A Little Delay in Posting due to my Crazy Busy Life... But it's ALL GOOD...

So the past week and a half has been C-R-A-Z-Y busy and C-R-A-Z-Y good so I have not had a chance to write.  I am going to tell you about some things (like Long Days Journey Into Night and some work stuff) now and some other stuff (like Playworks Ink and my trip to Banff) later!

So last week we opened Long Day's Journey Into Night at the Citadel.  Opening nights are a big part of my job.  Although my work was not perfect, the 2 errors I made I was able to fix up quickly and the 3 arising issues were similarly solved with relative ease.  Whew!  I really like the people that I work with at the Citadel.  The box office was fabulous in helping me deal with my ticketing errors, the rest of the marketing people that were there were awesome making sure it ran smoothly and the whole energy was just so good. I am feeling good that I only made two mistakes and that I could handle the other issues on the fly without too much stress.

I knew that I would be too brain buzzed from work to focus on the play on Opening, so I took my mother to the show on the Wednesday night Preview.  I had been impressed at the Invited Dress rehearsal the week before, but was even more so the second time around.  My mom was similarly impressed, saying to me at intermission "Wow!  She's something else!" referring to Brenda Bazinet who plays the unstable mother, Mary Tyrone.  It's definitely not just Brenda, but the whole cast, that works so well creating a tight, yet broken family.  I can't say enough about Tom Wood (James Tyrone Sr.), John Ullyatt (Jamie Tyrone) and David Patrick Flemming (Edmund Tyrone) who make up the rest of the addicted family who clearly love each other but who rail against the years of picking at each other's flaws and faults amidst the destructive addictions they all suffer and deny. Lisa Norton, as the servant Cathleen, contrasts the family with her crackling energy; her relaxed tone showing even more how much tension lives in the house.  The set is gorgeous and has so much depth, and the fog creeps in as the day wears on scored by increasingly fractured music.  It was wonderful to see this, one of my favorite plays of all time, created so well in all ways.

I could go on... But instead I encourage you to see it yourself so we can talk about it.  It's a polarizing piece, which to me says that it's so relevant.  It's the kind of play you react strongly to - a true sign of what theatre is for.

Another Opening!

From Cradle to Stage opens tonight at Walterdale.  I encourage you to come out and see these two lovely new works by emerging Alberta playwrights.  I also designed and painted the sets so I am very excited to show those off! I am quite happy with how the sets turned out and I love how they work with their respective shows! It was a challenge to design two sets - one indoor and one outdoor - for the same space.

After the show tonight there is a nice reception upstairs to mix and mingle with the cast and crew and the other members of the audience! It's a great way to round off your holiday weekend.

I Really Should Be Sleeping... But I'm not... We Open T-O-M-O-R-R-O-W

What a fun night!  We had the ELOPE Board of Directors come and watch the show tonight and some of them participated as audience volunteers so we would have a practice run before Opening and it was so much fun.  The energy give and take from them allowed me to see the show through new eyes, which is not easy to do after living with it for so long. I spent a bit of time tweaking light cues so that they were as good as what was happening onstage, but for the most part I just enjoyed it.  It was great to have four volunteers onstage who didn't know what was coming and a good 8-10 people in the house enjoying the Bee!  It's why you do Previews.  I think it was really good for the actors to hear the laughs and feel what that felt like before we face our first ticketed audience tomorrow night.

TOMORROW...

Goodbye! Goodbye!

I have wisely left myself time tomorrow to rest and get ready.  I do have to do a little shopping.  For those of you who know me, I am a bit of a show gift weirdo (in a good way) and I have a few more to get.  I was going to do this dictionary theme, but I think because everyone has a computer now it is actually very hard to find many pocket dictionaries.  Why buy a book when you can type a word into Google?  Anyhow, I have rebooted my show gift plans and it will all be lovely!  So I can sleep in a bit, write cards and do a little shopping.  My mom is watching the boys so Mark will be in attendance so that is nice!  

Anyhow, here are a couple more fabulous photos from Janine Hodder from our Tuesday night Dress Rehearsal!

Barfee (Curtis Knecht) at the Mic!

Pandemonium - The Best Speller won't necessarily win!

The Misanthrope Loves Everyone Who Came to the Show Last Night!

See what I did there?

Anyhow, we had a fabulous Opening Night for The Misanthrope at Walterdale Theatre last night.  We had enjoyed Previews, but the audience last night was HOT! It was thrilling to hear all the laughter and feel such gratitude to the generous audience.  I always say that a show is nothing until there is an audience to perform for so it is nice to be finally open and sharing this new twist on an old classic with people.  I love the character I get to play and the people I get to play with.  We celebrated the opening with a lovely after show reception (mmmm, lobster tarts...) and Tonight is 2 for 1 Night so hopefully we get a nice sized audience from that to continue with the journey!

An Evening of Atmosphere - The Weir

Opening Night for The Weir was a wonderful success.  The house was very full, especially for such a small cast show, but perhaps the play helped as it seemed to be the perfect piece for this time of year.  It's a little spooky but cozy as well and by the end of the play you really get to know the five characters on stage.  My mother commented on how wonderfully defined each of them was and how they seemed to move around the space so naturally, as though they really were in their favorite pub. The weather in Edmonton this week seems to echo the weather in the play and it really felt like we were all gathered in the comforting space of this neighborhood pub, keeping warm from the biting wind outside.

