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Thought Residency: Frances Koncan

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Alright so I don’t know if anybody else does this, but when I travel I really like to visit destinations that were in movies or in my favourite books. Um, for instance, I’m going to Austria in a couple of months and basically everything on my list is just something from ‘The Sound of Music’. That’s all I’m doing, that’s the only place I’m going. It’s gonna be so good.

 

Do you ever take your dog to the vet because he’s injured? But you’re scared because you think the vet is going to think that you like hurt him on purpose because you have Munschausen by Proxy? Which is a disease I learned about on the TV show ‘House’? I often fear this. I don’t know why. Except my dog gets injured a lot and I’m just really worried they’re going to think it’s me.

 

I just saw 25 Fringe shows at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival in the span of 5 days. That averages to 5 per day and as someone who loves theatre, that is too much theatre per day. That’s at least 5 hours per day. I don’t like anything that much. I saw a show once that was like 3 ½ hours. Like The Ferryman, or Jerusalem, or John. That’s fine. 3 ½? Doable. 5? No. I’m out.

 

Okay now maybe I’m just on a roll for crankiness but I also think we were all very very mean to Game of Thrones. It wasn’t terrible. It was just like when you like try to make a food but you don’t quite have all the ingredients on hand so you try to just hope that like you don’t need the eggs for your cake? You probably do… but you made the cake. You got there. Sometimes getting to the end is success.

 

Alright so here’s the thing: you’ve probably seen the CATS trailer by now. I’ve seen the CATS trailer by now. I’ve seen CATS. I like cats. I’m allergic to cats. But everyone is kind of making a big deal about it. We haven’t even seen it yet. It’s not as terrifying as Sonic the Hedgehog. I wish we would all just listen before judging. Let’s see it before we make fun of it. People work hard to bring these cats to life.

Hi, this is thought residency. I am thinking about… large icons on computer desktop screens. When is the appropriate age to switch from large, sorry, small icons to large icons? I don’t know. But I may have just done it on a Thinkpad by IBM. So I may officially be old. Mic drop.

 

I don’t know which one of you… one of you, as if there’s just two of you listening… there might be. There could be zero, there could be a thousand, it’s hard to say. I don’t know which one of you has ever done stand-up comedy before but this is just a fool-proof way to achieve success in the industry is start all your sets with “what’s the deal with” and then fill in the blank and then end it all with “I’m gonna leave you with this” and then fill in the blank. I’ve seen white men do it constantly and they always look very happy so it must be real.

 

Hi. Is it just me or has the price of real estate really skyrocketed these days? I’ve been looking at property located just off Mulholland Drive, next door to director and writer and occasional musician David Lynch, and those properties go for at least 3 million. If not more. And as a writer I find that unreasonable. So… clearly I have to get married.

 

Alright, so: has anyone been to a Chiropractor before? I just went to one, because my massage therapist noticed I had some weird rotation in my pelvis. Now the Chiropractor tells me that my entire spine is basically collapsing. It’s very tragic and sad, but also global warming is coming for us all, so I’m not sure it totally matters. But I didn’t tell him that, and just gave him my money instead.

 

Plants. Plants are cool. Um, and it’s not cool to say ‘cool’ anymore. You have to say ‘lit’ or ‘dope’. Plants are lit and dope, but they’re also cool. Plants don’t care if they’re lit or dope, and that’s what makes them even more lit and more dope. Dope-er, if you will. I’m looking at a plant right now. It’s a tree, it’s in a pot, the pot is, like, a pale pink? I am going to name this tree, and I am going to name it… Roscoe. After a TV show called “Radio Free Roscoe” that I remember, for some reason…

 

Coffee. Here’s my hot take on coffee: coffee should be black. It should be hot. It should not have any sugar or cream in it. It should just be delicious, hot coffee. I drink it like my favourite director and future best friend drinks it, um, David Lynch. He should call me because he’s getting kind of old and we’re still not friends, so… if anybody out there can make that happen, that would be great. And drink some coffee.

 

Hi, this is Frances and I am here with your 1st July Thought Residency and I thought I’d start off with my favourite subject: me! Just kidding. My favourite subject is Keanu Reeves. Um, I’ve seen all of Keanu Reeves’ films at least twice and I will fight anyone who says he is a terrible actor. I think he is a rock, he is an anchor, he is majestic, he is style, he is grace, he is Miss United States. Thank you very much. Mic drop.

Thought Residency: Erin Ball

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Hi. I am in my car, ah, so this might sound horrible but if I don’t do this now I am not sure when I will have time. I am heading to the airport and then off for busy several days. Umm, and I think that this is my last,  umm, thought for the Spiderweb Show, ah, so I have been thinking about the benefits and why this has been so great, ahh, sharing my thoughts and recording my thoughts this month. It has helped me to realize that I say ahh and umm a lot (laughing). Umm, it’s helped me with confidence. Umm, today I gave a talk in front of a fairly large group of people and I did it pretty much unscripted which, I don’t know if I have ever done. Umm, this month sharing my thoughts in this way I’ve done it all unscripted and I think that’s just been really good practice. In addition, having the time to check in, to notice what my thoughts are, to process my thoughts. It’s been really helpful and it’s been a wonderful experience and I want to thank everybody who has listened and thank you so much to the Spiderweb Show for having me. Bye.

