Profiles & Interviews

The first time I had seen Bahareh Yaraghi’s work onstage was during Stratford Festival’s 2018 production of Oscar Wilde’s ‘An Ideal Husband’. Her confident performance as conniving Laura Cheveley certainly made me pay attention to this character and to the story itself since Wilde’s tale of the context of cheating in Victorian England took on a different meaning in our #metoo world today. I then saw Ms. Yaraghi as daughter Emmy in ‘A Doll’s House Part 2’ when central character, Nora, knocks on that same door she slammed years ago. For me, it was interesting to watch from an acting perspective just how Ms. Yaraghi approached the daughter-mother relationship in ‘A Doll’s House Part 2’.

Well, the mother-daughter relationship was taken to an entirely complex level of intrigue in female empowerment when I saw Bahareh’s divine performance (as I called it in my review) in ‘Oil’ at ARC just this past February. The audience viscerally witnesses a mother’s tumultuous relationship with her child (as a baby waiting to be born, a young person and adult) at three extremely different time frames.

For me, Ms. Yaraghi has always captured a natural and convincing vocal delivery which makes me want to listen to the story she is telling and the journey she is about to take me on with her. I am most certainly looking forward to her next performance once the pandemic is lifted.

She received her BA from McGill University and then trained at Humber Theatre School. A six time Dora award nominee, Ms. Yaraghi has performed on numerous stages in Toronto and across the country. She has been an ARC company member since 2012 and has appeared in past ARC productions since then including ‘Bea’ ‘Moment’ and ‘Pomona’.

We conducted our interview via email:

1. How have you been keeping during this crisis? How has your immediate family been keeping during this crisis?

I’m grateful to say that all my family and loved ones are all safe and healthy around the globe. We are so privileged in so many ways to be living in Canada, so my husband and I try to keep our focus on the positives, as opposed to all the uncertainties and sadness out there in the world. I’ve learned that if I literally take it one day at a time, my spirit feels much happier that way.

2. As a performing artist, what has/have been the most challenging and difficult element (s) for you?
I MISS PEOPLE!!!! I miss interacting, hugging, talking, and collaborating with PEOPLE! Ok, I got that out of my system.

As an artist, one of my biggest joys is to be in a room filled with fellow artists, creating work together and ultimately sharing that work with our community. Not being able to do that right now – or for the unforeseeable future – is of course extremely challenging and scary. But all artists around the globe are in the exact same position – so, staying patient and shifting my focus to my TODAY is what is most important right now. The rest will fall back into place when the time is right.

3. Were you in rehearsals, pre-production or performances of any production was the pandemic was declared and a quarantine was imposed? What has or will become of any of those productions in which you involved directly or indirectly?

Yes, I was in the middle of ARC’s production of OIL. We had begun the 2nd week of our run, when we quickly realized we had to make the tough, but necessary, decision to cancel our 3rd week of performances. It was such a beast of a show and I was so proud to be telling it with such a wonderful group of humans. It was heartbreaking to have to close it early, but we considered ourselves very lucky to have had 2 weeks with it and to be able to share it. I was also supposed to start rehearsals for Soulpepper/Necessary Angel’s WINTER SOLSTICE that following week which, of course, was sadly cancelled as well. Fingers crossed you will see both productions programmed in the future.

4. What have you been doing during this time to keep yourself busy?

I’ve kept myself quite active, socially. Zoom, phone, and FaceTime conversations with friends and family that I always feel I don’t have enough time for. Now I do and that’s a great feeling. I’m finding that physical exercise and meditation are vital to me right now, and they help me feel strong, calm and light. Otherwise, lots of cooking!! Which I absolutely love (I read cookbooks like they’re novels), lots of catching up on movies/tv shows with my husband, and lastly, I’ve been keeping busy working on the future of ARC with my fellow collaborators. There’s lots of exciting ARC news in the works, so stay tuned!

5. Do you have any words of wisdom or sage advice to other performing artists/actors who have been hit hard by this pandemic? Any words of advice to new actors out of theatre schools?

The other day a good friend of mine said, “I don’t think I’ve got this covid thing figured out yet.” I understood exactly what he meant: he doesn’t know how he’s ‘supposed’ to feel, how he’s ‘supposed’ to use all this new-found free time, how he’s ‘supposed’ to feel creative when he’s not necessarily inspired, how his perspective ‘should’ be changing because of all this world change. However, I don’t think most of us do.

My only advice to anyone would be to keep yourself strong and healthy – physically and mentally – as best you can. Stay hyper-sensitive to the things that truly bring you joy and peace, that truly enrich your spirit, and perhaps start contemplating on the things you will choose to reintroduce back into my life, or the things you’re ready to part ways with, when life and society picks back up. I think this “covid thing” can be a great opportunity for change. But it will require great thought, great strength, great belief and bravery. OR… Netflix and a bag of chips to ease the soul is also time well spent in my books!

6. Do you see anything positive stemming from COVID 19?

The earth and the animals are much happier. The air quality is much more refreshing. And the rat race has been calmed. There’s so much relief in all of that.

On a simple level, what I love is that we’re being reminded over and over again that we are all connected, that we need one another, and that we need to take care of each other otherwise we all fall.

7. In your opinion, will COVID 19 have some impact on the Canadian performing arts scene?

I have no idea what the future of theatre looks like. Or sport events. Or concerts. Or any event where the energy from a live audience changes everyone’s experience. All I know is that we need immense patience. And the need, desire and hunger to tell and hear stories will come back strong and it will be powerful. I look forward to the re-emergence.

8. Some performing artists have turned to online streaming or You Tube presentations to showcase and/or share their work. In your opinion, is there any value to this presentation format? Will online streaming or You Tube presentations become part of the ‘new normal’ for performing artists?

I haven’t watched any of them. I haven’t had the desire yet. I admire the artists testing the waters and finding new ways of sharing their work. Some artists may need to keep creating; and some artists might need stillness and time to process. Everyone has their own pace and might need different creative outlets (or none at all) during these extraordinary times. There is no right answer. But the search is necessary, and I appreciate that very much.

9. What is it about the performing arts community that you still love even though it has been tremendously affected by this pandemic?

Oh, it’s one of the best communities in the world! I feel so lucky that I’ve devoted my life to it, even with all its challenges. My husband is not in the performing arts community and he always says, “theatre artists are some of the most intelligent, humble, hilarious, compassionate, well-spoken, and worldly people I’ve ever met.” And it’s true. The theatre community is rich in heart. And if your heart is full, it gives you a different kind of energy. And that energy remains strong, even through a pandemic.

As a nod to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton, here are ten questions he used to ask his guests usually at the conclusion of the presentation:

1. What is your favourite word?

Love

2. What is your least favourite word?

(It’s two) Shut up

3. What turns you on?

Wisdom

4. What turns you off?

Excuses

5. What sound or noise do you love?

Laughter

6. What sound or noise bothers you?

Someone in pain that I cannot help

7. What is your favourite curse word?

F**K

8. Other than your own at this moment, what other profession would you have liked to do?

I wish my parents had put me in dance when I was a child. I think I’d be good at it.

9. What profession could you not see yourself doing?

A surgeon

10. If Heaven exists, what do you think God will say to you as you approach the Pearly Gates?

“Let’s dance, B”.

First time I saw Bahia Watson’s stage work was in two extraordinary productions of ‘The Last Wife’ and ‘The Virgin Trial’ at Soulpepper which had transferred to the Stratford Festival.

There was a sharpness and clarity in her performance delivery in these two productions which made me pay attention to each word she said. Our recent Zoom conversation led me to learn more about her background and training as a performing artist.

Watson proudly shared her theatre practice and learning of the craft came through d’bi.young anitafrika and their storytelling practices and the traditions from which they pull. d’bi.young broke it down to Bahia that it’s the storyteller and the village, and this ancient relationship has always been a part of the human experience and always will be.

Bahia avers no one can take d’bi.young’s practice of storytelling away from us. When she breaks it down as d’bi.young has done, Bahia says we will always have the storyteller and we will always have the village. That relationship and understanding will endure.

Watson has also written monologues and started performing them and learning about the storytelling relationship from d’bi.young. This relationship has empowered her. There is a story to tell, and people want to hear it and they just become. People want a story to be told and appreciate it being told. With this understanding of storytelling, Bahia built her craft as a theatre/performing artist.

In September, she appears in Chekhov’s ‘Uncle Vanya’ at Crow’s Theatre. As always, I like to ask the artist how rehearsals have progressed to this point. Bahia confidently assures me they’re going well. She also adds:

“It’s a really beautiful group of people and I feel very lucky to be in this process with them. It’s a journey, every day is a full, big, long journey to go on in the play. Today we did our second stumble through so it’s starting to be woven together and how it feels as one piece rather than separate, broken-up scenes during rehearsals. I’m very grateful to be working on this play right now.”

Bahia loves the rehearsal process and the rehearsal room. For her, the rehearsal time has been such a gift as an actor to spend these weeks of playing through exploring, taking risks, failing, working on the story, talking about it and deepening it bit by bit.

What is it about ‘Uncle Vanya’ that Bahia believes speaks to her as an artist?

“Well, this production is an adaptation by Liisa Repo-Martell, and she’s done an amazing job. The way she has adapted the script feels very contemporary – easy to relate to. There are some timeless human themes in the story. No matter the era, there are people who are longing for love, longing for the dreams they had that they didn’t achieve, and longing for their youth. That longing doesn’t go away no matter how vast our lives become. The human experience in ‘Uncle Vanya’ remains true then as it does now.”

Bahia smiled and said at one point there’s talk in ‘Uncle Vanya’ about deforestation and its relationship to the earth. She’s amazed there was talk about deforestation hundreds of years ago and a similar conversation still goes on today in the twenty-first century. How appropriate and timeless indeed because Bahia stated things don’t change as fast as we sometimes think they do.

How true.

Watson goes on to speak on how the play feels very present for her. Repo-Martell’s adaptation does not feel old at all because it honours Chekhov’s original story and intent, but it has been worked to feel very alive and present. Additionally, Watson favourably speaks about the work surrounding Chekhov’s details about being human. As humans, we reach for the stars and sometimes we are disappointed and have to accept things the way they are.

On top of the rehearsal process and the upcoming ‘Uncle Vanya’ performances, a thing called Covid still remains omnipresent all around. The live theatres are still maneuvering on how to move forward,
especially as the weather begins to change slowly and we all move indoors.

Where does Bahia Watson see herself in the trajectory of this change in the theatre industry going forward? She paused briefly and said she found that an interesting question. She explained further:

“I still love the live medium and I feel that audiences still want to come and experience something live. Now, how do we go about it? There are a lot of reasons why things might change. Yes, there were opportunities to see productions outdoors throughout the pandemic when things appeared to be slowly under control. I did an outdoor show recently that could be taken to different communities. Live experiences are more important than ever.”

Bahia further reiterated how theatre will be a part of our lives and that we need to be in a place where audiences can’t be on their phones. Our minds need to be able to focus on one thing. It’s special to be able to gather once again, especially since we haven’t been able to gather over the last two-plus years.

Watson also commented on how her cast members in the green room were speaking about the state of theatre coverage. She wonders about the financial cost of live entertainment going forward and whether it will be able to sustain itself or will it be priced out because it can be seen as expensive. True, funding does come from the federal and provincial governments along with sponsorships and individual donors which is always appreciated.

Artists want to make live theatre and Watson believes audiences are ready after two plus years to come back and be in a room together, but it still plays in the back of her mind about the long-term effects going forward. Will live theatres and their business have to move out of bigger cities for a while to regional areas where the torch will be carried?

During the pandemic, Bahia developed an interest in radio to continue storytelling. It felt as if theatre communities were in their own little group and Watson wanted to connect storytellers across the country during the pandemic and beyond. She developed a digital radio station for storytelling called ‘Program Sound FM’ (https://www.programsound.fm/).

This project took overall eight months. The radio station connected with storytellers across the country. There was a full 12-hour all-day broadcast. She shared she just found out the station received its next phase of funding so the station will now be able to be developed further.

