What's On in Edmonton - aka - Stuff to See!

Theatre in Edmonton is really getting kick started this weekend, so if you are looking for something to see, there are a lot of options.

Hawksley Workman is wrapping up The God That Comes at the Citadel Theatre this weekend.  Tickets for Friday and Saturday are few, but you might be able to grab ones for tonight (better run the show starts at 8 p.m.) or tomorrow night.  Twitter has been abuzz with great comments about the show, so I am looking forward to it.

At Theatre Network, the highly successful A Bronte Burlesque opens tomorrow night.  Putting this show on a bigger stage with better sightlines is going to make it even better.  It sold out it's run at the Fringe two years ago so I expect a healthy turn-out for this. 

Also at the Citadel, Clybourne Park starts it's previews this weekend.  Its the Tony, Pulitzer and Olivier award-winning script by Bruce Norris and its biting wit seems so relevant in today's world of political correctness.  Whether you always feel like you put your foot in your mouth or you are always seeing others stepping over the line, you will find yourself on stage somewhere on the spectrum.

Workshop West's Canoe Fest also starts up this weekend.  A variety of options for you to choose from.  I'm hoping to check out the Elevator Project, but there are a lot of really cool choices on the festival schedule.

Over at Fringe Theatre Adventures, Kaybridge productions is presenting The Frequency of Water. Written by Carol Murray-Gilchrist, The Frequency of Water was the Sterling Award Recipient for Best New Play a few years ago, and is directed by Maralyn Ryan.

So there are a lot of options to get you started.  Now that it's been a little nicer out, there is no excuse to stay home - so don't, don't stay home - see a show!

So This is Cool...

NATIONAL ELEVATOR PROJECT

Feb 1st, 2nd, 3rd at the Canoe Festival

What can happen in an elevator? Absolutely anything!

Catch a sneak peak of Theatre Yes’s National Elevator Project featuring short plays written for, and performed in, working elevators. Don’t miss this teaser of the 3-very-short plays to be included in Theatre Yes’s one-of-a-kind performance project featuring a series of brand-new, site-specific works penned by writers from across the country. Each mini-play (under 5 minutes) asks audiences to enter and ride elevators with actors making each performance an unforgettable theatre adventure. All aboard!

Theatre Yes is pleased to present workshop productions of three plays in the series commissioned by Workshop West Theatre:

Come by each venue anytime between 7:00PM-8:30PM to that evenings play.

Feb 1st 7:00-8:30 PM
LOVE IN AN ELEVATOR by Melissa Thingelstad
Harcourt House Gallery, 10215-112 Street

Feb 2nd 7:00-8:30 PM
CARGO / IMMIGRATION By Greg MacArthur
City Market Building, 9662 101A Ave (South Entrance)

Feb 3rd 7:00-8:30 PM
I LOVE YOUR HAIR AND OTHER CONVERSATIONS by Jason Chinn
Arts Hub 118, 11731- 93 St. (West Entrance)

Admission free/by donation

Watch for the full series in the 2013-2014 season.

Look What We Got Here in YEG - Cole Porter at The Citadel Club and a meeting of YEG Theatre Minds to Talk Resources!

On Saturday night I was excited to take in John Alcorn: The Cole Porter Songbook at the new Citadel Club in the Rice Theatre space.  I've been curious to see what they had done to the space and was quite pleased with it.  The room is gorgeous and feels so upscale and classy and was a perfect environment for the concert.  Alcorn and his fellow jazz musicians were excellent as they interpreted Porter's music.  The approach was definitely more jazz than musical theatre, but they kept us all engaged for the evening.  I preferred the more upbeat numbers, with Let's Do It , Let's Fall In Love and You're The Top being my favorites, but I felt they offered a nice repertoire overall with variety that showcased their strengths and made for a delightful evening.  I'm hoping to go back and check out other events at the space.  Bridget Ryan and Rejean Cournoyer are both slated for cabarets later in the season and they are both sure to offer up a good evening of entertainment. It's an interesting addition to The Citadel and Edmonton and I hope to take advantage of it.