I was very impressed with the performances onstage.  Cody Porter, always a favorite, was at his tip-top best.  He's the kind of actor who can convey so much with a single raise of his eye brow or expression.  He doesn't need to talk but when he does, like in his final story, he can mesmerize the audience.  It was captivating how real all five of the actors were onstage.  Kieran O'Callaghan was delightful and I imagine him driving home to his 'mammy' after the show and Justin Deveau pulled off the awkward single barman so well I wanted to give him a hug and pat his head. I also enjoyed the energies of newcomers to Walterdale, Gavin O'Toole and Gwyneth Kellii.  Gavin embraced the confidence and swagger of the well-to-do Finbar and Gwyneth's Valerie had an undertone of vulnerability that was heart-breaking. All in all, five strong performances combining to create a real world onstage.  I was also surprised to discover how much I was laughing.  When I saw it in rehearsal a week and a half earlier I wasn't focused on the show - more checking to make sure the paint looked right, but on Opening Night I was really struck by the layered humour of the piece.

Speaking of stage, I was so thrilled to receive numerous compliments on the set.  A labour of love and a test of my skills - so it was nice to hear that it all worked. To me it felt warm and inviting and that was what I was going for.

* Photo Credit: Douglas Dollars Stewart
* The Weir marks #47 in my 2011 Theatre Goal

Another Opening! The Weir at Walterdale

I am off tonight to see The Weir at Walterdale.  It is my first official show of the season in terms on ones I have worked on.  I am quite pleased with how it looks and it feels worth all the time I put into it.  You can get a good look at it in the photo in this Gateway Preview Article and you catch a few nice glimpses in the media photos. I caught a rehearsal (Q2Q) but I am really looking forward to seeing the completed show tonight.  I love the atmosphere of Opening Nights.  I am taking Mom along and I think we shall have a lovely time! 

Last night I worked a casino for my sons' school so I am a bit tired. I tried to sleep in but a half dozen phone calls really interfered with the quality of that sleep. The Weir, though, is pretty engaging and only 100 minutes long so I think I will be fine tonight! I look forward to raising a glass with everyone after the show!

Opening Night - Sigh...

Tonight Nine opened.  It was a fabulous night. I was so pleased with the show and the reception the fabulous audience gave it.  We were Sold Out (at least on paper - there were a couple of empty seats in the house so I guess we had a few no-shows).  I laughed and I cried and it was lovely.  The audience treated us to a standing ovation which is always so gratifying and a wonderful surprise. After the show was the traditional Opening Night Reception and it was great fun talking to my Walterdale friends and the cast and crew.  I realized that I know so many lovely, lovely people and I feel blessed. I will not be back to the theatre until Friday night for archive photos so it will feel weird tomorrow night to know they are all onstage and I am not even in the building.  They know their stuff and they do it all wonderfully, but I will miss not being there.  I came home to kudos on FB from friends and strangers.  A perfect evening.

* Nine marks #26 in my 2012 Theatre Goal

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...

Opening Night - The Threepenny Opera

We open the show (The Threepenny Opera) officially tonight. We have had our two Preview Shows and they were a good opportunity to get used to an audience. I feel we are ready (I think we were on Thursday last). It is always so good to get the work out there in front of people after all that time. We started rehearsing this in January (feels so long ago), music first, then blocking, then choreography, then working it until it gelled. It is time. Yay! Hurray! I hope to see you all in the audience...

Opening Night

I am excited, as I usually am for Opening Night. This show has truly been a labour of love for me and it is wonderful to see it come to fruition. I am proud of what it is and I think it is pretty darn good. The Previews were a wonderful experience. The first one with the generous audience setting us off on a good foot and the smaller, quieter second audience who went along for the ride in tension and who went out of their way to shower us with compliments. Everyone who has done theatre knows that the positive feedback of absolute strangers is so very gratifying. You like it when your friends and family say nice things, too, but a complete stranger who seeks you out to say 'well done' is so unexpected and since there is nothing vested for them in terms of love for you, you trust the objectiveness of the comments. One women made a point of tracking me down to tell me the show was better than a show she saw at a professional theatre this week - not that the show she saw was bad, in fact she sad it was very good, but that Rabbit Hole was better. Wow! Considering the talent in the city and the show to which she referred I was so very honoured.

Now is Opening Night. I know it will go well. It is an audience of friendly people who love me and/or the cast and/or Walterdale. I just feel like I have worked so hard for so long and it is so great to be here on this day finally. Feels good, in spite of some of the difficult decisions I had to make during the process to ensure the best possible production.

Opening Night - SOLD OUT

Those are lovely words to see when you go to the Tix on the Square Website. I know that we have quite a few comps tonight, but even with that, Opening Night usually has about 80-90 people. Sold Out means we will have 143! Yee Haw! I am excited for my cast and crew. They have had two lovely Preview audiences in which to get used to audience reactions and to work out the bugs in scene and costume changes. I look forward to seeing the show again and hope I can relax on their behalf and just enjoy! It's the kind of show that demands a big house, so let's hope tonight is not a fluke and the run does well. I promise enthusiasm and a dedicated and talented cast dressed in fabulous costumes on a gorgeous set...

So Very Good

What a great Opening! I felt so good about everything. The whole night was great. Despite there being 3 plays it moved along quite quickly (I could have done without the scene changes in the second show - scene changes? In a 30 minute play?!). I was so gratified by the audible sniffling and wiping of the tears in the time between our show and the next. Mark thinks I am mean to want people to cry, but I feel that this is one way for me to tell that it works. I was also so pleased by the partial standing ovation the cast received. It was so spontaneous and I think that if our show had been last in the line up it would have been the whole audience. What a wonderful feeling.

Oh yeah, and I loved my RED DRESS!