Profiles & Interviews

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ is on its 50th anniversary tour.

Where did the years go?

It might seem a bit odd to see the production as we enter Advent and the Christmas season for Catholics and Christians, but this is a milestone…fifty years.

I must thank artist Aaron LaVigne who plays Jesus in this production that comes to Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre for taking the time to be profiled for this series.

He is an actor-singer-songwriter originally from Cincinnati & based in NYC. He is honored to be playing the iconic role of Jesus in the 50th Anniversary production of Jesus Christ Superstar! Theater Highlights: Broadway: Spider-Man. Off-Broadway: RENT. National Tour: RENT. Regional & Concerts: tick,tick…BOOM!, Jesus Christ Superstar, Civil War. Aaron writes, performs, & tours his original music & is available on all major streaming platforms. B.F.A. Northern Kentucky University.

We conducted our interview via Zoom. Thank you so much for your time, Aaron. I’m looking forward to seeing the production in Toronto:

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

Ooooo, this is tough.

We’re going to go with some OG situations here.

Okay, I could not, not thank Miss Connie Saho, La Salle High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, my high school Drama teacher who, when I was a Senior, I got the bug to start doing all this stuff. She’s been pushing me to try and do this since my freshman year, and I finally did it when I was a Senior.

One mentor? Oh my gosh…let’s see here…….oh, man, oh, man, oh man…I could go with another teacher in college. I’m thinking of one. I would have to say Joe Conger at Northern Kentucky University. When I first started doing theatre, he was the Chair of the department even though he never taught me. He was an amazing mentor for me and put up with all of my young antics and guided me in spite of who I was.
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 -19 months on a personal level? How have you been changed or transformed on a personal level?

Oh my God, that is a loaded answer.

I think, generally speaking, my tolerance for bullshit has gone down quite a bit. I think there were a lot of things that happened during the pandemic where a lot of skeletons came out of a lot of closets. Through social media we figured out who some people were and who some weren’t.

I’ve learned to take a step back from things that I couldn’t tolerate because I don’t think it’s a way to live anymore. I don’t want to be angry or upset with things that I can’t control or don’t have any say over.
I just look for the good in the people around me. That’s been my biggest change, and the other one is to be a little more forgiving of everyone and for who we are under such tough circumstances. This has been a long time since this has been going on, and for lots of people who lost jobs and many industries, including mine, I think a little tolerance and a little patience goes a long way.

I’m trying to take that with me and I’m hoping people around me will also practice that if I have influence on anybody at all.

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

Well, I understand where you’re coming from, but I think these two questions for me are intertwined. I bring so much of myself to my artistry and commitment to it.

As an artist I have empathy for the world especially for ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and for the role I’m playing. The role requires a lot of getting knocked down in order to portray a decent version of this character.

The world is fucked up right now and needs some healing and understanding, and in this particular production I try to bring that healing and understanding to my work everyday.

I keep that focus because when you’re in the theatre you have to realize everyone is wearing a mask. We’re just not filling up theatres, and I don’t know people’s experiences with Covid. Many have got sick and have died. I cannot assume anything about people in the audiences out there and they can’t assume anything about me.

But I can empathize with somebody out there who probably lost somebody to Covid.

There’s a whole new world in which we are living right now that we have to recognize, at least I have to be able to recognize, and make that part of my reality at this point.

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?

I think we’re seeing it right in front of our eyes. Even with our Equity union, it came out with certain protocols for performing during the pandemic.

There were all these different ideas Equity and the producers had and were trying to make something happen along the way. The more they looked at it and the more watching the numbers and the waves of infection, everyone realized they required a vaccine and waited for it.

Even within that there are still strict protocols – there are no backstage tours. I’m not doing any live press events as it’s all done virtually over Zoom or the phone. There are strict testing protocols for us as company members and for audiences. People still show up at the stage door for kind words of congratulations or for autographs and pictures. It’s discouraged but if we are out there we try to maintain our distance as best we can.

We’re in the middle of this evolution and as it keeps going and the numbers go down and we learn to manage the virus better, I think we’re going to have to deal with this for a little while. The fact we’re doing live shows, live music and live theatre is coming back, we can see light at the tend of the tunnel. I think there’s going to be some ups and downs but there’s an evolution we’re in the middle of right now.

Eventually we will get there.

What intrigues/fascinates and excites Aaron LaVigne post Covid?

Hmmm…post Covid? Oh wow. Hmmmm.

I’m in a place in my life where the pandemic taught me to take care of myself first a little bit more. With self care, things then fall in line around you versus trying to take care of other people, or take care of your job or try to serve something without serving yourself in a way that helps you and lends better results. That fascinates and intrigues me.

For me, I’m just trying to take care of myself more in regard to physical and mental health. For me, it’s opened my mind to say I don’t have to be a certain way anymore to subscribe to anything on a list as a person. That transcends me just being a theatre artist or a songwriter, I’m seeing that is a vital option for the rest of my life.

At least I’m feeling that a lot more, and Covid taught me that.

What disappoints, unnerves and upsets Aaron LaVigne post Covid?

I’m all for independent thought. I’m all for freedom of speech and for all these things we have, these inalienable rights we have as humans, as Americans.

There’s something that bothers me the most when someone doesn’t know something and they presume to know something, more so than an expert who knows something. These individuals who don’t know something sometimes speak louder than those who know something.

That really bothers me and disappoints me for the bad information being spread and then perpetuating it.

I don’t have any patience left for people who spread bad information and perpetuating it. It’s so easy to find bad information these days.

With this tour being the 50th anniversary of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, how have audience reactions been so far? What is one message you hope audiences will take away from this production?

Reactions have been great from audiences. It’s been really special to be able to perform this story again.
Most people know the story of ‘Superstar’, but our version of the show is really fun and I think audiences are reacting in such a positive light.

At this time right now in Covid, people just want to be entertained. They want to see a big band, the lights, the choreography and to hear the singers sing, scream, emote and do all of the things they do.

The first time I was in a rehearsal hall with my cast was overwhelming to sing the show all the way through from top to bottom. Very overwhelming. I had to step out of the rehearsal hall for about ten minutes to compose myself and take a breath and re-evaluate everything in that moment.

I’m very grateful. I think we’re doing a really great job as a cast, as a company. We hold each other in a place where there’s a bit more love and protection surrounding our company.

The one message I hope audiences will take away…hmmm… that’s a tricky one as there are a lot of themes running through the show. I’m trying to answer from the show’s point of view, and not my point of view.

Hmmmm….

“Hold a little bit more space for other people. Hold more space than you normally would for others.”

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?

“I wish I would have listened to you earlier.”

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?

“Hey, how’s it goin?” (Aaron says this with a gleeful wicked smile that sends me into laughter)

What’s your favourite swear word?

“Fuck”. You can use it in any context, funny or angry or animalistic. It’s a great word.

What is a word you love to hear yourself say?

Ooooo….”Thank you.”

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

“No”

With whom would you like to have dinner and discuss the current state of the live North American performing arts scene?

President Barack Obama, by far.

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

Hmmm…. “Take a breath, open your mind, open your heart.”

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

“Enjoy the ride.”

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

Geez….

Personally, what do I want to accomplish personally? I don’t even know…maybe have kids someday. That is something I’d like to accomplish and enjoy.

Professionally? I just want to be happy doing what I’m doing.

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

Hmmmm….

Wow!!!! Hmmmmm….

I worked in Hawaii for a few months as a guest artist on a cruise ship and I worked one day a week.

I could go back to that moment for awhile. It was awesome.

What is one thing Aaron LaVigne will never take for granted again post Covid?

Any of it. All of it. I don’t take anything for granted as of this point. So much gratitude.

Would Aaron LaVigne do it all again if given the same professional opportunities?

Fuck, yeah!!!! (and both he and I go into laughter)

You can follow Aaron on his website: www.aaronlavigne.com and on Instagram:@aaron_lavinay
The 50th anniversary tour of “Jesus Christ Superstar’ is slated to run at Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre November 30 – January 2, 2022. For further information and to purchase tickets online, visit www.mirvish.com.

Adam Brazier’s name is another one I’ve recognized over the years especially from the late 80s and early 90s when live theatre was thriving in Toronto.

In learning where life has taken him since that time, Adam has certainly reaped bounteous rewards of his professional career.

He is a multi award-winning actor/director and the artistic director of Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Serving as the inaugural artistic director of Theatre 20, Adam led the development of several new works, including the world premiere of ‘Bloodless: The Trial of Burke and Hare’, which was nominated for nine Dora nominations.

Adam’s accomplished acting career includes originating the male lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘The Woman in White’ on Broadway, and also the male lead, Gabriel, in the 2013 Charlottetown Festival musical, ‘Evangeline’. The Toronto native has held starring roles with most major Canadian theatre companies, including at Stratford, Shaw, The Canadian Stage, Mirvish Productions, as well as in London’s West End and with the Chicago Shakespeare. Adam has been nominated for Dora awards as an actor, director and producer.

Adam is a graduate of the George Brown Theatre School (’96) and has a diploma in acting. …his parents are very proud.

We conducted our conversation via email. Thank you for the conversation, Adam:

It has been an exceptional and nearly seven long 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?

One of the many blessing to living on Prince Edward Island is the natural isolation that the Island offers. There are only three ways on the Island and due to its small population and exceptional guidance from CPHO, COVID-19 cases have been few and well controlled. We have had zero community spread and most Islanders are respectful and wear masks and practice social distancing.

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

This year has been brutal for everyone. I myself, lost my father five months ago. We have been unable to have a celebration of life and I am lacking any sense of closure. My mother is in Ontario and does not feel safe travelling on an airplane or quarantining alone during this stage in her life. So yea… 2020 has been shit.

The good news is my wife (actress Melissa Kramer) and our two boys are doing very well. The boys wear a mask to school but other than that, life is pretty normal for them. Again, a blessing of the Island.

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

Being an artistic director means you wear all the decisions you make personally and professionally. Every choice is public and is always personal to other artists/peers. Cancelling the 2020 Charlottetown Festival season broke my heart. Not for myself, but for the amazing company of artists we had assembled. It pains me to watch peers whom I respect and admire, continue to face the anxiety of unemployment and their many lost opportunities. I mourn for the young artists who finally had the opportunity to play large roles on significant stages, only to have their hopes and dreams dashed by this virus.

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?

We were two months away from rehearsal for the Festival when we were forced to cancel the season.

Only one of the 2020 productions are now slated to move forward in 2021 season. We are working on various models for next summer and patrons will have to stay tuned until we know more. We hope to make a programming announcement early in the new year.

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

Raising two boys with my amazing partner and trying to re-imagine what a 300 seat Charlottetown Festival will look like for 2021 (we normally host 1100 in our main theatre, plus three other smaller spaces). Fortunately, because of the Atlantic Bubble we have been able to continue working and developing new content for our stages—another Island blessing.

I’ve also had a crash course in video production, creating and producing 12 episodes of “Postcards from the Island” and a 40-minute digital celebration of Anne Shirley called “Feelin’ Might Proud!” Having spent very little time behind the camera, this was an exhilarating time of learning and creativity.

https://confederationcentre.com/postcards-from-the-island/

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?

You are not your career. Your value as an artist has nothing to do with your employment or your peers’ vision of success. Stay disciplined and joyful in your art and make every obstacle an opportunity for creativity.

Art and science have got us through every pandemic in history. Lean on your art to get you through this one. Remember to “Love the art in yourself, not yourself in the arts.” Wise words from some Russian guy.

Do you see anything positive stemming from Covid 19?

I have seen countless blessings from COVID-19. It has presented The Charlottetown Festival with an opportunity to redefine its purpose and its structure. This is both terrifying and thrilling. Change is difficult at the best of times, but this change was out of our control, so we can either deny it or roll with it and grow. I have always believed that if there is an elephant in the room, put a spotlight on it, give it some tap shoes, and start selling tickets. Sing out, Louise!

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

Sadly yes. I worry that North American audiences are not in the cultural habit of attending theatre regularly enough to bring every theatre production company back, post COVID. That being said, I’m sure this time of isolation will inspire great art and innovation, and digital advances that will serve us in the next chapter.

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?

With the exception of watching the George Hearn and Angela Lansbury filmed stage version of ‘Sweeney Todd’, I struggle to watch any theatre on a screen. I need the collective experience of sharing with an audience. However, I think the move to digital content was inevitable and is necessary to staying relevant. I’m just a bit old fashioned that way.

Confederation Centre of the Arts has made a sizable commitment to streaming live content but I am trying to focus on concerts and off performance in an effort to avoid anything too story-driven, as I think the form suffers on screen…unless it’s starring Angela Lansbury, she can do no wrong.

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

For me, the performing arts is about the human spirit. It’s about sharing our individual truths and finding commonality. As an artist on stage or as an audience member, witnessing artists share themselves with open vulnerability and craftsmanship will never cease to inspire me.

You can follow Adam on his Twitter handle: @adambrazier01.

Last time I saw Adam Paolozza perform on stage was during his years as a student at Father Leo J. Austin in Whitby. He was part of an amazing ensemble who performed ‘The Serpent’.

That was in the 90s. Adam has gone on to do many things since then.

From his personal web page:
He is a graduate of École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, Ryerson Theatre School and has studied Corporeal Mime with the Decroux company Intrepido in Paris. He also studied Commedia Dell’Arte with Marcello Magni of Théâtre de Complicité.

In addition to creation work, Adam is a dedicated teacher. He’s been a sessional instructor at the Soulpepper Academy, taught at Ryerson University and the University of Toronto. He has given independent workshops in Scotland, France, India, and China as well as all over Canada, using his own unique interpretation of the Lecoq pedagogy. Adam’s goal as instructor is to help students develop a spontaneous mind and body connection through a coupling of formal technique and improvisation.

In 2014 Adam created BAD NEW DAYS to produce his own projects and explore his vision of a contemporary poetic theatre of gesture. He states: “I believe theatre has the potential to open up new space for radical thinking precisely because it is an art where meaning is held ‘in suspense’, so to speak, as pure potential.”

Adam and Bad New Days have been nominated for 18 Dora Mavor Moore awards, winning one personally for performance.

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

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

Tony Labriola and Jim Shea, (two of my teachers at Father Leo J. Austin Catholic Secondary School in Whitby) were a good combination. They introduced me to Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, existentialism, absurdism, all different kinds and aspects of theatre history.

They really supported my exploration and journey into becoming an actor.

They definitely opened the door for 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 -19 months on a personal level? How have you been changed or transformed on a personal level?

I really took it as a chance to stop and pause and focus on personal change that was not happening at the same rate as some professional change. I wanted to line up some personal goals and professional goals.

It was an existential pause.

I had more time to exercise and got in better shape than I had been before which felt good, especially for being interested in physical theatre and to prepare when things opened up again.

It was a time to re-examine things I really cared about and say goodbye to some things and create space for new things. It was a time to get myself together before coming back.

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

(Adam laughs) Well, I’ve yet to see the full results.

I have been lucky to have performed twice already. A friend of mine who lives in Estonia, we’ve been working on a show for the last couple of years which got delayed by Covid; then in August – September I was able to go there and perform in this puppet show we were working on.

I just got back from Montreal two weeks with a show I’ve been working on.

I thought a lot about art and theatre during Covid, and you start to realize when you’re in your forties like me, life starts to move fast and you start to realize how long things take, and you have to do things that you want to do.

I thought it’s good to go back to basics after Covid. It’s made me decide what do I love? What kind of work do I want to make the most?

Instead of worrying about what I ought to do rather than what my passions felt, I thought it’s time to follow that and let people follow if they do.

In the show we did in Montreal, at the beginning I have a moment where I come on stage and stand in front of the audience in silence for quite a long time. I really felt the personal work I had done during Covid was very useful in that moment, and it allowed me to be more present and enjoy it.

You can’t think too much when you’re performing, and I’m really trying to absorb as much of this as I can. It’s such a pleasure to be back on stage, and it’s left me with more gratitude and sense of wanting to slow those moments down.

We’ll see how that transforms into the practice and the technique.

There’s definitely a renewed sense of spirit, of purpose and enjoyment.

Hopefully, we’ll be doing the Montreal show in Toronto soon as we were supposed to do it back-to-back before Covid. We’re planning to do the show at the end of April, and it’s called “Italian Mime Suicide”.
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?

I think it’s still happening.

I can tell you what I hope will happen.

My big “concern” about theatre in Canada is being so focussed on the text and on a certain way of a certain kind of Canadian naturalism. My friend, Jacob Zimmer, calls it “upper Canadian naturalism” because I’m not speaking for all of Canada but Ontario and Toronto-centric which is the place I’m coming from.

I wish, and what I try to do in my work (successfully or not) is to create theatre with what is possible theatrically, not what is just possible with text but with all the meaning that escapes text or is under the text, above it, beside it.

My experience in working with theatre schools and with younger people is that we don’t see a lot of that work in English Canada. I always thought in Quebec that theatre is more visually or physically engaged with those aspects, but even there when I brought the work, I was told it is refreshing to see that work relies on gesture just as much as it does on text.

I don’t know if it’s an anglophone thing or a British repertory model that has come down to us. I’ve always been inspired by commedia dell ‘arte. In a historical way, I love masques and how they organize things but what I take in a more contemporary way is the philosophy of when we’re in the space we improvise together. We usually have a plan, but it’s about that ‘liveness’, that danger (if you want to call it that), and we had that autonomy and anything can happen, really.

I think that’s why theatres have been dangerous places during revolutions or traditionally there was talk to shut theatres down during times of social unrest. I think only focusing on text…hmmm…I can get that from a newspaper article but what can you give me from the theatre that’s different.

I love that we’re talking about important issues and I never want to stop that. I want to encourage more of that, but I wish there was more theatrical thinking about that.

I have always hoped and continued to hope that kind of meaning is only created by ‘liveness’, by being in a room and having the experience of being together of gathering. My sense is that people feel the loss of that and are really craving that, as I am as a spectator and as performer.

I hope that more work starts to be created with that in mind of what is possible when people are in a room together. I hope we can use theatre to open up different ways of thinking for people more. A lot of inequality and shitty things became very clear to people during the pandemic, and then when things break down it creates a new space and new way of thinking or new ways of organizing.

I’m hoping that kind of echo with people start re-organizing and coming together again in order to create work inspires that, and there is a sense that things don’t have to be the way they were before in broad strokes.

What intrigues, fascinates, and excites Adam Paolozza post Covid?

I just saw a concert at the Danforth Music Hall the other night, and just the moment when the lights go dark and a body comes on stage, you’ve hooked me already.

That’s my favourite moment. I just want to see what are we going to do with that now? How are you going to take me on a journey?

That’s the thing I love about theatre – that it’s extra and surplus from life, that we don’t need it “per se” but we do in a sense that we examine who we are by representing ourselves in the flesh.

It’s a strange metier to work in.

I’m just intrigued and hope that more companies don’t just reflect reality in a verisimilitude kind of way, but I want to see the response to reality. I want the imaginary world that I feel is connected to what’s going on that allows me to dissociate from the harshness of reality and enter into the space where meaning is held in suspense, and I can think about things at a distance rather than really just presenting things in a realistic way which has a place.

Yes, there is a great tv, theatre and film representing this, but to me it’s just one choice of many so I would be intrigued to see more people looking for other ways, and other choices.

What frustrates Adam Paolozza post Covid?

I’m not into the online shows.

To me, they can be cool but they’re not theatre. It’s a necessity for sure, and I love that it gives access to people with physical accessibility issues or neuro-diverse people where it’s hard to be in public.

I hope that it doesn’t go away, but I was kind of frustrated. You could take a risk by stopping what you were doing for a little while if you’re lucky and privileged enough to survive which I was economically and all that.

I just wish theatre creators wouldn’t rush so quickly into the next thing and think more about how you could use Zoom in a way that is more interesting???? I don’t know.

I’m tired of the online stuff. That’s my frustration but more stuff is opening up.

I hope we can go back into spaces and be safe. I understand why the world needs to recover but that hustle that people complained about before Covid (gas prices, groceries, and prices) is starting to return in a worse way catching up for lost time. Let’s stop and re-examine and not blindly go back with the horse pulling the situation rather than the person controlling the horse.

I hope more positive change comes rather than reaction or people digging their heels in on the right and polarization.

A sprawling answer, Joe, I know.

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 teachers who encouraged you to get to this point as an artist, what would it be?

Thank you. You don’t realize so many small gestures, those little, small things you said had such an impact and continue to inspire. Thank you for being generous and supportive in a time it was really important and instrumental.

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?

I enjoyed this one when I read it earlier.

What I would say would be, “Screw you” to some of the faculty at Ryerson Theatre School when I went there. (Note: this university is no longer called this name) when a young, impressionable Adam went in for his interview at the end of second year and was really excited to talk about art and my work, and they said to me,

“Have you considered jaw surgery?”

I have a bit of an underbite. The staff at the interview told me my work is fine but they were thinking I should get jaw surgery so I could be more palatable for television and film.

I was lucky I had enough self esteem at the time to not be thrown by that. I’m a teacher now at the university and I couldn’t imagine saying that to a 21- or 22-year-old.

Ryerson, the faculty and staff are better now. (Please note this name of the university is changing) When Perry Schneiderman took over, things improved dramatically.

What’s your favourite swear word?

Probably ‘Fuck’. I guess I’m pretty average. Maybe ‘shit’, but it depends on the kind of day. For exclamation or frustration, I would go “Shit”. If I wanted percussive impact, I would use “Fuck”.

What is a word you love to hear yourself say?

Exacerbate. I use this word in rehearsals as much as I can.

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

Brewery. I have a hard time with those r w combos. I like going to them, but I don’t like saying the word.

With whom would you like to have dinner and discuss the current state of the live Canadian performing arts scene?

This one was a tough one. I’m going to have to make the table bigger, cheat and give you three names: Walter Benjamin, Jacques Tati and Hans Thies Lehmann.

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

“Stop worrying about how you’re perceived on what you ought to do and really have confidence and dig deeper into what it is you’re passionate about. Trust that this will bring people closer to you.”

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

“Don’t become jealous of the success of others and try not to let that be something that drives you. Think about the connections you make with other people and the collaborations. Hold on to that because that is a source of strength. Nourish that.”

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

Professionally, I would love to tour more and to have my work seen by bigger audiences, bigger festivals. I would also really love to perform more in other people’s work. That’s not something that has happened as much as I would have liked. I would just like to be an actor in other people’s processes more.

What do I hope to accomplish personally? I would like to be in a place where the pleasure of working and the practicing of art is really the main driver. There’s obviously going to be a certain amount of satisfaction gained by praise. But as I get older in my life, I want to focus more on what it is about the work that nourishes me, so my delicate emotions don’t get thrown around by the winds of criticism and opinions.
I just want to have more inner strength.

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

Maybe in theatre school. When I was there, I was aware that was a special time at that time.
More important in my life would be after theatre school when you start to become idle and don’t have much work right away, I would want to talk to that younger Adam and tell him not to get so bogged down in the negative. Just have faith and all is happening in movement even though you don’t see it.

After Ryerson, I went to the LeCoq school in France and it was just exactly what I wanted to study. I remember sitting in a class and the teacher was teaching something that I had really wanted to learn about pantomime. I just remember thinking,

“I’m here. I made it at the exact place where I need to be as professional and aware and soak up as much of this as I can.

So pay attention. You’re lucky you’re here.”

What is one thing Adam Paolozza will never take for granted again post Covid?

Being able to be in front of an audience. I miss that so much. Not being able to do that during these last 19 months made things difficult sometimes and what’s the point.

This is a privilege and pleasure I never want to take for granted.

Would Adam Paolozza do it all again if given the same professional opportunities?

Yeah, I think I would. Besides certain people, I don’t think I love anything in life as much as I love theatre.
I feel good about my choice.

To learn more about Adam, visit www. https://www.badnewdays.com/adam-paolozza
To learn more about Bad New Days Theatre:
Facebook: @badnewsdaysperformance. Instagram and Twitter: @badnewdays

A recent email conversation with Jeff Madden and Adrian Marchuk clarified how their personal lives and professional artistic careers must be well-planned in this sometimes challenging and uncertain performing arts industry.

Throughout this weaving web of gigs, shows, auditions, and discussion, what’s the most essential element in their lives?

They are, first and foremost, family men.

I like that.

They are currently touring in the concert show ‘How We Got to Jersey – A Tale of Two Frankies.’ I love the title because it says it all.

I saw Madden’s work as Frankie Valli several years ago in ‘Jersey Boys’ when it played at the North York Performing Arts Centre. I haven’t seen Marchuk’s work yet, but I look forward to attending the upcoming concert show in the next leg of its journey.

