People of the World; I am fed up.

Matthew Shepard’s name has become synonymous with the Hate Crimes Prevention Act that bears his name, as well as with the play The Laramie Project which premiered in February 2000. This year, a new play was written which included follow up interviews with residents of Laramie, Wyoming, Shepard’s mother Judy, as well as with his incarcerated killers. On October 12th, 2009, the 11th Anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s horrific and unjustifiable murder, there were approximately one hundred readings of the new play given in cities throughout the United States and Canada, including one at The Company House in Halifax and the Bread and Circus in Toronto (through Studio 180). One year ago Judy Shepard spoke to USA Today, speaking about the difference in American society between 1998 and 2008. She said, “What hasn’t is that hate crimes continue… we cannot let hate go unchecked in our schools and communities. Our young people need our direction and guidance to prevent this type of crime from happening.”

Of course, she is right, and what is even more terrifying is that there are still countless examples of adults, holding positions of power, and even supposed “esteem,” who perpetuate the myth that being gay somehow devalues a person’s life or who seek to sweep homophobia under the rug. These people are all silently complicit to the crimes committed that are motivated by hate. In May 2009, North Carolina Representative Virginia Foxx, an adult who is supposed to set a good example for the children in American schools and all citizens of North Carolina, publicly rebuffed Matthew Shepard’s death as a “hoax” refusing to believe that he was specifically targeted for his sexual orientation.

It’s easy to look backward at 1998 and say “oh, that was then (things are different now, we all watch Ellen). It’s easy to look at Wyoming and say, “oh, that’s just them (they’re rednecks, we’re not. We LOVE Ellen!). Less than a week ago I sat at Theatre Passe Muraille and watched BASH’d and I listened to the heartbreakingly long list of names of those who have died because of homophobia. I felt sympathetic, I felt saddened and ashamed, but I still felt like I lived in a place where we were all safe; a place that had reached a higher plain of equality because Toronto was a filthy, foul smelling buffet where everyone was welcome to come as they were. It NAUSEATES me that I was deluded in my false sense of progress.

I woke up this morning to the news that Christopher Skinner, a 27 year old gay resident of Toronto, soon to be married to his fiancé Ryan Cooke, had been brutally attacked by a group of men on the corner of Adelaide Street E. and Victoria St at 3:00am, beaten to the ground and run over by an SUV. He was taken to the hospital where he died of his injuries. Horror. Shock. Outrage. Some of you may have known Skinner, he loved Sharron Matthews and was the guy who would always yell for her to sing “One more song!” at Sharron’s Party. Brutally attacked and murdered. Twenty-seven years old. The police will not classify this case as a “hate crime” yet, or say that he was targeted for his sexual orientation, but I don’t care. Dave O’Malley was a self-described “homophobic” police officer in Laramie when Matthew Shepard was killed, who has since become a gay rights activist. He told USA Today earlier this year that he’s heard people say that Shepard’s death was “not a hate crime,” but simply a robbery or a botched drug deal, but he says, “They didn’t see Matt’s hairs embedded in the wooded butt of McKinney’s .357 Magnum pistol after the student—whose autopsy report noted he stood 5-foot-3 and weighed 105 pounds—was hit at least 18 times. To me, that’s hatred.” Similarly, to be beaten to the ground and then maliciously run over by a SUV is a vengeful action and one filled with malice.

Canadians are lucky to live in a country that is leading the way in equality for same sex couples; that is a fact that we cannot forget and that should fill us with pride. Yet, we cannot afford to become complacent when it is terrifyingly obvious that we have not won the fight for equality quite yet, no matter how boisterous and large the Pride Parade or how many happily married same-sex couples adopt children and live peacefully in Canadian neighborhoods. Homophobia still lingers and lurks throughout all the cities and towns of this country of ours and we have a responsibility to educate and to spread awareness and to demand that our politicians, our teachers, our police officers, our lawyers, and public officials, all the leaders of this country, act as responsible role models for our children and our citizens and advocate equality and denounce all physical, sexual and verbal abuse, especially when it is targeted against any one specific group.

I grew up in a Catholic School where I was taught, above all other doctrine, the Golden Rule: do to others what you would like to be done to you. The Director of my High School was so outraged by a 2002 news story that a Catholic School in Ontario would not allow one of their gay students to bring his boyfriend to their prom, that she came into our Grade 12 classroom specifically to tell us that we were welcome to invite anyone we wished to our prom and that our sexual orientation was our personal choice and it would have no impact on the way we were treated in school, or indeed by the Catholic Church within the school. By twelve years old (completely oblivious) I had successfully mastered the “fag hag” stereotype. In 2005 I saw a lesbian version of West Side Story (brilliantly directed and conceived by Raquel Duffy, currently a member of the Soulpepper Conservatory Program) performed at St. Matt’s United Church, where same-sex marriages were commonplace. By 2006, my 85 year old grandmother and I were watching reruns of Will & Grace.

In 2007, Grade Twelve students (18 year old boys) from Central Kings Rural High School (Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia), David Shepherd and Travis Price, began an international anti-bullying movement, when they rallied support for a grade nine student who had been targeted by bullies when he wore a pink shirt on the first day of school. Reports maintain that these bullies had called the student a “homosexual” and threatened to beat him up. Shepherd and Price urged their friends and classmates to wear pink shirts the following day to show their intolerance for bullying and homophobia. At eighteen years old, these boys were showing more class, social conscience and activism than many of the leaders of their government!

Of the fifty states in the United States of America, there are only four where same-sex couples can legally get married. Yesterday Brad Fraser posted a link to a news story from Miami about a woman named Lisa Pond who died in a hospital alone, while her partner, Janice Langbehn and her three adopted children, sat in the waiting room because the officials at Jackson Memorial Hospital would not recognize them as “family members” and admit them to Pond’s hospital room because Pond and Langbehn, who had been together for eighteen years, were gay. Of course, those who preach about the sanctity of “marriage” and those who follow a policy which devalues the relationships of same-sex couples more often than not do no condone the type of hate crime that killed Matthew Shepard. Yet, every action that draws an “us and them” line in the sand, every step away from equality, generates the climate out of which homophobia will rear its ugly head. If the American government is giving every indication that to be gay requires some “other” policy, some “other” word, they are pitting American citizens against one another. As soon as religion and/or fear enters the fray, the climate becomes ripe for violence.

I mistakenly thought that my blithe little life, largely ignorant to prejudice at home, at school, and (remarkably) in church, was a common Canadian occurrence. It doesn’t matter. It is all of our responsibility to fight for equality in the world of which we are all citizens. Earlier this month members of the Broadway community, led by Gavin Creel, Sutton Foster, Audra McDonald, Cynthia Nixon and David Stone, participated in a National Equality March on Washington DC demanding that their Senators pass the Marriage Equality Bill (S:4401). These Broadway stars even arranged buses to transport Equality Supporters to the march.

I think we need to demand more of our city, to insure not only that crimes like the one that killed Christopher Skinner are eradicated, but also that our community is rallied together by a healthy and constructive sense of outrage and to actively condemn such hatred. We need to demand more of the “Leader of the Free World,” The United States, whose media dominates the world and whose leaders make so many of the decisions that affect us all. The United States needs to earn its position of global superpower by proving that it has the integrity required to truly lead our planet in the generations to come. I think we as Canadians have a responsibility to help and support our American contemporaries in their fight for equality and in their fight against homophobia and to put an end to their rich history of prejudice, intolerance and hate-driven crimes.

