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.