what are we busy about...

We've been working away these past many months, researching and discussing (primarily via skype, which has provided more fodder for the show) how to develop "I'm So Close..." in order to make the show we all imagine.

When we showed the first incarnation of the play last summer, we all felt there wasn't enough meat to the story we were interested in telling. Now back in the room together, we're working on clarifying and strengthening our story. Nicholas Billon, a brillant playwright and collaborator, has been a great addition to this process, working with us as we storyboard our way through what seems to be a world of infinite possibilities... It has been revitalizing to have Nicholas's fresh eyes and expertise (particularly the questions he has been asking us) in the room. This is the first time that we're working as a company with a playwright to devise a show. As we explore what this process is for all of us, we're finding that the less we cling to what we know, the closer we are to finding out who these characters are and what the world of this play, and this collaboration, could be.

We're splitting our time between this work with the story and exploring some visual ideas with another incredible collaborator, Trevor Schwellnus. Throughout the course of the past few months we've been collectively dreaming up many images and visual ideas between the three of us and it has been great having someone with Trevor's knowledge and skills to help explore some of these ideas. In addition to trying out a couple of specific images with projection and some rigging, we've been able to bounce a lot of our ideas off of Trevor and get really specific feedback as to how we might try and realize them. This work has been loaded with practical and applicable insights (and suggestions).

As we move forward with this work and the process is informed by each new collabortor, we're paying attention to the details, especially the small ones.

A quote, which seems to capture one of the main questions of this play--

"It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about?
-H.D. Thoreau

Kismet Pics

Some promo shots we've used. Looking forward to getting some more from the road trip, which is coming up in just a few short months!

Kismet (right now)

A snapshot into how we are thinking about the play right now:

Kismet is experiential from inception to performance. It seeks to discuss/expose/explore our culture’s relationship to kismet (fate & destiny) and it’s consequences. Ultimately it strives to find the heart of course & direction in the human experience. It is created through a story-collecting process that will see the three performers travel across the country with the sole agenda to connect with people over the curation of stories surrounding kismet. Armed with only a VIA Rail pass, a backpack and a deadline to return to the rehearsal room, the creators offer themselves up to fate to lead the way. One part whimsical, one part scary and one part profound, the journey clearly reflects subject matter.

It is often synchronicitous, unexplainable moments that we hold onto, stories that we tell back to ourselves again and again, making up the touchstones of our lives. They can be signposts or turning points. It is where will butts up against life. In terms of connecting to vital events in stranger’s lives, we feel that speaking to people about instances of kismet will act as a shortcut to the essential. The structure for the performance will be intimately tied to the idea of kismet and the people met along the way. A clear goal is to use the strengths and particulars (that is to say the ‘liveness’) of theatre performance to support the theme. There will be live testing of fate, audience moving through different spaces in the theatre and interaction within the space. The field findings with all their tragedy & mystery act as the anchor for the piece’s content which blends the verbatim text with a critique of our culture’s obsession with manifest destiny, questions around the existence of faith and fate in a historical and political context.

An essential part of the creation and development plan is for the 3 actors/creators to travel across the country making personal connections and collecting stories about instances of fate, destiny and unexplained intervention from various Canadians. So we’ll travel relying on kismet & synchronicity (and a little personal charm) to lead the way. That is to say, there is no travel agenda. The only parameters are that each performer/story-collector will depart from Vancouver on May 1st, 2008 and must arrive in Toronto on June 1st, 2008. We may begin together but may split apart, if destiny calls…

Ways we make plays

I’m always reminded when talking to other artists who create theatre from scratch (or other art forms for that matter) of much similarity there is in the way that we generate material, even though the end results are so radically different. Sometime people’s processes can seem totally mysterious and out of reach but as I work with more people, and learn from more processes I see how many elements reoccur. For me the main difference often lies in endurance and where the focus goes and to what elements. So the processes (and works created) end up looking radically different in the end but the parts that compose the process are similar.