Adrian and Jeff call themselves theatre guys.

The former calls himself a theatre guy who loves creating, rehearsing, and performing in the medium. He loves bringing joy to a live audience during the show and receiving immediate feedback as an artist. Marchuk says, ” [Theatre] is where I first felt really safe and where I like myself.”

Jeff says he, too, is a theatre animal and where he’s most at home. Nevertheless, he also realizes the only way to make work and earn a living as a performing artist in Toronto is to be available – and able- to do all kinds of work. Madden has worked on some television shows, voice-over gigs and commercials. He’s also just completed recording his first audiobook, which he says was fun. But he loves theatre so much.

Adrian began creating his own work about ten years into his career. He has four concert shows in his ‘Broadway Biographies’ series, all of which go behind the scenes to explore the life and work of the greatest composers of Broadway and Hollywood, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Alan Menken (of Disney fame), Richard Rodgers, and Harold Arlen.

Jeff was involved in the Toronto production of ‘Come From Away’ before the pandemic shut it down. He also put together his first solo cabaret show, ‘My Life In Song’ and performed it a few times around the city with the great pianist David Atkinson. A few years later, Jeff created and performed his follow-up solo cabaret – My Life In Song – Act 2 during the pandemic, as a means of creating work for himself and lifting his spirits when the entire performing arts industry shut down.

What about Frankie Valli’s music keeps drawing audiences to hear the songs?

Jeff suggests that, in some ways, Pop music today is still quite like Pop music from the 1960s. It has a good, strong, up-tempo beat that makes you want to dance, incredible melodies that are earworms, pleasing harmonies, and great lyrics that tell the stories of finding love, struggling in a relationship, losing love, and hoping for love.

He also adds that maybe it’s Frankie’s unique voice, with his piercing falsetto, which is sometimes playful and exuding joy and sometimes growling with yearning passion. Perhaps it was the 10-piece band with a killer horn section. Maybe it’s because they kept recreating themselves musically, with their hits spanning through the teeny-bop era, the more sophisticated mid-60s pop-rock, the late-60s psychedelic-tinged classic rock, and even into the disco era of the mid-1970s. These guys were incredible, charismatic men of the times.

How did the concept of ‘How We Got to Jersey – A Tale of Two Frankies’ germinate?

Over the years, Adrian and Jeff have been asked to perform material from ‘Jersey Boys’ at events nationwide – even internationally. And sometimes, they’ve performed together with a couple of other guys at a corporate event. Jeff said the guys were killing time backstage one night before a show, talking about all the tribute acts and touring shows performing some of this iconic material. And he remembers just kind of casually blurting out rather off-the-cuff that they should put their own show together.

Madden added further:

“We didn’t exactly jump at the idea right away, but this particular idea stuck in the back of my mind. I remember thinking we were the OG Frankies in Canada; it would be hard to top what we could bring to the table.”

Adrian recalled being approached by the folks at Abbey Gardens, a venue in Haliburton, who were aware of the kinds of shows he already produced. The Abbey Gardens folks had a date they wanted him to come and do a show, and he pitched them a few ideas. They didn’t jump at his first couple of ideas.

But then, out of the blue, Marchuk pitched the idea for this concert show of the ‘Two Frankies’:

“When they [The Abbey Gardens folks] jumped at it, suddenly I was like, “Oh, crap! I better find out if Jeff is available!”. Thankfully, he was, despite his insanely busy schedule, and we got right to work. After that, the show came together quickly – we both had the same clear idea of how we wanted the show to take shape. We got it ready for its first performance in three months, which is fast!”

‘How We Got to Jersey’ is not just songs strung together. Adrian reiterated it’s his and Jeff’s story, their relationship with each other, and this career, all told through their experience of the insane roller coaster that was and is ‘Jersey Boys.’ Adrian re-iterates that, as opposed to fully staged musicals, concert shows are a bit easier to put up in a short amount of time, which means they can pick the show up and bring it anywhere. The show’s intimacy and its direct, honest, and exciting connection with the audience is thrilling.

Jeff further adds to Adrian’s thought:

“[The show] is a bit of a hybrid piece – it could be considered a concert show, a tribute act, even a book musical. I’m most proud of how we tell our personal story, and how we use over 25 pieces of music – songs made famous by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons – to help us tell our story. Some songs are used simply as underscoring; some are sung in part, and some in whole. Some have new arrangements; some are performed in the traditional arrangements you know and love.”

But what about life on the road and away from their families?

Marchuk says one of the main themes in “How We Got to Jersey” is the struggle to find the ideal work-life balance between being a performer and being a parent. Madden and Marchuk are both very dedicated to their families and their art. They’re both the stay-at-home parents to their kiddos, so doing an eight-show week or travelling across the country to work would be challenging. These shorter runs are an excellent way for them to have their cake and eat it, too!

Both men agree that the responses to the show have gone far beyond their expectations. The script is funny, personal, and interesting, and it draws the audience into the story. Audiences might be expecting that it’s a tribute act, but “How We Got to Jersey” is more than just that.

Jeff and Adrian hope for full houses for seven upcoming shows at Theatre Aquarius on June 6 for one show, Theatre Collingwood on June 11-14 for five, and Abbey Gardens on June 22 for one show, so please go to their websites and grab tickets!

What’s next for these two talented gentlemen outside the concert show?

Adrian teaches voice privately out of his studio in Toronto and continues to write new shows. He’s working on one about George Michael and another about Kafka that one is non-musical – that he hopes to get up and running sometime next year. He has a tour of one of his Broadway Biographies shows happening in the fall of 2024 – Any Dream Will Do: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber will play in Markham, Barrie, and Oakville in early October 2024.

Jeff says he might rejoin the Toronto cast of a particularly successful, long-running Canadian musical about the kindness that an east coast community showed to travellers from afar in late September 2001. You know, the show with three words in the title and a blue and yellow poster with the planet Earth spinning on it.

Iraqi artist Ahmed Moneka has been described as “a cultural force to be reckoned with” as he is working towards his Canadian citizenship.

His background on how he arrived in Canada fascinated me and I wanted to learn more about him. And I hadn’t even spoken to him as of yet.

Ahmed arrived in Canada on September 10, 2015, and left Iraq for 10 days. He was invited to the Toronto International Film Festival to screen the movie in which he both co-wrote and appeared. The movie was about homosexual rights in Iraq, and there was a wave of events regarding the issue in 2011 in Baghdad. When the film was screened in 2015, Ahmed received threats from the militia in Baghdad and was forced to stay in Canada in order to save his life.

Moneka has collaborated with many professional companies including the Canadian Opera Company, Tarragon Theatre, Aga Khan Museum, Tafelmusik, Driftwood Theatre Group, Toronto Jazz Festival, Koerner Hall, Modern Times Stage, Jabari Dance Theatre, Toronto Laboratory Theatre, Theatre Centre, and TRIA Theatre. He is one of the founders of the band Moskitto Bar and is the creator and leader of Moneka Arabic Jazz – a 2019 Stingray Rising Stars Winner at the Toronto Jazz Festival.

And he has also learned English in his association with these fine institutions.

Ahmed next appears in Crow’s Theatre production of ‘Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo’ which hopefully opens January 26. There are some fine artists in the production with him and I am sincerely hoping to get to see the production live.

Ahmed and I conducted our conversation via Zoom. Thank you so much, Ahmed, for taking the time and sharing your voice:

From glancing at your personal web page, I can see your love of the arts of music and theatre has indeed flourished as you have collaborated with many fine Canadian performing arts institutions. Please describe one element or one moment in your life where you instinctively just knew that your path forward would be as an artist.

To be honest, I studied theatre in Baghdad for nine years and had an amazing career there. The plan when I came to Toronto was to stay for a short period of time with TIFF. I then had the opportunity to stay so I had to figure out my life. The adjustment with the English language was a huge portion of my life throughout six years.

I wanted to see ‘Blood Weddings’ by Lorca directed by Soheil Parsa through Modern Times Stage. This production was amazing. I’m very familiar with Lorca’s work. I went to speak with Soheil with my broken, limited English. I told Soheil how much I loved the production, the transitions. It was amazing.

Soheil asked me if I know theatre, and I said that I did know theatre. I told him I’m a newcomer here and that I would love to be in a rehearsal hall. Soheil said to come over as there was a workshop for ‘Waiting for Godot’. I didn’t have any money for the workshop. Soheil asked me where I was from. When I told him I was from Iraq, he said he was from Iran and to come to the workshop of Godot for a free welcome.
This was my first workshop in Canada with Modern Times Stage.

After the two-day workshop of ‘Godot’, Soheil hired me after that. It was this moment where I believed that I could have a career here in Canada as a theatre artist. I shifted the gear with music as well as it was a huge part of my healing experiences and circumstances, and it was my hope to continue music in sharing my culture with the Toronto community.

Do you have a particular preference either of music or theatre to share your narrative voice or do you find as an artist there is a gelling of the two?

To be honest, Canada taught me how to be a musician. I learned music from my family. We sang and danced for our rituals, but here in Canada for the first three years, music was a big hope for me. Music was the only language I knew how to share with people.

But I’m a theatre artist. I love acting. I love theatre. I love artists. I love that complicated process of theatre. Now I feel like I’m being able to express myself and act in English, and now I consider both music and theatre very close to my heart.

I’m hooked. Both music and theatre are powerful ways of delivering stories as a narrative.

Would you name one teacher and one mentor for whom you are thankful as an artist, and how these individuals influenced your life as a performing artist.

One teacher who has influenced me is d.b. young. I was part of the Soulpepper Academy and d.b. young was with us every Monday of the seven months we were studying. She’s awesome in the way she opened us up and built us up with confidence, especially within me and my ability to push myself towards a theatre career by being honest and real about it. That helped me a lot as an immigrant to be able to trust myself again, be confident again in what I believe and what I love by being a part of the Canadian theatre scene and being part of my new home here in Toronto.

As a mentor, my friend, Zac, but also in theatre specifically Jeremy Smith (from Driftwood Theatre). I was connected with Jeremy through an amazing opportunity through the Toronto Arts Council mentorship program for newcomers and refugees. It was a bridge between a newcomer artist and an established artist in Canada. It was a good potential because there was money paid for this entire process.

Jeremy was my guide. He introduced me to a lot of people, and we had many meetings where I met many people, going and seeing different shows and meeting individuals there. I also became an Artist in Residence through Driftwood, and they were working on ‘Othello’ that year. As an Iraqi/Arabic, I did some research on the jealousy and what Shakespeare would have meant by the jealousy in the play. My involvement was paid for.

When I finished my residency, Jeremy asked me to accompany the group on tour in Southern Ontario. It was beautiful for me as it gave me an opportunity to see southern Ontario and to connect with Ontarians everywhere. I also got to connect with Jeremy and his family. I was very lucky as I felt safe with Jeremy as I was learning English while I was involved with something that I loved – the theatre. Jeremy and I are also in collaboration on future endeavours.

The global pandemic has certainly changed our view of the world we once knew. How have you been able to move forward as an artist during these tumultuous times?

To be honest, it has been very tough, very tough. But as an Iraqi artist, I believe that art has a purpose and a mission more than action.

I have faced many obstacles back home in Baghdad and that made me flexible and adjustable to any circumstances that faced me.

I’ve played a lot of music; we’ve played in the park and open venues to create something in order to keep surviving. Toronto is a very expensive city, and I’m a father now. I have a daughter with my wife and my family just came over last year. I receive so much from my family in my push and desire to grow as an artist, as a father, as a son, as a brother, as a husband.

At the same time, it’s been very tough financially in that would I have to quit making art and do something else.

I don’t want to quit art. I want to keep going. I’ve been writing some theatre pieces, working on an album and also I’ve been thinking about creating a television show about my life here in Toronto and Canada combined with the music scene to shine Toronto. Toronto is a beautiful city with everyone here harmonized here in love and peace.

I’ve been taking advantage of sending emails and having interviews, so I want to thank you, Joseph, for this opportunity to connect with others. Theatrically, I’m connected more now than I was before the pandemic hit. I’ve applied for a lot of auditions. I’m getting work.

I just finished Soulpepper Academy. After I finish Bengal Tiger at Crow’s, I’m performing next in Orphan Song at Tarragon Theatre. I’m pushing and trying to figure things out, but it’s disappointing to see how the government treats theatre artists. There’s not enough financial support. There’s not enough acknowledgement and recognition towards arts and culture because that is dynamic to the hope of the city.

We need to consider art as something important in terms of what’s happening now.

Although I haven’t seen ‘Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo’, the plot intrigues me and I am quite curious about it. There are two parts to this question:

Please share what it is about ‘Bengal Tiger’ that attracted you to the piece as an artist.

‘Bengal Tiger’ is about Iraq and takes places in Baghdad in 2000. I was in Baghdad in 2000. I witnessed the war. I heard the bombs; I saw the destruction and how the war destroyed the city. This was my second war as I also witnessed the Gulf War.

War is disgusting. I hate war. I hate guns. I hate money that goes to war. ‘

‘Bengal Tiger’ talks about the war, talks about the disease of war from different perspective which is wonderfully written between the dictatorship of Saddam and the pressure towards the Iraqis and the Americans when they came when the city was destroyed and took the city out and allowed the chaos to happen.

I play Musa, an Iraqi translator, who used to work as a gardener creating a topiary. The ghost of Uday Hussein who once employed Musa murdered Musa’s sister, Hadia.

Through the journey there is a gold gun that Tom, a soldier, took when he killed Uday. Uday tells Musa he must use the gold gun as “leverage” against the Americans. While working as Uday’s gardener, Musa created a beautiful topiary garden that has since been destroyed by the war. The topiary garden, also the site of Hadia’s murder, becomes a gathering place for ghosts.

There’s trauma, there’s ghost haunting, there’s the killing of the tiger. There is a crazy, psychedelic spiritual world.

The play talks about Iraqi society are victims between Saddam’s dictatorship and the American invasion of Iraq.

There are so many character arcs in the play that drew me to the play.

I feel it is part of my journey through the play to share this story of the Iraqi people, their voice and to show that Iraqis are not terrorists, not involved in any terrorism even in 9/11. The Iraqi people were tired of Saddam and opened the door to the Americans; there was hope of the dream to Iraq being connected to allies and open to the western world. Unfortunately, none of this happened.

What message do you hope audiences will come away upon seeing ‘Bengal Tiger’?

I hope they will believe that Iraqi people are not bad people. The Iraqi people are good people. That is why I said yes to this script and being involved with it.

And also I’m so glad to say that I am the first Iraqi involved with this production of ‘Bengal Tiger’. Robin Williams played the tiger in the Broadway production.

To be honest, this Toronto cast is incredibly talented…there is zero production rehearsing in Toronto right now and we continue to rehearse with safety protocols in place. But in taking these safety protocols to heart, we are also taking the risk to hope to do this show in public. We are refusing to film it or do it online. We are rehearsing the show with the hope of performing it live beginning January 27. We will be ready to go by then. Everyone is on top of their work.

Audiences will be blown away because it’s really amazing this production is a masterpiece – there’s conflict, there’s trauma, there’s love, there’s comedy. There are all the elements of theatre. Yes, there are moments where you will feel uncomfortable and will make you question certain things. There will be moments where you are on the edge of your seat sitting forward and absorbing as much as you can of the action and the characters.

I’m helping members of the cast with the accent and so is my sister. I’m so eager and excited to have this show open to the public and to share this story with everyone, and let audiences then decide how they will respond to what is presented before them.

Someone once told me the life of an actor and artist is not all sunshine and autographs, but a life of ups and downs personally and professionally. In light of the sometimes-precarious world and life of the actor/artist:

What intrigues Ahmed Moneka?

Exactly. You said it. We are like a lottery and that intrigues me. We audition. We show up fully on our game.
This is the case with the artist. We must be prepared all the time and decide how we want to be involved and with which projects do we want to be involved. We have to believe in ourselves, and listen, listen, listen to any potential opportunity that could come

I will create my own opportunity if none is created for me.

What frustrates Ahmed Moneka?

Sometimes it’s the system that frustrates me. There’s rules of work here that I sometimes think are lame.
For example, three weeks of rehearsal is not enough time to shine. I know there’s tech, there’s preview, but the rehearsal is the most fun thing at least for me. In rehearsal you try, you try, you try until you find it.
We need to create a star system here in Canada. We need to believe in our own artists here in Canada much like there is the belief in the artists of Hollywood and New York City. Toronto is so unique and there are so amazing artists. I want to listen to them and hear them.

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?

“Thank you so much for trusting.”

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?

“Look at me now.”

What’s your favourite swear word?

Fuck! It’s amazing.

What is a word you love to hear yourself say?

“Love” and I have a sentence I always say: “Love is the main reason for a creative future.”

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

Hate unto others.

With whom would you like to have dinner and discuss the current state of the live Canadian performing arts scene?

Justin Trudeau

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

Oh, my, this is going to bring me to tears. I would say thank you for choosing hope and life and peace.

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

Thank you so much for resisting and for telling your father, “No, I want to do theatre instead of cinema.”

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

Personally, I want to be a wonderful husband and good father and good son, brother and friend. I want to be a good human in listening to everyone around me.

Professionally, I would really like to enter the television and film industry.

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

Being in the same room with Wajdi Mouawad. I worked with him in the Canadian Opera Company. It’s crazy how he’s convincing. He’s like a little boy but he is so talented and so humble. I want to learn more from him.

To learn more about Ahmed Moneka, please visit his page: www.ahmedmoneka.com.
To learn more about Crow’s Theatre, visit www.crowstheatre.com.

To speak with dance artists from across the globe has become personally enlightening as I learn more about this intricate art form.

A recent press release I received from Harbourfront Centre spoke about artist Alan Lucien Øyen’s upcoming production of ‘Story, story, die’ at the Fleck Dance Theatre June 28-29 as part of his company Nordic Bridges. The Harbourfront Centre release stated: “[Alan] is a master of staged performance. Based in Bergen, Norway, Øyen and his labyrinthine work straddle dance, theatre, opera and film, and his hybrid approach to all forms is acclaimed for their highly emotional and dramatic drive.”

I’m unable to attend this upcoming production at the end of this month but the more I read about Alan, the more I wanted readers to see how he incorporates the world of dance to tell a story.

Alan came across as a very humble man during our conversation. I received the strong impression he is extremely grateful for the opportunities given to him professionally. For him, dance and the creation of the performing arts becomes a social experience both for the artists and audiences and Covid did certainly change the trajectory of the art form going forward into an uncertain future.

At this point in time for him, Alan wonders about the long-term effects of Covid and will audiences at this time return. He also remarked about a strange phenomenon that musical theatre has seemed to return with audiences present while theatre is still trying to gain its hold with audiences. What makes movement and singing different from someone who speaks?

Even within this conundrum, he’s hopeful audiences will return.

I am as well since the Harbourfront press release also states that Story, story, die is a work that questions who we (really) are and who we pretend to be. It’s like an open wound. Both artists and audiences will have to tread carefully as we begin to emerge slowly and return to performing and sharing stories.

Personally, Alan believes after being shell-shocked at the result of Covid, it taught him how the artist had to flex the imagination. He first showed his humility while sharing a laugh with me in stating he wasn’t going to be the most creative in the Tik Tok territory venture.

After we shared a quick laugh, Alan then stated he felt like a ‘bad creative’ for a bit when he felt like he didn’t want to venture into the Tik Tok territory or into any creative streaming presentation online. Why? That third dimension of the physicality and energy of dance is not great on screen. Alan then shared how he was able to capture this third dimension of the physicality of dance filmed which was quite exciting for him. Hopefully, moving forward, the creative and immersive work of dance can continue in the theatre once again as safely as possible for all involved.

What does Øyen still believe he must accomplish in the world of dance? For him, it’s both simple and complicated. For him, the ambition and the goal have always been the same. He wants to move people.
When Alan attends any theatre, he hopes he can forget about himself for a while and immerse himself in the lives of those on stage. While he works in dance, he also works in theatre. If dance and theatre can move him emotionally when he watches something, this is exactly what Alan hopes as well for audiences when they see his work. By forgetting oneself and immersing oneself in the work, Alan hopes he walks away with a new perspective. This is exactly what he would like audiences to do with his dance works as well – to walk away with a new perspective.

Usually, when I comment or review something, I like to ponder and ask why the story needs to be told at this time. The Harbourfront press release states: “Story, story, die. features seven extraordinary dancers in a charged choreography that looks at the complicated synergy between lies and love and the staged images we create to be accepted [through] a raw, unfiltered and a deeply vulnerable take.” I asked Øyen to explain further why it needs to be told:

“It’s a piece that in very many ways is a response to our time. I don’t know if we intended to do that with it, but it became that way. We started looking at fictionalization in everyday life. I’m always deeply fascinated by the concept of staging and the element of fiction and where they meet and how they affect each other. Whether it’s a true story or not, fiction always comes into play. When it’s a true story, then it’s the how and why it is fictionalized.”

Alan claims the artists involved did not set out to create a social media piece, but in many ways, it can be looked at through the social media lens. It is through social media this piece is clearly articulated through the staging. When he worked on the preparation of this production, he watched YouTube selections of young kids and how their various channels were strategized for relaying their life. What became clearly obvious in all Alan’s preparation was the fast-paced element of the world in which we now find ourselves.

One message he hopes audiences will take away from Story, story, die? It’s okay, it’s totally fine that whatever happens in your life, you will be fine. You’re not alone. The FJORD REVIEW described “‘Story story die’ as admirable for its sexiness and startlingly original highlights.” When I asked Alan what this comment meant, it appeared he might not have seen that comment as he laughed for a quick second and then said:

‘Well, sexiness is very subjective, isn’t it?”

I think I put Øyen on the spot initially because he didn’t know what to say. He accepted the compliment readily and stated he agrees the dancers in his production are very sexy people as they are truly phenomenal dancers. There is an intimate connection between the person and the body with dancers that actors in a stage production might not have. That connection comes from touch and physicality for the entire day through rehearsals. whereas theatre, for Alan, is an intellectual exercise that may not involve the same degree of physicality and touch.

Nathalie Bonjour, Director, Performing Arts at Harbourfront Centre stated: “Øyen’s Story, story, die. is a theatrical experience that both challenges our notions of love and happiness and unites us in our collective search for meaningful connection in an increasingly disconnected world.” Alan smiled and felt she encapsulated rather well what the presentation was all about. He said he would describe what Bonjour stated in lay person’s terms so that it could be understood by all. Alan stated if there are two people in a relationship, then the question arises of who am I with you? And what is the real me? And is it ever possible to get to this realization? And who are we together?

Story story die runs June 28 and 29. For tickets and further information visit www.harbourfrontcentre.com

What an extremely humble, grateful, and appreciative man is artist Alexander Thomas.

Just before lockdown, I had the chance to see his Dora Award winning performance in Toronto’s Coal Mine Theatre’s outstanding and terrific production of Stephen Guirguis’ ‘Between Riverside and Crazy.’
Absolutely magnificent production all round. I was hooked right from the beginning of the production and didn’t want to make any notes in my book as I did not want to miss a thing.

Alex and I held an engaging online conversation, and I learned a great deal about him through his honesty and candour about where his career has taken him. He began his career later in life, but he has performed in world renowned cities such as Berlin, London, and New York Off Broadway. I was fascinated by some of the stories he was telling me where his life has taken him.

Through it all, Alex remains grounded and rooted in his belief that one can do anything if you set your mind and heart to it with hard work and dedication. And he won a Dora Theatre award as well for his work which is one of the highest honours in the Toronto professional live theatre scene. I hope and want to see more of his work onstage as Alex’s story and voice deserve to be heard.

His personal website, which I’ve included at the end of this profile, indicates he has performed in some good theatre both when he lived here in Toronto, in New York where he lives, and across the Atlantic Ocean to some noteworthy productions overseas. Thomas received his training at the Stella Adler Studio in New York City and the Meisner Technique with Richard Pinter (former head of the Neighbourhood Playhouse) He studied Creative Writing at the University of Toronto.

We conducted our conversation both through Zoom and email. Thank you so much for adding your voice to the conversation, Alex:

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.

That’s an interesting question for me on a personal level.

It kind of highlights, as a black man, what at times feels like living in a parallel universe in relation to the white friends (and family) in my life.

I’ll try to explain that feeling: My father (who died when I was eight) carried deep trauma and bitterness for events that happened to him in the 1920s growing up in Alabama. I won’t go into that although some of it is documented in my solo play ‘Throw Pitchfork’. Giving my age away, in 1960 at six years old, my mother took us kids on a Grey Hound Bus trip from Albany, New York (where I was born) to down south (where she was born). At a stop in Georgia, I had to go pee and slipped by my mother, as kids can do. I went straight into the Whites only restroom.

