m waiting for. I’m very work focused and agenda driven, and this not having any sense of work on the horizon or not knowing what that’s going to be has created a sense of unease. I’m a husband and a father and so there’s the concern of financial security of keeping the house, the car running, not going into debt, making sure there are groceries. We’re not in debt, but like every other Canadian there’s a finite amount of savings, if you have savings at all. To keep busy around the house, the list around the house is pretty much nonexistent. Every project around the house from windows which have no mould, they’re re-caulked, everything that’s needed to be re-painted or sanded. My deck’s re-finished. I could put this baby on the market right now. It’s staged. These two parts of the question go hand in hand. I need a project to do. This isolation and quarantine have allowed me to not look outward but to look inward to look inside my home, inside my family, helping kids with their online learning. It’s trying to stay buoyant but at the same time honest with our kids and the reality. I’ve been working around the house and trying to make sure that everyone around me whom I love is as buoyant as possible. 3. Were you involved in any professional projects when the pandemic was declared, and everything was shut down? How far were you into those projects? Will they come to fruition sometime soon? I had just finished a project. I directed the Canadian premiere of ‘Controlled Damage’ by Andrea Scott at the Neptune Theatre (Halifax). ‘Controlled Damage’ was the last full production staged by the Neptune. My company was able to finish the run at the end of February and then just after that everything hit. So, I was very fortunate. My project was completed. On the other hand, my wife was in a run at Theatre Aquarius that was cut short. I know many colleagues, acquaintances and friends who had their contracts cut short, but I was very fortunate that my company family was very fortunate to be able to finish their run. 4. Some actors whom I’ve interviewed have stated they can’t see anyone venturing back into a theatre or studio for a least 1 ½ to 2 years. Do you foresee this possible reality to be factual? Well, yeah, I do. Whether or not I like to admit it or not, I think the live performing arts of orchestra, opera, dance, narrative theatre will unfortunately and probably be one of the last industries to open up. I know there is a lot of conversation with Artistic Directors, PACT, and Equity on how to do this safely not just for our patrons but also for our artists. It’s a difficult task. There are theatres in this country not being supported by this government as much as any other countries around the world, it’s difficult for them to sustain themselves on a 30% house. Self isolating an audience is difficult. What I’m concerned about is that we start programming for only one-act plays so we don’t have intermission. We don’t have to worry about how the audience mixes and mingles, but I’m afraid that this is going to be a reality. I think it’s not just the logistical reality of how to have patrons in a theatre or how to have your artists safe in rehearsal or stage management, and your designers safe; it’s also giving the audience, the patrons and the general public the confidence and the want to come back into the theatre. And this is going to take time. The audience does want to take part in that community and to hear and see stories and to share that same energy. Audiences do want to come back, but it’s going to take confidence to be built around the sense of gathering. 5. In your estimation and opinion, do you foresee COVID 19 and its results leaving a lasting impact, either positive or negative, on the Canadian performing arts scene? There will be an impact financially. In the larger ideological sense of what I believe theatre to be, theatre will always come back. Theatre was our first newspaper and it will be our last. The sense and the culture and the need for story telling will always be there. The shared experience of energy between performer and audience is something that we’re all just connected and wired to and we need that, and I don’t think that will ever go away. The impact of what we’re going through right now is in danger of jeopardizing a lot of smaller independent theatre companies and mid size theatre companies that don’t have the donorship and stakeholders that the larger ones have. I’m very fearful of a lot of our theatres right now staying financially healthy through all this into next year. It’s a many pronged answer to this question. Of course, it’s going to impact the writing that is going to come out, the creative process and sense of creation, and how we go back into rehearsal and how we create in that cozy environment is going to change itself. I think it’s going to circle back around to the power of storytelling that is community, and there’s a necessity to tell stories about love. And it’s very difficult to tell stories about love when you’re six feet away. Hand in hand with the confidence that we, as a society, have built up to get back into the theatre, so will the confidence be regained telling the stories as is necessary. 6. Do you have any words of wisdom to build hope and faith in those performing artists who have been hit hard as a result of COVID 19? Any words of sage advice to the new graduates from Canada’s theatre schools regarding this fraught time of confusion? Well, I don’t think any artist that has been working in the industry requires sage advice right now. It’s been three months, and everyone has been surviving it and going along with it. If anything, I’m an individual that requires everyone to maintain their responsibility in this. For the next generation of artists coming out of school and graduating and confronting this what seems an immovable roadblock, I think the best thing for them to do is to stay engaged. Stay engaged as human beings. What is happening with the pandemic right now, I think, is hand in hand with the focus that our citizens are going through with the anti-racism protest. I think this bubbling of energy is necessary. There’s an incredible amount of witnesses right now that are focused and will not lay down anymore when the system betrays them again. So, the young artists that are coming out and can acutely learn that the other artists that have been speaking out about injustices, misogyny, and racism backstage in the workplace. The kids at school coming out have probably experienced this and they don’t feel they have a voice. Coming around to the simplest answer to your question, I would encourage all young artists to remember they have a voice, and to not be silent, and to never be silent. 7. What is it about the performing arts that still energizes you even through this tumultuous and confusing time? My relationship with the performing arts hasn’t changed because of this. I still need to tell stories. I still need to feel that I have a responsibility to right wrongs, to uncover indignities and injustices in our society. The plays I mostly am attracted to when I direct are ones that are combative to a great degree of the status quo to a system that is built to keep people under. My need to tell those stories hasn’t changed. On a professional level, it has become a little bit more precarious about when or if there’s going to be work. The sense of sharing a story and having the ability to have someone in the audience question what they believe or believed, how they engage with another human being, and the power that can create, and that we have the artists to do that. That is a change, and that’s what energizes me, and that’s what I’ve love about it. And that’s what I’ve always loved about it. The other thing that energizes me about the performing arts and theater -I love the collaboration in doing theatre. I love not being the smartest person in the room and letting others shine, let the designers be artists and let actors make mistakes in a free and safe space to work is something I cherish. That’s what energizes me. With a respectful acknowledgment to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton, here are the ten questions he used to ask his guests: 1. What is your favourite word? Delicious. 2. What is your least favourite word? The ‘N’ word. 3. What turns you on? Insight. 4. What turns you off? Ignorance. 5. What sound or noise do you love? My family laughing. 6. What sound or noise bothers you? When someone snorts their own snot. I hate that! Absolutely hate that! Use your thumb or get a tissue. 7. What is your favourite curse word? Fuck! I love that word. (Nigel and I shared a good laugh over his answer) 8. Other than your current profession now, what other profession would you have liked to attempt? An ophthalmologist. I’ve always been fascinated with the eyes. 9. What profession could you not see yourself doing? An ophthalmologist (And again, Nigel and I shared a good laugh over his answer). 10. If Heaven exists, what do you hope God will say to you as you approach the Pearly Gates? “Shaken or stirred?” I would think he would offer me a drink. I think God would assume I’d like a martini. My life’s not going to turn off just because I go to heaven. Twitter: @NswNigel. Previous Next

Back Patrick Galligan Moving Forward Tim Leyes Joe Szekeres Just like his wife, performer Brenda Robins who was interviewed earlier for this series, I’ve also seen Patrick Galligan’s work on stage many times. The first time I saw him on stage was in Soulpepper’s extraordinary production of its annual ‘A Christmas Carol’ where Patrick played Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, who invites the miser to Christmas dinner with a “Bah! Humbug!” in response. Recently Patrick was part of a truly fascinating production of ‘Oslo’ by Studio 180 at the Panasonic Theatre. Patrick has made many television appearances. Two were in ‘Republic of Doyle’ (another personal favourite) and Murdoch Mysteries. One of my goals as a reviewer for On Stage is to ensure there is coverage for the blog at The Shaw Festival. Even though I have yet to review productions at Shaw for On Stage, I’ve read about Patrick’s solid performance work in many of the productions there. Thank you, Patrick, for taking the time to answer questions via email: It appears that after five exceptionally long months, we are slowly, very slowly, emerging to a pre-pandemic lifestyle. Has your daily life and routine along with your immediate family’s life and routine been changed in any manner? It sure has. I moved from Niagara-on-the-Lake, where I was in rehearsals for my 17th season at The Shaw Festival, back to my home in Toronto. As a result, my wife, son, and our two cats have had to put up with me being around all spring and summer. Were you involved or being considered for any projects before the pandemic was declared and everything was shut down? We were a week away from our first preview of “Charley’s Aunt”, the opening show of Shaw’s 2020 season, and about to start rehearsals of Alice Childress’s “Trouble in Mind” at the time of the shutdown. Describe the most challenging element or moment of the isolation period for you. Did this element or moment significantly impact how you and your immediate family are living your lives today? The abrupt halt of putting on a couple of really good plays was a big challenge. I love the work of a theatre actor and I miss it terribly. Without it, there are times when I feel lost, at sea. On those days, my family is likely wondering if I will ever get out of my pajamas. What were you doing to keep yourself busy during this time of lockdown and isolation from the world of theatre? Since theatres will most likely be shuttered until the spring of 2021, where do you see your interests moving at this time? Fortunately, the Shaw Festival has insurance which has enabled them (with the help of the federal government) to keep us employed until the end of August. It has been a lifesaver in many ways: financially obviously, but also the opportunity to help create on-line content and to have the benefit of some much-needed training. Once that ends…………. Any words of wisdom or sage advice you would give to other performing artists who are concerned about the impact of COVID-19? What about to the new theatre graduates who are just out of school and may have been hit hard? Why is it important for them not to lose sight of their dreams? I thought it was tough to find work when I came out of theatre school thirty-two years ago, but I can’t imagine all of the challenges facing recent performing arts graduates, or artists trying to support a young family. The advice I would offer is really the same thing I try to remind myself: be patient, stay positive, read, exercise and stay connected to the people who inspire you and whom you can inspire. Do you see anything positive stemming from this pandemic? I have been able to spend more time with my family. There is no way to overstate what a joy, that is. In your informed opinion, will the Canadian, Broadway and Californian performing arts scene somehow be changed or impacted on account of the coronavirus? Without question. Gathering together in large groups to experience the performing arts will no longer be the norm. It will take a very long time before we can sit in a crowded hall and feel safe. What are your thoughts about streaming live productions? As we continue to emerge and find our way back to a new perspective of daily life, will live streaming become part of the performing arts scene in your estimation? Have you been participating, or will you participate in any online streaming productions soon? It’s not ideal to be sure, but I’m okay with it. We’ve done a fair bit of live streaming with Shaw since the shutdown, and I’ve found that there is a great deal that is lost in not being in the same room together. But since it is a safe way to share stories and experiences, I expect there will be a lot more to come. What is it about performing you still love given all the change, the confusion and the drama surrounding our world now? Steve Earle says that empathy is at the heart of being an artist. I love the possibility that, as an actor, I might be able to create a little more empathy and compassion in this crazy world. With a respectful nod to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton, here are the 10 questions he asked his guests at the conclusion of his interviews: a. What is your favourite word? Yes b. What is your least favourite word? No c. What turns you on? Joy d. What turns you off? Pain e. What sound or noise do you love? Laughter, and a super funky bass line f. What sound or noise bothers you? That high-pitched whine our 14-year old Toyota makes, which one day I know is going to be very expensive. g. What is your favourite curse word? Goddammit! h. What profession, other than your own, would you have liked to attempt? Carpenter i. What profession would you not like to do? Garbage collector – those people are heroes j. If Heaven exists, what do you hope God will say to you as you approach the Pearly Gates? “Welcome, Pat. There are some special people here I’m sure you’ll want to see. By the way, rehearsals start at 10am tomorrow.” Previous Next

Back Ins Choi "I hope we can fiercely support our Canadian playwrights and see to [writing, producing, directing and acting in] more productions that help us continue to find and define our collective voice.” Dahlia Katz Joe Szekeres I saw ‘Kim’s Convenience’ when it was remounted at Soulpepper in 2012. At that time, Ins Choi did not play the central role of Appa, but this time, he does at London, Ontario’s Grand Theatre. I’m most appreciative of his time to answer a few questions via email. Ins studied acting at York University in the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) Program. He’s also quick to point out that his training was from not only one institution but many influences. Skateboarding was one, although he acknowledges he wasn’t that good at it: “I’d practice for days, weeks on a trick - an ollie kickflip, for example, and then “perform” it in front of people once I was comfortable landing it in private. I also kinda liked playing the part of a skater - the clothes, the shoes, the hair, the attitude, the jargon. It was like a role.” Although he doesn’t consider himself an athlete, Ins played on his high school's volleyball, rugby, hockey and soccer teams. He never regretted this participation in sports because he recognized how they all added to the importance of collaboration and teamwork. Being kind to one’s teammates also figured prominently. To be kind, collaborative, and part of a team, he had to listen to others and find his part and voice. Ins is very family-oriented. As a child, at family gatherings, he would watch his father and siblings tell stories and reminisce about the ‘old days’ while making each other laugh. Ins’ father was the Pastor of a Korean immigrant church in downtown Toronto. At home, the young lad would watch his father research, read, write, and practice his sermons first. Then, at the church's regular Sunday matinee ‘gigs,’ Ins’ father would frame ancient stories for a contemporary congregation with humour, craft, and passion. Ins’ mother put her boy in several violin, piano and voice music lessons. He also recalled singing in many choirs and ensembles, where he learned the importance of musicality and rhythm. He credits his training as a writer with writing songs, poems, and short stories. The next bit of advice is something most of us have experienced at least once in our lives: ‘Failing at something but getting up and trying again.” How does he feel about the current state of Canadian theatre and where the industry is headed over the next proverbial five-year plan? “I think we’re still in a bit of a hangover from Covid, but I hope we can fiercely support our Canadian playwrights and see to [writing, producing, directing and acting in] more productions that help us continue to find and define our collective voice.” I was taken with the family unit behind ‘Kim’s Convenience’ the first time I saw it at Soulpepper. The Kims are an immigrant family with flaws, striving to make ends meet and raise their children in a culture that’s a little foreign. The story deals with a small family convenience-run store and what to do when the next generation doesn’t want to take it over. The family is not perfect, as none is. However, this family tries to express their love and care for each other despite language and cultural barriers. Feelings are hard for everyone around. That’s precisely one of the messages Choi wants audiences to come away with after seeing ‘Kim’s Convenience.’ He also adds: “I’d love for people to leave the theatre having fallen in love with a family that perhaps looks differently than theirs and for that to have had a positive effect in how to view and treat others in their day-to-day lives.” There’s a little bit of Ins in each of the characters. He was single into his thirties and pursuing an artistic career like Janet. Much like Jung, he has felt like a failure many times in my life. Like Umma, he’s tried to please others. The following statement made me laugh when I read it in his email: “And like Appa, I now have two children who don’t listen to me. I’m joking.” Ins has never considered continuing the story of the Kim’s in another script. When I taught high school English, I always sought new material with strong Canadian content about bringing contemporary drama to students. I asked Ins to imagine that he had the opportunity to go to the Ontario Ministry of Education and defend why ‘Kim’s Convenience’ should be studied in high schools across the province. Ins hated reading in high school. He states: “A pageful of words was intimidating.” ‘Kim’s Convenience,’ however, is an easy read for students. A page of the text can be flipped in ten seconds. The dialogue is quick and in contemporary speech with a variety of characters. Choi is proud to state that young people in the Ontario school system can relate to the play even if their parents were born here. The play deals with immigration, racism, gentrification and racial profiling, and these issues are part of our Canadian world today. The one crucial thing that will sell students to read the play. ‘It’s funny.’ What’s next for Ins once ‘Kim’s Convenience’ concludes its run at London’s Grand Theatre? He’s returning to being a real Appa with his family and taking a break in November. He’s then off to London, England, to perform the role of Appa in the United Kingdom’s premiere production of the play at Park Theatre. Esther Jun will direct the production there. Choi was also a tad coy in saying he’s also chipping away on a few projects in theatre and television but wouldn’t reveal what they are at this time. ‘Kim’s Convenience’ continues at London, Ontario’s Grand Theatre, 471 Richmond Street, until November 4. For tickets, visit www.grandtheatre.com or call the Box Office at (519) 672-8800. Previous Next

