Tuesday
Mar302010
Oedipus Evolving begins
Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 10:49PM
By Col
Nest week, along with Aviva, Matt, and Hannah (aka the PBC Art Collective) I'm heading into the artist residency at The Mustard Seed where we'll be creating a new version of Oedipus, titled "Oedipus Evolving". Our take on this story is we'll introduce the audience to Oedipus at the end of the story as we know it, he's blind, he's left behind his family and his riches, he's homeless. During the show he'll go back and tell the audience how he came to where he is by exploring important moments with people from his past.
This week Aviva and Hannah will be interviewing residents at The Seed who have applied to be a part of the show, we'll be going through an orientation with some of our dedicated volunteers about what it's like to work in a shelter, and I'll keep plugging away at the script adaptation. It's a great time for us. Interviewing the potential participants is fascinating. Think of what it would be like in a audition, or any job interview, where the primary concern is how dedicated you are to the project and how passionate you are about art. Awesome.
Also, starting with the rehearsals we'll be featuring some guest bloggers from the Development Studies club at the University, who will be volunteering with us throughout rehearsals and the performance week. A pre-emtive thanks to them for their contributions.
I'll end off with a re-post of a great blog from The Herald's Stephen Hunt where he reviews and discuses the art cabaret Aviva and I were a part of during the OYR High Performance Rodeo last new year. Many of the homeless participants who performed that night will be involved with "Oedipus Evolving."
__________________________________________________________________________________________
DISPATCH: THIS IS MY CITY SHOWCASE CABARET, By Halfstep
Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010
Downstairs at the Central Library, they held a showcase of a unique type Wednesday evening: all the talent, give or take Onalea Gilbertson, Col Cseke and host Aviva Zimmerman, were homeless.
There was the Mustard Seed Drama Club, in which a half dozen residents (Nigel Kirk, Hani Ali, Sherry Love, Wyatt Hesston, and Miroslav Ludva) dressed in masks and performed scenes together from a show they called Wolf Revisited, which included scenes written by Edward Albee, Christopher Durang and Woody Allen, among others.
There was the Found Sound Orchestra, in which the stage was filled with tin can drum kits and home made sitars and banjos. Col Cseke, their orchestra leader, played an instrument made out of bottle caps and duct tape. To tell you the truth, they sounded pretty much as if they found those sounds in a dumpster somewhere -- although, thanks to Max Ciesielski's keyboard, and everyone's high spirits, it didn't really matter. The fact that they created a tin can symphony was its own sort of triumph!
Col Cseke performed an excerpt from a one-man show written by Mustard Seed Drama Club member Nigel Kirk. It was about moving to a Boomtown, and trying to cope when the Boom leaves. It was funny, sharp writing about a guy trying to hitch a ride and sharing his story as he waits by the roadside -- and when Cseke stopped after seven or eight minutes, it felt as if it was too soon. I wanted to know more about what happened after the landscaping company layoff scenario.
I saw the Drop In Centre Singers (who double as the Found Sound Orchestra) -- Max, Norm Saunders, Aubrey Miller, John Harris, Debbie Emmett, Shane, Scott Chunn, Jenn Carew, Robert Ramstead, Eveline Koljin, Tedoa Predika, Brad Hawkins and Cseke) Saturday night performing as part of Two Bit Oper Eh? Shun at Grace Presbyterian Church, but for the cabaret they shifted gears a little. Led by coordinator Onalea Gilbertson, they sang a few of the tunes they sing every Monday from 4:30 to 7:30pm on the 6th Floor of the Drop In Centre (singers and fans are welcome to drop by any Monday and join in): they sang a John Denver tune, Leaving on a Jet Plane (the audience ended up joining in); 500 Miles, Down By the Riverside, and Hank William's I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry.
All in all, a triumphant cabaret, that was extremely well-received by the standing room only crowd at the library.
It was all part of This is My City, a year-long program run by the City of Calgary's Arts and Culture Department (who knew?), to facilitate the engagement of homeless citizens in art making. The city hired a number of artistic mentors, such as Gilbertson, Cseke and Zimmerman, to work creating art that is being presented as part of this year's High Performance Rodeo.
I know you can't eat art, or sleep in art, or drive art, but watching events such as Two Bit Oper Eh? Shun and the Showcase Cabaret, it's impossible not to believe that even if there's no actual vitamins in art, there's something about creating it that is nourishing for all the participants involved. Art making also involves a lot of self-exploration, self-discipline and gives life a structure that it sometimes lacks -- qualities that everyone could benefit from. And some of the art, particularly Norm Saunder's ballad Broken Down and Kirk's monologue were their very own rewards: filled with soul, wit and harmony.
