Finster Finds

Last night, Mark and I went to Red Light Winter by Adam Rapp at the University of Alberta.  It was  MFA Directing Candidate Chris Bullough's Media Room show. I had seen a small section of the play a few years ago and had heard about it, but had never seen it before.  The play is dark and gritty and speaks to toxic friendships and people both worthy unworthy of love.  It also touches on themes of depression and looking to people to anchor us to the world.  It's a challenging piece, with nudity and strong themes and language, but I was really impressed with how this production handled it all.  Overall, the tone was very realistic, which I loved.  Feeling that these people might possibly be real made it easier to deal with behaviour that was abhorrent or self-destructive. The nudity and sexual scenes were handled so well.  I usually find myself self-conscious on the part of the actors, but there was just the right amount of discretion and reveal that it never felt gratuitous. I c

Last night I took in a World Premiere of a Brand New Alberta Play by Conni Massing.  The Invention of Romance is the latest production in Workshop West Playwright's Theatre 2013/14 Season.  It opened last night to a sold out house and runs until April 13th. I had a wonderful time watching this piece.  I had read a bit about it before and knew that it was inspired by real events in Massing's life.  Her mother had rekindled a romance with a former sweetheart after 60 years.  But this is not just about a romance between two seniors, this is a play for everyone.  It's about finding the romance in our lives at any age, and while we might think it is easier for the young to find love, our world and our expectations often complicate things so much that we miss what might be right in front of us. Valerie Ann Pearson and Lora Brovold in The Invention of Romance But this isn't a sappy, sweet love story.  We laugh at heroine Kate's missteps (Lora Brovold) and imagina

There are a lot of shows you can see in town on this World Theatre Day - Mary Poppins at the Citadel, Death Trap at the Mayfield, The Light in the Piazza at Grant MacEwan , Blood Wedding at the University of Alberta, The Invention of Romance at Workshop West, and Queen Lear at Shadow Theatre.  I have probably missed some... but you certainly have choices! Links to all of them are on the right... I am sick, so I sent my husband with my oldest son to Mary Poppins .  I might try and see it again later in the run since it's so lovely...

I had a great, but crazy week.  The front half was leading up to Opening Night of Mary Poppins .  The week prior to Opening is the busiest in my calendar so it was kind of nice to actually be able to catch the show.  I usually don't as I am a little brain fried, but I think I am getting the hang of it because I felt up to going.  I took Gibson, because it is the kind of show you want to see with a kid. It was fabulous!  I was way up in the back and the sound was crystal clear and the show itself read wonderfully.  I think this is the kind of show that works well from anywhere in the house, but particularly so from a little further back because the dance numbers are so grand. I particularly loved SUPERCALIFRAGILISTIC... and Step in Time , but really the whole show is so much fun.  It was wonderful seeing some of my favorites like Susan Gilmour, Kate Ryan and Kendra Connor along with new favorites Blythe Wilson, and Andrew MacDonald-Smith.  The whole cast is a wonderful ensemble and

Tomorrow night is Opening Night for Disney's Mary Poppins at the Citadel Theatre, which means, for me, that this is an incredibly busy week.  In the midst of the preparations, however, I am really enjoying what I have been hearing from people who have seen the show in previews.  A friend of mine wrote on FB today: Go see Mary Poppins at the Citadel Theatre! It's entertaining and magical (great use of stage and props)! I smiled, laughed, and applauded throughout the performance. You are never too old to have a happy childhood and Mary Poppins just might get you there. Small problems in moving complicated stage pieces around, but that happens in live theatre. 5/5 And on Twitter I've read the following: Kevin Pennyfeather ‏ @ Legokid3000 1h          The @ citadeltheatre ’s Mary Poppins is a "practically perfect" show that should be required viewing for # YEGarts fans mm diaz ‏ @ akomuzikera

One of the results of my taking drama classes at the University a couple of years ago, is that I got to meet quite a few wonderful young actors both in the B.A. and B.F.A. Drama programs.  I will admit, that my favorites were those from my 257 class and this year I have revisited campus for some shows featuring the work of friends from that class.  Earlier I took in Much Ado About Nothing and some of New Works and this past weekend, I watched the 3rd year BFA class in The Merchant of Venice .  It was a stark show, in blacks and creams and hints of red. Pacing was sharp and the ensemble cast did a nice job with the piece. I have only seen the play once before (over 15 years ago in Regina) so had to work hard to remember the story. It took me a couple scenes to realize that the Merchant was changed to a woman, Antonia played with maturity by Bobbi Goddard, which added an interesting layer to the loyalty of Maxwell LeBeuf's Bassanio that probably doesn't exist when the Merchant