We need to stop being quiet. We need to stop feeling too small, feeling too overwhelmed, feeling inadequate. We need to rise to the challenge that has been thrust upon us. Keep feeling outraged. Keep thinking critically. Keep writing blogs. Keep emailing politicians. Keep yelling our dissent, and forcing elections and marching in tandem, and singing our songs, and writing our plays, and singing in streets, supporting one another and believing that some day Matthew Shepard’s (and Christopher Skinner’s) death will seem every bit as foreign, bizarre and barbaric to every single beautiful bright-eyed child of tomorrow as the thought of sitting drinking ale watching a Christian get devoured by a lion seems to us.

joan orenstein, seated, as mrs. warren and tracey ferencz as vivie warren in a 1990 production of mrs. warren’s profession at the shaw festival in niagara-on-the-lake. (david cooper/shaw festival)

This article has been reposted from www.cbc.ca

Joan Orenstein, a Nova Scotia actor best known for her work on the stage, has died at age 78.
Orenstein was a familiar face at Halifax’s Neptune Theatre — and also played lead roles on stages across Canada — including at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and the Shaw Festival in southern Ontario.
In television, Orenstein appeared on the show Emily of New Moon and the mini-series Shattered City.
A Genie nominee for her portrayal of grandmother Grace in Thom Fitzgerald’s film The Hanging Garden, she earned best actress honours at the Atlantic Film Festival for the same performance. She also appeared in the films The Event and Never Too Late.
At Neptune Theatre, she had roles in productions such as Forever Yours, Marie-Lou and Memories of You.
Linda Moore, a former artistic director of Neptune Theatre, said she will remember Orenstein as one of the greats.
“While I was working with her and she was on stage in performance, many people would come up to me and talk about how unforgettable she was and how well she would embody the role,” Moore told CBC News. “I would say as I knew her she was always happiest in performance. It’s like she really belonged up there.”
Acting came [to Orenstein] late in life. [She] was born in London, England, and first came to Nova Scotia through Pier 21 just after the Second World War. She began her acting career in her 40s, but was prolific, starring in Stone Angel, Road to Mecca and Albertine with Centaur Theatre, Waiting for the Parade and Mother Courage at the NAC, and Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Hedda Gabler at the Shaw.
She also appeared at the Tarragon and Canadian Stage in Toronto, Belfry Theatre in Victoria, Theatre Calgary and the Manitoba Theatre Centre.
The Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia called her performances “engaging and electric.”
“I want to do theatre that talks to people, that has some real impact on the audience,” Orenstein said in a 2001 interview with CBC News.
“In my play a woman talks about the loss of the meaning of words. I feel, the way I can call out to people is in the work I do so I’ve done a lot of that kind of thing. I’ve done Courage, I’ve done Emily Carr — a lot of strong women who have battled against the elements.”
Orenstein has five daughters and [she] appeared on stage with her youngest, Sarah Orenstein, also an accomplished actor, in Mrs Klein and Song of this Place by Joy Coghill at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre.

* I would like to offer my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Joan Orenstein and to thank her for blessing us with her vibrant and unforgettable performances.*

michelle monteith, maev beaty, holly lewis

My heart was racing into my throat as my skin crawled and my whole body tensed. I buried my head beneath the hood to my sweatshirt, resisting the urge to curl up into a very small little ball, clenching my jaw and peeking out slightly in anticipation of the horrid unknown culmination that had been building and creaking and creepily surging forth for the past hour. I was at the Tank House Theatre and I was terrified.
The Mill was conceived by Theatrefront Artistic Director Daryl Cloran and playwright Matthew MacFadzean five years ago as a means to create a theatrical story that would be told over a series of plays; a pioneer story with the power to illuminate a specific moment of Canadian history. The Mill- Part II: The Huron Bride was written by Hannah Moscovitch and directed by Christian Barry and plays at the Young Centre for the Arts October 20th, 21st, 23rd and 24th at 8pm. The Huron Bride tells the story of Hazel Sheehan, an industrious Irish immigrant who comes to work at James MacGonigal’s mill and soon uncovers the horrific secrets buried beneath its floorboards.
It could be argued that Moscovitch and Barry use all the old tricks in the book to create this intensely riveting piece of theatre, but they use every convention of the Gothic, ghostly genre to astonishingly brilliant effect. The set by Gillian Gallow is a beautiful wooden, rustic structure which suggests an element of distinction, yet remains unmistakably ominous. Figures shrouded in shadows pop up from various caverns which contributes to the sense that the world is a permeable one between the dead and the living and one is never quite sure on which side she is walking. Christian Barry is meticulous in his ability to startle his audience with crisp lighting cues, haunting fiddle music, an eerie soundscape by Richard Feren and particularly well placed rattles, knocks, thuds and bumps that cause audience members to jolt in their seats. Moscovitch has managed to infuse this haunted world with a distinct element of beauty and her characters are as captivating as they are creepy. I find that Moscovitch tends to write with a vibrant, dominant voice which becomes a powerful instrument through which her plays are experienced; indeed, her language almost emerges as its own character in the piece. In The Huron Bride, however, Moscovitch’s language, still as vivid and rich as ever, honours the genre she works in, as it becomes overshadowed by the story she is telling. This allows the play to depend more on light, sound, and terrifying silences to draw the audience into its world.
The performances in The Huron Bride are particularly fascinating and extraordinary. Every one of the characters has his or her own distinct eeriness which constantly keeps the audience off-kilter and waiting, in anticipation, for some ghastly revelation. Ryan Hollyman plays James MacGonigal with an earthly passion that is continually interrupted by a shadow of disquiet that rolls across his consciousness. Eric Goulem provides pitch-perfect comic relief with Alexandre Martiniques, the French Catholic itching to take a tumble into sin with the pious Rebecca Jessup. Maev Beaty plays Rebecca, wound tighter than a spring, with resolute iciness, and she has incredible scenes with Michelle Monteith’s Hazel during which the tension is built to such intense thickness, it is a wonder that it doesn’t materialize into a field of dense shrubbery to bury them both. She also has moments of comic genius, as she sits prattling with precise rhythm and natural panache; relaying verbatim every ounce of gossip she has overheard from “town.” Holly Lewis gives a deeply disturbing performance as Lyca, the strange foundling child who can speak “Indian Talk.” Lewis knows how to elicit dread in her audience with every slight movement of her body. Her Lyca is absolutely chilling. And then there is Michelle Monteith. I have never seen another actor who inhabits her characters so perfectly, so entirely, and so wholly, as though each one were custom tailored to her like a glove. She gives a beautiful heartfelt performance as Hazel Sheehan with an absolutely perfect, almost mesmerizing, Irish accent.
In all The Mill: Part II: The Huron Bride was one of the most exhilarating experiences I have ever had at the theatre. My entire body was engaged in a way that theatre seldom elicits, as I found myself burrowing for cover as though I were watching a film. There are those who say that horror cannot be done onstage (despite the fact that the genre developed out of the houses of Grand Guignol); happily, I think that The Huron Bride is the perfect example of a theatrical performance that disproves this sentiment. The theatre does have the ability to captivate and to elicit a sense of fear and revulsion in its audience, as much as any of the newest cinematic technology. The theatre is a ghost’s playground, after all, a place where the living reenact the deeds of the dead and where performances disappear and fade into oblivion, leaving only their shadows behind in creaky, dark, dusty theatres. As actors we die, and then, like Lyca, we rise again to die tomorrow. We too are unsettled souls, which is perhaps why it is such a liberating and electric experience for us to be frightened out of our wits as we sit, perfectly safe, in a seat at the theatre.

