Finster Finds

Until I heard of the play I hadn't heard of John Ware. I knew a bit about Amber Valley and have some of knowledge about some of the history of Black Canadians mostly because of my work and my personal interests. A couple of seasons ago we produced a piece called Blak ! by Krystal Dos Santos at the Citadel and in preparing for that I went on all sorts of little research tangents across the internet.We're so lucky to have access to so much information literally at our fingertips... John Ware Reimagined  by Cheryl Foggo is actually more than one play... at least that's how I felt when I left. I thought there was one play, about John and Mildred Ware and how they met and fell in love and lived, and another about Joni, who was seeking to find herself in the history of Alberta and her frustration with feeling like she was both invisible and other. It was also a musical (which caught me off guard only in that I wasn't expecting that). I left these two plays with quite a ...

... and waking up with the songs in my brain... Gotta get back to see it again...

There's no Alice in Jabberwocky but there are A LOT of white rabbits! Jabberwocky is the latest show created by the Calgary-based Old Trout Puppet Workshop currently being presented at Theatre Network. It has all the hallmarks of the other shows I have seen from them ( Ignorance, Famous Puppet Death Scenes ) - the quirkiness, the off-centre humour, a bit of darkness, lots of twisted whimsy, and above-all the ridiculously well-done and out-of-the-box props, sets, and puppets. It's a story far removed from the original Jabberwock , so don't go expecting Alice, but there is an incorporation of some familiar iconography and they certainly make use of the text of the poem itself. You can see the inspiration. The story is more about life and the pursuit of happiness and purpose. I'm not one for giving a synopsis, so it's best to just go and check it out. I promise you won't get lost and there will be lots of humorous surprises along the way. If you've seen ...

If there's one show to see this season...  I know. You hear that about a lot of shows. But seriously... this is the one. Personally I hope you see 10, or 15, or 20 shows, but if you only have room for one it should be Hadestown . It's not even so you can have the bragging rights about being one of the first to see it before it moves on to it's next incarnation (hint, hint... think NYC). It's because it's so very good.  It's the Orpheus and Eurydice myth set to music by the incomparable  Anaïs Mitchell   and directed by Broadway's Rachel Chavkin . What they have created is something  welcoming and engaging, making you feel as though you are sitting in a small bar on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, not a 670+ seat theatre. And although it's wonderfully intimate it is, at the same time, dramatically epic.  Tonight was the second time I saw the show, having seen it on last Sunday evening. With all the hype I was not content to wait for Opening Night...

Friday night I finally got to see Jersey Boys! I'd been hearing about it for a few years and had been unable to go the last time it came through because of scheduling issues, so I was really happy to get a chance to see it this time around. The cast was incredible - the singing perfect, the dancing so clean and tight, the acting just the right mix of humour and realism. I'd never really thought of myself as a Four Seasons fan but as the songs rolled out I realized how many of their songs I knew and loved. I was particularly blown away by Jonny Wexler, who as Frankie Valli sings some incredible high notes and makes them soar, and Tommaso Antico, who as Bob Gaudio has a sensitivity and presence that always felt honest even in the huge theatre. Corey Greenan as Tony DeVito added the intensity and antagonism needed to make the journey of the show feel worth it, and Chris Stevens as Nick Massi injected a good deal of humour in a delightfully deadpan manner. I think there'...

It's a good problem to have - good for me, good for the city - a whole bunch of theatre to see! This Friday I will finally get to see Jersey Boys with Broadway Across Canada. I've heard the show is awesome so I am looking forward to it. I have prepared myself to hear a lot of swearing and some great music! I'm also very, very, very excited about Hadestown which starts this weekend at the Citadel. We've been working so hard on it, and hearing snippets of the live music and imagining what the mind-blowing cast we have will do with it ( several are Broadway Alums and the ones I have seen previously in Canada are seriously amazing performers ). Every day I peek in the theatre and the set looks incredible and I just can't wait. I'll be there on Opening but I am thinking I might not wait until then so I'm looking to see if I can go on Saturday or Sunday night. I will likely take Gibson as our current joint-obsession with Hamilton tells me he will probably r...

