Full Circle...

In the Summer of 2005, I relocated to Edmonton from Fort McMurray. It was a tough move for me. I was very happy in Fort McMurray and found it to be a rich life, filled with opportunity to act and direct and even write (I had written my first play and had it produced in 2003-4). I knew Edmonton as a theatre city from my University days, but primarily as a spectator/audience member. I knew there would be a lot of things for me to see, but I was not sure about what I would be able to do. This worried me. I had no plans to teach as I had two young children, one of whom had a speech delay, and the constraints of Mark's new work-schedule would make child care challenging. In any case, we made the move. The first few months were hard - for those of you who know me, I like to be very, very busy - I was not busy at all. Then a friend recommended ELOPE and I auditioned for and got in Fiddler on the Roof. While in that cast, one of the other cast members recommended Walterdale. I auditioned for and got into Lunatic at the 2006 One Acts. I found a home. I liked this place. So I jumped in with both feet, joining the Board of Directors as Secretary. I also auditioned for Steel Magnolias directed by Linette Smith. I was hopeful, I loved the play and thought that maybe I could be used in it. How absolutely delighted I was to be cast as M'Lynn, my dream role. I knew I was a little young for it, but Linette saw something in me and cast me. That show turned out to be a marvelous experience for me. I felt I grew leaps and bounds as an actor. I also worked with 5 wonderful actresses and made real friendships with everyone on the team. It cemented my connection with Walterdale. Here was a place for realizing potential! Now it is full circle for me. It is 5 years later and it is Opening Night for my final production as Artistic Director and how wonderful, Linette Smith is directing the show. Not only that, but Pat Eyford (who was SM for Magnolias) is also SM for Village of Idiots, and Erin Foster-O'Riordan (who played Truvy in Magnolias) is Sound Designer. It feels right. Full Circle...

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Louisiana...

I has a great evening last night. It was surreal some of the time, but I really enjoyed the show. The casting and choices were very different from the production that I was in, that I was able to see them uniquely and I could appreciate each for what they were. It is so very cool to see this show with a different but totally legitimate ensemble work, but work in ways different from how my show worked. It was also fun to sit outside the action and laugh at the things I couldn't before. The changes surprised and delighted me. It was well-paced and honest and that is what you need to do to bring that show to life.

A funny thing happened in the second act that totally caught me off guard. After the 3rd scene I suddenly went to the head space I was in while doing the show. I guess the patterns of dialogue and situation sent me back there and before the lights came up on the 4th scene I was crying and emotionally distraught. I am sure the people on either side of me couldn't figure out what was up because let's face it, we didn't even know that Shelby had died yet. For that entire scene I rode those familiar achy emotions from 3 years ago. After the show I was glad to get out and decompress a little because it was weird.

After the show we struck the set (very smooth and very quick) and headed to Chez Marsh for festivities. Usually I don't go to cast parties for shows I am not involved in but I felt right at home. It was nice to see the gang from Sky and others that I have worked with in the past. A really fun evening, and a very late night!

Deja Vu

Tonight I am going to see Steel Magnolias in Spruce Grove at Horizon Stage. It is the closing night of a three show run and they have been sold out or close to that for all the shows. It was directed by my bf AM and I know most of the cast. It is going to be weird. I am hoping that I can separate my experience from being in the show a few years ago from the experience of watching this new production. I will do my best to do so, but don't hate me if I am not able to! I am sure I will enjoy the evening, it's just going to be weird because I know ALL the words!

Fringe on the Horizon...

Last night we had the first read-thru for Cinderella, the Fringe show I am in. I play the Fairy Godmother. It is very cute and funny and I think it will be good for the kids. The style is Oscar Wilde so I am in heaven. I love the Wilde! My character is quite "Lady Bracknell" so that is fun! The rest of the cast seems nice. There is a definite range in age, but the range makes sense for the roles so I do not feel like a dinosaur. I am looking forward to working with Linette again. I had so much fun with her during Steel Magnolias.

I'm a Fairy....

Godmother! I received an email to day offering me the part of the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella for this year's Fringe. It is a theatre for Young Audiences show (TYA) so it will be the first show that I can have both my boys come to. I hope they are ready! Woo Woo!

This means that I will not be able to be Stage Manager on my friend Magnolia's show. I am torn about that, but I cannot do two shows and the whole parenting/family thing. Not 2 Fringe shows, in any case. It would be too, too crazy. I am not sure which is the best choice. Like any good dilemma, both choices are pretty evenly matched (in a good way). I am doing the Cinderella thing though, because I auditioned for it before I knew about the Stage Managing. I figure that's fair. I let life choose for me.

In any case, it is something to look forward to and based on the audition it will be a nice comic role. I wonder if I can wear my wedding dress again.... Hmmmm....

Hello Dolly! and then some other stuff...

I quite enjoyed Hello Dolly yesterday. A strange feeling to see a show I have done before, but I think it was long ago that I was not constantly comparing in my head. I just sat and enjoyed it. It was so nice to hear Erin sing, as I had heard she was good, but never had the privilege before. I am glad to confirm the rumours were true! I also liked seeing and hearing Elizabeth as Dolly. I didn't get to see much of her in Fiddler because she was behind me in the Dream, but this was such a good role for her. I especially liked Act 2, but I think it has more momentum naturally because the first act is so much about "setting things up". I was very impressed with Brian's direction. That space has it's challenges and the set worked really well, but so did the way he used it. It was also nice to visit with Linette and find out about how she is doing. I am glad that I am able to "keep in touch" with some of the Magnolias (if not all).

