Finster Finds

I have been so busy this week I haven't had much time to reflect on Midsummer (a play with songs), that I saw at the Roxy this past Thursday.  Starring Clinton Carew of the amazing voice and the smart and beautiful Elena Porter as a mismatched couple who tumble through a crazy weekend in Edinburgh on a Midsummer solstice night, it is a belly-laughing show that whizzes by like a roller coaster.  I went in to it knowing nothing about it, really.  It popped up in my radar only a week or so before and I put it on my list because I love to watch Elena onstage (she's so sharp) and I love to hear Clinton speak (Best Voice on the Edmonton theatre scene - I have said this before - AND in this one he has a Scottish accent and sings!).  Anyhow, It was so much fun.  I'd rather you experience like I did, with nothing to prepare you.  It's one of those 'anything can happen' kind of stories and the two actors attack it with gusto and absolute commitment.  I...

On Friday night I finally made it to Workshop West's Kill Me Now , the new Brad Fraser play (he wrote and directed it). I was supposed to go to Opening Night with a  friend but I was suffering an incessant cough and really didn't want to be that person in the audience, so I was extremely fortunate when my friend Catherine asked me to go on Friday.  The play, like most of the Brad Fraser plays I am familiar with, is one that addresses a hard-to-deal-with topic, or two.  This play deals with the challenge of caring for a child who has severe health issues that require a great deal of care, and the challenges that occur with that child maturing into an adult with physical (sexual) needs as well as the concept of what happens when it becomes difficult to provide the level of care needed.  I can't talk too much about details of the plot, because I want to avoid spoilers.  What was very interesting and engaging for me was that being that I haven't had to th...

Because I like doing it , and even have brought work home not because I had to, but because I really wanted to finish something up.  Today was great.  I was a little worried because part of my job involves the Opening Night invitations of VIPs.  It is complicated and there is not enough information written down about how to do it, but I figured out a system that will work for me and that I can refine on-the-go and for-the-future.  What was so cool was how many people responded with excitement over seeing the show - not any show - but this show.  So many people said that it was one of their favorite plays and that they couldn't wait to see the cast we had doing it.  I knew I was in the " Long Day's Journey " Club, but I didn't realize how big it was!  Even for the declines, there were many mentions of seeing the play later in the run.  Of course, they could have just been polite, but it all felt very sincere to me.  In any case, it made me...

I am not exactly sure why I never got into Doctor Who when younger.  Maybe it was because when the series reboot happened I was up to my elbows in diapers and play-school and lego and it wasn't on the radar of the other people I was hanging around with.  Plus I moved in 2005 and got myself so involved in theatre in Edmonton that it just didn't happen for me.  The old series wasn't really accessible when I was waaaaay younger... so anyways... I have a lot of friends who I can tell are really into Doctor Who .  Some of them recommended Sherlock to me a few months back and I loved that series and I thought I would see what the big deal was.  Maybe I'd like it, maybe not, but it didn't hurt to check it out.  So I bought Series One with the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) and dug in, and I discovered that I liked it.  Of course nowadays I watch TV with my iPad in hand, looking up things on the net and when Captain Jack ...

A month ago I started my new job at the Citadel Theatre as the Marketing Administrator.  This shift in my life had some major implication primarily in regards to child care and balancing all the things I do.  I have tried to cut back a bit.  This meant fewer than usual Fringe shows, but still a respectable amount (16!). It also meant more camps for the kids and some crazy driving to pick them up on time and a discovery of being very tired and not being able to stay up to watch the Colbert Report.  The best news, however, is that I really like my job.  It has a lot of different tasks for me, which I love, because I hate being bored. Right now the learning curve is steep but not insurmountable so I feel engaged and good about my ability to pick things up.  Today I got my first Playbill Proof and it feels good to see it all come together.  I will never look at another Citadel Theatre Playbill in the same way after this.  I never realized the num...