This afternoon I made it to my first Theatre Edmonton Meet-up at C103.  Provided as part of Canoe Festival, the topic of discussion was Resources and the meet-up was a great opportunity to talk to other theatre professionals of various levels and talk about what Edmonton has and was Edmonton needs in the way of theatre resources. The event was facilitated by Theatre Alberta's Aaron Talbot and was a great discussion.  Space and Touring were the biggest topics followed closely by Funding, but I found the best thing was the openness of the assembled artists to talk with each other and share their ideas, needs, wants and knowledge. I hope to make it to more (always schedule dependent) as it gave me a few ideas for pursuing venues for producing.  It was also refreshing to hear that the things that I feel challenged by are shared by others.  It's nice to know you are not alone!

#5 and #6 of my 2013 Theatre Goal

Paddling the Canoe Festival... Journey's Beginning...

Last night Workshop West's Canoe Festival opened with two shows at C103 (formerly Catalyst Theatre) .  I had to wait for Mark to get home so I managed to make it to Send in the Girl's Tudor Queens.  This was a hit show at the Edmonton Fringe in 2011 and I saw it and loved it then but was excited to see the re-boot in a better space with much better sight-lines and more room for their dances and, from what I had heard, all new costumes!  What was great two years ago was indeed EVEN BETTER to see last night.  The Dances were tighter and the choreography sharper (I think having the wider deck allowed them to really do it justice) and the design concept much more cohesive.  I loved the consistency of the costuming (I really wanted to see the crests on their robes close up!).  The script is still funny and biting and each of the six actors brings their own charms to their characters to make them unique. Two new cast members (Laura Metcalfe as Anne of Cleves and Caley Suliak as Katherine of Aragon) join returning royalty, Elena Porter, Ellen Chorley, Delia Barnett and Morgan Smith, and they fit in as though they had been there for eternity. If you missed it at Fringe 2011, I recommend catching it now.  If you saw it then and liked it, it's even better so, again, I recommend.

While waiting for the show to begin, I chatted with the person sitting next to me who turned out to be Victoria Melody who is here from Brighton, UK to present her show Northern Soul which combines African American soul music with films, photos and stories of her life most particularly living with pigeon fanciers in England.  I am hoping to catch her show tonight as most of the people who I saw leaving it said it was really good, plus I found Victoria really lovely to chat with and who knows when she might be coming through our city again? Mark is making a concerted effort to get home earlier tonight so that I can make it.  Victoria is only here in Edmonton and Canada for a quick tour.  After Canoe Festival she heads to Vancouver for the Push Festival and then she heads off to Banff where she is leading an intensive.  Another reason I feel lucky to live in Edmonton is that we have these brilliant International Artists come through to share their talents with us. Flipping through the Canoe Festival guide you can see local artists like Send in the Girls and Vice Versa as well as artists from across Canada like Mary Walsh (of 22 Minutes fame) and artists from around the world like Victoria Melody.

Diving into my 2013 Theatre Goal!

Now that I have got the show cast, and we are starting rehearsals, I can dive into my theatre/arts goal for the year.  January is always a slow month to start as there just isn't much on.  I did catch Songs for a New World on the 2nd, but now I really get going.

This weekend I am going to catch Tania Alvarado and Mile Zero Dance at the Timm's Centre and Free-man on the Land at Theatre Network.  Those are nested between Basketball and rehearsal but it should prove to be a great arts filled weekend.  I am also currently trying to figure out what I will get to at the Canoe Festival.  I plan on catching the new version of The Tudor Queens and am looking forward to seeing the show in a venue with better sight lines.  I loved it at the 2011 Fringe and have heard a lot about their rehearsing for this new production so I am keen to see it again. I really want to see White Rabbit Red Rabbit, but it will mean finding someone to take either my Del Barber or Jeremy Fisher tickets off my hands.  I don't want them to go to waste! Either way, I am seeing something great!

In any case, this feels like a Here We Go! Weekend. I got my seat belt on!

The Ladies Who first amuse, then terrify...