My mother probably had explained to us not to do that but, you know, I was six years old.

My mother was petrified.

Even at that age the tension was visceral and then my mother’s fear which came out in anger scolding me, which she had to display to the satisfaction of the white folks watching that she was taking care of her bad little boy and none of them had to. When I think of the mind set of my mom, it was only five years earlier that Emmet Till had been murdered for innocently up setting white folks in the south. Then I was taken around back and shown the “Colored only” doors I was supposed to use while down there. Other restroom doors on the trip were more explicit “N word only.”

All that is to say this was a pretty “harsh reality” for a six-year-old. Lesson learned, lesson internalized, so (on a personal level) the idea that the rose-colored glass of life has suddenly been replaced by this “harsh reality” because of Covid doesn’t register with me.

The pandemic is not some new high level of harshness or trauma to adjust to in my psyche. To be honest, I’ve pretty much flowed with it a day at a time. Like an “I’m just watching the world go by” kind of thing. The same can be said of all the perceived eye-opening events that happened in America during the early part of lock down around race. Those back-to-back incidents credited with opening everybody’s eyes. But, for many of us, that is the reality we knew already. The one you push aside (deep inside) in order to co-exist in the parallel universe without being labelled hyper-sensitive or as over-reacting, or simply not believed.

More people believe you now and I can see how, for them, that’s a new reality.

Don’t get me wrong, the pandemic and quarantine have been bizarre and surreal and a bit of an existential swamp to live through. At one point my city ran out of morgue space it was doing so poorly. There is a whole physical life to adjust too; Having to wait in a line to buy food, not being able to go out to a restaurant or to a movie theatre, not hugging family and friends but that’s almost kind of a privileged harshness to deal with, if that makes sense.

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?

I’ve enjoyed the Zoom projects, podcasts, online readings/workshops I’ve gotten to do this year and found them artistically satisfying for the most part. (I think workshop readings of plays online may stay forever – you can work with actors all over the world).

Theatre is live, in person, but the bottom line is the need to tell stories or create an experience to express an idea. You can’t work with something if you don’t respect it. The pandemic forced us to build our respect for these other mediums.

Obviously, there were artists who already had that respect, but at the beginning a lot of creators were almost righteously against it, some still are: “this is not theater” “I am never going online.” We like the idea of seeing ourselves as being pure somehow and in order to be pure something else has to not be.
But, as the reality sunk in, people became, shall we say, sweetly reasonable. Like, hey, you’re not going to create or present anything this season at all if you don’t embrace this. It was like a bittersweet surrender and acceptance, and the need to create and tell stories was allowed to run wild again without judgement of the format, whether it was using the technology or forced to come up with ways of being in person like Talk Is Free Theater performances in bubbles.

Is the definition of theater changing? I don’t know. I don’t really think so, but what theaters program might. People like to point out that watching a stream of a play performance in real time (not a recording) is not the same as being there.

No, it’s definitely not, but it’s still pretty cool. And it’s kind of less elite when you look at how many people can see it.

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

Feeling the focus and energy from the room whether an audience or your fellow artist when rehearsing or performing. The spontaneous responses: laughter, silences, gasp of identification, even the yawns, the intuitive ebb and flow of attention. It’s an instinctual Geiger counter for how things are going. That can’t really be recreated.

I also miss the Meet and Greets, table reads, first full awkward run throughs, long tech days. Having lunch break with your cast mates or getting completely away from you cast mates on break. (Alex says with a good laugh).

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?

I think a lot of people probably answer that question with, that they won’t take for granted they will always work again.

My path has been very slow and sporadic with many stops and starts, including a number of inactive years where I thought maybe this was all a dream deferred. It probably would have made sense for me to just completely give up if I’d had any sense (with another laugh).

So, I’m used to huge gaps of time in between, never take it for granted I’m going to work again and am always grateful for any opportunity to work.

I know that might sound like some kind of false humility, but it’s true. I see a lot of plays each year and had to cancel a number of tickets and plans I had lined up. I will relish seeing plays again and won’t take it for granted.

Describe one element you hope has changed concerning the live theatre industry.
I am very excited and encouraged by the number of artistic director and curator appointments I’ve seen for women and POC over this past year in America and Canada and hope this continues.

This will be the first season for many and I’m rooting for every one of them.

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

I don’t know if I must do anything.

I’m not sure I’ve approached life that way. Damn, I guess that sounds like I’ve got no drive or ambition, is that bad?

I want to keep growing as a person and continue to practice how to allow that to inform my art. I want to work more consistently. And build more and stronger artistic relationships.

It’s tricky for me because we move around a lot.

One of the things I learned and loved about the Toronto theatre community (I lived there for five years) was the power of supporting each other. They’re really good at that. I mean, hell, I was a stranger, essentially an interloping outsider welcomed and supported and ended up winning a Dora Award.
Amazing and unpredictable.

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.
Know how I feel about that?

So what?

A big event happened, it shook up the world, and people are gonna talk about that. They’ll talk about till they don’t have too.

Big deal.

It won’t be the first subject that has been written to death. Some people will get sick of them, some won’t. In the end they’ll be judged the same way everything is, by its own creativity.

Reviewers, if they are fair and don’t have their heads up their butt, will say “this Covid play stands out in the glut of Covid plays because of” whatever: “because it’s really about relationships” “it really explores the human spirit” or something, whatever.

Others will be awful, then that trend will die out.

So what?

You ain’t gonna stop it.

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

I hope I can be a part of fostering more understanding and closing the gap between the parallel universes we sometimes live in.

To learn more about Alexander, visit his personal website: www.alexthomasactor.com.

To know that professional theatre artists are reading this profile series has been a boost of inspiration for me, so I thank you all with plenteous gratitude. That’s how I came to meet Alexandra Lainfiesta. I had seen her at the Stratford Festival in Napoli Milionaria! and was delighted when she got in touch with me through Messenger. Her story and voice are quite unique.

Born and raised in Guatemala, Alexandra moved to Canada at the age of 19 completely on her own to follow her love and passion for the live performing arts. She attended the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria, BC for two years and after graduation, travelled to Vancouver to pursue classical training for acting at Studio 58. In 2017, she joined the Birmingham Conservatory for classical training, and in 2018 did her first season at the Stratford Festival where she got to play some of her favorite roles which include Assunta in Napoli Milionaria!, Adriana in Comedy of Errors and Anne Boleyn in Henry VIII.

Alexandra is a Jessie Richardson Award winner and currently has been focusing on her work as playwright. With support from The Stratford Festival, Alexandra has been developing a new operetta with Beau Dixon titled “Calderona” based on the life of Spanish actress Maria Ines Calderon during the Spanish Golden Age.

She divides her time between Toronto, Stratford, Vancouver, Victoria, and Guatemala.

We conducted our conversation via email and Zoom:

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?

I was in absolute denial for the first two weeks after rehearsals suddenly stopped at the The Stratford Festival for our 2020 season. I started to exercise at home, meditate and kept working on my script for the shows we had been rehearsing for. I had convinced myself that this was going to be over soon. Then, I waited, and waited…. and waited… and by end of April it dawned on me that this was going to take much, much longer, and so I went through a roller coaster of ups and downs, of gratitude for the time I now had in my hands to then frustrations and grief for the art we had created together in rehearsals that now was lost and slowly seeing the industry I had dedicated my life and heart to, slowly and painfully cancel seasons.

My whole family is in Guatemala, and it was such a surreal thing to experience. Usually when something goes on there, it’s not happening here, but for the first time it was there as much as it was here.

Nature, long phone calls from good friends and family, Whatsapp/Facetime/Houseparty were a huge support to my mental health in 2020. I’m grateful for it.

How have you been spending your time since the theatre industry has been locked up tight as a drum?
Going through old photos, cards, letters. Writing. Lots of writing. I also spent a lot of time in nature and close to water. Water is an absolute healing and calming element for me. I stayed in Stratford for the majority of 2020 and now I am back in Vancouver. During the lockdowns I had time now to connect with dear friends across the globe whom I hadn’t talked to in years.

I also created a small draft and demo of an operetta I had in mind with Beau Dixon, thanks to initial support from The Stratford Festival. I felt very fortunate to have had the opportunity to create music through these times.

I think the biggest take from all this time away from the industry I love, is how much I’ve grown as an individual and how much more compassion, love and understanding I have for others as well as setting my boundaries and living a much more grounded life. As many can relate, I am not the same person I was before the pandemic hit globally.

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 near year long absence from the theatre as something else?

Covid has definitely not been an escape for me. It became the “C word”. At one point it was everywhere. All conversations I was having with people over the phone, the news, social media, signs on the grocery stores, just absolutely everywhere. I am an extrovert who loves people and community gatherings. I’m Latina! So the lockdowns were absolutely hard. It was also quite shocking the first day I went grocery shopping and now everyone around me was wearing masks.

I do have to say though, that the absence of theatre and work gave me the time to go in and heal many things I had procrastinated to deal with to heal. It also brought so much awareness of the many layers of social, gender and racial inequalities not only in our industry but in the world. I do have to say, I’ve been transformed by this global experience that is the pandemic.

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 think we are creative beings. As Steinbeck said:

“The theater is the only institution in the world which has been dying for four thousand years and has never succumbed. It requires tough and devoted people to keep it alive.”

We will come up with something, yes it won’t be full head on, but we will do theatre. In 2020 I was very fortunate to have been able to work. I did several shows that were filmed, edited and then shared online, as well as outside festivals with limited audiences. Will there be theatre? Yes, not how we’ve known it, but it will be there until we can fully gather safely again, and we will. I’ve gone through enough hardships in my life to know that there is always light at the end of the tunnel and that ‘this too shall pass.’

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?

I think we have less time for BS now. I believe that whatever we do, whether it’d be classical, contemporary or a new work, it must be grounded, now more than ever, in truth. And what is truth? To me, truth is when we belong to ourselves and only speak from the integrity of our heart. I don’t believe that there is an “absolute truth” or a “best”. There is just honesty and speaking from the heart.

‘There are as many Hamlets as there are actors’ and actors come with a diversity of identities and thoughts which must be celebrated. We are in the service of story-telling and representation. Truth transforms and it is time we show multiple truths on stage.

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?

Define “danger”. If it means exposure to harm or injury, I say no. That thinking is what has created this toxic idea that “those who make art must suffer”. The Theatre is a workplace and must be treated like one. If the word danger is more of the idea of the “possibility” that “something might happen and we don’t know what will”, then yes. I do think actors and audiences alike must feel that tension of possibility which can only be brought by being in the absolute present moment and the only way we can be present is by being self-less, because it is about the ‘other’, what we want from the other. Being alive is active. Possibilities are active. I prefer those words.

And in regard to feeling danger during this time of Covid, I have to be honest, this isolation and this life of being in alert mode at all times and having privileges of liberty being taken is not new to me. I came to this country as an immigrant, completely on my own, and many of the feelings experienced during the lockdowns were somewhat familiar already. And yes, this will absolutely inform my work when theatre comes back because it has reminded me of the importance of human connection and how that is what keeps me alive and thriving. Live theatre is a living dance of thoughts and possibilities and it is always about the other and getting something from the other. Self-absorbed and self-centered theatre is beyond boring and exactly what makes teenagers never want to step into a theatre again.

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?

Yes, it made me sensitive to think and see beyond the obvious. It made me face fear and transform it. It made me want to come back to theatre to take the space that for years has been only been given and allowed to a certain sector of the population. It made me want to work towards taking on more leadership roles in our community. It made me sensitive to the work that needs to be done in order to achieve equity.
I also because quite aware and sensitive to the fact that the Canadian government thinks of theatre as an “event” and not a workplace.

Theatre is an INDUSTRY, and it is about time we start educating our government that we are a business that creates revenue and employs thousands of people across Canada.

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 love curiosity! Curiosity is active, alive, honest, inviting, and exciting. I became curious about systemic changes and my responsibility as a storyteller in this world and how perhaps I can influence that. I became curious about the human connection that was lost and how that has affected our mental health.

I became curious about the creation of live theatre without being able to have a live audience. I saw an outstanding play reading of “Mojada” by Luis Alfaro, where the director, Juliette Carrillo, used the cameras and created this new hybrid of film and theatre to create something spectacular. The audience was being included in the reading through the camera lens. Same went for the performance of a play in Mexico City called “Bichito” (The Spanish language premiere of “Little One” by Hannah Moscovitch) in which director Paula Zelaya Cervantes did an outstanding job, again, merging a live performance with different cameras and having the actors either hold one camera and speak directly at it or take it with them to show certain scenes from their perspective and what they were viewing.

I became curious about the conversations I was having with people. How profound, honest and grounded most of them are. I became curious about how it is okay to honestly answer the question “How are you?”.
I became curious about all the kids whose introduction to school was during this time. To all the teens who had to graduate in 2020 from High School. I’m curious as to what this will do to the little humans who will one day be adults who experienced this pandemic as kids.

And now, regarding what I will take back with me when theatre comes back in full force, I have to say that the spark that I know I will take with me is that of human connection. I do think that the greatest healing in our world will take place when live theatre and live music come back.

Connect with Alexandra on Instagram: @alelainfiesta / IMDB: imdb.me/AlexandraLainfiesta

You can also visit her website: www.alexandralainfiesta.com

After seeing Ali Kazmi as part of a solid ensemble performance this past fall in ‘Uncle Vanya’ at Crow’s Theatre, I wanted to learn more about this extremely humble and grateful artist who has been appreciative of all his opportunities in the performing arts.

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Kazmi has quite an extensive background in the performing arts according to his IMDB mini bio: [He] hailed from a family of creative juggernauts (actors and directors Rahat Kazmi and Sahira Kazmi, sister Nida Kazmi and Grandfather Bollywood actor Shyam)…Kazmi says: “It was like growing up in a warm, fuzzy and loving film school! [I] lived it, loved it, imbibed it, and have put it to good use since.”

Even at the young age of seven working in a studio on a show his mother directed, Kazmi said he felt so much at home and found beauty in the chaos in the production of a televised show. He didn’t feel out of place at all.

He continued in theatre, film, and even some clowning while studying and living in Pakistan.

Kazmi warmly stated his parents taught him about being an artist and setting a strong foundational base for him. The career can be a difficult one. It wasn’t about fame or money. It was always about the art first. Do your best and everything else will be a by-product. If it comes, it comes. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Kazmi says he wants to be performing until he’s at least 80 and then laughingly stated if he dies (literally) on stage, he will be a lucky man.

However, in his early twenties, Ali recognized he wanted to be a multidisciplinary artist and create his own path. He wondered how he can take the legacy forward from the foundational base established by his parents. Kazmi felt he owed to his parents, to himself and to the art as to what he could leave for the future performing arts community.

He wanted to study film. Alas with no film schools in Karachi, how could he evolve further as an artist in a community that was saturated with film and theatre?

Ali spoke lovingly about his childhood sweetheart with whom he fell in love in the mid-late 1990s. He credits his wife as a catalyst for his future changes and growth in coming to Canada. She came to study at McGill and, in 2001 (one year at university), she came back to see her parents for summer vacation. When he started dating her that summer, he kept thinking could he come to Canada, get his credits transferred and perhaps start film school? This all occurred in July 2001.

He was set to come to Canada in September 2001, and we all know what happened then:

“A single, Pakistani, Muslim male…there were no opportunities anymore, no visas, no nothing.” Ali recalled with a tone of sadness in his voice. “That was a very strange feeling coming from a decent family, an educated family, an artist family…I felt very strange…I’m not a terrorist.”

Ali and his future wife made their six-year long-distance relationship work and got married when they were 24. Then it was a choice – He had an established career as an artist in Pakistan. She had started her work in Toronto as an accountant and doing very well.

Forever the optimist, he called it an adventure and an evolution and chose to come to Canada in March 2008 and start from scratch. He attended the Toronto Film and Drama School while doing odd jobs. He also made a promise for six-seven years that he would not take any job offers from Pakistan because he really wanted to make a go of his career here in Canada.

Ali’s first love is the theatre. This month he appears in ‘Behind the Moon’ by Anosh Irani which just recently opened at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre. Directed by Richard Rose, Kazmi appears with Vik Sahay and Husein Madhavji whom he calls brothers. During the pandemic two years ago, Ali signed on to be a part of ‘Behind the Moon’ and be in on the creative process with Rose and Irani.

Set in a restaurant, Kazmi describes ‘Behind the Moon’ as a story about three men stuck in their own different stages in their lives. At times it’s a volatile story about humanity, a story about love and a story about how sometimes we misuse each other as humans and as people. Ali calls ‘Behind the Moon’: “a beautiful and poignant show”.

What has it been like to work with director Richard Rose:

“Richard Rose is probably one of the most interesting characters I’ve met in my life. I’ve learned so much…he’s a taskmaster. He got the pulse of the show. He’s so precise and at times you are at loggerheads, but that’s the beauty of theatre. Richard gives but also accepts the feedback back and forth between the actor and director. He thrives on it. And so do I. I appreciate that. On the inside, Richard is soft-hearted too where we would also discuss children and life. That’s what you want.”

During ‘Moon’ previews, Ali says there were lovely people who came to see the production. When the audience is there, Ali says that’s fun because they continue to discover new layers to the show as there is so much complexity in it.

He recalled how emotional he got the other day about the show:

‘Behind the Moon’ means so much to me as a South Asian, as a Canadian, as a Pakistani and as a human being. Anosh Irani’s story is simply beautiful and to share this play with two other brothers (Vik and Husein), two other South Asian Canadians, the impact of the reach of this show hit me yesterday. The magic of this show is the fact it hits on so many levels.”

He, the cast, and the crew continue not to think too much about Covid’s embrace. They continued to test throughout the rehearsal period and will continue to do so. Now that the show is up and running, he said: “To be honest we don’t have too many extracurricular activities outside our performances. All of us are making sure we keep our essential activities to a minimum. It’s full steam ahead with the play. That’s all we can do. We have to live life.”

There is a great deal of theatre going on in Toronto. Why should audiences come to see ‘Behind the Moon’?

Ali stated it has been an interesting time for Toronto theatre. There’s diversity in its fabric and Canadian theatre is embracing this diversity. ‘Moon’ is not just a play about three men in a restaurant. It’s a story about being human, Canadian, and South Asian. Once again, Kazmi acknowledges how much he, Vik and Husein connected during rehearsals. They didn’t know each other at all before this play, and Kazmi is the first to point out how this play is a true ensemble production.

What’s next for Ali once ‘Behind the Moon’ has completed its run?

Ali continues to remain grateful the Toronto theatre community has accepted him. He goes straight into rehearsal and working with Necessary Angel in association with Canadian Stage and The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in the production of Pamela Sinha’s ‘New’ to be directed by Alan Dilworth at the end of April at the Berkeley Street Theatre.

Tickets for ‘Behind the Moon’ are now available online through tarragontheatre.com or call the Box Office at (416) 531-1827. The production runs until March 19 at Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Avenue, Toronto.

After Ali Momen emailed me his answers to the questions for this series, I began to realize how the connection I’ve made with some of the performers from ‘Come from Away’ has made me miss seeing this story and how much I would like to see it again. After interviewing composers Irene Carl Sankoff and David Hein, Astrid Van Wieren (Broadway), Jeff Madden, Saccha Dennis, and soon Kyle Brown (Toronto), I was really pleased Ali took the time to check in with the series to let us know how he’s faring during this world wide pandemic.

From his website, Ali is a classically trained singer whose conservatory training was at Sheridan Institute’s Music Theatre Performance program where he graduated with the highest overall achievement in performance, and after many years as a pro returned to Sheridan as an acting instructor.

His theatre credits include three seasons at The Shaw Festival, and productions with Mirvish, Canadian Stage, Tarragon Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Theatre Calgary, and Why Not Theatre. He originated the role of VIKRAM in Mira Nair’s stage adaptation of her hit film, MONSOON WEDDING. Ali currently plays Kevin J and others in Come from Away at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre:

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?

In many respects, we are reverting back to a pre-pandemic lifestyle. Being able to engage in “life”, even in a limited fashion, has been a blessing indeed. I have been finding the extra time I’m having with my family and partner to be something I’m grateful for. I told my girlfriend the other day that being here with you on this Saturday evening is something that I couldn’t have done before with my schedule with COME FROM AWAY. These are good things.

I’m grateful for the fact that we seem to have gotten this virus under control and that our health system has not been overwhelmed. We should forever be thankful to our frontline workers. They are forever heroes.

However, it is important to keep repeating that while we can go to a mall, get a haircut, and even dine inside a restaurant, art that is able to create a middle class life has either ceased or has become near extinct and rare. Indoor gathering limits of 50, and outdoor gathering limits of 100 do not make for a financially feasible endeavour.

For instance, COME FROM AWAY can not happen with 50 people in the audience, nor really can an independent and bare-bones production. If you’re a musician, a ton of streams of Spotify gets you very little pay, but at least you would make up for it in live concerts. Those are now gone. If you’re in film and television, while some productions are able to get back up and running again, a huge swath are unable to get insurance. It’s like being in Miami and asking for Hurricane insurance. It’s just not going to happen.

We are in an emergency and to think it anything but that I think is wrong.

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

Well of course! Come from Away!

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?

Losing any job is a difficult experience. It doesn’t matter what it is. A job brings purpose. It brings dignity. When that goes away – whether it’s due to downsizing, a factory moving overseas, or in our case a pandemic – it crushes the “ikigai” of a human being. Ikigai is Japanese for your “reason for being.” We all lost our Ikigai. So of course, I’ve hit some sad places.

Only recently do I feel like I’m coming out of it by reaching acceptance for what actually transpired. I went through the stages of grief, and thankfully I’ve come towards acceptance. For those reading, you simply lost a job or a job in the future. You didn’t lose your worth. You didn’t lose your talent. You are defined not by what you do, but by who you are – and who you are never changed.

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 have been making some of my own work. I’m writing a film based on the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. I’m Iranian by heritage. The TMCA holds inside a vault over 3 billion dollars of the greatest modern art in the world. It was kept together by a 32-year-old janitor who was tapped to protect it after the Iranian Revolution. It’s an incredible story and I’m looking forward to fleshing it out to screen.
I also started a podcast with my dear friend Torquiil Campbell of STARS. It’s called Soft Revolution. It’s an arts advocacy podcast where we discuss art and how it intersects with politics. You can subscribe at www.softrevcast.com

I am tapping into my entrepreneurial spirit now. As the institutions have either shuttered, or paused, it is now up to all of us to put out our lemonade stand and sell our art and make our own way through.
Finally, I’m working hard to push government to create an Arts New Deal. We need a modern-day Works Progress Administration like what was set up during the Roosevelt administration after the Great Depression. We need work-relief where our cultural contributions can be seen as infrastructure building. Find out more at www.makeartswork.ca

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?

Culture is 3% of our GDP and employs over 650,000 Canadians. It is vital for the soul and structure of a society. There will always be a need.

It is going to take a long time to get “back to normal” if that ever even happens.

My advice would be to unleash your creative spirit. I think if the plan is to simply wait for an audition and to book a gig, then I really think you’re in trouble. It is going to take years before we are back to where we were. You must be entrepreneurial.

Do you see anything positive stemming from this pandemic?

If the plan is to just sit and wait for it to all come back after Justin Trudeau walks out of his house and declares “pandemic over”, then no. Instead, we will have institutions shuttered, and a mass exodus of talent.

If, however, we decide to build back a better cultural landscape? Then, yes. What that looks like? I don’t know. I think about it every day!

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

Of course! When Broadway is back it will be back with far less productions. Theatres will be empty. Now, that could mean they become condos, although in NY the real estate market is souring, or they can be filled with shows that aren’t simply tourist traps. That could be exciting. We could see the entry to new voices!

In Canada, the shows and work will all have to be local. Theatre companies have to go out looking for audiences in their areas. That could mean that shows take on a far more culturally specific bent. That would be cool. It’s important that our work not be mere imitations of what we see down south. We can actually make stuff that deeply resonates to us and within us.

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?

We are slowly learning how to do the live performance thing. We have to, unfortunately, create the proscenium. What I mean by that is that we sadly do not have all the necessary technology to do it well. We need a proper platform. Our broadband is only recently able to upload wide swaths of data, but even so, we may never have tech that allows two people to make music remotely as a millisecond of latency throws people off. In fact, reading a play on zoom will never be what it’s like in person.

So, I think people are learning that if you are going to do “stream”, don’t stream live. Record each part and then have a strong edit. New skills for us all to learn! I also think we’ve all gotten new gear!

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

It’s my job. It’s what I’m good at. It’s what I’ve worked hard to be able to do. I honestly have learned that I am not as special as I thought. I don’t miss the poetry. I miss the prose.