As we concluded our interview, I asked Bahia if she felt theatre was all sunshine and autographs.

She had a good laugh hearing that analogy because theatre and the performing arts are a lot of hard, humbling work. An artist must dig deep and become extremely vulnerable and be very open. This process of learning and accumulating enough information to create this world that other people can see and then letting it go at the end of the day, coming back and rebuilding it again in a new day takes stamina.

Bahia says theatre is a working-class art form. It’s not the big bucks. An artist has to do theatre because he/she/they LOVE it (and Watson emphasized ‘love’). There’s something about the journey. There’s nothing else like it at this point in rehearsals for ‘Uncle Vanya’ and developing the bonds with the other artists who will make this story come alive.

Chekhov’s ‘Uncle Vanya’ in a new adaptation by Liisa Repo-Martell and directed by Crow’s Artistic Director, Chris Abraham, runs from September 6 to October 2 in the Guloien Theatre at Crow’s Theatre, 345 Carlaw Avenue. For tickets and other information about the production or the new season, visit crowstheatre.com. To purchase tickets, please call (647) 341-7390 ex. 1010 or by email: boxoffice@crowstheatre.com.

When I read Barbara Fulton’s biography she had sent to me, I hadn’t realized just how many of the productions I’ve seen in which she has appeared. I’ve recognized her name in programs and it was a delight to be able to connect with her via Zoom today for our conversation.

She is a singer and actor who has worked primarily in Music Theatre. Until March of 2020 she played Diane in the Toronto company of ‘Come from Away’ at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.

After a year of theatre training at Halifax’s Dalhousie University, Barbara went to England to train at Bird College in musical theatre. Upon returning from England, she spent three seasons at the Charlottetown Festival and then played Grizabella in the Toronto production of CATS. (And I do remember Barbara’s performance.)

She worked with the Stratford Festival for 22 seasons with notable shows: Notably, A Little Night Music, The Lion, Witch and The Wardrobe, Fiddler on the Roof, Electra, Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Into the Woods, The Mikado and The Miracle Worker. Barbara is a recipient of numerous Guthrie awards from Stratford and a Dora award for her work in ‘Life After’.

Also, in Stratford, Barbara sang with The Duke Ellington and Glen Miller Orchestras and has produced two jazz standard CDs with her husband Paul Shilton.

Thank you so much for your time, Barbara. I look forward to speaking with you in person when it’s safe to return:

In a couple of months, we will be coming up on one year where the doors of live theatre have been shuttered. How have you been faring during this time? Your immediate family?

Well, at first, I have to admit that I was giddy with excitement at the thought we were going to have a month off, and that we would have a nice holiday. But that’s not how it turned out.

The week before I had just said to my husband that I was getting weary. I have an apartment in Toronto and my home is in Stratford. I would go home here on Sunday evenings until Tuesday morning. And that was great, but I was getting weary of the entire thing of six days a week for two years. I’ve had three weeks off interspersed in those two years, but it was uncanny that it was the week before the theatres were all shut down when I thought I don’t know if I can carry on and I was weary.

Then this ‘thing’ happened, and none of us knew how serious it really was. Yes, the first month was nice to be at home in Stratford. Spring was coming, going for walks, seeing all kinds of people in Stratford whom I haven’t seen in months.

And then this pandemic started to get a little tiring and this whole idea of having to stay and separate from people and not being able to gather in the way we used to be able to. That started to really wear on me. And then it started to get a little bit lonely.

I have a son who lives in Toronto and I was back and forth a bit but not much. I kept the Toronto apartment until the end of September and then I had to give it up. Closing up the apartment was a real nail in the coffin as well as I have no idea when ‘Come from Away’ will start up again.

My husband and I keep saying thank God our parents are not going through this pandemic. It’s a very hard thing for the seniors. My husband and son are doing alright. My son did get Covid early September and it was a mild case, so far he’s fine. It lasted maybe a week and a half. His taste came back and everything came back. His girlfriend didn’t get it all.

Paul, my husband, and I had been with our son the day before he was diagnosed, and it was terrifying thinking we could possibly have it. But we were masked and didn’t see our son without masks on. Paul and I had to go and get tested. That was a stressful time.

Paul’s fine. He works as a music director at a church and for the longest time the church wasn’t meeting. They don’t have a choir at this time so his workload is much less. But at least they were gathering for awhile.

How have you been spending your time since the theatre industry has been locked up tight as a drum?

My thing now is walking and listening to audiobooks, and it’s saving my life and getting my 10,000 steps in. It’s beautiful here in Stratford for the walks. I had a lot of enthusiasm for the mask thing initially thinking if this is what is going to be, so I made some masks. I made about 10-15 and gave some away and lost some since masks fall out of your pocket quietly or go flying away without me even knowing because they drop on the ground silently.

I was in the middle of rehearsal of a little outside show but couldn’t attend rehearsals until I had a negative test before I could return. This show did go on. There was a dance company called Corpus in Toronto and they do site specific and a lot of outdoor performances. So that’s how we got around this. We did this show in Trinity Bellwoods Park. It was myself and four other women and the show was called ‘Divine Intervention’. We were on a quint bicycle so five of us in a row on one bicycle.

It was kind of a crazy thing to try to learn to do, but what a joy to have to learn a new physical skill at this time. We were masked as well the whole time and had to physically distance in rehearsal. The whole show was set up so we wouldn’t get very close to each other. We just told this story through music and movement on this bike. It really got the attention of the audience as we sang on the bike. It was a delight and it got me through. I was so looking forward to it. I knew about it in late May so I knew about it all summer. The show ended October 4 and we were lucky as the weather was perfect in the fall.

Paul’s family has a cottage on Georgian Bay, and we were up there for two full weeks – one week in July and one week in August. For the first time, ever for me, I was always unavailable to spend any time at a cottage either because I was working at the Festival or performing in ‘Come from Away’. For me, this was so unbelievable as I couldn’t believe that I didn’t have to be anywhere, that I could just sit and enjoy myself for the two weeks and not worry about missing a show or being late.

My family is in Nova Scotia and they are very strict down there as well with no visitors.

The late Hal Prince described the theatre as an escape for him. Would you say that Covid has been an escape for you or would you describe this nearly year long absence as something else?

I wouldn’t say Covid has been an escape from the theatre. It has been a cruel captor. For everyone.

Now that I’m now not up on the stage offering my heart to the character, the audiences and my colleagues, I often feel empty, not knowing what my purpose is anymore. I’ve been in this industry for 40 years, and all that time there was this natural engine that kept me looking outward towards this unknown and exciting energy that I plugged into daily. Sometimes it was hope, sometimes fear, sometimes sheer excitement and anticipation of what I was about to connect with out there with people whom I loved and respected, whom I laughed with and who infuriated me and so on and so on.

All I know of work in the theatre is coming together with a common, tangible purpose – to serve up a story that the audience can connect with. To share a piece of ourselves in the process and finishing the night with appreciation, there’s no other better job in the world.

So, it hasn’t really felt like an escape other than that first month. It feels like I’m being kept from the natural rhythm of my life.

I’ve interviewed a few artists several months ago who said that the theatre industry will probably be shut down and not go full head on until at least 2022. There may be pockets of outdoor theatre where safety protocols are in place. What are your comments about this? Do you think you and your colleagues/fellow artists will not return until 2022?

I wouldn’t disagree because I think that’s really logical. I’ve done some investigating into what the 1918 flu was like and what kind of impact that it had and compare it to what’s going on.

It was about five years before that virus stopped being a threat at all. That’s a long time but that’s without vaccines.

So, I’m hopeful that the vaccine will speed up things up compared to that experience. There’s lots of talk about Broadway coming back in September, and that’s all well and good. It’s not just us we’re talking about. We’re talking about the general public’s comfort level with gathering and being close together for that length of time.

Whether or not theatres can or are interested in setting up plexiglass between seats, between the actors on the stage and the audience, there’s so much I can’t fathom about what Mirvish is even thinking at this time and what to do. Their discussions must be all the time in thinking what should we do? There are options and a lot of them cost a lot of money.

The other option is to wait this out. That’s fine for those of us who are capable, able, and still the right age (Barbara starts to laugh). I sort of worry that perhaps I’m ageing myself.

I think all of us in ‘Come from Away’ are ready to pick up right where we left off. There might be some people who have moved on professionally, but I think most of us are in for the long haul. We’re all going to have to rehearse the show to get it back to where it was before the shutdown.

Just to add to all this, in a post Covid world I don’t really know what the theatre will really be like. Naturally, I believe we will be through the worst of this virus but whether or not it will be safe to gather? I don’t know.

Part of this is question is if it’s going to change me. I think we’re dependant on connection with each other. Story telling is ancient; it’s a teacher; we need to see ourselves reflected back at us to learn to learn empathy and perspective.

Sometimes theatre is described as an escape, but I prefer to think of it as a portal, consciously or unconsciously we’re learning what it means to be human by watching stories unfold. We will not lose the theatre that we knew, it’s just going to take a long time.

I had a discussion recently with an Equity actor who said that yes theatre should not only entertain but, more importantly, it should transform both the actor and the audience. How has Covid transformed you in your understanding of the theatre and where it is headed in a post Covid world?

This is hard because Covid has forced us to separate from each other emotionally as well as physically because you don’t get the emotional without the physical as human beings.

That muscle in me, I feel, has gone a little bit dormant. The whole business of connecting in a shared experience. And we’re missing out on a lot of shared experience right now. That’s going to be a challenge, but no better place to do it in a theatre.

I’m not too sure as a performer how Covid has transformed me because I haven’t performed in awhile. As a person, I’ve become a lot more aware of other people. The whole idea of wearing a mask, yes, you’re protecting yourself and others. The caring about others is surely more evident right now and necessary.

There’s a caution moving forward that I didn’t ever use to have. None of us did. We just assumed that we were all in this big soup together and we were all fine. Being close and involved with each other, I took for granted. I’m not sure I do now.

‘Come from Away’ is going to be an emotional experience for all of us when we return because of what the story entails and details so that transformation will be strongly evident when we return. The director, Christopher Ashley, has told us we are reporters of what occurred after 9/11, but it’s going to be a challenge to not let our emotions get the better of us when we do return to what this production stands for – empathy and compassion for others.

The late Zoe Caldwell spoke about how actors should feel danger in the work. It’s a solid and swell thing to have if the actor/artist and the audience both feel it. Would you agree with Ms. Caldwell? Have you ever felt danger during this time of Covid and do you believe it will somehow influence your work when you return to the theatre?

It’s funny I felt danger in my own life when my son contracted Covid and I had to stay away from work. I lost sleep about my son having Covid. It was terrifying. He’s fine as he only had a mild dose, but it was still terrifying.

My world started to spin with understanding just how dangerous a virus this and how much of a danger I might be to others which was something I had never felt before. My presence in other people’s company is potentially dangerous. I had a test and was negative. Until I had that negative test, I felt like I wanted to disappear and not be near anybody and be responsible for anymore of this ‘horribleness’. That’s what it taught me just how we are all connected and so responsible for our actions.

When I transfer that danger onto the stage, I totally agree with Ms. Caldwell’s definition. Danger is present only if you are in the moment. The work of an actor on stage is to keep it fresh every night as if it’s your first time doing it. There’s techniques to get through or to just let go and just be fully present.

When you are fully present in life as well as onstage, that’s a really vulnerable place to be. And when you’re that vulnerable, it’s dangerous. I wonder if that’s what Zoe Caldwell means by danger in this context. The audience can feel danger if we are fully and truly in the moment. If you’re completely in, it’s almost scary because you don’t know what’s going to come next.

If we can all feel that danger, it’s a much richer experience.

The late scenic designer Ming Cho Lee spoke about great art opening doors and making us feel more sensitive. Has this time of Covid made you sensitive to our world and has it made some impact on your life in such a way that you will bring this back with you to the theatre?

I’m going to be a lot more sensitive to other people’s level of comfort. I don’t know how it’s going to work when we get back together as a group and be in the same room.

I’m terrified of bringing something into that space when we return because of my closeness and proximity to all of us.

