Ottawa Tonite.com : Section Title
- The film “Stricken” comes from a first-time director in the Netherlands. It is about a married man who, when tragedy strikes, must decide between his current life and an intriguing new woman. December 4, 7:00pm
- “Breathing” is the official Austrian selection for entry into the 84th Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film category. The protagonist is a nineteen year-old ex-con who is learning to rebuild his life after prison, and the film has received critical praise for its stunning visual style.
December 3, 9:00pm - A Canadian-Hungarian co-production, “The Maiden Danced to Death” was filmed right here in Ottawa. It is about two men and the woman who came between them; and how, 20 years after the fact, they try to make peace by reviving their dance company in Hungary with a performance of “The Maiden Danced to Death.”
November 26, 7:00pm 
Features
Sample European Culture Right Here in Ottawa!
Photo by Matt Ohara via Flickr
For the next two weeks, Ottawa audiences have the unique opportunity to sample some of the best independent films coming out of the EU. The European Union Film Festival is hosted by the Canadian Film Institute (the oldest film institution in Canada) and takes place at the Library and Archives on Wellington Street. The participating films are chosen by the CFI and many are credited as official selections for other big international film festivals such as Cannes, or have already won awards in their country of origin.
This is the 26th year for the Festival and in an interview, CFI Executive Director Tom McSorley told Ottawa Tonite that attendance and popularity grow steadily every year due to Ottawa’s “love of international cinema in general and European cinema in particular.” There are similarities between Canadian cinema and that of the EU, namely that filmmakers tend to generate “small, personal films with modest budgets and big ideas.”
Running now until December 4th, the EU Film Festival offers a diverse array of film styles and subjects, so there is something for every taste.
To highlight a few:
More information on the Festival and the Canadian Film Institute can be found on their website: http://www.cfi-icf.ca/
Boyce Avenue Ottawa Concert Review and Interview
Left to Right: Daniel, Andrea, Alejandro, & Fabian
I stumbled upon an amazing band in 2007 at a local bar in Gainesville, Florida called “The Sidebar” while out with friends. I fell in love with their sound after just two songs, but had to leave during their set and didn’t think to grab their name in my rush. It took months of Googling and Yahooing before I found them again. The band was called Boyce Avenue, made up of three brothers; Daniel, Fabian, & Alejandro, who sing covers of songs as well as original music. Over the next few years I bought their music and became really impressed with them, but I never had a chance to make it out to a show until now. The concert here in Ottawa was the first time I’d seen them, since that night nearly 5 years ago. It was also the first time we’d officially met face to face.
I walked into the venue for a meet & greet, which I had purchased weeks earlier to see the band before my interview. When that wrapped, Boyce Avenue and I sat down for a one on one chat*:
Who’s idea was it to start a band? What drew you three to music?
Alejandro (A): It wasn’t really a concrete idea, it was just something that naturally happened. We got into music as kids. And we are brothers, so when one of us picked something up, we’d all join in for fun. It all happened organically pretty much.
How long have you been playing together?
A: We’ve been playing together for about 6 years give or take.
Do you find that touring has changed you as a band in any way? How?
A: I think it’s helped our musicianship a lot. We can play more with little to no downtime in between.
Daniel (D): I think we get along better on the road, we bond and get to experience adventures together. Off the road it’s more business, and focus on management, but on the road we can focus on playing.
Where do you hope to be 5 years from now?
A: Doing what we’re doing now, but to more and more people ( laughs).
And personally?
A: Of course from a family standpoint, we want to continue to grow. You know kids, wives.
D: Wife, not wives!
A: Right, one wife for everyone.
Well, two of you (Daniel & Fabian) are already married so, you mean one wife each?
D: Right. Each of us only having one wife. Not multiples!
That’s Cool. Who are your core influences?
A: Goo Goo Dolls, Coldplay, Dave Matthews, Oasis, John Mayer…
Fabian (F): (under his breath) John Denver
(Laughs)
A: and John Denver
I’ve noticed that there is some familiarity (in a good way) in your music with some of the bands you listed as influences, like the Goo Goo Dolls for example.
A: It’s kind of natural since we all kind of grew up listening to 90’s rock or melodic rock. I don’t think you can help writing stuff that sounds like the music you listen to, if that’s where your heart is. If you like that sound and those are your favorite songs, then it’s going to feel right when you have an acoustic in front of you to play riffs or music that is like that.