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?

Obsequious.

b. What is your least favourite word?

I love all words!

c. What turns you on?

Curiosity

d. What turns you off?

Ignorance.

e. What sound or noise do you love?

My dog falling asleep.

f. What sound or noise bothers you?

Sirens.

g. What is your favourite curse word?

Fuck.

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

Lawyer.

i. What profession would you not like to do?

Lawyer.

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

“Read this.”

I really I wish I had the chance to speak with Allegra Fulton either in person or on Zoom.

You’ll see from her responses below that her energy and enthusiasm for the performing arts community and all its components were contagious to me. I liked how she said a couple of things that might be considered grandiose, but that’s okay because we all have to think big and look ahead as we emerge from this pandemic.

Last year I had the opportunity to see Allegra perform in ‘Between Riverside and Crazy’ at Toronto’s Coal Mine Theatre and in ‘Sweat’ at Canadian Stage. Two opposing different characterizations but terrific work, nevertheless.

Make sure you check out her personal website. I’ve included its link at the end of Allegra’s profile. Here is a lady to keep an eye on as I want to see more of her work onstage when it’s safe to return to indoor theatre.

Thank you for adding your voice to the conversation, Allegra:

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.

For me, it’s been like a grand Buddhist exercise in surrender, acceptance and radical kindness. Meeting oneself in such global difficulty, amidst abounding fears and frustrations, and deep sadness everywhere, I’ve found my best way was to turn in and sit with all my own terrors and attempt to stay curious to my own inner landscape reflecting on what is…and not too much on what was or what will be. No big future tripping, if possible. So, if anything, I’ve used the time to really pause and to get to know my inner world better. The life of an actor, of course, is a long deep dive into the human psyche, and this experience is proving a profound one.

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?

More than ever, I’m glad that to be a working actor, at least in Canada, one must develop one’s talents in many areas, and learn many mediums. I’ve come from the theatre and my delight and curiosity continues to lead me back to the theatre. But I’m grateful to have cultivated skills in all kinds of arenas where an actor is needed. I also really enjoy moving between disciplines for each informs the other. I know that working in TV and film has made me a better actor on stage and visa versa. Working with a microphone, in animation, or commercial voice over, even audiobooks, each have specific demands, and continue to sharpen one’s brain, one’s elasticity, one’s instrument and which is hugely important to continue to do. I think everyone has been wonderfully impressed with themselves learning new platforms like ZOOM and being able to continue storytelling, in such wonderful new ways. I find the hybridized forms of theatre and music, and even dance, to be very exciting and exhilarating. Storytelling is storytelling, and I think we are so lucky at this moment to have so many platforms available to us to keep doing that very thing.

But of course, what makes live theatre so special, and what we possibly understand now more than ever, is that wonderful energy and kinetic connection in a room, a small room, a huge room, even a stadium…The communal experiencing of story, and that’s incredibly special. The energy one plays with onstage, with one’s fellows, and with the audience, is almost a metaphysical ceremony of sorts. That sounds a bit grandiose, I know, but I believe it works in the same realm. And precisely for that reason, theatre will never die. It will continue to morph as it must each generation and century, as it has since it began many thousands of years ago. For the theatre needs only one actor and one audience to begin a ‘play’. I look forward to that exchange again.

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

The people. The energy. The thrill. The LIVE-ness of the moment, the NOW-ness of it. That no one can stop, rewind, pause, go to the bathroom, go to the kitchen and get chips, come back…it’s all happening right now, and the intense focus of both actors and audience is a very sacred and healing communal experience. I look forward to that again.

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?

That I have a job. But I feel that way on each project, frankly.

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

The outmoded and long entrenched systems that no longer serve or help us make good art. There are many revolutions going on globally right now, and I hope it all seeps into every facet of life, and that change happens quickly and invites everyone to the table. Our world is in for a really large treat as massive amounts of new stories and perspectives are suddenly being given voice. It’s gonna be way more colourful and way more fun! Just watch.

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

Oh my! I have so many roles I may never get to play, but I have them in me, and I study them and crave them. I have so much to learn, to hone, to explore. I’d also like to keep directing and working with scripts and writers and …’accomplish’ is a tricky word. I had wanted to do every Shakespeare in the canon, but I’m only just a over a third of the way, on that count. Tennessee Williams, more Chekhov, Ibsen, Pinter, Euripides, Kroetz, Churchill, Birch, Drury, Nottage, Parkes, Guirgis, and so many wonderful brand-new writers. Again, the searingly complex human psyche, yes, even by the aforementioned dead male playwrights, is hard to resist wanting to tackle as an artist at the top of my game.

But to your question…Is it kinda boring to say that I don’t care to ‘accomplish’ anything but continue to create, simplify and learn better how to plumb the depths of the human condition? Sounds a bit grand, but it’s true. (My note back to Allegra: that doesn’t sound boring; to me, that sounds like the truth of the actor’s voice.)

And then there is the question of passing the torch and mentoring, which I am divinely lucky to do quite a bit of. Somehow, quite by accident, I’ve collected all these beautiful young actors, playwrights, creators who come to me for coaching, advice, a good cry, a good laugh, and they teach me too, and fill me with grace, excitement and energy. I’m not shy to say that I do have a lot of ideas and opinions about things, and I am a good acting teacher for may. It’s all very quiet and unofficial, but it feels like my best way to pass along how much I’ve learned from so many great teachers along the way.

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 don’t think ANYONE will relish dwelling on this time. As I discovered early on in the pandemic, there is rathe little written about the plague of the 13th, 14th, 15th century, or the flu pandemic of 1918. I should think we’ll all have had quite enough of it by then, thank you very much. But we will better appreciate and understand familiar lines like, “A pox on both your houses!” (Romeo and Juliet)

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

Depth, truth, risk, and glee.

My dear colleague and friend Alexander Thomas, with whom I was lucky enough to act with in ‘Between Riverside and Crazy’ at Toronto’s Coal Mine Theatre turned to me one day and said:

“Allegra Fulton: Classy but goofy.”

I think that summed me up perfectly.

Visit Allegra’s personal website page www.allegrafulton.com. You can also follow her on Insta: Cinesylph Twitter: Allegra_Fulton

According to Allen Kaeja, we are all dancers.

A recent enlightening conversation with Allen Kaeja, Co-Artistic Director of KAEJA d’DANCE, and his statement above allowed me to gain further understanding and knowledge about the art form of dance. Several weeks ago, I also held a conversation with Allen’s wife, Karen, and she was also present during the Zoom call. On the Kaeja d’Dance website, Michael Crabb from the Toronto Star stated the Kaejas: “have been called ‘a power couple’, ‘go-getters’ and ‘the coolest couple on the dance scene.”

I liked Crabb’s descriptors of the two of them as I could sense these same sentiments as well.

How’s Allen feeling about the return to the world of live dance given we’re still in the throes of Covid:

“The world turns. It changes all the time. We adapt or die and for myself, when the world pivoted, the whole thing for Karen and I? We’ve been working in film for 25 years. We were working in Zoom years before the pandemic on other projects and I’ve already investigated live stream years before. When everything shut down, boom, we’re ready to go and within a few months, we were up and running fully as a company and with projects in our transition from live theatre back into film.”

I asked them what has the overall response been from audiences about the return of live performances of dance.

Karen has attended a few shows and she has found responses fantastic. She senses from what she has seen in the lobby there is a fresh sense of camaraderie. From her perspective, those audience members who are ready and prepared to go are relieved to be seeing something visceral that they can witness and that they know is ephemeral.

Karen and Allen are in the contemporary dance field which they call experiential and immersive. Audience members must allow themselves to be flooded by the imagery, the physicality of the brilliant dancers and the resonance to embed itself.

For Allen, contemporary dancers don’t work in a linear per se type of artistic field. Contemporary dance is an abstract form that deals with kinetic and majestic visual value. Yes, there is an intention behind the work, and the progression of the piece has its own series of arcs, but it is not something which says one has to think or feel certain emotions at certain points.

What’s next for Kaeja d’Dance?

In celebration of its 31st Anniversary, November 11-13 will see the world premiere of two deeply personal works: ‘TouchX + I am the Child of’ as part of the international contemporary dance series Torque. Fifty performers combined will be involved and 4 AR experiences.

‘TouchX’ will be choreographed by Karen. She has been working on this piece for seven years. It’s the largest piece she has made, the longest, and the most number of people and collaborators in it. There is a mix of professional company dancers with community dancers with whom she has worked in other site-specific ways. This is the first time she has brought all these dancers together on stage.

For Karen, what’s exciting about ‘Touch X’, it’s new but it’s also a lot to be organizing. It is a massive project which is a challenge, and she thrives on challenges.

From the release I received: “I am the Child of, choreographed by Allen, the first fully staged dance production in Canada to integrate Augmented Reality, examines the concept of perspective and delves into childhood memories – in particular those life-altering memories that shape who we are and live on in the body. Each of the nine dancers in the work was asked to share a profound memory that has shaped them. Memories from being left to hitchhike by a parent on the Highway of Tears in BC to learn how to rollerblade to childhood emotional abuse were exchanged and helped inform the creative and choreographic process.”

In 2015 when Stephen Harper was Prime Minister, there was a crisis in the Middle East with refugees wanting to come to Canada. Mr. Harper started to say he was going to block these refugees. Back then Allen was rarely political in his social media posts, and he was driven to write a Facebook post that started with ‘I am the child of a refugee.’

Allen’s father, Morton Norris, was a Holocaust survivor in Auschwitz. His brother-in-law died in his arms. 90% of his family was murdered, many of them from the ghetto and Auschwitz. Morton witnessed his family being put on the gas trucks. In 1945, William Lyon Mackenzie King was an avid anti-Semite bringing in the policy of none is too many and Jews were not allowed in this country.

In 1948, Norris came to Canada as a refugee with nothing. He built a life. He built a new family as he was married with children before the war. Norris made new connections and built a community. When he passed away, Morton Norris was made an honorary police officer for the work he had done not only for the Police Federation but for the community as a whole.

This is what refugees do. They come here and build worlds; they work hard and build a community. That’s why Allen had written his social media post “I am the child of a refugee” which went viral.

A couple of years later Allen was thinking about what he wanted to do as new work because he’s done a lot of work based on his family’s history and the Holocaust. His community is so filled with such essential voices and experiences that he wanted to invite these different individuals to begin to reveal and express their stories through dance and for us to interact physically and kinetically with each other.

This is the inspiration for “I Am the Child of”. Allen also adds he has a brilliant cast of eight live dancers and five AR (augmented reality) dancers, so a cast of 13. During the performances, the audience will be invited to come in with their personal devices. They will have a choice to watch different sections where they will be cued to see multiple perspectives and viewpoints so make sure phones are charged. Audiences do not have to do this and can just simply enjoy what plays out in front of them on the Fleck Dance Theatre stage. For Allen, audiences who use their device will be given more context, and more information if they choose to do so.

Audience members with educational backgrounds and training can see more in a dance and movement piece than those who do not have a strong background. In Allen’s opinion, what is it about dance and movement pieces that appeal to ALL audience members?

“Because we live in our bodies. We are who we are, and in our world (but I won’t speak for Karen), all movement is dance and we are all dancers. Whether we pursue it professionally or not does not matter. All movement is dance and therefore we are intimately involved with dance whether we’re aware of it or not. As an observer dance moves us kinetically and viscerally.”

Kaeja d’Dance 31 (TouchX + I am the Child of) will perform on stage November 11–13, 2022 at 7:30pm at Harbourfront Centre Theatre, as part of the international contemporary dance series Torque. For further information, visit harbourfrontcentre.com. You can also visit kaeja.org to learn more about Kaeja d’Dance.

Sadly, as I write this, I never had the opportunity to meet Allen in my short time reviewing at Young People’s Theatre (YPT) for On Stage Blog. I only began reviewing for YPT in May 2019.

I wished I had now.

“Le sigh”, as my niece says. Why the glum sound?

The company press release showcases Mr. MacInnis’ extensive forty-year theatrical career in which he has devoted nearly half of it (nineteen years, specifically) to YPT. I had no prior knowledge of the impact he has left on the face of Canadian theatre across the country most notably on the youngest audience members, including babies.

However, as Executive Director Nancy Webster stated in this same release, Allen will first program YPT’s 2020-2021 season as well as direct before he steps down. It will be a “long good-bye in order to allow for a smooth transition into the company’s next chapter with a new artist at the helm.”

I better get moving in YPT’s new season to track him down, to introduce myself, and to wish Allen well in the new chapter of his life. Hey, as a retired high school teacher, I will let him know that this new phase opens endless possibilities and further opportunities. But I’m certain he’s already aware of them.

When I taught high school English and Dramatic Arts in the late 80s and 90s, I remember bringing my students to YPT especially if a play we were studying was to be performed live. I always believed it was important for students and young people to see the world of literature come alive dramatically. That was then.

Today, Ontario schools have shifted tremendously in their development of meeting overall and specific curricula expectations. This year, in consideration of reconciliation to our Indigenous people, the YPT slate of productions was to have focused on the Seven Ancestral Teachings of the Anishinaabe. No one could have ever predicted how two major events this season – unrest in the provincially funded education system and the pandemic of COVID – 19 – would turn all live theatre seasons upside down.

Despite these tumultuous months provincially, MacInnis’ artistic vision in joining YPT in 2002 has remained steady. YPT took these Ontario Ministry of Education expectations and fully brought them to fruition and focused on the emotional, social and intellectual development of young people which influenced all artistic choices as well as the company’s core values of purpose and audience. Additionally Mr. MacInnis, together with Executive Director Nancy Webster, established the company’s ‘Innovative Education & Participation Department, connecting every element of YPT’s educational work with the company’s professional productions. This job and calling taught Allen it’s “all about maintaining an authentic relationship with young people and the people who care about them.”

Ah, there’s the key word right there – authenticity. As a retired schoolteacher, I also saw firsthand that young people truly do know when something or someone is authentic and genuine and when they’re not. You can’t pull a fast one on youth because they will automatically sense and know if it’s done. They just somehow do.

I reviewed five YPT productions this year, four of them during the current upheaval of teacher unrest and threat of COVID-19: ‘Antigone’ (from the 2018-2019 season), ‘The Mush Hole’, ‘A Million Billion Pieces’, ‘The Adventures of Pinocchio’ and ‘The Jungle Book’. The last four believably, genuinely, authentically and realistically appealed to the diverse audiences of children and adults specifically in the following four out of seven teachings of the Anishinaabe – Love, Honesty, Truth and Respect. If anything, on a personal note of reflection, these four teachings became ironic reminders of how important it is to maintain them especially in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic in which we now find ourselves worldwide.

I will most definitely track down Allen MacInnis to speak to him more about where he believes our Canadian theatre industry is headed. He is quoted as saying in the company press release that “it’s time for someone like me to get out of the way for a new generation, especially those who face barriers to accessing leadership roles.”

You have me intrigued, Allen, about this statement. I can’t wait to pick your brain and to talk theatre with you.

Young People’s Theatre can be found at 165 Front Street East, Toronto. Visit www.youngpeoplestheatre.org for further information or their Facebook page: Young People’s Theatre

Amy Keating’s affection for live theatre has not abated at all on account of the pandemic.

If anything, her unabated enthusiasm is so contagious that I caught it and was reaching that same height of missing the theatre crowd. You could read theatre ‘geeks’ in here if you wish because Amy said she loves them and misses them so much.

Me too.

Our recent conversation kept me smiling and laughing throughout the 45-minute interview. There was no pretentious air about her at all, and she made me feel very comfortable during our Zoom call that we even dropped some colourful language as we discussed so much. We were both surprised that time had slipped by so quickly without us even knowing because we had so much to say and to hear.

First time I saw Amy on stage was at the Stratford Festival as Cathleen, the Irish housekeeper, in a hard hitting ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’. And then to see her in a completely different role in an outrageously bloody good production of ‘Hand to God’ at Toronto’s Coal Mine Theatre.

And finally, Amy’s appearance in ‘The Flick’, at Crow’s Theatre which was the first production I reviewed there. You wanna talk about a show where I did not write any notes down on paper during a jaw dropping three hour running time because I couldn’t avert my eyes from the onstage action, not even for one second.

She is a Toronto-based actor originally hailing from the Prairies. Amy works in both theatre and film and is three-time Dora Mavor Moore nominated actor.

She is a founding member and associate artist of Outside the March with credits: The Flick, Mr. Burns, Passion Play, Mr. Marmalade.

Favourite Film/TV credits: Murdoch Mysteries; Ginny & Georgia; Killjoys; P!GS (short film); SUCCULENT (short film).

Fave theatre credits: Long Day’s Journey into Night and Julius Caesar (Stratford Festival); The Glass Menagerie (Grand Theatre); Wormwood (Tarragon Theatre); The Importance of Being Earnest (Capitol Theatre).

Thank you so much, Amy, for adding your voice to the conversation:

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.

It’s interesting, Joe, to talk about how it has changed on a personal level, but I also want to talk about how it’s also changed on a macro level as my mind has also gone there in reflection.

I feel there’s been a lot of changes and awareness with all of the social justice movements this year. I really do believe and I’m really grateful for the time that we’ve all had to take as the ‘big pause’ allowed us to re-think.

Capitalism’s ideology is, “Go, go, go, make the money, make the money, do the hustle, do the side hustle”. I believe, without this ‘year old pandy’ (as my friend says), we wouldn’t have had the opportunity as we would have been too busy and still too caught up in ourselves to slow down and pay attention to what’s happening in the world.

In terms of my bigger life, and I imagine this is what many of the artists have probably said, the chance to slow down and, of course, I’ve been privileged enough to have a safe house, to have running water, to have a home and TV to watch Netflix on at night. (Amy and I share a quick laugh because I’ve also done the exact same thing.)

But the time to slow down, I’m really, really grateful for it. It’s been refreshing in a way, and I’m both incredibly excited, obviously, but also nervous to go back to that hustle.

I think in this profession too there’s always the feeling, both in a beautiful way and in a sometimes-stressful way, of always having to be somewhere and do something and to be creating, and putting yourself out there, and meeting people. It’s time to slow down, and I’ve learned to say No as I may want to sit down and open a book of poetry one morning and read.

Or maybe I might just want to lie in bed one Saturday morning or walk to the water.

To have that time has been really, really cool.

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?

Joe, I see the precariousness of it all.

I try not to stop and think about it. When I think about the repercussions, I get really worried as an artist. I told my partner, Mitchell, that it’s also possible the year I just spent was a year I would spend in normal times.

You never know that I could have had five plays, five shows back-to-back, a couple of days on set, some workshops OR I could not have had any of these. I could have been working in my three other Jane jobs the whole time or could have had nothing.

As an artist, you’re used to that life in a way anyway. When I think about Crow’s Theatre, Canadian Stage or any of the smaller companies, students who have graduated from theatre school, I worry about all of this.

For the theatre graduates, are we going to lose them because the pandemic may have dried up opportunities?

I’m worried about this precariousness. It’s a profession, it’s a job, it’s a joy, this business but it’s so tenuous sometimes. I hope it’s going to recover because when it does, it’s going to be glorious.

When I saw Stratford’s announcements of outdoor theatre, I gasped with excitement because yes, it’s coming back, get me back, please.

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

The community.

The everyday play with people. During this time when we’re outside walking on the sidewalk, we see others and yes, we too, we move to the side. It’s our calling as artists to move closer, not just physically but with our hearts, with our breath, with our minds.

I miss that. Trying to lock in and connect. It’s connecting with people and playing with them.

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?
(There was a long pause from Amy as I could sense she wanted to say it right)

It will be the ability of a large group of people, audiences, and creators of a piece to be in the same room together.

Because that’s the magic. That is what we have missed this past year and a bit, especially me with Netflix. (and we too share a quick laugh).

It’s that, and that’s what scary right now is the gathering of big groups of people. Who knew even two years ago we would have said, “You know, next year is going to be really difficult and really dangerous to get over 20 people in a room together.” And I would have said,” No, what are you talking about, that’s my job to do that.”

This also includes the audience too because they will wonder if it’s going to be safe for them. Yes, actors can rehearse outside but is an audience safe to watch you? Every day and every performance I will thankfully say, “Look at all the people who are here, even if it’s five of them.”

We may not be sold out but we’re here, that audience is here, how lucky are we!!!!!!

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

I feel as if this last year plus has forced us to slow down in multiple ways.

I hope that when we get back to working, creating, and playing, we’re also going to slow down. And that, to me, means being able to take care of everyone who is in the room and be able to be present with everyone who is working on the project, everyone who has come together. That means meeting people where they’re at; that means dealing with anti-racist actions and making sure that people are being seen and taken care of.

It must be noted where people are coming from and what they need on any given day.

And if there’s something hurtful in the work, said in rehearsal or in the script that we’re able to (and money is always a thing, Joe, you know) that we’re able to call it IN or OUT first off and then take the time and say, “Hey, this doesn’t work. This isn’t helpful for us. Let’s take the time to do something different, to re-evaluate it and to change it.”

We’ve done this already for the last fifteen, sixteen months outside the theatre. We now must bring this into the theatre. It can only be a good thing for any production if people are being seen, we meet them where they are coming from and to hear them.

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

Oh my God, what a cool question.

One thing – EVERYTHING!!!!! (And again, we had a good laugh)

Oh, Joe, this is the hardest question because I actually do believe it’s everything. Here’s my thesis (and again Amy took some time because I could sense she wanted to say it right and to get it right)
I started doing a bit of film and tv. I just finished my first short film, and I would like to find different ways to work and collaborate with people. So, I’d love to be part of a process or to lead a process that would stretch the container of the three – four-week rehearsal process.

I feel I’d like to work in a playful way. I think I would like to write.

I would like to direct. I directed once before and nearly killed myself, Joe. I was living off coffee and cigarettes and wasn’t sleeping. I want to go back and try it again. I think it would be fun, but I would like to pick the play. It would have to be a play I could see that I would want to do.

Here’s the last thing I’ll say – I want to work in big communities of people. I think a lot of shows are kept small on account of budget. When we did ‘Passion Play’, it was a cast of 12. There were 3 directors. It was very large, and I would love to work in that way again, kind of on an epic scale and do plays that are 5, 10, 12 hours long with five directors and a cast of 20. (and I start smiling and laughing as Amy’s enthusiasm is contagious)

We’ve been at home for the last year and a half doing nothing, and I want to work on a big, big scale.

That’s what I want to do.

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.

Joe, let’s re-phrase this question, okay?

“Am I prepared to participate both as a professional artist and as a theatre goer in the potential tsunami of Covid themed plays and stories when we immediately return to the theatre? I’m going to echo several of the artists whom you have interviewed who have quoted the same thing…”

Fuck, no!!!!!!!!!! (With uproarious laughter from both of us)
Definitely not! I don’t want it!

I actually wonder if down the road, say ten years from now, a Covid play might be interesting. Right now? No, no no…

What I am a fan of now is Black Mirror on Netflix. There’s a cool thing about this show in that it’s not science fiction but more like a drama where it takes the world we live in today and just switches one little thing, just one thing about society. For example, what if in advertising we put a chip in you and see what happens, or your whole social status was based on how many LIKES you received daily.

What I find interesting in this comparison of the show to Covid are the connections to some of the anti-vaxxers, anti- mask individuals. If we take the themes from this time of Covid and explore into a play. I don’t want to see any kind of Covid re-creation, but I do think there’s some interesting things revealed about people and society in general at this time.

Those themes would be interesting to explore OUTSIDE of a Covid backdrop. I don’t want that.

Now, if someone wrote a Covid themed play with me in mind and offered it to me for next year, I might say, “Too soon, too soon.” But if it’s my first theatre job offer in a post Covid world, I might just say, “Yes, please.”

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

For me, specifically, this is such a self-reflecting In Memoriam.

I feel the thing for me that makes live theatre so exciting for me and what I want to see in the actors when I watch, and what I want to bring to the stage, is a certain playfulness, aliveness and electricity that makes people feel that this interaction at this moment is new every time.

It’s that kind of work that Outside the March reflects in that it was important that you were here on this night (or, in a matinee, this day) to see this interaction at this moment. This night is different because of you, the audience member, because you’re here.

I’m really leaning into this In Memoriam question, Joe. I trained in Clown. I studied a lot of Clown in school. That’s all about breath, being in the moment, following impulses and listening. It’s not about trying to be funny, but it’s about being open and receptive.

That’s what I aim to do – to be present, to be playful and open with the people I’m creating with on stage, and the people that I work with through rehearsal, and the audience as well.
It’s bringing that magical electrical feeling into the room.

