Looking Back at 2013 - A Year in Theatre... Part Two: What I Saw...

I saw a lot of theatre this year.  I like that.  I have said it before and I will say it again, but I feel so incredibly blessed to live in Edmonton because of the variety and the amount of theatre we get to see. 

What I Saw:

First of all, this list is not exhaustive because I saw a lot.  I think you'd have to flip through the blog to read about everything.  These are what stayed with me for various reasons.  Other people would have a completely different list...

Second of all, there is no real order to this list.  It's not a ranking, more a reflection...

My favorite theatre experience of the whole year was Ride the Cyclone at the Citadel.  As I compiled everything it is the one that kept coming back to me.  So fresh, so odd, so Canadian and so well done.  I saw it twice and wished I could have seen it more.  It's not often I want to see a show more than once, but this one I did.  I would see it tomorrow if it were playing here still.

My favorite play of the year was Let the Light of Day Through from Theatre Network. As a playwright I marvelled at the unwrapping of the story and I thought that it was a beautifully presented with honesty and humour.  I laughed and I cried and I hope to see this play go further.  It is a play that transcends Edmonton and should be seen elsewhere.

The Citadel brought a lot of great moments to my year in theatre.  I loved Beth Graham and the fearless cast of The Penelopiad and I was tickled by Ronnie Burkett's Theatre of Marionettes and The Daisy Theatre (so much so that I saw that one 3 times!). I was caught off guard by how good 2 Pianos 4 Hands was... I mean, I expected good, but it surpassed my expectations! It was a treat to take my kids to that show and listen to Gibson giggle through the entire first act. it was also a treat to take my mother to see Long Day's Journey Into Night.  It has long been once of my favorite plays and it was wonderful to see it performed so excellently for the first time.

The theatre that got me thinking this year was Northern Light Theatre.  Both Ride and Dust made me think about things long after I saw them.  I am long past the casual dating of Ride and never have confronted the issues in Dust, but both were fascinating with strong performances from actors directed delicately by Trevor Schmidt.  They avoided the over-play that we see so much on our stages and took us somewhere real.  Both of these were so good, but it was An Accident that broke my heart. Michael Peng and Melissa Thinglestead - can't say much more than that. Anger, bitterness, blame, guilt and survival - It was all there. I still think about that play.

I really liked both of the Freewill Players productions this year.  I wasn't going to go to A Midsummer Night's Dream since I have seen it so many times and have even been in it, but a blog post I read intrigued me.  I was so glad I did as it re-invented it for me.  I had never seen King Lear before and went twice to make up for that! 

Speaking of Midsummer, I checked out Midsummer (a play with music) at the Roxy, the premiere production by Broken Toys Theatre and had a fabulous night laughing and feeling like I was a long for a wild ride.  I also caught Broken Toys second production, The Three Sisters, at the Varscona.  It was another laugh-filled evening.  I still marvel at the size of the cast.  For an indie production it was so weird to see so many bodies bowing.  I really loved Clinton Carew's adaptation and hope he does some more as he certainly dusted the cobwebs off this Chekhov piece.

Freewill wasn't the only place I got good Shakespeare this year.  I saw a fabulous production of MacBeth performed by the 3rd year BFA class at the U of A.  It had some of the best stage combat I have ever seen and in corner stage it was right close up and personal. I also saw one of the MFA candidates media room show - Much Ado About Nothing.  It was so fun and delightful.  You'd think  would be tired of these shows that I have seen so many times before, but when they are done right and told as though for the first time like these were, they become refreshing.

On the Big Stage - the Jubilee - I was most impressed with Billy Elliot, and with the kid that played Billy  as his triple-threat tour de force was mighty impressive. I also quite liked the Edmonton Opera's Onegin.  The clarity of this performance was amazing as I relied less on the surtitles and more on the performances of the Russian-speaking cast.  Every choice was clear and the production as a whole was beautifully sad.

There were also some lovely 'small stage' shows.  Trunk Theatre's Days of Wine and Roses, Three Form Theatre's Ordinary Days, and Horizon Player's Marion Bridge were all well-done productions which stayed with me long after I saw them. Well-acted and directed, these shows overcame their lower budgets to provide excellent evenings of theatre.

For Fringe 2013 - I did well this year.  Most everything I saw was really quite good - but the shows that have stayed with me are Hockey Night at the Puck & Pickle, Little Fish, Princess Confidential, Coraline: The Musical, and A Picasso. I could probably list more, but I wanted to pare them down a bit.  Really, I saw no duds...

