Emerging Artists Series

The Black Box Fire Emerging Artist Series, or EAS, is an amazing opportunity for people to get involved in theatre, especially those who may not have a great deal of experience, or for those who have a project they want to work on, but may not have the means to do so. BBF gives you artistic control of your project, supplies a small start up budget, they facilitate the auditions, provide promotional materials, and they provide the venue, which is HTI Studio theatre. EAS usually runs three weeks at the end of June and early July. Each production is usually double billed, and there are four performances of each show in one weekend, so each week features different productions. Past productions have included both established plays and original works.
The applications for EAS are due at the end of February. Anyone can apply. If you want to direct a play, if you have a play you have written but no director you can still apply. If you are interested in stage managing one of the productions, or if you have a script you'd like to act in, fill out an application.
If you have questions, send them to contact@blackboxfire.com

My EAS production of the original script, A Long Winter

The Psycho, The Dr. and The Mogul 

EASies at My Dog Joe.

Everyone's a Critic

The show is over now, it finished over a week ago, but I forgot to post a link to the review of the show. This is a review of the opening night performance that appeared in the View. Not a bad review, he loved all the performers, and even mentioned the stage manager and producer. I still stand by my costuming and make-up choices. I don't quite agree with The Metamorphosis being a risky show to take on, or that it is an unlikely show to bring in a crowd. People love Kafka and the story The Metamorphosis, and I think that was a big part of the show being well attended. I think it also shows that Hamilton audiences want to see different genres of theatre.

The Metamorphosis closed last night. We had a great run, with amazing houses. Even our last matinee almost sold out, and that has never happened in any show I've been involved in, so that was pretty nice. Interesting story, Friday around noon I received word that one of our actresses fell and broke her knee so obviously, and unfortunately could not finish the run of the show. One of the other actresses stepped up and played two parts in the play and memorized the lines and blocking Friday afternoon and pulled off the character of Alta effortlessly, and got laughs, for the remaining three shows.
As happy as I was with the outcome of the show, and the attendance, and I will miss the cast and crew, I'm tired, and I'm ready to not direct for a while.

Audition Alert

 The third show in Black Box Fire's 2010/2011 season is having auditions this Wednesday, the 19th. The show is George F. Walker's Zastrozzi, The Master of Discipline. The play is inspired by the novel Zastrozzi:  A Romance by Percy Shelley. It has sword fighting, seduction, comedy and most importantly revenge.
 George F. Walker is one of the most widely produced Canadian playwrights both in Canada and internationally. Some of his most famous plays include Criminals in Love, Heaven and Suburban Motel which includes Problem Child.
 There are four male parts to be cast, and there is only one audition day, so if you're unsure whether or not to audition, it would be better to just audition since there is only one day to do so.

Check out the BBF website for more audition info.

The Lady in Fur

The Lady in Fur is Gregor Samsa's favourite picture. It's important in the novella and also in the play, so I had to make sure we had a picture of a lady in fur. Such a picture is not something you easily come across, so my friend Damian, who designed our black and white poster, who is also a magician with the camera, took a picture that we could use in the play.
I don't know that I'm much of a lady, but fur and pearl earrings really help to give the illusion.

"You think you'll get this picture? You never will!
Try it and I'll fly in your face!"

Smooth Sailing

I didn't keep up very well with this in the last week or so, as it was a very busy week. We started our tech week on Monday and the show opened last night. Everything actually went really smoothly. Danielle, my stage manager and I, glued and taped a sheet to a 15 ft pole for the opening scene of the show, and then had to figure out how to get it off stage quickly after the two minutes we need it on stage.
Tuesday, we had someone come in who built us a door in a frame, a ladder and 'bed' flat. It all went in extremely easily. We had a couple days of tech runs and then our dress rehearsal, and all in all, it was a great tech week with no problems.

AND, we had a great opening night last night with a close to full house and the performance was a great one.

"She wans to see what I like"

Mmmmmm.

I Have 8 Legs This Morning

I've had many people ask what Gregor's cockroach costume will be like. The answer is black pants, white undershirt and suspenders. Local theatre relies a lot on magic. The kind of magic you have to make when you have extremely limited resources and low budgets and have to make props and costumes out of what is in your closet and found at Value Village, and it's usually all put together with a glue gun and duct tape. With resources like this, it seems inevitable that Gregor's cockroach costume would be pretty laughable. Which is one reason why I decided not to go with the giant bug look. There are other reasons I didn't want to put him in a bug costume, which I talk about in my director's note. It's important the audience see Gregor as a person, and not how his family sees him.

This is not the Gregor Samsa I was thinking of.

The Meowmorphosis

I love kittens, even more than the next guy, but I think I have to draw the line here with cute kittens.

Would I have wanted to direct an adaptation of the story in which a man wakes up to find himself transformed into da cutest widdle kitteh eva? No. Without reading the book or knowing more about it beyond what I've read in this article, it seems to miss a big part of the point of The Metamorphosis.

Kafka meets kittens? 2011 will bring 'The Meowmorphosis' | Jacket Copy | Los Angeles Times

"A little music with your coffee gentleman?"

I really love finding the perfect music to use in a production. Often, music is one of the first elements I have figured out about a show. I knew very early on that I wanted to use an Andrews Sisters song for the close of The Metamorphosis, and a Radiohead song for the opening of the show. 

I've gone with some of the 'greats' for this show.

The Andrews Sisters

Sufjan Stevens 

Ella Fitzgerald

George Gershwin

Miles Davis

Patrick Watson

I haven't set a specific time period for the show, so I went for songs that either had a nostalgic feel, or set the right atmosphere. 

Black Box Fire | Now Playing

Black Box Fire | Now Playing

Two weeks til the show goes up, you can reserve tickets on the Black Box Fire website.