I'd heard about Constellations by Nick Payne a few years ago. It's concept was intriguing, multiple iterations of the same scenes, with slight changes to reflect the multiplicity of possibilities. I'm am avid Science Fiction reader, so the idea is one I have seen explored before in books and film, and I liked the idea of exploring that on stage. So when Shadow Theatre announced that it was part of their season, I was happy to get the chance to see it. My sister, who lives in Toronto, saw it at Canadian Stage last year, but wanted to discuss it with me only after I had a chance to see it ( so now we are due for a phone chat... ). In the wishing for one more multi-verse, I wish I had seen the version she saw too! I think this is the kind of play that would only be enriched by seeing multiple productions... Anyhow, it's a boy meets girl story, about Marianne the Physicist (Liana Shannon) and Roland the Bee-keeper (Mat Busby). They meet, they flirt, they meet again, th...

Last week was kind of a special one for me with regards to Walterdale Theatre. At the AGM I became the President for the 2017/18 Season, a posting I am very excited about especially considering the team that I will have to work with on the Board. It marks a return to the Board after a 5 year absence where I poured myself into production and a new job and work on other Boards. I think that after the experience I have gained on the Theatre Alberta and APN Boards I go back with a lot of skills that will help me serve the organization. I also was surprised with an Award last week. I was selected for the Outstanding Season Contribution Award. Because they knew I was attending as incoming President they didn't tell me, so it was a very nice surprise. I was glad that Mark had decided to come along and since Walterdale has been so much of my theatre family over the years, I did feel like I had a lot of friends there to share the win with. It is always wonderful to be recognized and t...

Saw Testament of Mary at Northern Light Theatre last night. It is a strikingly beautiful play to watch, particularly because of how Trevor Schmidt's Set and Costumes are lit by Adam Tsuyoshi Turnbull's lighting. This is not the cool, mild Mary portrayed in the New Testament but one that simmers beneath the surface so perhaps it is also appropriate that Holly Turner, who plays Mary fiercely and intelligently, is dressed in warm reds instead of the cool blues we often associate with the Virgin Mother. It's a fascinating imagining of Mary's personal, emotional, resistance to what happened to her son (who she refuses to name) and to how she feels used in the narrative that is being constructed around his miracles, death and resurrection. On reflection this morning, it has me thinking about how we receive and consume news in our world. So much of the stories we receive are crafted by media and conflicting details are suppressed and shaped into something palatable and cl...

Where do we come from? Where are we going to?  These questions have been in my head a lot over the last few years, so in some ways Freedom Singer was the perfect show for me to see as it deals very beautifully with both of them. Inspired by a search for his history, creator Khari Wendell McClelland embarks on a journey to find out more about his great-great-great Grandmother Kizzy who fled the U.S. and slavery to Canada via the Underground Railway. Additionally, he was seeking a larger social history in trying to recover the songs and music that Kizzy would have sung. Like the saying goes, it's the journey not the destination, and we are fortunate to go on that journey with him. From the moment it started, the spirit of the room is one of welcome and companionship. We are invited to witness this story and thanked for coming along. There are several touch points along the way where McClelland makes sure that the audience is walking right a long with him. We are as invested a...

I certainly feel that the theatre season is in full swing. Since mid September I have seen 8 shows, 1 concert and I have two more shows coming up this weekend. The menu has been varied, global in scope and both thought-provoking and entertaining. This weekend I will be taking in two shows. The first, Freedom Singer , promises a compelling true story about the Underground Railroad combined with outstanding music from Khari Wendell McClelland, Tanika Charles and Noah Walker.  Here's a sample: Freedom Singer runs at the Citadel until October 29. Click here for tickets. The other show I will be seeing this weekend is The Testament of Mary at Northern Light Theatre. It's going to be a very different show in terms of content and tone. In it, the mother of Jesus tells her story of her son’s crucifixion and questions his death and divinity. It's a one woman show starring Holly Turner and directed by Trevor Schmidt, and a portrait of a very human woman trying t...