It was a good year.  There were a lot more shows, but this was more about what has stayed with me.  When I read through my blog these were the shows that jumped out.

Looking Back at 2013 - A Year in Theatre... Part One: What I Did...

This was a busy year for me for theatre.  I finished off the second half of my great VUE Weekly Season Grand Prize and also had a few fabulous projects of my own on the go. This is What I Did, and the next post will be What I Saw...

What I Did:

I started the year with Auditions for ELOPE's The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.  It feels so long ago...  I was blown away by the auditions and was thrilled with the cast I was able to assemble. There were new faces and familiar ones and the cast had that incredible kind of synergy that made it a most joyful experience.  The show surprised a lot of people.  I had so many people tell me that they were not expecting much because of the title but then when they came to see it, they both laughed and cried and loved it.  I did too.  So much so that I saw all but 2 of the 8 performances.  Of course, I missed the most incredible one where the power went out and they finished the show in the lobby.  I followed at home on FB and Twitter and heard from cast and audience members about how absolutely wonderful the experience was.

I overlapped this with Chairing/Production Managing From Cradle to Stage at Walterdale - the annual new work festival.  I also set designed and mastered-painted that.  Luckily the run for it nested between the two weeks of Putnam so I could make it work but I was stretched pretty thin.  My goal was to create two sets that didn't feel thrown together and that could share the same space.  This doesn't always happen as the focus for this festival is on the scripts, but I wanted these playwrights to have a fully realized world for their scripts.  I think I made it work.  I had some challenges with  people on the team who didn't quite understand the lines of communication, but in the end I was happy with what was on stage.  Sometimes you just have to have longer conversations to get what will work for everyone, and Walterdale is about learning so hopefully some learning happened.

I started directing a piece for Fringe 2013, but we were on the Wait List and never came off in time to make it work. With 3 of the cast in other shows we anticipated conflicts so we let it go.  It was fun to dip the toe into the work, but letting it go cleared the way for my new job at the Citadel. I don't know if it would have been as smooth a start if I was still committed to directing.

This fall I rounded off the year with Proof at Walterdale.  I have been in love with this script for a few year now and was blessed with the support of one of the finest teams I have ever worked with. And then I got a tremendous cast.  What a cast. I will be honest, I was spoiled at auditions, there were several fine casts in there, but I was truly pleased with the one I chose.  Such dedication and commitment to the show and my process.  It was so wonderful to see onstage.  I was very, very proud of it.  The only fly in the ointment was the relatively low attendance.  I will admit being disappointed by some of the no-shows, but the crappy weather, the lack of media coverage and the Christmas season wasn't doing us any favours.  I know I have to let that go.  I don't get to everything myself because I get busy, so I can't expect everyone else to.  We did the show for those who came and everyone seemed to love it so I think I can be happy with that. Plus, my Mom, Dad, Sister and 2 of my Brothers came to see it and that hasn't happened in forever!  That was pretty cool.

In Retrospect... What I loved this year onstage...

So I took a little walk through my blog this morning to reflect on what I saw and what really stuck with me.  I saw a lot so it's hard to narrow down, but that's a good thing.  It's a testament to what we have onstage in Edmonton. So, in no particular order but with a little classification, here were some of my favorite moments from the year:

My children's theatre favorites:

The Gooble Portrait  produced at the Fringe by Surreal SoReal Theatre. I wished I had brought my kids to this one but I went on the Me-Day.  The concept, script, acting and direction was outstanding.  No skimping on the elements and a really high quality production.  It also found a way to say something in a subtle and engaging way (not the usual 'hit them over the head with a hammer' way).

Robin Hood  at The Snow Globe Festival.  A real great piece created with low-tech magic and a three stooges approach to story-telling.  It grabbed my kids and was so fun to watch.

Mary Poppins at The Jubilee as part of Broadway Across Canada.  A beautifully done piece of theatre.  I loved the colour-blind casting, the music and the magic of it and so did Gibson.

Personal Involvement favorites:

Directing The Playmates by Bevin Dooley at New Works.  I really enjoyed helping to bring this new piece of theatre to the stage and working with the brilliant cast I had was so rewarding.

Acting as Stage Mom to Gibson in Titanic (Two One-Way Tickets to Broadway) at The Winspear. I was so pleased with how serious he took his 'job'.

Directing Nine at Walterdale Theatre.  Few experiences are so completely rewarding as this one was for me as a director.  A committed and uber-talented cast and team made this such a blessed journey.  The final product was thrilling for me to see. For me it was proof you can do great work without a huge budget if people are talented enough and care enough.

