Theatre is Territory

Archive for April, 2007

10 questions: Claire Hopkinson

Friday, April 27th, 2007

1) What the fuck is going on?
A tremendous amount, that’s for sure. There is a mind boggling amount of wonderful work happening in Toronto – all the time. The biggest change for me personally – since leaving my theatre/opera producing career a year and a half ago – is to make sense of the whole spectrum of arts activity in Toronto.

I’m in exploration mode, and it is quite exciting. I now wish I’d known more of what was going on in visual, new media and dance while I was at Tapestry, because of the potential there for interesting artistic collaborations. Theatre and contemporary opera are such inclusive fields, but we don’t always get the chance to see the work of artists from different disciplines.

2) Do you feel that the Toronto Arts Council (TAC) is currently living up to the spirit of its mandate?
I do. Approximately 100 artists and arts workers sit on the various arts discipline committees and make recommendations regarding TAC grants. They also advise on emerging trends and the development of policy. In this sense, TAC is really the largest “artist-owned” arts council in the world.

There are many challenges, of which funding is not the least. We need to respond to the whole city of Toronto, including the former boroughs, which had little arts investment in earlier years. Responding to the diversity that is Toronto is also a key issue. Responding to new talents and visions on the scene is critical, but we also can’t neglect existing organizations that contribute so much to the health and vitality of our arts community.

Currently, TAC funds approximately 450 organizations and 200 individual artists. Fully two-thirds of all grants have the potential to go to new projects and individuals each year. In this way, TAC acts as a catalyst for contemporary expression, and most often is the “first funder” for new groups.

3) How do you feel about the current state of arts funding in Toronto?
I am in a painful quandary. In comparison with all the major cities in North America, Toronto has the lowest municipal arts funding rate. Toronto’s per capita contributions to arts, culture and heritage (including both operating and capital expenditures) is $14.64. Compare this to Vancouver at $17.71, Chicago at $21.95, Montreal at $26.62 and San Francisco at $86.01. Toronto’s municipal funding is not sufficient for a city that is home to so many talented people, a city that is a hotbed of creativity, a city whose value-proposition truly is arts and culture!

This is not to say that the arts are not valued here. We have champions at City Hall, and our current Mayor is certainly arts-friendly. If you read the newspapers these days, you’ll know that the City is in a terrible financial straight jacket. Years of downloading from the Province plus a Federal government that seems unwilling to invest in Toronto, are taking their toll.

My question is, what can we as citizens, as artists, as people who care about this city do about it? If you are not yet a member of Toronto Arts Coalition, this is a internet-based group of arts supporters and a forum for communication with politicians. It is free and you can join by going to www.torontoartscoalition.org.

4) How much of the Toronto Arts Council’s budget goes to supporting theatre artists?
$2,313,550, or nearly 25% of TAC’s entire grants budget went to theatre organizations and theatre projects in 2006. TAC also funds organizations and projects in the disciplines of dance, community arts, music, visual and media arts.

We also have an individual artist grants program for composers, writers, visual artists and media artists totalling $987,600. Some of these applications also involved work for theatre.

5) What is the Toronto Arts Council looking for when it reviews grant applications from theatre artists?
I recruited Margo Charlton, TAC’s theatre officer, to answer the next few questions:

“I don’t think it’s what is TAC looking for – it is what are your peers looking for? TAC, like all funding councils, works as an arm’s-length agency that uses peer adjudication. A standing committee of 10 members of the theatre community review the applications based on the assessment criteria given to all applicants in the application form.

“For project grants they are looking for a combination of artistic excellence (based on the script sample or other support material) and how clearly the applicant expresses their objectives. They keep in mind how the project will impact the larger community, the theatre community and the artists involved. For operating grants they look at the company’s mandate, their track record and their plans. They discuss a company’s connection to the community, their relevance and their outreach.

“The assessment process is by its very nature subjective, but we strive to have a balance around the table. TAC is the only funder that has a 10-person jury and all of the artists are from Toronto, so they know the scene here. We hope the committee is a microcosm of the larger theatre community. Anyone can be nominated to sit on the committee. So it is not TAC who is ‘judging’ the work, it is your peers who are balancing out a number of criteria to come to decision.”