Back Moby, A Whale of a Tale Pirate Life, Toronto Raiza Dela Pena Joe Szekeres I must apologize for the fact this review appears late and the show has closed. Through my own fault and not timing traffic, I missed the opening night performance. I finally saw the last Friday night show; however, life got in the way and I was not able to get the review posted until now. I’m also sorry to say that I never read ‘Moby Dick’ during my undergraduate courses in English Literature, but seeing this production made me want to tackle one of the great works of American literature sometime very soon. ‘Moby: A Whale of a Tale’ takes place in 1840. Captain Ahab (a fearlessly ferocious performance by Amaka Umeh) is onboard the whaling ship The Pequod looking for the great white whale, Moby Dick, who bit off his leg on a previous voyage. Ahab is looking for his revenge against the great mammal. Members of the crew who are hired to travel with Ahab believe they will be hunting for whale blubber which, according to the Programme Notes, was a huge business to make oil to light homes and streetlights at night. Captain Ahab had a different view of how things should run onboard, but only told the crew what his intent was after they had set sail. Three years later, the ship and crew continue to look for Moby at Ahab’s insistence as he has charted carefully the whale’s trail in the water. The audience sat on a floating dock either in Muskoka chairs or on a bench at the back in front of an appropriate dark, mysterious and ominous looking whaling ship of The Pequod. A smaller boat is also used a couple of times to signify plot action occurring next to the Pequod. The audience was told if they didn’t care to sit on the dock, then they could return to chairs on dry land. I certainly hope this ‘Moby’ returns for another engagement next summer as I thoroughly admired this fanciful musical adaptation which accomplished two things for me: a) I was a kid again completely immersed in a wondrous sea-faring story complete with vengeful pirates and rough waters b) the literary adult side within me was also made acutely aware of how a dominant obsession and meticulous revenge to find the great white whale make unforgettable characters of classic fiction. So much to enjoy about this production. Clever song lyrics and tuneful period musical melodies from Alex Millaire and Kaitlin Milroy (Moonfruits) nicely underscored and heightened the tension in some of the key plot moments. Director Alexandra Montagnese maintained a snappily energetic pacing momentum with some entertaining performances. Annie Tuma is a bold Ishmael who becomes entranced with the wild adventure of the lure of the sea in the opening song ‘Can You Hear the Call of the Sea?’. Lena Maripuu’s brave first mate Starbuck impressively stands up at one point to Ahab’s obsessive emotional outbursts. Jamar Adams-Thompson’s delightful Queequeg adds that bit of saucy and unrefined humour which effectively balances the hell-bent intensity of Ahab’s destructive compulsions of Moby. It was lovely to hear the harmonized singing of the performers throughout the performance. ‘Moby: A Whale of a Tale’ adapted from the Herman Melville novel: “Moby Dick” Adapted by Annie Tuma and Lena Maripuu Produced by Annie Tuma Music arrangers and writers Alex Millaire and Kaitlin Milroy known as Moonfruits, Lena Maripuu, and Annie Tuma. Directed by Alexandra Montagnese Costumes by Gabriel Vaillant Cast: Lena Maripuu, Moonfruits, Jamar Adams Thomson, Annie Tuma, Amaka Umeh To learn more about Pirate Life, please visit www.piratelife.ca . Production played on a floating dock at 585 Queens Quay West, Toronto Previous Next

Back Mitchell Marcus Moving Forward Dahlia Katz Joe Szekeres Just hearing about all the accomplishments of Mitchell Marcus within the professional performing arts community makes him a mover, shaker and leader within the theatre industry. Recently named to Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 (2019), he is the founder and Artistic & Managing Director of The Musical Stage Company – Canada’s leading and largest not-for-profit musical theatre company. Over sixteen years, The Musical Stage Company (previously Acting Up Stage Company) productions have been recognized with 105 Dora Award nominations, 23 Dora Awards and 19 Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards and programming partnerships have been built with Mirvish, the Elgin Winter Garden Theatre Centre, Canadian Stage, AGO, TIFF, Massey Hall, Obsidian Theatre Company, and the Regent Park School of Music amongst others. Outside of The Musical Stage Company, Mitchell was the Associate Producer for the inaugural six years of Luminato, producing over 100 productions for one-million attendees annually. Mitchell has twice been the Creative Producer for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize as well as the producer of the Dora Awards. He organized four years of It’s Always Something, working with a team that raised over $500,000 annually for Gilda’s Club Greater Toronto. He is active on committees that service the arts community, serves as an advisor to the Metcalf Foundation for its Creative Strategies Incubator program, a member of Sheridan College’s Performing Arts Committee, a member of the Dora Eligibility Committee, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Canadian Musical Theatre Writers Collective. Mitchell has held positions in the arts management departments at UofT and Ryerson University. Mitchell is the recipient of the 2017 The Leonard McHardy and John Harvey Award for Outstanding Leadership in Administration, a Harold Award, and was a finalist for the 2018 Roy Thomson Hall Award from the Toronto Arts Foundation recognizing contributions to Toronto’s musical life. I am grateful and thankful he took the time to participate in the conversation via email: It has been an exceptionally long six months since we’ve all been in isolation, and now it appears the numbers are edging upward again. How are you feeling about this? Will we ever emerge to some new way of living in your opinion? Without discounting all the sadness of illness, destruction, injustice and loss, I have loved watching and participating in a global demonstration of resilience. There are, of course, so many things we are no longer able to do, but it’s been astonishing how quickly we can pivot as a species, adjusting to working-from-home, moving our lifestyles to the beauty of our outdoors, and adapting our thirst for global adventure into one more local. More importantly than the resiliency and speed of adaptation, I’ve loved seeing how many of us have found silver linings in this new routine which has forced us to challenge our expectations of what we thought life would bring and return to a simpler, more true sense of self and aspiration. In that regard, while I am certainly feeling scared about the increase in COVID-cases and frustrated by the barrage of human injustice that makes headlines every day, I am actually feeling quite optimistic and content. It’s fascinating to witness a historic moment of change like the one we are in. And I’m hopeful that what we are learning and reflecting upon during this time is going to lead to something very special on the other end. Look at how much we are accomplishing and look how much change feels within reach. If we can do that during social distancing, imagine what we are capable of once we have the freedom of movement and connection once again. How have you been faring? How has your immediate family been doing during these last six months? I’m very proud of how my family has navigated this time so far. We’ve really stayed optimistic and made the most of each day: I absolutely loved being a part of my kids’ education during the Spring in a hands-on way; We used money from cancelled vacations to rent a farm near Orangeville for a month in July and organized family colour-war events and daily swim lessons; It’s the first time in my life that I have been home every night of the week for dinner and been able to tuck my kids into bed; And each weekend is now filled with lots of hiking and bike riding. I don’t mean to be painting an overly rosy picture – there have been many nights of deep worry and anxiety. But there has also been much joy in togetherness. Personally, I’ve been digging more into mindfulness during this time. I’ve been practicing meditation for nearly four years, but it’s gone into overdrive over the last six months. My nightstand is stacked to the ceiling with books on anti-racism and books on mindfulness/spirituality. I’ve loved getting to learn new things and to dive deep into the philosophical exploration of imagining what the universe is telling us in this moment and how to apply it to my life. As an artist within the performing arts community, what has been the most difficult and challenging for you professionally and personally? The most difficult part of the last six months has been mourning the loss of live theatre and recognizing the immensely devastating impact it is having on independent artists. I feel enormously grateful and also enormously guilty for having a full-time job in the arts. I am deeply thankful for the existence of CERB and relieved that it will be extended in some form. Our team is doing everything we can think of to keep work flowing and money going out the door. But it’s very heavy to realize how many people in our industry, in our community, are struggling. At the end of the day, I often have to shut off all technology and curl up with one of those mindfulness books and a glass of wine and retreat into my own Zen place. But I also recognize the luxury of being able to shut out the pandemic and the privilege I’ve been afforded when doing so. The biggest challenge has been trying to stay in the present and not plan into the future. I am a planner by nature and my skill as a leader has been to keep our focus on multi-year strategic initiatives that make change. But it’s impossible to plan for a future we don’t yet understand. So I’ve had to work really, really hard to not get too far ahead and keep all of us at The Musical Stage Company focused on how we want to respond to the challenges and needs of today, abandoning past plans and paths that no longer feel relevant, and avoiding drawing too many conclusions for the future before we have a full understanding of what future we are planning for. But as someone who always likes to have the answer immediately, it’s been a real exercise in patience. Were you in preparation, rehearsals, or any planning stages of productions before everything was shut down? What has become of those projects? Will they see the light of day anytime soon? When we shut down, we were a few weeks away from the world premiere of KELLY v. KELLY by Britta Johnson and Sara Farb. We’ve been working with Britta and Sara since 2014 and we’ve been deep in development for KELLY v. KELLY for a couple of years, so this was a particularly painful project to not see materialize. It was also going to be SO good. I’m rarely confident about a production – especially a new work – but this show was in such great shape with a team that was firing on all cylinders. We also lost major milestones this season including UNCOVERED: DOLLY & ELVIS which was to play Koerner Hall in November, and the Canadian premiere of NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 that was to open at the Winter Garden Theatre in January. Without question, KELLY v. KELLY will see the light of day as soon as it is safe to do so. Thankfully we were able to postpone before we had spent too much of the money earmarked for the project. We put all the funding for it aside, not to be touched until it can be revived. So, it’s in the uniquely positive position of being ready for production with the funding to get it there. We’ll have to see about everything else. More than ever it’s important to me that the stories we tell are relevant and resonant for the moment in which they are being shared. The projects that were the right “why-this-project-why-now” in the old world may not be the right projects in the one that awaits us. That’s the funny thing about programming – you are often responding to an indescribable energy in the zeitgeist. If we want theatre to matter when we return, we need to make sure not to cling to what was and be hyper aware of what people need on the other side. Having said that, our commitment to new Canadian musicals is unwavering. We have run 17 workshops for new musicals since COVID hit and have no intention of slowing down. That is the joy of new material. The writers are naturally infusing today’s emotions and thoughts into the works. They are living, breathing stories being developed during a global pandemic. So even though none of them are about living during or after COVID-19, their ongoing evolution will ensure that they are necessary and healing in the world that awaits us. What have you been doing to keep yourself busy during this time? Working and raising kids! Honestly, it fills my days completely. Work has not really gotten much quieter even though we aren’t in production (turns out navigating global pandemic is more work than producing theatre). We produced 80 concerts this summer, we are in production for an UNCOVERED film, we are running workshops, our youth programs are going national, etc. By the time I’ve completed a day of Zoom meetings, cleared an inbox of emails, and spent some time with my kids, I’m ready for bed. But the weekends have been quieter than normal. There are no readings to attend or shows to see. And my kids’ programs have all shut down. So, I’ve loved the pace of my weekends. We’ve just been outdoors as much as possible, biking, hiking, and camping. Any words of wisdom or advice you might /could give to fellow performers and colleagues? What message would you deliver to recent theatre school graduates who have now been set free into this unknown and uncertainty given the fact live theaters and studios might be closed for 1 ½ - 2 years? Here’s two of my favourite quotes from Pema Chödrön: “When there’s a big disappointment, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story. It may be just the beginning of a great adventure.” And “Rather than realizing that it takes death for there to be birth, we just fight against the fear of death.” I don’t mean to be cliché, answering your question with inspiring quotes, but I really believe this is the only way forward. Something has died. We have to take the time and space to grieve it. But we also have to open ourselves to the exciting possibility of reinvention and rebirth that comes after an ending. In that regard, I guess my advice for recent grads is to recognize that this death has levelled the playing field. None of us know the way forward, and the most senior arts leader doesn’t have any better strategies for the future than a recent theatre grad (who may in fact have more objectivity on what could be possible). We are all now pioneers building a more equitable, more sustainable, more relevant theatre. Seize this once in a lifetime chance to be a part of the rebirth by charting your own course and helping to mould the industry that awaits you. Do you see anything positive stemming from Covid 19? I think it has taught us to slow down. I think it has taught us not to take simple connection for granted. I think it has removed some of the allure of ruthless ambition and replaced it with a focus on empathy and equity. I hope these lessons stay with us. Do you think Covid 19 will have some lasting impact on the Toronto/Canadian/North American performing arts scene? It absolutely will. Hopefully COVID itself will succumb to a vaccine and we won’t have to have the distancing and health measures in our lives forever. But I hope we will forever be impacted by what this time has taught us about equity and treatment of people. And I hope that audiences are so hungry to gather together again that they race to the theatre in unprecedented numbers! Some artists have turned to You Tube and online streaming to showcase their work. What are your comments and thoughts about streaming? Is this something that the actor/theatre may have to utilize going forward into the unknown? For me, producing theatre has always been about serving and enriching an audience. It is about giving a willing group of people something that their souls needed that they didn’t realize was needed. Ultimately, the medium doesn’t matter as much as the power of the message and the unbridled attention of an audience. If this exchange is happening successfully on YouTube and via online streaming sites, may it live forever! I am skeptical however about how well this is working. There is a sense of ceremony when we gather in person and devote our entire energy to a story. I fear that we haven’t yet figured out how to permeate the digital fourth wall in the same way to achieve the same outcome. But this is definitely the ‘trial and error’ phase. I have no doubt that artists will successfully navigate this new medium and make it into a powerful mode of soul nourishment. Despite all this fraught tension and confusion, what is it about performing that Covid will never destroy for you? My heart knows the power of hearing the exact right piece of music to capture a moment or emotion. It is like nothing else. And no pandemic can keep that magical experience from happening each time I witness it in a theatre, outdoors, or online. It will withstand the test of time. You can follow Mitchell on his social media handles: @mitchellmarcus and at Musical Stage Company: @musicalstagecom. Previous Next

