Finster Finds

This past week I had the opportunity to sit down with 3 other #yegtheatre Bloggers and the What It Is Podcast to talk about the past theatre season.  It was a terrifically fun hour with the What It is guys, full of great discussion of theatre blogging in Edmonton as well as a ridiculously fun game where we had to remember what we wrote in our blogs, and what the others may have written.  The other 3 Bloggers were Louise Mallory ( Ephemeral Pleasures ), Jenna Marynowski ( After the House Lights ) and Savanna Harvey ( The Pretentious English Major ).  I know Louise and Jenna very well and often see them out and about and it was great to meet Savanna.  I think we each add something different to the online #yegtheatre landscape. You can listen to the podcast here .

Friday, I got to have one of those incredible experiences that really underscores for me why I volunteer as a Theatre Alberta Board member.  We try to have our board meetings coincide with the programming that we offer: Emerge, Dramaworks, Playworks Ink, Artstrek.  It's a great opportunity to see what we are actually putting the work in for.  Two years ago, we were supposed to attend on one of the Artstrek sharing days, but the flooding that happened made that impossible as there were emerging issues that had to be dealt with and the board meeting was pushed to later in the summer. This summer, however, we were able to be there for Exploration I sharing.  I 'knew' that Artstrek was an awesome program, but I had never seen or felt it.  The energy and the spirit and commitment to practice that I saw on stage made my eyes well up with tears more than once during the one hour sharing.  There was such a phenomenal spirit of respect - from the students to the i...

Sunday night my husband and I took in As You Like It in Hawrelak Park - the comedy of the Freewill Shakespeare Festival.  It was so lovely to be back at the park under the big white canopy.  I enjoyed Taming of the Shrew last summer, but there is something about seeing Shakespeare outdoors that feels so right. It was good to be back. The show was so much fun.  No terrific surprises in the delivery of the play, but solid performances from everyone and a lot of laughs for the audience.  I loved the Downton Abbey inspired costumes by Hannah Matiachuk. Everything was picture perfect and the aesthetic really seemed to suit the play.   As You Like It is one I have seen a few times before, and this look gave the play a really fresh feel. The company is so very solid, and we see many familiar faces on the stage.  I think if you normally shy away from Shakespeare because you feel you won't understand it, then this is certainly the show to see to get you ove...

Tonight I will be attending and to some degree participating in the following event: YEG Reading & Panel Discussion - July 4, 2015 - (7 pm) The Space - Casavant Productions - 6776 - 99th Street - Edmonton Come and join us for our final event of the inaugural APN RBC Emerging Artist Mentorship Program. The event features a panel discussion with Edmonton Artistic Directors entitled "What Was I Thinking?". Panelists John Hudson(AD - Shadow Theatre), Heather Inglis (AD - Theatre YES) & Bradley Moss (AD - Theatre Network) will be discussing what goes into the selection of works for presentation at their theatre. Following the panel discussion there will be staged readings of excerpts from the plays that were created as part of the mentorship program. Readings from Sarah C. Louise, Alison Neuman, & Kristen M. Finlay. This event is open to the public, but seating is limited. To RSVP please email:  trevor@albertaplaywrights.com Desp...

Last night I took in Opening Night of A Man of No Importanc e at Walterdale Theatre. It's a musical version of the 1994 movie starring Albert Finney, about a bus conductor Alfie (played with subtley and charm by Morgan Smith) in Dublin in the 1960s who finds a happy life leading a local amateur theatrical troupe in the local church and living with his older sister who is just waiting for him to get married.  He is deeply closeted as it is a time in the very Catholic Ireland when homosexuality is both a crime and a sin. When he decides to produce Salome by Oscar Wilde the resulting scandal turns his well-ordered life upside-down and he decides to confront the truth of who he is. It's a wonderful piece of theatre.  It celebrates and it mourns. It celebrates the community of community theatre, really of any theatre collaboration.  All the members of the troupe come together to be something more than what their lives are.  As directed by Lauren Boyd, this cast does a l...