Some of your songs, no matter how sad the subject matter is, actually seem kind of hopeful to me. Is that the overall message you want to convey to your fans?
A: Yes! That’s true.What appeals to us is being a bit more emotional, which kind of lends itself to being a little sad. But we always seem to have in every song pretty much, the vibe that “It’s not perfect now, but it’s going to get better” you know that kind of vibe. And we hope that’s fairly relate-able, you know since we go through that. You never feel–I hope you never feel– that you’re completely finished as a human being, but striving to get better.
The Show
The event opened with youtube sensation Alex Goot & a band of Texas rock-gods called “Green River Ordinance” or GRO who by the end of their set, had the audience wrapped around their fingers. Alex performed an upbeat cover of “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton which is a hit with many of his Youtube fans. Lead Singer of GRO, Josh Jenkins primed the crowd with their popular single “Dancing Shoes”, before surprising everyone with a rock n’ roll sing along of the Justin Bieber hit “Baby”. Josh’s pitch was perfect through the entire song, and I must say GRO put Mr. Bieber to shame. Electric guitarist Jamey Ice immediately drew my attention the second he walked onstage. He reminded me of a younger, blonde, and considerably more animated Slash from Guns N’ Roses. The way he played his LED-lit guitar and entranced the entire room (especially the ladies) no one could keep their eyes off of him when he worked the crowd. I was at the front of the stage and could clearly see how passionate GRO was about getting the audience on their feet. They made their mark on this crowd for sure.
Alejandro took the microphone and introduced himself and his brothers and then the concert began. “Daylight” an earlier song, came first, and drifted into “Tonight” flawlessly. “Not Enough” came second as veteran Boyce fans (myself included, thank you very much!) mouthed along and pretended to be mini-Alejandro’s. This song also featured the first of a few amazing standout guitar performances by Daniel and Fabian, respectively. Next, came Boyce’s stunning cover of “Rolling in The Deep” by Adele. I loved this performance, and found it soulful and well arranged. When “Find Me” played, I looked up to watch the band and for one moment during the chorus all three brothers had closed their eyes at the same time. It was just for a micro-second, but I could tell they had a vibe between them and were really feeling this particular song together.
Lead singer of Boyce Avenue: Alejandro Manzano
The energy-lifter of the night was the Boyce Avenue rendition of Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite”. There was fist pumping, lip syncing, even some jumping on my part as I lost myself in that song. Daniel worked the Cajon with a magic all his own, as his brother Alejandro joined in to battle him. “Just The Way You Are” slowed everything back down again as Alejandro crooned the chorus to a sea of tightly packed fans, before the band took a moment to tell the audience about their next song, “Briane”. The mood was somber as Daniel explained that this song is what his friend’s wife, who committed suicide, might have wanted to say to her husband in the aftermath.
“Broken Angel” flowed right to the core of the crowd as every girl, myself included, swayed and used the music to heal any sadness that lingered within us. “On My Way” is lead singer Alejandro’s love letter to his future soulmate, who he knows is out there, but hasn’t met. It had us all swooning before we kicked it old school to Boyce’s cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car”. Drummer Jason Burrows shined all through this concert, but I really liked how he played during “Fast Car”.
It wasn’t until “When The Lights Die” came on that I felt that familiar feeling that originally drew me to Boyce Avenue. When Fabian started rocking to the music, eyes closed, in his own world, I couldn’t help but smile and think back to 2007, when I saw him doing the exact same thing. I was 8 feet from the speakers which most people would probably hate, but it only intensified what was happening. It felt as if the speakers were pumping the music into my whole body, thrumming it into my heart, and back out towards that stage. This feeling was what I had waited all night to experience. “Every Breath”, a popular fan favorite was played as a fake-out ending, but as the crowd chanted “Encore!” Boyce returned to play “Dare to Believe” and “Iris”. The set then truly ended after Alejandro led us all in a sing along to “Hear Me Now”, a song that has become somewhat of an anthem for this tour. The next time Boyce Avenue is in Ottawa, I highly recommend you check them out. They truly love their fans, and for one night they’ll make you feel like they played every song just for you.