I’ve learned though this that different people have different levels of comfort or discomfort with this situation. It hadn’t really occurred to me that I could catch Covid just from someone walking by but now, when I walk by people in Stratford on the street, I have to be more aware of other people’s level of comfort.

I hope that masks are around for quite some time, just in case. There’s won’t be any possibility of anyone wanting to go to the theatre unless they’ve been vaccinated. Nobody knows how long these vaccinations will last.

Again, the late Hal Prince spoke of the fact that theatre should trigger curiosity in the actor/artist and the audience. Has Covid sparked any curiosity in you about something during this time? Has this time away from the theatre sparked further curiosity for you when you return to this art form?

I feel so almost stuck. I don’t feel like I’m living the same life that I once did. It feels like a forced retirement.

It might be a good thing, but I’m not ready for retirement yet. I’m always going to be available if anyone wants to pay me to sing.

As far as curiosity goes, having this time has been really a gift because I’ve read so many books. I’m now very much okay with sitting down and spending a couple of hours reading. I’m not a news junkie, but it’s something I can click into if I want to.

The gift of time has been incredible so I’m curious about all the things going on in the world. Books I’ve been dying to read. There’s also a curiosity about each other and how everybody is feeling emotionally. We’re all riding this thing out in the best way we can, and I love having conversations with people just about how they’re doing.

In ordinary times, we talk about what we’re doing, but don’t talk about how we’re doing. Covid has made me curious as to how others are feeling. That’s a human curiosity.

I love having the time and freedom to explore and be curious about other things.

After an extremely frustrating start in getting my computer running and then Zooming in late with choreographer/director Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo, I had quite an informative conversation with this award-winning Mohawk and mixed heritage artist.

I was pleased she wasn’t annoyed as Barbara said she experienced the same issues with her computer the other day in trying to connect on another Zoom call. She was smiling and I was most thankful she put me at ease immediately.

Our discussion led me into a moment from our Canadian history of which I was not aware at all. Diabo examines this historical time in her upcoming production at Toronto Harbourfront’s Fleck Dance Theatre. To be honest I felt ashamed of my ignorance in not knowing or remembering this issue many years ago when I was a student. She told me I wasn’t the only one who felt like this.

More about this Canadian historical event shortly.

A press release I received announced Diabo’s: “long-awaited Ontario premiere of A’nó:wara Dance Theatre’s vital and potent work, Sky Dancers. The Montreal-based company was part of a production residency at Harbourfront Centre in 2019 and scheduled to make its world premiere with Sky Dancers in May 2020 when the pandemic hit.”

Just like the other artists whom I’ve interviewed, Barbara reiterated these last three years have been an adjustment personally for her as well. Although she was able to work the whole time through Zoom and other digital platforms, she felt she had to adjust to being alone more as much of her social life is tied in with her work as a performing artist.

But being isolated with her husband and child allowed her to do some private ‘looking in’ and tap into her Indigenous perspective and just simply be with and commune through nature. Her husband is considered an essential worker, so she and her child spent a lot of time together and her husband was able to join them when his work permitted him to do so.

Artistically, Barbara says she is more grateful in being able to create with others once again albeit wearing masks, and she’s fine with that. There is an adjustment in learning how to be with others once again in a creative sense, yet every so often the realities of the pandemic creep back in for her. Nevertheless, she has learned to take things casually and deal with them when they occur.

‘Sky Dancers’ explores the impact of the Quebec Bridge disaster of 1907 which killed 33 ironworkers from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake. The community was well known for iron work which just hearing about this makes the story even more poignant. When the bridge collapsed while under construction, the fallout was felt around the world and the aftermath still echoes across generations today. Diabo’s great grandfather, Louis D’Ailleboust, died in the tragedy.

And therefore I felt my ignorance that I did not remember this event.

It’s one thing to be able to narrate the tragedy of the bridge disaster. During our conversation, Barbara made an interesting comment about storytelling. Narration or telling in words focuses on an imposition of thoughts and ideas; dance, however, allows for an immediate visual interpretation for an audience to see.
For Barbara, ‘Sky Dancers’ becomes a big scale in scope. The production was five years in the making. There is a large set needed with focused and specific lighting techniques required for effects.

Barbara wants the audience to feel as if they are right in the action of the story as there is no separation between them and the performers on the stage. There are four parts to ‘Sky Dancers’ that tell a story: a) Before the tragedy we witness the Mohawk community life. b) We see the pride of the community in their iron work creation of the bridge. c) We will witness the tragedy of the bridge d) We will see the aftermath of the community where the women must clean up and learn to live without members of the community.
What made this story even harder for me? The Catholic Church came in at this time to pressure the mothers to send the remaining children away to the Residential schools as it was felt the women would be unable to provide what their children required.

For those who have no background in dance or movement, these specific art forms become universal at that moment in performance through the multi-faceted expressions of the artists. According to Barbara, it’s possible that if there are 250 people in the audience, each of them may walk away from ‘Sky Dancers’ with 250 different views of that story.

That’s the magic of the allure of dance and movement. Although she was trained in classical ballet, Barbara felt she didn’t fit in with certain techniques of ballet and returned to the spiritual nourishment in her community to find her voice which fulfilled her personal need to dance. However, she assuredly pointed out that First Nations’ dance was discouraged for the longest time and ‘Sky Dancers’ will allow us to share the Indigenous culture with other communities.

Given the last three years and the round table discussions of all performing artists here in Canada, it’s now time to share and see as many stories as we possibly can, and this includes all members of the First Nations and Indigenous communities.

What are some key messages for audiences to leave with after seeing ‘Sky Dancers’ or about any First Nations and Indigenous stories?

If anything, Diabo wants audiences not to see members of the Mohawk community as victims of this tragedy but the fact they survived it through their resilience and their strength as a community. ‘Sky Dancers’ honours those who died in the tragedy, their families, their descendants, and the community.

I look forward as a caring Canadian to see this story of strength within the Mohawk community.

‘Sky Dancers’ will perform at Toronto Harbourfront’s Fleck Dance Theatre May 20-21 at 7:30pm and May 21-23, 2022, at 2pm in Queen’s Quay Terminal, Third Floor, 207 Queens Quay West. For further information and/or ticket prices, please visit www.harbourfrontcentre.com.

Near the conclusion of our conversation, Beatriz Pizano talked about the passion she recognizes in emerging artists and how important it is to nurture it, especially as we look ahead and move forward out of this pandemic.

I must say that Beatriz herself is one deeply passionate lady about her work and craft. I highly respect learning more about her and the work she has accomplished over the past twenty years through Aluna Theatre.

Beatriz Pizano (Actor/ Director/Playwright) is the founder and Artistic Director of Aluna Theatre. Over the last twenty years, she has built Aluna into an international company recognized for its unique approach to creation, its daring political work, and its experimentation with multiple language productions. Her bold performances, in English and Spanish, are marked by a distinct theatrical language drawing from the heritages, cultures, and languages from across the Americas. Aluna’s original productions have earned them 29 Dora Mavor Moore nominations and 11 wins.

She has received a number of prestigious awards including the John Hirsch Prize, the Chalmers Fellowship, K.M. Hunter award, 100 Colombianos and Colombiano Estrella. She is the first Colombian actress to win the Toronto Critics award and a Dora for her performance in Blood Wedding. She has been recognized twice by the Colombian government (President Santos and President Duque) for her work as a promoter and a mentor to the Latinx artists living and working in Canada. In 2019 she was named of TD Bank’s 10 Most Influential Hispanic Canadians.

We conducted our conversation via Zoom. Thank you so much for adding your distinct voice to the conversation, Bea:

It’s a harsh reality that the worldwide pandemic of Covid 19 has changed all of us. Describe how your understanding of the world you know and how your perception and experience have changed on a personal level.

Well, to tell you the truth, Covid has been difficult in some things but at other levels for me, I was craving a pause. I haven’t had a rest.

After running a company for 20 years, I needed to think where we are going now. There are changes that needed to happen. We struggled so hard as a diverse company. I was exhausted because as a tiny company we don’t ever get the funding needed to run. For example, I only have one full time person in twenty years, which is me, to run the entire company. The rest are all contract workers.

That instability because with me just running Aluna and having to do everything for the company was challenging. I was working seven days a week and I was very tired.

Before the pandemic, I was very lucky to get one of the Canada Council Grants, the New Chapter Grants, which was a large amount. I’ve never seen that amount of money before to fulfil my dream of working in a piece called ‘The Solitudes’ inspired by ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
It was the first time I fulfilled my dream of working with a collective of women for an extended period of time. We worked over two years, working several times a year for a month, then another three weeks in building that beauty of process. So, after this experience, I felt like I couldn’t go back to a period of three weeks and go, go, go again.

So, for me, it was a much-needed time of reflection personally. I love being home. I have a garden and working in it. I’ve made gigantic personal changes in my life, so I needed time to just sit.

I also travel a lot with the Festivals as a presenter. I travel six months of the year and was always going, going. So, suddenly, for someone like me who has a personality of constantly being on the quick move all the time, I was at home. It was great at the beginning, but for me it has been an important time of reflection personally on who I want to be as an artist, and where do I want to go from now as a more mature artist.

I’ve done all these things, and now success and all those things do not matter to me in the same way. I’m looking for a deeper soul now, what do I want to speak about now. I want to now move into the art of living. I’ve written so many plays about things that were important to me. I’ve started a new project, but I don’t know what it is I want to say yet so I’m going slowly.

For me, the pandemic has given me this opportunity to reflect on how to implement these changes, how they are going to manifest, and how will Aluna deal with these changes.

With live indoor theatre shut for one year plus, with it appearing it may not re-open any time soon, how has your understanding and perception as a professional artist of the live theatre industry been altered and changed?

Theatre will never disappear, but it needs to adapt and speak to the times. Digital theatre will never be going away, but how is it going to evolve moving forward? As theatre artists we have to be in the here and now. Technology is the world of the new generation coming forward. These digital tools will not go away. If something is introduced, it will become part of the medium that we know.

Soheil Parsa is directing ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ next year, fingers crossed (and I’m crossing my fingers too because I want to see this production). When we look at this piece, this Lorca piece is so deep and profound as it’s about intergenerational trauma among the women. We’re not doing the ‘Bernarda Alba’ that everyone does.

The company was very important because it coincided with the cries for social change and equity and being a part of that conversation in seeing how we move forward from now on. When I began the company there were five of us who are Latinx artists no more than 10 and now there is a beautiful community of artists who are very strong and emerging.

I’m thinking now as I move forward, and I begin to think of whoever wants to take over the company. I accepted the role of Artistic Director when I took over the company 20 years ago, and now when it’s time for me to move forward, I’m now thinking about strong Latinx artists who can take over. I want to leave a home of strong artists, that was my dream. I want to leave a world full of strong opportunities in this company for a community of artists.

As a small company, Aluna does not always think in terms of ticket sales. Instead, we see the audience as part of the process and in communion with the actor. That is so important. I’m known to give tickets away to those who cannot afford to see theatre because it’s important to introduce as many as possible to the theatre.

Sometimes it’s hard to separate the artistry from the personal side because my work for 20 years was focused on Aluna. I was once asked if I had any hobbies, and I couldn’t state that I had hobbies. Everything I did was my art, and I wasn’t able to separate between the two. At times, it’s hard to separate the two.

As a professional artist, what are you missing the most about the live theatre industry?

Rehearsing in person. I’m about process. I work in a style of process, improvisation and discovering until you find things and throwing myself in the room.

I’m a very physical actor. To embody the human body with the text is so critical in the process. It’s not the same on Zoom to feel and to connect with another actor. I need to be in the room with others.

We were in rehearsal for ‘Bernarda Alba’, but I was turning the character into a stereotype because I was not in my body. It’s so hard to make that connection with another actor through Zoom. I never abuse the moment when the actor is in communion with the audience or with another actor. If you as actor can make the audience breathe with you, that is magical.

I miss breathing in the same room with other actors and audience.

Oh my God, I miss a lot of things.

As a professional artist, what is the one thing you will never take for granted again in the live theatre industry when you return to it?

