dark matter
What are your own roots?
I'm
originally from Spruce Grove, Alberta, where I did a lot of visual art and
theatre as a kid. I moved to Vancouver when I was eighteen to study animation,
and then in 2007 my partner Dorian Lang and I moved to Halifax, on something of
a quest for new adventures. I love the people and the landscape and the
scale of things here, and so we've been Haligonian-ing ever since!
How long have you been involved
in theater, and in what capacity?
My first
foray into theatre was as a skunk in a holiday pageant at age seven. I was very
interested in theatre in high school, and fell into it again after moving to
Halifax and being cast in a student production of Goodnight Desdemona
(Good Morning Juliet), directed by Dan Bray. He and I now run The Villain's
Theatre, where I've been producing and performing in work since 2009. I also
work as managing director of 2b theatre company, serve on the board of the Bus
Stop Theatre Cooperative, and am the founder of The HIT Book, a theatre
listings initiative (which has just relaunched as The HIT List in partnership
with Chelsea Code-McNeil). My primary interests are in performing and Making
Things Happen, though I've also been doing a lot of writing as late. I
generally like to explore things from all sides where possible, and over the
years I have worn a lot of different hats.
How did you get involved with
this particular production?
For the
past eleven years, there has been an event called the 24 Hour Theatre Thing at
the Bus Stop in the week before New Year's. Since I generally go back to
Alberta at that time, I have never been able to participate, but I've always
wanted to. This year, I realized that I might be able to take part as a
playwright, which is easier to do remotely. I wrote the first draft of dark
matter overnight, and it was performed the following day, though I
sadly wasn't able to see the production. I received some good feedback from
people who had seen it though, which was encouraging, and had me musing about
doing something more with the script. When the Fringe application deadline came
around this year, Dan and I we were looking for a short play we could produce
for the festival - we knew Dorian would be leaving town in the fall to pursue a
masters in directing at the University of Alberta, and wanted to find a project
we could work on together. We submitted dark matter, I did a
little more work on the script, and here we are today!
What are the challenges involved?
Because
of the nature of the show (it runs only 15 minutes long, and was designed to be
pretty minimal in terms of tech needs), logistically it's been less challenging
than most Fringe pieces that I've worked on in the past. I think our challenges
have been more in the rehearsal room, where we've spent a lot of time exploring
the characters and what has brought them to this point. The script deals with
people reacting to hard times, and also has weird little outbursts of humour,
so we've been navigating that. I'm sure it's also been a challenge for the rest
of the team to have the playwright as performer in the room with them. I keep
wanting to tweak things.
What are the rewards?
This has
been a very enjoyable process working with some of my favourite humans and
long-time collaborators. I've loved being in the room with these great folks, and
I'm nervous but excited to show what we've been up to with an audience. It's an
honour and a pleasure to work with the team, especially Dorian, who will be
flying out west at the same time as we open on Monday night - I think he's a
brilliant director (he won Best Director at last year's fringe, so I'm not
alone in that), and it's been great to have a chance to work with him once more
before he heads out of town for a while.
What can audiences expect during
the run?
As fringe
shows go, we're pretty nicely stationed right in the middle of the Gottingen
street hub, playing at the back of Plan B - it's a great space to lead you into
the world of the play, as our set is an astronomer's detritus-filled house.
Since we're 15 minutes long, it'll hopefully be a convenient show to catch.
We're also doing two versions of the play, alternating nightly - the script is
the same in both, but the actors are playing different characters, and the
given circumstances and relationships have all changed. We've been thinking of
it as a bit of a stereoscopic process, where we have two very similar pictures
of the same thing, which when viewed together allow us to see it in a new, more
nuanced way. The impetus for this was driven more from a place of artistic
process than of audience experience - audiences can certainly see just one
version and get the full story - but I do enjoy that people have the
opportunity to take in both iterations if they'd like.
What are your thoughts on the
state of theatre in Atlantic Canada?
Times
have been difficult in recent years with the film tax credit ripples still
being felt through the community, and now with the Chronicle Herald strike
(many theatre companies and artists are boycotting the Herald in solidarity
with the striking journalists, which has made it more difficult to get the word
out about shows to those who reply on the paper as their main source of news),
but despite that, I think it's a really exciting time for Atlantic Canadian
theatre. There's a lot of energy, a lot of really interesting work being
developed. It's been exciting to see things like the efforts that Eastern Front
has been making recently to serve the community, the great lineup of female
artists at the Prismatic Festival coming up later this month, and lots of activity
with other festivals such as DaPoPo's upcoming Live-In. I've seen a lot of
projects in development this year that I'm really looking forward to, and I
think what I'd love to see is more audiences coming out to theatre. Fringe is
such a great way to bring people in, and make theatre really accessible, and I
hope some first-time theatregoers at the festival come back for more.
What's next on your creative
agenda?
Concurrently
with dark matter I'm diving into my next two theatrical
projects, The Spanish Tragedy with The Villain's Theatre, and Tales
of the Old North with Xara Choral Theatre, which are both going up in
November at the Bus Stop and Alderney Landing, respectively. Also at Alderney
Landing, I'll have a month-long solo show of my visual art at the Craig
Gallery, entitled quiet processes, which features some of my daily
art project.
dark matter
Plan B, 2180 Gottingen Street, Halifax
Monday Sept 5th, 8:05PM
Tuesday Sept 6th, 9:40PM
Wednesday Sept 7th, 7:30PM
Thursday Sept 8th, 10:30PM
Friday Sept 9th, 6:45PM
Saturday Sept 10th, 12:45PM & 9:45PM
Sunday Sept 11th, 2:35PM
Monday Sept 5th, 8:05PM
Tuesday Sept 6th, 9:40PM
Wednesday Sept 7th, 7:30PM
Thursday Sept 8th, 10:30PM
Friday Sept 9th, 6:45PM
Saturday Sept 10th, 12:45PM & 9:45PM
Sunday Sept 11th, 2:35PM
15 minutes in length /$7
www.atlanticfringe.ca
