Out of the Box in a Big Way

At today's Theatre by the River core meeting, I spoke to my fellow actors about changing up our regular style of theatre. We do plays - relevant, provocative, well written plays. We're proud of the shows we've done. And there's nothing wrong with the very traditional form of theatre we're doing - audience sits in the dark, actors perform a story, audience considers story. It has, after all, worked for a thousand years.

But I feel a desire to mess around with the form - the way we tell a story. Not only to more effectively convey ideas and feeling about the human experience, but to grab attention in an irresistible "I have to go see that!" way.

Which reminded me of French company Royal de Luxe. They do giant puppet shows. Giant in scope, giant in length and giant in physical size. A show featuring their building high puppets last several days and traverses whole towns, dwarfing the everyday life that tries (and fails) to bustle around them.

The Atlantic has some beautiful photos online of Royal de Luxe in action.

I don't think TBTR will ever become a giant puppet company, but I wonder: how can we take the traditional form of theatre and give it a funky twist. Thoughts?

IdeaJam

I"m lucky enough to be a member of Theatre by the River - a local, indy theatre company. We've recently started alternating our monthly Board Member/Artistic Core meetings with IdeaJams. Everyone brings something creative to the table that inspires them. It can be dance, food, music, a book, a sculpture or whatever.

And we had one earlier today. For my own reference - and maybe to spark something in your own mind and heart - here are some of the components from today's IdeaJam.


1) The Mad Men Mashups

To launch its upcoming season, AMC's Mad Men had these posters placed in New York City subway stations. The wide open blank space invited contributions from passerbys and the mashups took on a life of their own. Participatory advertising, as I've said, is the future.

2) Rockethub and Kickstarter

Funnily enough, two different crowdfunding sites came up today. Rockethub and Kickstarter allow those seeking financial support to connect with those seeking unique gifts. It's not fundraising; it's trading. Look at this Rockethub (for our own Derek Leenhouts band Those Guys cd recording project) to get an idea of how different donation levels get you different rewards.

3) The End of the Alphabet

TBTR's upcoming Fringe play Lungs deals with a young couple debating whether or not to have a child in this environmentally endangered, socially unstable world. The End of the Alphabet, by Canadian designer-turned-author CS Richardson looks at the other side of the coin - an older, childless couple facing the inevitable parting mortality brings with it.

The quality of a fable, exquisite and timeless - Chatelaine
This is a very difficult book to put down at bedtime, even when the final page is turned - The Globe and Mail

4) Star Wars: Uncut

The guys behind Star Wars: Uncut divided Episode IV: A New Hope into 15-second bits. Then they put out the call for fans to replace sections with their own versions. Now the parts have been reassembled into the biggest collaboration in movie-making history.

Some clips are terrible (and good in their terribility). Some are brilliant. Go team.

5) The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

There are good reasons to celebrate the move from analog books to ebooks. Portability. Reduced paper use. Sometimes - though not always - reduced cost.

And there are good reasons to love and defend printed books too; mostly the 'book culture' that they bring. Books on paper are little, permanent totems of learning and feeling, physical records of the thoughts and feelings of our species. And they're reasons to gather - the bookstore and the library aren't just any retail spaces, but cultural halls. And books are transferable in a way eBooks aren't yet. I've loaned and borrowed books (usually remembering to return them, I hope). Having an actual physical object there, existing, matters. Like the difference between a painting and a jpeg.

Oh, I do go on. Anywho, this short film from Moonbot Studios celebrates the book. Tah-dum.

6) A Place Called Manitoba

One of our Board Members is doing her Master's Degree on the cultural narratives of cities. She's interested in the official stories that are sold in culture - especially Tourism pieces - and the stories that slip through the cracks. Witness the above, but watch out in case "fine English silverware catches your eye."

7) Prisoner of Tehran

Marina Nemat was jailed and tortured as a teenager in Iran's infamous Evin prison. She would have been executed, if one of her guards hadn't decided to marry her. Now living in Canada, she published her memoir Prisoner of Tehran to acclaim and recent (ridiculous) controversy.

8) Corsican Chant

I don't even know how to begin describing this improvisational, ancient singing style. They make it up as they go based on what the other singers are doing. Amazing.

9) Transitional Singing

I can't find the online content (if there is any) but there are choirs that get together for the sole purpose of providing music as someone dies; as they transition out of this life and into whatever comes next.

My first reaction, I admit, was discomfort. My second was wanting to have such a choir for my own death. My third reaction is deciding not to die <pats own shoulder>

10) Into Eternity

Finland is attempting to build the first permanent nuclear waste disposal site - a giant underground repository where spent fuel rods can be stored for as long as they're dangerous. 100,000 years.

