soapbox

The passion’s the thing. Not the play.

June 19, 2011

The 15th Ottawa Fringe Festival is in full swing, and for the first time in a few years I’ve been able to attend more than a smattering of performances.  I wasn’t able to take in anything on the first day of the festival; in the subsequent two days I’ve seen six festival shows.  It’s been [...]

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Paging political theatre

June 4, 2011

I don’t know Brigette DePape.  But yesterday, she was fired as a page for the Canadian senate after interrupting the speech from the throne in the House of Commons.  She held up a red paper stop sign, labeled “Stop Harper”, in a gesture of quiet defiance. She’s paid with her job, but Ms DePape is [...]

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Nominated!

February 28, 2011

I’ve had my head in the snow in Edmonton for the past few weeks, so I didn’t even know the latest batch of Rideau Award nominations were due out today.  I just checked the press release, and my year in the theatre is VERY well-represented! Facts (Great Canadian Theatre Company) — Arthur Milner’s world-premiere play [...]

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Roughage

January 5, 2011

The lights came up at intermission.  One row behind me, a woman turned slowly to her friend.  She sighed lightly. “Yeeeeahhhhh,” she said, tentatively.  She smiled, placed her hands in her lap, and tried pretending: “That was good!” Her friend cleared her throat, and looked back. “Yeah,” she said.  I liked it,” she lied. “Kinda [...]

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Shop talk

January 2, 2011

There’s an old joke about a gynecologist and his wife. Excited about his return from work, the gynecologist’s wife lowers the lighting in the house, lights some candles, and slips into an alluring new set of lingerie. As she hears her husband’s car pull into the driveway, she leans suggestively against the wall at the bottom of the stairwell [...]

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Another area where theatre schools fail us

November 25, 2010

I have a dream: that every repertory, conservatory, or otherwise performance-based theatre training program give complete control of at least one of their productions to the students. All such actor training programs have a healthy focus on performance.  Some even require students to learn tech skills. And while I admit that I’m pretty ignorant of [...]

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CFSW: Don’t judge me

October 14, 2010

“How would you like to be a judge tonight?” he asked. “Uh.” Stammer. “I.” Wild gesticulation. “But.” Crotch moistness. “You know you want to,” he confirmed. “It’s too much responsibility,” I protested. “It’s just a responsibility. You’ll love it”. And with that a small whiteboard was dropped into my lap and I became one of [...]

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The Wrecking Ball strikes Ottawa again!

October 7, 2010

Is the Ottawa election getting you down?  Are you giddy at the prospects for the city’s future?  Is the state of the world making you want to speak your piece?  Join the Ottawa performing arts community for a one-night cabaret performance that brings the worlds of theatre and politics crashing together: The Wrecking Ball.  Presented [...]

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Covering the Oct 5 Ottawa mayoral debate

October 4, 2010

One of the most anticipated debates for Ottawa’s mayoral candidates is coming up tomorrow, October 5, at 9 PM.  The event is the result of a collaboration between the Institute On Governance, Apartment613, and the National Arts Centre.  The NAC’s 4th Stage is a small venue, and it’s going to be packed; thankfully you can [...]

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Craving catharsis

September 30, 2010

Theatre people are such junkies. We want our art to change the world — one patron at a time. We want to be inspired by theatre, moved by it, altered by it. Every trip to the theatre that doesn’t result in earth-shattering personal catharsis increases our furor that people are simply Doing It Wrong. But [...]

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