Last year I attended the popular Backstage with Bernard panel and did some blogging here about it.
This year it’s back with a new host. Jackson Davies is a Vancouver based actor who appeared on The Beachcombers, 21 Jump Street, and Street Justice.
I’m sitting in on the 1pm panel and will be live blogging here and also live tweeting as @WTD10.
This afternoon’s panelists are:
Pat Smith – Head of Wardrobe, Vancouver Playhouse
Kenji Maeda – Actor, founder of www.vancouveractorsguide.com
Heather Redfern – Executive Director, Vancouver East Cultural Centre
Tanja Dixon-Warren – GVPTA President, Co-Artistic Director of Hoarse Raven Theatre
(not pictured) Manami Hara – Actress in film & theatre
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1:58pm – The 1pm panel is wrapping. There’s two more this afternoon: one at 2pm & one at 3pm. World Theatre Day is Saturday – check out the theatre happening in this city this week.
1:52pm – Jackson Davies “If you really want to freak out the parents of the people you are dating, tell them you are in the arts.”
1:45pm – Audience question: “Does needing to sell to people change the art?”
Tanja Dixon-Warren: “I wish I was a super creative person & could write my own play…What has worked best for us is when a script keeps us up at night and we just WANT to do, those have sold really well. When we’ve picked shows because we go ‘This will sell well!’ then blegh…I was so focused on trying to balance the money that it didn’t sell the way we thought it would sell and that goes back to the heart of why we did it….When you do a show that you love you can’t help but do it justice.”
Heather Redfern: “If it’s bad, nobody’s going to come. I don’t care if it’s West Side Story. You have to put the best work on the stage that you possibly can and then you have to market it the best you possibly can.”
Manami Hara: “When I start assuming something will sell…then yes, I think the art suffers because there is something that is not based on what you are really connected to.”
1:38pm – Audience member: “It really bugs me that fantastic actors have to leave here to get recognized… They should be able to make a living here. There are fantastic plays here…I just wish you good luck.”
1:37pm – Talk a little bit about Hive
Kenji Maeda – “As an audience member you go in – you buy a ticket – and then you find your way into one of the rooms. There are some that happen within the lobby area and three that are outside….Being able to see so many shows at once was so exciting. The energy in the building, of being able to choose, was fantastic.”
1:28pm – Jackson Davies: “What about Vancouver audiences? What kind of audiences are Vancouver audiences?”
Manami Hara – “Vancouver audiences are really well educated…[local companies] bring in such fantastic shows so the audiences are ready for something new and out side the box…but they are really laid back at the same time.”
Heather Redfern – “I don’t think there is ONE Vancouver audience. And there isn’t a lot of cross-over between audiences. You don’t get a lot of Bard on the Beach folks going to the Cultch UNLESS it’s a Blackbird theatre show or something in their meileau…My job in programming is to find the people that each show is for.”
1:21pm – Question to Pat Smith: “What would be your dream piece to do from a costume perspective?”
Pat Smith – “It’s sad to me that there are no period pieces now…I love to get a bolt of fabric and then make it into 3D. I get a real kick out of that…The more yardage the better.”
Heather Redfern – “I miss that. I started out as a designer…and that sense of creating something that you’re basically sculpting is extraordinary. I really miss that.”
1:19pm – Question: “Do you see theatre becoming closer to new media?”
Kenji Maeda: “I think that using new media or projections or new techniques brings in new audiences which is very important. I think if we are not adapting to what the community – or younger audiences are seeing – if they think theatre is only Shakespeare or kids wearing flowers or being a clown, then they are going to be turned off of theatre. I think new media is one way of doing it. But I also think that marketing traditional theatre in a new way is another angle. Theatre is about reflecting what the community is at a specific time.”
1:14pm – Question: “Can people specialize in theatre? Do we do these things because we want to or because we have to in order to survive?”
Manami Hara: “I didn’t choose to become a theatre artist. It somehow was always there – ‘come. come.’ And you answer that call and there’s no turning back.”