 

Tonight I am thinking about an experience that I had today with a young child, ah, about a year and a half old. And watching the moment of realization, umm, when that child, ahh, noticed that I have prosthetic legs. And just, ahh, observing the sheer non-judgemental curiosity is so interesting to me and it’s an experience that I have had a few times with, umm, young children. And I always love the interactions with children. And then it always brings me to thinking about how opposite it with adults and how many behaviours we have learned and picked up along the way. And, ahh, it’s such a contrast. That’s what I am thinking about.

 

Hi. This morning I am thinking about how I used to really value being early, for myself. It was something that was really important to me. And over the last few years, having 4 or 5 days a week that are 12-15 hour work days (laughing) has shifted me into a person that is late and I am trying to wrap my head around this. (Laughing) Again I am late with my thoughts. Ah, I am also thinking about how this is preparing me for a new project that I am taking on that involves me being onstage with umm, many lines. So that’s great. And that’s what I am thinking about.

 

I am thinking about how my life is extremely full, ahh, of really great things but I actually don’t have thirty seconds (laughing) to, ahh, process and record and think about my thoughts sometimes and I am almost a full twenty four hours late with my thoughts. And that’s what I am thinking about.

 

Today I am thinking about the contrast between a long weekend and time not working and over scheduling myself, uhh, 13, 14 hour days. No space for umm a lot of processing thoughts, ahh, and that is what I am thinking about.

 

Hi, it’s a long weekend and I am thinking about how I almost forgot, ah, to do this. I am also thinking about how wonderful it’s been to have sun for most of the weekend and I am thinking about why people need to be such jerks. When given the opportunity and the space to be honest, I don’t understand why some people opt not to. And I know I am being vague but I guess what it comes down to is when you have the opportunity to not hurt somebody, I don’t understand why you would make the opposite choice. And that is what I am thinking about.

 

Today I am thinking about how taking one morning off each week has been one of the best things I have ever done for myself. Uhh, giving myself time to organize my schedule, catch up on emails, umm, just organize myself mentally, wrap my head around all of the different projects that are coming up, umm, it’s been really great. And that’s what I am thinking about.

 

I have been thinking a lot about thoughts since I’ve been doing this project. And it’s interesting how much they change throughout the day and how much they are influenced by my feelings. This morning I was thinking about how nice it was to be up so early and how quiet it was and calm. And then in the middle of the day I was consumed with sadness and heartache. And then tonight I was thinking, uhh, about excitement and new projects and umm, yeah, how great it is to be involved in an awesome community.

 

Hi again. Today I am thinking about when I was on the TV set last week, umm, and how interesting it is to be a beginner and new. Ah, I don’t think I have heard ever in (laughing) my life as many times in a few hours “Erin don’t ever do that again” Uhh, I felt like I just kept making mistake after mistake. Umm, it was a great experience but in my regular life I am kind of the boss and, ah, that was quite the contrast. So that’s what I am thinking about today.

 

Erin again. Today I am thinking about sun and spring, business, deep tiredness. I’m thinking a lot about the vulnerability of recording my voice. I write a lot, I put it out there a lot and for some reason this feels much more vulnerable and I can’t quite place it just yet.

 

Hi it’s Erin again. I know that there are a lot of really horrible things, ah, in life and the world and just for this moment I am, umm, not focusing on those. And I am thinking about the randomness and awesomeness that sometimes is life. Umm, this week I am going to be on my first TV set and I have also been asked to write about an adaptive sailing event. Two completely different scenarios that I feel pretty unqualified for, umm, but I am super excited…to experience.

 

Hi it’s Erin. Today I am thinking about paying Disabled people. When a non-disabled person and a Disabled person do the same amount of work for the same amount of time, and one person gets paid quite well and the Disabled person gets paid next-to-nothing, as if, like ah, I don’t know, ” here you go, thanks so much for volunteering your time, of-course-you-don’t-work” kind of way, this is bullshit. That’s all.

 

Hi, it’s Erin. Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts. I am thinking about nervousness at doing something new. And excitement and how similar they are, yet one, I seek, and the other feels icky. I’m also thinking about how movement helps with nervousness and particularly being upside down. And I am currently in a handstand trying to think (a bit of giggling)

Thought Residency: Erin Shields

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I saw a brilliant play by Sheldon Elter last night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen comedy used in so many ways: bouffon, standup, clown, parody, satire, wit – but underneath was a undercurrent of pain, loss, love, systemic violence, and moments of naked beauty. The play was personal. The play was political. The play was about the past and now and the future. I was left with an unsettling feeling that made me think about myself and my relationship to the world I live in. What a gift.

 

It’s nice to dig into a new project with a dramaturg I’ve worked with before. Having Bob White sit beside me during the first read of a new play was reassuring. I know that he fundamentally knows how I write and what I’m going for with this very fresh piece. Yay for dramaturges.

 

I’m at the Banff Centre right now working on a new play. This place is amazing. The mountains are beautiful, the staff is lovely, and there are forest creatures prancing by the window of my studio. Everything about this place makes an artist feel valued, which is a strange sensation. We’re so accustomed to working in dirty, underfunded facilities on projects that, at times, seem only driven by passion, that it’s a shock to the system to have a clean, beautiful place in which to eat and sleep and create. I’d better get to work.

 

Like most artists I know, I always have many projects on the go at the same time. As I move between them: from a project in rehearsal to a project in a first-draft reading to a project in a dream phase to another in research mode, I try to keep them separate. Inevitably, however, an idea or a line or a character will pop from one play into another, creating this strange sort of discourse between pieces which have nothing in common aside from the fact that I’m writing them simultaneously. I’m not sure whether I should resist this phenomenon or lean into it.

