Emerging Artists Series: It's a Wrap!

The 2011 Emerging Artists Series has finished, and what a whirlwind it was. It was only three weeks of shows, but they were in the works since approximately February and although the board members of Black Box Fire don’t have a great deal to do until the last few weeks, it has been an exhausting task this year. For myself, towards the end of the run, I find myself more tired than usual when working on a show, and I think that may have something to do with not having the adrenaline you usually get from being involved in performing a show. Regardless of my energy level the series was a success.

The first week of EAS was a well-made play entitled, A Trip Aboard by Eugene Labiche. It was a translation of a French play from the 19th century which was part of the genre that was a predecessor for sitcoms. It was an extremely entertaining production, with a creative backdrop of mountains in charcoal on paper, extremely well-done and tailored costumes, but it was definitely the performances that made this production. It featured some of the best character work I’ve seen in a long time, and as an audience member, it was clear that the performers were having a great time on stage.

4.48 Psychosis dress rehearsal

The second week of EAS was 4.48 Psychosis, written by Sarah Kane a British playwright who is often compared to Sylvia Plath because of the style of her work, as well as they both committed suicide. The show was a poetic and dark piece about one person’s struggle with mental illness. Not necessarily a piece that someone would say they ‘enjoyed’  as it was a very draining play to watch, but that‘s not to say it was un-enjoyable. This play is a good reminder that theatre doesn’t always supply answers, or tie everything up neatly at the end, but often requires some engagement with the piece on the part of the audience. 4.48 Psychosis will also be performed at the Fringe Festival this month at Theatre Aquarius. It was a last minute, but great opportunity for the production and first time director who is still in high school.

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Production and Creative teams for 'Death of a Roller Coaster'
and 'A Trip Aboard' at auditions.

This last week of EAS was the double bill of original works Death of a Roller Coaster and Enter Alice. Death of a Roller Coaster was an ensemble piece about an old beloved roller coaster being retired at Beaver Tail Island amusement park. This was another show where it was easy to see that everyone on stage was having a lot of fun! The highlight of this production was the roller coaster, The Great Canadian Grizzly. The coaster itself was very simple, a few rows of chairs covered in black, and they constructed the front end of the coaster, but the sound effects and the actors made this rollercoaster a real pleasure to watch! They choreographed the actors’ movements with the sound effects and it was easy to envison the track the coaster was whipping around on.

Board members of BBF
organizing EAS auditions. 

The final show of EAS was Enter Alice, which had previously been in the Sears Drama Festival. This was an absurdist piece that had a very polished presentation. It took place in a nightmare of a theatre where the actors were puppet-like and the ‘fears’ from their previous lives clung to and manipulated them throughout the show. Playwrights Thomas and Lewis offered comedic relief and manipulated the happenings on stage.  Among all this theatrical madness, a boy from the ‘real world’ stumbles into the theatre looking for his drunk and lost father, but eventually is given the choice to return to the real world fatherless, or to become a puppet-like actor where Lewis and Thomas offer him a scripted life, with a father.

EAS this year was once again very diverse, and offered both established scripts and original works. I guess at the end of it all, what I really hope is that it was an enjoyable experience for everyone involved.