You can follow Amy Keating online at Instagram: @lil_keats.
You can also follow Amy’s first short film account SUCCULENT on Instagram: @succulentthefilm.

It was a couple of months before the pandemic hit where I first saw André Sills’ work in what I felt was a daring production of Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ at Toronto’s Crow’s Theatre in 2020.

I wanted to learn more about his work and was grateful when André participated in a profile series I was compiling at that time on how Equity artists were faring. You can read his profile here: https://bit.ly/3GTG7Dp.

During a recent Zoom conversation, I asked him what he would like to say to the Covid/Omicron variant as we approach Year 3 of the pandemic:

“Oh, God, I think we’ve had enough. I think we’ve all been traumatized enough. The big ol’ dream of trying to get back to normal? I’m just done with it.”

Hopefully, according to the recent news reports, it looks as if the provincial government is done especially with premier Doug Ford reiterating what Sills said.

Covid has not destroyed what Andre loves about the live performing arts. Although family time was very important to him as he helped his kids during homeschooling, Sills is glad they are back in school because kids being in person to learn makes all the difference.

For Sills, the same thing exists for theatre. Audiences need to be in the seats and seeing the actors on stage with the artists feeling the audience there. It’s part of the experience.

A resident artist of ARC (Actors Repertory Company), André is currently in rehearsals as Director with his cast preparing for a March 1 Canadian premiere opening of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s ‘Gloria’, an ARC production in association with Toronto’s Crow’s Theatre. Sills has always wanted to direct and had an interest in it for years, but the ‘actor-beast’ in him is always first.

For Andre to direct a play, there would have to be something that inspires him so much that doesn’t have something for him in it. That play would have to give him the drive and challenge as if he was in it because that’s the type of theatre he likes to do. Plays that cost something of the actors and something to investigate within themselves is that challenge Sills craves.

Sills then backtracks a bit to speak about ‘An Octaroon’ a play written by Jacobs-Jenkins at Shaw Festival. Feeling that experience to be on the inside of ‘An Octaroon’ was of prime importance and then trying to get a hold of the playwrights’ plays wasn’t an easy task. He finally got a copy of ‘Gloria’ but hadn’t read it until ARC was putting together a list of plays to produce.

When he finally picked ‘Gloria’ up to read it, Andre felt there wasn’t necessarily anything for him in it, but he could direct it. He pitched it to ARC where everybody read it and loved it. Andre believes ‘Gloria’ is a good fit for ARC because it’s an ensemble piece that requires a strong cast to help tell the story together.

The ARC website describes the plot of ‘Gloria’:
An ambitious group of editorial assistants at a notorious Manhattan magazine office vie for a starry life of feature articles and book deals, all while the internet is completely upending their industry. When an ordinary humdrum workday becomes anything but, these aspiring journalists recognize an opportunity to seize a career-defining moment.

Sills is fine with this play description, but he’s extremely careful about spoiling the plot for all audiences.
‘Gloria’ has been labelled as a satire. It’s the writing, the ‘echoes’, the questions, and the wit that drew Sills to this play and Jacobs-Jenkins’s dialogue is amazing especially from a recall of ‘An Octaroon’. Sills feels that we’re all living in a kind of satire right now. For him he compares ‘Gloria’ to putting up a mirror for ourselves and seeing ourselves through that mirror.

Since we all want to get back to theatre, the one thing Andre is encountering right now is a lot of fear in how we take on theatre. He explains how we might be afraid of our audience and of offending them through Shakespeare and up to modern day stories. At the same time, the world isn’t afraid to offend us. So, putting the mirror up is showing ourselves on stage.

There’s a line from ‘Gloria’ Sills remembers: “People don’t read magazines for the truth.” Hearing this from a playwright, Sills also hears that people don’t attend the theatre for the truth. It’s time to get back to the truth and stop beating around the bush so much.

Jacobs-Jenkins isn’t writing anything to be grotesque in ‘Gloria’ or any of his plays. He has an intent. By working on ‘An Octaroon’ at Shaw and helping with ‘Everybody’ (by Jacobs-Jenkins) at Montréal’s National Theatre School, and then with the satire of ‘Gloria’, the intent has stayed the same in all three plays. There should be no fear in showing the world as it really is while challenging us to be better.

I’ll list the cast at the end of this profile, but André continues to tell the artists to continue being bold and brave, and anything that the characters do that the artists might be afraid of, the acting partner needs it for their part to continue. André continues to tell the actors to trust the play as opposed to us judging it. For the journey of ‘Gloria’, the actors have to step into it and do it for their acting partner in order to see where the journey ends.

Did the cast have to undergo any preparation before rehearsals began? Andre spoke about something he believes in when he prepares for a role himself. He calls it the building of a foundation. He added that ARC likes to have an ‘open room’ meaning it is a workshop week in November where there is a read through of the play where community collaborators and design team come in regarding themes of whatever the play is about. With reference to ‘Gloria’, a woman from Macleans and Chatelaine came in to explain and share what office life is like, and how people either take care of each other or they don’t within the office. Having this particular reference of what the office climate life was like was valuable to the cast.

What’s next for André Sills once ‘Gloria’ is done?

I’m hoping there is a Season 2 of ‘Private Idiots’ and was imploring there to be one. If you haven’t seen it, do a You Tube selection. For now ‘Private Idiots’ is on hold, but the aim is to find a way to take these two cops a step further by getting them out of their cars.

After ‘Gloria’ opens, André heads to Stratford to step into rehearsals for ‘Richard III’ and ‘All’s Well that Ends Well’ this summer at the Festival where he looks forward to continuing telling the truth on stage.

DETAILS:

‘Gloria’ an ARC production in association with Crow’s Theatre runs March 1 – 20 in the Guloien Theatre, 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto. For further information and to purchase tickets online, visit www.crowstheatre.com.

The Cast: Deborah Drakeford, Carlos Gonzalez-Vio, Jonelle Gunderson, Savion Roach, athena kaitlin trinh, Nabil Traboulsi.

Artist Andrea Rankin has quite the impressive list of resume credentials on her website. I had the opportunity to see her work at The Stratford Festival in ‘Mother’s Daughter’ and ‘The Crucible’, and her other credits in theatre, film and television are varied in range. Her training and educational background are solid.

She is billed on her personal website as a multidisciplinary Canadian artist with a passion for live performance and equitable spaces. Andrea is an actor, singer, musician, and songwriter born in Amiskwaciwâskahikan on Treaty 6 Territory (Edmonton, Alberta). Thankfully there is a section on the website where I can listen to some of her songs.

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?

I am healthy, I have enough food and a safe and comfortable place to live – so I am doing alright, despite everything. Thankfully my family is safe and healthy too. Some days I feel hopeful and able to appreciate my surroundings and the present moment, some days are difficult and full of grief and I find myself needing to sit or lie down. I’m getting more used to the ebbs and flows and to trying to accept instead of resisting the emotions that come up; I think this will be a life-long practice.

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

At first, after the 2020 Stratford season was cancelled, I poured my energy into what you might call the ‘domestic arts’. Before the lockdown, I had just closed a nearly-year-long run of “Mother’s Daughter” by Kate Hennig at Stratford/Soulpepper and had started rehearsals to play Ophelia in “Hamlet” and Hero in “Much Ado About Nothing” at the Stratford Festival. I was spending my days in rehearsal halls with passionate artists and spending my evenings continuing to work. My last rehearsal was a Saturday afternoon and then I received a note on Monday morning not to come into work. Stopping suddenly felt like whiplash at first. There was a period of waiting to know how long this would go on that has never really ended.

For comfort, I became very invested in my sourdough starters (Peg and Diane, respectively) and in trying to bake a perfect loaf of bread. I started cooking new things and testing out long, detailed recipes. I started writing every morning, as a place to put my thoughts. I felt no other creative impulses for a long time and frankly, tried not to think about anything artistic. To deal with the anxiety I took up running. To stay hopeful, I tried to hold onto what I did have available to me: the outdoors. I spent time walking, running, having bonfires, at the beach, camping, hiking; I did whatever I could to be outside at all times. Near the end of the summer, my partner and I drove across the country and camped our way to Alberta to have distance visits with family and friends. That was a highlight.

In the fall my creative energy came back and I decided to embrace another artistic passion of mine: music. I’m a trained classical singer and pianist, and the journey to discover my own style has been a satisfying one. In November 2020, I decided to release my first EP of alt-pop music, called Tides. It’s given me a lot of purpose and meaning and I’ve learned a lot about the music industry in Canada. I’ve also started writing in other ways – meeting weekly with friends to work on script ideas. I don’t know what will become of them, but the act of meeting and writing together has been deeply satisfying. I also started teaching voice and acting lessons online over Zoom and now I teach students from across the country every week. I’ve still been auditioning here and there for film and television, but I’ve certainly channeled my creative energies into music. Luckily, it’s an art that I can still do from the confines of my living room.

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 near year long absence from the theatre as something else?

At times it’s felt like an escape from the relentless momentum of productivity and chasing notions of success, but in almost every other way, this has felt like the opposite of an escape. I think it’s a gift to have more time to pay attention to the world we’re living in. It has involved a new kind of listening and feeling anger and grief; and the grief I feel for all those suffering is immense. In my experience, it’s been a time to look at myself, my life, my community, my work and my participation in systems and structures and ask why. What stops me from listening? Why am I not fighting for change every day? It’s been a chance to listen deeply and a chance to educate myself. It has been a chance to let go of things and reimagine.

In other ways, I’ve tried to look at this as an opportunity to discover parts of myself that are changing: interests I’ve neglected, relationships I’ve taken for granted. I’ve tried to think of my creativity as a daily experience, present everywhere in all things. I can find it when I cook, in choosing my outfit for the day, in the trees when I go for walks, in calling friends on the phone and listening without distraction. It has felt like a year-long exercise in mindfulness. I’ve really felt that when you can’t go backwards, and the future is unknown, the safest place to be is in the present. The more I’m able to be in the day I’m having and live slowly, the more I find I’m able to be okay, learn and listen. When I worry about what’s happened or what’s to come, I start to feel fear and anxiety. There has also been a great deal of time sitting with these feelings and trying to accept what I do have, what I can learn, who I am and who I could be.

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’m not sure how things will go. I often think about artists at home, grieving and breathing and I wonder what will come out of this for everyone. Who will have left the industry? Who will have studied something new? What art will be made and shared? We’ve experienced a collective trauma, and this takes time to heal. At times, I try to remind myself of how this is creating space for everyone to explore other parts of themselves, their other interests, skills and curiosities. I imagine watching strangers hug someday in the future and how joyful that will be. I imagine standing next to a stranger at a concert and sharing a sweaty moment of shared humanity and I think – I can wait. To keep people safe so that we can all share moments like this again: this is worth waiting for. Whenever it happens, it’s going to be spectacular.

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?

As it’s ongoing – and in Ontario in a lockdown state similar to what we had in the spring of 2020 – I’m not sure how this has transformed me just yet. I know I will be a different artist. I know that my voice can be used for things I believe in and to protect the safety, creativity, and spirits of all artists in the room. I think I’ll be less desirous to please and more desirous to connect. I look forward to discovering how I’ve changed and how this time has changed me.

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?

I think the idea of ‘danger’ in the work is a difficult notion and worth expanding upon. The notion of artistic danger can sometimes be a privilege and used as a way to wield power over those without it. Speaking generally about ‘danger’ can mean that we’re not all having the same conversation. For some, danger in the rehearsal hall and in performance is very real: not being seen or heard, having a fellow artist look at you through a lens of racism, ableism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, body-shaming; people that believe you only deserve to be there if you play by their rules. As a community we’re waking up to these discoveries, but they have been the lived reality of many artists for a long time.

If danger creates fear, then I disagree with Ms. Caldwell. Declan Donnellan speaks of this in his book “The Actor and Its Target.” He writes “No theatre work absorbs more energy than dealing with the effects of fear; and fear is, without a single exception, destructive. Fear makes it difficult to disagree. Fear creates as much false consensus as strife. A healthy working atmosphere, where we can risk and fail, is indispensable. Fear corrodes this trust, undermines our confidence and clots our work. And the rehearsal must feel safe so that the performance may seem dangerous.”

In other words, a safe room creates dangerous work. I believe in this very much.

On a personal level, in the characters I have played, I’ve been strangled, hanged, beaten, suicidal, died tragically, institutionalized, silenced and murdered in just about every play I’ve been in over the past decade; the canon for young women, especially in classical theatre, is rife with danger. If the process threatens the safety and autonomy of the artist, if they are not given a space to use their voice and there is inequality in who is allowed to express their experience and who isn’t – these things are not only detrimental to our art, but damaging to the brave and vulnerable individuals who choose to make theatre their craft.

As far as danger in the time of Covid – absolutely. It is a wild and terrifying thing to experience a constant, invisible threat. I think the experience of this kind of danger will influence my work in reminding me not to take anything for granted. Our time on this planet is not guaranteed and that’s what makes it beautiful and worth paying attention to. It is a precious thing to have time in a room with people and I won’t ever take that for granted again.

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?

It has. I’m still experiencing this, so it might be too early to describe how, but it has forced me to live more slowly and to pay more attention to the world around me. Thich Naht Hahn – a buddhist monk and writer whose work I admire and read often – talks about how the meaning of life can be found in the experience of wonder. When we experience wonder – with others, in the natural world, alone – we feel connected to something and this gives us meaning. I think this time has made me sensitive to wonder and to the world around me. This wonder isn’t always easeful; it can be wonder at the problems in the world, at people’s willingness to allow others to suffer. This time has made me ask why I am living the way I do, who I’m living for, what my values are. It’s asked me to sit with myself and offered a chance for me to make choices consciously. I will bring this all with me. There’s no going back.

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?

It certainly has. I have been curious about what’s possible in my life and in my ability to help and support others. I have been curious about having hobbies! I have been curious about myself as a songwriter and musician, and I’ve had the chance to release music and explore this great love of mine. It has made me curious about political structures and inequality; cooking and baking; nature and the outdoors; what it means to be a good friend; how suffering is universal; where socks go when they get lost in the dryer; that we need to look out for one another; the power of a phone call, of a Christmas card; of the ebbs and flows. In some ways, while you’re busy making art you don’t always take the time to make your own life a work of art. This is a cheesy way of saying this but I think it’s sometimes true. The mundane, the boring, the ugly, the exhausting, the beautiful; these make up a life and are the very things I am so desirous to see on stage. I hope these reflections, observations and discoveries come with me whenever and however I return to this art form.

Thank-you for the chance to reflect on this time in my life and to consider the answers to these questions. I’m grateful for the opportunity.

To connect with Andrea, visit her personal webpage: www.andrearankin.ca.

Twitter: @heyandrearankin Instagram: @andrealindsayrankin

I’ve seen Andrew Kushnir’s name on many live theatre sites over the years. I did get to review one play he had written ‘Toward Youth’ at Crow’s Theatre, but that has been the only work of his I’d seen.

When I saw that he had responded to one of the artists whom I had profiled, I thought well, get in touch with him to see if he is interested in being interviewed. And he was most appreciative of the opportunity.

Andrew is quite proud of his latest project This Is Something Else — an investigative podcast ‘love letter’ to theatre in this country, produced by the Arts Club. They’re nearing 4000 downloads..

‘Project: Humanity’ is also nearing the 1-year anniversary of their CAPP (Covid-19 Artist Partnership Program) — soon to be renamed PH 1:1. They’ve provided meaningful employment to 48 professional artists this past year as mentors to youth in the shelter system (in an arts discipline of the young person’s choosing).

Andrew is an actor, playwright, and director who lives in Toronto. He is artistic director of the socially engaged theatre company Project: Humanity.

His produced plays include The Middle Place (Toronto Theatre Critic’s Award), Small Axe, Wormwood, The Gay Heritage Project (co-created with Paul Dunn and Damien Atkins, 3 Dora Award nominations) and Freedom Singer (co-created with Khari Wendell McClelland, toured nationally to 14 cities). His most recent work Towards Youth: a play on radical hope premiered in February 2019 in a co-production between Project: Humanity and Crow’s Theatre.

This past year has had him collaborating on a verbatim musical about competitive eating, leading a 7-week masterclass “Verbatim Theatre: Working with the Realness” with Ghostlight, creating an original limited podcast series for the Arts Club Theatre entitled This Is Something Else, directing the graduating class at the National Theatre School in the New Words Festival, and working on Dr. Kathleen Gallagher’s Audacious Citizens project – which researches the drama classroom vis-à-vis climate justice.

His co-directed documentary film Finding Radical Hope was released in February 2021. He is a graduate of the University of Alberta, a Loran Scholar and alumnist of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction at the Stratford Festival. In April 2019, he became the first-ever recipient of the Shevchenko Foundation’s REACH prize.

We conducted our conversation via email as he is one busy guy. Thanks for adding to the conversation, Andrew:

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.

My brain zigzags wildly with this…what a year (and more) of flux. I think of the things that were once easy and are much more difficult, if not impossible, now. And then the inverse – how things that seemed implausible (big systemic reforms, for instance) feel not only more possible, but imperative. I have more appetite for change now than ever before, I’d say. More appetite for variations. For new stories. For moving away from the things that weren’t working.

One thing does occur to me, as I turn over your question, is my perception of boundaries or borders. That has shifted for me. The notion of a safe space, one I can move freely through. In November 2019, I undertook a big research trip through Europe. I retraced my late grandfather’s journey from a small village in Western Ukraine, through Poland, Italy and England. He was a celebrated watchmaker, he designed the last railway-grade pocket watch in North America, and I covered something like 19,000 km by foot, train, plane and car rental with his pocket watch on me. I interviewed dozens of people about their sense of Time – some in their 90s – and photographed them handling his timepiece while I did it. That sort of trek through the world then felt so relatively effortless. Those meetings with perfect strangers felt so uncomplicated, relatively speaking. I think about how lucky I was to move through the world as I did then. It’s a different physical world now. Feels tighter, more bordered, for the time being.

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?

I found myself realizing how much I get from ‘showing up’ in a shared space with the work; how much theatre is co-created between artists and audiences, and how we’re consequential to one another in that ‘room’. I’ve said this before: why is it heaven when you walk into a sparsely attended movie? Why is it hell when you walk into a sparsely attended play? It’s just heavy-lifting when you’re without a crowd in the theatre – and often, digital iterations of theatre have felt like that kind of heavy-lifting for me. There have been notable exceptions, of course –moments of pure medicine! But that’s all to say, this pandemic has reinvigorated my affection for audiences, to remember that we do it all with them.

This past year has also highlighted for me how much more, as a sector, we have to centre care in our work. Care for our fellow artists, care in our ways of working, our ways of producing, our ways of engaging with the public. Theatre is not lucrative, it’s not high-profile, it’s in many ways a fragile ecology, all we have is relationships. How do we take best care of our relationships so that everyone can show up maximally in the spaces we gather and make work in?

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

I got to direct at the National Theatre School this spring. We were safely distanced at all times, masked at all times, following very strict protocols around space and sanitization. It was kind of miraculous. And it gave me a dose of the thing I missed so much (and miss now!): the daily joy of a rehearsal hall working on a new play. The collective effort of making sense of new and original writing, testing revisions, dreaming up possibilities through performance and design. The requisite banter that comes with coping with uncertainty. The getting good at loving uncertainty. I think a life in the theatre primes you for various forms of not knowing. It makes theatre people good in a crisis.

But I miss the very spaces and projects that help us get good at dancing with the unexpected. The helpful edges that keep the sand in the sandbox.

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?

Seeing the lower hemisphere of a person’s face! Ok, maybe that will wear off, eventually. I suppose I’ll never take for granted how interconnected we are as a theatre ecology across this country. We aren’t that big of a sector. I think we punch well above our weight, but we’re a relatively small entity, a kind of village. My feelings around this was heightened recently through a history-related podcast I created for the Arts Club — just seeing how interrelated we are by certain events and cultural forces.

I’ve come to newly appreciate the space that large cultural institutions hold in the social imagination, and how their survival has tangible impacts on companies off all sizes. My esteem for smaller companies has also deepened, those who’ve been so skilled at responding to the immediate needs of their artistic communities. Keeping artists from creative atrophy (and from losing their livelihoods) is critical to our recovery, and to ensuring stages of all sizes get populated by exciting and diverse work. I do think we’re all enmeshed, from a theatre survival standpoint.

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

I hope we’ve come to better recognize the barriers that have been in place in our industry for a long time: barriers to diverse perspectives, lived experiences, ways of working. Barriers to a more equitable distribution of power and resources. Barriers to access. I was speaking to my mother about the Free Theatre Report – this stunning document that I came across created by Savage God (John Juliani and Donna Wong) in the 1970s.

My mother said “I bet if theatre had been free when I was growing up, I would have gone.” There was a kind of sadness when she said it. I think we in the theatre know that it can be a magical thing in your life, it can be hope-and joy-inducing. Can we come back to it now with an eye to broadening its reach and its presence in our social fabric? Can we democratize theatre more?

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

Super tough question. I do love teaching and mentoring. My own teachers, mentors and collaborators over the years have loaded me up with so many insights and concepts and ways of going about theatre. I treasure the spaces where I get to share the collage of my ‘receipts’, what constitutes and constellates and influences my approach to theatre. There’s something so satisfying when I see someone excited by something I’ve inherited, that I’ve passed something useful along.

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 not so sure about that. We’re seeing a surge in pieces of art about the 1980s AIDS crisis in recent years. I know there’s a confluence of factors around that – not least of which the broader social acceptance of queer stories. But I think there’s a kind of profound shock that needs to wear off (I mean we’re still in the middle of this global pandemic), and it’s going to take some time and distance yet before we’ll be able to appreciate and welcome narratives about what we’ve undergone.

Robert Caro says “Time equals truth”.

I’d like to think we’ll give ourselves some time. In another, weird way, maybe any play produced upon the “return to live theatre” will be COVID-themed, insomuch as we’ll be a bit self-conscious in the dark, talking down our mortal fear of that cough we hear across the room, clocking the actors coming more than 2 meters from each other, making contact. The most unrelated content will relate to our historic moment, because the event of theatre is always so Local and Now.

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

Ah, the awkward memorial question. I don’t really know how to respond. I have been to memorials for theatre artists who’ve achieved so much more than I will, and I wonder how much they occur to general audiences now (their ‘future audiences’). Maybe not much. And maybe that’s not a sad thing. There’s something inherently ephemeral about our art form, it comes and goes, you’ve got to be there. If any audience were to remember my work…I don’t know… “he was playful with hard questions” sits ok with me.

To learn more about Andrew, visit his personal website: www.kushnirandrew.com

I was extending an invitation to Andrew to participate in this series through Messenger. Instead of writing one long bubble, I was dividing it into smaller bubbles. I hadn’t even got through the second bubble where I was going to send him some samples of the profiles, and Andrew quickly responded by saying he would LOVE to participate. We conducted our interview via email. Thanks, Andrew, for such a quick response.

I’ve seen his work on stage several times at the Stratford Festival in ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Amadeus’, ‘Pinocchio’ at Young People’s Theatre and ‘Hamlet’ at Soulpepper. Andrew’s theatre writing credits include: Riot, Factory Theatre, 1995, directed by Layne Coleman. (1996 Chalmers Award for Best New Play). It has since been performed in Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax. Oui, Factory Theatre, 1998. Wilbur County Blues, Blyth Festival, 1998. A Common Man’s Guide to Loving Women, jointly produced by Canadian Stage and the National Arts Centre, 1999, and has since been performed in Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax, and Vancouver. The Lady Smith, Passe Muraille 2000, also remounted in Montreal. The Real McCoy, Factory Theatre 2007, 2008, and has since been performed in Ottawa and mounted in St. Louis in 2011. And finally, Toronto the Good, Factory Theatre 2009 was nominated for a Dora award for Best New Play.

When I asked him where he had completed his training, Andrew wrote the following to include in his profile:

“I was not accepted at any [theatre] school I applied to. One school told me that I don’t have what it takes to be a professional actor. At first, I was truly crushed that I didn’t get in but after hearing the experiences of other black actors at theatre schools in the 80’s I soon realized that I would never accept the way that they would treat me, and that I would have dropped out of the school and become an actor anyway. Some universities and colleges in Canada still struggle with racism. The solution is hiring a diverse faculty and accepting diverse students. I teach at the Toronto Film School and we have a diverse student body and a diverse faculty. Our students literally come from all over the world. The Director of Operations is an Asian woman, Annie John. She’s amazing. We have teachers who are South Asian, Asian, African Canadian, you name it. I LOVE it there. If you are a person of colour and are looking for a place to study film and theatre acting, I would suggest studying at the Toronto Film School.”