Back 'Arsenic & OId Lace' by Joseph Kesselring. Produced by Scarborough Theatre Guild Now onstage until July 20 at Scarborough Village Theatre, 3600 Kingston Road Credit: Julie Adams Photography L-R: Scott Baker and Kai Novak Joe Szekeres “American theatre chestnut play arrives at Scarborough’s Village Theatre. How does it fare for a twenty-first-century theatre crowd?” There’s a line about drama and theatre critics in Joseph Kesselring’s theatre chestnut of a play that still makes me smile: “Please don’t think hard of the drama critic. Somebody has to do those things.” With the theatre industry undergoing significant changes over the past five years, the role of the reviewer/critic/blogger has not remained static. Instead, it has evolved into a crucial component. I am currently in an online theatre workshop exploring the concept of equitable criticism. The focus has shifted from mere critique to fostering a dialogue through responses and feedback. I intend to do this with my feedback piece on Scarborough Theatre Guild’s opening night production of ‘Arsenic & Old Lace,’ now onstage at the Scarborough Village Theatre. I hope it becomes a conversation piece and starter for back and forth discussion. Opening on Broadway from 1941 to 1944, the story is set in Abbey (Carolyn Kelso-Bell) and Martha (Jill Tonus) Brewster’s dark, grandiose house in a Brooklyn, New York section. The Brewster sisters are dotty, eccentric, and loveable when we first see them. They have made it their life's work to comfort lonely old men. What these sweet little old sisters do to help becomes a unique and somewhat bizarre premise that sets the stage for a farcical look at American life back in 1941. Some whacko characters live at Martha and Abbey’s, while many come knocking on the door. The Brewsters’ nephew Teddy (Brad Finch) lives with the ladies. Teddy believes he is Theodore Roosevelt. Each time he runs up the stairs at the house, Teddy believes he is running up San Juan Hill and shouts ‘Chaaaarrrrggggeeee’. Nobody bats an eye at this behaviour. Then there is Teddy’s brother and the Brewster sisters’ second nephew, Mortimer (Kai Novak). Mortimer is a pompous drama critic who writes for the newspaper and sometimes enjoys ripping plays apart. Mortimer becomes engaged to his fiancée Elaine (Kiran Bardial), much to her father's hesitation, Dr. Harper (Paul Coady). Why? His future son-in-law promotes the theatre, a shameful task (another comical reason why the play is a farce). Then, a third brother and nephew, Jonathan (Scott Baker), returns home to the Brewster household with revenge on his mind. Meanwhile, some dopey police officers and medical personnel show up at the house at all hours, which leads to bedlam, chaos, and, most importantly, fun because it is a farce. Great comedy involves truth to make us laugh in the face of tragedy and sadness. Can ‘Arsenic & Old Lace’ still live up to the theatrical standards of the twenty-first century? It all depends on the director’s vision. Jeremy Henson and his production team have a considerable task of ensuring they have done justice to ‘Arsenic’ in presenting what it is intended to be – a farce. And have they? Well… Let’s have a conversation. Visually, the production is quite a ravenous feast for the eyes, thanks to Jackie McCowan’s gorgeous two-level set design that fills the Village Theatre space for maximum effect. McCowan also utilizes the stairs at the side of the three-quarter auditorium setting to show how large the Brewster house is. Much attention to detail has been paid in creating this mammoth setting, right down to Heather Hyslop’s props of fine bone china on the dining room table. Andra Bradish’s costume designs are lovely recreations of colours and fabrics from the early 1940s. Without spoiling the plot, Darlene Thomas’ makeup design on Scott Baker is terrific. Chris Northey’s design effectively captures the sometimes-eerie lighting that helps create the incredible and intense tension needed for this theatre chestnut of a farce to work. On this opening night, the auditorium, which is usually air-conditioned, was dreadfully warm. At first, I thought what a clever idea director Henson had—to have the audience vicariously experience the Brewster house's overpowering heat. Later, I learned that was not intentional, as the air conditioning was not working. For future audiences, rest assured the auditorium will be air-conditioned for comfort. Jeremy Henson wants audiences to laugh uproariously throughout the approximately two-and-a-half-hour running time because ‘Arsenic’ must be played outlandishly while never veering out of control. This opening night is hit-and-miss under Henson’s usually focused and astute direction. Several key moments that should have left the audience in stitches of laughter because the play is a farce went right over our heads. Several opportunities for spot-on timing of verbal cues are missed, which is a shame. The humour at that moment propels the story forward in its madcap, zany plot unravelling. ‘Arsenic’ is an ensemble effort, yet Scott Baker, as Jonathan Brewster, comes dangerously close to stealing the show as the revenge-seeking Boris Karloff doppelganger. Baker’s initial entrance in Act One is undoubtedly worth the ticket price—pure comedy gold. He and Neil Kulin’s Dr. Einstein are a perfect duo match. Kulin gets to showcase an admirable accent, as it does come across naturally for the most part. There were a few moments in the second act where I had difficulty hearing Kulin as the accent was getting in the way of the dialogue, possibly because it was getting unbearably warm in the second act. In his appearance near the end, Lorin Beiko’s sturdy stature as Office O’Hara and the surprise he reveals when he shows up at the Brewster house is spot on. Likewise, Alan Maynes’ brief wink and nudge appearance at the end as Mr. Witherspoon with the Brewster sisters responding uniquely in kind perfectly captures the fact that ‘Arsenic’ remains a theatrical farce. Brad Finch’s Teddy Brewster has several key moments that put a smile on my face. Finch’s eyes capture perfectly that he is ‘not all there.’ Nevertheless, I hoped to hear that horn bellow throughout the auditorium as that’s part of the needed humour. Hopefully, Finch can keep practicing before showtime to ensure that he can blow that horn with tremendous force. Kiran Badial's Elaine remains girlishly sweet in trying to understand the comedy behind what she might be getting herself into when marrying Mortimer. Kai Novak’s Mortimer comes across as a pompous blowhard who honestly does care about the welfare of his aunts. But Novak also misses a few visual cues that don’t make the moments as amusing as they should be. Yet there was one moment when he walked in the front door at the appropriate time a character said something on stage. The audience roared with laughter because they got the joke. We need to see more of that. I wanted to see more oddball eccentricities in Carolyn Kelso-Bell and Jill Tonus as Abbey and Martha. Those eccentricities are budding, but the two ladies must pick up on a few more. For example, when they come clean with Mortimer about what’s hidden in the window seat bench, there are terrific looks between the two ladies and some excellent wide-eyed responses. Again, I’d like to see more of that as an audience member. Might it be possible for Kelso-Bell and Tonus to show us some differences in their physicality? For example, both ladies appear to walk the same. Might one be able to be on tiptoes as she crosses a room? Weird, different, true, but that’s the point behind these little old ladies. A Final Thought: The Guild’s ‘ARSENIC AND OLD LACE’ is just about there as a farce. It’ll get there as performances continue.” Running time: approximately two hours and 20 minutes with one interval/intermission. The production runs until July 20 at the Scarborough Village Theatre, 3600 Kingston Road. For tickets: theatrescarborough.com or call the Box Office (416) 267-2929. SCARBOROUGH THEATRE GUILD presents ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ by Joseph Kesselring Produced by Darlene Thomas Directed by Jeremy Henson Stage Managers: Teresa Bakker and June Watkins Previous Next

Back Antoine Yared Theatre Conversation in a Covid World Tim Leyes Joe Szekeres I’ve seen Antoine’s work in some extraordinary productions in Toronto and Montreal over the last couple of years. He has appeared in Soulpepper’s production of a wonderful adaptation of ‘A Christmas Carol’ as the young Ebenezer. Other terrific productions where I’ve seen Antoine’s work was Groundling’s ‘King Lear’, Montreal Centaur’s ‘The Last Wife’, and The Stratford Festival’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’. Antoine first studied theatre at Montreal’s Dawson College Professional Theatre Program and then obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance at Montreal’s Concordia University. He then attended the Stratford Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre. Some very fine credentials here. We conducted our interview via email as Antoine was one busy guy with a number of auditions this past week. Thank you so much for the conversation, Antoine, and for allowing us to hear your voice: In a couple of months, we will be coming up on one year where the doors of live theatre have been shuttered. How have you been faring during this time? Your immediate family? To be honest, 2020 was a rollercoaster of a year. A ride from which you couldn’t get off, a defective one, where the whole thing grinds to a screeching halt while you’re in the middle of one of those loops, and you’re left hanging upside down, with all your pocket change (jobs and savings) falling away from you, never to be seen again… a dramatic way to say I had some ups and downs. There was a period of three weeks, early through the first wave where I suddenly developed anxiety attacks, thought I might die of a heart attack at any moment…I didn’t, I got over that, somehow i.e. I stopped smoking and drinking four litres of coffee every day. I started running, daily, and then the second wave hit, and I stopped running, I gained another ten pounds and I started smoking again. So here we are twenty pounds later and still smoking like a fiend. I cried, I laughed, I yelled at the tv a lot. I thought about going back to school. I considered going into real estate (for 45 seconds), but I also got my first tv gig (yay!) and I watched one of my best friends win an Emmy. It’s been a lot. Of everything. Even a bit of theatre, for six blessed weeks. My immediate family thankfully is doing great, everyone is safe and still relatively sane, which really is all that matters at the end of the day. How have you been spending your time since the theatre industry has been locked up tight as a drum? I went through many phases. I spent a lot of time early on, during the first wave, feeling guilty for not using this forced “time-off” in a creative way that would channel this experience into meaningful art. I felt uninspired and numb. And useless. The lockdown brought out old fears I had, about the meaning of my life, and the purpose of my calling if my calling was not called for anymore. I had a project planned for the months of August and September in Montreal. A bilingual co-pro between the Centaur Theatre and Theatre D’Aujourd’hui. It obviously got postponed but, in a surprising turn of events, the two theatres decided to still have us rehearse the play, get it as show ready as possible, so when the time came to mount it in 2021, we wouldn’t need to start from scratch. They figured there wouldn’t be much turn around time if and when the government gave the green light for theatres to reopen so they wanted us to use that time while it was still allowed (mid late summer of 2020 when daily cases were relatively low). We didn’t get off book, but we blocked the entire play, went through many rewrites, and got much of the audiovisual elements (of which there are a lot) incorporated during those six weeks. We basically got through tech week. It was a strange experience, being back in a rehearsal space in Montreal, masks and all, working on a piece, hoping but not knowing if it would ever see the light of day. I certainly was grateful for it, regardless of the outcome. I needed that creative release after months of feeling idle and unproductive. Also, having theatre in the ICU meant that I was able to finally give film and tv a chance. I managed to book a few things. That was nice finally to break the ice. The late Hal Prince described the theatre as an escape for him. Would you say that Covid has been an escape for you or would you describe this near year long absence from the theatre as something else? I would describe it as nightmare from which there is no escape because there’s no waking up from this. We’re in this metaphorical mess of a maze and try, as you might, the exits have yet to be located. And I’m not sure we’re ready or deserving of an exit, yet. I’m not sure. The escape, if there was any to be found, was introspective and inward. The rest was distractions. But really, with the magnitude and multitude of historic events that took place this year, not only south of the border, but everywhere really, there was an abundance of opportunities for reflection. A sort of “mise au point”, a chance to re-examine and then reposition yourself in relation not only to yourself, but to the past, the present, the future and to the things you took for granted, on the macro and the micro. I’ve interviewed a few artists several months ago who said that the theatre industry will probably be shut down and not go full head on until at least 2022. There may be pockets of outdoor theatre where safety protocols are in place. What are your comments about this? Do you think you and your colleagues/fellow artists will not return until 2022? I have no idea. I certainly hope we won’t have to wait till 2022. As I said earlier, I’m supposed to be doing a show August 2021, but right now your guess is as good, or moot, as mine. It seems to me it’ll all depend on the vaccine rollout, the number of cases going down, and whether or not the government and people feel safe indoors. I remain cautiously optimistic. I had a discussion recently with an Equity actor who said that yes theatre should not only entertain but, more importantly, it should transform both the actor and the audience. How has Covid transformed you in your understanding of the theatre and where it is headed in a post Covid world? I think it might be a little too soon for me to tell you how Covid has transformed me, as I have a feeling I’m still in the process of said transformation. As for what it’s done to my understanding of theatre and where it’s headed, it has reinforced my belief that we need it now more than ever. We are starving for the communal, for a space where healing can happen, where reconciliation is something that can be observed, considered, and felt before experienced, a space that can nourish, replenish and reinvigorate our imagination and our humanity. A gym for empathy. We’ve been glued to our phones, tablets, tvs, screens, books, and honestly, I’m not entirely ungrateful for that, if only because I have a feeling, once things are deemed safe enough, that people will truly want and appreciate the access to shared experiences again in live performance. Whether this takes the form of escapist entertainment or cathartic art is up for grabs. The latter does not necessarily exclude the former, and I think there will be a need for both. The late Zoe Caldwell spoke about how actors should feel danger in the work. It’s a solid and swell thing to have if the actor/artist and the audience both feel it. Would you agree with Ms. Caldwell? Have you ever felt danger during this time of Covid and do you believe it will somehow influence your work when you return to the theatre? I agree with Zoe Caldwell. I certainly have felt a lot of danger and a lot of anger during this time. I have no doubt it will influence my work when I return. I’m hungry for work, itching to be back in a theatre, creating, collaborating, unpacking this experience we’ve all been through, and using it as fuel for art. I think a lot of the anxiety I’ve been struggling with these past few months is a symptom of all this bottled-up creative energy I haven’t been able to release. I want to be of service, and I want to do it on stage. The late scenic designer Ming Cho Lee spoke about great art opening doors and making us feel more sensitive. Has this time of Covid made you sensitive to our world and has it made some impact on your life in such a way that you will bring this back with you to the theatre? It sure has. I think it’s made a lot of us more sensitive, a lot more recognisant, of the privileges we used to take for granted. The theatre community in North America at large has had a real wake up call in terms of the disparities facing visible minority arts practitioners and, while I do fall into that category, I am also able to recognise that I have had my share of privileges too. My parents left Lebanon in 1990, when I was five, at the tail end of a civil war, to give my siblings and me a chance at a better life, and there is no doubt in my mind that the life I have lived so far, while not without hardships, struggles, and unfairness (whose isn’t) has still been one full of possibilities. Everything is relative. There is still much work to be done in terms of giving space to people who don’t take up a lot of it. We were all due for a prise de conscience, individually and collectively. If there’s one good thing to come out of this pandemic, I hope it’s a willingness and an active effort to make room for others, to sit at the same table, at the same time. Connect with Antoine on Instagram: Ant1.Ya Previous Next

Back 'Russell's World' written and directed by Herbie Barnes, Artistic Director Young People's Theatre Young People's Theatre website Joe Szekeres ‘Imagination helps us get through any problem or challenge. Einstein once said imagination is more important than intelligence’ – Herbie Barnes In the talkback immediately following the on-demand presentation of ‘Russell’s World’, writer, director and Young People’s Theatre’s Artistic Director, Herbie Barnes’s above statement captured succinctly the inherent and magical essence of childhood that, for me, is always endearing to experience time and time again from an adult perspective. Imagination! Yes, childhood is full of times when we were victims of bullies and other times when we may have been the bullies, and that’s not a pleasant part of any person’s childhood he/she/they want(s) to remember at all. Some of us coped through all this using our imagination. For me, what makes childhood so magical is its essence of that necessary creative spark. As a retired 33-year schoolteacher, I was witness to many, many moments of seeing creative imagination in action both in the classroom and outside. Over the years, I’ve seen many adults who have lost that sense of childlike wonder especially in experiencing when something new was introduced to us. And that’s sad when some adults sometimes lose or forget what it’s like to see things from a child’s perspective. Thank you, Herbie Barnes, for allowing us to see imagination at play in your script and production. The story - Russell has moved to the city with his Mom from a home they didn’t want to leave. They had friends at the house and their life just felt right. Unfortunately for Russell, their new circumstances aren’t quite what they had hoped for as they feel they have no friends at the new school, and no one to whom they can turn as an older lad is bullying them. The only escape for Russell is to retreat into their room after school is done where their imagination (and belongings!) come to life. Can their friends Bear, Jacket and Book help Russell figure out how to deal with the problems outside their bedroom as well as those hidden inside? I want to applaud and thank writer and director Herbie Barnes for allowing me to enter that safe space of wide-eyed wonderment in a jim-dandy and terrific on demand video presentation through Young People’s Theatre. I had my pen and paper ready to make notes; however, when I saw protagonist Russell (a charmingly unpretentious performance by Ziska Louis) enter their bedroom, bolt the chair under the door handle and call “Safe’, I put my pen and paper to the side and instead just revelled in being with Russell in their enchantingly exciting world of pretend and make believe for the next fifty some minutes. Anna Treusch has magically created a delightfully colourful and fantastical bedroom for Russell with bright colours of orange, green, blue and red. Certain set pieces appear to be enlarged which helped me to believe that Ziska Louis convincingly plays a young boy. Various props are strewn about the room which is also indicative of a child/young person’s messy bedroom. Treusch’s selection of oversized clothing from his hooded pullover jacket to large trousers and blue striped t shirt once again reinforce that we have entered the world of a child, and I completely bought right into it. Very nice touches. Kelisha Daley and Mike Petersen’s puppetry work in making Book, Jacket, Bear, Bedspread (and a few more objects which come to life that I don’t want to spoil here) was most certainly appealing to watch. Along with these various objects, there are also appearances of spectral looking beings, and I won’t state when they appear as that is all part of the fun of Russell’s world. Again, I bought into every inch of the recreation of a child’s world because it is such a danged good phantasmagorical world of make believe. As an adult, if I really liked it, I certainly do hope young children will also enjoy it. Cathy Nosaty’s sound design and composition effectively enhances the childlike world in which the audience finds itself. I especially liked the sounds used when Russell becomes a pirate. So much fun. Shawn Henry's lighting design firmly accentuates the present mood of a particular moment. It heightens some of the tension as the inanimate objects come to life in the bedroom. The swashbuckling pirate moments are in silhouette which in turn on the wall shows how larger than life Russell feels as he is battling. Again, great fun. Herbie Barnes winningly captures that youthful, wanton spirit both within his script and direction. I’m sure we’ve all experienced when we were younger those the true child like feelings of thinking you’re the only person who is feeling what you’re feeling, and that nobody else can understand at all what you’re going through. For example, at one point, Russell tears his jacket and then panics because he knows his mother will be cross with them. How many of us remember tearing our clothes when we were kids for whatever reason and then panicking thinking our mothers would be so annoyed with us because money is so tight or that it doesn’t grow on trees? So true to life. Finely tuned cinematography and precise editing by Joshua Hinds maintained my focus on where the specific plot action was occurring. In turn, this allowed for unnoticeable camera optical effects to be in place and offer surprises for the viewer. Ziska Louis is delightfully precocious as the free-spoken Russell. I have no idea of Louis’ age, but their performance work as a ten/eleven-year-old lad was dead on exact. Louis naturally assumed the idiosyncratic movements of a young person with arms periodically flailing around or the temper tantrum stand when things weren’t going the way they wanted them to transpire. Final Comments: As in all good things from Young People’s Theatre, their productions also contain important life lessons for their audiences, and the same holds true here for ‘Russell’s World’. I don’t believe for one second that Barnes’ just wanted his story to be merely entertaining. From listening to his Q & A at the conclusion, it appeared to me Barnes also believes in treating his youthful audiences respectfully while letting them know of the harshness of the world. In this case, for ‘Russell’s World’, young audiences will see that there will be times where children must learn to face challenges and obstacles head on to deal with them. “Herbie Barnes’s ‘Russell’s World’ waxes genuine for children and youth in learning to cope bravely and deal honestly with those little things that may appear monumental as a child but, in reality, are not the end of the world. This retired schoolteacher gives a thumbs up for schools and families to watch it.” Approximate running time: 55 minutes Recommended for ages 5-10. Teacher Guides and other resources are available. ‘Russell’s World’ streams until June 30 on the Young People’s Theatre website. Visit www.youngpeoplestheatre.org . RUSSELL’S WORLD written and directed by Herbie Barnes Young People’s Theatre Written & Directed by Herbie Barnes Featuring Kelisha Daley, Ziska Louis & Mike Petersen Set & Costume Design: Anna Treusch; Lighting Design: Shawn Henry; Composer & Sound Design: Cathy Nosaty; Cinematographer and Editor: Joshua Hind; Stage Manager: Kai-Yueh Chen; Apprentice Stage Manager: Sophi Murias. Previous Next