The Mill: Part II: The Huron Bride plays at the Young Centre for the Arts (55 Mill Street) October 21st, 23rd, and 24th at 8pm. Tickets are as low as $5.00 for Student or CAEA Rush (arrive at the theatre 30-60 minutes in advance for cash-only rush seats). Ordinary ticket prices are $35.00. The Mill Part I: Now We Are Brody (written by Matthew MacFadzean and directed by Daryl Cloran) plays at the Young Centre for the Arts October 22nd at 8pm and October 24th at 2pm. For more information visit http://www.youngcentre.ca/ or call 416.866.8666.

uh… heil harper…???!!

A few weeks ago I had the same experience that many Canadians had when suddenly, and quite without warning, a video of Prime Minister Stephen Harper playing the piano and singing the Beatles’ classic “With a Little Help From My Friends” at a National Arts Centre gala popped across my consciousness. I am hesitant to type that I was “outraged” because that may suggest that I think Stephen Harper’s shameless publicity stunt (which received apathetic, at best, coverage in the National Media) was successful in its attempt to secure votes for this looming Canadian election of ours. I don’t think warbling one song with Yo-Yo Ma will make an ounce of difference to our country’s future, no, what infuriated me was how brazenly Mr. Harper can embrace and flaunt his hypocrisy and how he will forsake any sense of allegiance to any issue in pursuit of political power and a majority government.
In September 2008 Stephen Harper made $45 million dollars in cuts to the Arts and Culture sector of this country saying that “average Canadians” have “no sympathy” for rich artists who gather at galas to whine about their grants. A year later, Stephen Harper is the “special guest” at the National Arts Centre gala where, according to the NAC’s website, “The crowd of over 2,100 included ambassadors, cabinet ministers, senators and members of Canada’s corporate elite. A luxurious wine and canapé reception in the lavishly decorated NAC Foyer was followed by the concert which featured Yo-Yo Ma performing the Dvorák Cello Concerto with the National Arts Centre led by Pinchas Zukerman. To conclude the evening, 650 Gala guests on the transformed Southam Hall stage dined on a spectacular gourmet dinner created by the NAC’s new Executive Chef Michael Blackie.” Jayne Watson, the CEO of the National Arts Centre Foundation, referring to the fact that Mr. Harper’s wife, Laureen Harper, was the Honourary Gala Chair for the event, had the audacity to try and convince Canadians that Laureen had asked Mr. Harper to sing and that his performance was simply a “husband doing a favour for his wife.” First of all, everything that the Leader of a Country does in the public arena is a political act that has undoubtedly been thoughtfully considered, scrutinized, analyzed and meticulously rehearsed (unless the leader in question is willing to risk public scandal or disaster). When someone tries to insinuate that such an event is not political, as Jayne Watson suggests, it is my instinct to wonder what she is trying to hide.
Perhaps she does not want the Canadian public to wonder at the coincidence of Mr. Harper partaking in a “rich artists’” gala at a time when the Conservative Government is so in need of support to maintain their political tight grip on this country. Perhaps she does not want the National Arts Centre to become too politically entangled with the ideology of the Conservative Party in case this alienates the “whining artists” who patronize and work at the theatre, especially those who would like very much to remain married, bilingual or to live in a country that supports world peace and personal and artistic freedom.
My biggest problem in all of this is simple: $45 million dollars of cuts to the Arts is not going to have a devastating impact on the survival of the National Arts Centre. Margaret Atwood wrote a brilliant piece for The Globe and Mail on September 24th, 2008 in response to Mr. Harper’s ludicrous “average Canadians don’t care about the arts” speech entitled To be creative is, in fact, Canadian in which she wrote, “I can count the number of moderately rich writers who live in Canada on the fingers of one hand: I’m one of them, and I’m no Warren Buffett. I don’t whine about my grants because I don’t get any grants. I whine about other grants – grants for young people, that may help them to turn into me, and thus pay to the federal and provincial governments the kinds of taxes I pay, and cover off the salaries of such as Mr. Harper. In fact, less than 10 per cent of writers actually make a living by their writing, however modest that living may be. They have other jobs. But people write, and want to write, and pack into creative writing classes, because they love this activity – not because they think they’ll be millionaires.” Stephen Harper is perpetuating an incredibly dangerous myth, both in his initial statement about “rich artists” and also in his participation in one of the only opulent “theatre galas” that this country has to offer, the myth that artists are overindulged by tax payer’s dollars and throwing money around as if it grew on stoplights. $45 million dollars of cuts to the Arts is drastically reducing the emergence of young, creative, dynamic writers, actors, directors, painters, sculptures, dancers, singers and musicians who have a new vision of Canadian art to contribute. These cuts are affecting the production of plays that have the power to resonate across the country about issues of extreme urgency with the power to change the world. It is stunting our ability to compete with the rest of the world in the fostering and championing of Canadian film, Canadian television and Canadian theatre. $45 million dollars in Arts cuts is not going to deter ambassadors, cabinet members, senators and members of Canada’s corporate elite from patronizing the National Arts Centre.
The problem, however, is not the ambassadors, the cabinet members, the senators and the members of Canada’s corporate elite, nor is it the theatre, as Mr. Harper suggests, “being entirely cut off from public need or public demand.” The problem is that not enough members of the Canadian general public understand that Canadian Theatre is not JUST the National Arts Centre. It is not JUST the Princess of Wales and the Royal Alex. It is not JUST the Stratford Festival and the Shaw Festival or David Mirvish or DanCap. The Canadian Theatre’s beating, pulsing heart is often so overshadowed, ignored, swept aside, and it is THAT Canadian theatre, the Canadian theatre out of which has come The Farm Show, Michel Tremblay, David French, Daniel MacIvor, Robert Lepage, Brad Fraser, Sky Gilbert, Judith Thompson, The Edmonton Fringe Festival, Tomson Highway, Morris Panych, Susan Pollock, Richard Rose, Hannah Moscovitch, Mitchell Marcus, George F. Walker, Guillermo Verdecchia, George Ryga, Rick Miller, Chris Craddock, Stewart Lemoine, Ken Gass, Albert Schultz, Ted Dykstra, Eric Peterson, Martha Irving, Anthony Black, Christian Barry, One Yellow Rabbit, Ronnie Burkett, it is from these artists, and so many more, that Canada has carved her theatrical history. It is these artists for whom $45 million dollars in Arts Cuts will reverberate deep into creativity and potential.
How do we reach the millions of Canadians who think Canadian Theatre is simply The Sound of Music and Jersey Boys? How do we show them the plethora of theatrical options that this country has to offer? We advertise, of course. Yet, these companies can not afford the sort of mass advertising required to meet their targeted audience, such as commercials on television and glitzy, glossy print ads in popular magazines, huge posters at Dundas Square or on Tour Buses or Taxi Cabs. Stephen Harper sucked $45 million dollars from Canada’s Arts Budget. How can we hope to appeal to Canadians now that our voice has become increasingly stifled? Does this matter to “ordinary Canadians”?
As Margaret Atwood writes in her article, “The Conference Board estimates Canada’s cultural sector generated $46-billion, or 3.8 per cent of Canada’s GDP, in 2007. And, according to the Canada Council, in 2003-2004, the sector accounted for an “estimated 600,000 jobs (roughly the same as agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, oil & gas and utilities combined)… Mr. Harper has said quite rightly that people understand we ought to keep within a budget. But his own contribution to that budget has been to heave the Liberal-generated surplus overboard so we have nothing left for a rainy day, and now, in addition, he wants to jeopardize those 600,000 arts jobs and those billions of dollars they generate for Canadians. What’s the idea here? That arts jobs should not exist because artists are naughty and might not vote for Mr. Harper? That Canadians ought not to make money from the wicked arts, but only from virtuous oil?”