People.

Artists need to be paid well and people need to be compensated really well. After Equity removes fees etc, sometimes actors are left with $12, $13, $14/an hour and I’m thinking, “Seriously?” There are actors who have been working for 20, 30 years and they’re earning below minimum wage? This doesn’t make sense. This is inhumane. This has to stop. Let’s compensate people well.

I don’t know who created this system we currently have in place in the theatre. Over the years, we work people to the bones for opening night. When the actors leave, the director, crew and designers stay. Creation is such an act of opening the soul and I don’t understand why people are staying around when the actors leave. That can’t be justified anymore. For instance, some companies have implemented there must be at least two weeks of technical rehearsal in the theatre. When I work with Soheil, he has at one week before previews of tech in the theatre.

When you don’t have a lot of money as many smaller theatres may not, you cannot do that. At Aluna we give at least one week of tech in the theatre because it moves the play faster and better for the actors.
For me, I don’t know how I’m going to do it as a producer, but that practice of working people to the bone must end. Let’s compensate people adequately and fairly. Throughout this pandemic we have been paying people way above scale. People need to be paid daily rates because they work so hard.

Describe one element you hope has changed concerning the live theatre industry.

I don’t think it has changed, but there must be an awareness that the system we have been working with was not working for a lot of people.

The work ahead is really hard. It will also be very exciting because there is a beauty in the multiplicity of artists and voices that we will soon hear. It’ll be hard because there is the unknown ahead, but with this multiplicity and diversity of voices, Canada will become an exciting artistic place. Canada already is because I’ve travelled to other places, but we need to come out of these boxes.

Theatre has become a business on behalf of this illogical thinking because for some people it’s not a business. For some, theatre may be a social movement so we cannot put it under the same thing because it is looked at differently by many people.

The conversation is changing but we have a lot of work to do. I don’t believe anything has changed yet.

This is a process.

Explain what specifically you believe you must still accomplish within the industry.

Oh my God!

I don’t know why you’re making me so emotional, Joe. (and Bea and I share a laugh)

So many things. On a personal level, I’m still striving for so many things as an artist, and that’s making sure I have the time to prepare and to put it in my process. In this urgency to get things done, I don’t take short cuts, and I don’t respect the sanctity of the art form if I did that. It requires time through dedication through playwrighting and acting.

I also want to learn so much more about directing, about playwrighting, about acting. The only way you learn is by doing it with opportunities.

What I want to do is make sure I can create those opportunities for others as well, especially in the diverse and marginalized communities that have had very little opportunity to work. You don’t get better if you don’t work at it. That’s the reality.

With every project I take on, I have this saying: “All I knew today. Tomorrow I will know more things.” If I can go to sleep at night and say, “Yes, Bea, you did everything you knew today. The reason why I didn’t do anything different is because I didn’t know it yet.” But tomorrow after completing that project, I will know more because I will have learned more.

Some artists are saying that audiences must be prepared for a tsunami of Covid themed stories in the return to live theatre. Would you elaborate on this statement both as an artist in the theatre, and as an audience member observing the theatre.

I’m actually avoiding anything that talks about Covid.

No. I don’t want to write about Covid at all.

I think what people will crave is truth and connection as audiences. I do think works have to be very truthful. There may be pieces that go against the conventions as people love these interactive pieces today. My desire is the opportunity for theatre to return to truth and not fabricate stories. People want connection.

Have the guts to go and perform in a park without the comforts and lights. That is breaking things down.
Audiences will be demanding a lot from the artists when we return, and I think that’s great.

The industry has to remember and allow that it’s not about tickets. We may have to do theatre in very unconventional places as we, the audiences and artists, return and emerge into this new understanding of the world. I’m looking forward to be challenged as an artist and audience member.

So no, I will NOT go and see anything that deals with Covid.

As an artist, what specifically is it about your work that you want future audiences to remember about you?

That I believed deeply in everything I did to the bones. I cannot do something that I did not believe in. Hopefully people will recognize my complete commitment with every cell in my body what I’m doing, how can I pretend for others to join me on the journey.

To learn more about Aluna Theatre, visit www.alunatheatre.ca; Facebook: @AlunaTheatre; Twitter: @AlunaTheatre.

Blythe Wilson trained at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre School right out of high school. Christopher Newton started it and Blythe was there when Larry Lillo was in Vancouver. There were eighteen of them and Blythe was there for two years, but she left early because she landed a job and took off.

I’ve truly enjoyed watching her work on many stages across Ontario. The last time I saw her perform before the pandemic was at the Stratford Festival as feisty ballet teacher Mrs. Wilkinson in a dazzling production of ‘Billy Elliot the Musical’. I also saw her work there in ‘The Music Man’, ‘Guys and Dolls’ and ‘Julius Caesar’.

I also recall her work as Baroness Schraeder in ‘The Sound of Music’ at Toronto’s Princess of Wales. This was the production which selected Maria from the CBC show ‘How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?”
Blythe also joined the US Tour in Los Angeles in 2010 of ‘Mary Poppins’ where she played the role of Winnifred Banks. She made her Broadway debut in ‘Mary Poppins’ in 2011 when she joined the company there to play Winnifred Banks.

She next appears in ‘Home for the Holidays’ at London, Ontario’s Grand Theatre.

We conducted our conversation via Zoom. Thank you so much for your time, Blythe:

Could you share one teacher and one mentor for whom you are thankful.

Right off the top, I immediately thought of and am still in touch with her – Susan Gilmour, a brilliant Canadian artist who really influenced me.

I met Susan in Charlottetown when I was all of seventeen years of age. Susan was so graceful. She was just so humble and a solid worker and gentle with all of us. We were all playing her school children, and I’ve just watched her over so many years. We’ve worked together, then separated, then worked together, and as soon as we come back together there’s that instant friendship is right back there.

I always think, “What would Susan Gilmour do?” at this point. She leads so beautifully, and I thought if I ever become into that position of being in a company and being looked at for leadership, I just think “Do how Susan did.”

Susan really influenced me and how she held herself onstage, backstage, working with everyone, how she was involved in her community and how close she is with her family.

I connected with all of these things she has lived in her career.

I’m trying to think positively that we have, fingers crossed, moved forward in dealing with Covid. How have you been able to move forward from these last 18 eighteen months on a personal level? How have you been changed or transformed on a personal level?

To be honest, I had a really, really tough time the first five, six, seven months during Covid. It really shocked me to the core. I had an entire year of work lined up, and periodically through the first year, every time the theatre company had to terminate our contracts, we were given a notice.

So, you feel like you’re starting to move on and work through the pandemic, and then all of a sudden there was this really shocking reminder that we are terminating this contract and moving on.

Throughout that whole first year, it really jolted my being as we all were traumatized by it.
I looked to nurturing my soul in ways of getting outside, gardening, cooking. I became obsessed with menus. My husband and I are real foodies, we’re really enjoying cooking for us, for friends. I found nurturing my soul through nurturing other people safely and checking in on those whom we knew were alone, solo, single. I found that helped.

It was a wild year. I just kept shaking my head thinking, “Who would have thought that we’re in this?”
Some days I was just pushing myself through that weight of Covid and getting outside. I was pushing myself over exercising with these strange injuries occurring and I though that I need to back off.
You feel like you need to give yourself something to do during the day because we are so scheduled as artists and how our entire day is logged out for us. To not have that I just felt lost without stage management telling us what I’m supposed to be doing.

There was also the silver lining of so much freedom with my busy brain calming down and really enjoying the beautiful simple things in life, but still there was that underlying pressure of ‘What is happening? Will it come back?”

I remember completing a puzzle one day and then yanking it off the table and crying. I was having a fit and I threw the puzzle into the wall. I was yelling at myself and Mark, my husband, was behind saying to me,

“Blythe, it’s okay.”

And here I am saying, “It’s over. There’s no more.”

It was a lot for all of us in all different ways.

How have these last eighteen months of the pandemic changed or transformed you as an artist professionally?

I think it’s coming back to it. I’m realizing that I can take time throughout all of this and that I really need to trust what I’m doing in this process.

Before the pandemic I really focused on getting it right, right away, getting my words in my brain. There was this sense in me that I have to be perfect by the end of week one.

You just can’t.

As an artist, it’s allowing the time and the thought and just being a little more patient with self and brain.
We’re all discovering coming back into rehearsals for ‘Home for the Holidays’ that part of our brain has really slowed down. We’re in high-speed mode learning a ton of material, but there is still a part of me saying, “It’s okay, there will be time to figure this out.” and the pandemic allotted me that.

‘Covid brain’/ that fog has really changed the artist. Some of us have not been as busy as others have been busy. If I was in a vulnerable mood and on Facebook and I saw a lot of people booking shows, booking commercials, working on Zoom workshops, you always compare and then you feel like I’m making bread again today. That always happens in our business and you do get used to that, but this time, I thought this just didn’t seem fair. When will it happen for all of us to return?

I think there is room for all of us to be back in this work environment and back in doing what we love to do.
That fog, even a month ago, there was a lot of that self doubt that many of our cast members have been open about. There was the thought that I haven’t been doing what I should have been doing, and I’m so out of practice and how will I go back?

But it’s amazing when you’re in the business as long as we’ve been – we’re all different ages – I’ve been at this since I was 18 professionally. You do build those tools. They are all back there and it’s realizing the trust is there of those tools of memory, and choreography, and music.

The one thing I was most concerned about was vocal and vocal fatigue. There were times when I was on walks when people asked if I was still singing, and there were a couple of months where I hadn’t sung at all and completely silent. I burst into tears just trying to vocalize.

In your professional opinion, how do you see the global landscape of professional theatre changing, adapting, and morphing as a result of these last 18 months?
It felt like another huge eruption with Covid when Black Lives Matter occurred. For me, I just felt overwhelmed again.

The changes are good. These changes need to happen. Everyone needs to be heard and to have their voice.

We’re learning along the way. We’ve all made mistakes and we will continue to make mistakes, and to allow those mistakes to be made. Being back in the room was being open and people are voicing opinions now. I now, for me, I would stay silent and listen and just watch and feel the temperature of the room.

There is some of that as well, and I think change is good.

There was a period of time where I felt maybe it was time for me to step aside. I’ve had this beautiful career and maybe it was time to step aside. Now coming back to it, I just feel like there should be a place for all of us, FOR ALL OF US.

Artists weren’t going to come back until at least two years especially for the musicals, the singing, the dancing. This is really, really hard coming back. We’re not back to where we were before the pandemic hit. We are back, we are fully layered. Wardrobe has built us this huge singer’s mask.

At times it feels like there’s this boundary between all of us as artists. At times we still feel nervous when we walk by each other in the hallway, or is it okay to touch another person? Some feel comfortable taking off their masks, and that’s fine but I’m not there yet.

Having had 18 months off, we’re trying to do our best work but there’s this other banter in the back of your brain monitoring us as always happens with our lives. It’s even more, I find, for artists, that we’re feeling overwhelmed.

What intrigues/fascinates/excites Blythe Wilson post Covid?

What excites me is the community coming together and theatres are reaching out and drawing in artists again. What also excites me is theatres also reaching to audiences and inviting them back in again.
What fascinates me is people working and going back to their craft and what they love to do and what we’re made to do and our calling to do.

What frustrates/annoys Blythe Wilson post Covid?
The frustrating thing is not seeing our faces right now. There’s very gentle, tentative hugs, and no one is really sure about giving or receiving hugs at this time.

I feel like I’m a nurturing spirit and I feel guarded and that I have to watch everything I do. The impulse is there and the voice behind it saying, “Nope, don’t do that.”

I miss the faces. We were in the Artists’ Lounge having our lunch and we can take off our masks to eat. A cast member looked at me and said, “It’s so great to see your face.”

We’ve been working and chatting for this past week, but we have not visually seen one another on account of these masks. So that’s the total drag.

The annoying thing is that fear. I want that fear to go away, the possibility of Covid, the idea of Covid.

How are rehearsals going for ‘Home for the Holidays’?