Special Thanks:
I’d like to thank Boyce Avenue for taking the time to do this interview, with everything they had going on during their time in Ottawa. Also, the show both looked, and sounded fantastic, thanks in large part to tour manager Erich Jackson, Merchandiser Anthony Hook, as well as their crew of stage hands. These guys attend venue after venue making sure the tour runs as smoothly as possible. Everything from scheduling my interview to running the stage during the show was primarily handled by these guys, and it is greatly appreciated.
*Want more Boyce? Click the links below for video from the interview, and their fan Q&A! (copy & paste links in new browser)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP0lO-ufiqE
http://getboyced.blogspot.com/2011/10/fan-q-with-boyce-avenue.html
To learn more about Boyce Avenue, please visit their website, Youtube, Twitter and Facebook:
www.BoyceAvenue.com
www.youtube.com/boyceavenue
www.twitter.com/boyceavenue
www.facebook.com/BoyceAvenue
Alex Goot:
www.youtube.com/gootmusic
Green River Ordinance:
http://www.greenriverordinance.com/
For links to my other interviews please visit:
http://www.wix.com/mongoose3687/shespeakselite
“Balance” is Coming to the Mayfair Theatre!
Balance, written and directed by Derek Price and shot by Jith Paul, will be screened as part of the Treepot Indie Filmmaker Showcase on September 22nd at the Mayfair.
The cast and crew of Balance gathered to talk about the process of making this chilling short:
In this second clip, we hear about the shooting of the film:
And in this third clip, we learn about the process of putting the film together … oh, and Derek remembers a very important thank you …
You can see this short film and others at the Mayfair Theatre in Old Ottawa South on September 22, 2011.
The box office opens at 6:30pm. The show starts at 7:00pm. Tickets are $5.
Note:The Mayfair is a cash only outfit so save up your Lauriers.
Video and article courtesy of Kevin Burton
Ottawa Jazz Festival 2011: Local Jazz Jam Session – The audience fills the room!
Notes by John Geggie
Now this is more like it…lots of jam fun….
There were people available to sit in and an audience that filled the room and were supportive and attentive the whole time….this made for a lovely evening of music…
After the opening set by the house trio (which is always fun and full of surprises), the first segment of jamming involved players from Tania Gill’s quartet and Pink Martini. Bassist Phil Baker and guitarist Dan Faenhle played with Jim Lewis on trumpet with Nancy and Nick. They played three tunes…a medium Gone with the Wind, a smoking Charlie Parker tune called Segment (and a ballad I can’t remember the name of)…a great mini-set of listening and interaction..
The second group to come up consisted of players from various places..local bassists Norman Glaude, young guitarist Justin (Duhaime?) and finally Drake (I think that is his name) – a drummer with the Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam show at Scotiabank Place. Two nights ago, we had fun with the saxophone player from the circus and I am happy they are starting to make a trip into town to play. They played All Blues and How Insensitive.
The final configuration featured Nick and me playing with pianist Tania Gill – tunes were a spiky I Remember You, Bud Powell’s Parisian Thoroughfare and a blues I think…
We the house trio finished off the night with a tune…thanks to the quiet and respectful audience enjoying the music and showing their appreciation the whole night…things felt really good in the room.
After-hours jazz jam sessions are being held during the Ottawa Jazz Festival at the ARC The Hotel.
Location: 40 Slater Street, Ottawa
Thursday, June 23rd thru Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 (excluding Canada Day)
Time: 10:30pm – onward
Ottawa Jazz Festival 2011: Local Jam Session #2
Notes by John Geggie
So, curiously enough with all the inclement weather, no one at the session felt like playing tunes like Stormy Weather, Here’s That Rainy Day or Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head…
So things started nicely with some house trio tunes such as Steve Swallow’s Eiderdown, Phil Markowitz’ Sno’ Peas, Keith Jarrett’s Belonging and Jaki Byard’s Mrs. Parker from KC.
Jamming got going with some fine local players Tom Denison on bass, his son Lucas on drums, Mike on alto (a fine player studying at McGill but spending the summer playing in the band of the Ceremonial Guard) and Daniel Ko, the young Ottawa alto player who has just won a full scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Nancy joined in on piano. They played two tunes (Green Dolphin Street and All Blues).
