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!