We’ve completed a week of rehearsals. They’re overwhelming. We were thrown a ton of music, and we are in brilliant hands with our musical director Alex Kane. She is brilliant. Dennis Garnhum, our director, has this huge vision of the show. Dennis has been sitting brewing this show in his mind, and we hope we can accomplish this mammoth task.

I have to say this is the most singing I’ve done in any musical, and this is a 90-minute musical. I think it’s going to be a gift to the artist and a gift to the audience. It’s a real coming together.

RAPID ROUND

Try to answer these in a single sentence. If you need more than one sentence, that’s not a problem. I credit the late James Lipton and “Inside the Actors’ Studio’ for this idea:

If you could say one thing to one of your mentors and teachers who encouraged you to get to this point as an artist, what would it be?

“Be on time. Learn your lines. Write down your blocking. Be kind. Don’t be an asshole, just don’t.” (and Blythe and I share a good laugh)

If you could say something to any of the naysayers in your career who didn’t think you would make it as an artist, what would that be?

“If I work hard and stay committed, that’s all I can do as we continue to age in this profession.”

What’s your favourite swear word?

“Aw, for fuck’s sakes.”

What is a word you love to hear yourself say?

Breathe, breathe.

What is a word you don’t like to hear yourself say?

I catch myself when I say, “I hate…” because that’s a really negative force
.
With whom would you like to have dinner and discuss the current state of the live Canadian performing arts scene?

My agent. (and the look on Blythe’s voice and the tone of her voice made me burst out in laughter once again)

What would you tell your younger personal self with the knowledge and wisdom life experience has now given you?

Be patient, be patient, be patient, be silent, step back, watch, take it in. Take it in.

With the professional life experience you’ve gained, what would you now tell the upcoming Blythe Wilson from years ago who was just in the throes of beginning a career as a performing artist?

I would always think “What would Susan Gilmour do?”

What is one thing you still wish to accomplish both personally and professionally?

Personally, there’s a part of me that would really love to travel more and see the world. I know when I’m away from Canada, I really let go of who I think I am. It’s wonderful being somewhere else and being someone anonymous. Not that I’m recognized everywhere I go, but I just want to see how the world is moving and I get to dip in.

I would love to travel more, but during Covid it felt like that was never going to happen. I’ve done some Canadian travel to go see my parents in Vancouver, and getting on a plane was a huge accomplishment during Covid.

I’ve never fully learned how to completely read music and I wish I was patient enough with myself to really fulfil that task professionally. It has set me back in rehearsal for many, many years that I sit in a terrified state and it’s difficult to admit as a musical theatre and singer.

I try to follow music. I’m ear taught. I come home and I drill the music that’s recorded. It would be nice to know how to read music.

Name one moment in your professional career that you wish you could re-visit again for a short while.
I was thinking about this question last night. When I was in my early 20s in Chicago for a year and a half performing ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’ with Donny Osmond.

I was understudying the narrator and I went on many times with Donny. We did a show Friday, two shows Saturday and two shows Sunday. We had a 5-show weekend. We were all in our 20s and dancing our tits off and it was a huge show.

We would meet either Saturday or Sunday on the beach and play volleyball. Donny would show up. We would all be there playing volleyball and just escape the show.

It was a mammoth weekend coming up and again, following Donny, he was an amazing leader. He’s been a star all his life so there was a bit of detach, but when he would enter the group of the ensemble it was a pretty sublime moment of being with him. He let go of who he was for the moment, and his kids, and his commitment to the show and he would just BE with us.

I just relished those moments on the beach. Because we were so young and in our twenties, we’re still in touch with each other. We had every month we had a huge reunion on Zoom, and Donny chimed in a couple of times and there he was in Utah in his sound studio.

We all took the time to thank him as he made us all feel part of something that was really great.

What is one thing Blythe Wilson will never take for granted again post Covid?

Seeing people’s faces, for sure.

Would Blythe Wilson do it all again if given the same professional opportunities?

I have to admit there were a couple of times during Covid that I wished I had chosen a different career.

There were times when I thought, “What have I done? How is all of this work so easily shut down and brushed to the side?

I don’t feel like that now. I still want to be part of it all. It doesn’t feel like I’m at an end. During Covid, I thought it’s done. It’s at an end, it was a great ride but let’s think of something else. That’s not how I feel right now.

I think there’s more for all of us to take part in. There is. There’s a place for all of us.

From his personal website, Canadian Brad Fraser is “a writer, director, producer, host and generally creative guy.” (www.bradfraser.net).

I’ve read many articles, reviews and reports about Brad’s work in the theatre over the years and have seen that some of his stories have been deemed controversial, but isn’t that what makes for good theatrical drama when we can discuss calmly something we have seen that has moved us to the point where we need to examine and talk about it? Brad studied Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto according to his personal Facebook page.

We conducted our conversation via email. Thank you so much for your time, Brad:

It has been an exceptionally long seven months since we’ve all been in isolation, and now it appears the numbers are edging upward again. How are you feeling about this? Will we ever emerge to some new way of living in your opinion?

I suspect we might. Certainly, the idea of work and workplace are changing, as are certain jobs. I suspect we’ll discover we don’t need all the space we insist on occupying, as well as most of the stuff we feel we have to buy.

How have you been faring? How has your immediate family been doing during these last six months?

My immediate family is in Alberta and seems to be fine. My chosen family is in Toronto and it’s a mixed bag. I care for a senior neighbour with dementia, who also has asthma, and has to be monitored almost constantly. Oddly, I suspect she’d doing better than other members of that family, since we’re in the same city and still can’t see one another. At least my neighbour starts each day with no real memory of how long we’ve been in lock down.

As an artist within the performing arts community, what has been the most difficult and challenging for you professionally and personally?

Not being able to interface with my other artist friends and share ideas and opinions over a meal and a few drinks. Not being able to attend the theatre, or any of the other live venues we generally work and party in.

Were you in preparation, rehearsals, or any planning stages of productions before everything was shut down? What has become of those projects? Will they see the light of day anytime soon?

The only live gig I lost was an amateur production of “5@50” in Edmonton. Luckily, I had just found work in publishing and film just before all of this broke so I’ve actually been quite busy.

What have you been doing to keep yourself busy during this time?

Working, talking to friends, painting, watching movies, generally staying as creative as I can.

Any words of wisdom or advice you might /could give to fellow performers and colleagues? What message would you deliver to recent theatre school graduates who have now been set free into this unknown and uncertainty given the fact live theaters and studios might be closed for 1 ½ – 2 years?

Everything changes. This will pass. Be patient. Find a way to parlay your skills into another profession for the time being.

Do you see anything positive stemming from Covid 19?

If we’re lucky it will force people to re-evaluate our current political system which got us into this spot and seems mostly uninterested in getting us out of it.

Do you think Covid 19 will have some lasting impact on the Canadian/North American performing arts scene?

Yes. Many people will be insecure about attending for a very long time. For concerts etc. I think the bounce back will be quicker. Theatre is a marginal industry during the best of these situations, and I suspect people will use this as an excuse not to return. We’ll need to be wildly imaginative to lure them back and I think the entire structure as it exists across the country now will be changed.

Some artists have turned to You Tube and online streaming to showcase their work. What are your comments and thoughts about streaming? Is this something that the actor/theatre may have to utilize going forward into the unknown?
Perhaps. I’m skeptical. Theatre needs to be live to work. YouTube is not live, it is merely a platform that is open to amateurs. It is not theatre.

Despite all this fraught tension and confusion, what is it about performing that Covid will never destroy for you?

The power of the medium and its ability to change the way people see the world.

Augh!!!!!! I nearly ran out of time on the Zoom clock in chatting with artist Brad Hodder as there was so much I still wanted to ask him.

Brad proudly talked about how his parents supported him and didn’t mind when he chose to pursue theatre professionally. He also had teachers in junior high and high school who encouraged him to pursue a path in the arts. He called himself really lucky and is very fortunate in his life that he met people along the way who helped him to this point in his career.

Just looking at his resumé, I’ve seen several his performances at Stratford: ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, ‘Julius Caesar’, ‘An Ideal Husband’ were just three.

Brad also was Assistant Director on two productions that were quite good: Groundling Theatre’s production of ‘King Lear’ and the Stratford Festival’s production of ‘The Crucible’.

Brad has two upcoming productions at Mirvish this season that I am keen to see. In November, he is directing the musical ‘No Change in the Weather’ which opens at the CAA Theatre on Yonge Street November 19, 2021. And he will play Draco Malfoy in the all Canadian production of ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ when it opens at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre on May 31, 2022.

Brad and I conducted our conversation via Zoom. Thank you so much for your time:

Since we’ve just celebrated Thanksgiving, tell me one teacher and one mentor in your life for whom you are thankful that brought you to this point in your life as a performing artist.

Well, two of the same. I had a teacher in theatre school at the University of Alberta, my first year Acting Teacher, was a guy named Charlie Tomlinson. Big connections.

Charlie’s family is originally from England, but he’s also lived in Newfoundland. Charlie’s father was at the Med School. Charlie was involved in the early days of CODCO here in the province in the 70s and 80s. I’d never met him before here in Newfoundland until I got to the University of Alberta. He had a profound influence on me, and we started a theatre company together here in Newfoundland that ran for ten years before I moved up to Ontario when I got into the Stratford Festival where I spent eight seasons.

The other is Martha Henry who brought me to Stratford as part of the Birmingham Conservatory. I auditioned for Martha here in St. John’s when they were doing a national tour from the festival, and Charlie’s name was all over my resumé. When Martha was the Artistic Director of the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, Charlie ran the Second Space there. They had quite a strong friendship and he definitely put in a good word for me.

So, Charlie was a strong teacher and Martha became a real champion for me and a real mentor. I learned a lot from her. I ran the Langham Program at Stratford under her as well. She cast me in the lead in ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ and gave me opportunities. I got to assist Robin Philips simply because of Martha before he passed away. I was his assistant on ‘Twelfth Night’ that he was directing. I spent six intense theatre weeks with Robin, but he too had a profound influence on me.

I’m trying to think positively that we have, fingers crossed, moved forward in dealing with Covid. How have you been able to move forward from these last 18 eighteen months on a personal level? How have you been changed or transformed on a personal level?
Well, we moved home to Newfoundland. I have a 12-year-old and a 9-year-old. We were living in Stratford and getting ready to move to Toronto for ‘Harry Potter’.

When everything started happening, we made at the time a complicated decision to move back home to Newfoundland not knowing what’s going to happen. In hindsight it’s the best thing we ever did. That changed me that I’ve been home for nearly two years now with my family, my parents, my kids’ cousins, that kind of family time and recognizing (I know it sounds so clichéd, but everyone is so busy and things were happening so fast). Then when we didn’t have to be so busy and so fast, there was the reality that for all those opportunities I had in Stratford, I became Dad too. I was working six days a week in Stratford. I missed getting to go home in the summertime because I was at the Festival working. The kids and my partner would go home every summer for a month or six weeks but I couldn’t. Even at Christmas time, they could go home but I couldn’t because I started working at Groundling Theatre and we’d rehearse over the Christmas break. My time home at Christmas in Newfoundland was short, and my time home in the summer was non-existent.

The silver lining during this time for me is being with my family, my kids, and my time to re-connect with Newfoundland which, I’m sure, Joe, you’ve heard from anybody that a connection with Newfoundland is a special place. It’s where work takes me away, but if it wasn’t for that I’m very happy in Newfoundland and it’s a great place to be.

I have been transformed these last eighteen months. We were all on hamster wheels, and then all of a sudden, the hamster wheel stopped, and I started baking. I became one of those pandemic bakers and seeing what else I can do with sour dough discard, and how to laminate pastry. I’ve been running a lot. It’s been a good time.

How have these last eighteen months of the pandemic changed or transformed you as an artist professionally?

The art that comes out of Newfoundland, and the history of our art here is very different from anywhere else in Canada. The idea of a national theatre in Canada I’ve always found to be a little silly because each region is so large, and each region has such a different relationship with theatre history. The cultural icons from each region of Canada are different. The idea of a national theatre in Canada is a topic for another conversation.

