Have You Got Your Tickets Yet?

The 2010-2011 Great Canadian Theatre Season is launched and it's latest production, Facts, is open and running.  All I'm really going to say about it all is that the new season looks exciting (buy your subscription before April 30th to save on the HST!) and Facts is well-worth seeing (remember, Rush Tickets go on sale as of noon the day of the performance!). Though I'm still working on a video from the launch (I hate you, Windows Movie Maker!), I'm now almost entirely consumed with thoughts of the Rideau Awards.  I've been doing a constant follow-up with media, getting a press release ready, and worrying about what to wear.  This is after all THE Ottawa theatre event of the year.  You've got your ticket, right?

On top of moderating English media communications and live tweeting throughout the event (follow along with the #rideauawards hashtag - conversation is currently about what to wear - I'm going to be very disappointed if @SterlingLynch doesn't follow through on his assless chaps outfit), I will also be appearing with Sanitas Playback Theatre.  Normally, I would be performing with the group, however with my focus split that night, we've come to a different arrangement, albeit one that I find fits better with this year's co-lingual awards mandate.

The theatre company and I have decided that I will be co-conducting the event with Artistic Director Brie Barker and acting as a French translator throughout our segments.  It is silly to assume that all francophones in attendance are fluently bilingual.  In addition, many anglophones do not speak French and would require the interpretation.  It will be nice to finally showcase what we've been doing for the past few months and I think Playback will add an interesting touch to the awards.  I'm really excited to be introducing this "new" form of theatre to my peers.

I can't wait to see you there, but before then, the question on everyone's mind really is: what will you be wearing?

Can You Keep A Secret?

Apparently, some people think a girl with a blog and an unhealthy addiction to her iPhone social media programs is the best person to entrust with the most TOP SECRET news in Ottawa Theatredom. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, somewhere among the hanging out on movies sets (with Cuba Gooding Jr!), working at the Great Canadian Theatre Company (season launch on Monday!), learning to rap Shakespeare, making women feel beautiful, discovering hidden abilities to translate small documents from English to French, watching some "bloody" good theatre (check out a solid production of Blood Relations at the University of Ottawa before it closes this weekend, as well as the musical Blood Brothers at The Gladstone), working on my own theatre company's project, performing improv with some lovely ladies, and training for a 5K race; somewhere among all that, I became the new anglophone publicist for the upcoming Les Prix Rideau Awards.

(Of course, all of this must have happened after I discovered that necklace from Harry Potter that allows Hermione to attend to classes at the same time, because there is nothing short of wizardry to explain how I manage to do all this stuff...)

After learning that Über Publicist, Crystal Parsons would be leaving the wonderful world of theatre promotion for the civil service, I was approached by the awards committee to see if I could fill her sexy shoes.

My first answer, of course, was no. Re: see above schedule & need for a clone/develop magical powers.

However, after much discussion, I eventually said yes for the following reasons:

• The workload isn't as excessive as I first anticipated.  There is no need for me to translate documents for these bilingual awards, since there already is a francophone publicist, and I'd be doing a lot of stuff from a social media perspective that I'm doing already.
• This could all wait until I was done my stand-in gig.
• Being able to say that I'm the publicist for Ottawa's professional theatre awards is a pretty big deal and adds another notch of legitimacy to my marketing belt.
• With the GCTC holding a whopping 16 nominations, I can make a lot of what I'll be doing relevant to the day job.
• I think the awards are important and I want to support them in some way.  This is more than just a big party where people dress up to watch somebody get an award.  By recognizing the contribution of theatre professionals in the community, we are raising awareness of our work and acknowledging that there is a a place what we do here in town.  My dream? That one day, when I tell someone I am a professional actor, they will not ask me when I will be moving to Montreal or Toronto because it will simply be common knowledge that such a scene exists here as well.

All that to say that I will now be only one of three people to know the award winner's identities before they are revealed on April 18th because I need to have the press release handy for media as soon as the ceremony is over.  (Note to self: find dress that coordinates well with handcuffs and a briefcase *insert your own joke here*)  And this confidentiality agreement I signed says that no amount of bribing can make me reveal the secrets before then.