Back 'Rubble' by Suvendrini Lena An Aluna Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille co-production ​ Guest writer Geoffrey Coulter, actor, director, arts educator When I think of the arts, I revel in its ability to entertain, communicate, inspire, and teach through acting, music, dance, sculpture, and painting. I need to remind myself of how poetry can be just as provocative, just as enlightening. Theatre Passe Muraille, in co-operation with Aluna Theatre’s current production of 'Rubble' by Toronto playwright Suvendrini Lena powerfully transforms poetry into a theatrical event. Based on the poetry of Palestinian writers Mahmoud Darwish and Lena Khalaf Tuffaha and inspired by the playwright’s own visits to the West Bank, Rubble is set in 2014 against the backdrop of the Palestinian crisis and is as much about the value of art as it is the indomitable spirit its incarcerated, besieged peoples. Five excellent actors portray a family striving for normality, living out the day-to-day beauty and horrors of their country’s recent and ancient past as prisoners of occupation. Despite their hardships and subjugation by their Israeli and Egyptian neighbours, we see the humanity of the people of Gaza and their beautiful power of poetic preservation. A shockingly realistic set (courtesy of designer Trevor Schwellnus) depicting a bombed-out apartment building with broken concrete and cracked, high walls (for projecting statistics, videos and poetic text in English and Arabic), pieces of cinder blocks strewn about, floor lamps and wooden crates provides the canvas for this extraordinary tale. Interestingly, just moments before the show began I noticed English translations of Arabic poems printed in chalk on the walls of the theatre. An effective choice to encircle the audience, watching a play about poetry, with poetry! From the ruins of a theatre stage right the narrator, or poet emerges (Roula Said) and speaks directly to the actors, encouraging them to tear up their scripts and beseeching the audience to open our hearts to the poetry of words and music. What follows are multiple short scenes or vignettes illustrating the barbarity and seemingly daily acts of violence heaped on a single family as the Occupation continues. Excellent lighting (designer uncredited in my program) and video projections by Avideh Saadatpajouh of Arabic poetry projected at select moments on the walls of the set created thought-provoking images as each line of text gracefully falls in a heap creating a visual stockpile of the spoken narrative. The set’s high walls create a wonderful screen for well-placed images of deadly statistics, thoughtful verse, a full moon, buildings collapsing and militant rally cries (“Besiege the Siege”). Creative use of square-shaped spots and high-angled specials create shadows that transport us from apartment to tunnel, to beach to the interrogation room to excavation site. Unfortunately, not every location was obvious to me. More on that later. Thomas Ryder Payne’s original music and sound effects evoke terror and foreboding with harsh stings, resonant drones, disembodied voices and startling explosions. Traditional Arabic folk music and lulling live vocals from the Poet fully enhance the Palestinian plight. Authentic “everyday” costumes by Negar Nemati contrast nicely to the flowing colourful gown of the “poet”, who’s garbed as a wise sage, the very personification of Palestinian history and culture. Director Bea Pizano says in her notes this play is “about a people and a land”. Hats off to her for realizing a chilling modern malady and telling it with such visual expression. Excellent blocking and use of the stage made the actors comfortable in their surroundings. Despite this, I wasn’t always sure of the chronology of events, where and when we were. The events of the first scene seemed to take place after an important and shocking event much later in the play. Was this a flashback? Other things were not immediately obvious to me such as the ages of the children as adults are playing the juvenile roles. Additionally, it wasn’t obvious what certain props were, especially in the beach scene with Leila and Majid. These abstractions caused these scenes to lose some resonance for me. The role of the Poet, who recites in both English and Arabic is commandingly played by Roula Said. Her focussed line delivery, social commentary and political posturing is delicately balanced with her gorgeous singing voice. Though she sings in Arabic (songs which she composed!) her soothing rendering transcends language, her graceful presence a perfect foil to the tumult of the scenes playing out around her. Laura Arabian plays mother, wife, and archaeologist Leila. Her sensitive portrayal of a matriarch trying to keep her family’s life as “normal” as possible with little food, basic amenities, and questionable shelter. She’s a calming, encouraging rock to her children and loving wife to Majid. Her adept range of emotions – laughter, love, and loss, convinced me of Leila’s bitter reality. Majid, the family patriarch, and engineer is convincingly played by Sam Khalilieh. A proud man, loving husband and doting father, his monologue of the history of Gaza from 332 AD to the present provides some thoughtful context revealing this land and its people are no strangers to foreign occupation. Gripping! As Mo, the son with aspirations of playing football for the Al Helal Academy, adult actor Yousef Kadoura (curiously playing a 12-year-old) adds youthful petulance and naivete to the situation surrounding him. His portrayal of personal loss and his struggle to process it reveals his resilience but also the man he will need to become to overcome his physical challenges and fulfil his dreams of life outside the “largest prison on earth”. Noora, the 16-year-old daughter with rebellion in her heart, is wonderfully played by Parya Heravi. She delivers her lines with staunch resistance to her family’s situation. Yet underneath her hardened shell, she would do anything for her family, even face the adversary head-on to protect what she loves. An invested performance. Rubble is a poetic tale with political undertones. It forces the actors to engage in rather difficult conversations while invoking the audience to reflect and engage in those same conversations. Sadly, the events of modern-day Palestine are not often in our mainstream media. I don’t remember the last time I heard “Gaza” in prime time. This play’s thoughtful analysis and dissection of poetry in a state of siege give audiences reason to pause. Poetry speaks truth. Art truly imitates life. 'Rubble' runs to March 18 on the Mainstage Space at Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Avenue, Toronto. For tickets, visit www.passemuraille.ca An Aluna Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille co-production 'Rubble' by Suvendrini Lena Directed by Beatriz Pizano Scenography by Trevor Schwellnus Costume Design by Negar Nemati Sound Design by Thomas Ryder Payne Associate Video Design by Avideh Saadatpajough Featuring Sam Khalilieh as Majid Roula Said as The Poet Lara Arabian as Leila Parya Heravi as Noora Yousef Kadoura as Mo Previous Next

Back 'Holmes and Watson' by Jeffrey Hatcher Produced by Stage Centre Productions at North York's Fairview Library Theatre Marc Siversky Joe Szekeres A jolly good mystery to unravel in Stage Centre’s ‘Holmes and Watson’ I’ve often wondered if the Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson’s storyline has run its course in twenty-first-century theatre. Even though ‘Holmes and Watson’ premiered in 2017, I’ve always found the challenge behind these period pieces remains to do justice to the playwright’s intent while ensuring that audiences still enjoy the plot. Can audiences enjoy these mystery genres where we are asked to put clues together ourselves as the plot unravels? This is tough since our woke world right now demands instant gratification from all kinds of entertainment we are now seeking. I must applaud Stage Centre Productions for going against the grain and staging Jeffrey Hatcher’s ‘Holmes and Watson’ because the company made it work. Theatre lovers are craving a return with a vengeance. I’ve seen it myself in surveying other audiences while I’ve waited for plays to begin. We all want a good story to follow. ‘Holmes and Watson’ is a good story for the local theatre community. It appears that famed detective Sherlock Holmes is dead. Or is he as the body was never retrieved? That is the question both Dr. Watson and we unravel in playwright Jeffrey Hatcher’s interesting storyline of intrigue and deception. Following the famed detective’s death at Reichenbach Falls with his nemesis Professor Moriarty (Jeremy Henson). Holmes’s trusted assistant Dr. John Watson (Daryn DeWalt) is called to disprove the many fake notices that Sherlock is truly alive. Through a newspaper clipping, Watson learns three men have been admitted to a remote mental asylum claiming to be Sherlock (Ted Powers, Lawrence Stevenson, and Joseph van Veen). Each of these men matches Holmes’s physical description. One of these gentlemen is quoted with something the only real Sherlock would know. Watson travels to the asylum to confront these three men while also having to deal with its ghoulish-looking Matron (Mickey Brown) and silently towering Orderly (Chip Thompson). Visually, Stage Centre and Pierre Rajotte’s fascinating set design caught my eye as I sat down in my seat. I try to leave at least 10 minutes before a performance to study the set if it is possible. I encourage future audience members to do the same. The set has a film noir cinematic style and flair, thanks to Director Marc Siversky and Rajotte’s clever design. This style allows the playing space to become different locales without having to incorporate laborious set changes, and that’s a huge bonus for the audience not to have to sit through a few moments of change. Clay Warner’s lighting design effectively incorporates moments of shadowy lights to create that sense of mystery about the story as to what is coming next. Marc Siversky and Eric Dupois’s video design is also intriguing. Whether it was intentional or not, I liked the focus on enlarging some of the designs which certainly highlighted the foreboding atmosphere. Victoria Richardson’s Costume designs are wonderful period recreations. Director Siversky’s solid control over the plot’s action keeps it moving at a good pace. There are moments of lengthy dialogue where audiences must pay careful attention to keep up with the quickly moving plot. Because there are numerous twists, I am doing my best not to spoil surprises for future audiences. Daryn DeWalt remains confidently solid as Watson. Robert Frances boldly maintains that aura of something not sitting just right as Dr. Evans. The three Sherlock Holmes in Ted Powers, Lawrence Stevenson and Joseph van Veen believably create uniquely yet somehow similar characteristics of the famed detective. It was a treat to watch how each of them seized the moment to explore the actual Holmes they are searching for. Jeremy Henson’s blustery Moriarty made me smile because he successfully captured his essence. Final Comments: A lot of information is thrown at the audience and there were moments when I kept wondering where all of this is going. Trust me, it will make sense but stick with the story and don’t lose sight of playwright Jeffrey Hatcher’s clever plot because it does work. There’s an adage I’ve seen posted. Some may consider it tiresome while others may consider it appropriate: “I didn’t see that coming.” This thought came to my mind once everything becomes clear in the plot. Nice work Stage Centre. Thank you for not including an intermission because the momentum would have been lost. Finally, dear reader, don’t spoil the plot surprises for future audiences. Running time: approximately 90 minutes with no intermission. ‘Holmes and Watson’ runs to October 8 at Fairview Library Theatre, 35 Fairview Mall Drive, North York. For tickets call the Box Office (416) 299-5557 or www.stagecentreproductions.com . ‘Holmes and Watson’ by Jeffrey Hatcher Directed by Marc Siversky Stage Manager: Malcolm Byrne Set Design: Pierre Rajotte Lighting Design: Clay Warner Costume Design: Victoria Richardson Sound Design: Marc Siversky and Scott Griffin Video Design: Marc Siversky and Eric Dupois Props: Shannon Breedon Performers: Daryn DeWalt Robert Frances, Chip Thompson, Mickey Brown, Ted Powers, Lawrence Stevenson, Joseph van Veen, Jeremy Henson Previous Next

Back 'Bad Roads' by Natal'ya Vorozhbit with translation by Sasha Dugdale North American premiere now onstage at Crow's Theatre Credit: Dahlia Katz. Pictured Katherine Gauthier and Andrew Chown Joe Szekeres ‘Daring and compassionate direction by Andrew Kushnir, but the play may not be for everyone because of its sometimes brutal and graphic depictions. ‘Bad Roads’ becomes an explicitly horrific reminder of the gaping wound of war and its vicious aftermath of human atrocities that can never be erased. The breathtaking ensemble remains raw in their performances throughout the intermission-less running time.” The North American premiere of Natal’ya Vorozbhit’s ‘Bad Roads’ at Crow’s left me speechless at the conclusion. It was wise to stage it before, on and after Remembrance Day. Vorozbhit’s play remains a stark reminder that war casualties are not just historical facts and data. Instead, the story graphically brings to life that same terror felt by those from years ago continues to this very day. Thus, it’s crucial to continue to remember and never forget there are no winners in war. This time around, however, I’m at a crossroads. Understandably, ‘Bad Roads’ may not be for everyone. Future audience members who are easily triggered, consider yourselves warned. At times, the language is graphic. Intimacy director Anita Nattoly’s meticulous staging of the implied violence is still a graphic depiction of war on civilians. The play is a staggering, wallop-to-the-guts tale of real people. The horrid, cruel toll of human atrocities remains paramount in my mind as I write this article. There were moments when I closed my eyes because I did not want to see signs of violence, however implied. Nevertheless, when reviewing, it’s essential to keep emotions at bay and examine if the production is worth doing. Is ‘Bad Roads’ worth doing and seeing in the theatre? The six-episode script remains compelling and riveting for the same reasons listed under the triggered warnings. Andrew Kushnir’s daring and compassionate direction shapes the breathtaking ensemble’s work to become acutely raw. The cast skillfully weaves and connects events together, leaving a sense the plot has concluded, even though that apprehension and dread of war still hovers in the air. Another caveat, though. Intimate relationships between people have been severed. The women and men in the play are victims of war. The latter are sometimes seen as callous, heartless, and cold-blooded, either useless in bed or constant need of ‘oral’ stimulation. ‘Bad Roads’ is set in the Donbas region of Ukraine. A war is raging. Civilians are trying to understand why. The play (divided into six episodes) is based on testimonies from the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Within these six episodes, we are introduced to two reporters who have gone to the front lines to research, one who has been kidnapped by an angry Russian entirely out of his mind. A medic mourns the death of her lover killed in action. Three young women prostitute themselves to soldiers to survive. Pre-war, a young woman appears at a farm because she has run over the owners’ chickens. A witty and comical setup of meaning and words first ensues, quickly heightening the moment's dramatic intensity. Sim Suzer’s stark set design immediately sets the action in the Studio Theatre's centre with the audience seated on both sides. A brightly intense and circular white spotlight is sharply focused centre stage. Stage right is a brick wall with a bench and what appears to be a tin can, perhaps used for cigarette butts? It is used to spit out the shells from the seeds three of the actors eat. On stage left is another wall with rickety small brick steps leading up to a playing area. Christian Horoszczak’s harsh and shadowy lighting effectively adds to the building tension. Thomas Ryder Payne’s sound design eerily kept me on guard throughout. There are moments when shelling in the distance can be heard; there are moments with the sound of a bomb detonation that made me jump at least twice in my seat. Snezana Pesic’s costume designs are faithful recreations of war-torn clothing. Seven extraordinary ensemble performances remain the highlight of this edge-of-the-seat story. The one haunting episode involves Katherine Gauthier as the kidnapped young reporter and Andrew Chown as the crazed soldier. The frightening realistic synchronicity of these two in the cat-and-mouse staging has me watching every move either makes. Will she outwit him? There were moments when I felt like I was watching a tennis match. I could feel my eyes moving back and forth. Michelle Monteith’s opening monologue sets the grim tone appropriately for what the audience is about to see. Diego Matamoros and Seana McKenna provide that momentary and necessary bit of humour during pre-war times as Vasya and his wife when the unsuspecting Girl (Shauna Thompson) runs over one of the couple’s chickens. But the motive behind the humour strongly permeates in a matter of seconds. Craig Lauzon as the Soldier and Shauna Thompson as the Girl who mourns her lover’s death are resonant in their performances as two shell-shocked persons destroyed and who can never recover. Final Comments: ‘Bad Roads’ begs to be discussed immediately following. I have no idea if any talkbacks will take place. After the one hour and fifty-five-minute running time with an outstanding and intensely focused cast who is probably emotionally spent, they might not want to talk immediately following the show. By all means, see Crow’s production. Just go in with your eyes open. Kushnir wrote he sees the story as more than a play but as a portal where we can enter the world of war and then exit at the end. Those involved in any war cannot do that. And that’s what makes the play a powerful one, one to remember and an appropriate one to stage during the month of Remembrance. Is ‘Bad Roads’ good theatre? I believe so. Running time: approximately 1 hour and 55 minutes with no intermission. ‘Bad Roads’ runs until December 3 in the Studio Theatre at Crow’s Theatre, 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto. For tickets, crowstheatre.com or call the Box Office (647) 341-7390 ex. 1010. A CROW’S THEATRE PRODUCTION The North American Premiere of ‘Bad Roads’ by Natal’ya Vorozhbit with translation by Sasha Dugdale Director: Andrew Kushnir Set and Properties: Sim Suzer Costume Designer: Snezana Pesic Lighting Designer: Christian Horoszczak Sound Designer: Thomas Ryder Payne Stage Manager: Liliane Stilwell Fight and Intimacy Director: Anita Nattoly Performers: Andrew Chown, Katherine Gauthier, Craig Lauzon, Diego Matamoros, Seana McKenna, Michelle Monteith, Shauna Thompson Previous Next

