Winding down

The Fringe is winding down, I'm into my last few shows, and the craziness is about to subside. It's been a crazy few days for sure!

Best of Fest was announced and Wallflowers tied for second place, but they gave it to King Cans b/c we have an 8 show run, and they have 7. That's understandable, however our houses have been steadily growing, while theirs have been shrinking (bad reviews apparently). But, that's OK, now at least I'll have a last minute chance to see some shows that I haven't had the opportunity to.

I haven't seen a single stinker this Fringe. Some shows have been better than others, defanitely more inspired, but nothing where I check my watch a million times wondering when the torture will end. I saw a great little show last night, Every time I see your Picture I Cry. Daniel Borrowman used an overhead projector to illustrate his story, it was so amazing. A very sad story of isolation, though, which was only helped by the fact that we only hear his voice. I also saw: JC, IS ; Teaching Shakespeare, La Dispute, Candy from a Baby, Flemenco Con Fusion 2, The Complete word of God, Abridged; Canned Hamlet, Ease, Bliss ... I think that's all for now. A few more to go, though!

My biggest beef with the Fringe: I think we're becoming too much like Edmonton. Re: You need to have a big show, with big reviews (and big laughs) in order to attract an audience. Anyone else feel this way? I know of so many people who went up to Primrose to say how "brave" she was to bring Wallflowers, which is so dark, to the Fringe. Where else could that show be produced? Isn't the fringe supposed to be about taking risks? I saw so many great, different shows this fringe with a small audience, that I hope they don't begin to get lost entirely. I hope that the Fringe won't become to catored for the audience, that it'll still be about pushing the mainstream, an opportunity for audiences to see something that they'd never see on the mainstage.

Alas, we found out yesterday that we will not be heading to Ontario after all. But I'm still so proud of Matthew - those Stratford people don't know what they're missing! It would have been nice to get out of this city for a bit, but we still have a lot of projects to do here, so I'm sure we won't be bored!

Finally, I received my Green Party membership card. I also got a form to sign up somebody new, so if you've ever wondered what the Green Party was actually about, go to their web-site and see. If you would like to become a member, let me know!!

Bigger things

And it begins, another year of Fringing. Both Ducks and Wallflowers opened yesterday ... and they went off withoug a hitch. Well, that's a lie, there were little bobbles, but when you only get 2.75 hours to load in your set, set light levels and specials, run a Q-Q, dress rehearsal (if you're super lucky) and load out, a few bobbles on opening night are par for the course.

Seriously, it was a great day. We had a great crowd for Ducks, which suprised me. I've been weary coming into this Kid's show thing - "do people actually go to shows between noon and 3 in the afternoon?" We opened at 1:45, and the answer is yes!

Wallflowers, which had me up all night with dread of a possible failure on my part, felt amazing. I think we must have reached that point where we REALLY needed an audience. I'm not kidding when I say I was worried about it - I was WORRIED about it. Plus Prokosh predicted on the first day of the Fringe that we'd get Best of Fest, which is great, but talk about adding a little more pressure to the pile! Thankfully there were only about 30'ish people there, which is a good crowed and not as scary for an opening night. I'm not sure this play will get the Best of Fest. Yes, Primrose has won in 3 times before, but with much lighter shows. Last years Fat Tuesday was a comedy about an uptight girl heading off to Mardi Gras and discovering the liberation of beads, flashing, and cutting loose. Wallflowers deals with the complex issues around date rape. Flashing vs. date rape, very different genres. But it is a great show and I do hope that we get generous houses. I love that both shows I'm doing this year have such positive messages, that they actually mean something. It's a great thing. Plus I saw Brent's one-man, which was awesome (so proud of you Brent!) And I had my first evening of beer-tenting. It was a great day all around.

