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?

Back at work in TO

We've had our first few days cracking away at "I'm So Close..." here in Toronto. Has been great to be on our feet and trying out some of the things we had imagined while exploring in Vancouver. Was a bit of a transition from Vancouver straight into the clown festival and right back into this project. This week we've had a mix of mini brain-farts and brain-waves of energy/follie as we stare into the blank stage.

As we now start to play and discover what some of this material might look, sound and move like in a space we continue to seek inspiration from anywhere we can get it--reading the newspaper each morning (where we found an interesting article on multi-tasking and how it is essentially making us less able to intake information and possibly less smart), surfing the internet, and renting a couple of documentaries about the Arctic.

We want to continue to amass material while we search for our center and are still asking lots and lots of questions. We also went to some thrift stores to pick up some costume bits and objects to play with. Have some assignments for the weekend, working on a song and text for a few possible characters.

One of the major goals for the moment is to push and to generate. Trying to keep the axe out of the room for a long, long while.

Toronto Clown Festival

Hey all,

 we just played our first showing of TOOLS at the Toronto Clown festival.  We got a great response from the audience and hope to develop it further (later of course as now we have to get back in gear for I'm so close...)  

Tonight was good prep for our upcoming work on the show as we gear up for 5 weeks of rehearsals before we show at Summerworks.  It gave us a lot of ideas of how to start the process we are about to embark on, in terms of searching to develop characters and the need for objects in the room!

hope to see you all soon.

P.S- we've updates our website... take a look!  www.theatrewhynot.org 

projections...on the wall and for the next step

Wrapped up our last day here in Vancouver by planning how to use what we've discovered during the phase for the next step in our process. Going to have a bit of a mini-break, giving us all a little time to digest what we've been up to here. Then, we're looking forward to exploring some of the characters we've touched upon when we get back to work in Toronto.

We spent some time today exploring the projector. We have been considering using some simple projection in the piece. It is an area the company is very interested in... This is our first time working with this technology and it was a lot fun playing with live feed and computer fed images.

We're going to miss everyone from The Chop, Rumble and The Playwrights Theatre Center here in Vancouver and the beautiful, quiet space where we had so many energetic discussions.

mini-breakthroughs and drinks

Had some interesting discussions last night with The Choppers about clown, bouffoon and neo-bouffoon over tapas and margaritas. We talked about our days and it was exciting to hear about their breakthrough-- it sounds like they've hit upon something awesome. They talked about spending some time hitting the wall and then striking upon something that really interests them...which is exactly what we went through not even a day ago. And which we will no doubt go through multiple times. It is so so so incredible to have time like this to bang against the wall for a while, for all of us. And it's been really great to have this exchange because even over drinks we share ideas about our projects and about the theatre en general.

We've been discussing the project this morning over breakfast and we're narrowing in around the ideas of singularity and uncertainy. Going to go look at some clocks.

Possible breakthrough day

Anita and I hot-seated each other for a few hours today, asking a lot of questions, going tangengential, sometimes sitting and talking does work wonders. We got clear that we liked the concept of age. Interviewing 100 people from ages 1 through 100 but that it still wasn't quite right. We continued talking about relevancy and why why why make THIS play? Who's story do we want to hear? How do we isolate the initial idea further? Then we had a minor brain wave. What if we interviewed 100 100 year olds? This is a community of people, who in our culture are marginalized, silenced and forgotten. What do THEY want to see in a play? What do their voices sound like?

NEXT DAY

Now of course we are re-thinking the brain wave. hmmmmm. Research is imperative and exciting and yet so frustrating. So many questions. Dinner with Why Not was fun last night though. We ate Mexican and danced a bit. I'm in love with them. The most fulfilling part of this process has been connecting and allying to Why Not. It's a great match of vision and politics and creative process.

 

Great Couple Of Days

We started yesterday with a two hour session with Heidi. We sat staring at a wall of material taped to the wall-- we talked about mapping and linking from all of the piles of material we have gathered. We wondered out loud about form and content and talked about structure, form, and content. We discussed ways to take what we've been doing this week in Vancouver to the next stage-- what elements will be in the room to help us devise and make the leap from our ideas to the space. How do you juggle devising, which has it's own life, and the ideas you've been spewing on to paper? Is there a super-structure, are the ideas braided together? In keeping with the theme that seems to be running through this week, we came up with a lot of questions, especially Heidi, who posed some really great questions that we will surely be thinking about for the entire process (and future processes). After Heidi left, we continued to watch more science videos (on black holes) and pulled out some more material.

