Finster Finds

We finished up today. The show went well. I now will go away and rewrite and fix the sections that need tightening and general 'fixing'. There are a few places. After the show I rounded out my Fringe experience by going to The Wedding Ruiner . It was very funny and a nice light way to end my Fringe. I needed the laughs. I liked the concept and especially the poetry and rap. I did want a little more Chicken Dance, but who doesn't? Earlier in the week I saw Bashir Lazhar and really liked that piece. I would love to be able to produce that level of work someday. I was in awe of how clean it was conceptually. Everything was right. I am so glad they got into holdovers. They got great turn-outs and they deserved it. I also saw Addition and I was very entertained by it. I wasn't sure going in if I was going to relate to it, but it was very funny and well directed and performed. I laughed a lot and thought it was a great piece. I am pleased to say that even though I didn'...

This week, my Grandmother, Margaret Ann Strand, passed away. We were expecting it. We had about a week's notice that the infection she had was not improving and that there was little the doctors could do about it. She was ready to go. We were not ready for her to leave us. All her life she looked after other people. She was one of the oldest of several children so she no doubt spent much of her childhood helping to care for the younger children in the family. She married my Grandfather and they had 5 children, whom she raised into wonderful, strong willed, smart and educated adults. My grandfather had several bouts of cancer (lung and prostate) and she spent much of the end of his life caring for him as well as providing support for her 5 adult children and their families. After my grandfather passed away 9 years ago she became the one everyone looked after. It must be hard to shift to that position. We corresponded quite a bit. I love letter writing and she was always good to w...

Darn that Drama 103! I had finally got myself to the point where I could just watch and enjoy and then I took that class and it made me approach things from a really critical perspective again. So, sorry if my reviews have been tough. I want to like everything, I just can't seem to watch without dissecting things. Blah!

Can't seem to write much more about it than that. It is hard to be in limbo, but wanting the limbo to end doesn't feel good either. I wish I was there and I wish I had a more recent update and I wish all the other stuff in my life wasn't distracting me (but I am glad it is distracting, as well). Blah.

I quite like road trips and this one was very special. It had the extra benefit of helping us bond as a group. When you write a play with 3 sisters you want them to feel connected despite the fact that they didn't all grow up together and some of them have known each other for a very short time. A 5 hour drive, followed by 3 days in a city that 3 of the people had never been to before, sharing accommodations and celebrating in a pub will certainly build bonds! Fort McMurray and Interplay was very welcoming to us and despite smaller houses than we liked we felt the play was very well received by those who came. It also gave the girls 5 performances in front of audiences before they do the Fringe run. That should make them really tight. Some Fringe shows are still feeling their legs when they open. I think this trip will eliminate that for us.

Interplay Theatrical Excellence Awards Sponsored by Julio Florez of Royal LePage True North Realty Best Play, $500 – Haiku Best Actor, $250 – Jeff Rivet, Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog Best Actress, $250 – Julie Sinclair, From Something Best Director, $250 – Kristen Finlay, From Something Technical Achievement, $250 – Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog

Tomorrow I leave for Fort McMurray for Interplay. I spent this morning photocopying leaflets and programs. I am unsure as to how many to make. I made 280 leaflets and 300 programs. If we need more programs we will photocopy more there. If we sell 300 tickets I will be delighted! We will also ask people to recycle, so hopefully they will. Nothing bugs me more than wasted paper and if you aren't going to use the thing again, then recycle it! I am looking forward to seeing all my old friends and the old haunts and I hope to see them at the show and at the Interplay site. I just hope we don' t forget anything! I just did an interview with the Fort McMurray Today on the play and coming back to McMurray and aside from Gibson crying non-stop in the background it went really well. I hope we get a nice article from it!

It pays to think positively. I just felt it. I knew it from the beginning when we were #12, then when we moved up to #9 and then #6, I was not worried. When we sat at #1 for over 3 weeks, I felt we were already there. Yesterday we got the call... We are in the Edmonton International Fringe. Our venue is great (The Westbury - Transalta Stage), our Times are great, we get 75 minutes and a 3 1/2 hour tech on a night we are in town. Finally Sauces presents From Something Stage #1 - Transalta/Westbury Thurs, Aug 13 - 8:00 p.m.Sat, Aug 15 - 12:15 p.m. Tues, Aug 18 - 2:45 p.m. Thurs, Aug 20 - 6:15 p.m. Fri, Aug 21 - 11:15 p.m. Sun, Aug 23 - 4:15 p.m.