Tuesday Night I saw Les Feluettes (Lillies) at  Edmonton Opera . It was such a beautiful production. I'm usually aprehensive with opera, but 10 minutes in I was hooked. The acting was so strong and the cast a true single organism. I wasn't sure what i would think about a show entirely composed of men, but it was the only way it would make sense to tell this story. Plus the singing was gorgeous, both the solo voices and the choral pieces. Kudos to  the entire cast and creative team. It was also told respectfully and honestly and artfully. It hit all the markers.  I cried a li ttle - during the scene in the picture, not because the scene was sad, but because it was so beautiful and because it hit me that it is sad that we are still in a place that we need to tell these stories. For most of the world I live in, Love is Love is Love is Love, but there are many places in the world, in our country, in our communities, where that is still not the case. So even though this ...

I had the pleasure of taking in Alberta Opera's Jack and The Beanstalk  last week at the Backstage Theatre. They only had a very short public performance run before they headed off on their 200+ performance school tour. I was so glad I managed to catch this show as I have been disappointed to some degree with the TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences) that I have been able to catch over the last few years. This one, directed by Lana Michelle Hughes with music direction by Erik Mortimer, was delightful. The perfect show to make younger audiences appreciate and enjoy theatre. A clear story with captivating characters (played with skill, talent and enthusiasm by Ethan Snowden, Marc Rico Ludwig and Rachel Ironmonger), humour and well-written and well-performed music, and a subtle message that was neither preachy nor throw-away. It also clocked in under an hour, which from my experience with my own children is simply perfect. Kudos to the cast and creative team for an enjoyable introductory ...

Took in The Aliens by Annie Baker at Theatre Network this past week. It's a very introspective piece with silences and pauses but don't let that scare you off. Director Taylor Chadwick has made sure that the pauses are present and engaging, not simply waiting for the next thing to happen. The action is meticulous and purpose driven, pulling us in. It focuses on KJ (Chris Cook) and Jasper (Evan Hall), two 30 something misfits who hang out in an alley behind a coffee shop. Enter Evan (played with wide-eyed wonder and a delightful awkwardness by Michael Vetsch), a 17 year old coffee shop worker who encounters them and forms a connection with them, entranced by their seeming wisdom and coolness as compared to his relative inexperience. Although KJ and Jasper are failures by most modern standards, they do not see themselves that way and neither does Evan. Their purposeless lives have purpose if only to them. They are here in this alley for a reason even if that reason is just to ...

I took in the Opening Night performance of A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen at Walterdale Theatre  this past Wednesday evening. I knew what was coming, having read much of Ibsen in my 20s and 30s, and revisiting some of it in my 40s. What struck me was how sadly relevant it still is today. It spoke sharply to the defined roles that people impose on themselves and others with regards to marriage and parenthood and life in general and that need to find and understand oneself outside those expectations. It speaks also to societal judgement and the implications of stepping out of line morally and the personal and professional ramifications of moral missteps. I see it all around me - particularly in our social media world - the implications of social shaming for errors combined with the need to present a near-perfect persona to the world. I'm torn on some of this in today's world because I find social media shaming morally abhorrent in many situations... but I digress... It i...

I'm very aware that there are a lot of people around me that are 'not from around here'; mostly because I am an immigrant myself. I blend in well... because I have been in Canada from a very young age and because I think of myself as Canadian, but there have always been stories and accounting of our heritage in my family (Norwegian, German, Macedonian, Irish, English, American,... and so on). Now I was born in Minnesota (the most Canadian of all the states), not China or Zimbabwe or Wales, but I have always been conscious that Canada is a country of travelers - probably because I lived in Fort McMurray for a large part of my life and the majority of people there come from somewhere else. I went to my friend's homes and was warned to eat from the pot on the left because I was Canadian and I was unlikely to be able to handle the spiciness of the pot on the right. I did my best to understand the heavy accented English their parents spoke, enjoying the cadence and knowing...

