Come hear three new plays at Walterdale on Monday! APN Edmonton Playwright's Circle Readings

EDMONTON PLAYWRIGHTS’ CIRCLE READINGS

May 6, 2013 7:30PM

Walterdale Theatre Admission by donation

An evening of readings of segments from brand-new plays written by the participants of our 2013 Playwrights’ Circle, facilitated by Conni Massing. 

Always an entertaining evening, please join us in helping these writers take their plays from page to stage for the first time.

The Writers:

Liane Faulder

Alexis Hillier

Gilbert da Silva

The Acting Ensemble:

Amber Bissonnette

Julie Golosky

Richard Lee

Michael Peng

Hope to see you all there!

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For more information about any of our programs, please go to our website at:

www.albertaplaywrights.com

Something Wicked... at the U of A Drama Department

Last night I took in the 3rd BFA Class production of MacBeth in Corner Stage.  For the class it is technically an acting course, but there was nothing classroom-like about the production.  For little or no production costs Director Ron Jenkins managed to put together a tight piece with fantastic lighting, sound and costumes (designed by Victoria Krawchuk).  I went for a number of reasons.  MacBeth is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays, I know many of the cast members from other productions and classes, and I know the fight choreographer, Janine Hodder, very well and wanted to see what she had done with the numerous sword fights in the piece.  I was blown away!  Yes, she's my friend, but I can comment here - there is some fantastic fighting in this show and it is up and down and all around - on tables, up and down stairs, fast and layered and I was so impressed (as were the people I saw it with!).  I know that she has really enjoyed working with this class and for some of the more complicated fighting sequences she has some actors who are physically skilled and enthusiastic and they sold it. I look forward to seeing more from her with or without the swords.  I think because Janine is also an actor and director she understands that the fights have to fit within the piece and maintain the momentum.  I have seen too many fights in theatre where the show feels like it stops while the actors have a little fight and then resume after the fight finishes.  That does not happen here - instead the fights push the tension higher and higher.  Very cool and very exciting to watch. I loved a lot of the directorial choices that Ron Jenkins made.  The Witches are creepily childlike and erotic, the relationship between MacBeth and the Lady (Neil Kuefler and Georgia Irwin the night I saw it - it switches) is highly sexualized and you can see their connection.  This is a strong class overall and it really showed.

On the drive home I reflected a bit on the phenomenal educational opportunities for a student in the University of Alberta Drama program.  This was a free theatre experience (sign-up and then donations welcome) and technically anyone can go to them.  There are several of these throughout the year that students can watch.  Even the productions that they would have to pay for are ridiculously inexpensive for a student (or regular adult for that matter).  So not only do the performing students (whether BFAs, MFAs, or BAs) get an opportunity to develop their skills on the stage, but those in the audience have their education further rounded out in the watching of the shows.  When I got my degree many, many moons ago (let's say around 20 years ago) this was the case.  For me, watching these shows which ranged in production value from neutral pieces to full designs taught me that I would rather see a well acted and emotionally committed show on a bare stage than a show with all the bells and whistles that was emotionally absent.  I was thankful that while I was completing a B.Ed. in Sciences I had a roommate in the BA Drama program who knew about this stuff and I got to see it.  I certainly think that any Drama student, whether in Arts or Education, who is not attending the productions on hand in the department is seriously undervaluing the benefit of those experiences in their education, and I encourage those who love theatre who might be in a different faculty to check them out.  It won't cost you anything!

In the spirit of more Free Theatre - tonight I will be attending the following:

EDMONTON READING SERIES
Secrets by Jacqueline Dumas
March 16, 2013 7:30pm
PCL Studios, Fringe Theatre Adventures-10330- 84 Ave.
Admission by donation

Meet Maria Goretti and Pauline, sisters who haven’t spoken in the 45 years since their father died under mysterious circumstances. They reunite as their mother is on her death bed. Can they finally share their secrets and become sisters again? What has really kept them apart for so many years?
Secrets is a sequel of sorts to Madeleine and the Angel, Dumas’ 1989 award-winning novel of 1950’s franco-Alberta. Forty-five years later: what has become of the two sisters?

I was in a Playwright's Circle last spring with playwright Jacqueline Dumas and I loved this piece.  I caught a sneak peek of it last weekend at Skirts AFire and I am interested in seeing where it has evolved to. 

How to Write a Play - APN Playwriting Circles

I don't know about you, but one of the things that I find most challenging about playwriting is the solitude - the being alone in it.  You have to do that part when you are actually writing, but I have found in the past that there are a few things that help me write better (or even at all).  The first is a deadline.  I write to deadlines and they help me considerably.  There's an important one coming up in a week and that has me motivated to get to work on a couple of my scripts.  That's the APC (Alberta Playwriting Competition) which has a March 1st, 2013 deadline.

The second is what produced The Easy Road - a 24 hour Playwriting Competition.  I have written two plays this way.  Ideas that noodled around in my head for months suddenly took shape and made their way onto the page.  I am glad that there are plans to repeat last year's Play in a Day so that I might get another play out of that.

