I am back from the mysterious depths of the internet. I bet you all thought I had forgotten about this hadn't ya! In reality I hadn't, I have just been a combination of busy and procrastinating. Though the procrastinating part is nothing the to brag about the busy part has given me many exciting things to blog about, so many things I am not really sure where to start.
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| My office from which I am blogging today. |
I guess I should probably start off by talking a little bit about Neptune. As many of you may know I filled the position of Lead Staging Hand at Neptune Theatre this season. The job is fun and full of opportunity, and my boss Gryphen Colling (Head Stage Carpenter at Neptune Theatre and hair stylist extraordinaire) is fun to work with. But I have made the decision to not return to Neptune as the Lead Staging Hand Next Season. I really need to focus on my studies and would really like to graduate next spring, and just don`t think that is possible with me still committed to Neptune. I hope to still get some casual work there and I am confident that I will have future adventures with the wonderful tech team of Neptune Theatre.
In other news I have also officially finished my Arena Rigging Training with IATSE local 680. I have been working really hard at it and lately it seems to be getting easier and everything is falling into place. That said we recently had one of the the hardest rigging calls that I have ever experienced. A large number of things factored in, the rigging truck, which is usually unloaded, first showed up late, markings on the ground were wiped off, set that would have usually been built after the rigging was up was built before hand (because of the late truck) and impeded us, etc. and what should have been a 5 hour day turned into an 8 hour day with no breaks. But we got it up and more importantly did it safely.
I also had the pleasure of working with Dorian Lang on his collaborative piece Stay at Home Dead. Dorian gathered a group of talented Actors/Collaborators (Johnny Thompson, Clair St-Francois, and Andrew Chandler) as well as Stage Manager and Collaborator Liz Thomas, to make a modern adaptation of the Yorkshire Tragedy. Together they came up with Stay at Home Dead, a thrilling little piece of theatre with lighting design by my self and fight choreography by Dave Rossetti.
Stay at Home Dead went up at the Bus Stop Theatre and with a talk back after each performance we got some amazing feed back that the collaborators can use to tweak the show and and make it that much better.
All together it was an awesome experience for me, between the wonderful creative team, the professional attitude of all involved and the magical space that is the Bus Stop Theatre, the whole experience was a healthy reminder of why I got into theatre. (pictures to come)
Speaking of The Bus Stop Theatre, I absolutely fell in love with this space after Stay at Home Dead. Its a wonderful little black box theatre located in the cultural heart of Halifax, Among the free trade/organic coffee shops, restaurants featuring exotic menus, and LGBT friendly bars and businesses, lays the Bus Stop. For it's size and humble origins it has an impressive collection on technical equipment, as well as a shop in the basement, and a licensed bar/cafe in the front. This venue has much of what my dream venue would have but the best part of the Bus Stop is it really is run on love. When Clare Waqu became the Managing Director of the bus stop many members of the Halifax theatre scene stepped up providing technical and often financial support to help create the magical space that is now the Bus stop theatre.but even today Clare and Technical Director Evan, make little to no money for all the hours of work they put into the venue and the shows that go up there. Most of the income from the rentals is put directly back into supporting the venue. Halifax really needs more venues like the Bus Stop but to be honest its the staff and volunteers that really work wonders and they deserve to be applauded. Bravo.
I have one more thing before I wrap up this book of a blog post.
The 2006 Liverpool International Theatre Festival was one of my first experiences with theatre . With groups from all over the world converging on Liverpool Nova Scotia (my home town) to compete and perform, my head was spinning and left me wanting more. This festival only happens every two years, and I have participated (as a technician, and even once as a performer) in everyone since 2006. happening on the long weekend of may, this years was no exception. I arrived in Liverpool on the Sunday before the festival began (the festival officially begins on Wednesday but we have the Monday and Tuesday to tech and prep) and headed straight for the Astor Theatre to drop of my bag of tools and etc. I after saying a couple hellos to familiar faces at the the theatre, I headed home to rest up for the week to come. I got up super early the next morning and headed to the theatre, and then proceeded to wait two hours for the manager of the theatre to show up and let me in. Cole MacDonald (the Technical Director of the festival) showed up just before the Theatre Manager and we had a brief discussion of our game plan. It wasn't till a bit later in the afternoon that the Production Manager was due to arrive so Cole and I set to work taking care of some of the house keeping that need to be done before the festival could get up. Susanna Haley (the Production Manager) did show up in the afternoon and we took a moment to catch up then got back to work. The two days of tech and prep were pretty slow but before we knew it Wednesday arrived and we were of to the races. The Shows were amazing featuring groups from as close as Halifax and Yarmouth, and as far away as Egypt and the Slovak Republic.
My favorite part of the festival is the genuine appreciation the groups have for us techs. Never have I ever worked anywhere else and received so many genuine thank yous and compliments. The Festival went off with out a hitch and with a whole lot of hard work, and a couple late nights, we managed to make it through, leaving everyone (including us techs) happy and looking forward to the next festival. They even managed to scrounge up an honorarium for me to show their appreciation for my dedication and hard work over the years.
I look forward to the next Liverpool International Theatre Festival.
That is what I have been up to the last few months, consider your self now completely filled in. I do have a couple upcoming projects in the works. One of those projects is Once Upon a Theatre Collective's Evening of Short Plays. I am serving as Lighting designer and Technician for the evening and look forward to working with this group of talented people as well as the very talented Stage Manager Tessa Pekeles.
Below is the description from the Facebook event page.
It's time for another round of our short play series! Join us for an evening filled with intrigue, romance and hilarity. We have a terrific line up of short plays written by talented local artists and a wonderful crew of actors and directors just crazy enough to agree to a whirlwind day of rehearsals leading up to an evening not to be missed.
The evening will include pieces by: Andrea Dymond Andrew Chandler Catherine Banks Chris Nyarady Emily Forrest Kristin Slaney Sarah Gignac Stephanie Johnson Tickets are $10. The evening is in support of Once Upon a Theatre Collective's future projects. These evenings sell out quickly, don't miss out on some brand new theatre! Send your reservations to onceuponatheatrecollective We will also be opening up the floor at the end of the evening for another open mic - email us to sign up or sigh up on the night. |
All I can say is it is a great line up with great people with the money going to support a great theatre group, it's going to be an amazing evening, so you should really rush to get your tickets before they are all gone!
Thanks for reading, I promise I will be back soon!
Cody Hatt