Painting The Weir and Misanthrope at Walterdale.  I learned so much through doing this year and I might even be making some connections to do this work for other theatre companies.  I also made some fabulous friendships on both these projects.  The Misanthrope nightly warm-up routine was one of the best I have ever experienced!

Fringe Favorites:

Hard to narrow down, but in thinking back the two shows that stood out for me were Mojo Mikeybo and Gruesome Playground Injuries. 

Great Performances:

Nicole English and Corben Kushneryk in Avenue Q (Two One-Way Tickets to Broadway).  You'd think those two had been playing with puppets all their lives. They were amazing!

Cody Porter in The Weir (Walterdale Theatre).  I enjoyed this whole show, but Cody was a stand-out. This is the best I have ever seen him and he's always so good.

Garrett Ross in Jack Goes Boating (Shadow Theatre - The Varscona).  Such a wonderful internal performance.  I was so impressed by the subtlety.

Both James Hamilton and Paul Welch in the side-splitting With Bells On (Guys in Disguise - Roxy Theatre). The script deserves a nod too - so well written!

Robert Markus and Sarah Farb in Next to Normal (The Citadel).  This whole production/show blew me away (I had to go twice I loved it so much) but Markus and Farb were major stand-outs. 

All the other Favorites:

The Mechanicals of A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Citadel. The play within a play that the mechanicals perform at the end of the play was so well done.  Oliver laughed so hard and talked about it for weeks.  If I want to make him laugh I can still reference Chris Bullough's silent scream and it sends him into fits of giggles.

I loved the conceptual design of The Mikado (Edmonton Opera) and Boeing-Boeing (Mayfield).  Both shows upped the ante in design and incorporated it into acting choices in a way that made the shows feel like a complete world. 

I loved Red at the Citadel.  They brought this challenging intellectual script to life. What could have been dry and disconnected was engaging and fascinating.

The duo of Nathan Cuckow and Frank Zotter in In On It (Theatre Network - The Roxy) reconfirmed for me what a brilliant gift we have in Canadian Theatre in Daniel MacIvor. 

There were many other great moments and performances but these are the ones that stuck with me. I hope you all managed to see some great stuff this year. 

I'd be curious to know what your favorites were...

A Few of My Favorite Things...

I spent a little time thinking back to the past year and the theatre I saw and what stood out for me as wonderful moments of theatre in Edmonton. I figured if they resonated with me for so long than they were worth noting. That is not to say there weren't other wonderful moments, these are just those that 'popped' for me in retrospect... I tweeted them one by one and thought I would collate them here for the blog.

In no particular order

* Festus (Chris Bullough), Andrew Aguecheek (John Kirkpatrick) & Sir Toby Belch (John Wright) 'partying' in Twelfth Night - Freewill Players - I have special fondness for the Andrew Aguecheek dance which made tears roll down my cheeks!

* Holding my breath through the entire hour of (Real) Gone (Girl) at The Edmonton International Fringe 2011. This despite having woman have a seizure right behind me. I so wished I had the luxury of time so that I could go and see this show more than once.

* Boygroove produced by Impulse Theatre at the Catalyst - Best Musical of the season! I was blown away by this production. I had seen the show before but the combination of vocals, dancing, excellent direction and outstanding acting chops made this an incredible experience.

* The magic of Penny Plain and Ronnie Burkett at The Citadel. I forgot they were puppets.

* Nicola Elbro in Doubt at U of A (MFA Thesis show at Timm's) - brilliant! She embodied the internal tug of war required for this part. I think I could watch her in anything.

* Singing Sondheim with the cast of A Little Night Music (personal fave) - I will always look back at this show with fond memories, but what a joy to sing Sondheim and in particular singing A Little Death with the lovely Miss Stephanie Wigston was such a gift.

* John Kirkpatrick in How I Learned to Drive at U of A (MFA - Media Room Show) - creepy, and fantastic. Few actors are able to be both creepy and charismatic and play this role. Kirkpatrick was perfect!

* Finally seeing Wicked!!! Broadway Across Canada at the Jube. One of my favorite shows and it took me awhile to actually see it. The Alphaba was amazing. I wore pink to the show but wished I was in green!

* Crying through most of act 2 of Bare at the The Edmonton International Fringe 2011. A 2 hour musical in the hottest venue at the Fringe. I picked the right showing (an overcast 12 noon show) so I escaped the worst of the heat, but these guys did a fabulous job. Kayla Gorman, Sarah Horsman, Matthew Lindholm, Eric Wigston and Jeff Rivet were amazing!