 

I’ve spent a lot of time with theatre students lately. At John Abbott College, Bishop’s University and The National Theatre School. I’ve been struck by their curiosity, intelligence and challenging questions, some of which I truly struggle to answer with the same level of curiosity and intelligence. They are thinking deeply about how we treat one another, respect one another, deal with our past and make art. I think we’re going to be fine.

 

I felt a growing sense of dread as I watched the video clips:

smoke billowed, the spire toppled,

flames leapt from the City of Light.

–      Notre Dame’s on fire, I told my daughters.

–      Has anybody died?

–      No. No, I don’t think so, I said and felt a moment of relief.

It’s then I thought of the Hunchback.

 

The most challenging thing in my life is learning and living in French. Every day is a risk to speak, to be understood, to connect, to try to find subtlety where I don’t have the words. Here are some things I have done in French: a theatre Q&A, a presentation on playwrighting to a grade one class, made dentist appointments, signed up for swimming classes, looked for books on traditional Chinese costumes at my local bibliothèque, had many many cinq à septs with my neighbours. My vulnerability is always rewarded with generosity. And that feels really good.

 

I haven’t lived in Toronto for five years now. When I return, I notice the shifts in the urban landscape. On my walk from Factory to Tarragon today I saw the Honest Ed’s demolition site. In the middle of it all were two attached, three story buildings. These once-homes, once-shops stood bare and vulnerable in the rubble of the past. Alone, but for one another, they stand in defiance of a future that would have them submit to destruction. Do they feel pressured to crumble? Or bold in their resistance?

 

A play is a wish, a hope, a longing; a series of thought experiments and arguments; surges of emotion and frustration, pain and longing, fear and desire; coordinated whispers and secrets and touches; and deep, purposeful spaces of unknowing. Until … the first day of rehearsal. Looking forward to another beginning. Tomorrow.

 

I’ve been thinking a lot about the ceaseless battle over women’s bodies and the seemingly insatiable desire to control or legislate what women should or should not be wearing. There’s Premier Legualt’s imminent ban on “religious symbols” for public sector employees in Quebec, which is a thinly veiled attack on the freedom of Muslim women. Then there’s unhealthy capitalism which has coopted female beauty and transformed it into something which must be constantly doubted and perpetually augmented. This has led to the internalization of ugliness, low self-worth, and a thriving beauty-product industry. I mean, come on, give it rest.

Behaviour by Darrah Teitel

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March 12-31 | Great Canadian Theatre Company WATCH LIVESTREAM MARCH 27 | GET TICKETS

Darrah Teitel’s Behaviour is presented by Great Canadian Theatre Company in partnership with SpiderWebShow Performance. Behaviour Script developed in collaboration with Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal. Visit behaviourplay.ca to watch a livestream of the March 27th performance, read resources related to the content of the show, and visit an “Ideas” section full of artistic and thematic writing about Behaviour.

ABOUT BEHAVIOUR 

Politics. Gender. Power. Trauma.

Mara’s life is normal. She lives in Ottawa, has a good government job, a handsome partner, a new baby boy, and everything appears fine on the surface. Appearances can be deceiving. A world premiere about the abuse of power, political expediency, and the masks we wear to carry on as if everything is as it should be.

Darrah Teitel’s Behaviour is presented by Great Canadian Theatre Company in partnership with SpiderWebShow Performance. Behaviour Script developed in collaboration with Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal.

LIVESTREAM 

On World Theatre Day on March 27th, with the help of Charles Ketchabaw, we will be livestreaming a performance of Behaviour at behaviourplay.ca. 

Thought Residency: Michael Rubenfeld

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I’m not entirely sure how I became a producer.  I think it had to do with my impatience. And I wonder what my life would have looked like if I had been more patient. If I’d still be in theatre or if I’d be doing something else.  I think about that a lot and I wonder what else I’d be doing.

 

I made the decision to move to Poland partly so that I could raise a child in a society that didn’t want the Jewish people to exist here. There’s a kind of defiance in this decision. But I also wonder if I’m making the right choice for my child, constantly, when my family made the choice to move to Canada so I wouldn’t have to experience being marginalized.

 

Today my friend and coworker Clayton Lee was named the new festival director for the Rhubarb Festival at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. And I’m very proud of Clayton. I’ve been working with Clayton for many years. And it’s an amazing step and accomplishment that he’s got this position. So congratulations Clayton!

 

Don’t make promises that you can’t keep. Because when people ask you to then honour the promise that you’ve made and you can’t, it makes you an asshole. And if you get angry with the people who are asking you to honour your promise, it makes you an even bigger asshole. And you’re the one who created the mess in the first place.

 

I’ve had the most successful few years on my life … with Counting Sheep and starting CanadaHub. And my own play. But I can’t understand why things feel like they’re only getting harder when I thought they should start to feel like they’re getting easier. And I wonder who else feels that way.

 

I see a lot of young artists who have early success get really pushy with their ambitions. I’m curious about that. Im not saying it’s the wrong approach, but you’re liable to frustrate a lot of people that you’re dealing with. So unless you’re confident that your initial succes will translate into more and more and more success and you won’t need to care about what other people think about you. You should try and practice empathy for the people who are in the other side of that enquire.  This is something I wish I’d told myself when I was a young artist.

 

Parents are champions. That’s all I can say. And anyone who’s raising twins, you’re an even bigger champion. Anyone who’s a parents and maintains sanity, you’re the biggest champion. But it all honesty, it’s completely bonkers, and, yeah, the best.