After that, we switched things up with a tune by the house trio with Galaxie Youth All-stars Director Jim Lewis..we did Secret Love. For the next tune, Dan Ko came back up to play two with us, ending with a very fast What is This Thing Called Love.
After short break, local trumpet player Craig Pedersen jammed on a John Zorn tune…Ottawa drummer Dave Pontello joined in for No Greater Love and we finished the night with a blue that went inside, outside and free at times.
Things wrapped up around 1:30am.
Ottawa Jazz Festival 2011: “after-hours at the ARC lounge”
Post by John Geggie
Good morning…
Ok, so like Robert Plant showed up and we wailed through Houses of the Holy, Dazed & Confused and Whole Lotta Lunch….uuhhh, so, like,…NO…that didn’t happen.
BUT the ARC lounge is great…the feel on the bandstand is great, very intimate. It got noisy last night (lots of people at the back) and we will have to rejig the piano volume to cut through but onstage, it is very intimate and it feels right. I like the look of the room and there seemed to be a lot of people in there last night..Colin and the whole team at the ARC are being great…
So, it was a joy as always to play with my pals and co-conspirators in the house band, Nancy Walker and Nick Fraser.…they sounded great as always and it was fun to play some new tunes for our opening set – people coming down to the session should note that the opening set by us the house trio is sometimes the most sublime and happening music of the night..I am truly blessed to be able to share music with Nancy and Nick.
We had a good night of jamming – things started off with some local players: Craig Pedersen on trumpet, Lucas Hanemann on guitar played two tunes, the 2nd one being Lady Bird (Tadd Dameron). We were then joined by vocalist Renée Yoxon (sounding GREAT). She sang Bye Bye Blackbird and All Blues. Nancy was sitting out on this segment but I could see her edging back closer to the stage and finally she crept up to the piano because she simply wanted to play (‘Renée was sounded so good on All Blues, I just wanted to join in’). It was nice how just her subtle interjections of things on piano spurred Lucas to change how he was playing and go to a different place. It had a great arc and journey.
After a short break, two young players from the Galaxie Rising Stars came up with their horns (Marie on trumpet and Chris on tenor sax)…we did three tunes ending with a fast version of John Coltrane’s Blues for Alice (she doesn’t live here anymore).
After another shortish break, we the trio finished off the night with Wayne Shorter’s ESP.
We finished about 1:20am..it was pretty non-stop music and neither Nick nor I had a break all night.
- a nice start to the festival jams this year.
After-hours jazz jam sessions are being held during the Ottawa Jazz Festival at the ARC The Hotel.
Location: 40 Slater Street, Ottawa
Thursday, June 23rd thru Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 (excluding Canada Day)
Time: 10:30pm – onward
TAMIR’S ‘Dreamcoat’ Documentary: Inspiring hope
Feature by Teri Loretto
Videos by Kevin Burton
The beautiful Mayfair Theatre in Ottawa was packed on the evening of Thursday January 27th: Camera’s flashed as VIPs arrived, a white Limo dropped off some smiling people who couldn’t wait to get inside to celebrate the release of a documentary film about some of the newest and brightest stars in the city. No, this was not an Oscar’s party or a Genie Awards pre-party; in fact many everyday folks may never have heard of the TAMIR ‘Dreamcoat’ documentary and the project that inspired it. People would do well to get to know it though. The success story of the stage show and the documentary of the arduous process behind putting that show on will prove to be an inspiration to anyone who watches it.
Filmmaker Pixie Cram has captured both the ups and downs of producing a show and the absolutely amazing journeys of the participants in the stage show that is the subject of this film.
So what did people see on this sold out night on a chilly night in January?
Let’s go back to the beginning:
TAMIR is an organization dedicated to persons living with developmental disabilities and seeks to create an environment of acceptance and learning through group housing, by encouraging independent living and by supplying necessary services. Tamir opened its first group home in 1985 and today is a vibrant organization offering a variety of residential and other services. TAMIR was coming up to the 25th anniversary in 2010 and wanted to mark the year with something special: this is where the ‘Dreamcoat’ vision was born. Earlier, Cantor Daniel Benlolo and other members of TAMIR were inspired by the ground-breaking Miracle Project based in Los Angeles, “which annually produces an original musical performed by autistic children. The plan to stage a theatrical production for TAMIR’s anniversary arose from discussions with participants and their parents who were excited about the idea of a play starring TAMIR participants alongside members of the professional acting community.” (Tamir Newsletter 2010.)
The musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was chosen and the long journey to opening night began. For details on the process and for Tamir Foundation information, you can join their Facebook group or check them out at www.tamir.ca.
Ottawa Tonite had the opportunity to speak to some of the organizers, actors and artistic staff for this fabulous and challenging project. The road to the success of Dreamcoat was not always smooth, but the result is inspiring: it was hard to keep your eyes dry at moments and speaking with the participants after the screening reminded us that everyone is entitled to expression and hope and that art is often a way to bridge gaps in our society.
About Tamir
Founded by a group of dedicated community members, led by Lily Penso, Tamir was a response to a need for community living in a Jewish environment for adults with developmental disabilities in the Ottawa area. From one house on Tweedsmuir with 3 residents in 1985, to more than 100 individuals through 12 programs offered by over 100 staff, and with an annual budget of approximately $6.2 million, the foundation has grown exponentially over the past 25 years. The ages of Tamir residents range from 18 to 72, with some participants even as young as 13 via our Keshet summer program. Other programs include: group homes; supported independent living; time share accommodations; day services; and both general and Judaic outreach. All of this for one single reason – to assist Tamir participants in realizing their potential as active and engaged members of society. Regardless of its growth, Tamir’s proud and caring team of families, volunteers and professionals will always stick to its goal and remain devoted to promoting inclusion of people with developmental disabilities into all aspects of community activity.
Contact Information
Mailing Address: 11 Nadolny Sachs Private Suite 218
Ottawa ON K2A 1R9
Telephone: (613) 725-3519
Fax: (613) 725-6045
Email: tamir@tamir.ca
Website: www.tamir.ca
Alan Dean Photography
613.798.9812
http://www.alandeanphotography.com
Studio: 1295 Wellington St. W., Ottawa, ON K1Y 3B1
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/alandeanphotography
Navigating the Undercurrents: an interview with Pat Gauthier (part 4)
With the undercurrents festival ending its successful inaugural run, Pat Gauthier probably has a chance to sit down, put his feet up, and relax for a while, right? Maybe not. . .
So what else? That’s not the end of Pat Gauthier. What else have you got planned for the next little while?
I’m directing The Crucible, which is the GCTC Lawyer’s Play, which is really fun. You don’t get to direct plays like The Crucible when you’re my age, and not in school, and not in community theatre. You don’t get to direct The Crucible. It has a cast of twenty-five. But the Lawyer’s Play is great because it’s a fundraiser and the lawyers all act for free. They get professional directors, designers, stage managers. . . we’re all professionals, we’re all being paid, great. I get to work on a play that I love, and would not get to do under any other circumstance. It’s a fun thing to do. The money raised goes to GCTC and a partner charity, so it’s a nice community thing. And they’re fun to work with. Lawyers are fun to work with.
What’s that like?
It’s interesting. There’s different dynamics, because you have people who’ve done it for years and years and years with the Lawyer’s Play, and some of them had acting backgrounds; they’d acted in university. A couple of them have BFAs in Acting, because they did it, they tried it—
Acting’s not that different from. . .