6) What are some of the common mistakes you see on grant applications?
Common mistakes on grant applications include:

  • Incomplete applications
  • Applications that come in too early without key pieces of information such as director and cast
  • Little or no information about process, such as a director’s statement about how the work will be developed or staged
  • Unrealistic budgets

Margo Charlton runs grant-writing workshops throughout the year. They are promoted through TAPA and other organizations. They are free of charge. The two-hour workshops provide lots of tips on how to write effective grants. Look for a workshop in June before the August deadline.

    7) Do you see any fundamental problems with the grant system of arts funding?
    It isn’t nimble. Because it involves a committee review process, it takes time to turn grants around (3-4 months). When opportunities arise we aren’t able to respond outside of the deadlines.

    There isn’t enough money to support companies at the levels needed. This is particularly a problem for smaller companies because they don’t have the infrastructure to do the kind of fundraising needed. TAC grants for project productions are on average between $8000-$10,000 – it takes way more money to mount a show and can take an indie company three years to find enough resources to finish a project.

    8) Aside from applying for grants, what can local artists do to improve their access to resources and income?
    Well when it comes to the granting system, don’t hesitate to call TAC’s grants officers. Margo Charlton is here to be of assistance. Talking to her is free!

    If a company intends to be around for a while it is good to incorporate and apply for a charitable status. Then you are eligible to apply for foundation support, and give tax receipts to individual donors. If that is too much for small groups then you have to be resourceful - find ways to co-pro with other groups in order to pool resources, look for in-kind support, negotiate deals on everything from lumber to printing. Ask for advice from more established companies – many veterans are happy to mentor artists trying to get started. They’ve been there themselves. Successful companies put a lot, a lot of time into building relationships with the community. Small groups, too, can raise money by fundraisers, which also turn out to be “friend-raisers”.

    Both Margo and I have produced a lot of shows for small theatre companies and we know it’s tough. Most importantly, communicate what you do in the most inventive way possible. Your blog site is brilliant, for instance.

    9) What are some of the Toronto Arts Council’s recent successes?
    The City budget committee has just recommended a $400,000 increase to TAC, despite very difficult financial times for the City. This will be voted on next week by City Council, so keep your fingers crossed.

    Through the Toronto Arts Council Foundation, TAC’s sister organization, we’ve been successful in partnering with other organizations and some corporations to find new sources of revenue for the arts. A unique partnership with United Way of Greater Toronto, for instance, has enabled us to increase the amount of funding for arts programming targeted at youth growing up in high-needs areas of the city.

    10) Any other tips for theatre artists trying to navigate the bewildering world of municipal, provincial and federal arts funding bodies?
    Research funding agencies though their websites to get basic information, but don’t hesitate to talk to arts officers. Funding organizations have been created to help artists – it is at the heart of everything we do.

    My epiphany in running a small arts organization a number of years back was in realizing that funding agencies were my partners, not my judges. Don’t try to cram your ambitions into what you might perceive to be strict funding criteria – express you aspirations in a compelling fashion – you are, after all, talking to other artists.

    Tags: , ,
    Posted in 10 questions, Toronto Arts Council | 2 Comments »

    The Daisey cutters

    Thursday, April 26th, 2007

    Not sure how much news of this has made it north of the border to Canada. In case you missed it: A recent performance of U.S.-based monologist Mike Daisey’s Invincible Summer was disrupted when 87 members of a “Christian group” walked out of the show en masse, destroying the show’s original outline as they left.

    Check out Mike’s incredible blog entry and video footage of the bizarre confrontation here. And then read about the aftermath here.

    Tags:
    Posted in theatre | 4 Comments »

    How to write a sentence

    Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

    “For me, a play is a form of writing which isn’t complete until it is interpreted by actors. But it’s still a form of writing. And so most of my time is spent thinking about how to write a sentence.”