But I've felt like such an ass being so involved in Fringe prep and it's all consuming ways, while this horrible outbreak has started in the middle east. I mean, really, do reviews matter when people are suffering in Lebanon. I can't really take a side exactly in this one, although I'm most sympathetic to the Lebanese. Yes Israel has the right to defend itself, but they were clearly looking for the first opportunity they had to exert themselves as a military power over Hezbollah. I'm not going to pretend to be super knowledgeable about politics in the middle-east, but my feeling is that Israel will not get what it wants from this fight. They're just giving another generation of Lebanese and Palestinian children a reason to hate them, and they will reap what they sow. Yes, they will probably weaken Hezbollah for now, but by fostering hate they're fertilizing the soil for the next crop (I'm bad with metaphores). My conclusion: Israel has the right to defend itself, they have suffered greatly for generations. Should they not, then, by sympathetic to others who are suffering? Was there no other way to avoid this use of military force? Will they get what they want? Do they even know what they want?

We live in confusing times, with many shades of grey. I am going to enjoy this year's fringe, but my mind will always be putting things into perspective. Everyone involved in this year's Fringe has put in hours upon hours of work, and we deserve to enjoy ourselves, read reviews, see too many shows, drink too many beers. But in the grand scheme, it doesn't really matter. A bad review, a good show, it's all relative. We need to enjoy it, but know that we have a bigger purpose in this world, and bigger things to do with our lives.

The ol' Fringe Pimp

And the day has finally come for me to post all of my show information for this year's Fringe. As previously mentioned, a crazy series of events led to me being involved in both of Primrose Madayag Knazan's shows this year. It's been lots of crazy fun (well, not everything leading up to it;) but now I'm happy to be where I am), and I hope that you all can come out and enjoy the festival! Click on The Fringe! link on the right, under the Arts section for more info on the festival. Here's what you've been waiting for:

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Ugly Ducks, Pretty Swans at Venue 3: Playhouse Studio

Directed by Elena Anciro

All ages welcome (Best suited 7-13)

"A new version of the Ugly Duckling ... Because sometimes a Duck is just a Duck."

Thurs, July 20 1:45pm

Fri, July 21 7:30pm

Sat, July 22 Noon

Mon, July 24 3:30pm

Tues, July 25 2:00pm

Wed, July 26 7:30 pm

Thurs, July 27 1:00pm

Sat, July 29 2:15pm

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Wallflowers and Wildflowers at Venue 5: Son of the Warehouse

Under 14 not admitted

"Two girls meet through a bathroom door. One has been raped. The other must save her."

Thurs, July 20 5:00 pm

Fri, July 21 11:45 pm

Sat, July 22 3:15 pm

Sun, July 23 8:45 pm

Wed, July 26 Noon

Thurs, July 27 9:45 pm

Fri, July 28 1:30 pm

Sat, July 29 Noon

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Come on out and enjoy some theatre around Old Market Square!

A weekend in Bruxelles

Karla and Allen - notice how their outfits match ... I don't think they planned that. Creepy.

Toilet paper brides! A great way to make often deadly boring showers more bearable.

Amanda and her husband Terence - They survived the first year of marriage, which is supposed to be the brutal test. And they're still smiling!

My Ginger. He's 18 years old, I got him when I was five. He's deaf and almost blind, but all the dogs in town are still scared of him.

Gypsy, the adopted town dog (random dogs will just show up in town, people will just drop them off if they don't want them anymore. Cruel jerks!) But what a purty evening. My mom is training for the half marathon with Kim, Amanda's mom, so I joined them for a run Friday night. So good to run outside and not breath exhaust fumes.

Amanda and I at the social - good times!

Ok, I've had my fun sharing pictures, I promise! Back to my usual bitching, nagging blogs in the future.

Gone digital

Matt got a digital camera from his parents for grad, and you can see that I'm having all kinds of fun with it. Coming soon ... pictures from a crazy country wedding social and shower (ever seen a toilet paper bride?)

Art on the Riverbed, The Quiffs rocking out in Osborne on Canada Day, yawning Thales, Pretty flowers!, Matt!, me working late (as usual) on the endless paperwork for Theatre by the River.

The Fringe is rapidly approaching! I'm excited/nervous/exhausted and can't wait for it to be here (although I'm going to be soaking up every minute left to rehearse!)