I’ve recently had the chance to work with Rachel Chavkin (who artistic directs the TEAM in New York). At lot of her material generating work has been adapted from stuff she’s learnt from Anne Bogart and she cites Forced Entertainment out of the UK as a huge inspiration for her as well. When working with her she ran long improvisations that could last up to 2 hours, transcribing as we went along, garnering up the usable bits and sloughing off the excess. Now, often just the mention of the word can make my blood run cold but here I was reminded of how useful improvisations could be and given the right parameters how they could actually be totally invigorating. When I think about it, some of the best bits of writing that I’ve created with Emelia have come out of structured improvisations. There was always the safely of a very clear character or characters but I think we ought to move beyond that and I look forward to using some of what I’ve recently experienced with improvisation towards the source material in our spring rehearsal period for Kismet.

The Elections

During these last elections I was so impressed with the solidarity and effect of the arts community, in no small part because of the Department of Culture. I was lucky enough to be in Toronto the night of the packed Town Hall at the Theatre Centre where information was disseminated and discussed on how we could all be active in keeping Harper out of a majority government. The strategies were tangible and active. In the following weeks it was hard for me to gage how much of an effect that the Department of Culture’s actions were having on the public. Obviously I was tuned to hearing about the cuts to art and culture and wondered how much people were hearing about it outside of the arts sector.

A few days after Thanksgiving I was speaking to my mother. She and my dad live in rural Eastern Ontario in a community that has long voted Conservative (she and dad often vote Conservative too). A lot of my relatives were at this dinner, mostly farmers and mechanics who have traditionally voted Conservative as well. Apparently my dad stood up, gave thanks for all he had to give thanks for and ended with, “And please everyone, go out and vote and whatever you do, don’t vote Conservative”. I was floored when I heard this. Later I asked him about it and he was just appalled at what was happening with the cuts and cited The Department of Culture as a source of a lot of the information that he’s gotten.

i'm so close takes a nap

We've just wrapped up the first phase of development for "I'm So Close..." We had great feedback after our short run in Toronto at the Summerworks Festival. With a bit of residency time at The Theatre Center we made some changes for the Dublin run that seemed to make the show pop in a different way than in Toronto. We had really great audience responses in Dublin and some useful critiques to help us with the development of the show.

At the end of these long months of research and devising and showing we had a meeting to decide on a way forward for the show. We all agreed to give the project a bit of time to rest. We want to come back at it with a fresher perspective, having had some time to think about what we learned during this first phase of the process, and to see what becomes clear after a bit of distance and time. And we also agreed there is lots to think about in terms of structure and strengthening the story, and in terms of how to continue...
but we will come back to all of that. for the moment, it is time to put the show away for a little nap...

here are a couple of bits from some of the press:

"I’m So Close It’s Not Even Funny is filled with controlled chaos, wonderful physicality, clever comedy, emotional poignancy and a sense of reality and grounding that only comes from experienced and talented performers. Brilliant." Plank Magazine (Toronto)

"arresting sequences- the windswept dash of Hagen's homo exhausticus, the iceberg peaks that rise magically from Katrina Bugaj's bedsheets or the moving correspondence between drifting lovers via Instant messanger..." Irish Times (Dublin)

We're working away on "I'm So Close..." as we gear up for Summerworks. It will be interesting to explore this first draft in the context of this festival and in relation to an audience. We're very excited and there are still a million and one things to do. We've been constantly cracking away at--what is this story? Who are these people...? It seems like there is still so much more to explore and so so so much further to go, but at this stage we've etched out what will be the first incarnation and are really excited to have such a long process ahead of ourselves to flesh out, discard and find new things. It has been interesting for us to play with projections, which we all have bigger ideas about for the future... we can see why people say that projections have the potential to eat away your tech and drive you slightly mad. We've already spent a lot of time on them, as it is. But there is something to using them that has been very exciting, as we move into a new territory for ourselves and company. This next week looks to be a bit insane, in the best of ways.

Has been great to have the support of The Theatre Centre through all of this. Hope all is well with you all on the other coast, looking forward to seeing some of you at Summerworks. How are things going for you Choppers?