Last Monday night, I poured myself a glass of wine and prepared a small plate of cheese and crackers and settled in for the first #yegBookClub on twitter.  Our book was Todd Babiak's Come Barbarians , and it was a great start to what I hope will be an oft-repeated activity.  I pulled some of the discussion and wrote a Storify - so if you are not on twitter and want to get a sense of what the discussion was like you can check it out here . Metro News also did a story on it and you can find that here . For me, it was a great way to dive back into reading.  I read a lot, but lately I have been grabbing a snippet or two before I drift off to sleep and having a purpose at the end of the book made me have a much more engaged read.  I was in Book Clubs in the past ( years ago ) and always loved the opportunity to discuss and share my feelings and opinions about characters and events. What was really cool about this was talking about books with complete strangers who I could connect

This past weekend was the culmination of the work I have been doing on my script, The Easy Road.   I first wrote the piece in the first annual Play in a Day , 24 Hours Playwriting Contest held at the Edmonton International Fringe in the summer of 2012.  I submitted it that fall to Skirts Afire , a brand new festival celebrating women artists, for Peep Show and was selected to share a 20 minute selection at the inaugural HerArts Festival.  A couple of firsts and I was lucky to be a part of both.  Getting into Peep Show was the start of dramaturgical support from APN with Tracy Carroll and the evolution and growth of The Easy Road . Like any good journey, it wasn't over then.  The script was selected once again to be further dramaturged and presented as a complete piece in a staged reading at this year's Skirts Afire HerArts Festival.  What I got was three fabulous days of workshop with 8 amazing women artists and my script grew by leaps and bounds.  The first day of workshop

If you'll recall, I directed a fabulous show for ELOPE last season and this past weekend I took a drive out to Festival Place in Sherwood Park to see what they had up on offer this season.  Due to the size and scope of the production, ELOPE and Sherard undertook co-producing the Western Canadian Premiere of the Broadway musical  A Tale of Two Cities by Jill Santoriello. As I expected, knowing the standards of Music Director Sally Hunt, the music was excellent.  It's a sweeping epic score to match the story and the cast, in particular the leads, were well equipped to handle it.  I heard quite a few people I had never heard before and was very impressed.  I hope I get to work with them in future. Todd Hauck, as Sydney Carton, was a particular standout vocally, and although sometimes I felt that Santoriello's score included unnecessary songs that added little to the narrative or emotional journey of the character, they were gorgeous to hear as sung by Hauck. Also enjoyable we

Last Saturday night we took in Westside Story at the Jubilee Auditorium as the final show in the Broadway Across Canada season.  Our usual seat mates had very recently welcomed a new baby to their home, so my brother and his fiancée joined us instead.  It was a real family affair as my mother, 2 sister-in-laws and my niece also attended that night, so we all went to Chianti's for an excellent dinner ahead of time and then settled in to our respective seats for the show. I had never seen the show before outside snippets here and there on TV from the film version.  I had been in a musical revue a couple of decades ago where we did some numbers from the show so I was familiar with the score to some degree.  I knew the basis of the story, but was excited to see it on stage. The show was pretty good. The dancing was excellent and was the strongest part overall.  I liked how the gang fighting is expressed through dance, and they certainly had the skills to make it work. The singing w

Every Saturday as Gibson and I drive to his drama class at the Foote Theatre School, we listen to CBC and because of the timing, The Irrelevant Show is on.  Now, I like the show.  I know a couple of the performers and have seen the others on stage around town for quite a few years so the choice to listen was primarily mine.  But a couple of months ago I started to notice quite a few chuckles from the back seat.  One day, after a particularly funny sketch, Gibson blurted out "I love this show!" So, when I noticed that the show was going to be recorded last Friday night at the Arden Theatre ( right in my backyard ) I picked up a couple of tickets to surprise Gibson with.  I told Mark and he said to grab two more so Oliver and he could join.  So the four of us headed out for an evening of Radio Funny! It was so much fun.  Gibson was very excited when I told him of the tickets and we were treated to a great night of radio/theatre.  It was very cool to see the show live.  The