Today we started the morning by happening upon a fountain that someone had dumped soap into. Who knows why...but it looked almost like snow and we got really excited because one of our possible story lines takes place partially in the Arctic. We took a bunch of photos of Trina in the water (it was a bit cold and people were looking as she hiked up her pants and walked into the fountain) and got some more ideas. Then we saw some some film about string theory and the theory of everything. Followed by a physical warm-up and exercises to get the blood pumping and to focus our wits. That gave birth two a great two hour brainstorming session, on our feet, tossing ideas and picking up reviewing material from the beginning of the week.

Going to meet up with The Chop tonight!

Thursday session

We had a great dramaturgical session with Heidi Taylor yesterday. She helped us to specify and organize our game plan over the summer. Midge the chihuahua was helpful as well as she provided a few breaks of concentration with her shaking and cuddling. I have a feeling Midge may make it into the play. Every day we walk into the room we have gratitude for the time and space to think, create and research. Tonight is a dinner party at my house with Why Not Theatre and The Chop, we've become fast friends. 

More later.....

Plenty

July 19th, 2008

Woke up with food hang over and started the day stretching out my calves that are yelling at me after that warm-up yesterday. Man, I had no idea that I was so out of shape. Lame.

We met with Heidi today, which was so very useful. She was a great resource in terms of brainstorming names of possible playwrights and offering suggestions for setting up the right parameters in how they can be involved. I really don’t want to have someone coming on board feeling like a hired gun so I think it’s about finding the way that they can feel like a true collaborator in the conception of the piece. She also offered a lot of useful advice for setting up parameters and a timeline for the piece. Contractual stuff too. Thanks Heidi!

July 18th, 2008
Troels, Ravi and Katrina kicked my little out-of-shape bum bum Wednesday morning with a great warm up. Was a reminder of how the body moving helps the brain get going too as exemplified by the conversation that proceeded, talking about the two projects. Was great to get feedback and chat about the two projects. Much thanks to Craig and Franco for their feedback as well. The debate over whether asking people what they would most want to see on the stage vs. elements that they most want out of life is one that Emelia and I keep coming back to.

Thanks Franco for our lunch and for all the feedback about ‘Townsville’ and building new work.

The afternoon focused on material generation with both companies and I was struck by how terrifying that can be sometimes, especially at the beginning. Two moments in particular had that pang, like when The Chop put forth the exercise to write your ultimate play in 15 minutes and when we all got up to do an improvisation in Why Not’s time. Of course, both exercises were great and yielded some pretty interesting discoveries but it’s about getting over that hump. And I think Franco’s point of using the time as research instead of going “this is something that needs to be good enough to make it into the show” can open it up so that it can lead to more lateral places.

Oh. My. God.
Dinner was beautiful!
So plentiful and delicious!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Exchange Day... and a bit of catching up

The family portrait and the post-dinner uni-sex-hair group photo with a slight incline left to right.

We are in the middle of our research and exploration period here in Vancouver. The first couple of days we spent ingesting a lot of material about black holes and relativity and infinity and the big bang and... lots of huge ideas and theories. We've been compiling a list of questions: how did the universe begin? How will it end? Will is be a crunch? Will it sail out expanding forever, getting darker and darker and colder and colder? What is this dark matter that no one can see but everyone now seems to believe exists? why do we have such an urge to know answers to all of these questions? Is it simpler to understand the universe than it is to understand ourselves, as one astronomer suggested? We've been building a lot of clusters as we map out different strands of ideas from this material that may be helpful to realize the piece we imagine making.

Yesterday we spent the day working with The Chop. We started off the morning leading a definitely warming warm-up. Afterwards we had fun exchanging and sharing ideas. It was a rare opportunity to dialogue with another company, getting their input and fresh perspective on what we're thinking (for the moment) about "I'm So Close..." Especially at this phase of our project. It was great to have to articulate where we are in our research and to get their questions and feedback in return. Also, it was useful to provoke one another with writing assignments, interviews and composition work.

And of course, it was fantastic to go our for a delicious dinner with the entire gang (we missed you Cathy). It was a seemingly endless stream of delicious Malaysian food and nice to sit down and chat with everyone. As I mentioned to Laura, being a part of this project really is such a gift and we're thrilled to be a part of it.

The Gift of Time & Space

Last night, Katrina told me she felt like their company had received "a huge gift" by participating in this initiative, echoing Anita's comments the other day about how nice it is to have the time and the space to focus on their project. It's amazing how valuable and yet how rare it is for artists to have dedicated time (without distractions) and a proper dedicated space (without the expense) to explore their artistic ideas and processes. I'm pleased that Rumble and the Theatre Centre were able to facilitate this for The Chop and Why Not Theatre.