    – Wallace Shawn

    Tags:
    Posted in theatre | No Comments »

    Who wrote it? Who knows – but we like it

    Monday, April 23rd, 2007


    Have you checked out your WikiPlay lately? Here’s an excerpt we enjoyed from the Steams of consciousness thread:

    The curtains open to reveal that the whole stage is shrouded in darkness except for a single spotlight with an empty chair inside its light. After approximately 30 seconds, a man dressed in a smart suit with a briefcase walks into the light and sits down on the chair, placing the briefcase beside him. Then looks at his watch as he taps his foot.

    /looks at the audience the whole time./

    MAN: Where the hell are they?!!

    /sighs/

    MAN: This always happens . . .

    /pause/

    Man: I always turn up a few minutes early. They always turn up god knows how many hours later. If at all!! I mean. . . I always tell them “Now try to be on time for once.” Then they’re like –

    /Puts on a voice/
    MAN: Oh, don’t be so goddamn stupid! We’re always on time. It’s just your watch is too fast. Stop being stupid.

    MAN: Me!! STUPID?! They always act like it’s my fault they’re late! They blame me for their ineptness. Sometimes I think they’re just a sorry excuse for friends. Alright . . . Malcolm isn’t too bad and Judy . . . I suppose. Judy

    /leans back in the chair, folding his arms as if reminiscing/

    MAN: Judy she always does this thing . . .

    /chuckles slightly/

    MAN: She always munches down on Cheetos before she is going to have sex.

    Check out the entire WikiPlay, and all its threads here.

    Tags:
    Posted in theatre | No Comments »

    10 questions: Greatest hits – Volume II

    Thursday, April 19th, 2007

    1) What the fuck is going on?
    That’s the crucial question – the question that as artists we have to ask ourselves every day. Marvin Gaye taught us to ask that question.

    So in short: the glaciers are melting, the water is rising. The world is changing and staying the same all in the same moment. But right now, it’s very nice to enjoy a cup of tea and some coffee cake contemplating these 10 questions.

    2) Is it important for a theatre company to have some kind of manifesto or mission statement?
    I think it’s helpful. It doesn’t necessarily have to be too specific (it should give you license to do just about anything you want), but it’s nice to have some sort of root or anchor to return to when you’re feeling lost or without identity. When we were creating Gorey Story we’d often go back to “space and the body” to remind ourselves of the theatre we were trying to create.

    I’m also a member of Wordsmyth Theatre, and their mandate is of the “great stories well told” variety. We’re rehearsing The Seagull right now and that phrase gives us a clear focus, it brings us back to what we want to do, which is to tell the story and tell it well. But if a mandate or mission statement makes you feel claustrophobic then it’s counter-productive. Change it.

    3) How do you keep the audience from messing up the flow of your trick during a street performance?
    Training and doing 1,000 shows. A wise busker said to me once, “until you do 1,000 shows you suck. After that, you’re just crappy.” Practice again and again and again and again and again. Keep the flow. Don’t give people a chance to interrupt or take control by having what you’re going to say planned, even if it looks made up, it can’t be. Sure you can put stuff in on the fly, but always have a bit to launch into.

    Catherine Frid

    4) How do you know if your jokes are funny?
    Some settings lend themselves more to humour than others: in Golden Door the porn shop is a funnier place than the Japanese internment camp. Jokes in theatre have to be simple. But it’s not all that difficult for a writer because good actors can make almost any line funny with their delivery and body language. As a person who is simply not funny, I really envy that. Last June I wrote a speech for my sister and it was hilarious when she gave it. If I’d read that same text it would have been as funny as a Lake Ontario marine weather forecast.

    Megan Flynn

    5) What does the title of One Reed Theatre’s latest play Nor The Cavaliers Who Come With Us mean?
    Nor the Cavaliers Who Come With Us is a phrase from El Requiremento – The Requirement, which was a decree created by the King of Spain, read aloud by the conquistadors to each nation or village they encountered before beginning the attack. Of course, it was read in Spanish or Latin to peoples who neither spoke nor understood Spanish or Latin, and therefore was rather useless as a tool of diplomacy or otherwise. El Requiremento basically says that the land belongs to the King and Queen of Spain, and they are sent as representatives of the church to take rightful possession of land, and that any damages or losses incurred as a result of the resistance of the people “is not our fault, nor the cavaliers who come with us.”