Tanja Dixon – Warren: “I think some people can afford to “just” be an actor. I wish I was one of them…I don’t think I would have survived in this industry if I didn’t wear all these hats.”
1:08pm – None of the panelists want to use the microphone. They’re actors & know how to project.
1:08pm – Why is Jackson doing this? “As an actor that’s probably my favourite time. Right before the lights come up and you’re standing backstage. I love that kick of adrenaline.”
1:06pm – The panels today are being video taped and will be available online in the days to come.
1:05pm – Trivia: Jackson has been in over 110 Theatre productions.
1:04pm – The panelists are starting to take their place.
12:43pm – The panelists & audience are beginning to arrive for the 1pm panel.
From The Theatre Communications Group website, an alternative, or an addition to, Dame Judi Dench’s World Theatre Day message:
It’s been said that the role of an artist is to keep their eyes open, when everyone else’s are shut.
It’s a beautiful and simple sentiment. We are cultural watchdogs. We stand at attention, observing and reacting. We excavate, uncover, interpret and unravel. We protect tradition and shape new ones. We look inward…and then outward to find ways to better understand our selves.
We live in a world that has become increasingly interconnected through the ascendancy of new media, yet paradoxically more fractured by racism, religion, politics and economics. Our venerated financial institutions are crumbling and petty partisan fights paralyze our governments. Our insatiable need for oil and precious minerals fuel deadly armed conflicts in places like Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Poverty and suffering have become givens in a world of abundance, and women continue to fight for basic human rights and dignity in most countries. Hate, not love, fuel religious revolutions, poisoning generations of young men and women merely searching for meaning. We look for solutions in the recycling bins, and turn on the television to drown out our woes. This is our world, shaped by our own design, chaotic and unruly, yet beautiful and infinitely fascinating.
As artists and global citizens, the world continues to demand our attention, and as such we must be intrepid explorers, daring to venture into uncomfortable zones to unearth difficult truths. We must be unafraid to look honestly at the human condition and try to come to terms with its contradictions and flaws. That means approaching our work not as journalists, but as fabulators, storytellers, breaking rules to help reimagine the world. We must be truthful, while spinning yarns. It is the paradox of our creative process that gives us access to places we dare not go in our everyday lives. It emboldens us to ask difficult questions about war, race, religion, poverty, love and hatred.
Theatre is a place where we can collectively share our laughter, shed our tears and loudly demonstrate our joy or frustration. Theatre has the incredible capacity to be soul healing; it allows both the audience and artist to purge toxins and exorcise collective demons.
I challenge all of us to sustain the complexity of our world; to invite a multitude of diverse voices onto the stage. We must open the doors and windows of our theatres to let the world in. It is our responsibility; it is our burden and our gift.
We are fabulators….we are cultural watchdogs.
Download the message in:
Arabic | English | French | Spanish
Bio for Lynn Nottage, winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Ruined
Today I received this email from Susan Weiss, an ex-pat British Colombian who now lives in Mexico. Everyone give Mexico a big welcome to the World Theatre Day Party!
WORLD THEATRE DAY 2010 IN MEXICO – A FIRST EVER STEP!
These words are especially appropriate for Mexico: “But theatre…provides opportunities to educate and inform. All it needs is a space and an audience. Theatre has the ability to make us smile, to make us cry, but should also make us think and reflect”. Dame Judi Dench – excerpt from her World Theatre Day message. (I admit it! I am a huge ‘FAN” of Dame Judi Dench).
On the occasion of World Theatre Day 2010 I am honored and extremely excited to help launch Mexico as a first-time participant in this magnificent “world event”.
Mexico, ah…there are so many Mexico’s. The richness of Mexico and her culture, is her people. Mexican culture is also very complex.
There is a long and bold history of theatre is this country that spans two centuries. And, in this Bi-Centennial year, Mexico is celebrating its culture and its theatre all over this country in cities, towns, “pueblitos”, “plazas”, churches and “Casas de la Cultura” with great pride, dignity and above all, honor.