I recently had a strange experience in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Niagara-on-the-Lake is a town in Ontario of about 14,000 people which is home to the Shaw Festival. The town, it would appear, is hugely reliant on this festival to stimulate its tourism industry and to encourage people to not only patronize the theatre, but also to visit the plethora of shops, bakeries, restaurants, and bookstores, to sleep in one of many hotels and Bed & Breakfasts and even to play a round or two of golf on its golf course on the lake. It is the theatre artists who generate this revenue in the creation of the plays at the Shaw Festival which bring in tourists by the busload. And yet, the actors ride around the town on bicycles and can barely afford to eat in the town’s expensive restaurants. Someone is making money here; and I know it’s not George Bernard Shaw.
Angelina Jolie got paid $20,000,000 to do the film Mr. and Mrs. Smith in 2005. Angelina Jolie is an actor. She is an artist. Why does her work warrant $20,000,000 when there are actors at the Shaw Festival who have similar training, qualifications and talent, and who perform live for an audience, sometimes twice per day, in two or three different plays, riding around on bicycles? Well, Mr. and Mrs. Smith has grossed $468,336,279 worldwide, you say. Angelina Jolie is a celebrity. She’s a superstar. All right. But why has Mr. and Mrs. Smith grossed that kind of money? Why is Angelina Jolie a superstar? Well, Mr. and Mrs. Smith was advertised to be a box office smash in the exact same way that Angelina Jolie was advertised and constructed by the media and by the publicity moguls of Hollywood to be a superstar. The only reason that films have lured the general public out of their homes on cold, dark, winter nights instead of the theatre is because the media has invested its time and its money in fostering and championing American Cinema. There is no valid reason why we couldn’t upset the status quo and turn theatre into a force to be reckoned with, and a multimillion dollar venture, except of course, that Stephen Harper has cut $45 million dollars to the already acutely underfunded Arts and Culture sector of the Canadian government.
Yet, I believe that Stephan Harper is a clever man, and I think that he knows that his $45 million dollars in Arts cuts is not risking the development of the National Arts Centre, of which his wife is chairwoman. I think he knows that in cutting funding to the development of new Canadian art, he is cutting the funding to that which may be more experimental, more politically-minded, more persuasive and indeed passionately vehement to tackle contemporary issues– (abortion, foreign policy, religion, homophobia, racism, drugs, sex, corruption, his own government)– in a way that would not meet his approval. If his cuts do not entirely curtail the development of these projects, largely thanks to the saving grace of Canada’s Fringe Festivals and other festivals that mercifully foster, promote and stimulate new Canadian work free of censorship, cuts to Artistic funding make it more difficult for these shows to reach a large, mainstream audience. Margaret Atwood chastised Mr. Harper thus, “Every budding dictatorship begins by muzzling the artists, because they’re a mouthy lot and they don’t line up and salute very easily. Of course, you can always get some tame artists to design the uniforms and flags and the documentary about you, and so forth – the only kind of art you might need – but individual voices must be silenced, because there shall be only One Voice: Our Master’s Voice. Maybe that’s why Mr. Harper began by shutting down funding for our artists abroad. He didn’t like the competition for media space. The Conservative caucus has already learned that lesson. Rumour has it that Mr. Harper’s idea of what sort of art you should hang on your wall was signaled by his removal of all pictures of previous Conservative prime ministers from their lobby room – including John A. and Dief the Chief – and their replacement by pictures of none other than Mr. Harper himself. History, it seems, is to begin with him. In communist countries, this used to be called the Cult of Personality. Mr. Harper is a guy who – rumour has it, again – tried to disband the student union in high school and then tried the same thing in college. Destiny is calling him, the way it called Qin Shi Huang, the Chinese emperor who burnt all records of the rulers before himself. It’s an impulse that’s been repeated many times since, the list is very long. Tear it down and level it flat, is the common motto. Then build a big statue of yourself. Now that would be Art!”
It is significant to note that between 1927-1937 over 22,000 pieces of artwork created by more than 200 artists were confiscated by the Nazis and burned, sending many of these banned artists into exile or into Concentration Camps. Among the art burned were the work of Expressionists, Cubists, Dadaism, Surrealists, Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, including works of Picasso, Chagall and van Gogh. The Nazis felt that “these artists led young people astray and encouraged corrupt ideas.” Of course, Mr. Harper is not Adolf Hitler, he would not be able to get away with such blatant acts of censorship within his own Conservative regime, yet, here he is, covertly trying to suppress those individuals in our country who may have similar, so called, “corrupt ideas.” Then, he thinks that by singing a Beatles song (badly) at the National Arts Centre, he can shift the Nation’s consciousness away from what he has stolen from us, and delude Canada’s corporate elite into believing that he is a sponsor for the arts.

Let’s not forget that Hitler was a painter.
John Lennon, the man who penned “With a Little Help from My Friends” with Paul McCartney was quoted as saying, “Our society is being run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends.” I think he would be irate to know that a song he wrote was being used for such corrupt, hypocritical idiocy. “Imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for and no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace.” Such is my dream. Why do I think it would be Stephen Harper’s nightmare?

mark meer

This Just In From the Desk of Mark Meer:

Their credo was Obscure, their God was Inattentive…they called themselves THE DIE HARDS! In 1951, Ridge Wyatt (Jeff Haslam) lived wild and free on the road as part of The Die Hards, an infamous biker gang that tore across the continent spreading vague anxiousness, indifferent horror, and so-so poetry. There was cell-block terror “Chippy” (Leona Brausen), tough-as-tar “Black Betty” (Sheri Somerville), soul sisters “Scar” (Stephanie Wolfe) and “Nails” (Belinda Cornish), coltish nightmare “Pony Soda” (Matt Alden), road taught sweetheart “Candy Cave” (Davina Stewart) and the boss-man of ‘em all “Beef Manpile” (Donovan Workun). Then Ridge fell in love, went straight, joined the establishment… quit the gang. Now it’s 1960 and the past has come back to haunt. His wife is dead and his daughter… KIDNAPPED! But Ridge doesn’t turn to the cops… he turns back to THE DIE HARDS. Chopper engines and bongo drums… It’s camp, it’s cult, it’s the wild wild west on wheels!

Die-Nasty goes on a KERO-WACKY QUEST!

Join Dana Andersen, Cathleen Rootsaert, Stephanie Wolfe, Leona Brausen, Jeff Haslam, Mark Meer, Donovan Workun, Sheri Somerville, Tom Edwards, Davina Stewart, Belinda Cornish, Matt Alden, Peter Brown, Cathy Derkach, Paul Morgan Donald and Brad Fischer for the 19th season of Die-Nasty.

When: Monday October 19 @ ***7:30pm ***NEW TIME!