    The B-Girlz

    6) Does drag performance always refer back to ideas of gender performance?

    BARBIE-Q: I think very few of our shows have anything to do with farmyard animals . . . although back when I was young I learned an interesting sound from George, our pet gander.

    KORA: Idiot – that’s gender.

    BARBIE-Q: Oh. I dunno.

    Chris Reynolds

    7) What makes site-specific theatre distinct from other kinds of theatre?
    It’s like that warm day in May when your high school teacher brought the whole class outside and you spent the hour learning about Social Studies while sitting on the grass. Site-specific theatre causes me to look at the same things in a different way. It removes my preconceived notions about how things should be.

    Michael Wheeler

    8) How has your background in Russian theatre shaped your current work as a Toronto-based theatre artist?
    The Russians take their theatre pretty friggin’ seriously, so some of it has washed off on me I guess. When I was studying at the Moscow Art Theatre I had a separate form in my wallet to go with my visa. It was a letter from Head Dramaturge Anatoly Smeliansky. It asserted that I truly was a student at the school and had a stamp and everything. Its main purpose was to stop cops from shaking us down, which happened on a weekly basis in the tunnels they use instead of crosswalks. It worked without fail. There was not a corrupt militsia in the city who did not know Anatoly by name. We usually got our paperz back with an apology. A world where dramaturges have that much power gives me hope.

    Terrance Odette

    9) Do you think that live theatre is particularly suited to telling certain kinds of stories?
    Yes. But I think more than not theatre these days tries to be a film and tells stories the wrong way. Beckett and Pinter are big influences on me as an artist period. But they both made and make works that come alive on stage time and time again – Chekhov and Ibsen as well. They are first playwrights and only second, directors. They work with emotions through performance – image, plays a supporting role. Much to my disappointment, most filmmakers these days do the same thing. Film is first and foremost image.

    Lea Ambros

    10) Are there any recent technological innovations that are changing the way theatre is made?
    Sure, especially theatre on a shoe-string. The proliferation of random crap that is cheaply available as a result of our fucked up economy sure makes it easy to make neat props. Also, flashlights just keep getting better.

    Tags:
    Posted in 10 questions | No Comments »

    Who’s theatre-blogging this town anyway?

    Monday, April 16th, 2007

    We like to think of them as cultural cartographers: next-generation journalists plotting their maps of Toronto’s theatre scene one blog post at a time. They are theatre-bloggers of the local variety, and we love them deeply.

    Toronto-based artist Tara Beagan is theatre-blogging. Here’s a sample:

    “ ’Bout a year and a half ago, while in the midst of having a play of mine produced by a company that had an existing infrastructure and staff and an annual budget and all of that fancy stuff, I found myself battling disinterest in the form that my play was inhabiting. Not theatre itself, but naturalistic (in fact hyper-realistic in this case) theatre. I kept saying to my closest friends, ‘I love the team on this, but I’m kinda over this play.’ ”


    Toronto-based artist     Adam Paolozza is theatre-blogging from China:

    “It is always interesting to note the difference between two cultures by examining tiny, seemingly insignificant gestures. Take for example the difference between the way Canadians and Chinese ash their cigarette.”


    The folks at     blogTO are most definitely theatre-blogging:

    “blogTO is a web site about Toronto written by a group of obsessed artists, musicians, photographers, politicos, advertising and media types, dancers, tech geeks, food lovers, aspiring film directors, fashionistas and people for the ethical treatment of animals.” Ella Cooper, Jack Grinhaus, Megan Mooney and Crips Reynolds are among the theatre-bloggers at blogTO.

    Torontoist the theatre-ist:

    “Torontoist is the largest, most influential, and most widely-read blog of its kind in Canada, with 120,000 unique readers and 200,000 page views each month (and growing quickly—an increase of 100% since January 2006). Established in October 2004 as part of the fifteen-city Gothamist network, Torontoist focuses on absolutely everything related to Toronto, including arts, events, news, photography, food, and a whole lot more.” Check out Torontoist’s theatre section.


    Who else is theatre-blogging this town? We’d love to hear about it. Please drop us a line with the info.