Thank you for adding your voice to the discussion, Andrew:

The doors to Toronto live theatre have been shut for over a year now with no possible date of re-opening soon. How have you been faring during this time? Your immediate family?

I’ve been busier than ever. Writing, applying for grants, teaching. My wife works for a grocery store chain, so she has been busy as well. It’s been really challenging for my daughters. Really challenging.

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

I wrote a play for the Tarragon Theatre, and I am in a Musical Theatre workshop with the Musical Stage company. And I just did a movie with Jennie Garth called ‘Left For Dead’. I’m doing a reading of a Norm Foster play next month. And I’m doing research on a play about AI and racial and gender bias. Learning about how an AI company that sells facial recognition software to police forces all over the world was run by a white supremacist. So not much really.

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 near year long absence from the theatre as something else?
There is no escape. Remember, Shakespeare worked through the Black Plague. Some of his best plays were written during that time.

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?

That’s the plan. No theatre till 2022. And that’s even after everyone gets the vaccine. It’s killing me. Oh. Perhaps that was not the best choice of phrase.

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?

I always suspected that you could do theatre over the internet. Covid 19 has proven my hypothesis.

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?

I feel true danger going to the pharmacy to buy medicine, or the grocery store, or the bank. True danger. It makes me put on a mask and rub my hands with antiseptic. Theatrical danger is actually just a fear of being uncomfortable. That’s not true-life threatening danger. And I LOVE making people uncomfortable in the theatre.

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’ve always been too sensitive. Painfully so. Hopefully, I will be less sensitive when all this is done.

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?

Absolutely. I get curious about something and then I write a play about it. And one day you’ll see productions of all the things I’ve been curious about.

I have seen Andrew Prashad’s name on several entertainment social media sites over the last few months. Once again, it was my friend, Carey, who encouraged me to get in touch with Andrew to learn of his story.
And what an incredible story and conversation I had with him via Zoom.

Andrew gleamed with a loving parental pride every time he spoke about his immediate family, his wife and children. He is a multi disciplined performing artist from being on stage to his work in cinematography and video editing.

Andrew has appeared on stage at the Ed Mirvish Theatre and Young People’s Theatre and a number of others across Canada. He’s also quite the tap dancer as well. I’ve included a link at the end of his profile so you can hear one of his cover songs. Andrew also received a Merritt award for outstanding supporting actor for ‘Cinderella’ at Halifax’s Neptune Theatre.

His one-person show ‘One Step at a Time’ chronicles his life as a parent with a child who has Spina Bifida. Andrew spoke to me about this show near the end of our interview, and this is one I have on my list to see when it is safe to return to the theatre.

Thank you, Andrew, for the conversation:

It has been an exceptionally long six 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?

A little nervous. As an artist, we’re trying to get back to work. We’re trying to do everything we can to do our part. Things have to do what they do, I guess, and not all of that is helpful to keeping our numbers down.

As a parent, it’s really not great. I had to send my kids to school so having the numbers up is scary. We’re monitoring every day. I’m not happy that the numbers have gone back up, but I’m not surprised by some of the events I’ve seen reported on the news.

Once there is a vaccine, we will emerge to some new way of living. There’s just going to be a whole new battle of getting people to use the vaccine. Should we use the vaccine? Is it safe? How long were the trials? And all those questions that go with it. A lot of people are thinking that once there’s a vaccine that things will get back to normal, but I think we’re being naïve. Anti-maskers was the big hurdle because as soon as the vaccine comes out, there’s going to be a bigger fight, a bigger problem, a bigger conflict.

Once all this gets settled, however long that takes, maybe there will be some kind of normalcy, but who knows?

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

We’ve been doing surprisingly well. The kids are resilient. During that whole stretch when everything was shut down, we were doing the home schooling and they loved it. My daughters would come down, print off their homework and they’d be ready when I came down, made breakfast and started checking in on their homework.

My wife was still teaching so I pretty much did the kids homework and their schoolwork during the day. When my wife was done teaching, if she finished teaching in time, we’d go out for a walk, or she would take over and I’d go do my work and things I had to get done. The kids handled it well which is great because I’ve been hearing about numbers of kids who did not handle it well. It would have made everything so much harder if my kids weren’t as awesome as they were.

By the time we got the kids to bed, my wife and I were exhausted. We were toast. My son was born was Spina Bifida and he has a physical disability and high needs, but he’s doing really well. He just got his first wheelchair, he’s so excited.

There are some really great things coming for us, but we’ve been managing, hanging on and figuring it out.

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

Professionally, one of the most challenging things was losing all of the work and the teaching. It’s funny because I’ve been telling people they have to diversify what they do. I’m an actor, dancer, singer and musician but I’m also a video editor and a music editor. I have a recording studio people come to use. I’m a photographer. I try to diversify my skills which are all based in the arts, so I’m not just an actor. I’m a teacher and choreographer.

When Covid came, it wiped all of it out, it didn’t matter how many different alleys I was in. Everything was shut down. I couldn’t teach. I couldn’t choreograph. Nobody needed video editors; nobody needed photography, nobody needed music, nobody needed anything so there was no work. All our theatre gigs were lost, film and tv shut down, I lost a tv commercial I had just booked. That was really rough along with trying to figure out where money was going to come from.

Luckily, my wife was still working from home, so she still had her pay cheque, but I didn’t have my pay cheque. For a short while, I was on CERB for 4 weeks. Slowly, recital time came in the dance studios. We started teaching online so I taught a few classes online for a few hours a week via Zoom for multiple studios.

I was also doing some private teaching. I got some video editing gigs because the dance studios were still doing recitals, but they couldn’t have the kids in the space. We were doing these virtual recitals so I was editing all of these recitals, but I couldn’t do it during the day because I was helping home school my own kids.

When I put my kids to bed, sometimes I would work until 2 in the morning trying to edit all these dance recitals so these other kids could have them. And then I’d wake up at 6 in the morning and it was to make some breakfast and get ready for school at home all over again.

It was exhausting, but I was able to bring in that little bit of money because I also wasn’t charging full rate because the studios weren’t charging full rates for classes. They didn’t have money to pay for what I would normally charge as an editor. So, it was ‘What can you afford? Ok, let’s make it happen”.

Personally, the most challenging was, or is, finding ME time. My ME time is after bedtime but then I needed to sleep so there was no ME time. There was no US time for my wife and I. It was exhausting.

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?

My one-person show was going to be put up at Neptune Theatre in Halifax. We had a two-week scheduled run there which was really exciting. It’s called ‘One Step at a Time’ and it’s about my family, my son and balancing being a performer and raising a child with special needs and a physical disability. I lost that and it was postponed. Neptune is doing their best, but they don’t know if they’re going to survive.

I also lost the parlay of my show into other theatres. But now, those other theatres have to make room for the shows they had booked because they feel as if they have to owe them a run. Where these other theatres were of the mindset, ‘Oh, we’ll bring you in next season’, I don’t know what will happen because these folks will bump you.

All of those things I’ve been working so hard on to string together have all fallen apart. I had some big auditions I was working on and in final call backs – all of those projects died as well.

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

I’ve been doing everything – husband, dad, teacher, friend. I’m the chef. My wife cooks too but she does more of the dinner stuff.

My wife and I share the cooking, taking care of the kids, taking care of my wife. We both take care of the kids, but I also take care of her. She gets to sleep in, and I’ll handle some stuff for her so she can go and teach. We’re sharing an office. I’ve set up her computer beside mine in my studio, so she has a comfortable place to work.

Teaching online has been cool. Lots of self tapes. Lots of auditions which are coming back. Some bookings. Some voice over gigs. Again, I had two voice over bookings which were awesome. They were both first. One was a first for a video game and I had to go into the studio, and everybody was doing their Covid safety which was great to see. The other one was a voice over for a commercial which I had never done either, but I got to do that from my home in my recording studio which was really, really cool so I did that in between the catheter times for my son at school.

And Theatre Passe Muraille put on a fund raiser. They reached out to me and asked if they could use my show to create a fundraiser. It turned into a much bigger thing than we thought. I thought I was going to host a mini version of my show from my garage studio. And then TPM got the go ahead that I could come into the space.

But since we were in the space, we thought let’s just go full out and all of a sudden, we had four cameras, designing lights and sound with their team, choreographing the cameras. It was huge undertaking that none of us saw coming but it was awesome, lots of fun and everybody at Theatre Passe Muraille were incredible. It was worth it, but it was a lot more work than I thought it was going to be.

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?

Well, I don’t know if I’m the one to be giving advice but if people wanted to know what I had to say – “Reach out to communities. Stay in touch with people.” I found this really helpful. When the pandemic hit, my wife and I were running out of a specific hand sanitizer we needed to clean our hands first before we catheterize our son. I’m always steps ahead when we’re out if I happen to see the product, so we never run out.

When Covid hit, everywhere was in short supply of hand sanitizer. I put it out on social media that I was looking for this product. I put it out on social media and a lot of people came to our aid so we were good for a few months. I was driving all around southern Ontario for two days picking up what people had to give us.

Other advice: Reach out because you don’t know who might be there to help you. Find time to take care of yourself too. Make sure you’re mentally and physically okay. It’s nice to take a day or take time to rest, to sleep if you need to do that. But make sure you stay physically active because that helps your mind as well. Make sure you’re okay before you can then reach out and take care of those whom you love.

For the theatre grads, and for others – it’s tricky because you want to get out there and make your mark. Since everybody who teaches you or who could teach you is out of work, try to find those teachers who are online and sharpen your skills. I’ll tell you, most of you all aren’t ready to be at an extremely high level coming out of school. It doesn’t mean you’re not going to get work.

There’s a lot of room for growth. School is the preparation for the growth you’ll experience once you’re in the real world. So, it gives you that little bit of time to sharpen your skills. Reach out, barter if you have to do so as I understand that money might be tight in some cases. Read plays. Educate yourself further. Work on those skills that you know you need to sharpen.

For my artists of colour: If you haven’t heard it yet, all of us who are working now have been told at least ten times that we need to be at least two times greater than our white counterpart. You’ve got the time now. Go make sure you’re there. Just because people talk about changes in the industry etc, you can’t change people’s mindset overnight. Those people aren’t going to vanish from the theatre industry. They’re not going to give up their position leading a theatre company. They put out a statement, ok they are statements.

You need to go out there and be able to show them, “No, no, no. I’m that good. You should take a second look at me.” Use this time to get all that done.

Do you see anything positive stemming from Covid 19 and will it leave some lasting impact on the Toronto/Canadian performing arts scene?

I think there are some positives. Just thinking about family. If you’re lucky enough to have people living with you, that time together is a gift.

The fact that everyone was stuck at home with their lives on hold really helped put focus on social changes that need to still happen. We were all able to sit in George Floyd’s death and murder more because there was nothing else to go do and escape it. The population had to choose which side they were going to be on. Some chose one side, and some chose another.

People of colour got a few more allies out of all this and people who thought they were allies realized they could be better allies. There’s a lot more education happening surrounding this issue.

A lot of the artists of colour are speaking out, speaking up and we’re getting a lot of flak for it from different people, sometimes within our own community. That’s a positive. I can’t tell you how many white artists told me, ‘Oh, I had no idea. I didn’t know this was a thing.”

I hope everyone works together to make a more inclusive space. Part of me is excited to see where the industry goes – film, tv, theatre. Part of me is ready to roll my eyes when our new or old allies kind of flake on us. ‘Cause it is going to happen, it’s just how many. That’s the question of how many are going to flake and how many are really here for the real deal and long haul.

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?

I am right in the middle on all this. It’s right where we are, and we have to adapt.

I love creating work for You Tube and online platforms because it’s something I do. It helps me to flex my video editing skills, my cinematography skills. It helps me grow. But it was always something I was doing while I had theatre/film or tv.

Now, YouTube and online streaming are becoming theatre in a sense and it’s not, but theatres have to adapt. It was weird putting on my show. I think my show was the first that was back in a space with a full team, social distant with masks and no audience.

I’m lucky that I know the show and where an audience might laugh or cry. In my head, I had that and I went full out and imagined the energy that wasn’t there with an audience in front of me. It was draining because I was trying to compensate because the lack of energy with a missing audience was difficult on the Main Stage at TPM. There’s a give and take in energy in live theatre, and that wasn’t there when it was streamed.

I also had to make sure my performance didn’t suffer because the audience wasn’t there even though the crew was there. They weren’t watching me as an audience as they were there to film the production. I had to put more into my performance.

I thought the one performance was successful as Passe Muraille made some money from that one night of streaming and I got a pay cheque, but I only wanted to do it for one night as I didn’t want to kill the show and not tour with it.

If you don’t have those skills of taping yourself, you need to reach out to people who do. A friend of mine is trying to learn video editing and up his game in self editing skills in order to put work out there to be seen. I think we’re being forced into that position.

In the film and television industry, all actors are being forced into being videographers and cinematographers and proper lighting. My self tape game was always good, and my friends didn’t measure up to what I was doing. Now, everyone has to measure up and learn how to self tape. If your self tape doesn’t look good right away that’s a knock against you because somebody else who is auditioning might have a tape that is just as good or better than yours.

There is no payment in streaming and a YouTube presentation right now. EQUITY and ACTRA are in discussion of whose jurisdiction is it when a theatre show becomes digital. The digital space is ACTRA’s space, but EQUITY is trying to make a case that it’s their space because it is a theatre show. I have to side with ACTRA on this one unless someone can educate me further.

This is all tricky, tricky stuff and I don’t know enough about it.

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

The idea of sharing part of yourself will never get destroyed no matter how you tell the story. The idea of sharing a story needs to be told will always be important.

Since we’ve started telling stories, we’ve always used different mediums to tell them. Just because we’re losing one of those facets doesn’t mean the story telling and the sharing and the giving will ever stop.
We have to adapt how we do it and that’s my favourite part as a performer.

I love inhabiting a character and experiencing different things, but what I love most about performing is the reaction and the emotion you give and get out of an audience member. One of the most favourite things about doing my show is the diverse audience that it draws. You get the regular theatre goers, but you also get the singers, the actors, the tap dancers, and the dancers. You also get the special needs, high needs and the differently abled and disabled communities.

Those communities (special needs and differentially abled) don’t have a show that represents them in Canada. My show represents them. Right now, my show is not enough but it’s something for the differently abled to see themselves in.

It’s amazing and means so much to me the responses I’ve received from audience members after each performance, and performing my show feeds my soul in knowing I was able to give them that re-assurance, that understanding and these communities are so happy whether it is a large part or a small part of their story being told on a real professional stage in Canada. It doesn’t exist and if people have tried, they’ve done it wrong.

I’m hoping that when people see the attractiveness of parts of my show that they’ll expand on that. I can’t create a work that’s all differently abled artists that’s based on my experience because that’s not my experience; however, perhaps seeing a show about my son’s experience and seeing how well it does, sometimes, leave theatre producers thinking, “You know what? This audience, there’s value in telling these stories.”

And then maybe these stories will get told more because as much as we are fighting for people of colour, we’ve fought so hard and so long for it, but as far as we’ve come the disabled community and differently abled community – they’re decades behind where we are. It’s going to take whatever privilege we can grab we have to pass it on right away, otherwise the disabled and differentially abled community will never catch up. They’ll never make ground. They’ll never have their stories told because our stories don’t cover everybody.

Everybody should be able to see themselves on a stage represented. It’s wild and fulfilling for little brown kids to be watching me on stage, winning Halifax’s Merritt Award, and then watching me sing and dance in a solo moment of a big musical and then knowing it’s not only for white people. Brown people will not be portrayed as a stereotypical immigrant character.

That is my favourite part that Covid will never be able to take away. Seeing the faces on the brown kids knowing that yes, they can do what I can do and can be the lead and can make a difference in the lives of others.

To learn more about Andrew Prashad, visit his website: www.andrewprashad.com.

According to the Vision 2021 short film on the Eclipse Theatre website, Artistic Director Andrew Seok calls himself a filmmaker, composer, and theatre creator. He completed his training with some private teachers, Boston’s Berklee College of Music, and York University’s Music Programme. He also completed studies at the Royal Conservatory for Classical Composition and Orchestration. His bio on the company’s website is extensive.

Quite an impressive resume, I must say.

When he realized there weren’t a lot of opportunities for Asian actors in theatre or film, Seok began to create those opportunities for himself. He’s never held a 9-5 job, never worked steadily in an office nor receive a regular pay cheque. But he has always considered himself an artist in every way after a trusted friend once told him, “What’s the point of making art, ever?” when he experienced doubts about any of his musical works finding a life of their own after any original premieres.

I truly respect Seok’s candour in stating his vision is to make art as he moves forward in his career post-pandemic. He recalled being part of a music collective years ago where those involved were trying to start a record label.

Andrew asked: “Why are we doing this?” and the initial response was to make money, but Seok pointed out there were far better ways to do so than starting a music label since none of them is getting rich from it, and very few will achieve that level of coveted success; ergo, the reason for the shift in doing art for the love of it.

Seok recognizes how difficult it is in any business setting to find individuals with whom one clicks, but as he states about Eclipse’s Artistic Producer Chilina Kennedy: “I was very, very lucky to find someone like her who is a new working relationship for me.” Currently, she appears in the Broadway company of ‘Paradise Square’, but the two are constantly speaking on the phone all the time regarding artistic issues related to Eclipse.”

What is one thing this two-year pause has made Andrew realize about himself personally and professionally?

He had a chuckle at first before stating this was a loaded question. For himself, Seok realizes he must create as it is a huge part of his identity. Whether it’s building wooden furniture, woodworking, graphic design, or writing short stories, there must be an end product no matter what. It is this end product which shows the thought, the creativity and the passion from whence it came. Andrew felt lost during Covid when he couldn’t maintain this structure for himself.

Professionally, (and he realizes this personally), because the theatre industry took a huge nosedive during Covid, Seok re-evaluated his relationship with the business side of things, how much money can be earned, what will the reviews be like and will there be enough money to do something after. Instead, he now focuses on appreciating the work and the journey of it rather than the financial outcome or the ‘success of things’; if he placed passion into it and his wholehearted energy and creativity into it, then that is the reward in that endeavour.

With an industry that’s crippled, what else do you have?

Some sage advice here for actors and artists who may still be experiencing a forlorn sense of loss.
Our conversation then turned to Seok’s upcoming project ‘Til Then and why audiences need to see this production. When he became Artistic Director for Eclipse, Andrew and Chilina had a sit-down and had a frank conversation. If they wanted to make money, they should stage ‘Mamma Mia’ or ‘Phantom of the Opera’.

Both Seok and Kennedy agreed passionately they wanted to foster and develop Canadian new musicals and help put the country’s artists on the world stage. If this vision failed, crashed, and burned to the ground, at least the two of them could hold their heads high and say they did this because it was important to them rather than produce big blockbuster shows.

Eclipse is starting a new Canadian Musical Works Festival where there will be a reading of new Canadian musicals. For Andrew, a big launch was necessary. He thought it would be great to get all of these amazing Canadian theatre musical writers and songwriters from across the country in celebration to tell about their experience of this time of the Great Pause from Covid these last two years. If these songs can be moulded together to create a show, it would the ultimate celebration of the Canadian music theatre scene in this pandemic time when the industry has been crippled.

He continues:

“There’s no one writer to write everything we’ve been through. There are too many stories, too many angles, too many perspectives of what we’ve been through. Let’s get as many artists as we can. So we got 24 writers – some paired up. They were given the question WHAT DID THIS TIME MEAN TO YOU?”

Seok smiled as he recalled these artists saying: “What do you want us to write about?”

He replied: “Whatever you think you need to write about now.”

The only stipulation he made clear: “Let’s try not to make this a super depressing show.”

The work he received from these artists ranges in all the emotions with the ups and downs and the universal effects of everything we’ve all endured.

Andrew remained a tad coy in explaining further why audiences should see the show. He did add though, that a really cool thing happens whereby there are moments where we will watch the show, and where we will be invested in what we are watching:

“It’s a show about us, and in the trailer, (that you can see on the website) this is all of our story presented here by Canadian musical theatre icons and songwriters from Canada. This was our dream and we achieved it so we’re hoping audiences will come to see it.”

As we concluded our conversation, I recalled a line from the VISION 2021 short film on the Eclipse website:

“Let us find a way to dream again.”

What is Andrew Seok’s newest dream once ‘Til Then concludes July 20?

We shared a good laugh when he replied: “How do I say this without getting in trouble?”

A pause where he thought momentarily and then:

“I want Canadian artists to be spotlit on the world stage, for sure. If I as an Artistic Director of a Canadian theatre company can help that, I absolutely want to.”

A noble and heartfelt intention, indeed, but, for Andrew, the arts and entertainment world has started to veer on a course in a certain direction. He’s not saying it’s a bad direction, but Andrew would really love for more non-regular theatre-going public to see more theatre than just going to see shows like ‘Les Mis’ or ‘Hamilton’.

Andrew has many friends who are not in the industry and who have no idea of what’s out there. Yes, they’ve heard things by word of mouth and that’s all they know. He wants to be able to show his friends it’s time ‘to broaden the buffet’ for the general public to see.

Andrew’s dream going forward for himself and Eclipse? Hopefully trying to bring more theatre to the masses and have it being appreciated by more than just a small niche group. There’s more to theatre than just the ritz and razzle-dazzle stuff. He likes it, but that’s not the kind of stuff Andrew writes. He hopes people will come to see stuff not part of their wheelhouse.

‘Til Then’ runs July 17-20 at the Berkeley Event Church, 315 Queen Street East in Toronto. For tickets: http://www.eztix.co/ezkiosk/en/1784250.

To learn more about Eclipse Theatre: www.eclipsetheatre.ca.

Dora Award-winning actor, director, choreographer, educator and playwright Andy Massingham is upfront, personable, witty, and knowledgeable. He loves criticism although he doesn’t read reviews.

What brought him to this realization? Actors cannot sit in an audience without doing the same thing – critiquing and talking about the work of others.

He knows his stuff and what he wants when directing for the theatre. He shared a thought that all directors have probably felt: “As a director, the heartbreak of opening night is one of the deepest heartbreaks because you know that it’s over and the actors are going to go.”

Massingham is currently directing ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare’ (Abridged) (Revised) (Again) for Port Perry’s Theatre on the Ridge (TOTR), which will close out its 2024 season. A comedy encompassing Shakespeare’s 37 plays in two hours, he feels it’s a nice way to close out the summer season.

How did Andy hear about Port Perry’s Theatre on the Ridge?

The company’s Artistic Director, Carey Nicholson, took a course Massingham was teaching through his long-standing association with Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre. For the last 5-10 years, Andy has been doing weekend physical theatre workshops focusing on no dialogue, structure, and physical stories using clowns and various elements. The workshops mainly involve putting a show together without dialogue.

Massingham and Carey hit it off at that workshop:

“When she walked in, I didn’t know who she was. By the end of the weekend, she said she would love to talk to me about Theatre on the Ridge. The next year, I came out and did exactly that. We formed a one-hour theatre piece that was purely physical.”

Andy salutes Carey because she understands what he is doing regarding physical theatre.

To these other larger companies, like Stratford and Shaw, Andy would describe Theatre on the Ridge as an enclosure that is still open to the elements, which gives actors, directors, and designers a little freedom to throw some stuff out. When you’re going outside, you know there will be unlimited expectations. There’s a big difference in the summer between walking into a theatre and walking outdoors into a theatre.

Andy calls Theatre on the Ridge: “A mini-Stratford. If I were to describe [Ridge] to Antoni Cimolino [from Stratford], it’s a small setting under a big top. Intimate work can be done at [Ridge]. Clown work can be done [at Ridge]. It’s within that realm much like commedia dell’arte did over 500 years ago, and the original Stratford Festival did under the first tent many years ago.”

Andy says Carey is making bold choices under the usual summer stock realm. As he got to know her, Andy firmly stated that Carey was doing very clever programming. He pointed to this year’s slate—a Kat Sandler play, a musical, and a slapstick ‘Monty Python-like’ version of Shakespeare in one season. That’s a great season because Andy says this selection of plays appeals to everyone.

It might be a challenge to bring audience members from Toronto, Drayton, and Stratford to Port Perry, but that’s Andy’s dream. He wants audience members to know that Theatre on the Ridge is only an hour away but come here. It’s accessible. Massingham intends to shine a light on Port Perry. The town is beautiful, and the shows at Theatre on the Ridge are great.

Our conversation then veered to where Massingham completed his artist training. His response made it clear his wit is one of his personable qualities:

“I haven’t completed it yet. It’s still going on.”

We shared a good laugh before he continued.

Massingham graduated from George Brown Theatre School in 1985 and studied for two years with Richard Pochinko doing clown. Pochinko was Andy’s clown teacher at George Brown. Massingham has been working with teachers, dancers, and actors since then.