Where: The Varscona Theatre – 10329, 83 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta

Tix and passes available at the door.

chris craddock and nathan cuckow

photo by: Alex Felipe

BASH’d is a boisterous, testosterone-ridden, vigorous, powerful attack that grabs homophobia by the balls with a merciless crunch. Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow have created two totally gay rap artists, Feminem and T-bag, who turn the often homophobic hip hop genre on its head to tell a tale of star-crossed lovers Dillon and Jack, who just want to live happily ever after.
This play has been the hit of the Fringe Festivals in Toronto and New York, it has played to rave reviews off-Broadway, and Cradock and Cuckow were honored with a GLAAD Award and a Courage Award from the anti-violence project in New York. The show is well worth the accolades that have been thrust upon it since its debut in 2007. Indeed, there is no doubt that BASH’d, the “hip hopera,” has a message that is immediate, crucial and relevant. Nathan Cuckow and Chris Craddock give brilliantly charming performances that pack a real punch, and Ron Jenkins’ vivid direction makes the whole play hurtle by in a whirl that is part concert, part nigtclub, and part boxing ring. Cuckow has a particularly hilarious “Cher” moment and is heartbreaking as Dillon, a young man who inherits a swift injection of rage when his husband gets beaten up by a gang of homophobic “rednecks”, Craddock has a sweetness that is heart-melting as Jack, a well-adjusted young gay Romeo, and Cuckow and Craddock are perfection playing his two dads. The writing has bite, wit, and incredibly tight rhymes (with music by Aaron Macri), with thousands of words flying by eight miles a minute that leave you breathless just watching such a precisely executed hip hop homophobia bashing.
So, what’s wrong?
The show is playing at Theatre Passe Muraille until October 31st where I’m sure the audiences will stand and cheer in celebration of such a perfectly orchestrated attack on hatred, on violence and all crimes motivated by intolerance and unwarranted fear. Yet, it seems a bit unfair that Craddock and Cuckow should be throwing every athletic muscle in their bodies, every ounce of stamina, creative and otherwise, into such a compelling sermon for the converted.
My favourite thing about Chris Craddock as a playwright is that he is the master of writing the “issue play.” His plays for teenagers, which are available in an anthology entitled Naked at School: Three Plays for Teens, are three of the best plays written for teenagers that I have ever encountered. I think all three need to be produced and toured in repertory to every Junior High and High School across this country. Craddock pushes all the boundaries when dealing with plays about the issues that he is passionate about. He does not shy away from harsh language, he never simplifies or patronizes, he embraces contradiction and the—often brutal—reality of the world. Craddock knows how to write plays that are the opposite of lame.
In BASH’d, with Cuckow, Craddock has written another brilliant “issue play,” a play with the power to persuade, and indeed with the power to make the world a better place. This play has been incredibly successful in the theatre world, and I think it is time for BASH’d to forsake the audience who WANTS to see it in favour of the audience who NEEDS to see it. Only then will it reach the full potential it has to truly resonant across our country with all its intensity, its intelligence, rhythm and heart and to smash into the crevices where homophobia festers, and to give it a hard, swift kick in the ass.
BASH’d plays at Theatre Passe Muraille (16 Ryerson Avenue) until Oct 31st. Tuesday-Saturday at 7:30pm, Saturday matinees at 2:30pm. Tickets are Tuesday-Thursday $30.00, Friday and Saturday $35.00. Saturday Matinees are Pay What You Can (or $15.00 if booked in advance). For tickets call the box office at 416.504.7529 or visit http://www.artsboxoffice.ca/.

BASH’d will then been seen in OTTAWA at Great Canadian Theatre Company January 12 – 31, 2010 (613-236-5196) and then in VANCOUVER at The Cultch. Presented in partnership with the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad. February 16 – 20, 2010 (604-251-1363).

theodore bikel

It’s so interesting to see a performer come onstage in Toronto who is such a gigantic star the entire audience greets his entrance with a warm round of applause. That’s exactly what welcomed Theodore Bikel to the Winter Garden Theatre in the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company’s production of Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears which opened last evening.
This play is an interesting dichotomy because it seems to me that of Sholom Aleichem and Theodore Bikel, it is Bikel, who originated the role of Baron Von Trapp in The Sound of Music on Broadway and played Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof more than 2,000 times in 37 years, who has been directed by Laurence Olivier, and performed with Katherine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and Sidney Poitier, who keeps contemporary audiences continually captivated. How much is Sholom Aleichem remembered and revered? Is it his story that audiences want to see dramatized on the stage, or would they prefer to hear about Bikel’s own life and to see him sing and dance his own retrospective?
Yet, I think that may be the point. At the beginning of the play, Theodore Bikel, as Sholom Aleichem, speaks about the idea of legacy and asks the audience what they will remember most from this evening, what images will linger with them as they grow? Shalom Aleichem was a Jewish writer (1959-1916) who complied about 40 volumes of stories, novels and plays written in Yiddish, that were meant to “capture the soul of his people.” He moved to America during the First World War and in his works the traditional life of the shtetl was preserved “before it disappeared into the tragic abyss of history.” Bikel speaks about the Anglicization of Yiddish and how obsolete the language has become for contemporary Jews living in North America. How do we keep ourselves from becoming obsolete? How do we instill in the future generations the importance of understanding the past, the importance of holding on to tradition, and when does all of that become stifling and begin to thwart progress and change and the revitalization of the spirit?
Theodore Bikel puts on his white gloves and slips into the world of Sholom Aleichem. He speaks in the most captivating voice, straight from the heart, and sings in a language that I do not understand, but that I can feel very deeply. Indeed, there were many moments where the Jewish audience laughed with a far richer understanding than I did, but when Bikel speaks, you feel the connection with him, whether you ‘get’ the specifics of what he is saying or not, he is a master at communicating with his audience and drawing them into the story.
I was greatly interested in the story of Sholom Aleichem, the man who created the indomitable Tevye whose story was later adapted and turned into Fiddler on the Roof. I sat enthralled with the set, which was gloriously made up of perfectly chosen photographs to help create the world Bikel inhabited. I got lost in the eyes of the most adorable child whose innocence radiated from the stage as though he were really there. I was fascinated when Bikel transformed into Tevye, indeed as though he were slipping into an old, familiar set of clothes. Yet, as much as I was interested, as much as I wanted to learn and reflect, there was a part of me that just wanted this iconic, legendary performer to tell me about his experience working with Humphrey Bogart and to sing “If I Were a Rich Man.” Yet, I know, in that, that’s me wanting the Anglicization of this story, something which needs no translation or wisdom beyond my ears. Aleichem’s story is far richer and represents the tears and the laughter of generations of people who faced sorrow, pain and fear and whose poverty spawned the tradition of the shtetl.
Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears plays at the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company until October 18th, 20089 at the Winter Garden Theatre, 189 Yonge Street. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre Box Office or by calling ticketmaster at 416.872.5555 or visiting http://www.ticketmaster.ca/