________________________________________________________________________________________
If you have any thoughts or questions about the project drop me a line, col@verbtheatre.com
Nest week, along with Aviva, Matt, and Hannah (aka the PBC Art Collective) I'm heading into the artist residency at The Mustard Seed where we'll be creating a new version of Oedipus, titled "Oedipus Evolving". Our take on this story is we'll introduce the audience to Oedipus at the end of the story as we know it, he's blind, he's left behind his family and his riches, he's homeless. During the show he'll go back and tell the audience how he came to where he is by exploring important moments with people from his past.
This week Aviva and Hannah will be interviewing residents at The Seed who have applied to be a part of the show, we'll be going through an orientation with some of our dedicated volunteers about what it's like to work in a shelter, and I'll keep plugging away at the script adaptation. It's a great time for us. Interviewing the potential participants is fascinating. Think of what it would be like in a audition, or any job interview, where the primary concern is how dedicated you are to the project and how passionate you are about art. Awesome.
Also, starting with the rehearsals we'll be featuring some guest bloggers from the Development Studies club at the University, who will be volunteering with us throughout rehearsals and the performance week. A pre-emtive thanks to them for their contributions.
I'll end off with a re-post of a great blog from The Herald's Stephen Hunt where he reviews and discuses the art cabaret Aviva and I were a part of during the OYR High Performance Rodeo last new year. Many of the homeless participants who performed that night will be involved with "Oedipus Evolving."
__________________________________________________________________________________________
DISPATCH: THIS IS MY CITY SHOWCASE CABARET, By Halfstep
Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010
Downstairs at the Central Library, they held a showcase of a unique type Wednesday evening: all the talent, give or take Onalea Gilbertson, Col Cseke and host Aviva Zimmerman, were homeless.
There was the Mustard Seed Drama Club, in which a half dozen residents (Nigel Kirk, Hani Ali, Sherry Love, Wyatt Hesston, and Miroslav Ludva) dressed in masks and performed scenes together from a show they called Wolf Revisited, which included scenes written by Edward Albee, Christopher Durang and Woody Allen, among others.
There was the Found Sound Orchestra, in which the stage was filled with tin can drum kits and home made sitars and banjos. Col Cseke, their orchestra leader, played an instrument made out of bottle caps and duct tape. To tell you the truth, they sounded pretty much as if they found those sounds in a dumpster somewhere -- although, thanks to Max Ciesielski's keyboard, and everyone's high spirits, it didn't really matter. The fact that they created a tin can symphony was its own sort of triumph!
Col Cseke performed an excerpt from a one-man show written by Mustard Seed Drama Club member Nigel Kirk. It was about moving to a Boomtown, and trying to cope when the Boom leaves. It was funny, sharp writing about a guy trying to hitch a ride and sharing his story as he waits by the roadside -- and when Cseke stopped after seven or eight minutes, it felt as if it was too soon. I wanted to know more about what happened after the landscaping company layoff scenario.
I saw the Drop In Centre Singers (who double as the Found Sound Orchestra) -- Max, Norm Saunders, Aubrey Miller, John Harris, Debbie Emmett, Shane, Scott Chunn, Jenn Carew, Robert Ramstead, Eveline Koljin, Tedoa Predika, Brad Hawkins and Cseke) Saturday night performing as part of Two Bit Oper Eh? Shun at Grace Presbyterian Church, but for the cabaret they shifted gears a little. Led by coordinator Onalea Gilbertson, they sang a few of the tunes they sing every Monday from 4:30 to 7:30pm on the 6th Floor of the Drop In Centre (singers and fans are welcome to drop by any Monday and join in): they sang a John Denver tune, Leaving on a Jet Plane (the audience ended up joining in); 500 Miles, Down By the Riverside, and Hank William's I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry.
All in all, a triumphant cabaret, that was extremely well-received by the standing room only crowd at the library.
It was all part of This is My City, a year-long program run by the City of Calgary's Arts and Culture Department (who knew?), to facilitate the engagement of homeless citizens in art making. The city hired a number of artistic mentors, such as Gilbertson, Cseke and Zimmerman, to work creating art that is being presented as part of this year's High Performance Rodeo.
I know you can't eat art, or sleep in art, or drive art, but watching events such as Two Bit Oper Eh? Shun and the Showcase Cabaret, it's impossible not to believe that even if there's no actual vitamins in art, there's something about creating it that is nourishing for all the participants involved. Art making also involves a lot of self-exploration, self-discipline and gives life a structure that it sometimes lacks -- qualities that everyone could benefit from. And some of the art, particularly Norm Saunder's ballad Broken Down and Kirk's monologue were their very own rewards: filled with soul, wit and harmony.
________________________________________________________________________________________
If you have any thoughts or questions about the project drop me a line, col@verbtheatre.com
Reader Comments (6)
This type of stuff is so important, I'm glad to see it happening in this city. I think the homeless population is really misunderstood and giving them the chance to express themselves through a play like this is going to benefit them and us. Excited to hear how it goes throughout your time at the mustard seed.
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