    Tags:
    Posted in theatre link love | 2 Comments »

    10 questions: Geoff Kolomayz

    Friday, April 13th, 2007

    1) What the fuck is going on?
    I have no idea. Actors are on strike, but anyone who was working is now under a continuance letter. There are no picket lines, and anyone who wasn’t working can’t get a gig. So. Are we on strike or not?

    2) Why are puppets an important part of theatre?
    Now that is truly a question for Ronnie Burkett! I do have a few thoughts. One of the many things theatre offers is the doorway to another world – a fantasy. Many times on a stage that is created through set, makeup and lights. When I worked in black light puppetry, we didn’t have those things so the puppets themselves, their uniqueness, their fantastical nature in being creations of the mind – everything from ordinary cats to creatures from another planet – were what created that fantasy world. I also think puppets are important because they are like living cartoons and the animated world is something that appeals to all generations young and old.

    3) What’s your fondest memory of your puppeteer days in Asia?
    There are two things that stand out for me about Asia. One is the hospitality and warmness with which we were received. The other is that we played in huge theatres, a thousand seats and up. At the time I had never performed in such a large space nor had I played to such a large crowd. Almost all the shows were sold out and the thunderous crowd responses were overwhelming.

    4) What does independent theatre in Toronto need to do better, generally?
    Advertise. It is a sad state but for the most part the only time anything garnishes a lot of attention is through strong advertising campaigns. If independent theatre is going to grow and gain a level of support that makes it a more recognizable scene then they have to promote more.

    5) Do you see any commonalities between independent theatre and independent film?
    I do. I think the thing that links our two independent scenes together is the struggle to survive. As Canadians we produce excellent work that can compete on a global scale. However, due to lack of funding and support this work is rarely seen. It is unfortunate that there is so little support for our independent communities.

    6) What do you like about voiceover work?
    Voice work has intrigued me since I was a child. It continues to amaze me that one person can have so many different voices and vocalize so many different characters. It also amazes me how so often the voice does not seem to match the body.

    7) Why is Shakespeare still relevant?
    Shakespeare is timeless; in his writing he addressed time and time again themes that are universal. Although his language is becoming further and further from us his meanings are not.

    8) What would you do with a $1,000,000 no-strings production grant?
    Pinch myself! Seriously, with that kind of money I would tour my show across North America and parts of Europe. I believe that my theme is universal and poignant and I would like to get it out to as many people as I can.

    9) Why are the cynics wrong?
    What a great question. Because it supports lack of effort and it squashes dreams. If a person rises above the cynicism then they have the ability to realize what holds them back. With this power they can choose to follow through on whatever they are thinking.

    10) What is the single greatest barrier to producing quality independent theatre?
    I’d like to say money but I know a lot of great productions have done it for next to nothing or nothing. So I guess the single greatest barrier is personal drive and creativeness, wherever someone chooses to stop or give in then that’s when the production grinds to a halt. It can be done, it requires work and resourcefulness.

    Tags: ,
    Posted in 10 questions | 2 Comments »

    Ready, set . . . opening tomorrow!

    Thursday, April 12th, 2007

    Ready, Set, Life!
    This is the Rest of Your Life!
    written and performed by Geoff Kolomayz
    directed by Alison Lynne Ward

    Quarter Life Crisis
    written and performed by Alison Lynne Ward
    directed by Geoff Kolomayz

    Showtimes:
    April 13th @ 8pm
    14th @ 5pm and 8pm
    15th @ 2pm
    April 20th @ 8pm
    21st @ 5pm and 8pm
    22nd @ 2pm

    Location:
    Diesel Playhouse
    56 Blue Jay Way, Toronto, Canada
    416.971.5656

    Tickets $15
    can be purchased at Diesel Playhouse Box office

    Assistant Director: Stephen Low
    Co-producers: Sedina Fiati, Geoff Kolomayz, Alison Lynne Ward
    Photography: Mark Kneeshaw
    Graphic Design: Dale Wells
    Lighting Design: Geoff Kolomayz
    Stage Management: Michael P. Taylor

    Posted in theatre | No Comments »

    Just how classist is theatre?