The third is a Playwriting Circle.  APN hosts these on a yearly basis with one starting in Edmonton on February 25th.  I got a great deal of work done on Little Monsters last year and if I had the time this year I would be back for more (the challenges of directing one show at the same time as producing another make this impossible). What is great about the Circles is that there are built in deadlines to motivate you, and you get to meet with a group of playwrights, who just like you, are struggling to complete their work. And the topper is that you get a fabulous facilitator (Conni Massing in Edmonton) to help you.  Finally, at the end of the circle, you pick a section of your play and 'real' actors come in and there is a public reading where you can share the work you have done.  There is nothing more thrilling than hearing your words read well!

EDMONTON Playwrights’ Circle

February 25 to April 22, 2013 (Reading: May 6)Workshop West, Third Space
Staff Contact: Tracy CarrollCost: $300.00

CALGARY Playwrights’ Circle

March 6, 2013 to April 24, 2013Currie Barracks, Evergreen Rehearsal Studio
Wednesdays, 7-930pm
Staff Contact: Michelle KnealeCost: $300.00

For more information or to register in an upcoming playwriting circle, contact Michelle (Calgary) or Tracy (Edmonton) or call (403) 269-8564 or toll-free 1-800-268-8564.

There are other things that I use to motivate me to write, but these are my top three! 

I Made This! Or Rather, I am Making This!

The past 8-9 weeks I have been involved in APN's Edmonton Playwright's Circle working on a piece called Little Monsters.  The Circle experience has been great. Led by facilitator Conni Massing and filled with 8 playwrights of various stages in their writing career, we supported each other and helped everyone to write the best play they could. The most important thing for me is that it gave me deadlines and those are so much easier to write towards than a blank future.  Accountability is so important for a writer.  It would be wonderful to think that we could motivate ourselves, but for me, it is the deadline.  Anyhow, I started this piece at Playworks Ink in November during a workshop with Daniel MacIvor.  Prior to the workshop I did not even know it was a play.  I was about halfway done a first draft by mid-December, but I stalled until I joined the circle.  I stuck it in my life in a time I thought was pretty free (that was thrown off by Gibson being in Titanic) but I made it work - hammering out a rough first draft that I was very happy with and a second draft that I was even more happy with.  It still has a way to go, but in the 9 weeks of the circle I have done so much more writing than I have in the last 2-3 years. 

Anyhow, TONIGHT the Circle is sharing excerpts from our plays with the public for FREE! We got to select the excerpt and work with professional actors and a director today and tonight they will be presented.  It is at 7:30 p.m. in the EC Board Room at the Transalta Bus Barns. One of the actors asked me if I had slept last night in anticipation and to be honest, I slept very well.  When I saw the list of actors that would be reading my script (Nadien Chu, Annette Loiselle and Mat Busby) I was really relaxed about it.  They are all very good and actually well suited to the roles they read. Having Tracy Carroll shepherd them as Director didn't hurt either. I love my Circle Playwrights, but it is a different thing to hear your words read by real actors who try different things and go for it. Tonight will be extra exciting to hear it read with an audience in the house. I hope you can come!

In Which I Pull a Mama Rose on Titanic...

My youngest, Gibson, is a very talented little dude but quite shy, however, that shyness obviously did not stop me from getting him to participate in Two One Way Tickets to Broadway's upcoming production of Titanic at the Winspear (April 4th and 5th). I received an email from Barb Mah, the Director, asking if he might be interested as they needed a child to play Jack Thayer. I wasn't sure what Gibson would say. He's shy. Anyhow, first he said no, then he thought about the fact that he would miss school and then he changed it to a yes (what motivates children...). We get a bit of a break on rehearsals which is nice. Barb is excellent in working with him early on school nights so that he can leave before it gets too, too late. He is also happy to get a 'treat' on the way home. I sit in and help wrangle him, but I am happy to say he seems to be doing quite well. Luckily every boy from 5-50 seems to understand the language of video games so he was bonding quite nicely with some of the other cast members last night. This allowed me to visit with friends from past shows.

I have enjoyed sitting in on the rehearsals playing the role of stage mom (I think I have been a fairly innocuous one at that). I am amazed at the sound of this cast. It is big - I think there are 44 of them - and I keep marvelling at how many strong men they have. I have been casting musicals in Edmonton for a few years now and I have been blessed with getting who I needed for my shows, but men are always difficult to come by. You usually have 2-3 times as many women - this show is almost the opposite. It makes for a lovely sound. I know too, that the sound will be even bigger when they add in the choir that will be singing behind them. Hopefully, Gibson will continue to fit in well and I will be able to sit in the house in a proper seat and watch the show. He does not want his brother to come, but we might take him anyhow and not tell Gibson until afterwards. I think Oliver would want to see it. I know Grandma is coming.

On another note - I started the APN Edmonton Playwright's Circle this week. It has it's own blog where you can follow our journeys in writing. I was excited to hear all the other Play Pitches and to get recharged with the 'questions' you need to ask yourself. Hopefully I will be able to get a little work done tomorrow (it's Teacher's Convention so the kids are home). I have a few weeks, but time seems to fly! I will be working on Little Monsters and am excited to plug away at it and then share it with the group.