I scored a date for The Ladies Who Lynch at Canoe Festival this evening. It was a mix of hysterical and terrifying and overall meant for a good theatrical adventure. Some things worked better than others for me. I was very impressed with Candace Berlinguette as Judith and Nadien Chu as Maureen and the other two ladies on stage held their own. Hard to know if it is the characters as written that are more compelling or the actors playing them. In any case, there weren't any weak links in that regard. It was also the right choice of a play to see to connect to the work I am doing in my Drama 409 class. I spent the last two days researching Split Britches, a Lesbian-Feminist theatre company out of New York, and although this was not a Feminist-Lesbian piece, it did challenge certain societal and cultural expectations. It was also post modern in that it did not track as 'real' and the arc was not traditional. Even off the top there was a self-awareness that underscored the piece.

I like to see things like this, but not all the time. I think that, for me, I enjoy this type of production more in contrast to other things. I wonder at those who only go for one type of theatre experience. I certainly find my experiences enriched by occasionally challenging them. I don't always 'get it' or 'connect' to every piece, but if I only see the same things I get very, very bored and it becomes more about the glass of wine at intermission than the actual show. That can't be good.

#2 of my projected 40 theatrical events for the year

Walterdale Event - Donor Voted Show

Last night Walterdale held it's Donor Voted Show event, a great event for socializing, supporting the theatre and for getting to have a say in picking one of the shows for next season. As Treasurer I had a couple of duties: taking donations (it was a nicely supported event!) and counting the votes. I was a bit surprised and delighted that The Weir by Conor McPherson was selected. Surprised, because I really thought Dracula was going to win based on the in-house support, and Delighted, because I wanted it to win. I would have been happy with any of the three choices as I think anything that gets the audience more engaged with the theatre is a good thing and there was definitely engagement last night. As well, the vote was close so who is to say that Dracula can't be submitted another year with just as much interest?

Tonight I am hoping to catch The Ladies who Lynch at the Canoe Festival (it all depends on whether I stop writing this blog and get my homework done...). I missed this show when it was presented the first time in town and heard great things about it. It was written by Jason Chinn at the last 24 Hour Playwrighting competition where I wrote Tight Rope and the scene read from it was hilarious in a very dark way. Tomorrow I am hoping to end my rehearsal a half hour early so that I can catch the beginning of the last panel for Canoe Festival. It's right in the Timm's and we are in good shape with Playmates. We finished a 1/2 hour early on Thursday, so it is completely doable if all goes well.

Back in the Rehearsal Hall

I spent this last week re-acclimatizing to University and sorting out exactly what I would be taking. I decided that I would stick to Drama 409 (Contemporary Theatre) and dropped Drama 240 (Oral Communication and Interpretation). I quite liked 240, but could quickly see that 409 was going to take a lot of time for homework and the steepness of the learning curve as we dived into Phillip Glass and Hamletmachine and the like was going to require I scale back. After two classes my brain is hurting (a good thing) and I am excited about what the course will bring. I feel like this exploration into contemporary and post-modern theatre will enrich my play writing as it might encourage me to play with structure and language. I know that I am fairly traditional in my writing, but I am excited to push myself.

I also got back into rehearsals of Playmates for New Works. We did a bit of exploration and text work before the break and Bevin came back with a tighter and even more effective script. I think she finds my process helpful to the writing for which I am glad. I really feel that new work is a type of theatre that I am a good Director for. The piece is nicely challenging and I have to work to keep the tensions and engagement up through a lot of silences and pauses (intentional) and I like that. We started some initial blocking yesterday and got through about a 1/4 of the script and I like the initial shape.

I am also looking into fulfilling my obligation to theatre-going this month. I saw a youtube clip of Ghost River Theatre's The Highest Step in the World, that is playing at The Arden in St. Albert January 27-28 and I really want to check it out. I want to take my oldest son, as well, as I think he will be amazed by it. Here's the link to the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4eEQChOs18

That's all I have on the radar. If I can make it to Big Shot at the Roxy I will. I am also hoping to check out more of the Canoe Festival, especially since some of it is at the University.