Great writers such as Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes; directors and innovators such as Luis de Tavira, (who created Casa del Teatro, a training ground for Mexican “creativity” by nurturing young writers, actors, directors, technicians, designers and teachers and inspiring the next generation); these “Mexican giants” all deserve a hearty round of applause.
My first “live theatre” experience in Mexico City was attending the play “Encuentros”, (Encounters), written, directed and acted by Guillermo Iván, Erik Heyser and Ragnar Conde and presented at the Casa Azul in Colonia Condesa. Casa Azul is a theatre centre, made up of many rooms, (it was at one time a Spanish conquest era “dignified Hacienda”). In one of those rooms, (9 feet by 12 feet – at the most), sitting in a circle on plastic chairs, 25 audience members anxiously waited for what was coming next; imagine, sitting in a room with only one door and one light bulb hanging from the high ceiling. BANG! The one door slammed shut.
What came in the next 90 minutes was gripping, gutsy, gritty and at times a ghastly encounter with three characters that had been kidnapped, (not knowing each other). It was raw and powerful emotion – that seared everyone in that 9 by 12 foot room.
And what could possibly be next? At the end of the “encounter”, a video tape rolled, recapping the events of the play and the audience was “compelled” to decide the fate of just one of the “kidnapped”.
My heart almost stopped, and, when the light bulb came on for the “Bows” I thought to myself, quietly, “Art imitating Life” or “Life imitating Art”? After all, this powerful, contemporary, in your face theatre piece, spoke volumes about the everyday life in this city.
From this theatre experience Ragnar, Guillermo, Erik and I have become fast and forever friends. I help them in any way I can to promote their work in theatre; they are visionaries, and they carry the “torch” for theatre in Mexico with immense honor, dignity, pride and humility. They are also “fearless” in their collective quest to inform. I love you guys, “un abrazo muy fuerte!”
In my current adopted home of Querétaro, Mexico I met another young, creative, ambitious and innovative Mexican theatre man: Alonso Barrera. Alonso Barrera is a writer, an actor, a director, a businessman; (he created La Fabrica, a theatre space in Querétaro), to further his passion of and for theatre.
When I first met Alonso he was writing, (with the Grade 11 Drama Club of the John F. Kennedy American School of Querétaro), a theatre piece in English. The acting, design, writing and “entrepreneurship” (securing sponsorship for the production), of these young people was remarkable. What an experience for these adolescent students, their families and the community of Jurica. I too applauded them one and all.
I asked Alonso if he and La Fabrica might participate in World Theatre Day 2010 and in true Mexican fashion, he said YES. (“No”, does not work in the vocabulary here). To this end he has secured the 50th performance of the play “La Estacion” performed by “Barón rampante” on WTD, March 27, 2010 in Querétaro, Mexico.
What is even more outstanding is that there will be no tickets sold; the audience will be asked to make a donation, of whatever they can afford, at the show. This is dedication and shows entrepreneurship on the part of La Fabrica and “Barón rampante”.
It is with great pleasure that I shall show my support by attending, (and taking a group of friends with me), to this historic, first entrance of Mexico onto the world theatre stage in celebration of World Theatre Day, 2010.
To Alonso, “Barón rampante” , La Fabrica, I thank you for your dedication, passion and I honor you for sharing your theatre with us!
Many, many, years ago I was invited to Jordan to “produce an event”, and I share an inside “glance” of one of my conversations: “If you can transport me from my everyday life, for three hours, I shall be eternally grateful to you”….Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan on the occasion of an audience with her planning for AIDA at the football stadium in Amman, Jordan to benefit her causes for women and children in Jordan. (SCW: alas this did not come to pass, the “Intifada” created another kind of theatre). Her Majesty’s words are forever burned onto my soul.
In closing, I say to all people, everywhere, “Run, don’t walk”, beg, borrow, barter, do whatever you need to do; please support theatre in your community, especially on March 27, 2010.
BUT, please do not stop there, continue to put your bottom and your friends’ bottoms in seats in theatres; by doing this you will support art, be informed and most of all “you will be transported, I guarantee!”