I’ve been very lucky. Very few people move to Newfoundland for work. There’s a company here called Terra Bruce that’s producing ‘No Change in the Weather’ that I’ll talk about shortly. Terra Bruce was doing a web series so I did a web series with them for a few months in the winter. Terra Bruce has a resident company so they’ve kept about 30 to 40 artists employed during the pandemic and paying them a weekly wage.

We’ve got a building here where we’ve been rehearsing ‘No Change’.

I also started a Chekhov reading group online with actors at the beginning of the pandemic and we’d meet once a week to reach each of the Chekhov plays, one act at a time. I led that until I ran away from all things online because it was feeding me the same way as live theatre and shows do.

There’s been lots of work in Newfoundland, so I’ve come home. I’m working on this production of ‘No Change’ with people I went to high school with; we started out together in going to the theatre and making theatre together. Even though I lost touch with them, I’ve been reunited with them. My sister is doing the costume design for ‘No Change’.

I did a movie here. I did a short horror film with my 12-year-old kid where I got to play the killer. I’ve never had the opportunity before.

Professionally, I’ve been able to keep food on the table and the family supported. The dog (a rescue dog) gets really expensive dog food to help in digestion (and Brad and I share a laugh over this). I’m aware that so many of my friends have had to pivot and that has been big for them.

For me, the biggest change was to leave Ontario with my family, but work wise I’ve been very, very fortunate and it’s not lost on me how lucky I am.

It’s been nice to reconnect professionally with so many people here who I cut my teeth with. Getting to work with these people again has been a real, wonderful gift.

In your opinion, do you see the global landscape of the professional Canadian live theatre scene changing at all as a result of these last 18 months?

I think so. I think it has to. We’re already seeing it in the way we’ve been working here. For ‘No Change’, we’re rehearsing in mask; we’re singing in mask, and that in of itself has been a bit of a game changer.
The way we build our rehearsal days, especially working on a musical, we’re building in there has to be time in the day for the room to air out. We can sing for 15 minutes out of the hour without masks on. Practical things have changed.

Our rehearsal week has changed. We’re doing five days now instead of six days for this contract. We’re seeing what’s possible and how much time we have together.

The rehearsal hall, to me, has to be a place where you can try lots of stuff. It’s safe and respectful. I love parameters and that’s a good thing, but some of these parameters that Covid has put us into can dull the creative impulse. So finding a way to create in these parameters is a challenge. I like the challenge of putting on a musical during this time.

I’m really curious to the many social things that have been happening around us. What are the plays that will be here when we are fully back? Are we going to see a bunch of pandemic theatre? What’s going on with equality, and diversity and racialization in so many ways and how that informs our theatre.

With theatre do we want to reflect back to audiences the way the world is OR the way the world could be? I don’t know where we go now because the world the way it now is might not be the way the world is going to be. But the world that it could be? It could be so many different things when coming out of pandemic and how difficult it is to get a positive message going globally.

Theatre should be responding to the way the world is going around it. It should be for the people. I’m always weary of truth onstage, but LIFE, we want to see LIFE on stage. I still think I’m two years away of realizing how my life has changed right now. It’s emotional during rehearsals right now.

In this long-winded answer, Joe, I hope the theatre is very different in a lot of ways in that it reflects all the things we want it to reflect. I was drawn to the theatre; it made a lot of sense to me so I hope we don’t lose that sense of safe space.

Maybe we’re trying to open it up a lot more?

How are rehearsals going for NO CHANGE IN THE WEATHER? What drew you to want to direct the story? Tell me about the characters and the artists playing them? How has this experience enriched you as an artist? What do you hope audiences will take away from NO CHANGE IN THE WEATHER?

As director it’s a challenge. This is a show that they’ve had for a few years. It’s gone through a couple of incarnations and had a lot of work done on it. I was part of very little of it.

I was going to be in the cast because I was a member of the resident company of this show. One day out of the blue I got a phone call asking if I would be interested in directing ‘No Change’.

Before I moved to Stratford, I was doing a lot of directing than acting here in Newfoundland. When I was at Stratford, I was an actor and did the acting thing. But I have an interest in directing so I did the Langham thing towards the end of my time at Stratford. I started a small theatre company with Steve Ross. We would do late night one acts in the Art Gallery at Stratford, a midnight showing of a one act play for just a small, invited audience every night.

I love directing. My insecurities as an actor leave me when I’m directing. When I think of a play, I never think of the part I want to play but the play I want to do. I often think I get hired as an actor, I love acting, but if someone told me tomorrow that I’m not going to be acting anymore, I’d be okay.

I’m really curious and hungry about directing. I’m good at it and I want to do it. I enjoy it and I feel comfortable with it. It’s all positive stuff in directing.

For me, this was an opportunity. I’m used to directing a couple of actors and no technical support, just to get a good play with a couple of good actors and tour it around. I love rehearsing. One of my goals as a director is how can we bring rehearsal on to the stage? How can we keep this living, breathing, thing of a play alive? Different directors approach that in different ways, and I’m still trying to figure that out.
‘No Change in the Weather’ has been a playground for me with this company that has such wonderful resources and support for its artists. The bells and whistles are here, and I was able to get the company of actors that I was really excited about.

In its earlier form, ‘No Change’ was more sentimental and dramatic of a Newfoundland story. One of the things I wanted to do with Steve Cochrane’s adaptation of the story was turn it more towards a comedy and make it more of a farce. I just thought there was more strength in the story the adaptation wanted to tell. I thought the play is a lot funnier that people initially thought it was.

Terra Bruce agreed to me wanting to work with the adaptor of the play and to be in control of the cast I wanted, and they were agreeable to that. I’ve a design team that complements the production extremely well.

I feel like we’ve got really good people involved.

One of the best things I’ve learned as a director is not working alone, but they have their people, they have a team. There was a sense years ago of the director as tyrant, the boss, the all knowing. I don’t run into that – the directors who excite me the most are very collaborative. The director needs the actor to help tell the story as opposed to the director who tells the actor how to tell the story.

This process is almost like working on a new play. Getting these actors together and getting them to help me figure out the story – I love that process. I could stay in the rehearsal hall forever. For better or for worse, I’ve never directed a musical so this was just one of those things that is scary, but I should do it. There are lot of people involved whom I respect and I love, and I want to spend time with.

It was something I got excited about – the challenge of it. There’s an ensemble resident company of actors here that I did this web series with This group of actors has been together for a year. Outside of theatre school, sometimes at the Festival, you get to work with one group of actors for 8 months to a year. It’s so rare when that happens.

When you’ve got that group of people that I had here for a year, and now I get to create a play with them and complement them but filling out the company with other artists, but at the core there is this group of artists here that is of such value to me. ‘No Change’ is a real ensemble piece and it makes it hard to rehearse. Pretty much everyone is on deck the whole time so I can’t rehearse a small group if a dance rehearsal has been called.

It’s not always easy, but this is a strong company and they’ve got a leg up since they’ve been together for a year, and I’m just fortunate they’ve accepted me as a director.

The collaboration is there, the history is there. It makes the challenge easier but a lot more attractive.
I hope audiences will leave ‘No Change in the Weather’ with having a laugh. It’s a comedy in the tradition of CODCO, even ‘Kids in the Hall’. Steve Cochrane who has done the adaptation has had a long history with sketch comedy. There’s a lot of Newfoundland music.

There’s a political story at the heart of ‘No Change’ and the high drama surrounding The Churchill Falls blunder.

Walter Schroeder, Executive Producer of Terra Bruce, fell in love with Newfoundland music and is passionate about the province and its artists. He is involved with the music he wants in the show, plus the story and politics he wants. There’s been a pretty collaborative and effective way of working with him.
I hope the audience will see ‘No Change’ as a Newfoundland comedy but not the plaid shirt and rubber boots. A lot of Newfoundland jokes are old and have been told a lot. Like so many cultural stereotypes these jokes become stereotypes of themselves. We play with this and flirt with it but we’re trying to be aware this production is a Newfoundland comedy; a Newfoundland musical being created in 2021 and not relying on the Newfoundland tropes from 40 years ago.

What intrigues Brad Hodder post Covid?

Chekhov really intrigues me, and I want to direct. Obviously ‘Harry Potter’ is intriguing me at Mirvish and I’m looking forward to getting going on it.

I’m really intrigued about what the next ten years will be like for my kids. I know that sounds cheesy, but I’m really curious about coming out of this pandemic and everything and what the next ten years will be like.

RAPID ROUND

Try to answer these in a single sentence. If you need more than one sentence, that’s not a problem. I credit the late James Lipton and “Inside the Actors’ Studio’ for this idea:

If you could say one thing to one of your mentors or favourite teachers who encouraged you to get to this point as an artist, what would it be?

Thank you.

If you could say something to any of the naysayers in your career who didn’t think you would make it as an artist, what would that be?

Thank you (Brad says with a quick laugh and smile)

What’s your favourite swear word?

Fuck, but I’m told what I usually say is ‘Shitballs’.

What is a word you love to hear yourself say?

Satiated

What is a word you don’t like to hear yourself say?

Patronize because I never know which way to say it.

What would you tell your younger personal self with the knowledge and wisdom life experience has now given you?

You are enough.

With the professional life experience you’ve gained over the years, what would you now tell the upcoming Brad Hodder from years ago who was just in the throes of beginning a career as a performing artist?

Be patient and take your time.

What is one thing you still wish to accomplish both personally and professionally?

Professionally, I want to direct all of the Chekhov plays. It used to be the Shakespeare history plays but after so much Shakespeare, I now want to hang out with Chekhov.

Personally, I want to have really good, good adult children. That’s something I keep coming back to. I just want to make sure they’re okay, and they’re making other people okay, and that they’re a force of good in the world. I aspire to give them love and hope each day, and I hope they will do the same to others around them.

Name one moment in your professional career as an artist that you wish you could re-visit again for a short while.

Playing Edmund in ‘King Lear’ at Stratford because I never feel like I got it.

What is one thing Brad Hodder will never take for granted again post Covid?

My family or my work and TIME.

Would Brad Hodder do it all again if given the same opportunities?

Yah, unfortunately (and Brad has a good laugh) I wish, Joe, I wanted to be an action movie star and I honestly think if I wanted something like that I could be rich and famous.

I’ve always to do theatre in a small black box.

To learn more about ‘No Change in the Weather’ in November, please visit www.nochangeintheweather.com. Brad will appear next year in ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ at Mirvish in May 2022. To learn more visit www.mirvish.com.

Even before I started reviewing for professional theatre, I had the good fortune to see Canadian performer Brenda Robins in many productions of Toronto theatres over the years. I continually like to make reference to Soulpepper’s moving production of Thornton Wilder’s ‘Our Town’ where Brenda performed along with some of Canada’s finest actors. Again, I saw Brenda in a thrilling production of ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’ at Toronto’s Canadian Stage Bluma Appel Theatre. She has also appeared in several Canadian television productions including CTV’s ‘Flashpoint’ (one of my top five favourite shows) and CBC’s ‘Heartland’. A bit of online research enlightened me that Brenda has appeared across our country in some fine shows and theatres.

She and her husband, actor Patrick Galligan, live in Toronto. I will profile Patrick in another article shortly:

It appears that after five exceptionally long months, we are slowly, very slowly, emerging to a pre-pandemic lifestyle. Has your daily life and routine along with your immediate family’s life and routine been changed in any manner?

Mostly, I feel as though I’m in the middle of a ‘between gigs’ scenario. As actors, we are lucky in that we are not unused to being out of work from time to time. In the past, we have planned a vacation if we were looking at a stretch of time off. Now, a coffee with a friend, in a park, is a big adventure and something to plan my day around. Small things are taking on more significance.

Were you involved or being considered for any projects before the pandemic was declared and everything was shut down?

Not a one. Just before everything shut down, I had wrapped up several days on a TV gig out west. For that, I’m grateful because it put some extra money in the bank. Earlier in the year I worked on a web series that’s hoping to shoot a second season. I’m not sure when that is going to happen.

Describe the most challenging element or moment of the isolation period for you. Did this element or moment significantly impact how you and your immediate family are living your lives today?

