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…