Later I had my Walterdale Board Meeting. It went well, as they usually do, but I note that there are some issues with the Board and the theatre that need to be dealt with. My particular challenge is there is one board member who doesn't listen and will lecture you about what she thinks you said, not what you really said. Frustrating. She means well, but it is hard to deal with. I know I am not the only one who encounters this. Last night I was a bit short with her and I regret that, but I really didn't know what else to do.

Weird Dream Last Night

I had one of those very vivid weird dreams last night. I don't know why. We were doing Steel Magnolias and for some reason the actress who played Truvy was late (a traffic thing) so the director stepped in for her. This was very strange and there were 2 guys in the show whose function I could not quite figure out. Then Truvy showed up and we explained to the audience and started over. There was also this strange sub-plot with treasure being hidden in the audience. I really have no idea what this dream was all about, but it was nice to see the chick from Steel Magnolias again, if only in my dreams.

I am off to the Walterdale tonight to see Antony and Cleopatra. My date (read: husband) cancelled on me due to the busy-ness of work so I have to find a date or go solo. Know anyone who would like to see the show tonight for free?

A Watery Grave

When we did Steel Magnolias at Walterdale Playhouse in the fall, our lovely director gave all of us a fish as a show gift. I knew that some of the fish passed away since then, but I had been spared. That is, until this afternoon, when I noticed Fighter (re-named by my eldest son, who wasn't fond of Rhett for a name) was awfully quiet and hugging the bottom of the tank. I looked closer and discovered he was not just napping. I will deal with his funeral after the boys go to bed and I am not sure if I will "replace" him. I think I might because I enjoyed having him around. He was the only boy in the house who knew how to be quiet and not make a mess.

We value your opinion....

Well, yesterday we got the review in Vue Weekly (previous blog). I was very delighted since I got such a lovely paragraph and I thought overall that it was a very nice review. It was then more difficult at the show. It is tough in a cast of 6 to have 2 people singled out in the extreme positive, 2 others with a mention, 1 not mentioned at all, and the 6th mentioned but in a somewhat negative way. I feel for my cast mates. I personally cannot see the characters as anyone else but them now after the process we have gone through so it breaks my heart that they are affected by the review. It is hard too, because I would not give back my paragraph, for I love it, but I find myself comforting my castmates and I worry that they see it as hollow. It isn't.

Two more shows. I pray for the right combination of emotion to sustain the last scene through to the end of the run. It is very draining and I feel empty sometimes.

A Good Review - Good for the Ego

From the October 26, 2006 Vue Weekly:

THEATRE
MAGNOLIAS CAST BLOOMS
DAVID BERRY / david@vueweekly.com

I’m predisposed against plays like Steel Magnolias, but it’s got a lot more to do with aesthetics than gender. Sure, it’s “chick” fair (there’s no clever “flick” or “lit” rhyme for theatre, sadly), but, more to the point, it’s not particularly good chick fair. Playwright Robert Harling draws six caricatures who practically ooze overcooked Southernisms and uses them solely in service of a cloying plot that simultaneously manages to supposedly celebrate women’s strength as it cements them in every easy stereotype it can manage.

It is a serious, serious credit to director Linette Smith and her cast, though, that the Walterdale’s production of Harling’s contemptible little play, set in a Southern hair salon before and after the wedding of a young Shelby (Rebecca Pontig), is a thoroughly engaging, casually charming evening of theatre. Where Harling goes wrong, Smith and her troupe go right, earning with their natural charisma and chemistry a kind of emotional honesty that Harling just doesn’t on the page. Much of the credit is due to Kristen Finlay (mother-of-the-bride M’Lynn) and Lisa Pulak (wealthy socialite Clairee) who play markedly different roles to similar levels of efficacy.

Finlay works as the emotional core of the play—no small feat considering four of the other five are essentially different forms of comic relief and Pontig is at times too tentative in her tragic role—and her anchor is crucial in keeping it grounded: without her sitting indignantly under a hair-curler after an argument with Shelby, or watching the tears essentially creep up from her feet until they burst through her eyes in the play’s final scene, the play would be as empty as Harling envisioned it, but her stern, honest emotions lend a gravitas to even the one-liners.On that side of things, Pulak excels. She bursts forth pure sass with the unrestrained glee of a wined-up aunt at Thanksgiving, and her boisterous cackle fills the stage at every available opportunity.

Erin Foster-O’Riordan as the pragmatic Truvy and Lousie D Maryniak as the sour-faced Ouiser have their moments as well, but Pulak seems most comfortable in her role, sniping—albeit in good humour—from her stylist’s chair to add levity to nearly every occasion. One can’t help but wonder what they might have pulled off with better source material, but such wondering seems redundant: they’ve found gems where there should only be dirt, and that’s harder to pull of anyway. V
To Sat, Oct 28Steel MagnoliasDirected by Linette SmithWritten by Robert HarlingStarring Kristen M Finlay, Lisa Pulak, Erin Foster-O’Riordan, Lousie D Maryniak, Rebecca PontigWalterdale Playhouse (10322 - 83 Avenue), $12 - $16