Back Gregory Prest “I feel my job right now is to continue making work.” Dahlia Katz Joe Szekeres I’ve begun a check-in on some artists. In 2020, I held my first conversation with artist Gregory Prest. You can find the link to his earlier profile here: www.onstageblog.com/profiles/gregory-prest. Last time I saw Gregory on stage was as Ron Weasley in the now-closed Toronto production of ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.’ For the last several weeks, he has been the adaptor and the director of the world premiere of Soulpepper’s ‘De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail’, now in previews. The production opens on February 8. Before we even talked about the opening of ‘De Profundis’ this week, I wanted to check in on him to see how he’s feeling professionally and personally about the theatre industry: “It’s not NOT alarming…I don’t know what to think about it. I’m unsure about it. I really don’t know what to do other than to continue doing the work. I don’t have the responsibility of running an institution and trying to figure out how to make it all work in this new world. I feel my job right now is to continue making work.” That reminded me of the motivational UK poster in preparation for World War 2: “Keep Calm and Carry On’. Now, I’m not saying there will be a war of any kind; however, when challenging times continue, we all need to continue what we do daily and keep busy. Prest sees this as an opportunity for the theatre community to continue supporting each other, showing up, and buying tickets to see the work. His latest venture, ‘De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail, ’ opens on February 8. According to the Soulpepper website, [it]is a musical fantasy based on the letter Oscar Wilde wrote while incarcerated for two years at Reading Gaol to his love, Lord Alfred Douglas. The letter was written a page a day over a period of three months, collected at the end of each day, and handed over to Wilde on his release from prison.” Prest is the adaptor and director for this world-premiere production. Rehearsals have gone well, as did the technical rehearsals. Part of the exercise was to come in every night of the preview and watch as if he had never seen the show. There was so much historical context that had to be taken into consideration. The text of ‘De Profundis’ would have probably created fifteen shows, so the entire letter is not in this production. Selections had to be made, and audience experience was essential at this time. Gregory doesn’t call the week before opening Hell Week but rather the ‘wildly unstable snipping section of time.’ ‘De Profundis’ is an experiment in a lot of ways. The creative team is trying something exciting and moving, challenging, interesting, and engaging. Part of the preview period is seeing what the show does and responding as a creative team to how the audience reacts. Prest sees the show changing significantly during previews as the time right now is seeing what is clear for audiences and what is not clear: “A show like [De Profundis] that is abstract in nature is not really linear or narratively driven but emotionally and narratively driven. There’s so much space in it; sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes it’s a confusing thing and a puzzle to figure out.” Gregory does not want to leave anyone out in the cold. He jokingly said he doesn’t want audiences coming in and wondering, ‘Who’s Oscar Wilde?’ We shared a quick laugh over that, but again, that’s a fear a creative team must keep in mind. For Prest, Wilde is an incredible artist. ‘De Profundis’ is not meant to be a piece of theatre; it’s a letter. Yet something is fascinating about this letter. It feels like this letter has become the first celebrity trial. Wilde was someone at the top of his game with significant influence, power and reputation who publicly fell, failed, and was the target of scorn and humiliation. The experience of this process for Prest himself is being on the inside. One of the things that became clear at the end of the letter was how to move forward when everything has fallen around you. How does one deconstruct an ego when you’re alone? How do you move forward with sorrow and disappointment? What is so moving about ‘De Profundis’ for Gregory? It’s the piece's dynamic, along with Wilde’s slow movement toward walking with the disappointing facts of his life hand in hand with acceptance. The transformation in the piece is one of moving with a former self as opposed to becoming something new. Prest finds this really interesting right now. The process for the generation of ‘De Profundis’ started with Prest and Original Music and Lyrics by Sarah Wilson and Mike Ross in a room. They spent three days reading the letter, going through it and then realizing the need to break it. Prest calls himself conservative and said if it were up to him, he’d like to stage the entire letter. He had a good laugh, knowing that wouldn’t be possible. The task of bringing ‘De Profundis’ to the stage has been humbling. The team had to: “pull things out and explode things as an act of love.” Out of love, they’ve had to destroy the letter and try to re-build it again. ‘De Profundis’ is not a natural idea for a musical, but it’s challenging and worth pursuing. Mike and Sarah then went to work, and the three came back together, worked again, and then went away to work. Eventually, Damien Atkins (who plays Oscar Wilde) was then brought in. It was continuously creating material, putting it side by side and seeing how everything spoke to each other. The music in ‘De Profundis’ reflects something underneath the plot, a bird’s eye view, perhaps of a moment with Oscar and then coming back down. Jonathan Corkal-Astorga and Colton Curtis appear with Damien in the production. What has each of them brought to the story according to Prest? Jonathan has brought professionalism, skill and heart with care, interest, and sensitivity. Colton brings incredible skill as a dancer and is the most generous person in the room you can find. With sensitivity and skill, Colton brings an enigma to the character of Lord Alfred Douglas (Wilde’s lover). To play him is not an easy task. Damien is all humanity, humour, rage, camp, and talent. This is why it’s so beautiful to have him play Oscar Wilde. Prest calls Damien a ‘great’ friend. When you’re in his presence, and he is ‘on,’ Prest calls it as if you are sitting next to the sun. For him, this is what it must have felt like to be around Oscar Wilde. Just to be clear: Damien is not making an impression of Oscar Wilde; there’s no dialect as we’re not in that world for ‘De Profundis.’ The story is set in a different kind of dreamlike place but with that sense of celebrity. As we begin to close our conversation, Prest recommends reading the entirety of ‘De Profundis’ because it is a beautiful experience. The letter is such a coded document. Wilde could say things and couldn’t say certain things. Even though the letter was very private, it was also public. Prest smiled and said they were being reckless about some things. Without being weird about it, Prest believes some people will really dig ‘De Profundis’ while others are really going not to do so. The flip side to this thinking is if you really like Oscar Wilde, you may really loathe this ‘De Profundis.’ Prest also quickly adds that the production is not meant to be definitive, as there have been many stories, plays, and films about Wilde. What’s next for Gregory once ‘De Profundis’ completes its run? He begins rehearsals as an actor for Canadian Stage’s ‘The Inheritance.’ For these last few days, he has been doing double duty of rehearsals at CanStage in the morning and heading back to Soulpepper in the afternoon for final tweaking and juggling. A remount of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ will be performed at Soulpepper, and he’s involved in that production: “It’ll be very good and healthy after this process [of De Profundis] to land in someone else’s room with a big ensemble and have a change of pace as an actor.” Is there time for Gregory Prest to be just Gregory: son, partner, brother, and friend amidst all this rehearsal? “Never!!!!!!!!!, but we’ll see, we’ll see.” ‘De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail’ is now in previews. It opens on February 8 and runs to February 18, 2024, in The Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Lane, in Toronto’s Distillery District. For tickets, youngcentre.ca or call 1-416-866-8666. To learn more about Soulpepper Theatre, visit soulpepper.ca. Previous Next

Back Heath V Salazar Moving Forward Gaetz Photography Joe Szekerers This time of isolation from live theatre and the emerging civil and social reforms have certainly made me aware of the importance of hearing from as many voices as possible within the artistic community. Several of the artists profiled have been extremely helpful in suggesting names of individuals who deserve to be highlighted. I was pleased when two artists suggested Heath V. Salazar. In the twenty-first century, it’s wonderful that we have social media sites like Facebook to make initial introductions; however, nothing beats speaking to a person face to face which is what I hope I can do in the near future with all of the artists I’ve profiled so far, and when it’s safe for all of us to return. And I was grateful to make an introduction as Heath told me they would be delighted to be profiled for this series Heath V. Salazar (they/them) is a Dora Award-winning trans-Latinx performer and writer. Since graduating from Randolph College for the Performing Arts, Heath has developed a body of work as an actor that spans the gender spectrum in both theatre and film. Within the drag world, they perform multidisciplinary draglesque as Gay Jesus and are featured on Season 1 of the CBC Arts’ Canada’s a Drag. Through their writing, Heath was selected for the Spoken Word Residency at the Banff Centre of the Arts (’17) as well as the Emerging Creators Unit at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (’18). In addition, Heath has gone on to teach as a guest lecturer at the University of Toronto. Currently, while Heath continues the development of their short film, Préstamo, in partnership with director Tricia Hagoriles, they’re also an Artist in Residence with both Aluna Theatre and Buddies in Bad Times. It appears that after five exceptionally long months, we are slowly, very slowly, emerging to a pre-pandemic lifestyle. Has your daily life and routine along with your immediate family’s life and routine been changed in any manner? My daily life and routine have changed drastically over the course of the past five months. As a multidisciplinary artist, I’m accustomed to working multiple gigs throughout the week that involve audiences or being in close proximity with large groups of people. In addition, as a queer and Latinx creator, I personally hold a strong community focus within my work which involves actively engaging with audiences outside of a performance setting as well as regularly attending community events. Due to safety restrictions, all of those spaces were put on pause which has completely altered my everyday life. However, that community focus has been a great contributor in motivating me to seek out alternate platforms and methods of creating that allow me to remain in connection and of service to my communities and those around me. Were you involved or being considered for any projects before the pandemic was declared and everything was shut down? There are a number of projects that I was preparing for when the pandemic was declared. In addition to local gigs and performances, I was in the midst of making arrangements to move to Stratford, Ontario for the summer to perform as Rafe in Wolf Hall as a company member at the Stratford Festival. In the past year, I’ve been involved in creation and research development programs at the theatre including working as a guest artist for their Laboratory Ensemble as well as for the Stratford Incubator. This would’ve been my debut performance with the company, however, in order to keep everyone as safe as possible, the theatre was forced to close. Fortunately, the Stratford Festival has worked actively throughout the pandemic to continue upholding a sense of community with their company members. They’ve arranged mini-challenges and projects to bring people joy, they’ve ensured consistent and transparent communication, and when the civil right movement currently taking place began, they took the time to listen and have used their reach and platform to engage in productive and important conversation with Black and Indigenous artists and creators. The state of our world, let alone our industry, needs to change and having a company like Stratford take accountability for its history engages a lot of people in a dialogue they may not otherwise have had. Describe the most challenging element or moment of the isolation period for you. Did this element or moment significantly impact how you and your immediate family are living your lives today? One of the most challenging elements of the isolation period for me, particularly in the beginning, was navigating limitations regarding my ability to bring aid to my loved ones and community. Safety isn’t something that’s afforded to everyone in our society. Even before the pandemic started, violence and discrimination against racialized trans people, particularly those who are Black and Indigenous, disproportionately affected their ability to access basic necessities such as housing, healthcare, and food stability. Since the initial lockdown, those circumstances have only escalated but, since I had lost my employment for the foreseeable future, I felt very limited in my ability to help. However, the work I’ve done over the years has allowed me to learn from some of the most incredible activists on how to provide community support in ways that don’t involve monetary donations, and that translated very well even in a time of isolation and social distancing. This came heavily into play over the past couple of months. Ways to help can range from promoting and sharing information about organizations that provide resources for marginalized communities, donating performances and/or performance fees for online fundraisers, attending protests and demonstrations that call for the reallocation of city/government funding to be put towards community resources, using social media platforms to share accurate information about how people are being affected and ways that your friends and peers can help, engaging in a personal dialogue with city officials to demand protections for our most vulnerable communities, learning about the impact that the redistribution of funds can have even on a minor scale, seeking out petitions with clear demands to bring aid to those in need and much, much more. Quite often, difficult times can bring on feelings of despair and helplessness, but those I’ve had the privilege of learning from have shown me the impact that can take place when we stand together as a community. What were you doing to keep yourself busy during this time of lockdown and isolation from the world of theatre? Since theatres will most likely be shuttered until the spring of 2021, where do you see your interests moving at this time? During the time of lockdown and isolation from the world of theatre, I’ve largely pivoted my focus to online creation and performance as well as the development of new work through my residencies at both Buddies in Bad Times Theatre as well as Aluna Theatre. As a creator, my practice involves approaching work development from a holistic standpoint centering and prioritizing the human in human experience. Working as storytellers within a capitalist context can, has, and does encourage toxic and damaging methods of working in order to ensure a high turnover of creation and consumption. However, we as people are not products and if we’re going to tell stories about people, but all of them get damaged in the process, then what good are the stories? What are we actually saying when we tell them? This pandemic has really highlighted those values for me. Life is very short and needs to be appreciated because, ultimately, we can’t stop ourselves from dying. My main interests right now are nurturing my relationships with my loved ones and working to protect, empower, and advocate for those around me. Sometimes that’ll be in the form of performance and sometimes it won’t. But life isn’t about performance, performance is about life; I’m making life my priority in whatever way that takes place. Any words of wisdom or sage advice you would give to other performing artists who are concerned about the impact of COVID-19? What about the new theatre graduates who are just out of school and may have been hit hard? Why is it important for them not to lose sight of their dreams? The greatest piece of advice I would give to performing artists and new theatre graduates concerned about the impact of COVID-19 is that your value as a person isn’t determined by the jobs you do and don’t book. Life will always bring what we least expect, but how we adapt influences the people we become as well as the world around us. As creatives, artistry can be a very personal element within ourselves but remember that though art is a glorious part of you, it’s not all of you. Give yourself permission to become someone that you would admire in a way that centers your character, not your profession. That way, no matter what you do, your legacy will be one that you’re proud of. Do you see anything positive stemming from this pandemic? It’s a complicated thing to find the positivity in a time that’s brought people so much loss. However, I also think that there were a number of deadly crises taking place prior to the arrival of Covid-19 that were costing people their lives and weren’t being addressed until a mass amount of our population was forced to slow down. Canada has a consistent track record regarding the erasure of our history and the systemic racism upon which our country was founded. Knowledge is powerful, but a lack of information hinders the ability to understand and address the long-lasting effects that this racism has had on people of colour on this land. The repercussions have manifested in our modern-day society through a number of violences including the mass amount of missing and murdered Indigenous women who have yet to receive justice, the disproportionate incarceration and murder rate of Black and Brown people at the hands of our police system, as well as the targeted violence experienced by our sex workers, particularly those who are Black trans women, only to name a few. The world of theatre is largely regarded as progressive and inclusive, however, when we look closer, we find exclusionary practices that not only contribute to but encourage systems of oppression within both our workplaces as well as on a mass scale due to the number of people taking in the messaging within our work. My hope is that our companies and our theatre workers take this time to grow their scope of awareness in order to change the toxic culture that previously existed within our spaces. We’re all capable of growth and, as an industry whose practice is so deeply steeped in compassion and empathy, I have faith in our potential to create a better work environment, and in the long term, a better world. In your informed opinion, will the Toronto and the Canadian performing arts scene somehow be changed or impacted on account of the coronavirus? I have no doubt that the Toronto and Canadian performing arts scenes will and have been changed on account of the coronavirus. This pandemic has cost people so much from their safety to their livelihoods and, worst of all, their loved ones. A lot of our people right now are grieving while others are ill, and we don’t know what our futures look like. But when I turn to those around me in the performing arts scene, particularly disabled, 2SLGBTQ+, and BIPOC creators, I see phenomenal innovation and community care. This spans from performers, to writers, to lighting designers, and more. I’m watching, in real-time, as people adapt the use of the performing arts to keep one another alive and to share their ruthless faith for a new future. Our practices across the board will have to be reassessed and adapt to our new circumstances. But I think that as long as we prioritize people’s safety and wellbeing over profit and product, we have a great capacity to improve and strengthen the future of our industry. What are your thoughts about streaming live productions? As we continue to emerge and find our way back to a new perspective of daily life, will live streaming become part of the performing arts scene in your estimation? Have you been participating, or will you participate in any online streaming productions soon? What I’ve found so far regarding the streaming of live productions is that it’s made the performing arts far more accessible for a lot of people. Our industry isn’t financially or physically accessible for many members in our communities which applies across the board from on-stage, to behind the scenes, to our audiences. I’ve received a lot of feedback in the past five months from people with a variety of different accessibility needs that being able to access performances, panels, and classes online has drastically changed their ability to become involved in and/or take in the performing arts. This shows us that accessibility has been a possibility all along and that it’s crucial for it to be a priority in our work even as we begin to reconvene in person. We also need to keep in mind that viewing art online still has its limitations as it requires the ability to own a computer and have access to wifi, which simply isn’t a possibility for many people. As our industries slowly re-open and we develop new practices in regard to safety, it’s vital that we ensure accessibility becomes a core point in how we adapt moving forward. These conversations have been prevalent for me in the past five months as a lot of my performance work has shifted to online. As a drag king, I watched the drag industry adapt very quickly. Within days of the announcement of the lockdown, drag artists were creating online content in a variety of different formats. I, myself, have now participated in live online performances, fundraisers, interviews, discussion panels, and more. Most recently, I developed a three-part video series during Pride whose pieces were screened separately at online events throughout the month of June. The last piece in the series, All of the Above, can be viewed online through the CBC Arts website. What is it about performing you still love given all the change, the confusion and the drama surrounding our world now? Storytelling is an ancient practice and I chose the performing arts as a profession because I believe in their ability to influence monumental change within our society, thereby shaping our world. I grew up speaking three languages, so I’ve seen how limited words can be. As a multidisciplinary artist, I view art as a form of communication that allows us to connect with some of the most profound parts of one another, as well as ourselves, in a way that transcends the confines of language. Performance allows us to document both our history as well our current human experience at the same time, all the while, influencing our future. It’s something I have great respect for and am incredibly honoured to be a part of. With a respectful nod to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton, here are the 10 questions he asked his guests at the conclusion of his interviews: a. What is your favourite word? Amor b. What is your least favourite word? Impossible c. What turns you on? Privacy d. What turns you off? Willful ignorance e. What sound or noise do you love? Family reunion rancheras at 4am f. What sound or noise bothers you? Sirens g. What is your favourite curse word? Nothing I’d let my mother read in an online publication h. What profession, other than your own, would you have liked to attempt? Immigration Lawyer i. What profession would you not like to do? Anything that involves euthanizing animals. I grew up in Sudbury, Ontario and as a teenager, I used to volunteer at the Science Center. The section I worked in specialized in caring for Northern Ontario wildlife but, for some of the animals, their feeding process involved having to euthanize mice. Though I understood the importance, I just didn’t have it in me and, after seeing my face when my supervisors taught me the process, they thought it best that I not be allowed to do it because they were concerned I would free the mice. They were correct. j. If Heaven exists, what do you hope God will say to you as you approach the Pearly Gates? ‘Took you long enough.’ To connect with Heath, visit their social media sites on Instagram and Twitter: @theirholiness. Previous Next

