Holy Hannah! HAIL!

This day felt really long, but not in a bad way.  After all that heat I enjoyed that it was a little cooler today.  It made Acacia Hall a lot more comfortable as I sat through Pushed.  Pushed was a great choice.  I had missed it when it was at Nextfest but thought it sounded intriguing then (a few years ago) so I was happy to fit it in.  Great script and wonderful performances from the two actresses.  It's funny for the first half and then it gets very tense.  It's one of those that you kind of get a shiver after.

And then came the HAIL!  I went to get Oliver first and just as we pulled out of the Saville Parking lot the hail started coming down. Oliver is ridiculously afraid of weather phenomenon (he will get himself worked up enough to throw up - not fun) so I decided to drop him off at the Store with Mark before I got Gibson.  Crazy weather.  Of course, Gibson had not packed a coat so I wrapped him in my pashmina (he looked very funny) and we ran for the van.

I am of two minds about being in sandals - one the one hand it was nice not to be in wet socks, but on the other hand my feet were pretty cold for a while there. If it looks overcast I am wearing the wellies tomorrow!

Met up with Anne Marie for Marked, Trevor Schmidt's new work, and ran into friends Richie and Vero there (nice to see you guys!).  It was very cool.  Mesmerizing.  All I wanted was a bigger click on the ending - maybe with lights or sound, because it remains a mystery so it took us a few seconds to realize that we weren't going to get all the answers.  The mystery itself is cool and the movement combined with the sound design is quite electric and moody.

And then it was time to find out who won the Play in a Day competition.  I knew upon entering the theatre that it was not me as my script has 5 women and the panel of actors were 2 women and 3 men, so I had no anxiousness about the announcement.  The lucky winner was (drum roll please) Julia Seymour, with her play The Passing.  We were then treated to a first ever reading by some fabulous local actors.  It was a really lovely script - excellent dialogue, well defined characters and conflict, and quite touching.  I hope to see it again as it is further developed.  When the winner was announced by Brian Dooley, he indicated that the jury had narrowed it down to three - so like all the playwrights involved have done, I will assume mine was one of the other two scripts (ha ha ha ha ha - oh, the ego needs it!).

I had about an hour and a half to kill before my last show of the day and I ran into former student Mike Robertson and his lovely girl Kelta and we talked of Fringe (what to see, reviews, what not to see), the movie 8 1/2 and Toronto and all sorts of things.  Mike has a show on at Wunderbar called Wut Iz Lyfe? and I have heard good things about it.  Knowing Mike, I am pretty sure it is funny!  Check it out if you have a chance!

I ended the day (see, it was long!) with a hot chocolate and The Wasteland.  Beth Graham is luminous and totally committed.  I, however, still do not get much of the poem.  I didn't when I was in University in the 80s and I pretended to get T.S. Eliot, so it was neat to compare.  There were moments of clarity in sections and some really lovely bits. I felt as though I was stretching my brain and that's a good thing.

Now I am off to bed.  All the theatre going is killing my back and might mean that I cut short tomorrow's theatre adventures (Advil and Tylenol are my friends right now).  However, I did want to share my tremendous news: I found out today, that I won the Vue Weekly Season Contest Grand Prize.  How cool is that?!?!? Click the link and you will see all the fabulous loot I will get.  Mark was actually a little sad that I didn't get runner up because he wanted the Andre Philip Gagnon tickets, but really! I am in heaven on this!