daniela vlaskalic, natascha girgis, beth graham

The Drowning Girls, playing at the Tarragon Theatre Extra Space until November 15th, begins as three girls emerge sputtering from three pristine white bathtubs gasping for air. Yet, I found this production to be so visually stunning that more often than not, it was I who was struggling to catch my breath.
I met an extraordinary woman who was seated next to me in the audience of this play. She told me that it was nearly her 85th birthday and that she could hardly believe it, and she absolutely shone with the utmost of grace, class, wisdom and magic. Her soul was as bright as a rainbow. I am certain this woman has been to Neverland. Moments before The Drowning Girls began she whispered to me, “That’s what I like so much about the theatre, the theatre is an absolute adventure.” She is absolutely right and The Drowning Girls is a perfect example.
This play has been in development by collaborators Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson and Daniela Vlaskalic since its premiere at the Edmonton Fringe Festival in 1998, after which it received four Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards. It centers on the lives of three Edwardian women who were murdered by their husbands, drowned in a bathtub, so that he could collect their insurance policies. To call The Drowning Girls a “play” does not even seem to do it justice, as it is not simply a clever narrative, or a finely acted and cleverly orchestrated piece of theatre, but a poetic, haunting, captivating sequence of words, story, color, light, and water that thrashes and resonates in the heart of the audience. I was drawn forward in my seat, sucked so far into the stories that were being told that I felt Daniela may pierce me with her fiery eyes, or Beth would surely slide into the front row as she ran and twirled on the wet, wet, stage. My senses were being overwhelmed, I was becoming saturated, indeed, I was drowning in the richness of theatricality and the intensity of the performances. Yet, I wanted to remain submerged in this new, fascinating world far beyond the Curtain Call.
We are introduced to the three drowning girls, Bessie (Vlaskalic), Alice (Graham) and Margaret (Natascha Girgis), dressed in exquisite ghoulish attire by the brilliant Bretta Gerecke. Each girl is fulfilling her dream of becoming a wife. Daniela Vlaskalic’s Bessie floats about the room with her eyes wide with terror as though in a trance. Beth Graham’s Alice is exuberant and fanciful as a child seeking mischief, and Natascha Girgis’ Margaret is a pillar of strength and practicality who takes life like a slightly bitter tasting medicine. Together, the three of them are inseparable and unconquerable; but alone, each one grows increasingly susceptible to the dangerous charms of George Joseph Smith and one by one their dreams of being showered with love and showered with affection are sunk into the tub.
The performances in this play are extraordinary. I sat with my mouth gaping open as I struggled to take in every vital moment. The three performers snap between their Drowning Girls and portraying a wide array of peripheral characters with perfect ease. Vlaskalic is brilliant in the creation of a creepy chauvinist doctor, and she also performs the most heart wrenching sobbing scene I have ever seen onstage. Beth Graham is absolutely epic as the old British woman who cleans out one of the bathtubs after the drowning girl’s death. In a similar role, Natascha Girgis is wonderfully hysterical. There is also an incredible moment in one of the bathtubs where the girls transform into the associates of Marks and Knowles, a Dickensian looking establishment where one of the girls takes out her life insurance policy.
The maneuvers that these performers do in and around the bathtubs are nearly terrifying in their dexterity. I kept worrying that someone was going to hit her head on the side of the tub, or slip on the wet stage, or bang herself, or bruise herself, or fall, or drown… it is incredible to watch, especially Beth Graham, play in her very dangerous jungle gym. There is a moment between Daniela Vlaskalic and Natascha Girgis that is absolutely chilling to the bone.
All the elements of theatricality are in perfect tandem in The Drowning Girls. The script, Charlie Thomlinson’s beyond brilliant direction, the performances, the lighting by Narda McCarroll and the Set and Costumes by Bretta Gerecke come together to create an intense water wonderland that will truly take your breath away.
The Drowning Girls is a Bent Out of Shape Production and it plays until November 15th, 2009 in the Tarragon Theatre Extra Space. 30 Bridgman Avenue, Toronto. 416.531.1827. For more information visit http://www.tarragontheatre.com/.

beth graham and daniela vlaskalic

On Tuesday I was extremely excited to be led through the winding labyrinth of Tarragon Theatre to the quaint Extra Space Green Room to talk to the incredible team of Beth Graham and Daniela Vlaskalic about their play The Drowning Girls which opened last night October 14th and runs until November 15th, 2009 in the Tarragon Extra Space. The play is the recipient of four of Edmonton’s Sterling Awards and four of Calgary’s Betty Mitchell Awards and is based on the true story of an Edwardian serial killer George Joseph Smith who killed three of his wives in their bathtubs to inherit their insurance policies.

Amanda Campbell (AC): I usually begin by asking this question: Who are you, Where are you from and How did you get so talented?

Daniela Vlaskalic (DV): You want to go first?

Beth Graham (BG): No, I want you to go first. *grins really big*

DV: Okay, well, I’m Daniela. And I’m from- that’s a bit of a crazy question. It’s kind of a long story. Well, I’m from Vancouver, even though I was born in Thunder Bay and I’ve lived in Alberta. I’ve sort of lived all over. And now I live in Toronto. That’s the short version, anyway. And… what was the last question again?

AC: How did you get so talented?

DV: Oh God, I don’t know how to answer that. Um, I went to University and got a BFA and that’s where I met Beth and Charlie (Tomlinson), who is our director and our other collaborator on this project. So, I had done a College Theatre program and did theatre in High School. Then, after finishing University, I started acting and auditioning and stuff, and then started creating and writing with Charlie and Beth, and I sort of haven’t stopped since. That’s what we’ve been doing for the past ten or eleven years since we graduated.

BG: I’m Beth, and I will say that I’m from Cochrane, Alberta, which is a town outside of Calgary. I grew up there and I did not move very much. I’m basically the opposite of Daniela. My parents still live in the same house they did when I was growing up! *laughs* I went to Edmonton to do my BFA and met Daniela and I still pretty much continue to live and work in Edmonton today. Edmonton and its surrounding areas. *laughs*.

AC: So, I know you wrote this play for the Edmonton Fringe Festival after you graduated. Had you considered yourself to be “writers” prior to this point?

DV: We always wanted to create our own work. I don’t think we- I never considered myself to be a writer so much. We started this play ten years ago, that’s when we wrote its first inception, which is very different than the play that we’re performing here.

BG: We knew that we wanted to work together when we were in school, and when we met Charlie, he was like a kindred spirit for us too.

DV: And he had experience working in Creation-Based Theatre. I don’t know if that’s exactly what people call it, but he’d been doing that sort of theatre in Newfoundland and in other places as well and he really encouraged us to figure out what we wanted to say. We really found a good threesome with him. Collaboration is so difficult, I think, because more often than not, it doesn’t work. But we ended up having the right mixture of personalities and we really lucked out. So Beth and I continued to create plays together and Charlie went back to Newfoundland where he still works. So, after we did The Drowning Girls in the [Edmonton] Fringe Festival, we shelved it, knowing that we wanted to come back to it, but we wanted it to not be Fringe. We wanted there to be designers involved and to expand it. We wanted to see the play the way that we envisioned it in our heads. And that takes money. And it took us something like… two years… just working on getting the funding for it.

BG: Yeah.

DV: We were working on getting a support team to help us with the show’s development, but it takes a long time just to get to that point. I understand why people would rather just move on to something new because it is hard. But ultimately, I think, it’s so worthwhile.

AC: I know that in Edmonton people tend to create their own work. It seems to me to sort of be “the Edmonton Way.” Did you have any artists who you saw working in the Fringe Festival or while you were in school who inspired you and made you go: “I want to do THAT!”

BG: There was a bit of that, I think, definitely. There are people there who create their own theatre, and the people who create their own work are for sure an important part of the theatre community.