Back Mark McGrinder Moving Forward Trish Lindstrom. Joe Szekeres To chat with Studio 180 Theatre’s Associate Artistic Director, Mark McGrinder, was a lesson in learning and watching someone who is humble, down to earth, articulate and passionate about where he sees live theatre moving forward once we all find ourselves emerging slowly from this world wide pandemic. Mark’s biography from the Studio 180 website states he is a co-founder of the company. Mark is an actor, writer, and artist educator. As a member of Studio 180’s Core Artistic Team, he coordinates Studio 180’s IN DEVELOPMENT program and works as a Studio 180 IN CLASS workshop leader. For Studio 180, he has appeared as an actor in many productions, adapted and directed, Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish, directed Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays and a reading of The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, and worked as Associate Director for Blackbird (Metcalf Foundation Internship), God of Carnage and our 10th Anniversary reading of The Laramie Project. He has performed in several reviews with The Second City’s National touring company and was a member of the acting company at the Shaw Festival for five seasons. Mark’s directing credits include the issue-based comedy Power Play and a workshop production of the musical Parade at the Shaw Festival. He has been head- or co-writer on several collective creations (Single and Sexy, That Artz Show and The Berlin Show) and his play MacHamlet was presented as part of the Alumnae Theatre’s New Ideas Festival. Mark was the one who suggested he and I have a hybrid conversation. He took the first five questions, answered them and sent them back to me AND I transcribed the answers to the final five questions. Mark made me feel very much at ease and, at one point, I think I told him I could sit and talk to him about everything and anything but I had to get back on track and the reason for this conversation. Thanks again for your time, Mark: It has been an exceptionally long eight months of the pandemic, the isolation, the social distancing and now it appears the numbers keep edging up and down every day. How are you feeling about all of this? Do you think we will ever emerge to some new way of living in your opinion? It's strange. In so many ways the outlook is bleaker than it's ever been, at least in terms of the prospects for live theatre, and yet I find everything much more liveable now. Maybe I've just found my groove or a sense of certainty in the uncertainty, but I think I've been able to normalize the day to day of it all. Perhaps that's just becoming numb, but I prefer to think that it's some form of adaptability. I often hear people discussing whether we'll ever get back to "normal" but normal is just what you're used to. This, now, this moment we're in is normal. It's a new normal but it's normal. Actors talk a lot about being "in the moment" so maybe I'm leaning into that. I can't have every day be focused on hypotheticals or aspirational "what ifs". I've stopped living for what might be and am settling into what is. I don't see that as abandoning optimism. It's more a conscious act of embracing the moment and living for what we have and can achieve in the here and now. It's surprisingly freeing. How has your immediate family been doing during these last eight months? I'm fortunate to have two young children who staunchly refuse to believe that theatre is dead or that there's any sort of moratorium on live performance, so that's heartening. There's an opening night in our living room virtually every night, even if it's just for an audience of two. It's been tough otherwise and the return to school was fraught with anxiety but since they've been back it's made a huge difference in our collective mental health and well being. We're a pretty tight unit and, despite the anticipated challenges of being cooped up in a finite space we were doing pretty well but I don't think we realized how much they missed their friends and we missed the space to focus on each other and our work. There's a lot more movie nights than there were a year ago and it's daunting to imagine the winter ahead but so far, we are getting by just fine. As an artist within the performing arts industry and community, what has been the most difficult and challenging for you personally and professionally? I just really miss the intimacy of working in person, of feeding off each other's energy. Whether it's in a rehearsal hall or a workshop we might be doing with high school students, I miss being able to feel the room. It's such an intangible thing and something I admittedly take for granted. Or used to. It only takes its absence to be felt deeply. Theatre is such a live, embodied art form. It's about proximity and spontaneity and presence and, no matter how hard we endeavour to replicate or approximate it with online rehearsals or performances, it will always feel a bit bereft of something. Of magic. I'm not usually one to embrace that sort of vocabulary but that's what it is. It's finite and fleeting and it's at the heart of what we do. Were you in preparation, rehearsals or any planning stages of productions before we fell into the pandemic? What has become of those projects? Will they see the light of day anytime soon? There was a lot on the go, both for Studio 180 and for me personally. One of the few bright spots in all of this was the fact that we were actually able to complete our run of Sweat in the winter before everything shut down. That was such an extraordinary group, and it would have been heartbreaking for them to have had their run interrupted or to have been denied the experience of sharing that work with an audience. Unfortunately, we were just about to begin rehearsals for Indecent, the second show of our season, that was cut short literally days before it was about to start. We invested a lot of time, energy and financial resources into that show so the hope is that it will see the light of day but it's a big, ambitious piece, the likes of which will be hard to contemplate when we eventually ease back into live performance. Still, I can't imagine a piece that better exemplifies theatre's capacity to create an intimate, communal experience. It's very much about our primal need to tell stories and endeavouring to find some essence of truth in those tales. I really do hope that we can share it with Toronto audiences in the not too distant future. On the personal front I was about to head off to Montreal to be in a production of Oslo at The Segal Centre. I was really relishing the notion of being a part of another production of a play I knew so well through our own Studio 180 production. It's a pretty rare gift to get a second chance at anything and I haven't worked in Montreal for years, so I was really disappointed when that fell through. As with so many other projects there's a sense that, once things get back on track, we'll have an opportunity to do the piece, but I don't anticipate that happening any time soon. What have you been doing to keep yourself busy during this time? Surprisingly, I'm extraordinarily busy right now, which I recognize is a privilege not afforded to everyone in my field. We have really front loaded the work of our season and are creating digital presentations that enable us to connect with audiences and artists alike. My work over the last little while has been to put all the pieces together, and now we're in the midst of doing the work which is always the most rewarding part. So much of our time has really been spent trying to figure out how to not only get by in the current climate but to also figure out how we can create practices and infrastructure that can become a vital part of our work when we return to live performance. So much of what Studio 180 does is about the conversations the work instigates and I'm so grateful that; even in the absence of being able to share a common physical space, we're finding ways to connect. And grants. Lots of grants. There are so many foundations and funders that have created programs to support arts organizations, which is extraordinary, but there is a lot of writing involved in courting that support. What's terrific about that though is that it really forces you to articulate a vision and can help focus your planning for an uncertain future. Any words of wisdom or advice you might /could give to fellow performers and colleagues? What message would you deliver to recent theatre school graduates who have now been set free into this unknown and uncertainty for at least 1 ½ to 2 years? I don’t know if I consider myself one capable of giving sage advice, but my chief offering would be to be kind to yourself. It’s an occupational hazard of being an artist that a massive amount of your time is not spent being an artist. It’s the work and trying to find the time to share the art. A lot of the time when you’re not working people can feel I’m not an artist. I think we just really need to be generous with ourselves and we need to say no. Just because I’m not in a play doesn’t mean that I’m not an actor. It’s incumbent on everyone to embrace opportunities to feed your artist self. Maybe your doing ‘The Artist Way’, maybe you’re just reading plays, maybe you’re just exposing yourself to art or contemplating art or finding ways to fill the tank. Maybe you’re memorizing monologues that you’ll never use but you’re keeping the engine going. In good times, I’m still only working a few months a year as an actor. The possibility of performing keeps you going and makes it easier to say, “I’m an artist and I’m pursuing that work.” When there’s so little of the work, that becomes harder, that optimism and that belief in yourself as an artist. Just because the work isn’t there doesn’t mean you’re not an artist. Be an artist. Believe in yourself as an artist. Maybe this is a flipside and perhaps a contradiction: It’s also okay not to be an artist. Let yourself be in the moment. Especially out of the gate when the pandemic hit, we all panicked, we had to reinvent ourselves, we gotta do this, we gotta keep doing the work. I’m devoid of meaning if I’m not sharing or writing. I think it took awhile but we did arrive at the point where we can contemplate our lives outside the treadmill of the busy, busy of trying to be an artist. So believe you’re an artist, embrace that you’re an artist but at times it’s okay if you don’t do any of that for awhile but instead just ‘be’ in the moment. If you have to work at the LCBO on the weekends, don’t feel as if you are giving up on your dreams as you have to do that NOW in order to get to where you want to go. Do you see anything positive stemming from Covid 19? A few things coming out of it – sort of counter intuitively it’s been a time of re-connection especially for families and for me. This Zoom platform has been a joy and the bane of my existence since we’re all getting Zoomed out. I can talk and connect with people all over and Zoom allows us to normalize this weird interaction. In terms of the doing the art, we’ve already had the opportunity to collaborate with artists in Toronto, working with people in Winnipeg and on the east coast. Zoom has opened up a lot of possibilities to work with so that’s been positive. It also means that our work can be enjoyed by people who are not here in Toronto area. The lack of live theatre has created a real recognition of how much we are missing that. I feel people are recognizing how special that is. When the opportunity does come, and I know it will be slow and people will be cautious, I think there will be a hunger for that authentic in person experience. I’m hoping that becomes a positive effect as we return. Theatre has been a dying art for so long, (Mark laughs, as he is kidding) but it seems to always find its way back. It’s an act of communion and people need that. That’s why they go to church, to the synagogue, it’s our temple and we are going to gather again. I’m excited about that. The other thing I hope for is that people will recognize the value of art in times like this. The numbers on Netflix and other platforms must be astonishing and that’s how people are getting through by watching films, reading books, listening to music. I’m not sure if people make the connection such as “Oh, wow, the arts are really important. They help us survive and feed our soul.” The arts is a vital piece of our society, even though it’s always an uphill battle. Do you think Covid 19 will have some lasting impact on the Toronto/Canadian/North American performing arts scene? I think it’s going to be significant. The effects will be seismic and will ripple for years, and the landscape will have changed. In some ways, it will be devastating as some companies will not come back after this. Non venued companies like Studio 180 are particularly vulnerable. We’ve been really fortunate to have so many great partners and so many venued partners, and that makes it easier to keep going. The inverse and converse of all this is the teaching of a real resilience and a pull up the boot straps and a Mickey and Judy ‘put on a show’ to make something happen. For the young people coming out of the theatre schools, there’s a real resilience coming out of all this, a sense of purpose and wanting to continue the work. I think there’s a lot of innovation coming out of it. There are a lot of companies like us who are hesitant to dive fully into the digital realm, but then realizing it’s an authentic form of connection. For us, and a lot of other companies, it’s easy to be precious and sacred about the live space, but we’re already learning there are ways to supplement that live experience with online experiences. When we come back and when we’re in theatres, we’ll see a lot more integration of online technology. I would love to see emerging out of this a movement in Toronto and Canadian theatres in general to accommodate real archiving of our work. That’s not something we have outside the Stratford Festival productions. Those are epic and cost a lot. You can go to New York and go to the library and watch a really high-quality video of an off-Broadway production that was done 10 years ago with close ups and angles. Just because of economic realities and union rules, the only recording that can take place of one of our productions is a still camera at the back of our house. It is that. It’s a resource for understudies and stage managers, remounts and a lot of us are thinking maybe we can get permission to show our archives and that would be something people can enjoy while we wait six or eight weeks until we’re back on stage. But when we watched them, we saw how terrible it was. We’re trying to figure out ways how to improve. We’re doing recordings on Zoom, try to get a few people in a large space and work with the regulations and create some videos together in the space. Now more than ever I’m realizing how little capacity we have to archive the incredible work we do. If we have what they have in New York and London’s West End to archive clear and precise encapsulations of that moment and time, I would love to see a movement of that sort come out of this so our work can be captured, remembered and enjoyed going forward. Some artists have turned to You Tube and online streaming to showcase their work. What are your comments and thoughts about streaming? Is this something that the actor/theatre may have to utilize going forward into the unknown? Well, there are two different realms there. You Tube is one thing. My daughters do fake You Tube videos. They don’t have a You Tube channel. For some, You Tube becomes an encounter with the banalities of life. I’m certainly not interested in a You Tube personality. That maybe something for some people as it is a cultural currency right now. All the power to you if can exploit that medium. That said, Studio 180 is sharing video and recordings of work we’re doing via You Tube/Vimeo and those platforms are good as they help to get the work out. Something important to us is that people are getting paid for the work. It gets complicated because a portion of the work is Canadian Actors Equity Association work. As soon as you record and share it, it then comes under the jurisdiction of ACTRA (Association of Canadian Film and Television) union. That relationship has evolved and the rules on how you can disseminate the work have evolved. It’s been a real dance and a lot of paperwork balancing to make sure that the right channels are being followed and that people are being compensated properly. I’m really grateful we’ve been able to embrace the platforms and create work that we are paying artists for. One of the things that has come up is the thanks for the opportunity to work which goes back to what I was saying earlier in our interview about feeling like an artist. I don’t mean to be cynical and having a You Tube channel and you’re not getting paid but you’re trying to make the most of that and get paid somehow. That’s no different than putting on a Fringe show. You’re not in the union and not working at Tarragon but you’re creating and getting out there and being entrepreneurial and seizing the opportunities out there. Know the value of your work and don’t be taken advantage of in any form of streaming. There will be times when you’re doing it for free. But, if you’re going to engage in it, do it responsibly and make sure artists are compensated properly and embrace it and take advantage of it. Artists, value yourselves and do whatever possible to be compensated for the work. Despite all this fraught tension and confusion, what is it about the art of performance that Covid will never destroy for you? I think it’s coming back to that notion of ‘aliveness’, of community. Theatre is something that you experience with other people. Covid has taken that away from us for the moment, but it has not killed the recognition or the desire for that and the hunger for it. In our current climate and limitations, the two things that keep me wanting to do the work is the desire to tell stories. I see my own kids always wanting to write plays. They are constantly focused on narrative (which can be a dirty word in theatre). But my kids, artists want to tell a story and put a point across. If that story has a deeper lesson or meaning, that’s great. It’s where we all start as kids playing, acting and telling stories. There’s joy in that. Maybe we can’t gather in a physical space, but we can still find joy in telling stories. I think it’s terrific to see the breadth of stories that are being told and that people are pursuing. I’m excited to be a part of that. Even though we can’t gather in a space, we can still create dialogue, meaning and I think we get cynical about youth and their connection to the theatre. For some reason, theatre has become a stodgy old person event and form. I’m sure that’s true to a large degree, but Studio 180 is involved in a programme where it focuses on kids in high school and our work. It’s been challenging but also so rewarding on how hungry the kids are for connection to art and engagement around stories and ideas. Teachers are struggling to feed that in this digital platform. To be a part of helping in some small way to make those connections and to allow people to follow their creative impulses and tell stories is really special and heartening. Drama saves lives in high school. So many kids are at a critical point in their lives right now and a connection to drama could be a make or break moment. That’s scary but the fact the kids still have an appetite for this connection is riveting and special. For me, once again, Covid will not destroy that desire to connect and to participate is undervalued for audiences. Engaging in theatre is less passive than we think. It demands of you things that you can’t do when you watch television. It’s exciting on some small level to create those opportunities. To learn more about Studio 180: http://studio180theatre.com ; Facebook: Studio 180 Theatre; Twitter: @studio180. To follow Mark on Twitter: @McGlinter Previous Next