I'm off to pick up Matt from the airport. He got a call-back for Stratford and was flown out to Toronto! It's exciting! Maybe we'll be living in Ontario next year ...

How do you knock people out of their Complacency?

This is a question Matt and I were wrestling with after supper with my family. Long story short:

My sister, Laura, was supposed to move today, July 1st, but Matt got a call yesterday at work because Winpark (who owns the apartment) had arranged for someone to be in her place yesterday, and if she wasn't out by 4:30 they were going to charge her an extra month's rent, and they couldn't get a hold of her anywhere. Matt called me at work to see if I knew where she was, then he ran home during his break to call my parents in the country to see if Laura was out there. I ran home when I was done work to find out what the deal was. In the end, we ended up moving her stuff into a vacant apartment down the hall, she stayed with my parents in a hotel, and they're moving her into her new place today. Conclusion: Winpark sucks b/c she's been a good tenant for 3 years and they were just going to boot her out, there's great people in this building who helped with the move, and Matt and I are EXHAUSTED after hauling all of our set pieces, costumes, etc. from the fundraiser Thursday, and then moving her on Friday after almost no sleep. Today will be a relaxing day if I have to lock myself in my room and read for 10 hours straight! Here's where things with my family started to irritate me:

My father and sister believe that climate change is not happening - they're on the "it's a warm cycle" bandwagon. I tried to bring up things like measuring the carbon in the ice, which is data that we can measure, not from the last hundred years, but from the last thousands of years. I tried to talk about the Alberta tar sands, and how 17% of Canada's increase in emissions is due to the tar sands. Nothing.

The parts that really got me were when my dad said that "there's nothing we can do about it." To tell an environmentalist that you shouldn't bother doing anything about the environment is like telling a Christian that evil can't be defeated so you should just bunker down and wait for the inevitable. And then Laura said "Mel, you just don't understand how things work."

Needless to say, I was pretty furious. Being dismissed is one thing, but to be dismissed by your own family is an entirely different matter. If this was the first time it had happened it'd be one thing, but every time I go out to visit them I come home agitated and annoyed by their complacency. Annoyed by the pat on the head I get, the "you'll think differently when you're our age." Just annoyed.

My sister called me after and suggested that I just keep my opinions to myself to avoid an argument. I said that the whole point of why I say something is because to me it's the complacency of the upper-middle class who fail to see that their actions and choices have consequences. Laura's response: "Well, all you do is cause an argument and you know that it just upsets mom." I think that's blackmail, anyone agree?

Here's my beef: Everything is always about money. I don't think that the general population will do anything without a tax break or some monetary gain. When we drove past the construction site of the new Hydro building I said "that's going to be the most energy efficient building in the world" and my dad responded "how much is it going to cost to be so environmentally friendly?" Well, if that's the way things are, let's tax the life and blood out of big oil. Did you know that for every barrel of oil that comes out of the tar sands, 6 barrels of water and used? 2 million barrels of oil are extracted every day (you can see the mine from space). Did you know that the oil companies don't pay for that water? Did you know that billions of dollars worth of subsidies are paid to oil companies by the federal government. The biggest companies in the world who are selling the most profitable, most in demand product are receiving the biggest subsidies. Fine. The Conservatives have proven they don't give a crap about the environment, but they have shown that they care a lot about money - They could make a lot of it here to say the least.

What did I learn? We have a LONG way to go and the environment is going to be bled a lot drier before the cycle changes (I would say IF the cycle changes, but we can't think that way.) It is too scary for most people to see the link between climate change, air pollution, disease, obesity, and the toxic environment that we are creating because of, quite frankly, laziness.

I can accept that I will probably always be the black sheep of my family. I asked Matt why it was so hard to make people see out of the bubble that is their lives, and his response was "Mel, being selfless and caring is counter-culture. You are very counter-culture."

I think I will always feel like I'm going against the current. I say, it's a good thing that I'm a damn good swimmer! My Matt quote of the day:

"The world is a great big masterbating beast."

On that note: Happy Birthday Canada! May you save yourself from imminent doom. I know I'll do everything to help, anyone with me, or are you just too busy?