Tag Archives: Audience of One theatre company

New year a time of promise, wonder, excitement

14 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by in Commentary, General

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

january-calendarA new page. A clean slate. A blank computer screen. An unpainted canvas. An unfilled calendar

For those of us in the arts, these phrases – new page, blank computer screen or unpainted canvas – take on a different meaning. Instead of representing a metaphorical new start, these phrases literally depict the start of our creative process.

Last year I began setting goals instead of making resolutions, some of which were vocationally related. Some I accomplished (finish The Fall of Niagara, begin the outline/treatment for The Fall of Tecumseh and continue work on the Stone Churches Project). Others weren’t (start a Love Inspired historical romance, start the outline for a book on the intersection of faith, arts and Canadian culture and find funding for the Arts Connection broadcasts on 94.3 Faith FM). One vocational project I hadn’t planned, but completed, was co-writing and seeing the Audience of One Christian Theatre Company production of the musical Meet You at the Manger.

I’ve continued this practice and created a list of vocational goals for 2016: find a publisher for The Fall of Niagara, continue the first draft of The Fall of Tecumseh, complete the photography and research for the Stone Churches Project, work on an other play for the Audience of One and look at the start-up of an event photography business.

The concept of goal-setting can seem to fly in the face of the creative spirit.

To some, the concept of goal-setting can fly in the face of the creative spirit. Until a year ago, I was more like the boy who shot an arrow at the side of the barn and painted the target around the arrow. Some targets were missed, but others were hit. And that encourages me. My experience last year showed that goals can be as motivating as an editor’s deadline.

As artists who are Christian, spiritual growth may not be among the list of vocational goals, but I hope it’s a life goal. Topping my list of goals in 2015 was the desire to maintain a consistent devotional life with daily prayer and Bible reading. The one-year chronological plan through the YouVersion smart phone app was key to meeting the last part of that goal.

Working on my 2016 goals, topping the list, again, was a desire to grow spiritually through prayer and study. As the calendar turns a page and I’m reminded of God’s faithfulness to me, I pledge my faithfulness to God. I don’t know what this year will bring—happiness or pain, loss or gain, health or illness—but I know that God will be in the midst of it all, carrying me through whatever happens.

My new year’s wish is that your blank slate, unwritten page, unpainted canvas, empty computer screen will be filled as God breathes His creative spirit into your life.

****************************

Portions of this column appeared in the January 2, 2016 edition of the Guelph Mercury column “Make the spiritual a priority in your new year.”

Stretching creative muscles may ache, but they’ll be stronger in the long run

21 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by in General

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

PSX_20151017_132529[1]Around the time the Audience of One Christian Theatre Company was holding auditions for this year’s Christmas production, I came across the link to an article titled “How to be a Playwright in the New Play Rehearsal Room.”

The article was full of great advice, especially since this was the first time a work I’d written was being produced. I was quite willing to put into practice the advice playwright Stephen Spotswood suggested:

  • Be around for the first few rehearsals so you can answer questions about character, plot and structure
  • Get to know your director (which had already been done while we worked on the initial drafts of Meet You At the Manger).
  • Be ready to listen to actors who may either ask questions or make suggestions.
  • See the script as a blueprint which can be modified (instead of quoting Pharoah from The Ten Commandments by saying “So let it be written. So let it be done.”)
  • Know when to put some distance between you and the play to allow the director and actors to develop the play.

This project has opened new avenues of creativity for me. First, it was taking two short stories I’d written and crafting them into a script. Second was working on song lyrics which were edited, polished and put to music by Audience of One artistic director Kim Pottruff. Second, in my conversations with Kim, I shared my long-standing interest in directing, so she invited me to take on the task of assistant director. Third, once auditions were over, we found we still needed a male actor/singer for the role of the play’s antagonist. Despite my reservations and limitations, I was cast and began learning the lines I’d written (and realized the remainder of Spotswood’s advice was now irrelevant).

This project has opened new avenues of creativity.

Rehearsals have been underway for a few weeks now. Recently the cast and musicians gathered for a Saturday rehearsal and worked through the first half of Meet You at the Manger. Up to that point, the cast was working on individual scenes or working with the musical director (who initially auditioned for a part, but whose background suited him to his current role). The “stumble through” allowed the cast to see the sum of the parts.

The stumble through also demonstrated the collaborative side of workshopping a new production. The songs Kim created had initially been transcribed by a musician who is now back home in Ireland. Those transcriptions are being worked into shape by the musical director. As we put roles, music and blocking together, ideas come to the fore — from everyone: director, musicians, actors, writer. Working through one section, where we moved from one scene to the next for the first time, a blocking idea came out that brought out some humour and foreshadowing.

As I’ve said in previous posts, being involved with this production is an adventure. And it’s an adventure that’s stretching my creative muscles. Yes, sometimes those creative muscles ache but I know, in the long run, they’ll be stronger for the experience.