    Tuesday, April 10th, 2007

    Good question. And one that’s been coming up a lot lately. Here’s what some of our peers are saying on the topic (click through to read the full posts):

    Laura Axelrod at Gasp, On theater and class:

    “Working class issues aren’t addressed in mainstream theater, except in a weird patronizing sense. There’s no variation of politics – no conservative voices, for instance. I suspect this is because those of us [who] identify with the working class also try and camouflage ourselves so we can appeal to a theater audience who can afford $100 for a ticket (or thereabout).”

    Scott Walters at Theatre Ideas, Arts funding:

    “As artists, we believe that what matters most is what matters most to us. To think otherwise would be to “compromise,” an artistic fate worse than death, apparently. One dare not suggest that the purpose of art is to actually communicate something, and that communication is different in different communities. Let’s just keep those upper-middle-class white folks happy – they’re nice and polite, and if they get bored they know enough to pretend not to be.”

    Isaac Butler at Parabasis, Whatever happened to class:

    “Most of the directors I know of who are in my peer group (in their late to mid twenties here in New York) who are successful (regularly working, often covered in the news, well regarded etc.) come from money, have serious money, or received some kind of major financial backing or subsidy from a family member, loved one or whatever at key points in their career. I’m not saying these artists don’t deserve their success. There’s enough of a meritocracy still in place that you have to have some talent. But in a job that is as much about the hussle as directing, their success (and mine, although it’s considerably less than the directors I’m thinking of) would be nearly impossible without the financial end.”

    Tags:
    Posted in the question | 3 Comments »

    The WikiPlay Project

    Monday, April 9th, 2007

    Please click through to get to UnSpun’s awesome WikiPlay page.

    Tags:
    Posted in theatre | No Comments »

    10 questions: Jacob Zimmer

    Friday, April 6th, 2007

    1) What the fuck is going on?
    That’s what we trying to figure out in rehearsal.

    2) You’ve written a lot about theatre, do you have any unifying theories that have risen to the top?
    Right now, “curiosity” is a key word. As long as curiosity is there I think we have a chance. Also curiously doesn’t demand a specific style, which is good, since everyone making the same work would be very boring. Also a dedication to the “same time, same place” features of live performance – that we share time and space with our audience. This, in these times of mediation, seems remarkable and perhaps a trait we should focus on and articulate.

    3) Are you particularly interested in the concept of contradiction?
    Not so much anymore. I may at one point have almost fetishized it – but now I find myself wanting to move past it. The understanding that not everything lines up and some things bump against each other is important but not enough.

    4) What’s the difference between independent theatre communities in Halifax and Toronto?
    Very little and so much. Largely a question of scale – and infrastructure support. There is an Arts Council in Toronto, and an arm’s length provincial council, which isn’t true in Halifax (thanks to the Conservatives). And because of the size of city, I can feel like I’m not part of the “Toronto theatre scene” and yet have a very strong sense of solidarity with a group of collaborators and an audience that continues to expand. It feels hard to speak to the communities, since I’m not in Halifax anymore.

    5) What do you mean by “all statements are insecure questions”?
    It may actually be a quote, but I don’t remember from where. Most directly: If I say “Theatre can change the world.” perhaps I am saying “What if theatre can change the world?” or “How can theatre change the world?” We (I) make bold or far reaching statements sometimes and I feel it’s important to remember that those statements are actually proposals, questions. Imagine that every statement in these answers are questions. And then think about them and work towards your own answers to those new questions.

    Ideally I might be strong enough to ask bold questions only, but I can get paralyzed in a cycle of questions and so needed a way to be able to plant a flag and take a position, even if only temporarily.

    6) Do you have a specific or consistent approach to dramaturgy?
    No. Every project is different and requires different systems and strategies. On the whole I believe in structure – but in diverse structures, not only traditional narrative structures, but also [asking] what is the structure of a good walk, of a nice dinner with friends, of a John Cage piece, a Situationist city plan, of a radio show or a Gerhard Richter painting? There are so many possible ways to take people through an evening that I think it’s a matter of finding the way for any given piece, not fitting material into something that looks like other plays. Also, I try to think of the dramaturgy extending past the performance itself to include everything around the show – posters, the first thing people see when they come in the doors of the lobby, the music etc . . . all of that is part of the experience and therefore part of the dramaturgy.