Well, exactly. They took their BFAs and did their Acting undergrad and then either decided at the end that they didn’t want to do it, or they tried it for a couple of years and then got frustrated with the business—which I absolutely understand—and then went to law school. GCTC’s done the Lawyer’s Play for. . . this is the twelfth one. They also have a base of actors who’ve been working with professional directors for twelve years, so they’re people who are, you know, pretty good actors. You’ve got a great kind of working relationship with them, and they understand you when you talk, and you say things like “What’s your objective in this scene?” and they know what you mean. You can talk to them almost like you could to a professional actor. So it’s super-fun. It’s a long process, right? It’s been in rehearsal since February, and it opens in May, so it’s three nights a week, or two nights and a weekend, for all that time. It’s a long process, which I prefer—another reason I like independent theatre, because I can dictate the terms that I work on. A traditional rehearsal process is two weeks in the rehearsal hall, one week in the theatre, opening night. I hate that. To really explore a play in two weeks plus tech is not enough time. But to work with an actor on Tuesday, and then again on Thursday, and then again on Sunday, the amount of time that they can put into thinking about it outside of rehearsal, the time I can put into thinking about it—I’m making that decision, but I don’t need to make it today, I can make it in two days, whereas if I were in a rehearsal hall, I’ve gotta make that decision today, because the crew’s got to build the thing because it’s got to get on set ready for us to be on stage in five days, right? I’d like that time for things to kind of marinate. Which is how it worked for Airport Security. We did a week of rehearsal, and then took ten days off, and then we did eighty hours spread over four weeks? [calling to Kate Smith, in the other room working on grant applications] Kate? Four weeks, I think, instead of doing eight hours a day for two weeks, we did five hours a day for three-and-a-half or something, or did a rehearsal and took two days off. Two days in a row. We had a staggered schedule which, again, just allowed everything to take the time that it needed, or that we could give it. So, there’s the lawyer play, we’re doing the [Ottawa] Fringe [Festival] thing again. . . I love the Fringe. I think the Fringe is great. It’s two weeks where I’m getting paid to sit around, watch plays, and drink beer with my friends. It’s pretty much a great job. “Okay, I’ll tweet about [Ottawa Fringe Festival Executive Director] Natalie [Joy Quesnel], sure, whatever you said. Alright, and I’ll organize the Wine and Cheese; that’s annoying, but you know, organizing it. I’ll plan events.” And [Gruppo] Rubato just had a big thing. We planned out our next five years; we did our five-year plan, and we’re hoping to produce in three consecutive years: 2012, 2013, and 2014. We’ve got three new shows lined up. The trick with Rubato is we do all new work, so it’s not as easy as finding plays, reading a play, and liking it. There’s so much more that goes into it. We’ve got a new play by an emerging artist coming up in 2012, something by Kris Joseph in 2013, and by me in 2014. Which gives me a lot of. . . because I take forever to write.
That’s sort of encouraging for those of us that take a lot of time.
I started writing Airport Security when we were touring Churchill Protocol in 2007. We got back from tour and I sent Kris the first scene, and I was like, “Hey, this is the stuff I was working on tour but didn’t show you for some reason.” And he was like, “Yeah, let’s do this next.” It just took three years from that. But part of that was writing, part of it was getting the funding together, and part of that was the space at the GCTC. I like that space; it’s expensive, but again, being in that building, an audience trusts you more, I think, right now, than being in Arts Court. Not that that’s right. But, it’s just what happens, right?
A certain level of consecration.
Totally.
You’re paying for the packaging.
Pretty much. Box office is paid for, and all that stuff’s included. It’s included too at Arts Court, but the fact that people don’t call Arts Court, to my knowledge, and say “Hey, what’s playing?” whereas people will call the GCTC box office and say “Hey, what’s on right now?” “Oh, this is in our Studio. . . this is on our main stage. . .” And if you’re really nice to the box office, they’ll push your show a bit harder.
How much do grants, and the grant application process timing, and that kind of availability of semi-public funds drive what you do and when you do it?
It doesn’t drive when we do it. It drives when we talk about when we’re doing it, and it drives when you really think about it. I’m writing grants now. Rubato has gotten into a bit of a rhythm in terms of how we like to work, how we like to develop where we like to do. We like to write, and we like to do stuff kind of privately and not get granting art regions involved; do writing, do private readings with just us. “Hey, we’re doing this play and come read it and drink beer.” Very informal kind of stuff. Then we get to a place where we like it; we get the granting regions involved then, we get involved in the granting process then. We like to do workshops; we like to do one, maybe two, but one is usually enough by the time we’re going for grants. One is enough workshops, plus the ancillary stuff that we’ll do without getting paid to. One is usually good for us, and then we go for production. But we’re very grant-dependent because we’re independent. We don’t have that subscription base. Not getting a grant won’t necessarily mean the project won’t happen, but not getting multiple grants means it won’t. We apply for three and get two? Oh, yeah—totally fine. We’ll just have to make a few. . . we’ll have to trim some things, clearly, but we’re fine. We get one? Erm, tight. . . mmm. . . scale back. . . might have to cut an actor, but possible. We get none of them, we can’t. We just can’t rely on ticket sales alone, because we can’t charge—I’d feel bad charging if we charged what was the actual cost. It’d be $75 to see a show in the studio at the GCTC. No f—king way, right? In Vancouver. . . all this arts funding cut stuff was happening in BC, right? I don’t know if you heard about any of it?