I feel most frustrated for my son who has completed his Master’s degree and, under normal circumstances, would probably be working in his dream career. Now he’s applying for any kind of work he can get – along with thousands of other people.

What were you doing to keep yourself busy during this time of lockdown and isolation from the world of theatre? Since theatres will most likely be shuttered until the spring of 2021, where do you see your interests moving at this time?

I’ve been doing a lot of sewing, gardening and writing: a kind of Bronte sisters’ existence. I’ve collected a lot of vintage fabric over the years and so I’ve been sewing cushions, cushions and more cushions. Couch candy, that I was hoping to sell at our local fall fair. The fair is not happening, and the cushions have taken over a room in our house and there seems to be no end in sight….

Any words of wisdom or sage advice you would give to other performing artists who are concerned about the impact of COVID-19? What about to the new theatre graduates who are just out of school and may have been hit hard? Why is it important for them not to lose sight of their dreams?

That’s a hard one. I think the new graduates might fare well. Hopefully, they still have a burning desire and ambition and this period may prove to be a time of real creativity. I worry more for actors with young families and mortgages. I wish words of wisdom could ease their burdens, but I’m not convinced of that.

It’s going to be a very difficult few months for some people. Sorry – not very sage advice.

Do you see anything positive stemming from this pandemic?

Some very creative new work is going to come out of this period, I’m sure of that. And maybe by the time we get back into our theatres we will have a greater appreciation of the power and potential of live performances.

In your informed opinion, will the Canadian, Broadway and Californian performing arts scene somehow be changed or impacted on account of the coronavirus?

I just hope theatres survive. Time will tell.

What are your thoughts about streaming live productions? As we continue to emerge and find our way back to a new perspective of daily life, will live streaming become part of the performing arts scene in your estimation? Have you been participating, or will you participate in any online streaming productions soon?

I think streaming is a different beast altogether. I’m enjoyed some of the work I’ve seen online, but it’s not the same as the experience one has watching a live performance.

What is it about performing you still love given all the change, the confusion and the drama surrounding our world now?

I look forward to performing again, in a theatre, with an audience. I find gathering in a space with a group of strangers and sharing a communal experience to be very moving.

With a respectful nod to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton, here are the 10 questions he asked his guests at the conclusion of his interviews:

a. What is your favourite word?

It’s two words actually – ‘Quelle Emboutiellage’ which means ‘What a traffic jam”. It’s such a satisfying sequence of syllables. I like saying it to describe anything extraordinary (another good word)

b. What is your least favourite word?

I’m not sure…I mean, I really don’t have an answer for that.

c. What turns you on?

A really good action movie.

d. What turns you off?

Bullying…and impatience

e. What sound or noise do you love?

Waves

f. What sound or noise bothers you?

Car horns

g. What is your favourite curse word?

Fuck

h. What profession, other than your own, would you have liked to attempt?

If I had the talent, I would have liked to be a visual artist. Large canvases.

i. What profession would you not like to do?

A podiatrist.

j. If Heaven exists, what do you hope God will say to you as you approach the Pearly Gates?

“Head straight through to the left. Your friends and family are waiting.”

Not only is Managing artistic leader Brett Christopher one intelligent man who inherently knows his community and their artistic interests, but he is also extremely patient and kind.

Especially with me.

I was to have compiled this second profile on him months ago.

Thank you, Brett, for your patience and kindness.

The upcoming 2024 Thousand Islands Playhouse season slate looks rather impressive:

‘Liars at A Funeral’ to be directed by Krista Jackson and runs May 31 – June 22

‘Mamma Mia’ to be directed by Stephanie Graham and run July 2 – August 4.

‘Mary’s Wedding’ to be directed by Brett Christopher and runAugust 16 – September 8

‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ to be directed by James MacDonald and run September 24 – October 27

‘Murder for Two’ to be directed by Jeremy Webb and run August 1 – August 25

‘Doubt, A Parable’ to be directed by Lisa Karen Cox and run September 5 – September 29.

‘Sequence’ to be directed by Kathryn MacKay and run October 4 – October 27

(At this point, the casting of each show has yet to be announced. This is the next bit of excitement to come)

What was my initial impression just by looking at these titles? Get yourselves to Gananoque this summer and fall. Plus, there are the Boat tours, so why not make it a couple of nights? Stay in town at some of the bnb homes, see some theatre and go on a boat tour.

Since Covid, I can’t imagine how exhausted Christopher must be at this stage. He agreed that he was.

But he’s like the Energizer Bunny. He keeps going and going.

What did he have to say about these past few seasons?

“What was great was that people did return for [the past two seasons] despite having full mask mandates. We had great houses and audiences…there were full restaurants and accommodations. The challenge is that everything costs 30% more than it used to including set materials, housing, and labour. These are national trends, not just in the theatre.”

When he built the budget in August 2021 for the 2022 season, Christopher was basing those figures on what had happened in 2019 regarding the scope of the producing model. He wanted to return as fast as possible to what the company had produced in 2019 before the pandemic. Christopher knew materials had increased in cost, but it was shocking how quickly the operating budget went from 2.5 million running cost to $2.9 million. This was all just in the cost of the plays, as administration and facility costs were virtually the same. Producing theatre costs way more than it used to.

Yes, the pandemic did eat some of the costs in returning to the performances, but there were some capital reserves that the company could use to help re-establish the foundation.

What are the biggest challenges as he advances into this coming 2024 season as the Managing Artistic Director of the Playhouse?

“We have to anticipate these increase over the last two years are not going to drop. We just have to match the revenue to keep things going forward. A conundrum facing the entire [professional] theatre community is how to do it. Sell more tickets? Get more public funding? Donations? We must be more creative in diversifying revenue…raising ticket prices is the last resort… I’ve always been adamant that we maintain accessible pricing so that pretty much anybody can come and see a play here…. So, we’ve got to be more innovative.”

Well, Brett, just looking at the 2024 season titles tells me you might be on your way to matching the revenue costs.

What are some plans for the Thousand Islands Playhouse Christopher has in mind in the future? He’s open to teaming up with other theatre companies or educational institutions in the Haldimand/Dundas/Stormont/Glengarry Region and trying to figure out what sort of projects could be worked on that we’re already paying full-time staff to do.

Ultimately, the game right now is finding money, which is awful because that’s not about art. Art is about imagination and creativity.

Does Brett have concerns about the theatre industry going forward?

Like any theatre administrator and producer, yes, he does.

The other big challenge that producers are trying to address is that the producing model has been predicated on a six-day, 8-hour work week:

“A conversation is happening in the [theatre] industry as to how to change that. If a week of rehearsals is added, labour costs are exponentially increased, as are housing costs. There has to be a tough conversation in the industry about how long we have leaned on people’s willingness (even with the Equity standards required) to get the play up. Can a working schedule be created that is more humane while, at the same time, not losing our shirts?”

The reality of working is that the theatre industry does not follow the traditional 9 – 5 period. There are odd hours, yes. However, education is another area where teachers usually don’t just work the school hours during the day, and that’s it. Teachers also work outside a traditional designated work time frame.

Nevertheless, teachers and actors/artists choose to work in this field knowing these conditions. It is an unusual labour situation. Yes, there has to be some give and take and an acknowledgement that it is unusual. Otherwise, the danger in not doing so – the theatre industry will or could lose many excellent individuals dedicated to their craft.

Brett was a working artist/actor and remembered his career choice’s long hours and ‘unusualness.’ He then went into theatre administration because he missed his wife and kids. He didn’t want to travel across the country anymore in that capacity:

“I think a lot of actors are now looking at this same thing. Covid and the isolation allowed all of us (yes, even actors) to be with our families…I think a lot of people have been considering leaving the industry for something ‘normal.’”

And none of us wants that to happen.

As an artist and theatre administrator, does Brett believe listening to feedback from audience members and reviewers/critics/bloggers is essential?

As an artist, he tried as hard as he could not to read reviews or feedback from audience members until after the show run. Positive or negative, the comments always affected his performance. Criticism/feedback cannot be embedded into an artistic process in the moment. But after the fact, as an artist with a bit of time and distance, usually most of the time, Brett agreed with constructive feedback since there is always a spectrum of comments. After the fact, yes, feedback is always helpful for the actor. As an artistic leader now, Christopher’s feelings never get hurt if feedback is not as positive as he hoped it might have been for the show. If feedback is more negatively constructed, he will think about the artists involved in the production. He will also consider his reasons as an artistic leader why that play was selected.

I also asked him about Intimacy coaches for productions as they have become part of shows dealing with sensitive subject matter. Brett says it’s all about artist safety and believes entirely in these coaches trained to deal with unsafe moments that actors may have to confront during the play. Discussion takes place during rehearsals with the actors involved and the coordinator. Rehearsals involve choreographing each move, where every intention is discussed to ensure everyone feels as if he/she/they have a voice and to speak up clearly, if there is a feeling of unease.

Brett added further:

“Intimacy moments are now being choreographed with a great deal of care. No one is in any way confused. Artists are included in the decisions of what’s going to happen on stage, in terms of intimacy, so that they are complicit in the act. It’s not one person doing something to another person. It’s choreography that is discussed, learned, rehearsed, and performed. Safely.”

Our discussion then turned to some edgy drama I’ve seen at the Playhouse over the last two summers. The Firehall Theatre (the thought-provoking space) was developed twenty years ago as the counterpoint to the comedy/summer stock musicals on the Springer stage. The Firehall has evolved slowly and is not seen as the ‘poor cousin.’ Brett hopes that as a program leader and programmer, he will continue to mature the relationship between the Springer Stage and the Firehall, where the productions complement each other to create a dialogue with the audience. That takes time, nevertheless, as Christopher does not want a polarizing effect where specific audiences will only go to Springer Stage and the Firehall. He adds:

“My goal is to loosen up the wall between these two buildings to allow audiences to see all the stories told in the season.”

As we wound down our conversation, where does Brett see the Playhouse and his role as Artistic Director headed, over the next proverbial five-year plan:

“I still have many things I want to achieve with the company, both artistically and operationally. I want our audiences to continue to be excited about the breadth of our work, artistically. We must continue growing our relationship with eastern Ontario’s communities, and foster more community-based artists, administration and crew. It’s also vital to continue relationship building with our High School community and conceive how to bring young people forward into the theatre.”

To learn even more about the Thousand Islands Playhouse, visit their webpage: https://www.1000islandsplayhouse.com/ and their Facebook page: @ThousandIslandsPlayhouse.

In my recent compiled profile, I wrote that Canadian playwright Norm Foster would be the kind of guy where you could sit down and discuss everything and anything with him over a few beers in a pub. I wouldn’t solve the world’s problems with him, but Norm just seems like the kind of guy to give a new slant, spin or take on seeing the world from another perspective.

From this online interview with Bruce Dow, I learned he is the no holds barred, cuts straight through the crap stuff to get to the heart of the matter, kind of guy. So be strongly aware of this as you read what Bruce has to say.

With Norm, I’d have a few beers. With Bruce, I’d have a few glasses of wine, just sit back and listen to him. Why? Because I believe that Bruce would do the same for someone whom he calls a friend.

Bruce was a marvelously uproarious Pseudolus in ‘Forum’ when it played through Toronto’s Mirvish Productions. Bruce also appeared in one of the many casts of the famous (or infamous) ‘Les Miserables’.

You’ll see from his first answer that he was appearing in previews for the musical based on ‘Diana, Princess of Wales’. This was one show in the Big Apple that I was hoping to get to see. I still hope the show doesn’t lose its momentum after we get out of all this.

Thanks, Bruce, for this interview and for your time:

1. It has been just over two and a half months right now that we have been under this lockdown. From your Facebook page, I see you’re living in New York and that you are a member of the cast of ‘Diana’. Are you still in New York now or did you return home to Canada? How have you been doing during this period of isolation and quarantine? How is your immediate family doing?