 

I’m spending a lot of time and struggling with my relationship to other people and their need for others to recognize their greatness.  I find it well…embarrassing and I’m not sure why. I think it might be connected to my embarrassment for the realities of humanity’s needs and behavioural patterns — these desires towards greatness and how deep down they’re just antidote for negotiating mortality.

 

It’s 8:30am and I’m feeding my son Lev, who’s 7 weeks old today. And I’m thinking about how when he begins to talk, he will speak a language that I don’t, as well as my own. And I wonder how that will make me feel about myself. Right now I don’t necessarily feel foreign, but I wonder if, once I can no longer understand what my child is saying, if I will then start to feel like a foreigner.

 

“I’m doing this from my home in Krakow Poland, where I’ve been living on and off for about two to three years. And I’ve been thinking a lot about language, and how the use of language informs practice. And despite living in a country that—I think—has one of the most exciting theatrical practices in the world, I have very little access to it because of language. The Polish language, which I don’t speak.

Thought Residency: Jenna Rodgers

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I’m coming to you live from Vancouver, where I’m attending my first ever Push Festival. I’m wrapping up this residency in such a fitting way: surrounded by artists, thinkers, and makers who have gathered to celebrate and promote an international sharing of artistic work. That, and to celebrate the escape from the polar vortex that is plaguing the rest of Canada. Though, perhaps that, too, is a metaphor. We can’t ever truly escape the shit. The good weather and the bad are both connected to the imminent destruction of global warming, which we can pretend isn’t happening, just because it’s nice outside. We are in the muck too… and much of our best art comes from a place of trying to work through the shit that surrounds us, and generate something meaningful and relevant. So, I thank you for trying to glean meaning from this month of thoughts and questions, and I look forward to all the thoughts and questions that come as we continue to make our way through the muck.

 

The Bell Let’s Talk mental health campaign is ramping up, and I know this because I keep seeing their advertisements all over bus stops in every city I visit. And as I scroll through my never-ending Facebook feed, knowing that a deluge of mental health posts is coming… I’m thinking about taking a break. Which is maybe the opposite of what’s supposed to happen? And I acknowledge my year has been great, and I don’t have anything to complain about, yet I can feel the low drone of anxiety building. Maybe it’s the lack of sunlight, or the air pressure from the many chinooks we have had this year. Or maybe it’s this industry. It feels impossible to do enough, to be enough, to support all the people I care about, and to still take care of myself. So, yeah. I think I’m going to take a break, just for a bit. Until I can hold all the love and care and compassion I need to make art in this world.

 

Good morning. Today I’m on an airplane and … thinking about my carbon footprint, which has been significantly worse this past year, as I’ve had the great opportunity and privilege to travel quite a bit with work. Um. So how do we responsibly offset our carbon footprints? The amount that I fly can’t be fixed by vegetarianism alone. What are some other options?

 

It is widely acknowledged that our theatre industry is facing many challenges: declining audiences, declining revenues, and a lack of cultural diversity to name a few. How do we turn sinking ships? When is the right time to let something come to an end, and when do you play all your cards for an unprecedented resurrection? How do you gracefully close the doors of an organization? Who has the answers to these questions?

 

Hi. Good morning. I just did a facemask – #selfcare – one of those cute Tonymoly sheet masks that are trendy, or were trendy a year ago – I can’t keep track. It was labeled “brightening”, and packaged in a zingy yellow wrapper. I put it on my face, and then read the description on the back: “lemon mask makes dull and dark skin look radiant”. Oh. Good morning. Fuck the beauty industry and the microaggressions written on packaging for women’s skin care products that endeavour to teach any young woman that their body – their skin – might need to change for anyone else. Your skin is radiant no matter what tone!

 

I’ve just started work on two new play process in different stages of development. One is in very early days, and the other is well on its way to production. And… I’m reminded of how incredible playwrights are, and how their minds need to be cherished. They are our world builders, our storytellers, and the nerve centre of our theatrical process. So this morning, I’m offering a thank you to all of the playwrights who have led the way with bravery, talent, and generosity. Thank you.

 

In the world of equity, diversity, and inclusion work… I often feel like shows that are hopeful are ones in which the equity-seeking body has done the lion’s share of the work for the audience member. The show is palatable, consumable, satisfying. I had dinner with JD Derbyshire tonight, and she shared with me that in Zen Buddhism, the goal is to live fully in the present, so there is little place for hope, because hope inherently looks to the future. This really resonated with me, and my feelings about theatre lately. Not because I think looking to the future or having hope is a bad thing, but that I think it’s necessary and urgent to acknowledge where we are at, and that there’s a long way yet to go.

 

We’ve had our puppy, Bramble, for four weeks now. She just turned 12 weeks on the weekend, and starts puppy classes this week. And I am reflecting on how fun it’s been to have her in our lives, and how much change a small little creature can introduce into your world in a very short period of time. I’m thinking about how she’s teaching me patience, and how easy she makes it to see what’s really important.

 

This past weekend, my company, Chromatic Theatre participated in the 10-Minute Play Festival as part of the opening weekend of the High Performance Rodeo. A longstanding tradition – six companies are invited to create a 10 minute play in 24 hours with only a prop and a prompt. I’d like to share a line from our team’s silly creation, Sparking Joy with Karie Mondo: “Your homework is to take some time to think about how the white gaze can prohibit you from living your true joy. She wants you to really reflect on the process of decolonizing your mind. This way, you begin to step into your power and live your truth”.

