A Nice Feeling

I don't have to go anywhere tonight. I haven't started rehearsing for El Muchacho yet so I have nothing for that to panic me. My play is done at Walterdale Playhouse so I have nothing to worry about for that. I am waiting for Women's Words to start next week so I have nothing to do for that. It is a nice feeling. I might even work on my play tonight. That would be good.

We went, as a family, to Shrek the Third yesterday. I love sitting next to Oliver to watch kids movies. He laughs like he wants the whole building to shake. Wonder where he gets that from?

After the Fall - All Fall Down....

Do not go to After the Fall at the U of A. It is too long, too boring, too pretentious and too much. Just don't go. Unless you want to be schooled in what not to do as a director. Did this guy not have anyone working with him on his MFA in Directing? I felt so bad for the actors to have to be in that play. Arthur Miller, what were you thinking? Had you never thought of cutting a few (20-30) pages of repetitive self-indulgent script? I mean, you write The Crucible and Death of a Salesman, you think you can do anything on a stage? Come on.

The girl who played Maggie was very good. Oh, and the girl who played Louise was strong, as well.

Am I too harsh?

Ole!

After what I felt was a very disastrous audition, I am pleased to announce that I will be playing the part of Kalinda in El Muchacho at the Fringe this year. This is the Mexican version of The Mikado and Kalinda is the parallel role to Katisha. Very fun I should think! Thank goodness I got to sing the second song since I forgot the words to the first song I sang. I think I have replayed the audition in my head so many times since and even though I tried to "put it in the bubble and send it away" I was unable to. Now I have no excuse.

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!

It's different in my mind, but it still works and I like it...

Last night I saw a dress rehearsal of my play. Definitely a more real world now than it was 2 weeks ago when I last saw it. I am happy with it. Things were not exactly as I saw in my head, but the story is being told and I think it works. Can't wait until Monday night. Too much to do in between now and then. Unfortunately with Monday being a holiday I am not sure what I can do that day. I will figure it out. Besides, anything that can't be done for Opening can be done for Closing.

Vue Weekly - I don't sound stupid - Yay!

THEATRE
FROM CRADLE TO STAGE ARE ONE ACTS TO FOLLOW
DAVID BERRY / david@vueweekly.com
Anyone who writes plays in this city will tell you that the hardest part isn’t so much getting the idea, or finding its structure, or even fleshing it out into a workable bit of art—it’s finding a place to put it on. The sad reality is that even in a city with Edmonton’s myriad outlets for new work—everything from the Fringe’s blind lottery draw to the festivals and workshops devoted entirely to new works—establishing yourself on the scene can be something next to impossible without a couple big breaks.So when recent Fort McMurray expat Kristen Finlay found out about From Cradle to Stage, the Walterdale’s initiative to not only produce a new work, but also spend a year developing the play with the help of one of their directors and a dramaturge from the Alberta Playwrights Network, it didn’t take much convincing to get her to pull a play from her catalogue and try to take advantage of a rare opportunity.“As a writer, you really don’t have many opportunities to get to see your work produced, and as many plays as you might have on the shelf, I don’t think you’re ever quite as excited about them as when they go up on stage,” Finlay says of getting to premiere Pieces, about a mother suffering from dementia and reliving her life in her own head while her daughter struggles to come to grips with her external behaviour. “The opportunity is just huge, and you get a lot of confidence through the whole process, too. As a writer, you never really know if what you’re doing is good until other people see it, and everyone here has been very supportive and positive with everything.”
Finlay’s play will join two others, Katherine Koller’s Perdu and Phil Kreisel’s The Travelling Nude—about a lonely dog-food store clerk and a controversial small-town art teacher, respectively—as the inaugural one-acts in what the Walterdale hopes to make an annual affair. Though she admits that she’s unsure of exactly what will happen with Pieces now that its year of lavish attention is coming to an end, she hopes that audiences will be moved by a play she admits she was proud of even before it went through the Walterdale’s treatment.“I like it because I really got a chance to tell two stories, one about how the mother struggles to find herself in what was probably a time of transition, and one about figuring out how to deal with losing a loved one who’s still right there in front of you,” Finlay explains. “Ultimately, I think it’s a hopeful play—you see inside the mother’s mind, see why she’s acting and saying the things she is that don’t make much sense to you, but are actually providing glimpses into that person that’s still in there somewhere.”
Mon, May 21 - Sat, May 26
From Cradle to Stage: An Evening of One Acts
Featuring plays by Kristen Finlay, Katherine Koller, Phil Kreisel
Walterdale Playhouse (10322 - 83 Avenue), $12 - $14

Interviews - Hope I don't sound stupid...

On Sunday I did an over-the-phone interview with David Berry from the Vue. Today I did an over-the-phone interview with Christine Chomiak from CBC. I hope I sounded okay. I think I said what I wanted to, but it is hard to be clever and brilliant and sparkling on the spot. I did think about my answers before the interviews, but you never know what you will be asked. Still, it is exciting. I will be picking up a copy of the Vue tomorrow (and so should all of you). I also encourage you to listen to CBC Radio at 8:30 a.m. on Friday morning. Or not. I wish I knew how I would sound before I recommended it.

Tonight is media call. I am going, but I don't know if I am needed. Then I will scoot over to the CBC monologues dealie across the street. I have an idea for a one person show so it probably isn't bad to get some tips and ideas.