‘Diana, a true musical story’ was in previews at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway. We were rehearsing in the afternoons and doing previews at night – less than ten days away from our Official Opening Night.
When the announcement was made that Broadway was shutting down, I saw it as an opportunity to come back to Toronto to see my fiancé, friends and family. The Broadway League told us that we would only be shut down for three weeks. I assumed it would be longer – but I had no idea it would be this long. (It’s only been two and a half months? It feels like an eternity.)

On March 31st, the entire company, crew, creative team and producers met online for a toast to what would have been our Official Opening Night. Over 70 people joined the Zoom chat. It hit me then that we were not going to be coming back to each other for a very long while.

For the first month plus, because I was living with roommates (3 grown-ass middle-aged men in a 2 bedroom apartment – Me sleeping on a cot in the living room. #StillAm) and because my fiancé was living with his parents – we were in a form of quarantine, so I didn’t see him other than on FaceTime.

My roommates are saints. None of us expected this. I can’t believe it’s only been two months. It feels like forever. In the last few weeks, we been able to meet while “social distancing” – and I’ve helped out around the in-laws garden a bit – always “social distancing”.

Though I realize mine are 1st world, privileged problems… It’s been hard. Very hard.

My roommates and my fiancé’s parents are all of an age where this shit could kill us. I have asthma and a tendency to bronchitis. If I get this disease, I’m gone.

It’s not so much the fear of death as… the fear of losing a life I finally want to live. There are things I want to do. Ways I want to give and serve.

That said – my understanding of the life I want to live has drastically changed – and perhaps, this whole “time out” has given me a great gift in the chance to reflect and grow.

Still. It’s hard and it sucks. Really, really sucks – but not perhaps in the ways you might think.

2. Along with your work in ‘Diana’. were you involved in any side projects before the pandemic was declared and everything was shut down? Were you involved in the planning stages of any new projects? How has the cast of ‘Diana’ been doing for the most part during this lockdown?

I can’t speak for any of the cast of ‘Diana’. We are in touch sporadically. Our producers and the creative team (the writers of the ®Tony Award Winning ‘Memphis’, and the creative team behind ‘Come From Away’) are very much committed to ensuring that ‘Diana’ will be among the shows on the rialto when Broadway re-opens.

Everything else that I was working on before and during ‘Diana’ has come to a screeching halt.

But, I’m also aware that I’m not feeling the same drive, so I’m not missing it.

This “should” be the time for me to finish any number of projects. But, I’m not. And that feels healthy to me, right now. “Shoulds”, in my experience, never lead to healthy choices.

3. What has been the most difficult and/or challenging element of this period of isolation?

So many things. I’m sure what I am feeling is similar to what many are feeling – a complete lack of focus and direction in life, with the added bonus of a near-complete lack of tangible options toward moving forward in life. I can’t do what I do – and I can’t find anything new to do.

I say ‘near-complete’ because, believe me, I am digging in every corner of existence, trying to find my purpose and direction – I am digging so hard my fingernails are bleeding.

And I am finding some very interesting things… none of which I would have expected.

4. What have all of you been doing to keep yourself busy during this time of lockdown?

I am teaching online – a college level course in acting through song, and private lessons/coaching through my mini-company Dow Workshops. (https://brucedow.com/dow-workshops/) For a long time now, teaching has given me the greatest reward in my life. It is challenging, rewarding, daunting and fulfilling.
That… and… aside from digging in corners till my fingers bleed, I have been getting out for walks when possible… eating and drinking too much… and sleeping too little. (My cot is not comfortable, and my body is old.)

As for “Creativity”? I am not feeling remotely creative. So, I am not pushing myself.

I find there are some folks who are feeling the creative bug – that’s wonderful! Then there are some not feeling creative – that’s also wonderful!

What I fear is the toxicity I am witnessing in some who are feeling compelled to be creative when they are not feeling it innately.

It’s a part of our art that scares me and disgusts me –

It’s that toxic “the show must go on!” even when everything in your heart (and the universe) is telling you to stop. pause. reflect. rest.

5. Any words of wisdom or sage advice you would give to other performing artists who are concerned about the impact of COVID-19? What about to the new theatre graduates who are just out of school and may have been hit hard? Why is it important for them not to lose sight of their dreams?

In context with what I’ve said above: No one should lose sight of your dreams. BUT – the universe is telling you to pause and reflect.

Now is the time to ask yourself WHY you have these dreams and to ask yourself, “are these dreams healthy for me?” Are they feeding me, or are they poisoning me?

Do they come from a positive, forward moving energy – “I want to explore and give” – or do they come from a wound, a need, an emptiness – “I need attention and validation.”

One kind of dream is healthy. The other can actually prevent you from growing and healing, and can end up hurting you very deeply.

(The one’s who need to read that will either feel a sigh of relief, or they will be thrown into a panic. Don’t panic. Choose the sigh. Breathe – always.)

6. Do you see anything positive stemming from this pandemic?

Our world has been a train wreck for a long time. Our art has been reflecting the world’s panic in both healthy and unhealthy ways. Calling attention to our individual stories has been of vital importance. There have been some astounding conversations in our art of late. (We can see how the United States has ignored, glossed over, and sugar-coated its stories for far too long, and now the country is imploding.)

On the other end of the spectrum, some wounds have been weaponized – embracing a confrontational politics – as a child having a screaming tantrum with its thumbs firmly stuck in its ears. No conversation can be had.

We are going to need truly inclusive stories coming out of this.

The narcissism of Instagram and Facebook and Twitter (guilty as charged!) and our knee-jerk desire to fix the wrongs of the world with a clever quip and a click-of-support have proved insufficient.

Our desire to scream of our differences has been healthy and necessary, but I don’t see it as a means to an end.

I’m hopeful that, if we are able to survive this “pause”, we will be able to think more broadly and more inclusively than ever before.

7. In your estimation and informed opinion, will the North American/Canadian performing arts scene somehow be changed or impacted as a result of COVID – 19?

Uhm. Yeah.

There will be no live performance with anything resembling a full-house or a “live” audience until there is either a vaccine or a successful treatment.

We saw what SARS did to Toronto – It took years to recover from that. And back then, we only shut down for two weeks. Two things will probably occur:

a. People will need to rebuild their financial situations to a level where they have disposable income to spend on things like theatre

– OR – we will have to find another funding process, yet unimagined.

b. People will have to rebuild their confidence in sitting in close proximity to a stranger so that they will feel safe on a plane or in a theatre seat.

So – if we can’t come up with a clear cure/vaccine – and/or if we can’t come up with an entirely new financial model – and/or if we can’t find a new form of spatial relationship with our audiences – We will not be coming back for a long, long time.

Guessing 12-18 months or longer. Most likely if SARS is the model – 2 or more years.

In terms of content in art: I feel we must shift the conversation from its present focus on individuation and confrontational politics and find a place where we can share our differences and grievances in a healthier way – and I believe that place is much further down the road than our present position.

But… Inclusivity – if that’s the right word. We need to find a place where we can recognize our mutual humanity while in no way diminishing one another and where we can accept/embrace the responsibility we have to each other.

If we can’t talk to each other, we can’t learn and grow.

It may mean we may not get to have our full conversations the way we want to have them at this point. And that’s going to be hard for a lot of us.

But, I believe we will be able to have those conversations in a richer and deeper sense further down the road, even though, right now, we may need to jump ahead for a moment – We will need healing after this.

A lot of healing.

We aren’t talking about our dead right now in anything more than numbers. We are gonna have to talk about our dead -Birth and death are the two things we all have in common. Our awareness of them is what makes us human.

We will have to talk about that – but, in a new light .

8. Many artists are turning to streaming/online performances to showcase/highlight/share their work. What are your thoughts about this format presentation? Any advantages to doing this? Disadvantages? Are you participating or will you be participating in this presentation format soon?

I think ALL performance is great and necessary! As for how it’s being accomplished online: we are working out the kinks! Look at the first strips of film from the birth of cinema… it’s an imaginative mess! That’s where we are right now with online work.

Filmed versions of stage productions are noble and beautiful – but they still kinda suck. Online readings and creations are proving successful in “what they are” – but they still kinda suck.

But that’s why we have to keep trying!

How can we make online versions of stage productions more engaging?

What is the actual online experience as different from the theatre or the cinema or the lecture hall?

– We don’t yet know! SO – Keep playing and making mistakes and making glorious messes!
That said – there is a toxic trap online of which each artist must become aware, and upon which they must reflect before engaging. Unfortunately, you can see a fair amount of desperation in some of the work online right now. While it is par for this unknown course, that desperation can take an individual and personal toll on the artist.

Intuitively, I set myself some rules: I have participated when asked – and I’ve felt it’s “right for me, right now”. I have turned down some offers – because they didn’t feel right. I even accepted one very prestigious offer, only to decline it recently, because I wasn’t feeling it.

Right now, as a creative person (I know that’s who and what I am) -who is NOT feeling creative – I feel it is my purpose to be a voice against the panic.

Creative is me. I do not have to create constantly for that to be true. I am trying to avoid the endless cries of the bottomless abyss (the internet) as it screams to be satiated.

The internet will always need more and more content. I cannot fulfill its needs. But I also know I cannot fulfill my needs through the acquisition of “hits” and “likes”.

So, my philosophy: If you’ve got it? If you’re feeling it? Flaunt it! Bravo! Explore content creation!
– but expect no glory till, perhaps, long after the fact. (and even then!)

If you’re not feeling it? – even though you know you’ve got it – If you wanna sit in a corner and stare at the wall?

Choose that! Choose your mental and spiritual health over the constant cries from the internet in its unending quest to be satisfied.

Stop. Pause. Reflect. REST.

9. What is it about performing you still love given all the change, the confusion and the drama surrounding Covid?

I’m not loving performing right now – and I’m okay with that.

I have taped a couple of self-tape auditions, and it was nice to dip my toe. I’m good. I’ve still got it. (I just don’t want it right now.) I have recorded a couple of songs for various church services and events for friends of mine. I still love to sing.

But I don’t have to do either in front of an audience to feel valid and whole right now. I guess that’s what I’m learning – about myself.

As for the confusion and drama? I’ve had enough of that bullshit in my life and my work! (meaning every good family and every good play is full of ‘confusion and drama’) I’m very tired of the drama we manufacture for ourselves, for our lives – Most of our life drama is manufactured. Very little of it is real.

This Covid thing is REAL.

Drop you own drama – (‘cause really? aren’t you bored with it yet? I’m bored of mine!)- and deal with what is real, right now.

Food. Shelter. Family/Friends.

Live what’s real…

With a respectful acknowledgement to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton, here are the 10 questions he asked his guests at the conclusion of his interviews:

a. What is your favourite word?

lesbian. (seriously. it just feels so great to say it. its origins are amazing, and it means something beautiful!)

b. What is your least favourite word?

Right now? “Creativity.” (fuck off, “creativity”)

c. What turns you on?

The idea that there is something huge happening right now. Lives can and will be changed – for better and worse. We are being shaken by the scruff of the neck.

d. What turns you off?

Anger – might sound funny after this – I know text has no tone of voice, but none of the above is said in anger… just in fatigue… with a wistful smile.

Anger is always pointed at the wrong people, at the wrong time, and is delivered in the worst possible way.

e. What sound or noise do you love?

Laughter. (dull answer, but joyously true…)

f. What sound or noise bothers you?

Construction. (It’s not ‘progress’)

g. What is your favourite curse word?

FUCK

h. What profession, other than your own, would you have liked to attempt?

That’s for me to know and you to find out – and why is this question in the past tense? I very well may yet change professions.

i. What profession would you not like to do?

Anything that isn’t real. I want dirt and sweat on my skin and in my nostrils. I want ideas to circulate my brain. I want healing and sharing. I don’t want anything to do with “hits” on my “page” (He says, scrolling through his Twitter with the other hand… but, seriously, the internet is toxic AF these days)

j. If Heaven exists, what do you hope God will say to you as you approach the Pearly Gates?

“You tried.”

I can’t reflect on my life and expect him to say, “you tried your best”. I know I haven’t. But, I know I have tried. To be responsible. To be honourable. To make amends. To help find peace for those I meet.

To learn more about Bruce, visit his website: www.brucedow.com.