DV: It was the year when Catalyst Theatre started up and they were doing new and exciting things that we weren’t seeing in other places. But, I think there- I don’t know if it’s just an Edmonton thing, certainly you see a lot of people creating new work in Calgary and in Vancouver.

BG: I’m seeing a lot of it here too.

DV: Yeah, and here too. I think it’s more of a Canadian thing. There is this little pocket of people who are going about theatre in a non traditional way, rather than the sort of creation of a well-made play where you write a play and then find a director-

BG: Or find an already written play.

DV: Yeah, or find an already written play. Theatre Companies here allow for a different process, which is so essential and, I think, exciting. This version of The Drowning Girls couldn’t have existed without it. We had our original play, and then we rewrote it and workshopped that version and now we have this version. Even during the week here, there have been changes made to the play. So, we are constantly in development. You are never really done with it. It always evolves, and that is so exciting for us as artists, and I hope that it’s exciting for the audience too; to see something that has been in development for ten years. We’ve both grown and changed in that time, and the play has grown and changed and I hope that it will continue to do so.

BG: Hopefully.

DV: Also, here at the Tarragon, it has been so great to have a week of previews. The play has changed even since our first preview. It’s so great to be able to see the way the play works in front of an audience, and then to go back and have a five hour rehearsal and to be able to say “that still isn’t working,” “what if we tried this tonight?” “Why don’t we do this and see what happens.” That’s rare. I don’t know anywhere else where that sort of thing is possible.

BG: Catalyst. *laughs*. I’m sure there’s lots of places…

DV: But to have so many previews.

BG: Oh, I see what you mean. Yeah. That’s definitely true. It’s different when you are changing things in front of an audience.

DV: Yeah, I mean, there are lots of theatres where things change right up until the last minute, but in those places you usually only have one preview… maybe two. So having a whole week is just so great.

AC: Your play is based on the true story of George Joseph Smith, a British serial killer, how did you come upon this guy?

BG: We sort of stumbled across it. It’s based on the Scotland Yard case file of George Joseph Smith. Funnily enough, we had wanted to start the play with a girl in a bathtub before we even heard of the story. We were exploring the ideas of drowning and it being hard for us to breathe and how that connected to our own lives, when Daniela came across this case file and we sort of look at each other and went, “Yeah. This is the vehicle through which we can tell our story.”

DV: But for us it was more about the women- the wives- than it was about him. So we started to examine the lives of the women in their lifetime and to see how much has changed, and we looked at the idea of marriage then and now, and we thought about the fear that people had, and that ultimately I think people still have, of being alone. As we read and we researched, we started to ask the question, “were these women just naive?” I think it’s easy to say “How could they not see the type of man he [George Joseph Smith] was?”

BG: After reading the case I found myself wondering, “How could they have fallen for his lies?” But the more I read about it and thought about it, the more I started to wonder, maybe I could have fallen for it. This man was very convincing.

DV: He was giving these women exactly what they wanted.

BG: He was saying exactly what they wanted to hear. So, you sort of have to answer that question for yourself; how they could have become trapped by him.

DV: In our original version of the play we only had two of his wives, and when we expanded it we added in the third wife. We had talked about her in the first version, but she wasn’t a central character.

BG: Having all three wives, in a way, three is what makes him a multiple murderer. And I think it makes it more universal. Three is such a dynamic number onstage because, sometimes you can’t help choosing sides when you have two characters.

DV: And all three of the women are at different stages of their lives, they are different ages, and come from different circumstances and they all have a different perception of what he is… or what they think that he is saving them… “saving” them from. Having three wives just works much better, and that’s one of the things that you discover in time and that’s why it’s so great to be able to come back to the play and have a chance to incorporate everything that you’ve learned into it.

AC: Is the play heavily based on your research or has it mostly come from your imaginations?

BG: Both.

DV: We did a lot of research and then we got rid of a lot of research. I don’t know if that makes sense. We learned everything we could; and then we also made up a lot of our own stories. Most of the information that you can find is about him as well, because he was the murderer and there was a trial and a case file and all that stuff. There wasn’t as much information about the women, I mean, of course, there were their names, and where they were from and a little background information, but most of the stuff in our play is made up or imposed on them, usually stemming from a much smaller detail that we know, like how old someone was, for instance.

BG: Sometimes I feel like it gets further and further away from the historical fact every time we do it, and it becomes more and more about the women.

AC: You sort of touched on this a bit before, but when I was reading about this man and his wives on Wikipedia, I was thinking, it seemed very Edwardian and Victorian, for women to be so dependent on their husbands and so desperate to get married as an economic decision. You think of women who’s father died leaving them with nothing, and whose brothers won’t support them and you see how fragile their ability to have a livelihood is. But then I started to think about modern day tabloids and girls who go missing and it later comes out that their husbands killed them; and you start to think that maybe this story is far more relevant than it first appears.

BG: Yeah, absolutely. A lot of the values and-

DV: The Status.

BG: Yeah, the status, and the myth of marriage and the status of marriage still exists. There is still so much pressure put on women from their families, I think. What do you think?

DV: I completely agree. We like to tell ourselves that we don’t believe or uphold those traditional ideals anymore. We tell ourselves that we’ve come so far, but it still feels like there’s still that desire to not be alone. I mean, being considered a spinster or an old maid, that doesn’t happen anymore at twenty-six, so it has moved somewhat, but there is still pressure there in the societal consciousness. I mean, look at the Internet and websites like Eharmony and Plenty of Fish.

BG: Oh yeah, George Joseph Smith would have loved those.

DV: We don’t want to be alone either.

BG: And Smith was really smart, this was the time when the world saw the introduction to Life Insurance Policies and it’s almost remarkable how he was on to that. He was a sneaky, sneaky dude.

DV: We keep exploring and questioning the nature of love. Does love make you so blind that you can’t see these sorts of schemes? How much do you forgive? Sometimes, you know, you step back later and you wonder how you could have fallen for this person, or why you acted the way you did. That is a common thing that you hear today, but still, I think that we want to be blinded by love. I don’t know if it can be objective to be in love. I don’t know if that’s possible. *Daniela and Beth both laugh heartily* Maybe some people can.

AC: So, you’re working in bathtubs onstage. What are some of the challenges in that as actors? Does it get really cold?

DV: The tubs are actually warm. The water is warm.

BG: Having the tub and having the water onstage is a huge part of the show. Like, there have been so many, “happy accidents” as Charlie calls them. Like, someone’s foot hanging out of the tub a certain way, and the water dripping off the stocking and the shadow that it makes on the floor… the water is really like another character in the play. Working with the water, rehearsing with the water, at times has been a bit like torture.

DV: But rehearsing with the water is one thing, and then rehearsing without the water is a different thing again and then performing- it’s hard to explain. The water has a personality of its own. And it really depends on the space how well it works. This space is great for the water because it is so intimate and it doesn’t get really cold. I don’t know, I think you get used to it.

BG: The water also has this ability to become other things within the world of the play. Like it contributes to the soundscape with the splashing. It’s really fun.

AC: Did you create the play mostly through Improvisation or did you tend to go away, write it and then come in and rehearse?

BG: Initially, we were a lot up on our feet. We would write the framework and then from there the play was constantly changing to accommodate what we had discovered as actors. And that still happens, to some extent. There’s a lot of stuff that is written on its feet, like I might say, “can you say something about this at this point?”