Susan C. Weiss
Producer, writer, entrepreneur; (passionate for theatre, wherever I am – right now in Querétaro, Mexico)
PS – and a very important one! A very special thank you to Rebecca Coleman of Vancouver, Canada, (herself), a theatre producer, marketer and publicist extraordinaire for introducing me to WTD; “una abrazo fuerte” Rebecca, from all of us participating in WTD 2010 in Mexico.
I also celebrate WTD 2010 with you in Vancouver, (in spirit), from Mexico. “VIVA EL DIA MUNDIAL DEL TEATRO! VIVA!”
Thanks, Susan. I look forward to your photos and video.
–Rebecca
Hello, my name is Scott Florence and I am the artistic director of a theatre company in Ottawa called A Company of Fools.
Every year (since 2002) we have hosted the OTTAWA THEATRE CHALLENGE on March 27 to celebrate World Theatre Day.
We invite theatre companies from across the region – professional, emerging, community, theatre training centres, French and English companies – to participate in a “contest of creation”. Each participating company has 48 hours to create and rehearse a new piece of theatre. Participating companies exchange “Inspiration items” to spark the creative effort (and ensure everyone is working on a new piece in the 48 hour period!) and then two days later the results of the creative frenzy are showcased at the National Arts Centre’s Fourth Stage. Proceeds are donated to charity; the charity is chosen by the winner of the previous year. That’s right, we pretend it’s a competitive format – but the competition is very tongue in cheek, and the judges are expected and encouraged to take bribes to sway their opinion.
Our url is http://www.fools.ca. We can also be found on Facebook.
I just discovered your blog and am very excited by it – I look forward to reading on previous posts to find out what is happening elsewhere around World Theatre Day!
Cheers,
Scott Florence,
Big Fool
This article is reprinted in full, with permission from the authour, from 2am Theatre.
Odds are the first four words ever spoken were “tell me a story.” And the next four? “Once upon a time…” It’s why we have cave paintings, sculpture, theatre, film, television both scripted and “real.” Everything in our world is crafted to communicate something, whether memory or information, association or emotion. Everything–and everyone–has a story.
As theatre artists, no matter our discipline or technique, we find, create and tell stories to our audiences. What if we let them have a turn? Would that lead to a stronger bond, a better appreciation of what we all do? Could it let them get a glimpse behind the curtain, a look at the “process” to see how it’s done?
That’s the idea–and the meta-idea–behind 360.
What is 360?
A gathering, much like this, but without computers, iPhones, what-have-you. And you all tell stories. It’s just that simple, really.
Why 360?
Your story can start anywhere, go anywhere. It may be a memory, something you’ve done, someplace you’ve gone. You have six minutes–or 360 seconds–to bring your story full circle. The time limit helps to keep you focused, and also helps to keep the event moving.
All you need is a space and a timer.
Let the people know, see who shows up. We’ll even provide the logo and other images you might need for signage, mailing lists, posters, etc. The license is free–all we ask is that you credit it back to us here at 2amtheatre.com.
Unlike the Moth and other storytelling concepts, this can be as formal or informal as you like. It can be made up of invited storytellers or open to anyone in the crowd. If you want to guarantee a theme, you might invite a few people and give them a prompt beforehand, but then open it up and see what their stories inspire from the crowd. You want to stand, sit, doesn’t matter, whatever feels right.
What kind of space?
Any space will do. Any theatre at any size can set up a 360. If you’re Actors Theatre of Louisville, do it in the mezzanine. If you’re Riverrun Theatre, you do it in a bookstore that’s one of your sponsors.
You could move from sponsor to sponsor, bringing people into a coffee shop one month, a winery the next, a bookstore or library the next. Now, you’re doing something even more concrete than advertising their business, you’re bringing actual people into that business.
Was it difficult to set up?
Not at all. The idea’s been percolating for some time, but once we decided to do it, I just walked in to our bookstore sponsor, asked if we could do it. Then, a Facebook event page. A word on Twitter, a note here and there. I did not send a mailing, I did not go to the radio or the newspaper, I didn’t even put it up on our website. This was as under-the-radar as it gets. And then, one week later, I walked in the store with fifteen minutes to spare and we did this thing.