Andy calls himself an amateur, but he’s a lover of the form. To continue learning does not necessarily mean to keep taking courses. Andy continues meeting with artists over coffee and talking about things. When he worked at the Stratford Festival, he soaked up everything he could from the legends of working with Brian Bedford and Martha Henry:

“I sat in a rehearsal hall with these people and sponged everything I could. Musicians have to keep working with other musicians to keep their skills updated. The minute you start doing that, you extend your own language.”

Has Andy realized there is any difference between the theatre companies in downtown Toronto and the theatres in the outlying areas?

“Work is work, and I’ve become very pragmatic about it. I go where the work is. I like it. I’m happy seeing a show in a church basement or a hole-in-the-wall, as I am at Festival Theatre.”

He has performed on stages across Canada. What is the commonality between them? Everyone wants to hear a story and be entertained. It doesn’t matter where the story is told. Andy recounted how he learned much while touring a clowning show in Northern Ontario. The residents came out to see a show and didn’t care about a resumé or the theatre. They wanted a show. That’s all that matters, whether it’s Shakespeare, clown, modern dance, or jazz.

That’s been Massingham’s guiding light.

He’s plugged into the next generation of up-and-coming young artists and sees a huge fire coming up in them.

On a break, before rehearsals for ‘Complete’ continued, Andy shared his excitement for the show. Rehearsals for this actor-driven piece have been a ‘hoot.’ The text for ‘Complete’ was written for only three people, but five actors are present in the TOTR production. Immediately, they all knew there would be slicing and dicing, and that’s fine with Massingham because he loves re-visioning.

The first week of rehearsals saw everyone playing around with the text while the unique personalities of each of the performers shone through. Massingham said the five of them are like the Marx Brothers. They are completely different but have unique things about them.

The performers have gelled through the rehearsal process. Nicholson afforded an extra week of rehearsal, which Massingham called glorious. He says the actors are ready for an audience, terrified but ready, which is a good way to be. It’s show business.

He greatly encourages these five actors; They should all be working in the business now:

“Stratford. Hire these actors. These are solid, fantastic emerging artists.”

I have heard that the study of Shakespeare’s plays should either be removed or significantly curtailed.

Massingham’s response to that kind of thinking. He says he won’t get angry about it, but that’s a stupid idea and:

“I’ll never stop teaching it, and I don’t care what they say. That’s it. That’s inflammatory talk, and I don’t believe it at all.”

He then made a valid comment:

“If you’re studying music at Julliard in New York City and the decision is made to cut Mozart or Miles Davis,” doing that would be removing the centered structure of all modern music.”

Finally, what’s next for Andy Massingham once ‘Complete Works’ concludes its run?

He works at The Toronto Film School. He will be directing a show there in the fall, but he is always on the lookout. He hasn’t acted in over ten years but is looking to get back to it. He’s also starting work on a sequel to 2005’s ‘Rough House,’ a solo show based on the physical theatre and clown.

Andy Massingham has been a lifelong lover of the form. He thrives in the classroom with young minds and artists.

‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare’ previews August 8 and will officially open on August 9. Running until August 24, all performances will take place under the TOTR Tent at the Scugog Shores Museum, 16210 Island Road. For tickets, visit www.theatreontheridge.ca. email: boxoffice@theatreontheridge.ca or call (905) 242-9343.

Now that I’m retired from teaching, I can state that I had called in sick one Friday morning and traveled with my mother to New York City to see the original Broadway cast of ‘Avenue Q’.

I remember we had both seen trailers on television for the production and made the production a must-see. We were not disappointed in the least as we had a ball at the theatre that night and this very adult performance which probably seems tame by today’s standards.

I especially enjoyed watching Ann Harada as the character Christmas Eve whose fiancé didn’t have a job. They had bills to pay and all of the other responsibilities that come with living together. Ms. Harada was deliciously sassy and saucy as the adorable Christmas Eve. A quick bit of online research also led me to discover she has played Madame Thenardier on Broadway in ‘Les Miserables’ and was in the original cast of Dolly Parton’s ‘9 to 5’. She’s also appeared in TV shows such as ‘Smash’, ‘Blue Bloods’, and ‘New Amsterdam’.

Born and raised in Hawaii, Ann graduated from Brown University with a double major in English and American Literature/Theatre Arts. We conducted our interview via email.

Thank you again, Ann, for participating.

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?

And how! Once my son’s school ended in June, we headed for my mother in law’s house on Cape Cod, where we’ve been ever since. And we’re not exactly sure when we’re going back since school is completely remote right now. When we look out of the windows here we see water and trees. Sometimes a squirrel, or a bunny. In NYC I have an incredible view of a back alley and I see my neighbor smoking pot. And I sure don’t blame him a bit.

Were you involved or being considered for any projects before everything was shut down?

I was shooting some episodes of a TV show, but I just found out my character’s storyline was cut “due to complications from COVID”. I am devastated. I was in ‘Emojiland’ off-Bway— we shut down in mid-March. I was supposed to go to the Kennedy Center and do ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ –canceled.

Describe the most challenging element or moment of the isolation period for you.

For me, it is being unable to hug my friends and not being able to talk to them in an intimate way, my husband is always pulling me away from people and saying, “That is not six feet!”

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?

Like everyone else I have been doing things on Zoom and practicing making self-tapes, converting a closet into a recording studio, trying to fold my green screen, fun things like that. I don’t enjoy this part of the business at all. If I was interested in iPhone cinematography or home lighting, I would have pursued those interests. My interests will turn to reading more actual books and catching up on series I never paid attention to before.

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?

Well, this isn’t the first time we’ve gone through a national shutdown or a pandemic. Our industry managed to survive both 9/11 and the AIDS crisis. Theatre isn’t going away, it just might take a while to sort out. I’m not worried about young people. They’ll figure out a way to do what they want because they’re not set in their ways yet. It’s the older people I’m concerned about. Without any way to earn health insurance, what’s going to happen?

Do you see anything positive stemming from this pandemic?

I hope we see continued respect for our frontline workers, from medical professionals to grocery workers and restaurant workers. It was beautiful to participate in the nightly 7 pm applause for them, and I hope we continue to appreciate their service.

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

Of course. How are we going to get audiences back in the theatre safely? How long will it take for people to want to come back, to not be afraid of crowds? How long will it take for me to feel comfortable in an audience? How will I feel safe onstage? Everything is a question.

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’ve certainly enjoyed the live streaming events I’ve seen. I’ve only done a few live streams, they were mostly educational. But I do think it’s a great way to bring people together. I don’t know that every play is satisfying performed as a reading but if it’s creatively done, it can really be extraordinary.

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

I love connecting with people, I love performing with other people, and we are still desperate for human connection. Maybe even more so now. I know that people enjoy what we’re doing, even if it isn’t live and in person. I’m happy to keep putting things out there if people enjoy it.

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:

What is your favourite sounding word?

Gobsmacked

What is your least favourite word?

moist

What turns you on?

Intelligence

What turns you off?

Ignorance

What sound or noise do you love?

Orchestra tuning, rain on a tin roof

What sound or noise bothers you?

Beeping noise when the freezer or fridge door is not closed

What is your favourite curse word?

Shite or bollocks

What is your least favourite curse word?

Refers to female reproductive anatomy

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

Novelist, photographer, museum curator, librarian

What profession would you not like to do?

Daycare, law, stunt person

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

“You didn’t do everything perfectly, but you always gave it your best attempt. Please have a seat.

To follow Ann on social media Twitter: @annharada Instagram: @iamannharada

What a delightful time I had chatting with Anne Plamondon via Zoom.

When I mentioned during our conversation that I had received a press release which describes her as a ‘radiant choreographer and performer of dance’, she was extremely flattered that she is regarded in this manner because she considers radiance a beautiful quality of light, hope, well being, luminous and glowing.

Anne hopes that her work can make an audience feel elevated especially now in our world. Art can be possible in any subject addressed; however, Anne also spoke of the fact that our present world can not always be considered a happy place as our world can be both beautiful and ugly at the same time, and audiences will see a profound depth in ‘Only You’, her upcoming dance presentation this week at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre.

We both agreed that we are not out of the pandemic and its dire effects yet; however, Anne recognizes these last two years have changed the world of dance for her. She isn’t sure that she has fully noticed everything that the pandemic did change and that it will take awhile before any of us really see what has been changed.

Anne’s first thought on the dance milieu when the world changed two years ago was on the emerging next generation of artists and their preparation within schools in what she calls that big black hole in teaching. Her concern was how these artists were going to learn and to be prepared moving forward into the industry. Yes, schools and students had to continue via Zoom. If students and schools must do this, they can. It’s not impossible to maintain and keep the inspiration alive but learning via Zoom is not enough in dance because the art speaks so much when people move together.

For Plamondon, dance is “a language of the body, of touching, reunion and communicating through the body from one person to the other”. The art of dance is not conducive to distancing six feet from each other. The whole point of dance is a gathering of the audience and the performers, and the curiosity of meeting the other person.

The process of dance is about sharing the body language in the studio during the rehearsal. If dancers can’t be in the same room together or can’t enter each other’s bubble, then a huge part of dance has been cut and that’s troublesome.

As a dancer and choreographer, Anne cares a great deal about what she calls partnering work. She enjoys the narrative in her dance in seeing how it starts, where does it go and what is left. It is something she has loved doing. She was lucky enough to have amazing partners in her dance career. For Anne, if the partnering work cannot happen then there is what she calls a great deal of ‘missing out’.

For someone like myself who holds no background or education in dance, Plamondon wants audiences to realize that not every dance piece has to have a narrative running through it. For her, dance sometimes goes mysteriously ‘beyond the words’ and audience members may not have to understand everything. There could be images, movement, or combination of movement with music in the language of the body that might just create an interesting picture on the stage for audiences to follow and to feel something emotionally. That on its own can be poetic and touching.

Today, she feels a sense of urgency to speak about her work candidly and honestly and to do it well since this great two year pause of nothing. Everything has to matter and to mean something. Anne considers herself ambitiously curious now more than ever. She was to have brought her show ‘Seulement Toi/Only You’ to Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre March 17, 2020, as part of an important step for her company. She wanted to bring a partner into the process after completing two solo shows.

Thankfully, ‘Seulement Toi/Only You’ returns and runs April 8 and 9 at the Fleck Dance Theatre at Harbourfront. Anne says she is super excited to return to Toronto as she feels she has developed a strong relationship with the city since she has danced her many times. She considers ‘Only You’ a stepping stone to make and provide group work for her company since she has only completed solo works and solo evenings before. Making duet work seems to be a natural evolution for her to start bringing other people into the process of dance for her company.

When she choreographs for herself, Anne relies on personal life connections for inspiration. She performs and creates for herself so there is no distance between the two. Choosing a partner for ‘Only You’ was extremely important. After she selects the partner, Anne then decides what both must do to keep the integrity of the two persons. Every step of the process is extremely important in the conversation of the relationship between the two dancers in trying to figure out who they are as individuals together.

Before the pandemic, Anne was interested in a need for connection and a need for understanding the other in synchronicity. But the title of the piece made Anne realize that after all this stuff of the last two years, it’s just her. She has to find her road for life and walk that road. This is the personal part of ‘Only You’ and also a self quest.

‘Only You’ is also personal in that she went from only dancing for other people and a moving on to choreographic development. There was a transition for her. Anne is still a performer, but she only performs her work. She considers herself fortunate in her career that she has worked with phenomenal creators such as Crystal Pite and James Kudelka in that she was a muse for someone else’s vision.

But she has moved forward.

What’s next for Anne Plamondon after April 9 after Harbourfront?

After Toronto, she and the company travel to Ottawa and the National Arts Centre and perform ‘Only You’ there. In June, she starts a new creation with eight Canadian dancers including herself. It’s the St Sauveur Festival in Montreal directed by Guillaume Côté. Anne was commissioned a thirty-minute piece this August to create a work. She has selected dancers from across the country. She points out that during this time everyone is talking about thinking locally. Anne makes a good point when she says that local is Canada for her, so she has dancers from Toronto, Vancouver, and Montréal. Although some of the dancers have worked with each other in the past while others haven’t, Anne confidently states she is taking a leap of faith that she has selected the perfect group for this piece at the Festival which premieres August 3.

As we began to wind down the conversation, I asked Anne a question what I’ve asked other artists in some profiles.

What would she like future audiences to remember about her and her work ten years from now?

I think I caught her off guard because she paused and said that it was a monumental task to think about this right now. Then she confided that she felt humbled in being asked this question.

For Anne, she loves the art of dance and its discipline. Sometimes, dance might or could be misunderstood by audiences who may connect to music or theatre more. She feels she has a responsibility as a dance artist to bring the standards and the quality, the craft and the integrity of the work in that direction of excellence, otherwise the discipline can suffer tremendously if dancers don’t aim for excellence in the industry.

‘Seulement Toi/Only You’ performs April 8 and 9 at 7:30 pm at the Fleck Dance Theatre in Harbourfront Centre, Queen’s Quay Terminal, 3rd Floor, 207 Queen’s Quay West. The performance is 60 minutes in length with a short question and answer following the show April 9.

For tickets, visit harbourfrontcentre.com.

“A new generation of theatre makers is coming up, and I feel we are going to feel the effects of their force very soon.”

First, I must acknowledge that Anthony Goncharov is a patient artist. I’m thankful for this character quality, as his profile is long overdue.

Since seeing his stage performance in 2022 in Lobby Hero, I have been interested in learning more about the origins of Icarus Theatre, which was among the emerging independent theatres in Toronto at that time.

Icarus is a company I’d like to continue watching because it has big plans on the horizon that look exciting. Goncharov is flattered by the compliment. He has been busy over the last few years in establishing and maintaining Icarus’s name, developing a solid reputation on the Toronto theatre scene. According to the company’s website (www.icarustheatre.ca), one of the company’s goals is to produce high-quality, exciting, and dynamic work.

The company’s 2025-2026 season opener, Oleanna (directed by Goncharov), appears to live up to its goal of creating exciting and dynamic work. David Mamet’s script is not an easy one to stage.

We conducted our conversation via email, which worked best for both of us. His production of Oleanna is now in performance, while the Fall 2025 season is heating up once again for me.

Anthony completed his post-secondary education at Sheridan College. A modest fellow, he attributes any artistic skill he has gleaned to his high school drama teacher, Brad Case:

“I was very lucky in that [Brad] was a working professional actor who respected the fundamentals of the craft and taught me skills that I am still endeavouring to refine to this day.”

Goncharov is also quick to point out other mentors who have helped him along the way: Richard Lam, Laurence Follows, Ted Dykstra and Diana Bentley, all outstanding artists indeed. An important lesson Anthony has learned from Ted and Diana: “uncompromising, high-quality work pays off.”

What was the genesis of the company’s name?

Initially, years ago, while still in his college basement suite, Anthony thought how cool a name like Icarus would be for a theatre company. The more he thought about the mythological character, the more the name Icarus gave Goncharov the goal to strive toward. He clarifies that a lesser-known aspect of the Icarus story is that, while he was warned not to fly too close to the sun, he was also cautioned not to come too near the water and get his feathers wet.  The thought of danger, ambition and pushing forward out of a comfort zone is something Anthony strives for in Icarus’s work.

Anthony believes and supports that Icarus is an important voice on the Toronto independent theatre scene for two reasons. First, he thinks there is little space for emerging talents to reach the stage of working with established individuals. Icarus has had some incredible and emerging talents grace its stage. Anthony says audiences are really excited by the inter-generational fusion of talents and can feel the raw energy and passion that comes from ambition. As the company continues to grow, Anthony does not want to let go of that thriving ambition. He says it would be ‘foolish to distance from and a disservice to the incredible emerging artists who have brought Icarus to where it is today.” The second reason Icarus is a vital voice – Anthony proudly states that the company selects scripts that excite and interest both artists and patrons. (I’ll talk more about what Icarus has planned for the rest of the season shortly.)

While getting artists and patrons excited and interested isn’t unique, Anthony says the more theatre companies there are bringing people into the theatre, the better. Since he’s been involved in building Icarus, he proudly says:

“When I look out into our audience after a show and I see people as young as twenty and people four times that age buzzing over the same show, it tells me we’re doing something right.”

The buzzing has started already. Here’s the link to Our Theatre Voice’s contributing writer Dave Rabjohn’s review of the current show Oleanna: https://ourtheatrevoice.com/oleanna/

There has been a lot of change in the theatre industry, and Goncharov says the Toronto scene in general is going through a massive one. While he acknowledges that some may see the attendance and interest dwindling, Anthony believes the industry is on the verge of a huge breakthrough. New voices have already been established at companies like Soulpepper, where Paolo Santalucia is now the Artistic Director. Change has also occurred at Coal Mine and Crow’s, where the ambition of those involved will bring audiences into vibrant and exciting times.

Icarus’s 25-26 season is a knockout. Dennis Kelly’s DNA will run November 6-16, 2025, at the Theatre Centre BMO Incubator. Polly Stenham’s Julie After Strindberg will run March 19-28, 2026, at Tarragon Theatre’s Extraspace. No word has been released yet on most of the creative team or who has been cast. Goncharov believes these two plays are among the most intriguing to emerge from the UK in the past decade, and it is both incredibly thrilling and scary to perform them for the first time in Toronto. What Anthony can say at this time: Erik Richards (Sound Designer of Fiji and Oleanna), acclaimed director in his hometown of Edmonton, will direct DNA, and long-time company member Emily Corcoran (Lobby Hero, Constellations) will perform the title role in Julie (After Strindberg).

He says further:

“If it wasn’t evident in our working history together already, I trust Erik and Emily Anne very deeply and know that they’re going to do incredible work with these scripts. We’ve already had a few meetings about both productions. Although I’m not able to tell any further details at this time, I’m elated I’ll get the chance to see DNA and Julie (After Strindberg) as an audience member, let alone have them as Icarus productions.”

As an artistic leader, where does Anthony see Icarus in the proverbial five-year plan?

One lesson he has learned through producing is to roll with the punches.  He’s going to keep his dreams and ambitions for the company largely to himself and see how things change and evolve. He’s doing his utmost day by day to ensure a continued ability to keep moving forward into a second three-season show.  He doesn’t say too much about the company’s plans because he had written in our email conversation:

“What’s that phrase? If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”

Now that Oleanna is in its final performances, Anthony will continue to work together and meet with the upcoming two creative teams for the remaining two shows. Additionally, Goncharov is also involved with Coal Mine Theatre. He is a Founding Associate of the Vault Creation Lab at Coal Mine.

What does he have to say about his experience working on Oleanna?

I learned a lot from this production, and I need to find the right script before I run back into a creative role again. Oleanna was three years in the making, and I think I can earnestly say it took everything out of me. I think after this one I might like to do something more lighthearted – but who knows, I usually end up contradicting myself anyway.

To learn more about Icarus Theatre company, visit www.icarustheatre.ca.

Anthony Goncharov’s headshot by Desmond Lazar.

I’ve seen Antoine’s work in some extraordinary productions in Toronto and Montreal over the last couple of years. He has appeared in Soulpepper’s production of a wonderful adaptation of ‘A Christmas Carol’ as the young Ebenezer.

Other terrific productions where I’ve seen Antoine’s work was Groundling’s ‘King Lear’, Montreal Centaur’s ‘The Last Wife’, and The Stratford Festival’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’.

Antoine first studied theatre at Montreal’s Dawson College Professional Theatre Program and then obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance at Montreal’s Concordia University. He then attended the Stratford Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre. Some very fine credentials here.

We conducted our interview via email as Antoine was one busy guy with a number of auditions this past week.

Thank you so much for the conversation, Antoine, and for allowing us to hear your voice:

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?

To be honest, 2020 was a rollercoaster of a year. A ride from which you couldn’t get off, a defective one, where the whole thing grinds to a screeching halt while you’re in the middle of one of those loops, and you’re left hanging upside down, with all your pocket change (jobs and savings) falling away from you, never to be seen again… a dramatic way to say I had some ups and downs.

There was a period of three weeks, early through the first wave where I suddenly developed anxiety attacks, thought I might die of a heart attack at any moment…I didn’t, I got over that, somehow i.e. I stopped smoking and drinking four litres of coffee every day. I started running, daily, and then the second wave hit, and I stopped running, I gained another ten pounds and I started smoking again. So here we are twenty pounds later and still smoking like a fiend.

I cried, I laughed, I yelled at the tv a lot. I thought about going back to school. I considered going into real estate (for 45 seconds), but I also got my first tv gig (yay!) and I watched one of my best friends win an Emmy. It’s been a lot. Of everything. Even a bit of theatre, for six blessed weeks.

My immediate family thankfully is doing great, everyone is safe and still relatively sane, which really is all that matters at the end of the day.

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

I went through many phases. I spent a lot of time early on, during the first wave, feeling guilty for not using this forced “time-off” in a creative way that would channel this experience into meaningful art. I felt uninspired and numb. And useless. The lockdown brought out old fears I had, about the meaning of my life, and the purpose of my calling if my calling was not called for anymore.

I had a project planned for the months of August and September in Montreal. A bilingual co-pro between the Centaur Theatre and Theatre D’Aujourd’hui. It obviously got postponed but, in a surprising turn of events, the two theatres decided to still have us rehearse the play, get it as show ready as possible, so when the time came to mount it in 2021, we wouldn’t need to start from scratch. They figured there wouldn’t be much turn around time if and when the government gave the green light for theatres to reopen so they wanted us to use that time while it was still allowed (mid late summer of 2020 when daily cases were relatively low).

We didn’t get off book, but we blocked the entire play, went through many rewrites, and got much of the audiovisual elements (of which there are a lot) incorporated during those six weeks. We basically got through tech week. It was a strange experience, being back in a rehearsal space in Montreal, masks and all, working on a piece, hoping but not knowing if it would ever see the light of day.

I certainly was grateful for it, regardless of the outcome. I needed that creative release after months of feeling idle and unproductive. Also, having theatre in the ICU meant that I was able to finally give film and tv a chance. I managed to book a few things. That was nice finally to break the ice.

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 near year long absence from the theatre as something else?

I would describe it as nightmare from which there is no escape because there’s no waking up from this. We’re in this metaphorical mess of a maze and try, as you might, the exits have yet to be located. And I’m not sure we’re ready or deserving of an exit, yet. I’m not sure.

The escape, if there was any to be found, was introspective and inward. The rest was distractions. But really, with the magnitude and multitude of historic events that took place this year, not only south of the border, but everywhere really, there was an abundance of opportunities for reflection. A sort of “mise au point”, a chance to re-examine and then reposition yourself in relation not only to yourself, but to the past, the present, the future and to the things you took for granted, on the macro and the micro.

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 have no idea. I certainly hope we won’t have to wait till 2022. As I said earlier, I’m supposed to be doing a show August 2021, but right now your guess is as good, or moot, as mine.

It seems to me it’ll all depend on the vaccine rollout, the number of cases going down, and whether or not the government and people feel safe indoors. I remain cautiously optimistic.

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?

I think it might be a little too soon for me to tell you how Covid has transformed me, as I have a feeling I’m still in the process of said transformation. As for what it’s done to my understanding of theatre and where it’s headed, it has reinforced my belief that we need it now more than ever.

We are starving for the communal, for a space where healing can happen, where reconciliation is something that can be observed, considered, and felt before experienced, a space that can nourish, replenish and reinvigorate our imagination and our humanity. A gym for empathy.

We’ve been glued to our phones, tablets, tvs, screens, books, and honestly, I’m not entirely ungrateful for that, if only because I have a feeling, once things are deemed safe enough, that people will truly want and appreciate the access to shared experiences again in live performance. Whether this takes the form of escapist entertainment or cathartic art is up for grabs. The latter does not necessarily exclude the former, and I think there will be a need for both.

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?

I agree with Zoe Caldwell. I certainly have felt a lot of danger and a lot of anger during this time. I have no doubt it will influence my work when I return. I’m hungry for work, itching to be back in a theatre, creating, collaborating, unpacking this experience we’ve all been through, and using it as fuel for art.

I think a lot of the anxiety I’ve been struggling with these past few months is a symptom of all this bottled-up creative energy I haven’t been able to release. I want to be of service, and I want to do it on stage.

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?

It sure has. I think it’s made a lot of us more sensitive, a lot more recognisant, of the privileges we used to take for granted. The theatre community in North America at large has had a real wake up call in terms of the disparities facing visible minority arts practitioners and, while I do fall into that category, I am also able to recognise that I have had my share of privileges too.