DV: Charlie is our outside eye, so it’s really important to have his vision and his input. And we’re inside it, so we’re able to say things like, “Okay, well, this feels weird.” “This seems overwritten” or “this feels underwritten.” Where as, Charlie is able to see the play as an audience would, so he can tell us when he doesn’t understand an aspect of it or to say, “I’m not connecting to this moment right here.” We really are a collaborative threesome. And also, Natascha, who plays the third wife, she’s contributed as well.

BG: Yeah, sometimes by asking questions she helps us to develop the text, and sometimes she says things like, “it feels more natural for me to do it this way.”

DV: It’s also a very visual piece, so the lighting designer’s input… the lighting is an enormous element. In a lot of ways, it’s the lighting and the water that tell the story. So, it really does feel like such a collaboration, I know all theatre is but….

AC: My last question is, you have four plays that you’ve collaborated on, are there any plans to revisit and to expand any of the others?

BG: Yeah, always.

DV: We are going to go back to another one of our plays.

BG: We have already gone back to one. It’s called Comrades and it’s about these two Italian anarchists who were imprisoned for a crime that we don’t they they committed. There are a lot of people who don’t believe they committed this crime. And we went back and developed that play together.

DV: It’s published in the same sort of anthology as The Drowning Girls.

AC: Can you get that at Theatre Books?

DV: Yes, you can. Although I think it was sold out there the last time I checked.

AC: Oh. Well, that’s good! They’ll have to get in some more copies.

DV: We are going to go back and develop one of our older plays, and we are also going to start a new one. That is the plan.

BG: Yeah. That’s the plan.

DV: It’s hard to do, because you would sort of like some support, like a theatre company to get behind you, but there are a lot of writers and a lot of new plays, so really, it usually comes down to us having to do it on our own.

BG: Or at least, we have to get it to a certain point.

DV: Yeah. And that can be good in a way.

AC: Yeah, because then you can write what you want to write.

DV: Yeah. And we have a website!

BG: A brand new website!

Utterly delightful and exceptionally talented, Beth Graham and Daniela Vlaskalic have created a stunning play in The Drowning Girls and despite the fact that they spend a great deal of it underwater, it is the audience who is left with the Goosebumps.

The Drowning Girls plays at The Tarragon Theatre Extra Space (30 Bridgman Avenue) until November 15th, 2009. For more information and to purchase tickets please call 416.531.1827 or visit http://www.tarragontheatre.com/

bob martin and david shore

On Thanksgiving Sunday after filling myself to the absolute limit with the best turkey I have ever had, mountains of mashed potatoes, scalloped carrots, apple pie and pumpkin pie, I found myself at the Gladstone Hotel. On a chalk board over the bar someone had expertly drawn a picture of a monkey, primed to duke it out, versus a giant turkey, who looked far more bewildered, which I think is characteristic of them. This was meant to epitomize the battle that Monkey Toast, the Improvisational Talk Show, would be struggling against as Thanksgiving threatened to keep their audience members cozy and feasting at home. Yet, as I looked around the packed little “ballroom” and people searched for empty chairs, it was clear; the monkey stood triumphant.
Monkey Toast is a very cleverly constructed show that has been produced by David Shore for the past six and half years. The concept is that primarily, there is a talk show, in which David Shore interviews three guests who have an expertise or talent that would appeal to the general public. I assume that these guests are usually public figures in Toronto, especially those in the entertainment industry, as his guests on Thanksgiving Sunday were Sketch Comedy Performer Pat Thornton (The Sketchersons, HOTBOX, Etc.), Deli Owner Zane Caplanski and Tony Award winning actor/improviser/musical book writer Bob Martin. Shore conducts Monkey Toast very much as though he is a Late Night Television Host like David Letterman or Conan O’Brien, he even does an opening monologue. The guests all chat with Shore, as one would in any interview, and tell pertinent stories about their lives and their careers. Pat Thornton did a short Stand-Up routine before settling down to be interviewed, as a young comic might have done on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. What makes this Talk Show unique, apart from the fact that it is “live from the theatre you’re sitting in,” is that after each segment, instead of an incorrigible bout of commercials, Monkey Toast gives you a rousing selection of Improv from the Monkey Toast Players based on some aspect of the interviews that preceded it. The result is incredibly funny, enlightening and entertaining.
I had seen first guest Pat Thornton in The Sketchersons at Comedy Bar last Spring, but I don’t think I had entirely realized that they write brand new sketches every week, so that every Sunday Night Live is a brand new Sketch Show. That is pretty incredible, especially when you take into consideration the quality of their work. You can find HOTBOX on The Comedy Network (which is on your television. Remember those things you watched before Facebook was invented?). Speaking of Facebook, that’s where I first came across Caplansky’s Deli, as Monkey Toast (and Impromptu Splendor) Improvisers Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus had written on their profiles singing the praises of smoked meat sandwiches and lo and behold, the “meat messiah” has arrived at the Monkey. Caplansky is running one of the hottest businesses in town, a place where five hundred customers can easily show up per day, and he has often literally run out of meat before closing time. I have heard there is nothing else like it this side of Montreal, so if you like a good sandwich (and who doesn’t!?) you should wander over to 356 College Street. I’ve been told to ask for the knish.
Of course, I knew Bob Martin because of his Tony Award winning musical The Drowsy Chaperone, which he wrote with Don McKellar, Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, in which he played Man in Chair, Sutton Foster played Janet Van De Graaff and Beth Leavel played the Drowsy Chaperone. Martin is working on at least five projects at the moment, mostly in New York, and fielding phone calls from people like Barry Manilow and other Hollywood huge, huge stars. He told Shore about Geoffrey Rush playing Man in Chair in the Australian Premiere of The Drowsy Chaperone, about the new Broadway show he has in development, a musical called Minsky’s, as well as an adaptation of the film Elf which is slated for a seasonal run on Broadway around Christmas 2010. He also spoke of the oddities one encounters while raising a toddler, and he inspired the improvisers to coin the phrases “rape over the coals” and “Nazi Cancer” in their particularly hysterical, boundary-pushing Improv scenes.
The Monkey Toast Players are incredible in their ability to draw creative inspiration from the stories that are told by the guests, as well as to combine aspects from different stories with astute cleverness. There is a distinct familiarity that these improvisers have with one another that solidifies their performance and their ability to safely go to the boundaries of the scene and to take brave risks, which are thrilling to watch. Paul Constable, Naomi Snieckus and Sandy Jobin-Bevans were especially vibrant to watch on Thanksgiving Sunday. Jan Caruana is brilliant when she throws herself entirely into a character, as she did in one particular moment when she started belting out an improvised pop song with reckless abandon. It was Matt Baram, however, who I felt was giving the most consistently hilarious, the most powerfully dynamic and the most incredibly compelling performance at Monkey Toast. He created this incredibly funny sound effect actor who was dreadful at his job, and this ancient Jewish deli owner who spent his days trying to die and not succeeding, and then, oddly enough, he played Hitler, all with nuance, panache, and heapings of hilarity.
If your Sunday evenings are lonely and cold these days, the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom boasts of warm cozy food, cold, alcoholic beverages, and Monkey Toast: a show as original as its name bringing down the turkey with its own special blend of Toronto’s biggest superstars and comedy as Canadian as bacon.
Monkey Toast plays October 25th at 8:00pm (with Guest Star Colin Mochrie), November 15th at 9pm and December 7th and 20th at 8pm all at the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen Street West. All Shows are Pay What You Think The Show Is Worth at the End of the Performance. For more information you can visit this fine website.