Back 3 FINGERS BACK: 'Give It Up' and 'The Smell of Horses' by Donna-Michelle St. Bernard Now onstage at Tarragon Theatre's Extraspace. A co-presentation by Tarragon Theatre and lemonTreecreations Credit: Jae Yang. L-R: Megan Legesse and Uche Ama Joe Szekeres “Cleverly written. Boldly performed with unabashed emotions Surprising plot twists kept me focused right to the startling conclusion.’ Playwright Donna-Michelle St. Bernard has taken on the formidable artistic task of writing a play inspired by (but not necessarily set in) the 54 African countries. She calls this collection: 54ology. Two from this canon: ‘Give It Up’ and ‘The Smell of Horses’, recently opened at Tarragon Theatre’s Extraspace. These two one-act world premiere plays are thematically linked about captors and captives inspired by Angola and Guinea-Conakry. Those who bear witness to the resulting atrocities are also given prominence. The plots are heady stuff to take in and not always pleasant to watch or to hear. There were moments when the audience laughed where I didn’t find the humour and I was a tad unsettled why some did. Nevertheless, I’ve always respected Tarragon and LemonTree’s slates. They are not afraid to confront contemporary social issues head-on. We have entered the military coup of war overseas. Often, it’s not a pretty sight to behold how people treat others. Thankfully, any horrific violence mentioned occurs off-stage. Surprising plot twists kept me riveted to the staggering conclusion at the end of the production. Yol (Uche Ama) and Ada (Megan Legesse) are imprisoned captives in ‘Give It Up.’ They strategize to survive the horrific interrogation brought on by their unseen captor. The solider Saad (Tsholo Khalema) appears periodically at the cell door and drags Yol away to assault her offstage. Ada is left in the cell sometimes listening to the horrible sounds. What is the cost of freedom these two women will have to pay? After the interval/intermission, we again meet Saad (Khalema) in “The Smell of Horses’. Only this time, he has become a captive in the hierarchical military order of the base. His superior is Beech (Indrit Kasapi), a strapping weasel of a man who sometimes bullies Saad. Christopher Bautista plays Adam (stress on the second syllable and short ‘a’ sound), Saad and Beech’s brute of a superior Officer. There are moments when Adam plays head games with Beech. Other times, Adam gives Beech some horrible chores, who then gives the task to Saad (latrine cleaning is one). César El Hayeck’s set design amply fills the stage and draws immediate attention. Far stage left is the solitary, lone cell where the action of ‘Give It Up’ takes place. Sliding doors open to reveal the cramped quarters. Stage right, on secure risers, is a military office where ‘The Smell of Horses’ takes place. Many military prop items are found on the walls. Two rotating elongated wooden platforms in the center of the room create fascinating staged moments. Periodically, Beech slams the platform to create a startling sound effect. Next to the office becomes the imaginary bunkbed where Saad and Beech sleep. Along with Janice Jo Lee’s solid sound design and composition, Michelle Ramsay’s shadowy lighting design in the office and the jail cell becomes a stark reminder of the horrors of war. Des’ree Gray’s costume designs effectively enhance who each of these characters is. The soldiers’ costumes drew my attention immediately to them on their first entrance. The costumes on Ama and Legesse are torn and filthy to show they have been horrible victims of war and their circumstances. Co-directors Yvette Nolan and Cole Alvis do not shy away from the atrocities of war in St. Bernard’s astute script. Nolan and Alvis confront it head on. For example, there is a moment involving Indrit Kasapi in the second act, which is handled maturely while at the same time horrifying when it becomes apparent what is happening. Nolan and Alvis should feel no need to apologize for presenting such a realistic element of war. That makes ‘3 Fingers Back’ compelling: the desire to understand what’s occurring even when plot information comes at us quickly, and it’s easy to get lost. Performances remain intense and robust thanks to Nolan and Alvis’ insightful and intelligent direction. What remains paramount is the binary juxtaposition of seeing how war affects and brings two stories together into one world. I’m trying not to give away any plot twists; however, when a major one was revealed near the end, I heard some silent gasps from people behind me in recognition. I’ll be honest and say I did as well. Uche Ama and Megan Legesse keenly capture the agony and fear of prisoner captives in ‘Give It Up.’ They intently listen and genuinely respond with subdued, raw emotions. The look of dread in Ama’s eyes when Khalema’s Saad drags her off remains palpable. Legesse naturally responds as Ada to the deafening silence of the cell when alone. That same look of dread and fright in her eyes, wondering if she would be next, continuously hovers in the air. The conclusion of ‘Give It Up’ reminds us of the tenacity of the human spirit; however, as stated in the playwright’s programme note, the play is rife with deceptive binaries, here/there only being one. That reality is clear at the end of ‘The Smell of Horses.’ What also remains strong is the deceptive binary of friend and foe in both plays. The periodic appearance of Saad in ‘Give It Up’ remains a puzzlement. Can these women become fast friends logically in a world they know where Saad could obliterate them on account of their beliefs? I can’t even imagine the horror Yol endures at Saad’s hands. However, in the end, he does something extraordinary and surprising for Ada, making my heart leap and wonder if this is true. But I was still puzzled. When ‘The Smell of Horses’ concludes, it all makes sense. I don’t want to spoil any surprises for future audiences, so the only thing I will say is to pay close attention to the plot action in both stories, especially how Saad is connected in both. Christopher Bautista becomes a towering, forceful presence. His Adam is merciless. Like Bautista, Indrit Kasapi delivers a grounded performance as Beech. His muscular physique makes him perhaps one to be suspicious of at first. Still, as the plot of ‘Horses’ continues, that initial wariness of Beech becomes one more of compassion when his back story circumstances are revealed. Tsholo Khalema is one of the reasons to see ‘3 Fingers Back’. His performance remains intensely credible as an individual. His Saad may initially seem like a monster; he most certainly is for what he does to Ada in ‘Give It Up.’ I’m not excusing his behaviour. When we learn about Saad’s backstory in ‘The Smell of Horses,’ there is a possible and plausible reason why Saad has behaved as he does. And Another Thought: Occasionally, I might experience trepidation about world premieres. Yes, reading pre-show articles is beneficial; however, will they set a base for what will play out in front, as that is what counts? With this serious topic of war, I found helpful some of the background information Tarragon provides, which gives context to the production. It would be a good idea to preview it first before attending. Running time: approximately two hours and thirty minutes with one intermission. ‘3 Fingers Back’ runs until March 24 at Tarragon Theatre in the Extraspace, 30 Bridgman Avenue, Toronto. For tickets: visit tarragontheatre.com or call the Box Office (416) 531-1827. 3 FINGERS BACK BY Donna-Michelle St. Bernard A Tarragon Theatre & lemonTree creations co-production Cole Alvis and Yvette Nolan - Co-Directors Aria Evans - Associate Director César El Hayeck - Set Designer Des’ree Gray - Costume Designer Michelle Ramsay - Lighting Designer Janice Jo Lee - Composer & Sound Designer Katie Fitz-Gerald - Stage Manager Kayleigh Mundy - Apprentice Stage Manager Performers: Uche Ama, Christopher Bautista, Indrit Kasapi, Tsholo Khalema, Megan Legesse Previous Next

Back 'Three Ordinary Men' by Steven Elliott Jackson A Cahoots Theatre Production Michael Yaneff, Foreshots Photography Joe Szekeres Sometimes in the ‘Ordinary’, we find the ‘Extraordinary’. Such is the case with this premiere of ‘Three Ordinary Men’ As I exited The Theatre Centre opening night, I felt tears welling in my eyes in thinking further about playwright Steven Elliott Jackson’s extremely moving premiere of ‘Three Ordinary Men’. From a quick bit of online research, the film ‘Mississippi Burning’ is loosely based on the murders of three men and the FBI investigation. I’ve never seen this film, but now that I’ve experienced Jackson’s script, I will give the film a look. Directed with tremendous respect and extraordinary dignity by Cahoots’ Artistic Director Tanisha Taitt, ‘Three Ordinary Men’ remains a sobering tale of Michael Schwerner (Tristan Claxton), James Chaney (Jamar Adams-Thompson) and Andrew Goodman (Jack Copland). They were abducted and murdered in Mississippi in June 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement. These men were working with the Freedom Summer campaign by attempting to register African Americans in Mississippi to vote as Blacks in the state had been restricted from voting since the turn of the century due to barriers to voter registration and other laws. When I interviewed playwright Jackson a few weeks ago about his script, he commented his research detailed a horrible time in the aftermath of the murders. He wanted to know more about who these men were and what made them want to change the world in the way they were doing it. Thankfully, some humourous moments relieve the building plot intensity, but ‘Three Ordinary Men’ is not a proverbial comedy at all. Instead, much like some Shakespearean tragedies, Jackson prepares us for the inevitable that is going to occur since we know these men are moving towards their death. Jackson asks a good question: “Do we have that same kind of energy now that these characters exude in the play?” I will answer this at the end. The first thing that stood out to me was Tanisha Taitt’s simplistic set design which created a vivid picture in my mind of this area of Mississippi. There is a sunken floor on which four boxes illuminate lights throughout the production. One box is situated upstage right, two boxes are up from centre stage and one box is stage left. On the back wall is a torn scrim on which appears the burning of a church which ultimately burns to ashes before our eyes during the preshow. This image of the burning church is of importance to the events within the story. There is a closed captioning screen on stage right with the dialogue on display for audience members who require it. Christopher-Elizabeth’s pre-show soundscape is highly appropriate. Thankfully it’s not overpowering but it made me pay careful attention as to what I was hearing in a range from spiritual songs to fire burning to the sound of crowds. As the production moves forward, the sound design remained clearly sharp. At one point, the sound of a car being forcefully bumped from behind which made me jump in my chair since I had just experienced a car accident a few weeks ago of the same nature. Shawn Henry’s Projection Designs are grim reminders of the racial tensions. I was five years of age during this time, but Henry’s projections still make me think about just how horrendously awful this time and era were and as Taitt so aptly states in the Programme Director’s Note: “It is a terrifying, gut-wrenching prospect.” Claudia Tam’s costumes nicely reflected the mid-60s era as the short-sleeved t-shirts the men wore were reminders of the literal and figurative heat of the day and the time. The performances remain consistently strong as Messrs. Claxton, Adams-Thompson and Copland solidly and emotionally demonstrated what it means to work as a true ensemble. There were moments when I sat forward in my chair as I was riveted by the engrossing plot unfolding in front of me. A quick look around at other audience members and I noticed several of them were doing the exact same thing as I did. There are some excellent monologues delivered so movingly. If actors are looking to update their repertoire of monologues for future auditions, I would strongly recommend looking at Jackson’s script. On a side note here, I wanted to acknowledge how much justice Jackson has paid to this story and these three characters. In that same vein, I also wanted to pay justice at one point to something mentioned in the script regarding Harper Lee's 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. At one point, the character Tom Robinson is accused of rape by a young woman. Jackson's script refers to the character of Luella whereas, in Miss Lee's novel, the character's name is Mayella. I'm sure this will be changed in future revisions. Since I've taught the novel to young people for over 30 years, I wanted to make sure that point of reference is fixed. As the ‘leader’ of the trio on account of his ‘goatee’ (you’ll understand the connection in seeing the story), Tristan Claxton’s Michael Schwerner commands the stage confidently when he enters at the top of the show and begins his story of how everything began. Jamar Adams-Thompson’s James Chaney assuredly becomes that voice of rational and clear-headed thinking initially, but I’m going to try not to spoil the conclusion. Jamar’s work in that final scene remains powerfully grounded and honestly realistic. As the youngest of the trio who also receives some of the teasing and ribbing from Michael and James, Jack Copland believably and heartfully responds to the stark reality of Andrew Goodman in recognizing how dangerous this situation truly is. Final Comments: Once again, Tanisha Taitt makes another comment in the Programme that I find interesting: ‘This story reminds us that there are those who will walk into the lion’s den for another, and those who reside there permanently.” In a historical literary sense, his theme is familiar to Robert Bolt’s ‘A Man for All Seasons’, a play I used to like teaching to high school students. Although Sir Thomas More was not certainly an ordinary man as he enjoyed favour with King Henry VIII, More too walked into the lion’s den and resided there permanently as he would not place his sovereign king before the rule of God. For this belief, More was assassinated and became a martyr. Going back to Jackson’s question I posted earlier if we have that same kind of energy now that Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman exude in the play. As a practicing Catholic, I do believe so. Seven days ago, 40 people were killed and 61 injured in a Catholic Church massacre by a possible suspect insurgent group The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Those murdered and injured walked into the lion’s den and were in the presence of God when they lost their lives. Jackson hoped he did justice to the story of these ‘Three Ordinary Men’ because he avows this is what they deserve. Jackson has dutifully succeeded. ‘Three Ordinary Men’ is one not to be missed. Running Time: approximately 70 minutes. Covid protocols are in effect at the theatre as of the publication of this article. I felt very safe and comfortable in the auditorium. ‘Three Ordinary Men’ runs to June 26, 2022, in The Incubator at The Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen Street West, Toronto. Tickets are available @theatrecentre.org or call the Box Office 416-538-0988. THREE ORDINARY MEN by Steven Elliott Jackson Producer: Lisa Alves Production Manager: Maya Royer Lighting & Projection Designer: Shawn Henry Sound Designer: Christopher-Elizabeth Costume & Prop Designer: Claudia Tam Stage Manager: Lily Chan Lighting & Projection Assistant: Michael Fillier Dramaturge/Set Design: Tanisha Taitt Intern Producer: Tiffany Ledesma Captions Operator: Caitlin Farley Production Assistant: Jillian Cooper Performers: Jamar Adams-Thompson, Tristan Claxton, Jack Copland Director: Tanisha Taitt Previous Next