    7) Any thoughts on how the printing press has influenced the theatre arts?
    Well, it changed everything and so those changes to everything have changed theatre. But specifically, one thing is that it brought us to a point where copyright was invented, which led to a brisk trade in playscripts and probably shaped the way we think of theatre as a version of a printed thing rather then a live event that sometimes leaves a printed trail.

    8) Why are the cynics wrong?
    I’m not sure they are wrong – but I don’t think they’re helping. And I can’t imagine that they (whoever they are) are very happy. Cynicism is much like getting caught in the contradiction. Curiosity can help keep cynicism in its place (and I think it very much has done). Also optimism in the face of cynicism is important. And they are wrong because there is always capacity for change. And sometimes change works out.

    9) What would you do with a $1,000,000 no-strings production grant?
    Pay people well for a long time. I have been supported by so many people working so hard and investing so much of their creativity and lives in my work for so little financial reward that my first impulse is to pay them.

    In terms of a project, not sure. After Dedicated to the Revolutions is done, I’m not sure what’s next. Maybe making a new musical in the Brecht/Weil tradition, mixed with my concerns. So that would take a while and could use some money.

    10) What kind of questions do you most like to be asked about your work?
    I wish we talked more about the “why” questions. Not in the rehearsal hall, but between artists (and in public). Why certain choices get made, why one makes theatre, why this staging over another, why work in a certain way . . . They’re hard questions and we avoid them because, I think, they would lead to disagreement and out of some fear that articulating them could be dangerous to inspiration (over-analyzing). But I think they’re very important as we continue forward and wish we could find a way to talk about it. To talk about the ethics/values of our work.

    Tags: ,
    Posted in 10 questions | 2 Comments »

    The actor’s deepest calling

    Wednesday, April 4th, 2007

    “Theatre – through the actor’s technique, his art in which the living organism strives for higher motives – provides an opportunity for what could be called integration, the discarding of masks, the revealing of the real substance: a totality of physical and mental reactions.

    “This opportunity must be treated in a disciplined manner, with a full awareness of the responsibilities it involves. Here we can see the theatre’s therapeutic function for people in our present day civilization. It is true that the actor accomplishes this act, but he can only do so through an encounter with the spectator – intimately, visibly, not hiding behind a cameraman, wardrobe mistress, stage designer or make-up girl – in direct confrontation with him, and somehow ‘instead of’ him.

    “The actor’s act – discarding half measures, revealing, opening up, emerging from himself as opposed to closing up – is an invitation to the spectator. This act could be compared to an act of the most deeply rooted, genuine love between two human beings – this is just a comparison since we can only refer to this ‘emergence from oneself’ through analogy. This act, paradoxical and borderline, we call a total act. In our opinion it epitomizes the actor’s deepest calling.”

    – Jerzy Grotowski
    Towards a Poor Theatre, 1968

    Tags:
    Posted in theatre | No Comments »

    Greg Dunham goes Hollywood

    Monday, April 2nd, 2007

    A quick shoutout to Greg Dunham – a Praxis Theatre alumnai who made his feature film debut this past weekend in the critically acclaimed new film The Lookout.

    You might remember Greg from our Partron’s Pick-winning production The Blood of a Coward at the 2004 Toronto Fringe Festival:

    He was winning raves even back then:

    “Greg Dunham and Erin King do wonderful work as the aging writer and his young alter ego, as other figures (including Bukowski’s parents) stream by.”
    – Alex Bozikovic, from his Eye Weekly review of The Blood of a Coward.

    Here’s the poster from the new film (that’s Greg in the top-right frame):


    “Scuzzball No. 2 . . . is Bone (Greg Dunham), a longhaired, trench-coated killer who looks like a Matrix character played by Sam Shepard.”
    – Matt Zoller Seitz, from his New York Times review of The Lookout.

    A group of us went to see the film this past weekend. Please pardon the unsolicited gushing: Dunham rocks!

    Tags: ,
    Posted in News | 4 Comments »