* Going to Rocky Horror at The Citadel with the perfect seat partner, Mommamammoth! Not only was this show done perfectly (Camp done right! Huzzah!), but I took a good friend who was a Rocky-Virgin and it was the best person to be sitting there. Her enthusiasm was infectious and added to the experience. Also, the Citadel's selected audience participation was just the right amount. Inspired!

* Last 10 minutes of This is What Happens Next at The Citadel with Daniel MacIvor. I enjoyed the whole show but it was the last 10 minutes that hit my heart and made me cry. A brilliant performer and a wonderful story.

* Erika Noot as Roxie Hart in Chicago (TwoOneWayTixtoBroadway). There were lots of great things about this show, but Erika stood out as the blonde mercenary Roxie. Tough to please me when I have seen the show 4 other times, but I saw some new things with Erika's performance!

* The Tudor Queens at The Edmonton International Fringe 2011. I didn't know what to expect. I had such a blast. Not sure why Burlesque and Henry's wives were a good fit, but they were!

* Rabbit Hole at Walterdale Theatre. I worked so hard and was so proud of what we built. A true family and an experience I will never forget.

* Death of a Salesman at The Citadel. Truly a wonderful production. Everyone onstage was clearly supporting each other and it was lovely.

* Pieces at The Edmonton International Fringe 2011. I could not ask for more than what this experience was for me. I loved my cast. I loved the response from critics and audiences. It made for a lovely Fringe for me.

The Ubiquitous End of Year Post... My Year in Review

2011 Here it goes. For more detail, of course, you can flip through the whole Blog, but I know that I wrote more sparsely at different times of the year and sometimes my writing was motivated more by the emotional state of my life than the actual events. So a look back seems to bring out the significance in what happened this year.

Theatrical Events:
It was busy in 2011. The first half of the year I wrapped up my tenure as AD of Walterdale. I started the season knee-deep in Rabbit Hole and I think that will always be one of the most satisfying directorial experiences of my life. I had challenges that fed my personal needs. I had a terrific cast, production team and crew. I had to make some tough decisions. I had a script that I really wanted to serve and I think I did that. I also complicated my life by overlapping rehearsals for that show with The Threepenny Opera. I enjoyed doing that show. It too had elements that really made me work. The music in that show was some of the most challenging I have ever sung. Like G & S, Weill is not in my wheelhouse, meaning I had to work. So many fabulous people and it was great to be onstage in the season. I confess, I was trying to find a way to do as much as I could before the end of my tenure. So that led into my first 'real' set design for Village of Idiots. I was more nervous about that than any acting or directing job I have ever done. I worked with the wonderful Linette Smith in a kind of full-circle sort of way (she directed Steel Magnolias which was my second show at Walterdale, but the one where I really knew I was home). The summer meant Fringe and this year I was so happy to re-visit and re-draft Pieces. I was thrilled with the response form both critics and audiences. I can tell you quite honestly that the sounds of sniffling audiences makes me very happy. I also really enjoyed working with my cast and Team. The luxury of doing your own Fringe show is picking the people you want to work with. I was happy with our picks. I was also happy with the new draft as I felt that it was so much closer to the story I wanted to tell. Fall rolled into A Little Night Music at Festival Place. Another wonderful new family and the joy of singing Sondheim. And then I wrapped up the year as Master Painter for Wyrd Sisters at Walterdale. This was a fun challenge as I did not have my mentor, Joan, on hand so I had to solve the painting mystery myself and I also brought my kids on board to be my crew. Someday I see Gibson as having the potential to be an excellent set painter. Oliver might be too, if he gets paid, but I doubt he has the patience for detail work.

Educational Events:
I did Drama 209 first semester and Drama 257 second semester. Drama 209 is the second theatre history course at the U of A and you travel from just after Shakespeare to Ibsen. I really enjoyed it and find that aside from the essays I really love theatre history. Good thing I kick major butt on the exams! Drama 257 is scene study and while I really enjoyed the class, particularly my classmates, it really made me ask questions about what I was doing at University. I haven't fully answered this question but I was frustrated because although I enjoyed the course I didn't really learn anything I didn't already know. It did remind me that I was lazy about some of the character prep work that I could be doing. It also shook up my approach to objectives and tactics because I think I do them a lot more instinctively and less formally and really they are so useful, but it was more like a refresher course than an eye-opener. It is making me re-think my second semester choice. Outside of University I went to Playworks Ink in the Fall and for one very short weekend I was reminded of how much I love writing and how little time I put into it. I have so many plays I need to write. I need to make time for that writing. I don't. I need to.