But have no fear!  You too may know the results as soon as they become available.  Tickets are on sale now!  Details below (this also reminds me that I will be performing in my first public Sanitas Playback Theatre show that night as well... where the heck is my clone?):

The 3rd Annual Les Prix Rideau Awards celebration is taking place at De La Salle High School (501 Old St Patrick Road, Ottawa) on Sunday, April 18, 2010.  The first-ever fully bilingual awards ceremony will be cohosted by CBC Ottawa’s Alan Neal and not-from-CBC-Ottawa's Annie Lefebvre, with theatrical reflections by Sanitas Playback Theatre and music by DJ AL Connors.

Tickets are $25 each and may be purchased through the Nouvelle Scène box office:

• online at nouvellescene.com
• by telephone at 613-241-2727 ext 1
• in person at 333 King Edward Avenue, Ottawa

Les Prix Rideau Awards III -- Sunday, April 18, 2010 De La Salle High School, 501 Old St Patrick Road, Ottawa Doors open at 6:30 PM; presentation begins at 7:30 PM - Tickets: $25

Kicking It, Improv Style

Wikipedia: Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. Sounds a lot like what an actor does, doesn't it?

I've never considered myself an improviser. I did play improv games in high school, but I went to a French school and improvisation in French is very different from its English counterpart. Whereas most anglophones might associate improv with its Who's Line Is It Anyway? type of humour, for francophones the games take place in a mock hockey arena setting. There is a referee and the teams wear jerseys in various colours. The ref can even assign penalties. Two teams compete and the audience votes after every game (or match) to see which team scored a point. These usually culminate into tournaments and eliminations rounds and all other kinds of sports related analogies.

Here's a photo from la Ligue nationale d'improvisation to give you some idea of what I am talking about. If you want to know more and understand French, I encourage you to check out the link.

Although the University of Ottawa did (and does) have a French improv team, I was too intimidated to join at the time. At some point, some of my friends in the Theatre Department and a couple rats who hung around the Café Alternatif (which at the time was a hippy chic amalgamation of found furniture that lived up to its alternative name) decided to start an improv troupe. I think we called ourselves the Improv Dogs. We met every week, played some games against the team at Carleton University and even went to Montreal one time to compete. After a while though, things fell apart and we all went our separate ways.

I then didn't do any sort of improv until I took a jam class with Ken Godmere at the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama a few years ago. And I guess you could call the work I do with Sanitas Playback Theatre a type of improv, but, like I said, I never considered myself an improviser before.

After last night though, I guess I may be allowed to start calling myself that.

The local (and awesome!) Crush Improv - whom I've talked about before - have had a habit of bringing together improvisers from all over for a variety of events. First it was the very popular Improv Awareness and now it's the Tuesday Make-’em-ups with Crush Improv. I saw the very first Make-'em up in January and immediately approached Crush for an opportunity to play.

Fighting panic and nausea, I finally got my chance to play last night at the Cajun Attic in Ottawa. Most improv teams spend hours rehearsing together, learning both games and how to work with each other. The neat thing about the Make-'em ups is that you get thrown into a pit with three other people you might have never met before and told to just have fun. Easy right?

I was pretty unsteady for the first half of the show, just trying to get my bearings and desperately listen to my teammates. After intermission though, I felt slightly more comfortable, confident and took more chances, though I couldn't help but walk off stage and think of all the HI-larious stuff I should have said at the time - I swear I am ridiculously funny when no one is watching me!

I had fun and hope that this was just the first of many improv shows in which I will be taking part. Next Tuesday, do yourself the favour of having a ridiculously good time with the gang from Crush. Only $5 cover and all the improv you can stand!

Tuesday Make-’em-ups with Crush Improv - every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. - $5 cover – Cajun Attic (349 Dalhousie St.)

Screw You Guys, I'm Going To China!

(ed. note - I hope no one thinks I'm being mean with this title, I'm just bastardizing a South Park quote because I think it's funny. It's funny, right? Right. Keep reading.) Va... ca... tion...?

What is this foreign work you speak of?