My parents left Lebanon in 1990, when I was five, at the tail end of a civil war, to give my siblings and me a chance at a better life, and there is no doubt in my mind that the life I have lived so far, while not without hardships, struggles, and unfairness (whose isn’t) has still been one full of possibilities.

Everything is relative. There is still much work to be done in terms of giving space to people who don’t take up a lot of it. We were all due for a prise de conscience, individually and collectively.

If there’s one good thing to come out of this pandemic, I hope it’s a willingness and an active effort to make room for others, to sit at the same table, at the same time.

Connect with Antoine on Instagram: Ant1.Ya

Whenever I hear Stratford Festival’s Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino’s re-assuring voice on television, usually as spring approaches, my summer will not always feel complete until I have visited to walk around the town and to see some extraordinary shows. I always look forward to receiving the Festival’s brochure in the mail (yes, I still receive it this way, and I like it) as it details upcoming productions with pictures and items that garner my total interest about what is to hit the stages and its environs.

When I hear Antoni’s clear voice in one of Stratford’s live theatres before the performance begins and the trumpets sound at the Festival Theatre, I’m at home and feel at home.

During this time of the worldwide pandemic and lockdown, I often wonder if the professional performing arts community will ever truly be able to recover and move forward. A solid and steady, firm grasp of the here and now is very much needed to make those steps forward into an unknown and, possibly, uncertain future. This is Antoni Cimolino.

I had the good fortune to have chatted recently on the phone with Antoni about the confusion of this time. Just listening to his eloquent conversation of perfect diction combined with an extraordinarily calm demeanour and a warm and welcoming tone in his voice put me at ease very quickly with this gentleman. We even shared a few moments of much needed laughter during our telephone conversation.

No spoiler alerts but, at the conclusion of this profile, you’ll see why Antoni and I shared a good laugh on the telephone and why he chose this communication form rather than Skype or Zoom:

1. How have you and your family been keeping during this two-month isolation?

Brigit and I are doing okay, thanks for asking. Our daughter is teaching English as a Second Language in Taiwan, and she is safe. Our son is studying at university and he is doing well. Currently, it’s just Brigit and I at home.

2. What has been most challenging and difficult for you and your family during this time? What have you all been doing to keep yourselves busy?

Along with having to stop the season and postpone all performances at this time, our household has also been dramatically impacted. It is a worrisome time right now, not only for the Festival, but also for many within Stratford who depend on the Festival. All of us are working on trying to understand how we will get from here to there.

Given all this turmoil, I have been keeping myself busy by getting the filmed Festival performances online. As I look them over and think about them again, great comfort comes to me. Watching these carefully edited filmed productions has been like seeing old friends again. And speaking of old friends, I’m also preparing for a number of interviews during this time. I’ll be meeting with Shakespeare scholar Jim Shapiro and also have a meeting with Stephen Greenblatt, Shakespearean historian and author.

These filmed presentations have been extremely helpful in keeping interest in the Festival going. At one point, we’ve tallied the data and had over 300K people tuning in to watch these works of art preserved on film, so we are most thankful for this reality.

Along with the walks Brigit and I take on country roads around our home, we’re also exercising and eating as healthy as much as we can.

3. Antoni, I can’t even begin to imagine the varied emotions and feelings you’ve been experiencing with regard to the postponement of the 2020 season. In your estimation and opinion, do you foresee COVID 19 and its results leaving a lasting impact on the Canadian performing arts scene and on the town itself?

It has been devastating to walk around the town and to see the heartbreak the destruction that COVID has left in its path. There were over 1000 individuals connected directly to the Festival who are now out of work and over 3000 in the town and surrounding area who relied on the Festival’s patronship to restaurants, shops, hotels, and bed and breakfast.

It’s hard to say what the permanent impact will be at this time on the performing arts scene.

The plays from the 2020 slate will be performed, I just don’t know when that will happen until we get the all clear.

4. Do you have any words of wisdom to build hope and faith in those performing artists and employees at the Festival who have been hit hard as a result of COVID 19? Any words of fatherly advice to the new graduates from Canada’s theatre schools regarding this fraught time of confusion?

For all artists, it’s important for them to realize that on some level they have been given a gift. That gift is humility. If anything, living through this new reality has taught us that humility is needed. The seasoned performer may have taken some things for granted within their career, but this reality of COVID has taught all of us about dealing with the negative in our lives and not to take things for granted.

Strangely enough, there is a beauty and interconnectedness about this time since each of us is dealing with Covid and the fallout in our own way. I hope all the artists, and this also includes the new theatre school graduates, that on some level they have been given this gift of humility and time to develop a greater sensitivity to all that surrounds us.

5. Do you foresee anything positive stemming from COVID 19 and its influence on the Canadian performing arts scene and the Festival?

Absolutely! Covid will spur a powerful resourcefulness on the Festival and the performing arts scene. The Festival has at least started this resourcefulness with its selection of filmed productions that can be shared worldwide. This common ground of sharing these timeless stories and tales is a start with the community in building interrelationships with our patrons. On this front, at least something is better than nothing.

For now, Covid brings with it the real fact that the Festival may have to look at different ways to disseminate its work through technology. The artists involved in every respect from editing to performance are to be commended for trying to create that work of art that we hope will live on in the history of the Festival.

It won’t be forever, but it’s just for now until we have been given the all clear to return to the theatre.

6. I’ve already watched ‘King Lear’, ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Coriolanus’ and planning to see the marvelous Martha Henry in ‘The Tempest’. Nevertheless, I’ve spoken with some individuals who believe that online streaming and You Tube presentations destroy the theatrical impact of those who have gathered with anticipation to watch a performance. What are your thoughts and comments about the advantages and/or values of online streaming? Do you foresee this as part of the ‘new normal’ for Canadian theatre as we move forward from COVID 19?

Online streaming and filming of our productions do, and can, allow for a greater intimacy with our audiences. There’s an artistic beauty produced in each of these films, and I firmly believe the Festival’s capturing of these magnificent stories will conquer Time. The camera can capture from a distance and allow the audience to see the performer’s expression and possibly feel the emotions. Sometimes your seat in the theatre might now allow you to see the expression. The camera also tells the audience where to look and upon what to focus.

Online streaming and You Tube are inventive ways of using technology, but we have to remember that streaming and theatre are two different mediums. Online streaming and You Tube presentations are not meant to be a replacement for live theatre. Yes, some individuals will haphazardly put up a staged reading or something that might garner a quick look; however, we are hardwired for others to act out. It’s human nature. When we were children or when we have children, we notice that it’s human to act out. We lose that beauty of ‘acting out’ as we get older.

There is nothing like a live connection each of us feels as we sit in the theatre waiting for the performance to begin. There’s a powerful alchemy and magic at work which creates a wholeness for every patron present. Not only do these two elements each bring their own unique way of seeing the story come alive, but also we get to experience that same powerful magic work itself in others around us who are also seeing the story come alive for them. That’s why theatre thrives and that’s exciting. That’s why we will remember performers like Martha Henry and Colm Feore (just two names that came to my mind). That’s why theatre thrives.

In our Festival theatre, for example, you’ll notice that it is very different from the typical proscenium arch theatre. In the latter format, the audience sits forward and never gets to see how other members are reacting to the Story. At the Festival, the seating surrounds the stage so the audience sits on all sides and you can’t help but see how others across the hall will respond when necessary. That’s what makes theatre so remarkable. That’s what makes people want to return to see theatre.

We will return to the theatre when it is safe to do so.

7. What is about the Festival and performance that you still adore in your role as Artistic Director?
I am one incredibly lucky person that I have been able to be of service to Stratford, to the artists and to the crew who work behind the scene.

With this position and role as Artistic Director comes a great responsibility. I have also experienced a great joy at the Festival and in watching the many artists, especially those who need that chance and that opportunity whether it is to have a reading of a script, to workshop a possible script and to see potential or to give that new actor and that new talent that opportunity that all of us have had at one time.

Off the top of my head, I think of Peter Pasyk who was to direct ‘Hamlet’ and Amaka Umeh who was to play the central tragic figure. Just these two individuals alone who are new to the Stratford company will make an indelible mark. There are many others in this year’s company as well upon whom we must keep watch.
I’m also incredibly proud of the work at the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre and The Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction.

With a respectful acknowledgement to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton, here are the ten questions he used to ask his guests:

1. What is your favourite word?

Delicious. I like to use this word a lot.

2. What is your least favourite word?

Zoom (Both Antoni and I have a good laugh over this)

3. What turns you on?

Books

4. What turns you off?

Zoom (And again, Antoni and I have a good laugh. Now I know why he and I did not have our interview via Zoom).

5. What sound or noise do you love?

Waves lapping against the shore

6. What sound or noise bothers you?

Lawn mowers

7. What is your favourite curse word?

“A plague on you” or “Rot me” or “Split me windpipe”

8. Other than your current profession now, what other profession would you have liked to attempt?

Gardener – I love to be in and around the garden for relaxation.

9. What profession could you not see yourself doing?

Lawyer

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

“The performance begins in five minutes.”

Here’s the first link to Talk is Free Theatre (TIFT)’s profile of Artistic Producer Arkady Spivak: https://www.onstageblog.com/profiles/2021/3/12/theatre-conversation-in-a-covid-world-with-arkady-spivak?rq=arkady%20spivak.

Time is moving on, oh, so quickly these last three years. Again, I appreciated that Spivak was available to answer more questions about where the theatre industry was headed. We conducted our conversation via email.

TIFT’s mandate as an artist-driven company is to support the emerging artistic community by producing a wide range of ensemble-based, off-center, inventive, and rare programming. That’s quite a lofty mandate to envision, but I like that TIFT always keeps it burning brightly. At the bottom of his electronic correspondence, Spivak includes a quote from Christopher Hoile at Stage Door, who calls Barrie’s professional theatre vibrant and innovative. I’ve attended a few TIFT productions and agree with that statement. On that note, I’m going to plug the following two upcoming TIFT productions:

‘La Bête’ runs at The Harbourfront Centre in Toronto until March 16. I saw the show in Barrie last year and loved it. I’m headed to see it again and stay tuned for my newest review of the production.

‘Cock’ runs April 18-27 in Barrie at a surprise location yet to be revealed on TIFT’s website. Arkady states it will be a funky site-specific production with some favourite TIFT artists.

Spivak remains very proud of what TIFT has accomplished and states: “It’s quite awesome to continue to glorify the underdog.”

Like any theatre company coming out of Covid, nevertheless, some issues must be addressed. Spivak spoke about them.

TIFT is now dealing with a renewed sense of disappointment – of audiences not coming back as quickly as needed as many have lost the habit of regular attendance. But this is also an opportunity for companies to figure out how to broker a place of purpose between the artists who are now creating or performing at a much deeper level, and the audience who are looking for a new sense of purpose and direction. There might be a tendency to go populist and lure in an audience – but the question is – is this the audience needed?

While Ontario theatre companies continue to figure things out as a result of the last three years, Spivak shares what TIFT has done.

The company was able to navigate COVID turbulent years more easily than other companies perhaps, and in fact grow capacity and scope. TIFT’s structure and model are incredibly nimble and varied. Historically the company has proven that we are able to produce many different types of works in several different settings and under widely varying circumstances and levels of funding. The company itself can reconfigure and assess any given situation quite quickly because it is how we have functioned for years regardless of a global pandemic.

This recognition has served TIFT a great deal.

Rather than being stuck in a strict, structural reality that then needs to be undone and changed because of the ever-shifting state of the world, TIFT was able to navigate these changes fluidly as they arose. For example, there was not an overwhelming loss of focus or resources when performing to a physical, paying audience was no longer an option because most of our revenue already came from outside ticket sales.

Although an audience is fundamentally and critically important to serve as a gateway to support mechanisms (donations, new Board members, etc.), TIFT does not need a box office figure to survive fundamentally. For this reason, TIFT was able to launch free admission to our expanded main programming, instead using a deposit system to ensure attendance from those who pre-book. This helps dismantle economic barriers to attendance, drastically diversify our audience and position us to derive greater revenue through contributed sources because of wider audience access.

In the 2023-2024 season, TIFT continues to operate some free performances of every production but has also returned to paid admission for the rest.

Spivak continues to hold tremendous respect for theatre artists. He believes they are more important material than the material they are working on. At TIFT, when artists are given proper agency and authority, they have the capacity to change the world more readily than anyone. TIFT is guided by a mission to encourage, support and uplift artists to be the best they can be through transformative experiences on and off the stage, and to inspire artists and audiences alike to find deeper connection, appreciation and love for live theatre. TIFT works to preserve and promote the art form as a fundamental component of life in Barrie and beyond by providing an unparalleled level of diversity of works and experiences that arouse awe and wonderment about what potential theatre has to transform the human spirit.

That respect for artists is most readily reflected in TIFT’s Artist BIG (Basic Income Guarantee Project). Arkady said the inaugural BIG was wonderfully successful, and TIFT has recently launched the second three-year cohort. The Inaugural BIG quickly yielded a full roster of creative proposals and offerings – enough to fill two outdoor performance festivals in 2021 and three in 2022 – along with multiple successful on-line offerings, like the popular Dinner à la Art. BIG artists also conceived and developed several art-adjacent programs and service projects. I won’t be able to name them all here, but I’ll include a few:

– an Audition Reader program in which actors are paid to act as virtual readers for each other’s self-taped auditions for non-TIFT projects
– the First Day Series: Zoom readings of challenging works facilitated by BIG participants, giving work and purpose to artists throughout the lockdowns of 2020.
– the Two-Way Paid Mentorship program: over-turning the traditional top-down mentorship model, this program connects theatre practitioners of different generations, disciplines, and regions across the country to lay the groundwork for a more communicative, inclusive, and compassionate professional milieu.
– Canadian Musical Theatre Database (CMTdB): an interactive website to archive, support and promote Canadian musical theatre.

Remember, these are only several. If you wanted to contact Arkady personally via email, I’m sure he would happily share other BIG accomplishments.

Where does Spivak see TIFT headed over the next three-five years:

“We would love to continue enhancing and improving the impact of our work and putting artists into leadership positions in the world. But doing so without institutionalizing or growing for growth’s sake. In other words, we want to transform to be even more free to change the world.”

As we came to close the conversation, Arkady made another comment that I found intriguing Historically, the vast majority of cutting-edge, widely influencing theatre was presumed to be produced in the downtown core of major cities (Toronto being only one) or by major theatre festivals. And this is understandable as there is a greater congregation of an audience in such settings to warrant significant artistic experimentations, plus there has been a greater presence of national theatre coverage to popularize such attempts.

I’ll go one step further and ask that you take the opportunity to step outside the Toronto scene and see what TIFT offers audiences, especially with its production of ‘La Bête’ running to March 16 at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre. And take that trip to see ‘Cock’ in April at the yet-to-be-disclosed Barrie performance location.

To learn more about Talk is Free Theatre, visit www.tift.ca or visit their Facebook page: @TalkisFreeTheatre or on X: @Talkisfree.

I finished my Zoom conference call interview with Toronto artist Astrid Van Wieren with a big smile on my face and felt a huge sense of accomplishment. She is a lady who is truly thankful for the gift and grace of her performing arts career. Just hearing the titles of some of the productions in which she has performed are quite impressive. Plus, I also found out today that she and I attended the same alma mater (King’s College at University of Western Ontario – yay!!) and we also earned the same degree while at King’s. Upon her graduation from UWO, she then attended the theatre program at Ryerson University. (in the process of a name change at this time)

The first time I saw Astrid on stage was at the Royal Alexandra Theatre over three years ago when the extraordinary ‘Come from Away’ was on its North American tour eventually heading to Broadway. When I was in New York City last year, I went to see the production and the original cast was still playing. Ms. Van Wieren will continue in her Broadway run of the show at the Gerald Schonfeld Theatre in New York City once the all clear has been given.

And will I go see the show again when in NYC? You bet your sweet bippy I will. How many people remember that line?:

1. How have you been doing during this period of isolation and quarantine for the last two months? What was life in New York City like right up until the decision was made to close the theatres? I’m taking it that you are still in New York at this time since ‘Come from Away’ was playing right up until the lock down? Is your immediate family doing well?

No, I’m here in Toronto, in my house in Leslieville. I was on my first vacation in forever, down in Buenos Aires where I was invited by the Artistic director of The Stage Company Theatre, Carla Calabrese to see their rehearsals of ‘Come from Away’ which was to be the first non-English licenced production. I was treated so beautifully while I was in Buenos Aires. Then everything got a little strange towards the end because that’s when the pandemic was starting to really hit. When I got back to New York, Broadway had already shut down so I went to my apartment in Harlem, packed a bag thinking I’d be gone two, three weeks because that’s what the producers were telling us at the time.

I came up to Canada as it was a chance to be home. And It just felt safer. And if I got sick, I didn’t want to be a burden on the New York health care system which already had numbers that were starting to climb quickly. It’s strange, but I do feel I abandoned her, New York. It’s a city that just feels like a sentient being.
Like everybody else, it’s been a real roller coaster. Yes, roller coasters can be exciting and fun but it’s the opposite of whatever that is. It’s the emotional up and down that is hard to navigate. There are days when I feel great. Today the sun’s shining and that immediately brings an uptick in mood. I feel better, more alert. There are days when every joint in my body hurts, I feel tired and think ‘What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?”. Then it all rains down.

I’m learning to navigate and to give in to what my body tells me. Some days I might get only one or two things done and there are other days where I’m fired up, getting creative things done, on Zoom calls, doing my workouts. Exercising helps clear the mind. I’m also doing morning pages (‘The Artist’s Way’). It really helps a lot.

What I’ve been thinking about recently are the numbers of those who have been hit hard by the pandemic. It occurs to me the word ‘numb’ in ‘NUMBers’. But there is a story behind every number/person who has lost their life, or families who are helping and coping either in loss or keeping a watchful eye on family and friends. All those stories, gone. And actors we live by stories, really we all do.

My immediate family is doing fine. My sisters on the west coast are fine; and my brother is fine in St. Thomas. . My dad is 86 and in London, Ontario, and is doing alright. I’ve been Face timing once a week with our dad as a check in. It’s been one of the positive shifts during this isolation. My sisters made masks for me and my dad. He is still ambulatory and loves his walks, but he wears his mask when he is in the elevator or his apartment building’s hallways. I’ve had some friends who have been touched by the virus but so far, I’m fine.

2. Were you involved in the planning stages of any upcoming/future projects before the pandemic was declared and everything was shut down? What has become of these projects?

We had our third-year anniversary for the Broadway production of ‘Come from Away’ recently. I thought I wish I could be in this long running show for as long as I can. And I also thought it would be nice to have a month off to re-energize. Well, be careful what you wish for, eh? Because now we have months and months of being off.

There’s a sequel to a musical I’ve been working on called ‘After Baal’. I performed ‘Baal – A Rock and Roll’ play at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre many years ago. The playwright (Rose Cullis), director (Jon Michaelson) and I are working on it, so that’s fun to explore. Where would this rock and roller be 20 years or so down the line? What happens to an artist who stood her ground and gets older? This is fascinating to me as I begin to age and consider our usefulness and stories and how people shift as they get closer to the end of their lives.

Also, in between playing ‘Come from Away’ in Seattle and Washington, I did an independent feature film with my creative partner and best friend, John. Now, we’re pulling a pitch together for a potential series.

3. What has been the most challenging part of the isolation and quarantine for you?

I’m a real social creature. Strangely enough, I also love time out, zoning out and going into a place of complete rest. I think not being able to be with people has been the most challenging. People get interrupted in Zoom calls and they can feel so awkward. I love an Algonquin round table of people sitting around with so much conversation, talk and discussion going on about ideas of theatre and art. You can’t get that same discussion going on a Zoom call or podcast as you can when you are together. Technology doesn’t allow it.

I miss being in a rehearsal room. I miss the social aspect. I miss the audience who is so important. It’s the need of the audience which creates this wonderful, delicious tension, and that need to be told a story or to hear a joke that makes live theatre crackle. The applause is nice but that immediate connection is what I really miss.

Just the not knowing when this pandemic will end and how things will reshuffle, I think, is the hardest point. Who am I if I’m not acting or creating? What purpose do I have?

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

I work out five days a week. I’ve been doing some promo videos, pod casts and on line cabarets; lots of these for ‘Come from Away’ because we want that investment there when we return. The fun challenge with these videos is trying to use the medium in a different way to create immediacy and intimacy.

As of yet, I can’t find the focus to read a book. I think there’s still stuff in my brain that I’m processing. I’m sure it’ll come back to me.

I read a lot of articles and things people post online. I follow certain friends online and see what they’re doing. I’ve also watched some Netflix shows. I’ve watched ‘RADIO:30 and SHE GREW FUNNY from the NAC. It’s impossible to get to see everything. There’s so much content on line. It’s hard to get to see everything.

I’ve been visiting with friends and neighbours and keeping that proverbial two metre distance.
Some days I feel so, so busy but I rarely feel like I get anything done.

5. What worldly advice would you give to other performing artists who are concerned about the impact of COVID-19? Any sage advice for new theatre school graduates?

Allow yourself to be vulnerable. Allow yourself to be scared by all of this. But don’t retreat, if you don’t have to. Be innovative. Create art. Art will out. If you have time and energy, do it. We have some much privilege to take the time and be grateful for it.

And yes, be grateful, but also be really aware of the inequality that this pandemic has pointed out.

Listen to your heart. Don’t judge yourself too harshly. Look for the little waves of inspiration. Ride those little waves of inspiration. I feel badly for the young theatre graduates but lean on your classmates. Create work together. Stay in contact. These are the people who will push you. Find a way to connect. Being a good actor is vulnerability, risk and don’t be afraid to fail. There’s no one right way to do it. But having said all this, it’s also more than okay to cocoon and chill and regenerate.

Everything is about adaptability and flexibility. Listen but also fight for those things that are important to you.

6. Do you see any positives coming out of this pandemic?

The necessary recognition of injustice: racism, misogyny, recognizing the true value of essential workers; from health care professionals to the pizza delivery driver.

This pandemic is a chance for the planet to take a breath.

The more work I do with young people, and I’ve met some incredible theatre kids, they can see the bigger themes. I think there are some big innovators coming up.

I choose to be optimistic because we can’t live in darkness.

7. Do you believe or can you see if the North American/Canadian performing arts scene will somehow be changed or impacted as a result of COVID – 19?

Yes, there has been an impact. People have lost their jobs. Hopefully people will realize theatre and the arts stimulate the economy. I know art will survive. People are story tellers. The appetite for stories will never change, but how they’re delivered might shift. The community element will come back.

Broadway will come back, but it can’t come back too soon. Broadway has to be careful how it moves forward. Our ‘Come from Away’ producers are talking every day trying to think of strategies to bring us all back to New York to perform sooner. But safety and health, first.

8. Many artists are turning to streaming/online performances to showcase/highlight/share their work. What are your thoughts and comments about this? Are there any advantages or disadvantages?

I think artists have to do it. Story telling is in the blood. You need to put it somewhere. You will try in any way to connect with an audience.

I have noticed a distinctly different feeling if you watch something online as it is streaming live or catch the piece after the fact.

Because of the pandemic, a lot of things have different resonances for people now. Song lyrics and text pop differently.

9. What is it you still love about performing that Covid will never alter or destroy?

That sense of community will never be destroyed by Covid even as we mourn the loss of people together. I’m a good teacher and a great coach and Covid will never destroy that. Covid will never destroy the incredible writers, artists, designers, performers, and their need to create.

Covid will never destroy the problem solving involved in how to tell the story with all key people involved from actors to technical people.

With a respectful acknowledgment 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:

1. What is your favourite word?

Trust

2. What is your least favourite word?

Unprecedented (du jour)
.
3. What turns you on?

Humour

4. What turns you off?

Rudeness and arrogance.

5. What sound or noise do you love?

The cardinal in my backyard. (du jour) It’s so bold. I love it.

6. What sound or noise bothers you?

Buzz saws on a quiet afternoon, especially construction buzz saws on a Sunday afternoon. Although right now, every day is a Sunday afternoon.

7. What is your favourite curse word?

Classic – fuck, just fuck. (and then Astrid just strung a bunch of curse words in a run-on sentence. LOL)

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

Something arts related or I’d love to run a coffee shop, it would be a specialty coffee shop where people would stop by, feel safe and just be creative. Coffee would be free. I’m a millionaire in this scenario.

9. What profession would you not like to do?

Anything to do with being a bureaucrat, paperwork, numbers – an accountant. A paper pusher. I love paper, but I would not want to push it around.

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

“Bettie would like to sing a duet with you and hug you. Hugs first.” Bettie is my mom.

You can follow Astrid Van Wieren on her Instagram @astridvw2020. You can also follow her on Twitter: @astridvanwieren.