Into Eternity is Danish film maker Michael Madsen's documentary on the project and the attempt to design 'keep out' signs our descendants will understand and heed. Because nuclear waste will be our longest legacy to the future.

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So that was our meeting. Now to soak it all in and come up with new ways to be a socially relevant, artistically provocative and financially accessible theatre company. Plus kick ass.

Onward!

Joansing: A Return to Saint Joan

Mel Marginet as Joan, photo credit Leif Norman

A couple years ago Theatre by the River produced Saint Joan at Saint Boniface's Theatre de la Chapelle. Mel Marginet (TBTR's co-Artistic Director), the company and I had all been captured by Shaw's adaptation of Joan of Arc's story. It's a complex storm of interweaving politics, religion and nationalism all spinning around - and eventually destroying - a sweet, young girl who just wants to obey the voices in her head.

TBTR's Production of Saint Joan, photo credit Leif Norman

Reading the trial scene (when Joan is condemned to the flames) brought shivers and tears to all of us. What passions would make someone set another human being on fire? What passion would drive someone to embrace that death?

There's a reading of the play this Monday - it's a fundraiser for the Performing Arts Lodge (assisted living for retired theatre artists). Come to support a good cause, come to see a stellar cast (the list is below). But mostly, come to see one of the most moving scenes in the theatre canon.


READING OF SAINT JOAN
by GBS

Monday, January 30 at 7:30PM
Crescent Fort Rouge United Church (corner of Wardlaw & Nassau)
Tickets $15 at the door

Featuring: Talia Pura, Cory Wojcik, Glen Thompson, Dean Harder, Ian Ross, Ross McMillan, Matt Tenbruggencate, Omar Khan, Curt Keilback, Karl Thordarson, Ti Hallas, Curtis Moore, Mitchell Kummen, Bill Kerr, David Playfair, John Bluethner, John Echano, Kevin Anderson, Graham Ashmore, Ray Strachan, Kevin Longfield, Kelly Hughes and Brian Richardson

Directed by Stefanie Wiens
Stage managed by Sylvia Fisher

Burning Bridges aka Reviewing Theatre

Over the past five years, I've called myself an actor. I've been ridiculously lucky enough to perform with Prairie Theatre Exchange, Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Shakespeare in the Ruins, Sarasvati Productions, and Echo Theatre - among others.


More importantly and impressively, I`ve been able to perform with my own company, Theatre by the River. We`ve produced some of the most socially relevant, artistically provocative shows to see the light of day in Winnipeg. I`m immensely proud of what we`ve accomplished and what I`ve been able to do.


But you can`t make a living as an actor in Winnipeg. You really can`t - not unless you`re prepared to travel elsewhere. Or you`re some kind of golden god. Or you have a sugar daddy or momma. The reality is you (hopefully) land a few weeks of work a year, then between shows you work wherever you can get a job. I've poured coffee, been a legislative assistant, built fences, rejigged locks and stacked boxes for eight hours a day (among other things). As I get older - and my financial plans get more ambitious - I can`t live that life anymore.


So I`ve quit. I`m not taking theatre gigs anymore. I`ve enrolled in Red River College`s Creative Communications program to take my `career` in a new direction. But I still want to maintain some connection to theatre.


SO I`ve been tempted to write reviews. Reviewers have an amazing influence over what kind of theatre gets produced (or at least celebrated) in Winnipeg. Reviewing would give me an outlet to not only influence the Winnipeg theatre scene, it would let me do what theatre has always let me do; try to artistically unravel the question "why are we here?"


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The problem is that, as a reviewer, I would be in an awesome position of power. Reviews can make or break a show, particularly a small independent show that doesn`t have guaranteed subscribers or operating funds. And the Winnipeg independent theatre scene is populated by my friends - people I love. Sooner or later, as a reviewer I will be required to say what I think about their shows, which isn`t always good things. Mom`s old axiom ``If you can`t say anything nice`` goes out the window when you`re a reviewer.


So I`m hesitant. I really want to stay in touch with theatre while not actually being a performer. And I think there is room for an actor turned reviewer in Winnipeg. But I also don`t want to burn bridges with my friends. I`m putting together an evening of discussion between theatre reviewers and producers - partly because I think a chat would be healthy, but mostly because I want to bounce my thoughts off some qualified minds. Stay tuned for details.


Do you have any thoughts on this? What would you ask a theatre reviewer? What would you ask a local artistic director? Do you even care what reviewers have to say?