 

Today, I am thinking about audiences. Who doesn’t show up? And how do we open doors for them to do so? Is the theatre flexible enough to be relevant to outsiders? Especially out west, where we seem to carry a cowboy attitude: anything goes, everyone is welcome… yet, almost all of our artistic powerhouses found success elsewhere. So what do we do? How do we engage new audiences? Or how do we reinvent ourselves to be more relevant?

 

artEquity. This is a program that deeply shifted my personal politics, and helped me feel rooted in who I am. Today, connected with a number of my cohort, and I am thinking about how grateful I am to be connected to this incredible community of artists, advocates, and activists. These folks challenge me to be accountable and to continue to find ways to decolonize artistic practice. They ask hard questions that don’t always have answers, and are patient in our collective journey towards change.

 

I’m thinking about vaccinations and puppy cuddles; about strategic planning, and long-term organizational health; about volunteerism; about whether or not working from home is a gift or a curse; about family and travel and travel insurance; about contract negotiations and systemic bias; and really just hoping it all slows down in time for me to rest and try again tomorrow.

 

I’m currently participating in the Cultural Leadership Program at the Banff Centre, and we’ve been asked to ‘test drive’ an aspirational core value over the past couple of months. Something like… respect, honesty, beauty… a value we can use to guide our decision-making processes as leaders. I’m finding this a near impossible experience. I picked the value “truth”, and right now, I think that my truth is that the idea of leadership distilled into homework assignments makes me suspicious, … so what can I learn about myself from this suspicion?

 

Happy New Year everyone! Um, today… on a day where it feels like everyone is thinking about bettering themselves… what habits to form or break, and which practices to begin… I think I’m joining the fray. It’s not wholly formed yet, but I think it’s somewhere in the realm of starting a mindfulness practice. To do less, but to try to enjoy what I’m doing more.

My spouse and I got a puppy in mid December, and she’s teaching me … well, patience among many other things… but, but really more than anything else, she’s reminding me of joy and the beauty of unconditional love. So to everyone out there, I wish you all a joyful new year, full of the things that matter to you. You are loved.

Work Life Balance

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Free childcare offered for some Belfry Theatre performances. Screen capture from Belfry Theatre website.

Much is being discussed about life work balance. I would not be so foolish as to take an opposing view on the necessity of our industry (not just the theatre—but the entire performing arts community) finding pathways to a better point of balance. I will however write about the direction of some of the discussions happening. The discussion seems to be focusing on five-day weeks and shorter days as a panacea for providing life work balance.

Presuming that we are not seeking less rehearsal / development / exploration time for the art, we would then be talking about extended engagement periods. Not a bad way to go—(finances aside)—if you are in a major centre where your creative team live.

Belfry Theatre, Victoria BC

For rural, remote communities, and for smaller cities, extended rehearsal time may in fact add strains to life—especially family life. My company currently engages actors for eight week contracts to complete roughly 120 hours of rehearsal, another approximately 20 hours of tech rehearsals and 31 performances.

We are on an island, and while we are a small city with a decent number of talented professionals locally, we also rely pretty extensively on a national talent pool. Out-of-town artists are required to be away from their principal residence for an extended period of time. Presuming again that we want to maintain an average of 40 hours or so a week in rehearsal time, would we (and others like us) then ask actors to be away from home for even longer stretches of time?

Moving away from rehearsals and overall contract length, I would like to also offer that a presumption that we could accomplish the same impact with audiences in a five day week rather than a six day week, also offers some challenges. While it is possible that my company could reach the same number of audience members most of the time with fewer performances; the data we have does show that for many of our shows we would not.

In the age of ticket sales needing to draw a majority (or at least significant portion) of our revenues, how do we find ways of paying are artists better? Which I believe plays a really significant part in providing life-work balance. Which day do we give up to ensure we reach the community we serve? In our case that would likely be Friday and Monday. -not an ideal way of moving to a five day week.

Belfry Family Hootenanny, photo by Erin Macklem.

As artists, as companies, we share a responsibility to our audiences. They too need to be part of the conversation and solution. We rely on them for our livelihood. Perhaps we can reverse the stream of 24/7–365 consumerism. I suppose if anything should attempt it maybe it’s art. However, whether we like it or not, we are part of the consumer society and if we are to affect change we need to find a way to bring our audiences with us.

This is a short, starter conversation. It is a conversation that is particularly important and valuable. In each work day, we should be finding ways to provide the responsiveness to meet the needs of all of us, to have and respond to our life as well as our art. We should be particularly cognisant of the needs of mothers and other primary care givers. I wish I had an answer for improving balance in the lives of our artists and craftspeople. I don’t. But I do know that a single version approach can create as many issues as it solves.

Our current model of how we create the work, how we perform, how we become truly inclusive, and how we continue to move away from the culture of poverty requires dedicated and intensive conversation. That conversation can not start from a perspective of us versus them. It is not an artist against organization issue.

It is also not starting from the intractable position that organizations (and individuals) fall back on—‘we’ve always done it this way’. I believe that it also can not start from a one size fits all response. That the needs of our audiences, our community, our artists, our staff, must all be part of the discussion and solution. That voice must be given to each individual involved, in each process, in each circumstance.

Thought Residency: Luke Reece

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For this final thought, I’m writing it out first, so that I don’t have to do several more takes at it. Someone I love very much is trying to sleep and it’s 1:30 in the morning. I’d like to give her, Caitie, a shout-out for being great. It’s been a long month, and year, but it’s people like her who keep me going through it all. She reminds me to never take myself too seriously, and to find laugher and silliness whenever possible. I think it’s appropriate to end with that.