The last time I had a vacation, I was 16 years old and I went to Florida with my family (FYI Universal Studio kicked more ass than Disney, even though the Terminator ride broke down). Of course, you could claim that I went on a family vacation two years ago when my mom, my sister and I drove through the Rockies and ended up in lovely Nelson, BC, but that was more of a workaholic's vacation. I had my laptop with me and I distinctly remember spending an awful lot of time writing press releases for the Ottawa Fringe Festival and reworking drafts of a script. I also remember my mother often gently trying to persuade me (i.e. getting annoyed but trying not to show it in front of company) to get off the damn computer and come spend quality time outside, which I did... I sat on a deck with the Rocky Mountains rising above me and a lake spread out below me... and my laptop hugging my knees.

I'm sick. There is something definitely wrong with me. I'm addicted to work. Everything is work or becomes about work. Going to see a show is about work. Taking a new class to gain a new skill becomes "something I can put on a resume". About 95% of my friends are also my colleagues. I run Evolution Theatre with two such friends. We often say that we're just going to hang out, have lunch, watch a movie, or maybe plan a wedding... the discussion inevitably comes back to work.

Don't get me wrong. I love the work I do. I am blessed and grateful to be able to do what I do. But (and I can't believe I'm saying this) maybe I work too much? Is there such a thing? Yes, I guess there is.

I'm going on a trip tomorrow and, with lots of publicity work for Evolution Theatre's next show ahead of me, I started feeling massively guilty for doing anything that was for myself. Going to class or rehearsal, even eating and bathing were practically taking a back seat to what I so desperately thought "needed to be done". Like I said, I'm sick.

You know what, it did need to get done and, better yet, it did get done, but at what cost? My health? My sanity? My peace of mind? I learned a valuable lesson this week. I'm absolutely useless to anyone if I don't take care of myself first. I especially thank the folks in my Playback Theatre company for putting me back on the right track. Once I finally gave in to being at rehearsal, which was where I really wanted to be, and let go of the guilt, I suddenly got better. I was refreshed and recharged and that's why all my work got done this week.

So when my old roomate (and one of the 5% of my friends not involved in the arts - though Gruppo Rubato is trying to change that with Airport Security - check out a staged reading of it this weekend!), who is also a flight attendant, invited me to go with her to China of all places, I jumped at the chance. Yes, I really am going to China. Tomorrow. I leave tomorrow.

And I'm going to do something crazy... something drastic... something so beyond me...

I'm going to disconnect from the Matrix.

Yes, you read that right. No laptop, no iPhone, no Twitter, no Facebook, no email, no *gasp* flat iron. I'm leaving it all behind. It will just be me, my friend, and my poofy hair. As of tomorrow morning, I will be unreachable and not working... Ok, I'm going to cheat a wee bit because I'm going to be reading a book about Roller Derby but it's a NOVEL, so that's alright.

(And uh, BTW, if I'm not back in two weeks, could someone please call the Embassy in Beijing and make sure I'm not rotting in a Chinese prison somewhere... kthxbye!)

My guess is I'll be going into massive electronic withdrawal at some point over the Pacific Ocean. As long as I don't end up re-enacting the toilet scene from Trainspotting though, I should be ok.

So please go ahead and miss me. I know you will. But I'll be back refreshed, recharged and with plenty of photos to share on all sorts of new media outlets. And that? Is really, really nice.

Playback Theatre

How appropriate that during this veritable renewal of theatre in the Ottawa region, a new and different sort of theatre company should emerge. Yesterday, I participated in my second, for lack of a better word, workshop with Sanitas Playback Theatre and was invited to be a part of the company.

Playback Theatre has been around for over 30 years and yet I had never really heard about it before this summer. There are companies in almost every major city centre (like Toronto and Montreal), but this is a first for Ottawa.

According to Wikipedia (the guru of all things), "Playback Theatre is an original form of improvisational theatre in which audience or group members tell stories from their lives and watch them enacted on the spot. Playback Theatre is sometimes considered a modality of drama therapy."

I'm quite excited at the prospect of working with this new company. It involves a great mix of local professionals as well as two newcomers from Montreal who have experience in the form; one is a drama therapist, the other a musician.

For me, this is an opportunity to hone my improvisational skills, learn about a different way to produce theatre, interact on a deeper level with an audience, and witness first hand (through the sharing of stories) how theatre can actually help people.

A few gigs have already been booked for the ensemble and are coming up in the very near future. Stay tuned!