Refresh my memory.
It was about a year ago now, pre/post Olympics, and the BC Arts Council, the government of BC decided to rethink how it funds the arts, and funding was cut by 91% or something. You know, something ridiculous. It was how lottery and gaming money was distributed; because a lot of lottery money and legalized gambling money went to arts groups. There was all that money and “How are we going to distribute that?” too, so a lot of these small companies were either going to be cut off from their operating funding, or there would be so little project funding—which is what a company like Rubato works on; we don’t have the consistent operating funding, we apply per project—for a lot of the groups that apply on a per-project basis, the pool would be shrunk so greatly that it would be next to impossible to get any amount of funding that would be worth anything. A thousand bucks is a thousand bucks, but it’s not going to put a show up for you. I think it was an opera company in Vancouver who were like “Well, okay, so we’ll just ticket what the market will bear, we’ll start charging what we need to cover our costs,” and the cheapest ticket was $261. The cheapest upper-upper-upper balcony, you need two pairs of opera goggles to see the stage.
That was for an opera company?
Opera’s different; opera’s incredibly expensive, but still. When the cheapest ticket is that? A lot of it was to make a statement. I don’t know how far. . . I mean, I wasn’t living there at the time so I was following it, but peripherally. But it puts things into perspective.
Check back later in the week for the fifth part of this exclusive interview with Pat Gauthier.
Navigating the Undercurrents: an interview with Pat Gauthier (part 3)
So, two weeks, six shows, and it’s over, right? Not quite. Pat Gauthier lets us in on the future of the undercurrents theatre festival.
What do you think of the independent theatre collective as a way of making new work? This is obviously something that you’ve had some experience with.
I like to work in different ways. When I work with Mi Casa, I work completely differently than when I work with Gruppo Rubato, because I’m personally affected by how the artists I’m working with work. I think it’s a very effective way—it can be an effective way, but I still think that you need a captain. You need someone to. . . I don’t believe in the 1970s socialist collective creation model because I think they’re trying to please too many masters. “Okay, fine, we’ll put your scene in the play, Andrew, but if we put your scene in, we have to put my scene in too.” Right? And both of those scenes could be terrible. But to appease each other we both get our way, and the play is kind of limp. I love the collective energy, but I strongly believe in having a captain that’s driving the artistic vision of the ship, whether that’s a director, or an actor, or a writer, or a producer—whoever that is, it doesn’t matter. Generally, it’s the director, or writer, but Mi Casa is very driven by Nick [Di Gaetano] and Emily [Pearlman] as performer-creators. I’m there as a director and I do that job, and we’re all equal collaborators, but they’re the ones who have the strong vision for the show, and who really drive that. That gives for, I find, me, the director, a great framework to play in. “Oh, this is our world? Great. I can totally work within that world.” It frees you up in the sense that I’m not struggling to create the world; I’m struggling to help shape it.
It’s as if you’re given a text and, “This is established”.
Exactly. It’s a different set of muscles. Take The Crucible. The Crucible is The Crucible. Now how do I, taking all this information. . . how do I stage the show? Then with Mi Casa shows, well, this is the text, and this is a song, and these are the performers; how do we mush that together and create whatever we’re working on?
It seems to have worked out well—although I have yet to see Countries.
Oh, really? Well, you’re the only person in town. [laughs] We’ve done it for as few as sixteen.
I’ll wait a little while before I rent Mi Casa.
They’re cheaper than you think.
So how do you think this [undercurrents] is going to come out? Do you think you’re going to do this again?
I was in Montréal last weekend, and I’m going to Toronto next weekend to see shows for 2012. So, right now, it is happening.
Okay. It’s that certain.