********************

For more information go to http://www.audienceofoneguelph.ca/

Quote

Post-interview chat leads to new Christmas musical

25 Tuesday Aug 2015

Posted by in General

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOne of the joys of my work is the chance to meet with all sorts of interesting people. And also never knowing what will be the outcome of one of those meetings.

One of my latest projects, a Christmas musical titled Meet You At the Manger began as a conversation with Audience of One Christian Theatre Company artistic director Kim Pottruff. She had come to the Faith FM studios to take part in an Arts Connection interview. In the conversation that followed, I found out the new Guelph-based amateur theatre company was looking for new material.

My interest in theatre goes back to high school where I was part of Ridge Players, a community theatre company that, by the time I landed in the chorus, were producing shows like Oklahoma, Carousel and Fiddler on the Roof. I was also involved in a number of church productions and when I started attending Lakeside Church, I became part of its now-defunct drama team and landed the role of Caiphas in Lakeside’s production of Dust of the Rabbi.

This production is a fresh look at the Christmas story

 

Along the way, I’d written a few unproduced sketches and even a full-length play – something I mentioned in the conversation with Kim. Whether I offered or she asked, copies were sent to her in the hopes that one would be produced.

She wasn’t interested in any of the ones I sent. Instead, she asked if I could write a Christmas musical. I knew I take a shot at writing the script (or “book” as commonly known in musical theatre circles). But it had been a while since I’d tried songwriting. Still, I said “yes.”

Skipping to the salient parts, I wrote the book and took a stab at the lyrics. Kim honed the lyrics and came up with the music. Et voila, a musical was born:

Ro’i never wanted to be shepherd. Sharar never wanted to be an innkeeper. When they were childhood friends, neither expected to become each other’s sworn enemy. Meet You At The Manger follows Ro’i’s and Sharar’s lives from their boyhood escapades and adult animosities to their reunion at the manger in Bethlehem. This production is a fresh look at the Christmas story and its impact on the lives of those who encounter the Babe of Bethlehem

The journey, to date, has been exhilarating and challenging. And we’re only at the halfway point. Kim and I will meet later this week to go over last minute details before next week’s pre-production meeting. Then, from September 10 to 12, auditions will take place before rehearsals start later that month.

What’s been going through my mind lately is: “this is really happening.” And a mixture of trepidation and triumph. I’m still anxious about what the audience reaction will be once the curtain goes up on opening night. But I’m excited that there will be an opening night.

I hope to see you there.

For more information about auditions, check http://www.audienceofoneguelph.ca/productions

 

Exposing ourselves through our art

14 Thursday May 2015

Posted by in Commentary

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Meet You at the Manger scriptLast night ranked among the top 20 of the most exciting and most anxiety-inducing experiences I’ve had as an artist.

I’ve dabbled in theatre, starting in high school as an extra with the Ridge Players, which started out with Gilbert & Sullivan works, eventually expanding to contemporary musical theatre. I started out as part of the chorus in my first couple of musicals, graduating to Boy #1 in the next two. I took part in church-produced production as an adult and became part of a church drama team.

Even though I enjoyed treading the boards, writing was still my first love and began writing sketches and plays. All, at the moment, unpublished and unproduced. But God intervened last December when, through an Arts Connection broadcast, I met Kim Pottruff, artistic director of Audience of One (http://www.audienceofoneguelph.ca), a new Christian amateur theatre group in Guelph.

While researching the company’s website, I noticed they were looking for playwrights. So I mentioned to Kim that I had a few plays gathering dust in my computer and wondered if she’d be interested in reading them. By the beginning of February, I was writing the script to a musical which, if all goes well, will be staged in December.

Which brings me to Wednesday, May 13, where nine people gathered to read through, aloud, for the first time the script of Meet You at the Manger.

You’d think after three decades as a journalist and author, I’d be used to setting my words free for others to read

You’d think after three decades as a journalist and author, I’d be used to setting my words free for others to read – never knowing what readers thought of them. A table reading is an entirely different experience. You’re sitting there, with your words exposed by another’s voice, disappointed when a particular word or phrase didn’t quite work and excited when people laugh at the right time.

But that’s the tension we face as artists. Without a reader or an audience or a viewer, the book or play or movie or music or painting are simply exercises in self expression that will gather dust. And for those of us who are trying to impart a Christian worldview through their art, that message is muted and our calling is unfulfilled.

While we may worry about the reaction to our work, we can’t let that prevent us from making it public. We do need to make sure our art has been polished and perfected as much as possible. But there’s a point when we have release our art even if we don’t think it’s perfect.

And that’s the point I reached with Meet You at the Manger . I know it still needs work. But I also needed to hear other voices speak the words of the characters. And I dreaded the first read-through. I feared the changes that might be suggested. I worried they wouldn’t understand what had been written.

All in vain.

For the most part, the readers gave positive feedback. Except for a few words or lines here and there that needed to be changed, and a section that relies more heavily on the still-to-be-completed song than the script, they liked it. They really liked it.

This is only the first step setting the play free. There’s still opening night and the play’s run before a live audience. And the jitters that will come.

For now, it’s back to proofing and polishing.