Back John Ng Ng's honesty and candour are stark reminders we're still not out of Covid. ​ Joe Szekeres John Ng appears next month in the Canadian premiere of ‘The Chinese Lady’ by American playwright Lloyd Suh. It was one of those rare occasions when I was running late to interview John as traffic was terrible and I felt awful about my tardiness. An actor’s time is precious especially if he or she has had a full day of rehearsal and then has other responsibilities. What a most accommodating individual. John was more concerned about me because I ran into the room huffing after running from the taxi to get to the rehearsal room where we would speak. After I composed myself, we got into John’s love of performance and why he wanted to be an actor. He has appeared in CBC’s ‘Kim's Convenience’ (2016), ‘Rising Suns’ (2020) and ‘The Swan’ (2020). Ng completed his training in the Honours Programme in Directing at the University of Ottawa. He laughed and told me it was a five-year plan for him in theatre studies. His goal was not to go to New York City but to come to Toronto and do a show at Theatre Passe Muraille, at Factory and Tarragon Theatres. He has done all that. In that respect, John feels he has fulfilled a goal upon graduation. Coming out of university, he was getting roles in acting. He wrote plays, one of which was performed at the Toronto Fringe in 2001. The production did quite well, and John proudly stated the Fringe play was his launching pad into the Toronto scene which was the start of the golden era of Chinese Canadian theatre in the city. Marjorie Chan who will direct John in ‘The Chinese Lady’ appeared in Ng’s Toronto Fringe play. ‘The Chinese Lady’ (a two-hander) is his first show in three years. This time around, he is working with Rosie Simon and director Marjorie Chan (Artistic Director of Theatre Passe Muraille) at the helm. He’s worked with Rosie before and describes her as fearless. She fights for things and she always comes out ‘rosy’. He has so much confidence in Simon and Ng draws on that. John describes Marjorie Chan as ‘a great people person’. She gives an actor lots of room and is very perceptive. Because she has worn every hat in the theatre, Marjorie has such a vast toolkit for the actor. An actor can trust Marjorie when she speaks because she knows what she is talking about. After a three-year absence from the theatre, (his last show in the fall of 2019), John smiled when he said he thought he still knew what was involved in the theatre rehearsal process. He also joked he hasn’t performed in a two-hander since his undergraduate years, so he has been quite attentive. For him, there has been a seismic change in the theatre at the top post-Covid. Many theatre companies and artistic directors have stepped aside and opened up to be more inclusive. These changes in the theatre are for the next generation of theatre artists and theatregoers. John then shared a personal story about how he felt with the return to the theatre even though we are still in Covid’s embrace: “I have to be honest. I was ready to give it up. I was ready to just pack it in. I didn’t think I would return. I didn’t think theatre would return even to the extent that we’re in now. Those were dark days. How would we ever get back to theatre especially when I had heard of actors getting sick when theatres were allowed to return? So many shows were lost over these past few years.” Ng’s honesty and candour are startling but a stark reminder we’re still not out of Covid. He still muses ‘The Chinese Lady’ might very well be his last show. Or, if he does another show, that could be his last one. That’s how he’s looking at it. The rehearsal room has been exciting and fun. John praises director Marjorie Chan for keeping rehearsals light in the room. Everyone is comfortable with each other and there is no pressure to perform. There’s a sense of creation and exploration. According to John and Crow’s website, ‘The Chinese Lady’ is the first documented Chinese female, Afong May, to arrive in the United States from Guangzhou Province in 1834. She is 14 years of age. She has been hired to promote merchandise. Purportedly the first Chinese woman to set foot on U.S. soil, Afong May has been put on display for the American public as “The Chinese Lady.” As the decades wear on, her celebrated sideshow comes to define and challenge her very sense of identity. Alternatingly dark, poetic, and whimsical, the play is a searing portrait of Western culture seen through the eyes of a young Chinese woman. John compares ‘The Chinese Lady’ to being an absurdist play. Periodically, the fourth wall is broken and the characters speak to the audience. What message does John hope audiences will take away after seeing ‘The Chinese Lady’: “That’s a metaphysical question for discourse and, for me, that’s what the play’s about. I hope audiences will leave and think about in terms of how they perceive things in reality and question how much they have been influenced by advertising by propaganda and social influencing.” What’s next for John once ‘The Chinese Lady’ has completed its run? Nothing has been confirmed, but a couple of projects will hopefully get the green light. The one thing John will confirm - he will go home and tend to his cat. Produced by Studio 180 Theatre in association with fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company in association with Crow’s Theatre. ‘The Chinese Lady’ runs May 2-21 in the Studio Theatre at Crow’s Theatre, 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto. For tickets, visit crowstheatre.com or call (647) 341-7390 ex. 1010. To learn more about Studio 180 Theatre, visit studio180theatre.com. To learn more about fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company, visit fu-gen.org. Previous Next

Back Jesus Christ Superstar Now on stage at the Springer Theatre, 185 South Street, Gananoque at the Thousand Islands Playhouse Credit: Randy deKleine-Stimpson. Foreground: Nico Solarte as Judas. Background: Melissa MacKenzie as Mary Magdalene and Michael Cox as Jesus. Joe Szekeres “A co-production with Thousand Islands Playhouse and Western Canada Theatre that understands Jesus Christ as counter-cultural in the past and present. Some fascinating and clever directorial choices create visually beautiful pictures and emotional moments.” The 1000 Islands Playhouse bills its co-production with Western Canada Theatre as an “explosive, dynamic telling of the last week of Jesus’ life, full of iconic music, exhilarating dance, and stirring performances. [Superstar is a ‘quintessential rock musical] story of passion and betrayal following the exuberant faith of Jesus’ followers, the betrayal of Judas, and the devastating finale.” Loosely based on the Four Gospels of the Passion of Jesus Christ (Michael Cox) in his last week of life, much of the plot of ‘Superstar’ centers on the brooding disciple Judas (Nico Solarte), who becomes dissatisfied with how Jesus steers his disciples. (ADDENDUM: I received an email recently from Artistic Director Brett Christopher the sound issues have been fixed from opening night.) There’s good stuff happening on the Springer stage in telling this iconic Catholic-Christian story, both vocally and in performance delivery. There are moments when Andrew Lloyd Webber’s haunting music and Tim Rice’s poignant lyrics convey a direct message. When this happens, it becomes electrifying as I can feel the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stand right up. Music Director Clare Wyatt captures the vocal intensity nicely in the moving rendition of 'Gethsemane.' 'Judas's Death' becomes mesmerizing as the technical elements of sound, design, and actor performance all come together to highlight the wayward disciple's final complete understanding of Christ's influence and the perils of his going against it. This co-production effectively showcases Christ's enduring influence as counter-cultural, both in the past and present. It's truly electrifying when it occurs here. The intimate stage at Springer Theatre is well-suited to Robert Sondergaard's scaffold set design, featuring three significant exits and entrances that are used to purposeful advantage. Unlike in a large auditorium where scaffolding might obstruct the view, the audience can easily see the characters' facial expressions as they enter. There is no need for teleprompters to watch the action. Sondergaard's lighting shades are often sharply focused, incorporating shadows and darkened areas to underscore a scene's mood. This is particularly noticeable in the second act, during the scenes in the Garden of Gethsemane and the 39 Lashes when the soldiers carry out their commanded actions towards Jesus. Stephanie Kong has done her homework in costume designs and made confident choices. Michael Cox's blue shirt symbolizes international peace, which is quite fitting. Nico Solarte's dark-coloured costumes depict a brooding young man. The earth-tone colours worn by the ensemble members are also a good choice. The apostles are portrayed as working-class, ordinary men, and their costumes of subtle tears and gentle rips reflect that, another good choice. Nicol Spinola's choreography is executed with precision. There is thoughtful consideration behind the ensemble's movements when the lyrics are heard. The staging of Christ attempting to heal the lepers remains captivating. Director James MacDonald sculpts a clear and clever vision that brings Christ to the people, not the other way around (as Christians are called to do). MacDonald uses effective stage techniques to show the audience where they are in the story. For example, during the Last Supper, ensemble members hold a white linen tablecloth to give the illusion of a table being present when it is not. The '39 Lashes' remains visually breathtaking. I put my pen away in my notebook and watched with simultaneous fascination and repulsion. The energetic and lively ensemble enters from the back of the house at the top of Act One for ‘What’s The Buzz.’ That’s a solid choice because the audience can’t help but not get involved in the euphoria. That also occurs in ‘Hosanna.’ Rob Torr's Pilate is a standout in the show. Torr sings with clear restraint, and his strong intensity and physical presence show that he should not be provoked. Oliver Castillo delivers a playful and campy King Herod. Melissa MacKenzie remains a comforting Mary Magdalene, despite her true nature. However, there are moments in MacKenzie's vocal delivery where she over-emphasizes the vibrato of her voice. It becomes distracting and takes away from the impact of the lyrics. Nico Solarte delivers a rock-star standout performance as Judas, despite some sound issues when the band overpowers him. His passionate portrayal of despair and anger truly shines. Michael Cox also impresses with his portrayal of The Christ, exuding subdued regality and charming charisma. The final image of ‘The Crucifixion’ is indelibly etched, with Cox divinely capturing the full implication of the Biblical reference: “It is finished. Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit.” The conclusion of the production is convincingly uplifting, and as a practicing Catholic, it resonates deeply in my heart, reminding me that death is not the end. A Final Thought: In his Director’s Programme Note, MacDonald writes how ‘Superstar’s’ messages of love, forgiveness, acceptance and peace are at the heart of the story. Yet these messages can also be pulled apart by those threatened by them or seek to use them to their own ends. This co-production beautifully highlights MacDonald's former thought. I hope the Playhouse has reached out to all local Christian/Catholic parishes to invite parishioners to share in a story that still needs to be experienced in our troubled world. Running time: approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes with one interval/intermission. ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ runs until October 27 at the Springer Theatre, 185 South Street, Gananoque. For tickets, visit 1000islandsplayhouse.com or call (613) 382-7020. THE THOUSAND ISLANDS PLAYHOUSE, in co-production with WESTERN CANADA THEATRE, presents JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Lyrics by Tim Rice Director: James MacDonald Music Director: Clare Wyatt Choreographer: Nicol Spinola Set/Lighting Designer: Robert Sondergaard Costume Designer: Stephanie Kong Sound Designer: Steve Marsh Stage Manager: Laurel Oneil Band: Clare Wyatt, Michael Capon, Sean Donaldson, Alex Panneton, Winston Vinh Performers: Michael Cox, Nico Solarte, Oliver Castillo, Melissa MacKenzie, Alex Wierzbicki, Lauren Bowler, William Lincoln, David Michael Moote, Rob Torr, Jillian Mitsuko Cooper, Ryan Maschke. Previous Next

Back Iain Moggach “If the last few years have taught me anything, me writing these things down and putting them out into the universe is half of the battle. And whether it is me or a successor at the helm, it will happen.” Khaleel Gandhi Joe Szekeres To Barrie, Ontario: you are one lucky city to have Iain Moggach promoting your theatrical artistic community. The youthful-looking Theatre by the Bay’s (TBTB) Artistic Director is one to watch. What’s foremost for him is his commitment to ensure Barrie’s artistic endeavours, especially in the theatre, remain noteworthy. For example, (and according to his website), much of his work with Theatre by the Bay has been on education and training for emerging artists. Since 2020, he has been the lead instructor of the Emerging Director Project, created the Barrie Theatre Lab to support new play development, and he also launched the Simcoe County Theatre Festival to provide a platform for local emerging artists. I was fortunate to have attended the latter a few years ago. Just recently, in 2023, Iain was formally signed to The Talent House, a leading agency in the entertainment industry for over 35 years. This young artist is going places. I firmly believe that. I’ve continued checking in on artists I profiled three years ago when our world changed. The link to my first conversation with Iain is at the bottom of this profile. He and I once again conducted our conversation via email. As a professional artist, he feels very satisfied that things have never been better. He has had the chance to work with incredible artists and directed shows of which he is incredibly proud: ‘The Ghost Watchers,’ ‘A Scandal for All Seasons’ and ‘Icemen.’ While the pandemic has made it harder to get their work out of Barrie, a goal in the plan, the company has been able to do so. There was a production of ‘Mno Bimaadiziwin’ about Indigenous experiences in Orillia at the Orillia Opera House in 2021 (the first indoor theatre production for many of our audience members since the pandemic had started). I did get the chance to see it, and it was worth the trip to Orillia. In partnership with Theatre Collingwood, TBTB brought both of its 2022 full productions to Collingwood and presented Mary of Shanty Bay at the church that the real Mary O’Brien and her family built. Iain can’t speak about his 2024 show yet; however, I am watching for it and will share the title when it becomes available. Iain is also ‘through the woods’ on a book he is adapting and will be able to announce within the next year if everything goes according to plan. Like all of us, though, the last three years have taken its toll even on our hopeful, enterprising young people who have much to give back to the community. I am concerned for these young people as they are the ones who are going to lead us forward into the future. On one side of things, Iain has had a lot of sleepless nights and periods of overwhelming anxiety, despair, and frustration. On the other hand, there is incredible joy, relief, and success, especially in reading about his accomplishments. Moggach recognizes that such considerable fluctuations in emotions as regularly as the last three years have taken their toll on him. He feels like a very different person than he was three years ago. While an eternal optimist, that optimism has been wrung quite dry. He chooses to keep going. That’s admirable, young man, but please never forget that you and your family come first. The Barrie community (and me) want you to enjoy life and the fruits of your labour with your family and community in that respective order. Moggach hasn’t lost his quick wit during these last three years. He shared he had an acting teacher at George Brown who would use making theatre in Barrie as the punchline of a bad joke. He quoted verbatim what the instructor used to say in class: “You can be a great actor, or you can go and do work in Barrie.” Where is this instructor’s professionalism? Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!! Moggach has something else planned. Instead, his goal is to swap that asinine perspective and have the broader theatre community be excited (and perhaps a bit jealous) about what is going on in Barrie and be amazed by the quality and quantity of work and calibre of artists coming out of the community. Iain also hopes that the artists who live in the community feel like they always have a place in TBTB. It is also hoped that TBTB can provide as many ladders as possible to ensure a place for them at each step of the local theatre community’s journey. What are some areas of growth Moggach still sees for Theatre by The Bay? He recognizes that the most urgent task is to capitalize better on community goodwill and turn it into dollars in its bank account. TBTB also needs to break into the OAC and CCA operating streams – which has never happened before in the company’s 20+ year history. On the artistic side, the theatre has identified gaps in the local community that need to be addressed to keep hiring local artists as high as it would like. Moggach suspects these two things could go hand in hand and lead to the Theatre by the Bay, which he sees clearly in his mind. There is also the hope of bringing TBTB’s work out more broadly. For example, I was highly impressed with ‘Icemen’ in the fall of 2023 and thought how important it would be to bring that production to community centres or stages in smaller regional towns. Moggach mentioned Alliston, for example, and that would be great; however, since I live in the Durham Region, might he consider bringing productions down further south? The same holds true for two other productions I saw that were indeed memorable: ‘Mary of Shanty Bay’ and ‘Bobbie’, which came to my mind. Iain also spoke about possibly bringing these three shows across Canada in the future. He’s just that kind of earnest artistic leader who would and could make this happen. I’ve asked some artists I’ve profiled where they see themselves again in the next five years. Some have chosen not to gaze into that crystal ball as they see no benefit, while others have pondered the future. Moggach was clear on his five-year plan for TBTB and wanted to share the results. Actually, 2024 will mark the end of the plan that started in the fall of 2019. Despite the pandemic, TBTB has been able to achieve many of the goals that it had set out. TBTB is now twice the size that it was in 2019. It launched much-needed community development projects like the Simcoe County Theatre Festival and the local Indie Producer Co-op. The company dramatically increased the diversity of its storytellers and artists. A few things couldn’t be achieved, but the company is fine with those being in the next plan. One day, TBTB should own its own space for workshops and classes, auditions, and rehearsals, for instance, but 2024 is probably not the right time for that. He elaborated further: “There are more pressing priorities than that right now. Looking back, I knew developing the first Five Year Plan would be useful, but I think it spoke things into being - as if by writing our goals down, we made them real.” The growth of TBTB has been remarkable for Moggach. For him, an example that comes to his mind is the Indie Producer Co-op. This program has always been a gem in TBTB’s crown, but it has really come into its own in the last few years. In 2022, thanks to the donation of a local foundation, the Co-op expanded to include a local component to help develop the producers of the future in Simcoe County – a much-needed expansion and support for the ecosystem. And then, in 2023, it was expanded again to become a national program. TBTB had participants from across the country who lived and worked in Barrie for several weeks. They met the community, saw the value and quality of the work first-hand, and are now using their skills to support their communities. It is an incredible achievement and a unique way for TBTB to support theatre across the country. Once again, he clarified his thoughts: “As I think about it, what the expansion of the Co-op exemplifies is how TBTB is growing. On one side, we are bringing our work ‘out’ and getting people from across the country to take notice, while on the other side, we are addressing issues in our local ecosystem to support its growth!” Go to the theatre’s website: www.theatrebythebay.com and check out more of what has been going on in Barrie. There’s exciting stuff. And make sure you say hello to Iain (and even say that Joe sent you). This polite, industrious and personable fellow will put you at ease very quickly as he shares his thoughts about the future of theatre in Barrie. And it’s looking good as far as I’m concerned. Link to Iain’s first profile: https://www.onstageblog.com/profiles/2021/3/22/theatre-conversation-in-a-covid-world-with-theatre-by-the-bays-artistic-director-iain-maggoch?rq=IAIN%20MOGGACH Previous Next