 

Merry Christmas to everybody out there listening who celebrates that, and happy holidays to everyone, and Happy New Year to those whose New Year starts soon. Had a great conversation with my family about belief systems at the Christmas dinner tonight. And it was, it was nice to hear my aunts like really come together and listen to the different perspectives that people have now on the world. And I dunno it was it was cool to see them just be surprised that there is another way of thinking and that we feel comfortable exploring those ways of thinking.

 

Every Christmas Eve my mother, my sister and I play a card game called Wizard, the last thing we do before bed. And for the last, I dunno, five or so years my sister has won. And uhh before that I was the reigning champ for four years or so, and she won again tonight. So I just wanted to take the opportunity to give a shout-out to my little sister Cassandra, who is not little at all. She’s much taller than I am. For winning again and putting up a good game.

 

So I’ve been doing a lot of these thoughts as one take, which is kind of fun. Sometimes I put songs behind them and I like that. So this is Janet Jackson right now. This year I decided I wanted to rent the Mini Cooper at some point just because I’ve always wanted to drive one and then I got a chance to. And uh it was great— cost me more money than to rent a regular car, but I needed to rent a car anyways and a Mini Cooper was available. I used an app called Turo. You should check it out if you haven’t already. And Mini Coopers are great.

 


I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on 2018 as the year comes to an end, and thinking forward to 2019. And I really liked the resolution they had for this year. And I don’t feel like I’ve quite gotten there yet. So I feel like 2018 is more like a stepping stone to 2019. I’m not going to tell you what that thing is, uh because I don’t have to, and I choose not to.

 


I was really excited this week when I found out that uhh Blue Planet 2 is on Netflix now. Um, and I wanted to watch it on Sunday morning and didn’t get a chance to. And then Sunday night I went home and I kind of claimed that time and watched the first episode of Blue Planet 2… and it’s great! It’s beautiful…Definitely check it out.

 

On the second night back-to-back, on the road, without Kawhi Leonard, Toronto Raptors beat the Golden State Warriors 113- 93. They beat the Clippers last night. And, it’s just great to see them really come into form, and play their game, and most importantly they’re having fun. And something I’ve noticed the last couple nights is that the Raptors are having fun. And I think sometimes when things aren’t going our way, or stressed, we forget to have fun and the Raptors are coming out of a slump by enjoying what they do. And that’s important.

 

The shift key on the left side of my keyboard – so the main one – is currently jammed, which makes it difficult to uh type with capital letters unless you use ‘capital…lock’—I’ve never—wow, ‘caps lock’. I’ve never called it ‘capital lock’ before but I guess—you know what I mean. Or, you use the other shift key which just feels weird. So, you really need to find those key moments for capital letters…If you know what I mean.

 


When my sister and I were were uh 5 and 8 years old we watched a show called Life’s Animal Miracles. It was just actually called Animal Miracles, but it was on the Life Network, and uh it had aired for three years and hosted by Alan Thicke, and it showed stories of animals being miraculous, saving lives, helping people get through tough times situations. But it’s pretty intense for an eight-year-old to watch. Dog dies. First episode. Just a heads up.

 

Some people like to call attention to the fact that I am a Toronto Raptor’s fan even more so than I do. I think part of that is because it’s somehow looked upon as a strange thing that as a theater creator that I enjoy sports. I’ve been playing sports all my life and that because of that I am a passionate sports fan. And I think that there are things to be learned from the way that sports bring people together in the way that theatre does as well. And the game I was at tonight was celebrating what would have been the hundredth birthday of Nelson Mandela and seeing everybody celebrate that together was beautiful.

 

Today I made a comment about a high ceiling, I said “You could fly a helicopter in here”, and then someone challenged whether or not the propellers would actually fit. It’s nice to have people call into question your hyperboles when it’s just a little too plausible. Also, today I learned that it’s easy to stop overextending yourself when there is nothing left to extend. Uhh not on the same topic- the anti-Doras happen on June 16th in Toronto. Save the date. I was told by a peer that my last thought was rambley – and I don’t think that’s a word.

 

So the Raps lost by three points to the Denver Nuggets this evening. I was happily in a theatre at the time, but when I came out of the theatre I learned that they uhh they missed 9 free throws, and lost by three. So, you know, you don’t have to know basketball you just need to know math to figure that one out. Umm I learned some new things about Pokémon Go tonight. There is an app that you can use to properly appraise your Pokémon. But instead of doing that I should probably prepare for a poetry feature I have Saturday night.

New Ways To Fail: Yvette Nolan on Queen Seraphina at Saskatoon’s Sum Theatre

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“This Is Our Land” Performers (clockwise) Michael Martin, Chris Dodd, Krystle Pederson, Haley Brown
Photo by Ehjae Chan.

On July 2, 2018, Saskatoon’s Sum Theatre launched its sixth annual Theatre in the Park (TITP) with Queen Seraphina and the Land of Vertebraat, the story of a land where everyone is disabled, and therefore everything must be accessible.

The first three years of TITP had featured well-known, family friendly stories – Alice, Pied Piper and Hercules. In year four, addressing a desire to engage other sectors of the community, Artistic Director Joel Bernbaum and the company adapted Métis author Maria Campbell’s Little Badger and the Fire Spirit, and in year five, the Syrian folk tale The Lion and the Woodcutter. In 2017, Joel decided the show would focus on disability.