Personal/Family/All the Rest:
* This year we said goodbye to Smeep, our beloved cat. This was very hard for me. She was a wonderful member of our family. I still expect her to greet me when I come home and the bumps and thumps in the night have no explanation any more. We had her longer than Oliver.
* Oliver and Gibson started basketball and for half a year it took over our lives. Well, mine anyhow. I have a better idea of how it works now and know that it means the Fall will be challenging for scheduling in other activities, but it has been very cool to watch Oliver grow as a player and start to think like a team player and an athlete.
*My cousin Margaret got married and I got to travel on my own to San Francisco/Berkley for a great family reunion - too short, as always.
* I taught my first (hopefully of many) Workshop By Request in Calmar. It was on Giving and Receiving Direction and I had so much fun with this wonderful group who have a fabulous attitude towards what they do.
* I did not gain weight, but I haven't really significantly lost any. This has to change. I am working on trying to streamline my life so that I am doing only the projects I want to do and therefore can have enough to be happy and not too much so that I can't work more on my physical shape. I just don't want that whole diet and fitness thing to take over my life. I think that would depress me and make me want to eat... I did lose 10 lbs in the last 10 weeks of 2011 and have a great support group online with my extended family. So hopefully I can continue this momentum into the new year. I am comfortable with 10 lbs in 10 weeks. It's not crazy. It's realistic.
* I did not write as much as I would have liked. This is also about time. I need to make the time for it. Pieces was a lovely opportunity and I do have a half a draft I was supposed to finish for December 15th to send to Daniel MacIvor. I need to finish that and do more. I must.

It's been a good year.

A Dramatic Year in Review...

Well, so long to 2008. It has been busy.

I started out the year with Crimes of the Heart. A wonderful start to any year. It was certainly one of the most gratifying projects I have ever worked on and I was proud of the product and the work.

I zipped into Baby. This project was not as satisfying as the first. I did, however, learn some things about what I will do with my time. I shall trust my instincts about projects. I did enjoy working with Magnolia and Shelby and I worked with a lovely cast and crew, however, I know that I was disappointed with the overall product and that work was not stimulating enough to commit that time to a similar project in future.

I squeezed in Assistant Directing Cellar Doors, Secret Gardens at Walterdale for the One Acts. I don't know how much I contributed, but I did what I could with the limited time I had available.

Then what? The Fringe. On a whim I auditioned for Cinderella and got the Fairy Godmother role. What fun. I so enjoyed working with Linette and meeting and working with the exuberant young cast. It was also enjoyable to make money for acting. First time that has ever happened!

In the Spring I made a decision about going back to school. I had researched this over a year earlier but it didn't feel right then. Now was the time. So in the Fall I started Drama Classes at the U of A. It was truly a learning experience and I had to think a lot about how I 'do' my drama. I will continue courses into the Winter term and next year.

Overlapping with drama classes, I did Black Hearts in the Green Room, a new work at Walterdale Playhouse. This was a challenging project. It was one of the most difficult scripts I ever have had to learn. I was frustrated with some of the process because of the varying levels of abilities of the cast. However, I learned a lot about melodrama and made some wonderful friendships. This was one of the most enjoyable casts I have ever worked with and when we opened we were a real team. It felt good. It also felt good to close. I resolved never to do a show at this time of year again. It was too challenging with the demands of the rest of my life. Lesson learned.

Through the whole year I maintained my position as Secretary on the Board of Directors for Walterdale Theatre. I also participated in the entertainment for the 50th Anniversary Gala. I saw a lot of shows (Lion in Winter, 18 Fringe Shows, Half Life, Children of a Lesser god, Pride and Prejudice, Mo and Jess Kill Susie, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolff, Spamalot, Hairspray, The Madwoman of Chaillot, A Pair of 3s, Desire Caught by the Tail, Without You, and Crazy for You) and tried to be reflective about their strengths and weaknesses. In any case, I feel like I have supported theatre in my community! I joined the ELOPE Board of Directors (although I have been unable to go to a single meeting - ha ha), and have been invited to join Kompany's Board of Directors (again, I have not been able to make a meeting).

What does the next year hold for me? Well, I have a big job on the horizon. I hope to scale back a bit, but I doubt I will be able to. Already I have 3 projects in the first 3 months of the year.