Day 2 (a day behind)

June 17th, 2008
Today was more of a research day. We began the first part of the day in the studio coming back to the central questions of the piece; is it about relevancy? Is it about the inevitable failure that occurs when one tries to make everyone happy? Is it about truly connecting to one hundred people? Is it about trying to do a hundred tiny moments that will satisfy?

We talked more about the parameters for the piece and it seems that trying to find one hundred people aged 1-100 is the most interesting breakdown. I think that enables people to get on board with the project in a tangible way. We moved on the possible questions that we may like to pose and will share these with Why Not to get some feedback.

Tomorrow is the big share day with the other company. We’re looking forward to the material it may generate and to getting a big of an inside into their process.

Compass Points

Here is a photo of our presentation at Compass Points.  Compass points was a part of the Magnetic North festival for emerging artists and students.  We were asked to give a presentation on Why Not Theatre, our work, our company and modes of creation.

We were honoured to speak after an exciting panel of Vancouver based artists and companies like Boca Del Lupo, Theatre Replacement and The Chop (who we met for the first time!)

People really responded to our presentation and we made some new friends!  It was nice to be able to share our work and stories with young artists and begin a dialogue with the community of artists here in Vancouver.

The Chop's First Day at PTC!

We had our first day at PTC today! I feel so lucky. The time, the resources, the support. Like a dream. Emelia and I felt that it was important to spend some time this morning having a conversation about how it had all gone in the festival with Townsville. We talked about how some problems could be circumvented in future projects and the importance of listening to that little voice at the bottom of your gut. That little guy is trying to tell you something and if you don’t take heed he kicks your ass later on. I feel a great deal of gratitude for having a collaborator like Emelia who is so supportive and patient. It’s lucky to be able to work artistically with someone so closely for a number of years now so that we are able to challenge and navigate patterns and habits. But also to take into account the amount of work that we do outside of our company so each time we come back to each other, it’s kind of like getting to work with someone new.

We spoke about The Chop and where we would like to see it going, both in terms of our artistic values and upcoming projects. It’s so exciting to be at the beginning of this project, a blank slate, pre-compromise where we get to “do it right”, whatever that means. Well, I kind of do know what that means, and for me that’s about being as “jazzed” as possible on all the people and ideas that would be involved with the project and constantly seeking to push that.

In seeing how the Studio 58 students respond to some of the language around the clown and bouffon training, I’m also keen to develop a training and devising language that may be more efficient and relevant and specific to the kind of work that we do and can teach. Especially since I think that there will be some teaching in the development and information gathering for 99 out of 100. I think we are at a place where we can not only pass along what we have learnt in our own training but build on it and put it into context within the kind of work we want to make and encourage. So Emmy and I talked about that and where we would like to take it.

Then of course we moved onto talking about the show. We began by speaking about what we know about what we want to do, and becoming solid on the central questions of the piece, both conceptual and thematic. We worked on a timeline for the project.

One of the most exciting ideas that came out of the afternoon was of a collaboration with VIA Rail. To travel across the country by train early next summer over 5 weeks. We would travel with our bicycles so that we would bike to interviewees places from the train station. We both agreed that it was a bit crazy to think of driving across the country at this point in time so we’re thinking of other ways of doing this. Maybe also hooking up with a trucking company? Sounds like an adventure in itself…Does anybody happen to have any contacts within VIA Rail or know anyone that does cross country trucking export?

We also spoke of possible collaborators and the logistics of bringing in a playwright though I think we would all be generating material. Also chatted about what are some of the most loved plays of all time. We’re kind of hooked on Phantom of the Opera, though I think we’re of a certain age where we both saw that show as pre-teens and creamed our pants at the though of a masked tortured man falling madly in love with us and our heaving bosoms. So embarrassing.

So here is a question that I’m putting out to you bloggers: what do you think are the most produced, most loved pieces of work? What plays made big impressions on you? What are your favorite scripts?


Looking forward to a good day tomorrow!

We're HERE!

It is day 2 at our residency here at the Playwrights Theatre Centre and it has been an amazing experience to be here.

To have time to work on a show about Time is quite something.  Everyone has been extremely helpful and welcoming and we've been brewing a bunch of ideas...check out these pics.

We're looking forward to our exchange day with our mates from The Chop tomorrow!

We will post more tomorrow... we have to eat more sushi!

Welcome!

I'd like to start this off by saying welcome to all of the artists involved in this exchange. We will be seeing a lot of each other in another week or so but I encourage you all to use this Blog on a daily basis to jot down your experiences, thoughts and ideas not only during the course of the week long residency but also your time taking in the Magnetic North Industry series. It will go a long way towards ensuring that this experience is remembered and built upon in a constructive way.