Sum commissioned Adam Pottle, an award-winning poet, novelist, and emerging playwright to write the summer show. I had served as dramaturg on Adam’s first play, Ultrasound, about deafness and Deaf culture. Cahoots Theatre’s 2016 premiere had required a huge outlay of additional resources: two deaf actors; American Sign Language interpreters throughout development to production; surtitles developed along with the text. In the process, Cahoots created the Deaf Artists & Theatres Toolkit, a resource for other artists and theatres who want to work together on a project that included deaf artists or had as its focus Deaf culture.  

Heldegarde casts a spell. Performers: Megan Zong, Kristel Harder, Lancelot Knight, Krystle Pederson, Michael Martin, Chris Dodd and 25 children. Photo by Ehjae Chan.

While the DATT offered some tools for the production of Seraphina, it did not address the host of new challenges the company faced. In my role as dramaturg, I found myself dramaturging not just the text, the staging, and the production elements, but the process (and in my head, I hear Kugler telling me, “Yvette, it’s always about the process”).

Like Queen Seraphina, actor Haley Brown uses a wheelchair, and although Haley participated in  the development of the play from the beginning, generously consulting on the design of the set, we still kept discovering new ways to fail.

Evgenia Mikhaylova’s set featured a series of huge ramps in a rough figure 8 shape, but instead of being a continuous surface, the ramps were planked, like a boardwalk. For someone who uses a wheelchair, each gap between each plank offers resistance. Joel notes, “We had Haley and Chris (Dodd) and Michael (Martin), our three disabled artists, in the development workshop… we talked specifically with Haley about width of ramps, we talked about slope of ramps, and she went back to California and we forgot to consult or we neglected to consult about materials… as someone who does not wheel – I walk – when I was told by the builder that they were going to be boards right next to each other, I thought that makes sense, that’s fine and it never once occurred to me that that would be a big deal for someone who wheels.”

Further, the ramps had beautifully smooth edges, which was aesthetically very pleasing, but hazardous. What we needed instead was some kind of border rim so that the actor could feel if she was at the edge of the ramp and in danger of going right over.  

Frustrations mounted. Everyone had been working so hard to make the work in a good way, and still there were gaps. How does an organization know what it doesn’t know? “ You make mistakes,” Joel says. “I’m glad we screwed up, otherwise we wouldn’t have learned. That’s how we know what we don’t know. It would be nice if it got a little less personal and a little less labour intensive… We’re all on the same team here…  Is there a way at the top of the process that we could know everyone’s needs so that we could best meet everyone’s needs?”

“No more ramps. No more Braille. No more hand language.” Performers L-R: Lancelot Knight, Kristel Harder, Krystal Pederson, Haley Brown, Michael Martin, J.R. Hewison, Megan Zong and ASL interpreter Rosalie Wishlow. Photo by Ehjae Chan.

One of the difficulties in working across culture is that one is often expected to be the cultural informant, to represent. During the fraught time, as the production crew worked to address the challenges with the set, I talked with Haley about that expectation. “I was just putting so much pressure on myself to do that,” she told me. “I didn’t know what anyone else’s experience or awareness was… I was like, ‘oh is this brand new for everyone? am I going to be the only one to bring up these issues?’ I worried that I was the only one in the room thinking about my disabled friends who are blind or who are hard of hearing and don’t speak sign language, or who are wheelchair users and can’t get out of their chair to push their chair across the grass…?”

Haley suggests hiring an access coordinator, which would reduce the pressure on the disabled performer to identify the gaps and suggest solutions, and would also make dealing with the challenges “a little less personal,” as Joel desires, but again raises the issue of resources. Queen Seraphina enjoyed huge support from the funders (including a Canada Council Sector and Innovation Development grant to train ASL interpreters for theatre), sponsors, and community groups, but the very act assembling the resources was a Herculean task. How does the company prioritize?

I too have responsibility, as the dramaturg, for not being able to foresee how the obstacles were going to manifest, but I too cannot know what I do not know, and cultural sensitivity is a process, not a product. We worked through it, with the generosity and patience of all involved, but these are not easy conversations, and some theatres and some artists may not be willing to invest the time and energy into having them.

The company of Queen Seraphina and the Land of Vertebraat. Photo by Ehjae Chan.

For Sum Theatre, though, it was worth it because “if we don’t do it, it doesn’t happen.” Haley confirms this: “When Joel proposed it to me… he made it really difficult to say no to as a job, a paid professional gig with this wonderful company… but the idea – I almost said no just because I’ve never seen anything like it… I’ve never had an opportunity like this, and I don’t necessarily foresee ever having one again …”

Joel hopes that Sum Theatre’s model will allow other Saskatchewan theatres to imagine themselves hiring a disabled actor, making a production more accessible. He is currently pursuing funding to support a cross-sector accessibility initiative. But it’s not just about changing the theatres, it’s also changing the community.

“We have to move away from consumers and move into participants and if we are participants in the experience, we are all in it together and if we are all in it together that means when you show up to the show and see there is a touch tour available, even if there are no blind people accessing the touch tour that night, then you are thinking as a sighted person, ‘wow there’s blind people in my community’ and then you are thinking about being more inclusive just by that so we are actually doing the work even when no one is accessing the service.”

“I am so beyond impressed with Joel and others who are putting in that kind of work and that kind of love,” Haley says. “The word that is so strong for me in my experience with Sum is ‘humility’. I can stretch to have more humility and more generosity about how I participate in this – if it’s any good it’s complicated – if it’s doing any work it’s gonna be complicated.”