Guess we'd have to know what "normal" is for that to happen.... But Sense and Sensibility is up and running and I have returned to just my regular job and I have even finally had a couple of days off, so I am feeling a little more rested. The intensity of the 10 weeks was such that it will take me a little while to completely reflect on what I have learned and what I will do with it. As to Sense and Sensibility , here are a few reviews to help you decide if you will be checking it out. REVIEW from Colin MacLean, Gig City REVIEW from Liz Nicholls, 12th Night REVIEW from Liane Faulder, Edmonton Journal REVIEW from Mel Priestley REVIEW from Jenna Marynowski, After the House Lights I was very happy with the show onstage and have now seen it 6 times and will see it another time before it closes. It is the last week, so act fast! Now that the show is up and running, I have been working hard to catch up with my theatre viewing. I saw the delightful Irma Voth ...

I have been in Banff for the last two weeks and will be here for 2 more weeks as the Intern Director for the Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Theatre Program. It's an intensive and rigourous program and I am blogging about the experience here:   http://cbcptp2017.blogspot.ca/ When I return I will be Assistant Directing Sense and Sensibility at the Citadel Theatre.

Well, I traveled from Italy to Fort McMurray and then to Senegal this week in my theatrical adventures! I also took in an Opera, a new work and a one-woman show - variety that is a testament to the many different theatrical offerings available in Edmonton in most months! Cinderella (or   La Cenerentola)  at Edmonton Opera was a delightful, silly romp! The cast went for the ridiculous in this Cinderella story with a twist (the Prince is also in disguise!). Supported by terrific costumes and a fun set, this was a great light-hearted adventure. I enjoyed the singing, particularly from  Krisztina Szabó as Cinderella and John Tessier as Prince Ramiro .  They made a lovely couple!  I t was also nice to go to an opera where you don't have to rely too heavily on the surtitles because you know the basic story and the step-sisters and Dandini provided many over-the-top comic moments! Bust at Theatre Network took us to Fort McMurray post-wildfire. I have to admit...

I haven't written about this yet... too busy preparing and getting things ready for me to go. But in a few short weeks I will be starting an amazing career adventure. I will be the Director Intern for The  Citadel/Banff Professional Theatre Program. What does that mean? Well you can find out more about the program here. For me, specifically, it's an opportunity to learn more about how to direct from some of the top theatre professionals in Canada and following the program I will be Assistant Directing Sense and Sensibility at the Citadel. I will also be there with the 12 Acting Participants (who will be in Sense and Sensibility ) and another Directing Intern who will be Assistant Directing Peter and the Starcatcher. I anticipate that it will be rigorous and challenging - I am certainly hoping it will be - and I also believe it will be incredibly rewarding. It will be wonderful to immerse myself with my fellow artists and simply commit myself to artistic growth. Past Par...

Annapurna ,  Shadow Theatre - Funny, real, and moving, it tells the story of an unexpected reunion of a long estranged couple. Their history is revealed slowly and significantly as they each harbour resentments and scars from the past. Ullysses, in a powerful and humourous performance by Shaun Johnston, is a tortured cowboy poet who greets us in an unconventional outfit. Emma, played by Coralie Cairns, arrives at Ullysses' somewhat derelict trailer with an obvious hidden agenda and more baggage than just the large suitcases which suggest she is there to move in. The two have great chemistry together and Shadow has created a sensitive and funny show you probably shouldn't miss this theatre season. Annapurna runs to February 5th at the Varscona Theatre. Tickets here.  Star Killing Machine ,Broken Toys - "This is absurd!" yells one of the characters... and yes, yes it is. But it is also a lot of fun and filled with some really great music. I did wish for mics, not...

This past week I took in 2 very different shows, both Canadian works.  First up was Peter Fechter: 59 Minutes produced by the relatively new company, Cardiac Theatre in the PCL Theatre at Fringe Theatre Adventures. The short (59 minutes) show tells the story of Peter Fechter, a young East Berlin brick-layer who attempts to cross the Berlin Wall in the early 1960s. As he attempts to escape he is shot and we experience a fictionalized account of what goes through his mind in those 59 minutes before he dies. The source material is true and one thing the show did for me was get me thinking and reading. Off to climb down that wikipedia wormhole. That's one of the things I love about theatre is that often it provides a glimpse of something I didn't really know much about and it sparks that interest in finding out more. The production is well done. I loved the set and lighting and the choice of the alley staging - underscoring the two sides of the wall - and the twisted barbed wi...