You can do it that quickly and easily, too. I know you can.
The idea is not the polished, practiced story.
That’s for the Moth and others. This is not a competition, this is not a show. If the stories are polished and practiced, that’s icing on the cake. This is mainly to engage your audience, your community. It’s a way to share with them the joy of crafting and telling a clear and entertaining story. And it really works.
The possibilities are endless.
Maybe you archive stories, record them, share them on your website. You become a de facto Story Corps for your neighborhood, city, etc. Maybe you craft a larger work–I’m sorry, maybe you “devise” a work–based on some stories for a wider audience. Maybe you host poetry editions in April for National Poetry Month.
Eric Ziegenhagen posted a link over on Twitter the other day, which was an idea every independent bookstore should steal. (He’s right, by the way, in case any independent bookstores are reading this.) 360 is very much the same idea, only with your own stories instead of books.
I hosted the very first 360 this past weekend as a Riverrun Theatre event at the Village Lights Bookstore in Madison, Indiana. We kept it low-key, wanted to see who would show up. I compared it to a restaurant having a soft opening. (Eric Z. ought to like that analogy.) What amazed me was not that it worked–though it did–or that people came–though they did–but how the evening played out…
Lightning in a bottle.
We had a small group, quiet at first, waiting and wondering how the concept worked. (This was all right, the bookstore is small, very intimate.) I started the evening off with a story to show how it was done, finished with seconds to spare.
Once the ice was broken, the stories flowed.
As the timekeeper and host, I would wave at the speaker at the three minute mark and then again at the one minute mark.
For a timer, I used my iPhone. When it counted down to zero, it would play Take Five by Dave Brubeck. The bookstore owner loved that; Brubeck’s on their speakers most of the time. You could use a stopwatch and a bell. Anything will work.
No one ran overtime, although we do plan for that–if you’re in the middle of a thought, finish the thought. If you’re nowhere near finishing your story, if there’s time, we’d have an “overtime” list for people to come back up and finish in three minutes. But that wasn’t an issue this time around.
What did surprise me, and what’s perfectly logical in retrospect, is that one story triggered another and on through the event. The connections weren’t so obvious as if it were a planned, themed set of stories, but there were clear themes and through-lines from one story to the next. None of us really knew one another, we’ve all led very different lives, but all of the stories connected and resonated. And that resonance was exciting, because it wasn’t scripted, it wasn’t proscribed or planned. It just happened.
It was the joy of creating a larger patchwork of stories, shared with everyone in the room.
By the end of the event, everyone was wired, buzzing, talking, chatting, sharing more and more. They had seen what we do, if only on a small scale. It wasn’t like watching a lecture or an open rehearsal, it was participation.
They didn’t get a look at the process. They were the process.
They had seen how exciting it is to be in the room with the story being told. They had seen how different it was from the fourth wall of television or film. And those who had never come to a Riverrun show–those who only came because they’re bookstore patrons or happened upon the listing and were curious–they’re coming to our next show. Some didn’t even know we were doing live theatre in town–now they’re on our mailing list.
Some had never been to live theatre. Now, they want to come.
So what have we learned?
This is a fun, easy way to connect with and develop your audience.
It’s a great way to support and engage your sponsors and bring some of your magic–and patrons–through their doors.
You can set it up and produce it at the drop of hat. The only real cost to you is the hat.
All you need is a space, a sign, a timer and someone to act as a host.
Want to do it? Go right ahead.
Very soon, we’ll be setting up a separate section of the site to host 360 information, news, stories, etc. If you want to record any stories either as audio or video and upload them to YouTube, Vimeo or another video site, we’ll happily embed them here as part of the 360 website.
This will also be where you can go for promotional language, logos, images and more for mailings and PR purposes.
As I said, the license is free–see the Creative Commons license below for details.
And you know, this would be an excellent instant event to produce for World Theatre Day on March 27th…