Enough

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Next stop: community rallying for better work conditions. Photo by Adrienne Wong.

In a Facebook post on November 13, my friend and recent Siminovitch Prize winner Marcus Youssef asks,

Why does it seem inevitable that theatre professionals should work six days (48 hours) a week with no overtime? How does it allow people to do good work, care for their children, nurture their personal lives and connections to people outside of our art form (which I argue leads to better work)?

This culture of overwork is reinforced by collective agreements that stretch the limits of labour law with 6-day weeks and days that allow working ten hours out of twelve in one 24-hour period. These are the professional standards for onstage workers, and the expectations for offstage workers like stage management are equally if not more burdensome.

Stage management are considered employees and are therefore somewhat protected by labour law, but let’s think realistically about the logistics of some members of a team working within labour standards and coordinating contract workers who are not protected by those same laws?  

Let’s break it down.

The average work day during rehearsal for an actor who is a member of Canadian Actors Equity is eight hours. This does not include any time required to execute physical, vocal, emotional or mental warm-ups to prevent injury and promote excellent work. Lunch (60 minutes) and breaks (five minutes for each one hour, totalling 20 minutes) are paid, but generally contractors stay onsite.

Stage management and directors work the same hours, and in addition, arrive early to prepare or have meetings with other artists.

Let me ask you: how effectively is your time used in the rehearsal room between 3:30-6:00pm?

None of this time takes into account preparation. The hours of memorizing and running lines at home. Researching a role. Working on physical and vocal choices. Considering motivation, objectives, and strategies for each fucking word you utter.

So with six hours and 40 minutes of active work-time in the room and paid breaks, I suppose we are better off than, say, fast food employees. When I worked 8 hour shifts at A&W my wage was calculated hourly and my lunch hour and breaks were unpaid.

There are obvious differences between working at A&W and rehearsing and performing a play. One involves integrating intelligence, imagination, physical agility, memory and heart. The other… does not. Nor does it require hours of preparation.

Say it again for the folks in the back. Photo by May4th is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

This is not to argue that working at A&W is an easy job or does not merit a living wage.

Rather this is an argument for the people who design, agree-upon, implement, and enforce the labour standards applied to live theatre to consider the very real impacts of exhaustion, chronic stress, and long-term anxiety on the workers (AKA: artists), never mind the product of their labour (AKA: the art).

The work suffers.

The. Work. Suffers.

I write this as a freelancer, the mother and primary caregiver for two kids, who right now is so fucking tired that I can barely string these words together.

Do not ask me to make art right now. I can’t. I’ve tried. My imagination doesn’t fire in this state without very specific measures in place: childcare, five hour day, mental health breaks, and generous collaborators. All of my intelligence, instinct, and imagination is wrapped up in solving the problem of making it through the day without yelling (much) and figuring out the menu for three meals and two snacks.

The conditions I describe above shouldn’t be considered special requests. They should be the baseline.

Parents and caregivers aren’t the only people affected by these work conditions—though let’s all take a moment to send some love to the solo parents. Consider the artists whose bodies and minds need more rest than is allowed by our training and work systems that mistake endurance for rigour.

The realities of 21st century dramaturgy in Canada. Photo by Adrienne Wong.

Recent work to improve accessibility and inclusion practices in theatre have to led to (many) great things, including adopting the practice of identifying what each participant needs to do their best work in the room at the beginning of a process—and then filling those needs. Most people think this applies to artists and workers who need time and space to cope with medication schedules, physical or mental limitations. BUT ISN’T THAT ALL OF US? We all have limitations. We all need rest and space to be our best selves in the room.

There is a whiff of classism in all of this, too. The way the work conditions are organized right now privileges workers who can afford to be broke, folks who have family (chosen or otherwise) who can support this economically irrational choice. This in turn makes participation in this fucked up system impossible for people for whom artistic expression is less integral than day-to-day subsistence and the long-term sustainability of themselves and the folks they are responsible for and to. These artists represent a broad range of intersecting demographics that include age, ability, socio-economic background, race, mother-tongue, among others. The work conditions we accept and promote in the arts actively inhibit these people from participating, which in turn impacts whose voice is heard, in addition to the very quality of the work created.

Photo from Left of Liberal FB Group.

There are other industries with comparable work conditions: any entrepreneur starting a new business can attest to long days and low pay. These workers are in control of their work environments, and can make choices to prioritize other aspects of their lives.

In our industry, where mental, emotional, and literal acrobatics are required for performance and rehearsal, we’ve bought into the idea that we, like any other factory line worker, can work for eight hours in a row, six days a week. We have signed agreements that endorse these work conditions as though they promote creativity and art-making.

So what can we do?

We can add these very real concerns to the table during labour negotiations.

We can advocate for childcare on site where we work, and childcare stipends when that’s not possible.

We can advocate for shorter work days when negotiating contracts.

We can advocate for ever-increasing flexibility and freedom to self-determine rehearsal schedules based on the needs of the artists engaged in the projects.

When we sit as members of assessment committees, we can actively support artists and producers who include childcare, shorter rehearsal days and weeks in the budgets for our project proposals when applying to arts funders. 

We don’t need to be this tired all the time. We don’t need to sacrifice our family and personal lives. We can lead fulfilling lives outside of our work. We can create work conditions that promote the inclusion of artists from a broad range of intersecting communities.

But we need to do it together.

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