Yeah. Now, things could change, right? But I had a great talk with Lise Ann; she wants to do it again, I want to do it again, the board and executives approved the budget for next year, so it’s in the budget for next year. It’s just all moving forward. . . I mean, I have a diabolical five-year plan for how all this should all turn out. We know where we want to go with it, and kind of take it slowly. Six shows is a good number for a couple of years, we think, and for however long. Centaur [Theatre Company, Montréal] does the Wildside festival, which is where I was last weekend. They’ve been doing it for fourteen years, and they just expanded this year to include their second space. They were traditionally a six-show festival; they went to eight this year, year fourteen. So we’re well aware of where the festival sits and where it is. Growing it is great, because if we can include more local shows, and include more national shows, that’s fantastic. It comes down to “Will people come?” Ticket sales are strong right now. We’ve almost hit our ticket sale goal for the entire festival. We were modest in our budgeting. We were like “Okay, I think we’re gonna come. . . let’s lowball it.” And we probably did lowball it, but better to do that and have a bit of extra money when the festival’s all done than to be too ambitious and be overbudget. We come out with a tiny surplus, it just gets applied to next year, and away we go.
When you say “national”. . . are you going farther west than Toronto?
What I try to do is time trips to Toronto with when out-of-town companies are there; when other festivals like the Wildside festival. . . I’m going to Next Stage in Toronto next weekend. It’s not like you can cherry-pick, right? If we had money to send me to Vancouver, great. Fringe is a good time as well to go to these places and see what’s touring Fringe that’s national and might be able to. A lot of times too, maybe there are shows—I was in Vancouver for a number of years and there were a bunch of shows I saw when I was there that would be great shows, but then again the trick to bringing in an artist from Vancouver versus bringing in an artist from Toronto is that it’s much more expensive for the Vancouver artist to get here than it is for the artist from Toronto.
But if they’re already in Toronto, you know that they’re at least capable of touring that far.
Exactly. We had limited resources; this year we couldn’t afford to pay for artists’ travel or accommodations, which is reflected in the fees. If you’re an out-of-town artist, we’re paying you a bit more because we know that that money’s also paying for your travel and your accommodation while you’re here, versus in-town artists, who probably already have a bus pass. As the festival grows, and we get a larger profile, we can hopefully afford to, well, we’ll pay your travel. That makes a Vancouver artist getting here much simpler, if we could pay the thousand dollars, the fifteen hundred dollars that it’s probably going to cost to bring the three of them out.
You think it’s got a future? I hope you’ll expand in less than fourteen years.
I think we can do it in less than fourteen.
Check back for part 4 of this exclusive interview with Pat Gauthier later in the week.
Censored… right out #$*@#@ loud!
Ottawa Tonite likes it when people create things. When creative people make books, poems, art, or music then the rest of us get to enjoy the fruits of their labours. Unless… their work is censored. And that happens a lot.
According to the Book and Periodical Council, which organizes Freedom To Read Week in Canada every year, more than 100 books in Canada have been censored or challenged in the last few years alone. And those books range from what you might expect to be challenged — queer literature, books dealing with the Israel-Palestine conflict — there are also some you might not expect to ever be the victim of censorship: Of Mice and Men, Harry Potter, or Wallpaper magazine.
In recent days, a version of Huckleberry Finn that deletes the “n-word” and the censorship of the Dire Straits song “Money For Nothing” have been in the news.
So, since Ottawa Tonite believes that each person should get to choose what he or she consumes, we’re organizing a cabaret of censored and challenged works. Come to Censored Out Loud at the Raw Sugar Café and join a motley crew (no, not Mötley Crüe) of writers, actors, and musicians as they celebrate Freedom To Read week by bringing some scandalous — and not so scandalous — works to life. Everything you’ll hear will have one thing in common, whether it’s Donna Summer or Margaret Atwood: the work has been censored or challenged.
Some of the people reading and playing on stage will be: Lisa Poushinsky, Nichole McGill, Jesse Dangerously, Megan Jerome, Jessica Ruano, Mike Essoudry, and many more. It’s gonna be fast-paced, fun, and a great way to celebrate the power of creative expression and the freedom to offend.
The show takes place Wednesday, February 23, 2011, starting at 8:00 pm at the Raw Sugar Café, 692 Somerset Street West. There’s a cover charge of $10 or what you can afford to pay and proceeds are going to go to PEN Canada, an organization that fights for the right to create and read.
We guarantee at least ONE thing to offend EVERYBODY. Spread the word. Loudly.
